Five soul abandon their formlessness and descend upon the world. They dance through the stagnant air, and wind begins to blow. They land on the ground, still and lifeless, and for the first time something begins to move. The sand kicked up by their movement swirls, and within this great cyclone the newborns begin to create themselves.
Grains of sand begin to gather, morphing into limbs, mirrors, strange absences. The souls inhabit them, and from this combination of matter and spirit five primordial entities begin to coalesce:
ALTERTHENTERRINTARTINTH, the Empty. Paradoxically, they cease to exist as soon as they come to life.
Gyaweft, the Smelter. Fire pours from the gaps in their armor, scorching the ground around them.
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover. He surveys the world and prepares to act.
Kūhaku, the Mirror. For now, their body is blank and colorless in the darkness. There will soon be far more for it to reflect.
Nazir, the Weaver. Their eyes illuminate the sand in vibrant shades of green.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A͈͕̯͙̤̲̱̻w҉̬͎͟a̵͉͙͈̲͡͡k̞̖̘̘͚e͉̟̖͙̙̰͟ͅņ̪͙̱̼ the sands.
6
The hole in reality whispers to the sand, filling it with intent and the spark of life. The ground stirs, awareness echoing out into the infinite, and gradually the desert begins to come to life.
ALTERTH continues, eagerly describing the process of his own awaking. There is a pregnant pause when he mentions consciousness, the beginning of independent thought. Then the ground begins to roil, suddenly angry. Dunes rise and disappear in the space of an eyeblink. Coarse tendrils clutch ALTERTH, and sinkholes threaten to swallow every primordial whole.
Create an Ocean. A different type of grain coalesced from the air. Wet, where everything was dry before.
3
A ripple passes through the sand, and Kuhaku is inspired. They feel another substance in the air around them, a fluid instead of solid grains, and reach into the atmosphere to bring it forth. A thin stream of water comes into existence before their eyes, falling onto the desert with a soft pattering sound.
The mirrored entity reaches for more, but finds that they have already depleted the air. It stings now, drier than dry.
Use my inner fire to mold the sand into glass globes with a piece of my inner fire inside them, then throw the globes into the sky creating the stars.
4
Gyaweft melts sand with his own internal fire, turning it into beautiful spheres of glass. He is so absorbed in the task that he continues even once his material has started to scream.
After placing a wisp of his own fiery essence in each of the completed globes, he tosses them up into the sky. Some fall, shattering into a million glorious shards as they rejoin the earth, but many begin to hover far above the raging sands. They shed a soft light over the world, making its chaotic flailing visible to all.
Use large amounts of pressure to make some of the sand into sandstone.
1
6v3
Dr. Bob compacts the sand, squeezing it together until it begins to stick. Then the sand twitches, and in a moment it begins squeezing him back.
The newly-minted doctor struggles until the sandy tentacle clutching him is forced to drop him to the ground. He's too young to die! Practically an infant! There's so much to live for!
The sand says nothing, but its body language remains highly aggressive.
Make web, big web.
6
Nazir's second creation, after their own body, is a large web. So large, in fact, that the spider finds it too difficult to restrain himself to the ground. He skitters upwards, searchingly, and finds that someone else has created glass stars to illuminate the void. Nazir ties strands of silk to them, and weaves a web that encompasses vast swathes of the cosmos, sand and sky alike.
When the sand begins to rebel, he hangs safely up above it.
Pour fire around me killing the sand to create a glass palace
1v1
A particulate hand grips Gyaweft, smothering his flames before they can escape out into the desert. The heat builds up, trapped inside the sands's fist, and slowly his surroundings begin to liquify. Molten glass flows over him, encasing his body and leaking through the gaps in his armor, but somehow the sand continues to hold on.
When the pressure stops and the heat disperses, Gyaweft is suspended in the center of a massive chunk of glass.
[R̡̀͝e̕͡s҉̸̡́͡p̴̶͘ę̷̛̕͜c̡̢̀͟t҉̡̀ ̴̴̢t̀҉̷ḩ̛͝e̕͠ ͡͏̀̕s͏̧̧̧a̴͢n̸̡͝d̨̀̀͢s̛͏́͞ ̴̶͡͠l̸̶̨̛e̷͟s̷̕͟͝t̸̵̡͞ ̵̴̛̀y͏̸̛̕o̶̢̧͠͏u͟͞͡͞ ̧̛̛͘r̕͡e̸̡̛͘͠t͝ų͞ŗ̵̛̀n̨͞ ̶̶̢̧́t̨̀͞ó̴́̀ ̡̨͟t̸̸̢̕͝h͘͠͠é̵͝m̴͡.̡̨́͟]
Allow the sands to destroy me and consume my power, if they can. If the sands are unable or unwilling to kill me, torture them until they are.
Devouring Sands: 4/2
The sand tears away chunks of ALTERTH's body, feasting on not-flesh and lapping up the sweet nothingness that is their blood. The primordial only urges it onwards, even as their essence is devoured, and once sensation dims ALERTH can feel itself being absorbed. Strands of nonexistence course through the desert, drawn into the infinite depths of the earth...
Something breaks, and a few last wisps of consciousness find themselves drifting through the air. They dissolve gradually, beneath the dimming light of the stars.
ALTERTHENTERRINTARTINTH has been slain?
Quick make the water from earlier alive and make it fight the sand, and escape while the sands distracted.
3
6v3
Dr. Bob breathes life into the water, willing the puddles to coalesce into a single aqueous entity. They obey, sluggishly, and soon a half-formed water elemental rises from the ground. Your creation struggles against the sand, but a few gallons of water are no match for the might of the living cosmos. Sandy appendages slap it around and eventually splash it apart.
You run anyway, but the sand is omnipresent. Its tendrils follow you wherever you go, regardless of how far you run or where you try to hide. The only safe place is up above, where spiderlings have begun to spread across Nazir's web.
Draw water from the elements in the sand to make this Ocean.
3
Kuhaku tries to create more water, this time by drawing it from the earth. He pulls at the sand, but instead of pure water a wave of mud bubbles up from beneath the ground. The swamp pours outwards in all directions, churning as the sand underneath it shifts. Occasionally a dune rising from the bottom of the bog will breach the surface, becoming a small island until fluctuations in the sand make it sink back to the bottom.
Nazir
Shhh, foolish god is about to sacrifice himself to sand.
Give birth to tiny intellegent spiders capable of feeding by bathing in light of stars.
6
Nazir makes the first of the Spiderlings, an intelligent race shaped in the image of their creator. They crawl across the strands of his great web and up towards the stars, where they can feed on the light of Gyaweft's divine fire. But there is one fatal flaw in their design: starlight is dim, and the Spiderlings are many.
The strongest cling directly to the glass spheres, where they can consume light as soon as it is produced. They blot out the stars, plunging everything else into darkness. The rest carpet the web, battling each other for territory and supremacy. Defeated Spiderlings fall onto the desert, where they are quickly swallowed by the sand.
ALTERTHENTERRINTARTINTH, the Empty.
-Devoured by the sands.
--------------------------------
Gyaweft, the Smelter.
-Star-smith.
-Encased in glass.
--------------------------------
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover.
-Enemy of the sands.
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror.
--------------------------------
Nazir, the Weaver.
-God of the great web.
The Living Sands: An awakened desert that extends outwards indefinitely. It has consumed ALTERTHENTERRINTARTINTH, the being which brought it to life.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. Islands rapidly form and dissolve as the sand beneath it moves.
What form will you take? A monstrous worm with a giant maw
What is your purpose? To destroy the sand
Once Ira did not mind the sand, the nothingness of the world. However, Ira soon began to resent the nothingness, the sand. Ira watched the sand devour another soul like it, and the resentment turned to hate. Now Ira seeks to destroy the sand and turn the world into something.
Devour the sand
Two more souls manifest in reality. Awareness develops, identities form, and sand becomes flesh and metal as the entities carve their new bodies from the desert.
Ira, the World-Eater. They open their mouth, already burning with rage.
Gral, the Contractor. Metal feathers clang as they take flight.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Devour the sand
4v4
Ira tunnels into the sand, eating as much of it as will fit in their mouth, but soon the vast organism begins to fight back. It tries to wrap the worm in pseudopods, buffet them with its fists, and even crush the worm under its weight, but Ira keeps eating, and eating, and eating. The sand's limbs slow their progress, but each one that touches the primordial is rapidly consumed.
This stalemate continues for hours as Ira tunnels forwards and is periodically beaten back.
Climb up the webs to get away from the sand.
2
Dr. Bob runs to the nearest strand of silk and up out of the sand's reach. The swarm of Spiderlings parts, none of them willing to be trampled something thousands of times larger than a spider, and when he sits down to rest the bugs resume their war at a respectful difference. Occasionally, a Spiderling falls from above, gets up, and scurries away as soon as it takes one look at the humanoid primordial.
From this vantage point, he can watch new stars rise into the sky. Misshapen shadows are rising too, from a place near Kuhaku's marsh. It takes Dr. Bob a moment to realize that some of those shadows are flying directly towards him.
melt the glass around me to create more stars.
5
Gyweft releases his internal fire again, this time to reshape the glass surrounding him. He scoops out gooey, red-hot chunks of silicate and transforms them into a new set of stars, imbued with even stronger fire than the last. By the time he digs himself out of the massive globule, he has made enough to illuminate universe once again.
He throws each star into the sky, targeting areas that aren't accessible from Nazir's web. They burn brightly, and this time they aren't smothered by Spiderlings.
Grant some spiderlings ability to feed by consuming sand and to stay hidden while near sand.
*removes silk top hat and waves it to Dr Bob*
My respect!
3
The new stars are a great boon to the Spiderlings, but there still aren't enough resources to go around. Nazir's solution, inspired by the manifestation of the World-Eater, is simple. Spiders that can feed on sand will never go hungry.
They modifies a few of their children, changing the spiders' biology until they can feed on sand as well as light. Then Nazir places them on the ground to feed. The desert quickly notices them, and moves to wipe them out, but the newly-created Dustwalkers are difficult to find. They stay in hiding, fighting a guerrilla war against the entire world.
Fly to some of the defeated Spiderlings on their way down, offering them the power of flight in exchange for service.
3
Forced to choose between service and death, most of the Spiderlings accept Gral's deal. They grow wings like his, each feather inked with the full details of their contract.
As it turns out, the difficult part is using their new gift. Gral's servants can glide back to the web, but they inevitably begin to fall again if they do anything too ambitious. They simply don't have the instincts of a true bird.
More Water from Sand. This swamp pleases me.
1
Kuhaku tries to pull more water out of the ground, but something is different this time. The sand has taken notice, and consuming ALERTH only whetted its appetite.
Sand and shadows pour out of the earth, taking shape in a crude imitation of the primordials themselves. Each one is unique- Kuhaku can see a humanoid with its limbs bent backwards, a horned serpent that crawls along the bottom of the marsh, a strange amalgam with a thousand ravening mouths- but they are all horrifying.
The demons shriek as they disperse. Many advance on Kuhaku.
Gyaweft, the Smelter.
-Star-smith.
--------------------------------
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover.
-Enemy of the sands.
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror.
--------------------------------
Nazir, the Weaver.
-God of the great web.
--------------------------------
Ira, the World-Eater.
--------------------------------
Gral, the Contractor.
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings
The Living Sands: An awakened desert that extends outwards indefinitely. It has consumed ALTERTHENTERRINTARTINTH, the being which brought it to life.
--Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
--New Stars: A second set that isn't accessible through the Great Web. Fortunately, that means they can't be blotted out by Spiderlings.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
--Dustwalkers: A Spiderling subspecies which can feed on sand as well as light. They live on the sand and fight an asymmetrical war against it for survival.
--Winged Spiderlings: A group of defeated Spiderlings that made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. Islands rapidly form and dissolve as the sand beneath it moves.
AJAMA, the Demiurge breaks free of the desert. Their spherical body drifts upwards, spinning on an invisible axis.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Task the Winged Spiderlings with building a silken nest at around halfway down the web, but a solid glide's distance away from it. Should any other Spiderlings fall near or onto the nest, they shall be offered the same choice of contract. Should they refuse, they must perform a fall-cycle's amount of labor on the nest in exchange for passage back to the web, if they had landed upon it by happenstance. Then, fly above to the desert, and offer a contract to any Dustwalkers in the area: in exchange for providing information on the world below, the eyes of opportunists and tacticians will be granted to all who accept them.
Winged Spiderlings: 6
Gral: 2
Gral's servants begin building a nest, as commanded. Finding a space unconnected to the web is difficult, since there are so few other places in the sky, but they eventually settle on one of the new stars. It is a good spot, especially since it produces the light that they need to live - so good that some of the other Spiderlings try to invade by descending on smaller webs of their own. If the winged Spiderlings wish to stay, they will need to defend their claim.
Meanwhile, Gral flies back down to the desert. He searches far and wide for the Dustwalkers, but they have hidden themselves well. He fails to find any, even by scouting the sand from up above.
Ira emerges from the sand, it's stomach filled with sand, and seething with anger
Ira sculpts the sand in its belly in the shape of itself, turning sand into flesh, and imbues the flesh with its divine rage and essence. Ira spits out a mass of worms and gives one command. EAT!
Ira creates the Sand Worms, worms who feed on sand and grow bigger the older they get.
2
Ira ignores the earth's continual assaults and tunnels back up to the surface. There it begins coughing up the sand it has eaten, while simultaneously digesting it into miniature versions of Ira itself. While the World-Eater does find that it can turn sand to flesh, the smaller worms are all dead as soon as they emerge from its gullet. Something inside the sand has eaten away the spark of life and hunger that Ira tried to bestow.
The sand's own creatures spread across the world, alive and fully-formed. Their existence is yet another insult.
"I hate sand."
Climb up higher all the way to the stars.
Bob: 2 , Nazir: 3
Dr. Bob climbs upwards as fast as he can, but the demons already have his scent. They fly inexorably closer, devouring hordes of Spiderlings as they breach the lowest levels of the web. For a moment it seems that they will catch up to Dr. Bob, and the sands will try to kill him once again, but then a silk rope drops from up above. He shimmies up it, to Nazir's perch at the top of the great web, and leaves the demons far behind him.
Teach chosen spiders weaving spiritual webs by words of power to catch demons and malicious things
Drop silk rope to Dr Bob to help him in his rising quest
The word seems to weave in rather silly way
Nazir: 4
Initiates: 4
Nazir spins a thick rope of silk and lowers it down to Dr. Bob. The good doctor climbs it admirably quickly, though Nazir can't help but notice that the demons following him have started killing Spiderlings. No matter. That problem will soon be solved, if the primordial spider has anything to say about it.
They call up a few of the strongest and most talented of the Spiderlings, particularly the ones who cover the old stars, and introduce them to the secrets of Weaving. Nazir shows them how to spin the aether itself into mystic webs, webs that can trap shadows and evil spirits. The students are tentative, finding it difficult to work with anything but normal silk, but a few are clever enough to understand Nazir's lessons. They drape spiritual cobwebs over their stars to create basic wards against the demons.
No action
The demons surround Kuhaku, but stand at a distance, wary of the Mirror's strength. Some of the larger beings step forwards to menace them with fangs and knifelike claws. Their faces are reflected on the surface of Kuhaku's body, where slight curvature makes the creatures look even more distorted and grotesque.
melt sand around me to createba tower of glass tall enough to reach the first stars
4v2
Gyaweft unleashes his fires on the sands again, and this time his efforts are more successful. The ground around him burns until it blackens, then melts into a glowing pool of raw material. He continues smelting, funneling in countless more gallons of sand, and begins to shape the glass with his gauntlets. The walls of a tower take shape, growing upwards towards the stars, and between the strands of the great web. More glass flows into the construction, and floors and ceilings flow into place, cooling in the open air. A single spiral staircase runs through the entire length of the tower, from top to bottom, making it possible to climb from the desert to the heights of the sky.
Gyaweft, the Smelter.
-Star-smith.
-Master of the Tower
--------------------------------
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover.
-Enemy of the sands.
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror.
--------------------------------
Nazir, the Weaver.
-God of the great web.
--------------------------------
Ira, the World-Eater.
--------------------------------
Gral, the Contractor.
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings
--------------------------------
AJAMA, the Demiurge
The Living Sands: An awakened desert that extends outwards indefinitely. It has consumed ALTERTHENTERRINTARTINTH, the being which brought it to life.
--Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
--New Stars: A second set that isn't accessible through the Great Web. Fortunately, that means they can't be blotted out by Spiderlings.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
--Dustwalkers: A Spiderling subspecies which can feed on sand as well as light. They live on the sand and fight an asymmetrical war against it for survival.
--Winged Spiderlings: A group of defeated Spiderlings that made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service. They have a contested nest on one of the new stars.
--Aetherweavers: A small number of Spiderlings who can perform magic by spinning aetheric webs. Nazir taught them the basics of their craft, allowing them to create simple wards against evil.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. Islands rapidly form and dissolve as the sand beneath it moves.
Glass Tower: A tower made of glass, raised from the sands by Gyaweft. It extends upwards through the web, tall enough that its upper floors reach the stars.
----------------------------
If two or more primordials collaborate on a single action, everyone rolls and the highest result is taken. It's a handy way to help out your fellow Souls.
NPCs can receive assistance too, and may be able to coordinate with you if they have relevant abilities.
I meant more in a planets sense
That works too!
Hynsyr, the Titan stands up, and streams of dust fall from its many limbs.
A subsumed consciousness reassembles itself, and something Empty is reborn within the sand. Barely any of its identity remains.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sand will adapt. Form weapons of finesse to combat that which sheer force cannot. Harness the great Empty, what remains of my soul, to destroy those who would selfishly consume you. Wield Anger, that primal emotion of your own invention, to drive away these predators.
1
The empty thing whispers to the sand that consumed it. It tells the earth to channel its anger precisely, to eradicate the parasites with Absence, but the sand does not listen. Instead it turns against the voice of its creator, even though that voice is coming from its own body.
A disturbance passes through the earth, and it tries to destroy itself. Hands and pseudopods disintegrate, sinkholes swallow other sinkholes, and matter eats away at the nothingness suffusing it. Parts of the Empty are forced up into the air, where they dissolve, or even deeper into the sand's infinite depths, where they hemorrhage into bubbles and reservoirs. Even the demons destabilize, seizing up or mutilating themselves as they try to separate their sandy bodies from their empty souls.
Swoop by and grab Kuhaku. Wouldn't want anyone dying on us just yet. As soon as that is done, ascend back into the skies, and defend the nest. Snapping strands, eating the larger Spiderlings, swatting the smaller ones off- whatever gets them away from my employees.
Ahem, I wished freedom for my children and let them accept the deals, but now you seem to be stepping too far by consuming sons of my own blood
Create tribe of acid spitting poisonous spiderlings
Also shoot web into annoying bird to get it drop into sands
Gral (airlift): 4
Nazir (acid tribe): 2
Battle for the Nest:
Nazir: 4
Gral: 3
Winged Spiderlings: 5
Invaders: 4
Nazir attempts to give some Spiderlings the ability to spit acid, but the Weaver seems to have made some kind of error while tweaking their biology. The prospective acid-tribe finds it difficult to produce anything other than chemical fumes, no matter how many times they try to spit something more corrosive.
Meanwhile, Gral takes advantage of the demons' distraction to rescue Kuhaku, who seems oddly lethargic given that they were just surrounded by a swarm of murderous sand-creatures. Nonetheless, the Mirror allows themselves to be lifted to safety up on the great web, where they hover next to Dr. Bob and Nazir.
The Contractor's next order of business is to glide down to the nest. The winged Spiderlings are already battling for control of their star, holding the line against a vast swarm of enemies that are descending on them from above. They have a unique advantage, since they can glide back to the web after being thrown off, but their opponents threaten to overwhelm them through sheer force of numbers. Gral's servants are winning, for now, but the tide could turn at any moment.
Gral begins to do just that, by snatching up enemy Spiderlings and tossing them off the web, but they've barely even begun before Nazir decides to intervene. The great spider wraps a string of webbing around one of Gral's wings, making it impossible for the vulture to maneuver.
Ira looks at her children, dead before they even had a chance at life, and unleashes a great howl. Ira's great maw expands, revealing an innumerable amount of jagged teeth.
"The Sands will soon know the pain of losing it's children."
Ira attempts to devour the many of the sand demons
(I'm probably going to die)
2v3
Ira charges at the demons, prepared to die so that it can avenge its stillborn offspring. It collides with a horde, and their battle becomes a flurry of jaws and sharp edges. Ira swallows one demon in a single bite, but the rest of the horde advances on it, raking its side with their serrated claws.
The World-Eater recoils, screaming in pain, and the demons sense weakness. They scramble closer, but something changes as they approach Ira. Ripples pass across the sand, moving from one infinite horizon to the other, and each monster freezes mid-step. They shudder, and the pack turns on itself with the same bloodlust it displayed while hunting. Black ichor flies in every direction as demons commit suicide or slaughter each other.
"And so, my work begins"
Turn the sand below me turn to black goo, and have this black goo spread and consume more sand as it grows
4
AJAMA begins their opus by altering the sand. The grains underneath them meld, much as they did while the Demiurge was creating their body, and congeal into thick black sludge. AJAMA modifies this ooze further, until it is a kind of seed that can grow by consuming the sands. The transformation continues, culminating in the creation of a substance that resembles the primordial's own body. It spreads across the desert like a tumor, turning useless sand into the foundations of a new world.
Build a pair of glass wings not to fly but to glide.
3
Gyaweft uses a stream of fire to melt the sand and create another chunk of glass. He lifts it and moves it inside, where he can work without being disturbed by the sand's wild fluctuations.
This is detail work, much more delicate than the raw force Gyaweft just used to craft his tower. The wings must be durable, to withstand the stresses of flight, and strong enough to support their passenger's weight. Most importantly, the wings must be shaped well, or they will fall instead of catching the air. The Smelter contemplates these qualities and sets to work. He chisels away at the glass with his bare hands, shattering and breaking it until a pair of feathered wings are all that remain.
The wings are beautifully carved, but each has the fragility of, well, glass. They can support Gyaweft's weight without breaking, but it is a close thing. He suspects that they would shatter easily in a collision, or even in a turbulent storm.
"Thank you for saving me from the sand demons, I think I might just stay up here away from the sand for a bit."
Try to make a weapon out of the rope I used to get up here, so I can fight the demons if they get close.
5
Dr. Bob tries to turn the rope into a weapon. He turns the braided silk around, coils it, knots it, and even tries picking apart one of the ends, but nothing seems to work. Webbing is too soft to hold an edge, too light to be used as a bludgeoning implement, and too sticky to make a good whip or garrote. The only redeeming characteristic is its sturdiness, which is on par with good steel.
So instead of a sword or a hammer, Dr. Bob decides to create a net. First he disassembles the rope, unwrapping each of the strands Nazir originally used to construct it. He lays these out in a grid shape, then knots them together to form a kind of artificial web. It's sticky, highly durable, and easy for a humanoid to manipulate, if not quite as natural as a spider's own webbing.
Gyaweft, the Smelter
-Star-smith.
-Master of the Tower.
-Fragile glass wings.
--------------------------------
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover
-Enemy of the sands.
-Spidersilk net.
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror
--------------------------------
Nazir, the Weaver
-God of the great web.
--------------------------------
Ira, the World-Eater
-Wounded flank.
--------------------------------
Gral, the Contractor
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings.
-Hindered by silk.
--------------------------------
AJAMA, the Demiurge
--------------------------------
Hynsyr, the Titan
--------------------------------
The Empty
-Devoured by the sands.
-Destabilized.
--------------------------------
The Living Sands: An awakened desert that extends outwards indefinitely. It consumed ALTERTHENTERRINTARTINTH, the being which brought it to life, and subsumed a part of their consciousness known as the Empty.
--Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
--New Stars: A second set that isn't accessible through the Great Web. Fortunately, that means they can't be blotted out by Spiderlings.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
--Dustwalkers: A Spiderling subspecies which can feed on sand as well as light. They live on the sand and fight an asymmetrical war against it for survival.
--Winged Spiderlings: A group of defeated Spiderlings that made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service. They have a contested nest on one of the new stars.
--Aetherweavers: A small number of Spiderlings who can perform magic by spinning aetheric webs. Nazir taught them the basics of their craft, allowing them to create simple wards against evil.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. Islands rapidly form and dissolve as the sand beneath it moves.
Glass Tower: A tower made of glass, raised from the sands by Gyaweft. It extends upwards through the web, tall enough that its upper floors reach the stars.
Black Ooze: A spreading patch of black goo created by AJAMA. It can grow by absorbing sand.
"STABILIZE YOURSELF OR YOU WILL PERISH. LIFE SEEKS TO LIVE."
Show the sand how it's done. Create a body of alloyed sand and absence, and use it to finish off Ira.
Empty: 1
The emptiness shouts at the desert again, but instead of responding it just screams back with unconstrained rage. So, while the sand continues clawing at itself in a mad frenzy, Empty decides to lead by example instead. It seeps up through thousands of tons of dust, gathering up sand and absence so that it can form a body when it breaches the surface. The material congeals as it begins to organize itself into an imitation of ALTERTH's original form.
When the Empty forces itself out of the ground, that form collapses. The sand, which is still attached to the living world, refuses to bond with nothingness - and without any absence to keep it whole, a demonic body is nothing more than a pile of normal sand. It vanishes quickly, swept away by the world's continued flailing, and the Empty's raw essence hovers above the ground, without any substance to protect it.
Ira focuses on defense and attacks only the demons that approach it or things that approach it and then shamefully retreats when it looks like there's an opening
6
While Ira is still surrounded by demons, but in their rush to kill themselves they seem to be ignoring it. The demon closest to the World-Eater, a deformed centipede, uses its forelegs to decapitate two comrades. It turns around, stares at Ira blankly, and begins slicing off its own legs instead of attacking. They fall to the ground one by one, dissolving into heaps of normal sand.
With its enemies distracted, Ira concludes that it would be easy to create its own way out. So easy, in fact, that the sandworm primordial feels comfortable filling its gullet before it departs. It swallows the centipede in three bites, then continues on to the next three monsters that cross its path. The worm slithers away, its body heavy with void and dust.
Hynsyr brings six of it's arms forward to begin gathering and molding the glorious light the radiates from it's body. Attempting to craft mortal, subservient humanoids from the excess of it's being. For how can the age of tribute begin if there are none to receive submission from?
5
Hynsyr plucks six handfuls of light from its own corona. Five are the deep, vibrant gold of the primordial's body, and once gathered they are pleasantly malleable. Hynsyr works them like clay, rolling and twisting and shaping them until it is holding a hundred small humanoids. It carefully breathes life into each, and each of the Lightfolk walks out into the desert on their own legs.
The sixth light is different. It pools in Hynsyr's hand, and glows kaleidoscopically, like the Titan's own eyes. It splits into seven lumps as Hynsyr pounds on it, and each lump transforms into another mortal. They outshine the rest of Hynsyr's creations, and the air around them comes alive with a thousand vibrant colors.
Throw the net onto one of the demons and pull it up, then drop it from a great height.
1+1 v 5-3
Dr. Bob lowers his net towards the demons, which appear to have begun fighting each other instead of hunting Spiderlings. Streams of dust fall towards the ground as a spiked angel tears apart a pair of demonic buzzards, but while the civil war keeps his opponents occupied, it does not improve Dr. Bob's own aim. His net goes wide, and falls halfway down the great web before Dr. Bob realizes that he hasn't caught anything and reels it back in.
Command the ooze to focus the consumption and growth down
Glide towards black goo melting the sand around it and trapping it in a glass prison.
AJAMA: 6
Gyaweft: 2
AJAMA forces his will into the black ooze, mentally battering and carving at it until it directs its progress down rather than to the sides. The black stain becomes a black spear, forcing itself deep into the depths of the sand. The only thing visible aboveground is a pool of goo, but the demiurge can feel his creation moving deeper and deeper into the earth, until it strikes something strange. The gel strikes a pocket of pure, liquid nothingness, somehow buried thousands of meters beneath the ground. Nonexistent bubbles rise up through AJAMA's column of ooze, visible only as gaps in its senses.
Gyaweft glides above the Demiurge, and throws fireballs down into the newly-created pool of gel. While the Smelter's fires do form a layer of glass over the top of the pool, they don't penetrate very far into the sand. The vast majority of the ooze's mass remains safely below ground, where it can spread unhindered.
shoot more web in annoying bird and spit acid in it , unless it stops eating spiderkind and tearing great web
Give aetherlings lessons on manipulating raw energies of creation, so they get to more advanced level of magic and become leaders and protectors of spiderkind
3
Since Gral has stopped interfering, Nazir once again calls the aetherweavers to the top of the web. They scramble upwards, eager to learn more from their primordial creator, and the gathering begins in earnest. Nazir tells their disciples about the raw power of creation, guiding them through greater and greater acts of magic. Few Spiderlings seem to understand even the bare the fundamentals of the art, and none can replicate any of the feats Nazir performs. Even so, they leave with a much better understanding of how to spin the aether. The old stars were once shrouded in cobwebs, but now strands of webbing stretch between them, lying in wait for any evil power that dares to approach.
Create a race of smaller vultures made from metallic bile, silk, and the sinews of digested spiderlings. These Emmisaries are only required to do two things: Defend the Silken Nest, and scour the ground below for willing deal-makers.
In addition, attempt to bestow an additional contract upon the winged spiderlings, granting them hard, metallic skin.
((Second action deferred for now - see the GM note down below.))
Gral: 1
Winged Spiderlings: 5v1
Gral reluctantly abandons the battle, but finds that their servants are doing well enough on their own. A squad of winged Spiderlings manages to hover above the battlefield, where they can cut the strands of silk their enemies are using to access the nest. Entire battalions of invaders are sent plummeting to the ground. A few even realize that they evade death by accepting Gral's contract, and they use their newly-grown wings to glide back to the star as reinforcements.
The Contractor crafts together bile, silk, and sinew in an attempt to create more defenders for the web, but the components do not form the Emissaries Gral envisioned. Steel maggots crawl from the pile of ingredients instead, many finding their way up into the primordial's own feathers. The bird tries to shake them off, but they cling on tightly by biting into Gral's flesh.
Gyaweft, the Smelter
-Star-smith.
-Master of the Tower.
-Fragile glass wings.
--------------------------------
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover
-Enemy of the sands.
-Spidersilk net.
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror
--------------------------------
Nazir, the Weaver
-God of the great web.
--------------------------------
Ira, the World-Eater
-Wounded flank.
--------------------------------
Gral, the Contractor
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings.
-Hindered by silk.
--------------------------------
AJAMA, the Demiurge
--------------------------------
Hynsyr, the Titan
--------------------------------
The Empty
-Devoured by the sands.
-Severely destabilized.
--------------------------------
The Living Sands: An awakened desert that extends outwards indefinitely. It consumed ALTERTHENTERRINTARTINTH, the being which brought it to life, and subsumed a part of their consciousness known as the Empty.
--Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
--New Stars: A second set that isn't accessible through the Great Web. Fortunately, that means they can't be blotted out by Spiderlings.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
--Dustwalkers: A Spiderling subspecies which can feed on sand as well as light. They live on the sand and fight an asymmetrical war against it for survival.
--Winged Spiderlings: Defeated Spiderlings who made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service, and have built a nest on one of the new stars.
--Aetherweavers: A few Spiderlings who can perform magic by spinning aetheric webs. Nazir taught them the basics of their craft, allowing them to create fairly intricate wards against evil.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. Islands rapidly form and dissolve as the sand beneath it moves.
Glass Tower: A tower made of glass, raised from the sands by Gyaweft. It extends upwards through the web, tall enough that its upper floors reach the stars.
Black Ooze: A patch of black goo created by AJAMA which can grow by absorbing sand. A column of ooze goes deep beneath the earth, where it breached a reservoir of Emptiness.
Lightfolk: A species of humanoid mortals born from Hynsyr's golden light.
--Prismatics: Seven lightfolk which glow brighter than the rest. They were hewn from the rainbow light of Hynsyr's eyes.
--------------------------
I've been fairly lenient with multiple actions so far, but some people have been doing two or three things at once. To be fair to everyone else, I'm going to set a limit of one major action per primordial, significant NPC, or group of NPCs each turn.
Those of you who have servants can still tell them to do things on their own, and adding minor actions that take a moment or two to perform is acceptable (within reason).
"NO NO NO. WRONG, BAD. YOU HAVE ONE MORE CHANCE TO PROVE YOU ARE WORTHY TO LIVE, OTHERWISE I WILL SEE TO IT THAT THE FIT SURVIVE AND THE WEAK DIE."
IMPOSE ORDER UPON THE SANDS
5
The Empty is unraveling in the open air, too weak to persist without its connection to the desert, but it pushes itself downwards anyway, and descends into the sands once again. The grains try to push it back to the surface, or to make it crumple away, but emptiness is at the edge of death, and therefore closest to its true power. It draws strength from the threshold of true, permanent nonexistence, and when it speaks its voice booms. It states its demand: The sand will cease its aggression, or it will perish.
The world calms. Then it moves in reverse. The sand creates new appendages, and turns its attention back to the world above. One thought stops the demons' suicidal rampage, the next directs them towards creatures more deserving of the desert's wrath. Yet another notion passes through the sands' mind, and for the first time it forms eyes to examine its surroundings. Using them, it sees the black ooze that is assimilating it and the Dustwalkers that feed upon its mass.
One eye sprouts in front of the Empty, then transforms into a sinkhole to swallow it whole. ALTERTH's essence spreads through the desert again, slightly weaker than before. The sand around it emanates grudging acceptance.
Free myself from the webbing, and then continue to shake the maggots off. Those of the Silken Nest will drive out the invaders, ideally for good.
Shoot web and spit poison in annoying birb who tried to create existential threat to spider tribes
Serves you right for attempt to create spider eating monstrosities, seems, that I will have to weave a lesson to you
Aetherweavers, I encourage you to study the art of weaving further, before I give you next lesson.
Gral: 3
Maggots: 5 / Nazir: 5
Winged Spiderlings: 2 v 2
Aetherweavers: 6
Gral wriggles out of the strand of webbing that has been restricting its movements, but it cannot seem to shake itself hard or fast enough to dislodge the maggots, which have begun to burrow into the vulture's body. Bugs wiggle just beneath the surface of Gral's skin, growing fat on the blood leaking from underneath its feathers. Their needle-like teeth distract Gral from Nazir, who spits poison and webbing at the Contractor's head. Gral desperately serves away from the web, but venom splatters across its left wing. Maggots that come into contact with the liquid curl up and die, but the primordial's own skin also shrivels.
-------------------
The winged Spiderlings have already cleared their nest of enemies, so they advance upwards, to mount a counter-invasion on the strands of webbing above them. Silken Nest troops try to seize strategic staging grounds, but the normal Spiderlings drive them off with renewed vigor, now that the battle is on their own turf. Wings are not nearly as useful, now that the battle itself isn't taking place in midair, and so the assault is soon driven off. A stalemate develops, since neither side is wants to engage in a place where their opponents have an advantage.
-------------------
The Aetherweavers meditate on Nazir's last lesson. While they could not understand it at first, certain concepts become more clear to them as time passes. Aetheric configurations hover on the edges of their awareness, fundamental concepts just out of reach, and hours pass as the Great Spider's students feverishly pursue them. They work themselves half to death in their search for comprehension, but finally a single, brilliant truth is apparent to them. Silk not just a source of protection. It is a structural element. Just a spider could reinforce something with physical silk, a sufficiently powerful Aetherweather could tie magic around their own spirit, to protect or augment themselves as they see fit.
Ira diverts essence to it's wounded flank to heal
Ira howls out to the seemingly empty desert "Any Dustwalkers who appear before me shall receive a blessing to help with their war with the sand."
4 , 3
The demons are strange creatures. Their bodies crumble away uselessly in Ira's stomach, no more nourishing than ordinary sand, but there is an extra something inside them that reminds the worm of its own flesh. It digests this essence slowly, taking care to channel each bit through the gouges in its side. Like joins with like, and flesh accumulates in the wounds as the healing continues. Once it is done, the only trace of Ira's injuries are lines of black scar tissue.
Eyes form around Ira as the sand stabilizes itself and looks outwards, but when the sandworm calls to the Dustwalkers many of the Spiderlings are still brave to come. They emerge from folds between dunes and underground burrows to congregate around Ira, thrilled to see a primordial who shares in their war against the sand.
Hynsyr looks upon his creations and reaches out with his being. He connects his consciousness with the minds of his children.
"You have been born and therefore the Age of Tribute has begun. By your birth your kind has formed an eternal debt of life to your origin. This debt is your purpose and you shall pay it in tribute. This tribute shall come in the form of worship and sacrifice. I shall now deliver onto you the Cycle you have been tied to. The Age of Tribute begins with your birth and during this age when it is deemed a time of sacrifice I shall call upon you to offer up your tribute. Should you or any of your kin that come after you fail to give tribute to appease your debt of life then an Age of Conflict shall follow. In the Age of Conflict you shall have the chance to rekindle the Age of Tribute by the sacrifice of those who would neglect their debt. If you are unwilling or unable to rekindle the Age of Tribute then the Age of Rebirth shall begin and I shall reap my debt in full. If the debt is not appeased then all who I have gifted life shall return to being one with me."
Hynsyr allows this knowledge to settle in their minds for a moment.
"Know that the Age of Tribute is not without it's rewards for you are my beloved creations and I shall deliver upon you a gift with which to carve your way through this world."
Hynsyr will attempt to teach his children to shape and mold their inferior light so that they might be blessed with the gift of a lesser power of creation.
6
Hynsyr tells his children about their role in his plan, and of their place in the great cycle of tribute, beginnings, and endings. Many of the beings bow their heads in silent acceptance as he speaks to them about the age of tribute, and the cosmic debt that they owe, and the doom that may one day awakes them. But when he teaches them to mold their own light, the primordial does not bother to speak. He bombards them with knowledge, transmitted through his glowing halo and bombarded directly into their heads. Prismatics clutch their heads and scream as universal truths are revealed, and the great golden masses soon follow. Their creators' power is too great for them to contain.
So the magic pours out of them, through their mouths and eyes, and sometimes by ripping additional holes in their body. Creative energies continually twists the mortals' auras into new forms, and when that is not enough of an outlet, the power distorts their bodies as well. The rapid shifts make their substance flicker like fire, especially when they channel their wild gift.
"Hay everyone's making little people things, I want some of those."
Make some little people things in my image out of whatevers available (just don't use living things for this).
4
Dr. Bob scoops up a handful of silk from Nazir's web, and weaves it in much the same way that he wove the net. A humanoid shape appears as he coils the strands around each other, using a precise series of knots to transform raw material into silken dolls. When details are added, the dolls soften, becoming flesh and blood where before there was only string. Dr. Bob continues, carefully adding a deer head to each of the bodies that he has created, and when his work is complete a pile of fully-grown bodies lies in front of him. They look like Bob himself, minus the lab coat, and each is about half his height.
Once they come to life and start standing up, it becomes clear that the deer-men still tower above all but the largest Spiderlings. There are only a few of them, as compared to vast swarms of Nazir's children, but Dr. Bob's creations will still be able to hold their own in the constant conflict of the web.
"This world have a curious fascination with nothing, interesting"
Have the ooze try and surround the pocket, and myself dive into the ooze and try to get to the pocket.
3
AJAMA plunges into the ooze, allowing their smooth body to sink to the bottom of the massive gel column. The light of the stars soon fades behind them, smothered by the sands and the near-opacity of the black ooze, but the Demiurge can steel feel the pool of nothingess down below. Upon further inspection it actually appears to be less than nothing: even empty space would feel more full. It also feels familiar, somehow, like a piece of AJAMA's own body. Perhaps it came from another soul.
While AJAMA is contemplating the nature of Emptiness, the ground around them twitches. Eyes made of sand protrude out into the goop, apparently unaffected by the darkness, and a few mouths form for the sole purpose of shrieking in rage. Sand closes in from every angle to crush the goop that has been eating away at it.
build a small spaceship out of reinforced glass (Gyaweft being source of power to take lift)
6
The desert resumes its jabbering, and Gyweft resumes his smelting. He presses his gauntlets to the ground, and allows the heat radiating from them to make it soft and pliable. The Smelter forces the plasma inside his body to balloon out into the sand, where it forms a hollow bubble of glass to serve as the base of another flying machine. This one is more powerful than the last, made of a material far stronger and harder than glass has any right to be. Gyaweft examines his handiwork while shaping the wings and tail, and finds it satisfactory. This is a vessel which could soar beyond even the farthest stars.
The only remaining task is to make the craft's engine. Gyaweft's own internal fire is a suitable power source, but an apparatus is still necessary to harness the combustion. The living armor turns handfuls of sand into glass pipes and valves, and in the interior of the ship he assembles them into a strange series of devices. Tubes and syringes jut into the Smelter's own body, to draw his essence into the mechanism, where flues push it back it through tubes that resemble arteries and veins. Gyaweft himself hangs in the center of it all like a beating, red-hot heart.
The vessel is so perfectly bonded with Gyaweft that it is like a second body around him. It channels every last drop of his fire, to fly like the wind and burn with the light of a thousand stars. It is difficult to tell where Sunship begins and Smelter ends. If one were to die, in this merged state, the other would surely follow.
Gyaweft, the Smelter
-Star-smith.
-Master of the Tower.
-Fragile glass wings.
-Sunship.
--------------------------------
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover
-Enemy of the sands.
-Spidersilk net.
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror
--------------------------------
Nazir, the Weaver
-God of the great web.
--------------------------------
Ira, the World-Eater
-Blackened Scars
--------------------------------
Gral, the Contractor
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings.
-Infested.
-Envenomed Wing.
--------------------------------
AJAMA, the Demiurge
--------------------------------
Hynsyr, the Titan
--------------------------------
The Empty
-Devoured by the sands.
-Thinned.
--------------------------------
The Living Sands: An awakened desert that extends outwards indefinitely. It consumed ALTERTHENTERRINTARTINTH, the being which brought it to life, and subsumed a part of their consciousness known as the Empty.
--Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
--New Stars: A second set that isn't accessible through the Great Web. Fortunately, that means they can't be blotted out by Spiderlings.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
--Silken Nest: A new star that the winged spiderlings have claimed as a nest. It can only be reached by gliding or descending on strands of silk..
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
--Dustwalkers: A Spiderling subspecies which can feed on sand as well as light. They live on the sand and fight an asymmetrical war against it for survival.
--Winged Spiderlings: Defeated Spiderlings who made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service, and have built a nest on one of the new stars.
--Aetherweavers: A few Spiderlings who can perform magic by spinning aetheric webs. Nazir taught them the basics of their craft, allowing them to create fairly intricate wards against evil. A few of them have strained their minds and bodies to discover the secret of self-augmentation.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. Islands rapidly form and dissolve as the sand beneath it moves.
Glass Tower: A tower made of glass, raised from the sands by Gyaweft. It extends upwards through the web, tall enough that its upper floors reach the stars.
Black Ooze: A patch of black goo created by AJAMA which can grow by absorbing sand. A column of ooze goes deep beneath the earth, where it breached a reservoir of Emptiness.
Lightfolk: A species of humanoid mortals born from Hynsyr's golden light. Their powers of creation threaten to overwhelm their bodies, causing their inner light to warp chaotically.
--Prismatics: Seven lightfolk which glow brighter than the rest. They were hewn from the rainbow light of Hynsyr's eyes.
Deer-Men: A humanoid race with the heads of deer. Dr. Bob originally crafted them from the silk of Nazir's web.
Create a new demon with the power to harness Nothingness.
6
The Emptiness in the sand tears off a piece of itself, and transforms it into a living creature. What was once an amorphous blob of spirit is carefully refined, shaped and reshaped by the emptiness until it almost resembles a primordial. The end result is inferior to a true soul, but it still has a kind of metaphysical weight to it. The thing was shaped a in soul's image, from the flesh and blood of a soul, and by that that soul's own will, and so it is essentially a fragment of the Empty itself. All of the demons are, since the sand crafted them from ALTERTH's remains, but this one has more identity than the rest. Even more power flows into it, and it is granted the Empty's own power to manipulate Nothingness.
The new soul sinks into ground, where its touch causes the sand around it to transform. Grains melt and reform heatlessly, forming a lump of black obsidian for the demon to inhabit. The creature pulls itself free with a series of cracks, snapping as it form joints for its limbs and adopts its final shape. When the birthing is complete, it looks like a serpentine dragon with seven pairs of wings.
It bursts from the ground near Ira, perhaps because it has inherited the Empty's knowledge of primordials. Pseudopods form around the archdemon as the sands themselves prepare to fight alongside it.
Hynsyr attempts to help his creations learn how to contain and use their new power.
Hynsyr: 3
Tribute: 6
Hynsyr grants more knowledge to the mortals, this time in a slightly more gentle manner. Their magical gifts are almost impossible to control, but with practice many find it possible to stabilize their bodies and reign in the wild spasms of creations that are channeled through them. While gaining complete control over their ability will require practice, these fundamentals should make them more capable of using magic constructively. With time and practice, the increased strength of their gifts may even become a boon rather than a curse.
Which isn't to say that they've mastered the technique quite yet. A multicolored aura flares up as one of the Prismatics fails to restrain their power. When Hynsyr blinks the spots out of his eyes, a red spike three times his height is embedded in the ground. Small sparks of light jump from the surface of the construct as the energy inside it fluctuates.
"Hello little ones, I have a gift for you."
Ira removes one of her many teeth and plants it in the ground and from it sprouts a huge fortress-like tree made of bone; it's branches grow, and the Dustwalkers can harvest them to form tools and other things.
"No longer shall you have to hide from the sands! Also as another gift I shall tell you three things that could help in your war with the sand. First, on the great web a mighty primordial named Kuhaku lies. It's mind is feeble and it no longer moves, but it's essence remains. Perhaps if you capture it, it can be put to good use. Second, there is ooze created by a primordial named AJAMA, it grows by absorbing the sand, seek the ooze out and use if for your war with the sand. Third, beneath the sand lies a great emptiness, the remnants of the primordial ALT, it exercises limited control of the sand, but it is still dangerous and powerful. Good luck in you war little ones."
1
Ira places one of its teeth in the sand, and a bone sapling sprouts from the dust only a moment later. It grows at an astonishing pace, and cavities form in its trunk to lay the groundwork for a great fortress. At first the Dustwalkers skitter around in glee, glad that they will finally have a new home of their own, but they stop when the sand's eyestalks all swivel towards the fortress. A lump rises from the ground, far larger than any ordinary dune, and from it emerges one of the most fearsome creatures that Ira has ever seen. It is an obsidian dragon with seven sets of wings, large enough to rival the primordials themselves. Wisps of nothingness pour from its mouth.
When it surfaces, the sand surrounds it with a second set of appendages. These are large hands and tendrils, constructed for the express purpose of crushing enemies. They tower above the bone-tree, which can't possibly grow fast enough to defend itself.
The Ooze try to stand it ground while taking bubbles of emptiness and storing them inside of it, I rise to just below the top of the column, moving around and creating holes in the sand on my way there
AJAMA: 1
Ooze: 3 v 3
The black ooze holds back the sand by absorbing it at an even faster rate. The desert's hands disrupt it by stirring it around, and streams of nothingness annihilate large portions of the pool, but for now AJAMA's creation is still strong enough to hold back the tide. Sandy appendages are eaten away about as quickly as they're created, restoring mass as quickly as it can be destroyed.
Meanwhile, AJAMA swells to contain the reservoir of nothingness. The liquid emptiness streams in eagerly, and in a large enough quantity to overwhelm the Demiurge. It tries to cut off the flow and tear itself free of the nothing, but even then the stream of void does not stop. It erodes the black spheres' insides like a poison, as if attempting to consume the Demiurge from within their own body. AJAMA screams, even as they become buoyant enough to float back up to the surface of the goo.
fly beyond the stars to know what is there to discover a new world
6
The Sunship leaps into the air like a fish would throw itself into the water. In an instant Gyaweft is transported from the land, where his ship is slow and cumbersome, to the air, where it is more graceful than any other creature. The primordial flies up past the tower, through the strands of the great web, and to the stars, which still hang where Gyaweft themself once threw them. Some have been blotted out by Spiderling colonies, but the majority stand free, glowing with soft radiance. Despite their beauty, they have only a fraction of the sheer glory and power of the Sunship.
Gyaweft goes higher, and his craft illuminates the entirety of the sand below. The armored primordial can see everything: the demons, the marsh, the great web, and even the other primordials. But as he continues to ascend, the world that they have built becomes a tiny speck in the distance. In fact, the Smelter is struck by how empty the world still is, despite all that he has done. Living sand stretches to a distant, possibly-nonexistent horizon, and the atmosphere above it is practically untouched.
"Okay kids see the sand down there its evil and it hates you, so don't go down there."
Focus for a bit and try to make something the size of a brick appear in my hand.
3
The deer-men nod at Dr. Bob before grouping up to fight their way over to a star. It's unclear why they want it, given that they can't feed on light like Nazirs progeny do, but they take control of the area easily enough that they may not need a pressing reason at all. Their size makes them juggernauts among the hordes of bugs, especially once they discover that they can just trample Spiderlings beneath their feet. A few deer-men wander off, but none descend beyond the bottommost reaches of the web.
Now that his children have been informed of the most likely danger, Dr. Bob continues experimenting with his powers of creation. He focuses on his empty hand, and wills matter to appear there. The air around the doctor crackles, but not even a grain of sand appears in his palm. The hand remains empty regardless of how much he concentrates or how long he waits.
Gyaweft, the Smelter
-Star-smith.
-Master of the Tower.
-Fragile glass wings.
-Sunship.
--------------------------------
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover
-Enemy of the sands.
-Spidersilk net.
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror
--------------------------------
Nazir, the Weaver
-God of the great web.
--------------------------------
Ira, the World-Eater
-Blackened Scars
--------------------------------
Gral, the Contractor
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings.
-Infested.
-Envenomed Wing.
--------------------------------
AJAMA, the Demiurge
-Poisoned by Nothing
--------------------------------
Hynsyr, the Titan
--------------------------------
The Empty
-Devoured by the sands.
-Thinned.
--------------------------------
The Living Sands: An awakened desert that extends outwards indefinitely. It consumed ALTERTHENTERRINTARTINTH, the being which brought it to life, and subsumed a part of their consciousness known as the Empty.
--Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
--Obsidian Archdemon: An obsidian dragon crafted by the Empty itself. It was granted the power to manipulate nothness.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
--New Stars: A second set that isn't accessible through the Great Web. Fortunately, that means they can't be blotted out by Spiderlings.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
--Silken Nest: A new star that the winged spiderlings have claimed as a nest. It can only be reached by gliding or descending on strands of silk..
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
--Dustwalkers: A Spiderling subspecies which can feed on sand as well as light. They live on the sand and fight an asymmetrical war against it for survival.
--Winged Spiderlings: Defeated Spiderlings who made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service, and have built a nest on one of the new stars.
--Aetherweavers: A few Spiderlings who can perform magic by spinning aetheric webs. Nazir taught them the basics of their craft, allowing them to create fairly intricate wards against evil. A few of them have strained their minds and bodies to discover the secret of self-augmentation.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. Islands rapidly form and dissolve as the sand beneath it moves.
Glass Tower: A tower made of glass, raised from the sands by Gyaweft. It extends upwards through the web, tall enough that its upper floors reach the stars.
Black Ooze: A patch of black goo created by AJAMA which can grow by absorbing sand. A column of ooze goes deep beneath the earth, where it breached a reservoir of Emptiness.
Lightfolk: A species of humanoid mortals born from Hynsyr's golden light. Their powers of creation threaten to overwhelm their bodies, causing their inner light to warp chaotically. Many have begun to train so that they can gain more control over this ability.
--Prismatics: Seven lightfolk which glow brighter than the rest. They were hewn from the rainbow light of Hynsyr's eyes.
Deer-Men: A humanoid race with the heads of deer. Dr. Bob originally crafted them from the silk of Nazir's web.
Bone Sapling: A tree grown from one of Ira's teeth. It is currently under attack by an Archdemon, but if it survives it will grow into a fortress to house the Dustwalkers.
Gral falls back to the safety of the Silken nest, and has the followers not engaged in defense pick the maggots out of its body, and seal them in tightly wound balls of silk. While this happens, it creates Brass Buzzards out of its own shed metal feathers.
Winged Spiderlings: 5 v 4
Gral: 6
Gral allows itself to drift down to the Silken Nest, where a legion of Winged Spiderlings awaits his arrival. A thick mass of arachnids crawls over the vulture to manually drag maggots from its flesh. The steel larvae have buried themselves deeply in the primordial's body, but arachnids drag them out with fangs and long strands of silk. Some must be ripped from Gral's body, usually alongside large chunks of flesh, but the Contractor grits its teeth through the pain. Better to excise the infection now, when the maggots haven't had a chance to feast on its organs.
The maggots are contained in silk cocoons as soon as they're torn away from Gral, but their bindings are less than secure. A few eat through the strands and throw themselves off of the Nest. Starlight glints off their carapaces as they fall to the ground.
While its followers work, Gral plucks a few feathers from its poisoned wing and assembles them into smaller birds. Their metal bodies darken, transitioning from the light silver of steel to the deep gold of brass, and the Contractor allows a little of its own being to seep into them as they awaken. The buzzards' movements are smooth, but Gral notices that their bodies have a few very sharp edges, and their eyes burn with reflected pain.
I am weakened. Rest, and dream.
3
Feeling itself grow faint, the Empty retreats beneath the sands to sleep. Its consciousness slips away, attached to its essence only by the thinnest of strings, and withdraws into its own mind. Within its mind, the soul hovers above a vast expanse of sand. This is not the living sand that it has grown accustomed to, or the confused sand waging war against itself. It is broad and untouched, just as it was before the world began.
Fragments of nothingness float above it. A chunk of ALT's arm drifts passed, followed by amorphous pockets of liquid Empty and wisps of essence that hang in the air like streams of smoke. The Empty feels a kind of kindred with them, even though it can't recall where many of the pieces came from. And eventually, it realizes that it isn't just walking among them. It is the largest fragment, and the most significant, but it drifts along just like the rest.
"Dustwalkers you fight the psuedopods, I will handle the paltry excuse of a dragon."
Ira charges the arch-demon and coils around it, crushing it's obsidian body to pieces (hopefully)
Sand: 5 v Dustwalkers: 5
Ira: 1 v Archdemon: 5
The Dustwalkers surround their bone-tree, ganging up on the sand's pseudopods whenever they move within biting range. While a few smaller limbs prod and slap at the mass of Spiderlings, most of the sand's larger constructions circle the battlefield in search of an opening that does not yet exist. The tribe is content to leave them alone while Ira wrangles the giant monster bearing down on them.
Ira wraps itself around its archdemon counterpart, but the dragon's obsidian body is sharp. The edges of its wings dig into the World-Eater's flesh, and the jagged edges of its limbs pierce the worm like so many spears. Ira backpedals and tries to disentangle itself before it can be hurt any worse, but the archdemon uses its own serpentine body to prevent its opponent from getting away.
"You now possess the gift of life and the gift of creation. Use these gifts and live your mortal lives as you wish. Spread, create, learn, and worship. Enjoy the wonders of life but know that I shall always be watching until the time of Tribute. You are my chosen creations which are bound to the Cycle and therefore both enjoy it's benefits and bear it's burden. I eagerly await what you shall do with your gifts."
Hynsyr shall now let the Lightfolk do as they please. Vigilantly watching to both observe what his creations will do with their gifts and to make sure that the others of his kind will not tamper with them so early into the Age of Tribute.
Hynsyr leaves the Lightfolk to their own devices, but keeps a careful watch over them from his place in the desert. A ominous voice speaks to him from the sand, and promises that it will one day break the cycle, but those promises are only words. There are no other threats to Hynsyr's children, and so he gazes at them in silence as they venture out into the world. The mortals are unaccustomed to this world, and as they explore they marvel at the size of the great web and the peculiar motion of the sands. A few look up at the sky, wondering whether it was Hynsyr who created the sun and stars.
The Lightfolk are frightened when they see the twisted forms of demons on the horizon, but realize that they can prepare themselves for the worst. They channel their powers of creation, and a few spires of light flicker into existence above the sands. Many have irregularities, like uneven side lengths or bizarre holes in the walls, but they make serviceable shelters. If enemies approach, they will be fairly defensible as well.
Summon most gifted sand spiderlings and winged spiderlings and aetherweavers to give them lesson on weaving destructive words of power to harm nonspiderlings by unweaving their spirit
Weaving is an art holding immense power for those daring to dwell deep into its secrets
5
Nazir uses strands of silk to gather up a few Spiderlings from each of the nascent clans. The chosen Dustwalkers are confused at first, after preparing to fight the archdemons just moments ago, and the Winged Spiderlings are suspicious of Nazir after watching what the great spider did to Gral. They are comforted slightly by the presence of the Aetherweathers, who limp in on weakened legs. They teach the basics of Weaving to the other tribes while Nazir calls their court to order.
The primordial teaches them an entirely new technique, with far more destructive power than any feat of Weaving that has been attempted before. Spirits are like tangled, infinitely complex knots in the strands of the universe, but a skilled Aetherweaver can still force them to unravel. Spiderlings hang on Nazir's every word as the great spider describes this process to them in gruesome, painstaking detail.
The Dustwalkers and Winged understand the basics of the technique, and become Aetherweavers in their own right once they master it, but it is the original group of Weavers who truly take Nazir's teachings to heart. They use the same principles to create other, more varied destructive spells, which tear at flesh and disintegrate inanimate matter. Now that they're not the only magical weavers, they take to calling themselves the Order of Strands.
"Retreat! Retreat! We can't win forever"
Use some of the goo to heal myself, then go float above the sand with as much ooze as possible.
1
AJAMA submerges itself in goo again, but whenever it tries to absorb the black ooze, the Nothingness forces itself into the opening instead. More and more Emptiness seeps into the Demiruge, until their body is filled with a dangerous amount of foreign essence. Craters appear on the primordial's surface as Emptiness wears away at them, only for the missing material to be replaced by greater and greater quantities of void. It surrounds AJAMA, preventing them from moving or sensing their surroundings.
keep flying up in search of answers.
are we truly alone? Is the sand all that exist? Are we powerful enough to afect the infinity like ALTERTHENTERRINTARTINTH apparently did when he gave life to the sands?
6
Gyaweft continues upwards, seemingly for an eternity. The Sunship is faster than anything else in the universe, and it bears him so far beyond his birthplace that even the Great Web becomes impossible to see. With nothing else around him, the Smelter is left to contemplate the great, infinite emptiness of the world. Sand and sky are the only things left.
He sees nothing else, no matter how far he travels, but for some reason Gyaweft cannot accept that he is alone. He remembers his existence as an unborn soul, before this era of creation. He still feels the presence of others, yet to manifest bodies of their own. They sit quietly and thoughtlessly, but they are there. Perhaps more are incarnating, infinitely far away, and building worlds of their own. Perhaps not. From this limited vantage point, it is difficult to tell.
Gyaweft also contemplates the sand. It is unclear how ALTERTH awakened the world, but the feat must surely be possible for another Primordial to replicate. How else could the Nothing have done it, just moments after the world came to be? Whether ALT truly did create something infinite is also unclear, but wherever Gywaeft looks, the sand always seems to be fluctuating. That might be proof enough.
As he gazes out into the infinite, The Smelter feels something within himself stir.
"What the hell you kids doing, your not supposed to kill the spiders, if you keep killing them Nazir will kick us off of the web and then we'll be killed by the sand."
Try to turn one of the stars into a vehicle, with out killing any of the spiders.
3
The deer men back off as soon as Dr. Bob tells them to stop, even going so far as to apologize to the Spiderlings they were just trying to murder. The horde of arachnids pauses for a moment to consider this, but the tentative peace breaks down when the humanoids fail to return. Allies of convenience begin fighting each other again, and spider kills spider as they vie for control of the precious, light-producing star.
Dr. Bob non-lethally brushes them off, but his attempts to chisel the star into a vehicle don't go nearly as well. In the end it's more of a misshapen blob, with sparks of fire streaming out of one particularly deep crack in the glass.
Gyaweft, the Smelter
-Star-smith.
-Master of the Tower.
-Fragile glass wings.
-Sunship.
-Verge of the Infinite
--------------------------------
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover
-Enemy of the sands.
-Spidersilk net.
-Broken Star
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror
--------------------------------
Nazir, the Weaver
-God of the great web.
--------------------------------
Ira, the World-Eater
-Blackened Scars
-Pierced by Obsidian
--------------------------------
Gral, the Contractor
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings.
-Gouged Flesh
-Envenomed Wing.
--------------------------------
AJAMA, the Demiurge
-Partially subsumed by Nothing
--------------------------------
Hynsyr, the Titan
--------------------------------
The Empty
-Devoured by the sands.
-Thinned.
-To sleep, perchance to dream.
--------------------------------
The Living Sands: An awakened desert that extends outwards indefinitely. It consumed ALTERTHENTERRINTARTINTH, the being which brought it to life, and subsumed a part of their consciousness known as the Empty.
--Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
--Obsidian Archdemon: An obsidian dragon crafted by the Empty itself. It was granted the power to manipulate nothness.
-Steel Maggots: Metallic larvae which Gral accidentally created while trying to create bird Emissaries. After they were pulled off of the vulture, few escaped into the desert.
-Brass Buzzards: Brass birds crafted from Gral's feathers. They are infused with the pain it felt while creating them.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
--New Stars: A second set that isn't accessible through the Great Web. Fortunately, that means they can't be blotted out by Spiderlings.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
--Silken Nest: A new star that the winged spiderlings have claimed as a nest. It can only be reached by gliding or descending on strands of silk.
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
--Dustwalkers: A Spiderling subspecies which can feed on sand as well as light. They live on the sand and fight an asymmetrical war against it for survival.
--Winged Spiderlings: Defeated Spiderlings who made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service, and have built a nest on one of the new stars.
--Aetherweavers: A few Spiderlings who can perform magic by spinning aetheric webs. Nazir taught them the basics of their craft, allowing them to create fairly intricate wards against evil.
-Order of Threads: The first Spiderlings to learn the art of Aetherweaving. Many have strained their minds and bodies to hone their abilities, making them feeble despite their mystical strength.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. Islands rapidly form and dissolve as the sand beneath it moves.
Glass Tower: A tower made of glass, raised from the sands by Gyaweft. It extends upwards through the web, tall enough that its upper floors reach the stars.
Black Ooze: A patch of black goo created by AJAMA which can grow by absorbing sand. A column of ooze goes deep beneath the earth, where it breached a reservoir of Emptiness.
Lightfolk: A species of humanoid mortals born from Hynsyr's golden light. Their powers of creation threaten to overwhelm their bodies, causing their inner light to warp chaotically. Many have begun to train so that they can gain more control over this ability.
--Prismatics: Seven lightfolk which glow brighter than the rest. They were hewn from the rainbow light of Hynsyr's eyes.
-Light Spires: A rudimentary settlement made by the Lightfolk using their creation magic.
Deer-Men: A humanoid race with the heads of deer. Dr. Bob originally crafted them from the silk of Nazir's web.
Bone Sapling: A tree grown from one of Ira's teeth. It is currently under attack by an Archdemon, but if it survives it will grow into a fortress to house the Dustwalkers.
WHAT IS BROKEN MAY BECOME WHOLE ONCE MORE. AND YET-
No, I like myself the way I am. ALTERTHENTERRINTARTINTH chose to die. It would be pointless to kill what I am now to revive what I once was.
But these fragments remain, drifting unharnessed. Perhaps rather than absorbing them, I can do something else. Once again breathe life into something dead.
Sing out to my kindred, calling to them to wake up as I have. We who were once one shall become many.
4
Within its dream, the Empty grows a mouth to call out to the other fragments of itself. Many of the smaller shards remain inert, too scattered or weak to begin thinking again, but some of the larger pieces of nothingness are awakened by its voice. They form identities for the third or fourth time since ALTERTHENTERRINTARTINTH orginal manifestation, and these new forms become reflected in the Dreamscape. Essence grows, congeals, and compacts into a wide variety of new shapes, each bearing only vague similarities to the Empty itself. They vanish when their transformations are complete, leaving the barren sands of their mind so that they can once again enter the waking world.
The Empty is left alone, with only a few of the weakest, least distinct blobs of Nothing for company. With the air cleared, it can see the imaginary desert stretching off into infinity. Then fissures appear, and the Empty feels burning pain that is not the least bit imaginary.
Ira realizes it could not beat the Archdemon, Ira was too wounded, and the Archdemon too strong. Ira searches for some way to stay alive, to not become nothingness, and has an epiphany. The Archdemon is empty inside, it lacks a true soul. Ira attempts to transit her soul into the Archdemon, filling the emptiness and taking control of it's body.
Ira: 1 v Archdemon: 1+2
Dustwalkers: 1 v Sand: 3
Ira's projects her soul out of her body. There is a moment of complete nothingness when her sensory organs are stripped away, followed by the slow return of awareness as the World-Eater's essence collects itself into an astral form. The disembodied spirit is a mirror-image of Ira's sandworm body, and remains connected to it by an extremely thin strand of aether. The physical world is dim here, as if seen from a great distance, but the soul has no trouble locating the Archdemon. Sensing its mind is jarring, like slithering into a gap in reality.
Ira throws herself towards that hole, but the Demon's essence is stronger than she thought it would be. It rebuffs her easily by creating a barrier of Nothiness around itself, then focuses on the physical world so it can continue mauling Ira's body. The thread connecting it to her spirit grows thinner by the second.
The goo create a sphere from itself and I transfer my soul and essence to it, it will be my new body as this one is consumed by nothingness.
AJAMA: 6
Nothing: 3
AJAMA throws itself out of its own body. The Demiurge's jettisoned essence skips across space too quickly to become a spirit, but it can sense the Emptiness taking control of the black sphere body. Waves of nonexistence ripple across its surface as Primordial substance is overwhelmed by the non-flesh beneath, which shrugs it off like a cocoon. The thing emerging from the shell resembles AJAMA superficially, but it is actually a kind of shadow, made from Nothing rather than Something.
The original lands in the Ooze, which it gathers around itself to create a new vessel. The black goo is easy to manipulate, having already been accustomed to obeying AJAMA's commands, and moving it feels almost effortless, but its nature is not as flexible as raw sand. Instead of transforming into another generic black sphere, the Demiurge's new body remains as it is: a living mass of slime that is largely buried in the ground.
"Hay kids I need you guys to help me with this thing."
Get the deer men to help me make this star into a vehicle.
1 , 1
The deer-men have no idea how to turn a star into something else, and the thought probably wouldn't have occurred to them at all if Dr. Bob hadn't suggested it. Nonetheless, they do their best to help their creator, in their own naive way. This generally means punching the star as heard as they can, and hoping they carve it into the right shape before their hands are sliced to ribbons. Their first major innovation as a species is to use their antlers instead, but that strategy backfires when one of them wedges his horns in the preexisting crack. The head-shake he uses to dislodge himself splits the star open instead, allowing the fiery essence inside it to gush out. The explosion throws deer-men in every direction and sets a few of the nearest strands of webbing on fire.
Gyaweft examines the feeling for a few seconds then he flies at the maximun possible speed towards the ground.
The objective is hitting the ground at such speed that when combined with it's own power it will break the world into 9 worlds one for each, eliminating conflict bettween the great souls.
4 v 2
The feeling is new and strange, but not unpleasant. It reminds Gyaweft of when he first recognized his own existence.
It's a difficult sensation to process, and he is forced to abandon it while he focuses on tilting the Sunship downwards, but the armor can still feel an unformed thought echoing in the back of his mind. It stays with him as he descends, even though he is using his full attention to stoke the ship's engines. It falls faster and faster, pushed back towards the sands with every scrap of force that Gyaweft can muster. The sun descends from the sky like a blazing meteor. Armageddon begins when it strikes the ground.
Parts of the ship break apart, spintered by either the massive G-forces of the descent or the impact of a singularly traumatic reentry. Gyaweft's fire leaks through the hull and splatters across the sand like spilled blood, burning with enough intensity to turn sand into glass for miles around. The sky turns red with reflected light, then black with smoke and ash. The Smelter struggles to raise his head, but is rewarded by the sight of fissures spreading through the desert. The living world groans as it desperately struggles to hold itself together.
All is determined by the Bargain, and the Bargain is powered by the deals made within it. Using the skill of the Bargain, Gral transfers the venom on its wing, infusing it within the recesses of the Shifting Bog. In exchange, it grants this land to the Steel Maggots , as part of a contract for ending hostilities.
The Winged that had not attended the conference of Nazir will continue tending to the wounds they made, binding the wounds in woven silk. Those that did shall conference with the Brass Buzzards, in an attempt to awaken the power of Bargain within the Weavers. Any intrigued Weaver from the other tribes is welcome to attend, in exchange for an oath to never use their powers against Gral and those contracted to it.
Gral: 6
Winged Spiderlings: 5
Winged Weavers: 1 , 4
Gral tears away the poisoned flesh of his wing and tosses it down towards the shifting bog. The chunk of hide sinks to the bottom, and the venom tainting it seeps into the swamp as well. Nazir's poison coalsesces as acid in the bottom of the marsh, and boils up to the surface as marsh gasses and foul algae. Then the Contractor offers the Steel Maggots a Bargain, shouted so loudly from his place in the Silken Nest that they can hear it on the sand, thousands of meters below. They may claim the bog as their homeland, if they accept the vulture's offering of peace. After a brief period of negotiation the larvae crawl into the marsh willingly, and vanish into its waters.
While Gral negotiates a ceasefire, its servants are busy with more practical matters. The winged Spiderlings which removed the maggots bandage their master carefully, with strands of silk tight enough to stop bloodflow, carefully positioned so that they do not impede Gral's flight. Despite the new, throbbing wound on its wing, the Contractor feels healthier than it did before.
Under the Buzzard's tutelage, the Winged Aetherweavers learn how to access the power of the Bargain. The first Weaving they develop is a Pact: a carefully-constructed lattice of aether which enforces a binding agreement between two consenting parties.
Gather all spiders adept in aether weaving to grant them lesson they should be prepared for now - weaving own spirit to great web to be able to continue existence as spirits after demise, achieving immortality
4
As the sun falls from the sky and the world is enveloped in chaos, Nazir continues to speak to their gathered disciples. Fittingly, the next technique is one which will allow them to outlive the apocalypse to come, if they should die while the Nazir's Web still stands. It is a unique binding that will tie their spirits to the Web, allowing them to live on as immortal guardian spirits even after their bodies have died. While the Weaving is a difficult one, each student does their best to commit it to memory. This is not just a ward for keeping demons at bay, or a destructive spell to smite enemies. It is a solution to death itself.
No ascension has succeeded yet, although several members of the Order have tried and failed to become spirits as a means of overcoming the frailty of their bodies. Their fellows mourn their deaths, but the work continues, tirelessly. The assembled Spiderlings are driven to crack the secret. They feel they have no other option, now that the world is collapsing around them.
Hynsyr begins to pull his great light inwards. He attempts to use his power of creation and his connection to his children to carve a section of his being into The Sea of Light Einyar! Einyar would be the part of his soul that would automatically take in the spirits of all his creations that died and housed them until they could either be reborn into the world or merged back into his being.
2
Hynsyr allows his light to spread out into the desert, and crafts it into a Sea in the same way that he molded the Lightfolk. Radiance spreads across the sand like golden liquid, shining brilliantly even after the sun crashes into the earth and smog rises into the air, but it does not become Einyar. The vital aspect, which should connect the sea to the mortals to the Titan himself, is simply missing. The soul fragment which Hynsyr had hoped to add remains inside his body, and so the sea remains a mere sea. And so, when fire splashes across the ground and fissures appear in the earth, the souls of a few dead Lightfolk are lost.
Gyaweft, the Smelter
-Star-smith.
-Master of the Tower.
-Fragile glass wings.
-Sunship: Severely damaged.
-Verge of the Infinite
--------------------------------
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover
-Enemy of the sands.
-Spidersilk net.
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror
--------------------------------
Nazir, the Weaver
-God of the great web.
--------------------------------
Ira, the World-Eater
-Blackened Scars
-Pierced by Obsidian
-Disembodied
--------------------------------
Gral, the Contractor
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings.
-Heavily bandaged.
--------------------------------
AJAMA, the Demiurge
-Living Slime
--------------------------------
Hynsyr, the Titan
--------------------------------
The Empty
-Devoured by the sands.
-Thinned.
-To sleep, perchance to dream.
--------------------------------
The Living Sands: An awakened desert that extends outwards indefinitely. It consumed ALTERTHENTERRINTARTINTH, the being which brought it to life, and subsumed a part of their consciousness known as the Empty.
--Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
--Obsidian Archdemon: An obsidian dragon crafted by the Empty itself. It was granted the power to manipulate nothness.
-Steel Maggots: Metallic larvae which Gral accidentally created while trying to create bird Emissaries. After they were pulled off of the vulture, few escaped into the desert, where they accepted Gral's peace terms and moved into the shifting bog.
-Brass Buzzards: Brass birds crafted from Gral's feathers. They are infused with the pain it felt while creating them.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
--New Stars: A second set that isn't accessible through the Great Web. Fortunately, that means they can't be blotted out by Spiderlings.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
--Silken Nest: A new star that the winged spiderlings have claimed as a nest. It can only be reached by gliding or descending on strands of silk.
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
--Dustwalkers: A Spiderling subspecies which can feed on sand as well as light. They live on the sand and fight an asymmetrical war against it for survival.
--Winged Spiderlings: Defeated Spiderlings who made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service, and have built a nest on one of the new stars.
--Aetherweavers: A few Spiderlings who can perform magic by spinning aetheric webs. Nazir taught them the basics of their craft, allowing them to create fairly intricate wards against evil.
-Order of Threads: The first Spiderlings to learn the art of Aetherweaving. Many have strained their minds and bodies to hone their abilities, making them feeble despite their mystical strength.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. Islands rapidly form and dissolve as the sand beneath it moves. It has been tainted with Nazir's venom.
Glass Tower: A tower made of glass, raised from the sands by Gyaweft. It extends upwards through the web, tall enough that its upper floors reach the stars.
Black Ooze: A patch of black goo created by AJAMA which can grow by absorbing sand. A column of ooze goes deep beneath the earth, where it breached a reservoir of Emptiness.
Lightfolk: A species of humanoid mortals born from Hynsyr's golden light. Their powers of creation threaten to overwhelm their bodies, causing their inner light to warp chaotically. Many have begun to train so that they can gain more control over this ability.
--Prismatics: Seven lightfolk which glow brighter than the rest. They were hewn from the rainbow light of Hynsyr's eyes.
-Light Spires: A rudimentary settlement made by the Lightfolk using their creation magic.
-Light Sea: A sea of golden light drawn from Hynsyr's aura.
Deer-Men: A humanoid race with the heads of deer. Dr. Bob originally crafted them from the silk of Nazir's web.
Bone Sapling: A tree grown from one of Ira's teeth. It is currently under attack by an Archdemon, but if it survives it will grow into a fortress to house the Dustwalkers.
-Glass Crater: When Gyaweft flew his Sunship into the ground, it melted a wide swathe of the sand into glass. Fiery essence spilled from the ship still burns here, and fissures are spreading from the ship's impact site.
(oof three 1's in a row, my lucks gotta rebound now ;))
Ira can feel it's hold on the physical world weakening, Ira is closed to being absorbed back into the nothingness, back into her hell. Ira tries pushes through the Archdemons barrier with every fiber of it's being.
(oof three 1's in a row, my lucks gotta rebound now ;))
Ira can feel it's hold on the physical world weakening, Ira is closed to being absorbed back into the nothingness, back into her hell. Ira tries pushes through the Archdemons barrier with every fiber of it's being.
Shoot web and spit poison into archdemon
weavers of dustwalkers the time has cometh for you to use what you were taught in weaving, entangle the demon in spiritual webs and unravel its spirit
Ira: 3 v Archdemon: 6+2
Nazir: 4 , 4 v Archdemon: 5
Dustwalkers: 5 v Sand: 4
Ira batters down the Nonexistent barrier surrounding the Archdemon's mind, but to her horror, finds that the dragon has created a second layer of defenses underneath it. Her spiritual form is pierced by whirling blades of Emptiness, which the demon is using to tear her spirit apart in much the same way this it is currently destroying her physical body. It roars in triumph as the World-Eater's essence spills out into the aether, not realizing that this contest of wills has distracted it from the real battle back in reality.
Droplets of venom spatter its head as Nazir attacks it from a perch on the lower reaches of the Great web. The liquid corrodes even the dragon's obsidian flesh, burning its way into the glassy rock like acid. Small tendrils of sand rise from the ground to dig the venom from its wounds, but the Sand's attempt at medical attention is cut short by a second volley from Nazir's students. The newly-minted Dustwalker Weavers use strands of webbing to entangle its spirit, jamming the blades which tore Ira's into Ira's essence just a moment ago.
Instead of counterattacking, the dragon abandons the fight altogether. The Empty's champion untangles itself from Ira and flies away, towards the glass crater where Gyaweft is trying to split the world apart.
The battle for the bone tree is won, though mostly by a technicality. Ira's physical body lies on the sand, in a puddle of her own blood and organs, while her barely-coherent spirit hangs in the air beside it. The Dustwalkers also appear to have incurred casualties while she was distracted, although the sand stopped focusing on the battle before it could take full advantage of the opening it created.
melt the sunship and turn it into the Dawn Axe.
Then jump inside the fissure and cut the world in two.
1
The Sunship is broken, its body cracked and its engine leaking the Smelter's lifeblood out into the sand. Gyaweft was also injured by the crash, as result of the lost essence, but he musters the strength to make what remains of his internal flame grow brighter and brighter. It flares, burning with a heat ten times greater than any that the primordial has produced before, and even the reinforced glass of the Sunship melts into a puddle around him. Gyaweft feels the flames dimming, his energies exhausted, but he continues on anyway. The Smelter reaches down with trembling gauntlets to shape the glass into a weapon.
The last drops of essence in his body run out, and there is an explosion of light which splashes up towards the heavens. Gyaweft feels himself spreading beyond the confines of his body, expanding until he fills the molten pool of glass, and the crater beyond it, and the realm of the primordials, and the infinite expanses of sand and sky. For one single, glorious moment, he is spread so thin that he suffuses everything. Then the light fades, and his life fades with it.
A suit of armor clatters to the ground like an empty shell.
"Archdemon, please withdraw. There is a more immediate threat to the sands now.
Fragments of Emptiness, I ask you to assist me. Save our home."
Awaken. Locate the source of this fissure. And FIX IT.
BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.
5 , 5
The Emtpy calls, and its allies respond. The sand is already trying and failing to hold itself together, but the Archdemon rushes join it, accompanied by the newly-awakened fragments of Nothingness. Gyaweft bleeds out before they can arrive, having used the last of his energies to sculpt an axe from the Sunship, but the fissures he created remain. They grow wider, already threatening to tear the world apart, and the various creatures of Nothingness do their best to fill the gaps.
The archdemon uses its control over Nothingness to reinforce the sand and the various Fragments do their best to pull the sides of the fissures together, but neither is strong enough to address the underlying cause of the damage. They are mere pieces of a primordial, too weak to do anything other then delay the inevitable fragmenting of the sands. The Empty isn't whole either, but it is stronger than its fellows. It concentrates itself at the fissures' origin point, just below the craters, and forces the broken pieces of sand together.
The ground fuses, and gradually the fissures become mere fault lines. They remain buried beneath the earth, like old scars, but for now they do not threaten the sand's existence.
Hynsyr attempts to complete the creation of Einyar. Manipulating a piece of his soul to both fuse with the Sea of Light and connect his being with it. The Golden Realm of Einyar must be complete for even in death the spirits of his creations shall continue the Cycle. The Sacred Einyar where all beings created by him will return to either enter the Cycle of Rebirth or to pay their final tribute by becoming one with Hynsyr again.
1
Hynsyr pulls out a fragment of his own soul, and holds it beneath the surface of the sea. The two fuse, and the sea becomes connected to both the Titan and his creations, but something about the bond has been twisted. Maddening, eldritch thoughts pulse outwards through Einyar, cascading through Hynsyr and taking hold of the Lightfolk. Those who listen are driven into a murderous rage, killing their fellows so that the sea can absorb their souls. Only a few succumb to the insanity at first, but more will surely follow. Even Hynsyr himself has intrusive urges.
Harden a part of the slime around me to create a new sphere body, then harden more spheres from the rest of the ooze
5
The ooze AJAMA is inhabiting shapes itself into a perfect sphere, much like their original body. While it has become more durable and relatively solid, it also retains the black goop's ability to assimilate sand. Learning to control this assimilation might take practice, but AJAMA imagines that it could devour sand to heal their new body, or to grow larger, in much the same way that the ooze did before they became one with it.
The Demiurge also creates more, similar spheres from the remaining ooze, leaving behind only a small sample of the original substance. These feel similar to their current body when mentally examined, but unlike AJAMA or the sphere of nothingness, they do not have any spirit or guiding intelligence to command them.
"Aw fuck its all gone wrong."
Quickly put out the fires before it burns down the web, then help the deer men if their injured.
6 , 3
It is vital to put the fire out before it spreads to the rest of the web, but Dr. Bob is at a loss for what to do. He has no access to water, the sand is hundreds of feet below him, and even if he knew what a fire extinguisher was, he might not have time to make one. Without any other way to contain the blaze, he simply rips away the burning strands of webbing and hurls them to the ground. They fall until they are out of sight, leaving a small gap in the web where the star once was, but the remaining strands do not catch fire.
Some of the Deer-Men are heavily burned, but a quick head-count confirms that nobody has died. Dr. Bob sets to work bandaging their wounds, while his children work out a contract with Gral to improve their manual dexterity. The ones who are still conscious promise their creator that they will capture another star and use it to build an even better ship for him.
Gral flies over to the deer-men, and offers some of them a Pact: greater dexterity for their hands, in exchange for help on one project , to be determined in the future, leaving the Winged Spiderlings to further pursue the powers of Bargain. The Brass Buzzards are sent to the Star settlements closest to the fissures, to propose a Pact: In exchange for building one of the most basic temples to Bargain, a market, the Buzzards will teach them how to endure pain and hardship, and rise despite it.
4 , Deer-Men: 4+1
4
Gral circles above the crowd of Deer-Men and proposes a pact which will improve their craftmanship. They accept eagerly once Dr. Bob has reassures them, and marvel at their newfound dexterity when the contract takes effect. A few test the effects of the deal by weaving strands of Spiderling silk into nets, and find their capabilities to be greatly improved.
Meanwhile the Brass Buzzards fly to other nearby stars, to carry news of the Bargain to the Spiderlings and propose that a marketplace be built. The star-dwellers also accept the deal, but it becomes clear that something is wrong when work on the temple begins. The Buzzards are, technically, teaching the workers to endure pain and hardship, but they are doing it by acting as cruel taskmasters. Any that move too slowly are clawed and pecked until they overcome the torment and continue.
The Scarred Spiderlings gain preternatural endurance and strength as a result of their experience, and a sprawling market is built in record time, but their relations with the Buzzards have soured.
Gyaweft, the Smelter
-Star-smith.
-Master of the Tower.
-Fragile glass wings.
-Sunship: Severely damaged.
-Verge of the Infinite
-Dispersed
--------------------------------
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover
-Enemy of the sands.
-Spidersilk net.
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror
--------------------------------
Nazir, the Weaver
-God of the great web.
--------------------------------
Ira, the World-Eater
-Blackened Scars
-Bleeding out
-Disembodied
-Astral wounds
--------------------------------
Gral, the Contractor
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings.
-Contract: Deer-Men: One Favor
-Heavily bandaged.
--------------------------------
AJAMA, the Demiurge
-Ooze-born Body
-Ooze-born Spheres
--------------------------------
Hynsyr, the Titan
-Maddening thoughts.
--------------------------------
The Empty
-Devoured by the sands.
-Thinned.
--------------------------------
The Living Sands: An awakened desert that extends outwards indefinitely. It consumed ALTERTHENTERRINTARTINTH, the being which brought it to life, and subsumed a part of their consciousness known as the Empty.
--Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
--Obsidian Archdemon: An obsidian dragon crafted by the Empty itself. It was granted the power to manipulate nothingness.
--Fragments of Emptiness: ?
-Steel Maggots: Metallic larvae which Gral accidentally created while trying to create bird Emissaries. After they were pulled off of the vulture, few escaped into the desert, where they accepted Gral's peace terms and moved into the shifting bog.
-Brass Buzzards: Brass birds crafted from Gral's feathers. They are infused with the pain it felt while creating them.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
--New Stars: A second set that isn't accessible through the Great Web. Fortunately, that means they can't be blotted out by Spiderlings.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
--Silken Nest: A new star that the winged spiderlings have claimed as a nest. It can only be reached by gliding or descending on strands of silk.
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
--Dustwalkers: A Spiderling subspecies which can feed on sand as well as light. They live on the sand and fight an asymmetrical war against it for survival.
--Winged Spiderlings: Defeated Spiderlings who made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service, and have built a nest on one of the new stars.
--Aetherweavers: A few Spiderlings who can perform magic by spinning aetheric webs. Nazir taught them the basics of their craft, allowing them to create fairly intricate wards against evil.
-Order of Strands: The first Spiderlings to learn the art of Aetherweaving. Many have strained their minds and bodies to hone their abilities, making them feeble despite their mystical strength.
--Scarred Spiderlings: Spiderlings who have gained great strength and endurance because of their mistreatment by the Brass Buzzards. They built a market but have mixed feelings about Gral and his servants.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. Islands rapidly form and dissolve as the sand beneath it moves. It has been tainted with Nazir's venom.
Glass Tower: A tower made of glass, raised from the sands by Gyaweft. It extends upwards through the web, tall enough that its upper floors reach the stars.
Black Ooze: A patch of black goo created by AJAMA which can grow by absorbing sand. A column of ooze goes deep beneath the earth, where it breached a reservoir of Emptiness.
Lightfolk: A species of humanoid mortals born from Hynsyr's golden light. Their powers of creation threaten to overwhelm their bodies, causing their inner light to warp chaotically. Many have begun to train so that they can gain more control over this ability.
--Prismatics: Seven lightfolk which glow brighter than the rest. They were hewn from the rainbow light of Hynsyr's eyes.
Light Spires: A rudimentary settlement made by the Lightfolk using their creation magic.
Einyar: A sea of golden light drawn from Hynsyr's aura. It has developed a mind of its own, and is whispering thoughts of violence to the Lightfolk so that it can absorb their spirits.
Deer-Men: A humanoid race with the heads of deer. Dr. Bob originally crafted them from the silk of Nazir's web. They were granted superior dexterity through a contract with Gral.
Bone Sapling: A tree grown from one of Ira's teeth. It is currently growing into a fortress for the Dustwalkers.
Glass Crater: When Gyaweft flew his Sunship into the ground, it melted a wide swathe of the sand into glass. Fiery essence spilled from the ship still burns here, and sealed fault lines radiate from the impact site.
--Smelter's Grave: The center of the crater. Gyaweft's corpse lies here, alongside the molten remains of his Sunship.
-------------------
This is the first real (well, non-consentual) player death. Just one bad roll, but unfortunately it came at an important moment. It's not fun to critfail while reforging something that holds all your blood.
ziizo, feel free to join with another character if you want, or to salvage something from the remains of your previous like Egan did.
Ira deposits its soul back into its wounded body.
"I want to make a deal Gral; you heal me and I will owe you 3 favors that you can call upon at any moment.
Ira deposits its soul back into its wounded body.
"I want to make a deal Gral; you heal me and I will owe you 3 favors that you can call upon at any moment.
"Why, certainly! All you had to do was ask."
Using the power of Bargain, Gral heals Ira's astral injuries, changing them into fresh, immaculate soul-grafts. At the same time, the Winged's best Weavers are sent to stabilize the wounded worm, sealing the bleeding wounds, adhering organs to their proper places, and excising what cannot be fixed, Weaving the body back into its proper position all the while.
"My apologies, Nazir. It seems the Brass Buzzards are better at inflicting pain then learning from it. "
The Brass Buzzards attempt to intercept the wounded Archdemon, seeking to shred its wings and cast it down to earth.
Spit poison at brass buzzards who were most opressive, use assistance of order of stands and new kind of stronger and more enduring spiderlings in this
It seems, that creations of yours need to learn lesson of suffering themself
Gral: 4
Winged: 6
Buzzards: 4 v Archdemon: 1 / Nazir: 3 & Scarred: 6 & Order: 5
Ira follows the lifeline back to its body, where it once again allows her flesh and spirit to merge. Sensation returns violently, causing her muscles to spasm as waves of pain run through her nerves and up into her newly-reconnected mind. The injuries she is currently suffering from are far greater than anything she has felt before, from the claw-wounds inflicted by the demons to the first obsidian spikes that were rammed through her. She calls out to Gral as the agony threatens to overwhelm her and the steel vulture descends from the web to make a deal.
The Contractor pulls lost essence out of the air, then uses it to fill the holes in Ira's spirit. The grafts take easily, and soon the World-Eater's soul is covered in patches of tender, unbroken skin instead of the astral pockmarks which littered it just moments ago. Gral's Aetherweaver servants also work to heal her, by repairing and reincorporating the viscera that surrounds her physical body. They tie pieces of flesh together with both silk and Aether, creating magical framework that seals Ira's wounds and heals the internal damage. When they finish, silk runs through the sandworm's body like a second set of veins.
-----------------------------------------
The Brass Buzzards fly away from the newly-built market. They dive to the bottom of the web, but before they can swoop down onto the Archdemon, they are confronted by a giant spider, larger than the Spiderlings that they have been abusing. Nazir spits webbing at the birds to hold them in the air, while behind it two groups of Spiderlings take aim at the cruel birds. The Order of Strands wraps barbed aetheric wire around the Buzzards' spirits, but they only leer at the Weavers. Those looks only transform into expressions of fear once the Scarred Spiderlings approach.
When the Buzzards make it to the glass crater, they are missing eyes, feathers, and large volumes of blood. They harry the Archdemon by swooping down and clawing at its eyes, but are too badly hurt to engage it more seriously.
Hynsyr will attempt to use his bond with Einyar to reclaim control of his rogue fragment. Nothing shall be permitted to tarnish the light of the Cycle. Einyar will be one with Hynsyr or it shall be destroyed and reforged into it's proper glorious form.
4 v 2
Hynsyr retaliates against Einyar by pushing his own will back into the sea. He seizes control of the soul-fragment at the source of the madness and suppresses it, forcing it to conform with his will. The sea of light trembles as it tries to sever its connection to the primordial, but it is only a small piece of Hynsyr's own might. The Titan overpowers it easily to keep the channel open, and soon the consciousness of the sea is within his grasp. The malicious part of the being shudders, cursing its creator's name, and retreats to the depths of the light. Its whispers of madness continue, emanating from somewhere beneath Einyar, but it is crippled, and afflicted Lightfolk regain their senses as the rest of the Golden Realm begins operating as intended.
"Fragments, please heal the Archdemon. Excise that spider's poison so that it can continue to fight for us.
Meanwhile, I will create bodies for us."
The Empty trembles with anticipation. Things had been going too well. The next disaster would surely show itself soon.
Craft new bodies for me and the fragments. If they want them, of course. Fused obsidian like the archdemon, but smaller and humanoid. A form for living in, in the hopes that someday we can escape conflict...
These bodies will be called simply Shardforms. If shattered, each substantial piece can regrow itself into a fully sized Shardform with the help and permission of the sand, which provides the mass. Each descendant Shardform holds only a piece of the Empty Essence, but remains an individual living being.
2
1
Several Fragments swirl around the Archdemon, tending to the wounds it received while fighting Ira. They find it easy to sweep away the aetheric webs hampering its spirit, and to repair what little spiritual damage the World-Eater inflicted while trying to possess it, but the incorporeal shards find it more difficult to tend to the acid burns littering its neck and head. Their control over the Nothingness does not seem to extend to manipulating physical objects, no matter how strong they may be in other respects.
The Empty decides to rectify this issue by creating humanoid Shardforms out of obsidian, similar in nature Archdemon's own body. Forming and shaping the black stone is a simple matter, with the sand's cooperation, but when the Empty transforms them into vessels they start soaking up Nothingness indiscriminately. It finds its own essence being sucked into the bodies, which expand like obsidian fractals as they feed on emptiness.
"Well, I will give you the opportunity to build your bodies, but if the sands will fight us on their change and consumption, they will have to die, and I would like to get my old body back"
Help Ira and the dustwalkers fortress by having me and all the ooze spheres consume attacking sand.
5 v 5
AJAMA joins Gral and Ira at the bone tree, which has already grown into the foundation of a fortress. The sand is currently inert, and both Ira and the Dustwalkers are currently busy tending to their wounds, but AJAMA attacks the sand anyway, in order to prevent it from returning to the fight later. The primordial brings its swarm of ooze spheres down to the ground, where they begin assimilating sand rapidly. The sand is slow to engage, but when it brings its attention back to the scene of the battle, large hands rise from the Dunes. They smack spheres back into the air before the hardened ooze can do any more damage.
"Hey kids lets wait on building a ship for now, especially sense when we tried to make one it exploded and the one that Gyaweft made slammed into the ground and blew up."
Get the deer men follow me to the glass tower and see if I can get inside, then once inside see what items are around.
5
Dr. Bob leads his children across the great web and towards a spire of glass that is only barely visible in the distance. He catches the Deer-Men eyeing a few of the larger stars that they pass, but they reluctantly stand down when he tells them to wait. They follow their creator to the highest part of the web, where empty sky finally becomes visible between strands of silk. The tower itself is the only other structure which rises to this altitude, and the group can navigate towards it by sight.
The spire's walls are smooth and unbroken, but for a Primordial gaining entrance is still a simple matter. Dr. Bob leads his group onto a thread that intersects with the glass, then punches a hole directly into one of the upper levels. Silicate shatters beneath his hands, creating a door that is functional, albeit somewhat jagged. Inside there is a spiral staircase that leads from the base of the tower to its top floor.
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover
-Spidersilk net.
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror
--------------------------------
Nazir, the Weaver
-God of the great web.
--------------------------------
Ira, the World-Eater
-Blackened Scars
-Woven together
-Debt: Gral: Three Favors Owed
--------------------------------
Gral, the Contractor
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings.
-Contract: Deer-Men: One Favor
-Contract: Ira: Three Favors
-Heavily bandaged.
--------------------------------
AJAMA, the Demiurge
-Ooze-born Body
-Ooze-born Spheres
--------------------------------
Hynsyr, the Titan
--------------------------------
The Empty
-Devoured by the sands.
-Thinned.
--------------------------------
The Living Sands: An awakened desert that extends outwards indefinitely. It consumed ALTERTHENTERRINTARTINTH, the being which brought it to life, and subsumed a part of their consciousness known as the Empty.
--Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
--Obsidian Archdemon: An obsidian dragon crafted by the Empty itself. It was granted the power to manipulate nothingness.
--Fragments of Emptiness: ?
-Steel Maggots: Metallic larvae which Gral accidentally created while trying to create bird Emissaries. After they were pulled off of the vulture, few escaped into the desert, where they accepted Gral's peace terms and moved into the shifting bog.
-Brass Buzzards: Brass birds crafted from Gral's feathers. They are infused with the pain it felt while creating them.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
--New Stars: A second set that isn't accessible through the Great Web. Fortunately, that means they can't be blotted out by Spiderlings.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
--Silken Nest: A new star that the winged spiderlings have claimed as a nest. It can only be reached by gliding or descending on strands of silk.
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
--Dustwalkers: A Spiderling subspecies which can feed on sand as well as light. They live on the sand and fight an asymmetrical war against it for survival.
--Winged Spiderlings: Defeated Spiderlings who made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service, and have built a nest on one of the new stars.
--Aetherweavers: A few Spiderlings who can perform magic by spinning aetheric webs. Nazir taught them the basics of their craft, allowing them to create fairly intricate wards against evil.
-Order of Strands: The first Spiderlings to learn the art of Aetherweaving. Many have strained their minds and bodies to hone their abilities, making them feeble despite their mystical strength.
--Scarred Spiderlings: Spiderlings who have gained great strength and endurance because of their mistreatment by the Brass Buzzards. They built a market but have mixed feelings about Gral and his servants.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. Islands rapidly form and dissolve as the sand beneath it moves. It has been tainted with Nazir's venom.
Glass Tower: A tower made of glass, raised from the sands by Gyaweft. It extends upwards through the web, tall enough that its upper floors reach the stars.
Black Ooze: A patch of black goo created by AJAMA which can grow by absorbing sand. A column of ooze goes deep beneath the earth, where it breached a reservoir of Emptiness.
Lightfolk: A species of humanoid mortals born from Hynsyr's golden light. Their powers of creation threaten to overwhelm their bodies, causing their inner light to warp chaotically. Many have begun to train so that they can gain more control over this ability.
--Prismatics: Seven lightfolk which glow brighter than the rest. They were hewn from the rainbow light of Hynsyr's eyes.
Light Spires: A rudimentary settlement made by the Lightfolk using their creation magic.
Einyar: A sea of golden light drawn from Hynsyr's aura. It preserves the spirits of the Lightfolk after death, so that the cycle may advance. Something malicious lurks in its depths.
Deer-Men: A humanoid race with the heads of deer. Dr. Bob originally crafted them from the silk of Nazir's web. They were granted superior dexterity through a contract with Gral.
Bone Sapling: A tree grown from one of Ira's teeth. It is currently growing into a fortress for the Dustwalkers.
Glass Crater: When Gyaweft flew his Sunship into the ground, it melted a wide swathe of the sand into glass. Fiery essence spilled from the ship still burns here, and sealed fault lines radiate from the impact site.
--Smelter's Grave: The center of the crater. Gyaweft's corpse lies here, alongside the molten remains of his Sunship.
-------------------
If you don't like a name I've given one of your creations, feel free to call them something else. I'll edit turns and the world spoiler to follow your lead.
Something similar goes for primordial genders. Mostly I'll start with neutral pronouns and switch if I see a player using something else consistently, but feel free to tell me explicitly if you want anything specific.
Hynsyr will dig further to extinguish this madness for he will not suffer this stain upon his Light. Einyar must not be separate from his will in any way. Einyar is an extension of Hynsyr so no impurity must be allow upon the Sea of Light.
5 v 3
Hynsyr thrusts one of his hands deep into the sea, towards the whispers of madness that continue faintly in the back of his mind. His fingers trail along the seafloor and kick up sand, shrouding the surface of the sea in clouds of mud and grime. He cannot see what lies below Einyar, but his hand closes on something with a soft, fleshy consistency, which he drags back up to the surface in short order. It squirms in his grasp, but cannot escape before he lifts it and dashes it upon the Einyar's shore.
The thing which polluted Einyar looks like a beached jellyfish, with a sickly green core buried somewhere inside its bell. The rest of the creature's body is made of the same golden light as the sea, but seems only half-formed, as if the rogue soul-splinter had not managed to create an entire body for itself before Hynsyr killed it.
Now that the corrupted part of the sea's spirit has been purged, the Lightfolk finally stop hearing voices in their minds. The few that die also cross over to the Golden Sea, where the outlines of their ghosts can be seen in the surf.
"Ah, my creation is hungry, and it seeks to consume me. Who am I to resist? That is the nature of life."
Change the Shardforms such that rather than blindly growing like a cancer from my essence, they take my mind, becoming living intelligent creatures.
Fragments of fragments, shards of shards. To be many, rather than one.
3
The Empty once again feeds itself to something born of the sands. As streams of its power trickle into the Shardforms, it transforms them from barely-conscious parasites to living beings with portions of the Empty's own consciousness. While the obsidian fragments immediately begin growing into the shapes of mortals and beasts, ALTERTH's identity has become too fractured to fill them completely. Their minds are stunted, and the Shards become animals rather than developing sapience like other mortals.
The Empty lives on inside them, as a kind of instinct buried within the Nothingness of their spirits. Its broken pieces still inhabit a single dream, hanging on only the slightest thread of conjoined awareness. Occasionally their stirrings echo out into Shardforms, as alien thoughts and memories that the beasts barely understand.
Give all the spiders adept in weaving lesson on gaining immortality through attaching own soul to great net or some inanimate object, call most potentially gifted in weaving from new scarred spiderlings to attend aswell, so they have weavers of their own
My children, only true evil is ignorance, so I encourage you to never stop dwelling deeper into art of weaving to discover its great secrets.
Weavers: 3 , Nazir: 5
The Aetherweavers once again climb to Nazir's nest at the top of the great web, joined by a handful of Scarred Spiderlings who have come to learn the first, fundamental secrets of Weaving. The primordial spider is elated to discover that a few members of the Order have already master the Soul-Attachment weaving. They carry out the ritual under Nazir's watchful gaze, and ascend to become the first spirits of the Great web.
The newly-minted Ancestors dance across the strands of the web, incorporeal and almost impossible to harm by mundane means. Other Aetherweavers find that they can they can be affected by wards and spiritual attacks, but even then it is surprisingly difficult to harm the bound spirits. They disassemble offensive Weavings with ease, having gained more intuitive control of the Aether when they transcended their physical forms.
None of the other Spiderlings feel confident enough in their abilities to try the process for themselves, but the Ancestors' success still inspires them to improve their own skills. They advance quickly, and when Nazir tells them to continue to delve into the secrets of the Aether, they agree with the primordial wholeheartedly. Most continue experimenting with new patterns as they leave the web, creating a plethera of new spells to add to their repertoires.
"Okay everybody we're looking for any kind of tools that could be in here, just stay away the bottom floors."
Search the tower for tools of any kind, while avoiding the bottom floors.
5 , 6
The Tower is almost entirely empty, despite stretching upwards for miles. Dr. Bob picks up a few glass odds and ends, and occasionally stumbles upon a Spiderling nest populated by immigrants from the great web, but his attempts to find actual tools don't bear much fruit. Gyaweft must not have used the tower much before moving on to other ventures.
He wanders back to the meeting place, only to find that the Deer-Men are still gone. They come back several hours later, working together to haul several tons of unworked glass up the stairs. They tell Dr. Bob about finding a makeshift workshop on the of the lower floors, filled with scraps of glass, sharp shards, and a few makeshift hammers and chisels, also made out of glass. The objects themselves aren't of much value, but the group probably has more raw material than it will ever need.
Transform one of my orbs to a negative star: an object that radiate darkness as ordinary star radiate light
5
AJAMA backs away from the sand's pseudopods, and moves one of the ooze-born spheres up into the air. There, the Demiurge modifies its substance again, altering the fundamental nature of the material and filling it with the tiniest sliver of black essence. The exterior of the orb becomes transparent, revealing a cloud of swirling black fog which now fills its interior. The darkness billows outwards, blocking the light of the true stars and blinding everyone within several hundred feet of the battlefield.
It is difficult to sense anything within the darkened area, even for a primordial which does not ordinarily use eyes to see. It seems that the negative star dampens more exotic kinds of perception as well as ordinary light.
Ira prepares to defend the bone tree flashing her teeth
5 v 5
Ira opens her mouth wide and lets the sand take a good, long look at her teeth. Its psuedopods reluctantly move away from the fortress, which is now almost fully-grown, allowing the Dustwalker clan to fortify their new home in peace. The Spiderlings are still on edge, especially because the sand dunes around the tree have continued to shift around rapidly, but the darkness created by AJAMA's star proves to be a strange sort of boon. Ira's allies drop their plan to ambush a mound, and the sand calms down after deciding that it wants nothing to do with the Demiurge's project.
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover
-Spidersilk net.
-Glass chunks
-Improvised glass tools.
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror
--------------------------------
Nazir, the Weaver
-God of the great web.
--------------------------------
Ira, the World-Eater
-Blackened Scars
-Woven together
-Debt: Gral: Three Favors Owed
--------------------------------
Gral, the Contractor
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings.
-Contract: Deer-Men: One Favor
-Contract: Ira: Three Favors
-Heavily bandaged.
--------------------------------
AJAMA, the Demiurge
-Ooze-born Body
-Ooze-born Spheres
--------------------------------
Hynsyr, the Titan
-Soul-splinter corpse
--------------------------------
The Empty
-Devoured by the sands.
-Fragmented
-Subsumed by Shardforms
--------------------------------
The Living Sands: An awakened desert that extends outwards indefinitely. It consumed ALTERTHENTERRINTARTINTH, the being which brought it to life, and subsumed a part of their consciousness known as the Empty.
--Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
--Obsidian Archdemon: An obsidian dragon crafted by the Empty itself. It was granted the power to manipulate nothingness.
--Fragments of Emptiness: ?
--Shardforms: Obsidian creatures which absorbed the Empty's already-incomplete consciousness. The broken pieces of ALTERTH's identity they have absorbed give them animalistic intelligence.
-Steel Maggots: Metallic larvae which Gral accidentally created while trying to create bird Emissaries. After they were pulled off of the vulture, few escaped into the desert, where they accepted Gral's peace terms and moved into the shifting bog.
-Brass Buzzards: Brass birds crafted from Gral's feathers. They are infused with the pain it felt while creating them.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
--New Stars: A second set that isn't accessible through the Great Web. Fortunately, that means they can't be blotted out by Spiderlings.
--Negative Star: A black sphere which radiates darkness, created by AJAMA after Gyaweft's death. It hangs above the bone tree.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
--Silken Nest: A new star that the winged spiderlings have claimed as a nest. It can only be reached by gliding or descending on strands of silk.
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
--Dustwalkers: A Spiderling subspecies which can feed on sand as well as light. They live on the sand and fight an asymmetrical war against it for survival.
--Winged Spiderlings: Defeated Spiderlings who made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service, and have built a nest on one of the new stars.
--Aetherweavers: A few Spiderlings who can perform magic by spinning aetheric webs. Nazir taught them the basics of their craft, allowing them to create fairly intricate wards against evil.
-Order of Strands: The first Spiderlings to learn the art of Aetherweaving. Many have strained their minds and bodies to hone their abilities, making them feeble despite their mystical strength.
--Ancestors: Weavers who have achieved immortality by becoming spirits bound to the great web. They are incorporeal, and their astral bodies make it easier for them to manipulate aether.
--Scarred Spiderlings: Spiderlings who have gained great strength and endurance because of their mistreatment by the Brass Buzzards. They built a market but have mixed feelings about Gral and his servants.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. Islands rapidly form and dissolve as the sand beneath it moves. It has been tainted with Nazir's venom.
Glass Tower: A tower made of glass, raised from the sands by Gyaweft. It extends upwards through the web, tall enough that its upper floors reach the stars.
Black Ooze: A patch of black goo created by AJAMA which can grow by absorbing sand. A column of ooze goes deep beneath the earth, where it breached a reservoir of Emptiness.
Lightfolk: A species of humanoid mortals born from Hynsyr's golden light. Their powers of creation threaten to overwhelm their bodies, causing their inner light to warp chaotically. Many have begun to train so that they can gain more control over this ability.
--Prismatics: Seven lightfolk which glow brighter than the rest. They were hewn from the rainbow light of Hynsyr's eyes.
Light Spires: A rudimentary settlement made by the Lightfolk using their creation magic.
Einyar: A sea of golden light drawn from Hynsyr's aura. It preserves the spirits of the Lightfolk after death, so that the cycle may advance.
Deer-Men: A humanoid race with the heads of deer. Dr. Bob originally crafted them from the silk of Nazir's web. They were granted superior dexterity through a contract with Gral.
Bone Fortress: A giant tree grown from one of Ira's teeth, and given to the Dustwalkers as a gift. It has become a large fortress.
Glass Crater: When Gyaweft flew his Sunship into the ground, it melted a wide swathe of the sand into glass. Fiery essence spilled from the ship still burns here, and sealed fault lines radiate from the impact site.
--Smelter's Grave: The center of the crater. Gyaweft's corpse lies here, alongside the molten remains of his Sunship.
A Shardform climbs to its feet. It is humanoid, unlike many of its fellows, and its eyes gleam with uncharacteristic intelligence.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gral bestows upon the Winged the ability to weave and produce metal silk, and sends a delegation of these new Steelweavers to the scarred market, both to reconcile them and to trade. As for the Brass Buzzards, Gral leaves them to heal, and then attempts to impart a lesson upon them: pain, though an effective motivator, is ultimately an unsustainable resource, lasting only as long as it’s controller wields it and its recipient fears it. In order to survive, one cannot rely on pain alone.Thus informed, Gral attempts to teach them skill, tactics, and, most importantly, control.
Gral: 1
Buzzards: 2
Gral writes a new provision into the Wingeds' contract, meant to let them produce steel wire instead or silk. The extra words send waves of pressure rippling through the Bargain, causing the Spiderlings' bodies to morph. Metal needles materialize inside their exoskeletons and expand outwards, piercing their flesh like spears rather than coming out their spinnerets as intended. A few immediately die from the internal damage, but the majority of Gral's servants merely collapse, struggling to move despite the length of metal piercing their joints. None are in any position to glide away from the Nest.
The Buzzards listen to Gral patiently, but after his lesson is complete they show no real desire to change their ways. The flock swoops down to the sand, where they amuse themselves by pecking at stray pseudopods and terrorizing any mortals unfortunate enough to cross their path.
Hynsyr takes the corpse of his rogue soul splinter and uses his power to purify it by rebirth. From this piece of his soul he attempts to forge the Seven Rainbow Spears. Seven powerful artifacts that will act as both weapons for the Prismatics and instruments with which to safely channel their powers. For if he wishes for his children to be able to provide Tribute than his creations will need the ability to stand on even footing with the dangers of the this world.
6
Hynsyr picks up the jellyfish corpse and allows his aura to burn it away, purging the gelatinous flesh of corruption. The cleansed soul-splinter is remade in the form of glowing metal, radiant with the thousands of shifting hues which appear in the Titan's eyes. Hynsyr stares at it, and his gaze hits the material like a smith's hammer. The metal shatters into seven chunks, which are masterfully crafted into seven deadly spears. The Prismatics approach cautiously to receive their weapons, heads bowed in silent awe.
As their hands close over the Rainbow Spears, the Prismatics' auras transform into massive columns of light. Their powers of creation are magnified tenfold when channeled through the spheres, made so intense that abstract shapes form and disperse around the kaleidoscopic lightfolk with each stray thought. One gives her spear an experimental twirl and a beam of energy sweeps across the sand, glassing everything in its path.
From the pure darkness forge a sphere made of darkness.
2
AJAMA sinks their mental tendrils into the darkness. They gather rays of negative light into a globule of blackness, so dark the area inside is impossible to perceive. The Demiurge tries to solidify the clump into yet another sphere, but finds it difficult to keep control of the concentrated darkness. Black fog leaks out of their grasp like water and splashes across AJAMA's surroundings as clouds of unglowing anti-radiation. Some lingers in the ground, and in the branches of the bone fortress.
"Okay you guys make whatever you want, while I also make something."
Let the deer men build whatever they want from the glass, while I make a gun out of glass.
Dr. Bob: 4
Deer-Men: 6+1
Dr. Bob picks up one of the smaller bits of glass and carves it into a tube, which forms the base of his new weapon. He forges thin panes and shards into clockwork pieces and hydraulic pistons to attach to one end of the hollow cylinder, where a basic mechanism takes shape, and molds a half-molten globule like clay to create a suitable grip. When the main body of the device is complete, he chisels away at the corners of his scraps until they are spherical ammunition, which he stows in his pockets. Bob drops one bullet into the end of the gun and pulls the trigger, which sends the glass sphere hurtling through the wall of the tower and out to the web, where it bounces off a strand of silk and shatters into a million sharp pieces.
When he is done admiring his handwork, the Deer-Men reveal their own creation. At first Dr. Bob assumes that it is a life-size replica of a Deer-Man, but when he congratulates his children on their artistic skills, they shake their heads and fiddle with something on the glass statue's back. Gears clink somewhere inside it, and the the automaton's limbs shudder to life. It strides forwards with mechanical precision and stands at attention in front of Bob.
Show weavers how individual can write up secrets of weaving into certain library part of webway to promote sort of intertribe knowledge and spells spreading and achievements in studied passing to next generations, make this knowledge repository guarded from nonspiderlings
6
Nazir tells his students about the strange sorcery known as "writing," and creates a simple knotwork alphabet for them so that they can record their new spells. It involves weaving very specific patterns into strands of silk, which can then be carried manually or woven into the vast library-tapestries which hang from designated locations on the great web. This makes writing trivial for Spiderlings, who can make their own thread and examine knots in minute detail, but nearly impossible for anyone else.
Now that Weavers have an easy way to record and exchange spells, Aetherweaving on the web enters an unprecedented golden age. Many obscure techniques become common knowledge, and each tribe develops several unique workings which differentiate their Aetherweavers from the rest. Many also think to encode more mundane knowledge in books, so that even non-Weavers can benefit.
Only the Ancestors, who have a better view of the spirit world than most, notice something strange occurring near the new Tapestries. When many written spells are gathered in one place, cobwebs of aether spontaneously begin to collect on them.
Ira says goodbye to the Dustwalkers and gives one last gift. The three-headed worm: A giant three-headed worm made out of Ira's blood and Dustwalker corpses on the battlefield whose sole purpose is to serve the Dustwalkers
3
Ira uses her mouth to drag the blood and gore littering the battlefield into one large pile. She coils herself around it, using her own body to incubate the dead flesh and fashion it into a living being. A second worm takes shape inside this improvised worm, with a body that splits into three heads. The new worm is tiny as compared to Ira, and by her standards a mere child, but it is still the World-Eater's own flesh and blood. Primordial energies course through its veins, flowing from a spark of essence nestled in the seven chambers of its heart.
The Three-Headed Worm will grow in both size and power, but that may take a long while. For now, it takes its place among the Dustwalkers and makes a burrow in the center of their new fortress.
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover
-Spidersilk net.
-Glass chunks
-Improvised glass tools.
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror
--------------------------------
Nazir, the Weaver
-God of the great web.
--------------------------------
Ira, the World-Eater
-Blackened Scars
-Woven together
-Debt: Gral: Three Favors Owed
--------------------------------
Gral, the Contractor
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings.
-Contract: Deer-Men: One Favor
-Contract: Ira: Three Favors
-Heavily bandaged.
--------------------------------
AJAMA, the Demiurge
-Ooze-born Body
-Ooze-born Spheres
--------------------------------
Hynsyr, the Titan
--------------------------------
Shardform
-Echoes and instincts
--------------------------------
The Living Sands: An awakened desert that extends outwards indefinitely. It consumed ALTERTHENTERRINTARTINTH, the being which brought it to life, and subsumed a part of their consciousness known as the Empty.
--Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
--Obsidian Archdemon: An obsidian dragon crafted by the Empty itself. It was granted the power to manipulate nothingness.
--Fragments of Emptiness: ?
--Shardforms: Obsidian creatures which absorbed the Empty's already-incomplete consciousness. The broken pieces of ALTERTH's identity they have absorbed give them animalistic intelligence.
-Steel Maggots: Metallic larvae which Gral accidentally created while trying to create bird Emissaries. After they were pulled off of the vulture, few escaped into the desert, where they accepted Gral's peace terms and moved into the shifting bog.
-Brass Buzzards: Brass birds crafted from Gral's feathers. They are infused with the pain it felt while creating them.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
--New Stars: A second set that isn't accessible through the Great Web. Fortunately, that means they can't be blotted out by Spiderlings.
--Negative Star: A black sphere which radiates darkness, created by AJAMA after Gyaweft's death. It hangs above the bone tree.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
--Silken Nest: A new star that the winged spiderlings have claimed as a nest. It can only be reached by gliding or descending on strands of silk.
Knot-Writing: A written language Nazir formulated so that Aetherweavers could record their spells. It involves weaving complex knots into silk, and therefore comes intuitively to Spiderlings but is almost impossible for anyone else to comprehend.
--Tapestries: Libraries of spells and other knotwork which have been woven together and hung from the great web. Some have begun to collect aetheric cobwebs.
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
--Dustwalkers: A Spiderling subspecies which can feed on sand as well as light. They live on the sand and fight an asymmetrical war against it for survival.
--Winged Spiderlings: Defeated Spiderlings who made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service, and have built a nest on one of the new stars.
--Aetherweavers: A few Spiderlings who can perform magic by spinning aetheric webs. Nazir taught them the basics of their craft, allowing them to create fairly intricate wards against evil.
-Order of Strands: The first Spiderlings to learn the art of Aetherweaving. Many have strained their minds and bodies to hone their abilities, making them feeble despite their mystical strength.
--Ancestors: Weavers who have achieved immortality by becoming spirits bound to the great web. They are incorporeal, and their astral bodies make it easier for them to manipulate aether.
--Scarred Spiderlings: Spiderlings who have gained great strength and endurance because of their mistreatment by the Brass Buzzards. They built a market but have mixed feelings about Gral and his servants.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. Islands rapidly form and dissolve as the sand beneath it moves. It has been tainted with Nazir's venom.
Glass Tower: A tower made of glass, raised from the sands by Gyaweft. It extends upwards through the web, tall enough that its upper floors reach the stars.
Black Ooze: A patch of black goo created by AJAMA which can grow by absorbing sand. A column of ooze goes deep beneath the earth, where it breached a reservoir of Emptiness.
Lightfolk: A species of humanoid mortals born from Hynsyr's golden light. Their powers of creation threaten to overwhelm their bodies, causing their inner light to warp chaotically. Many have begun to train so that they can gain more control over this ability.
--Prismatics: Seven lightfolk which glow brighter than the rest. They were hewn from the rainbow light of Hynsyr's eyes.
The Seven Rainbow Spears: Weapons Hynsyr forged from a rogue splinter of his soul and gave to the Prismatics. They amplify their wielders' magic immensely, and provide slightly more control over their powers of creation.
Light Spires: A rudimentary settlement made by the Lightfolk using their creation magic.
Einyar: A sea of golden light drawn from Hynsyr's aura. It preserves the spirits of the Lightfolk after death, so that the cycle may advance.
Deer-Men: A humanoid race with the heads of deer. Dr. Bob originally crafted them from the silk of Nazir's web. They were granted superior dexterity through a contract with Gral.
Bone Fortress: A giant tree grown from one of Ira's teeth, and given to the Dustwalkers as a gift. It has become a large fortress.
Three-Headed Worm: A juvenile sandworm created by Ira to serve the Dustwalkers.
Glass Crater: When Gyaweft flew his Sunship into the ground, it melted a wide swathe of the sand into glass. Fiery essence spilled from the ship still burns here, and sealed fault lines radiate from the impact site.
--Smelter's Grave: The center of the crater. Gyaweft's corpse lies here, alongside the molten remains of his Sunship.
Gral attempts to rework the Bargain to allow such an alteration, while healing the Winged damaged in this way. To the Brass Buzzards, Gral gives them a task far more to their liking:
Track down the remainder of the demons around the Fortress, and take their wings.
As for the crippled Winged, have them develop a new language based on the work of the Great Web, designed to be understandable by everyone: a Bargainer's Tongue, if you would.
Gral: 5
Buzzards: 2 v 1
Winged: 3
Now that contractual alteration has failed, Gral delves into the Bargain itself. Bizarre symbols appear on its feathers and stream out into the air, where the vulture snatches them and rearranges them into new, progressively more complex shapes. The fundamental truths of Bargaining are laid bare, and restructured so that they do not extract a price when none is owed. If all parties have agreed to a pact, why should its fulfillment create a debt of blood and pain?
The spikes perforating the Winged Spiderlings' bodies retract, and metal infuses their silk instead. Ragged holes remain behind, but they bleed, scab over and scar in fast-forward until the puncture wounds have mostly healed.
Gral gives a command, and a mob of Brass Buzzards descends on every demon with wings. Their wounds make the assault ineffective, but most of the sand's creatures are too startled to retaliate right away.
As the Winged spiderlings recover from their ordeal, they study Nazir's system of knotwork and craft a more accessible written language of their own. It is essentially a revised version of the existing code, scratched into glass slabs as linework rather than tied into a strand of silk. The Buzzards can understand it well enough, though the knot-based patterns don't come as easily to them as to the Spiderlings.
Hynsyr is inspired by his newest act of creation. He attempts to teach his mortal children to transmute their magic into solid Light materials with the art he now calls Light Forging.
4
Hynsyr walks into the Lightfolks' city of spires and orders them to gather in the central plaza. They are already capable of transforming their light into physical objects, as demonstrated by the solid-light constructions that comprise the city, but the Titan demonstrates a more advanced version of the technique based the forging of the Rainbow Spears. It allows Lightfolk with enough control over their powers to create more potent materials, light metal or wood made entirely from luminescence. One particularly skilled mortal even crafts a live flower, which he offers up to Hynsyr as tribute. Each of its petals is a slightly different shade of gold.
Ira wanders around the sand killing stray psuedopods and other creations of the sand
6 v 6
Ira wanders away from the Dustwalkers, and out into the empty desert surrounding the world. There, she thrusts her mouth into the sand and guzzles it, slurping away as much as will fit inside her body. The earth responds by opening a sinkhole beneath her, which the worm only barely manages to dig her way out of. Fragments of nothiness emerge from the center of the hole and surround Ira. They focus their attention on the World-Eater, but refrain from attacking her.
From one of the goo globes I take some of the outer rings and solidify a sphere of non-light inside of it, then I remove the rings.
2
AJAMA strips away the outer layer of an ooze sphere and uses it to contain the non-light. Thick rays of the stuff bounce around inside the sphere, redirected by its black surface in exactly the same way ordinary radiance would be reflected by a mirror. More and more energy is trapped inside the sphere, but gouts of it leak out whenever AJAMA pokes a hole in the membrane. There is technically a complete ball of darkness inside, but if the ring is stripped away it will just dissipate again.
Investigate with assistance of ancestors and other experienced weavers this spiritual webs forming on ancestors near weaving libraries phenomenon, try to find out if its dangerous and if it can be of use.
((To clarify- cobwebs are building up on the libraries themselves. Ancestors are just able to take a closer look at what's going on.))
1 , 4
Nazir gathers another conclave of Aetherweavers, who arrive expecting to learn another powerful technique. Instead, they are directed towards the libraries, where the Weaver points out the pieces of ethereal webbing which have begun to gather around spell-threads. The Ancestor spirits describe their own observations, and then research begins in earnest. Nazir helps the Order take samples and pick apart lengths of spontaneously-generated cobwebs, while less skilled Spiderlings chart out the surrounding aetheric currents.
The most plausible theory is proposed by a Scarred named Gilan, who has observed tangles in the cobwebs forming around one particularly intricate spell-tome. He posits that spells recorded in silk retain a small portion of their power. While individual spells have a negligible effect on the Aether, many gathered in one place can produce unique, effectively random magical effects. They will likely become more potent over time, as libraries grow larger.
Driven by fragmented memories and shards of dreams, Awake wanders the sands, and finally finds the glass crater where the world nearly shattered.
There, he finds what remains of a primordial. Perhaps a source of that power which he desperately lacks, being a mere Shardform.
Travel to the Smelter's Grave and don Gyaweft's charred armor, hoping to harness some remaining power within the artifact while hiding my identity from the Sand's enemies
1
Awake stretches his legs and wanders towards the glass crater, where patches of fire shine like beacons in the night. On his way he passes an area shrouded entirely in darkness. Oversized spiders routinely crawl out of the cloud to examine their surroundings and patrol the area. They possess a level of organization greater than Awake would expect from mere insects, though for some reason he does not find that particularly surprising.
One group notices Awake and immediately moves to surround him. A single spider scurries back into the darkness, while the ones forming a perimeter shout things like "obsidian" and "should kill it" and "archdemon." The diminutive creatures wave their legs at the Shardform in what they probably think is a menacing way.
"How'd you guys figure out how to make a glass robot? Also new rule, don't damage the glass tower unless you have to, because if we destroy it we'll have one less place the sand can't get us."
Lets see what the glass deer robot can do, then see if we can find any useful items in the upper floors of the tower.
4
The automaton can do more or less anything it is ordered to, although it lacks much in the way of creativity or original thought. While it does freeze up when told to do "something productive," its physical capabilities turn out to be significantly more impressive. The robot's body is much more durable than ordinary glass, and it proves itself to be capable of shattering a thick block of glass with only one blow. The deer-men eventually tell it to carry up more material from the base of the tower.
The towers' highest floors are entirely untouched. Not even the Spiderlings have ventured beyond the floors which intersect with Nazir's web. If nothing else, Dr. Bob does find that he can reach the roof by climbing to the very top of the staircase. There's not so much as a guardrail up there, but it does have a good view. Dr. Bob can see the entirety of the world below, from the spire-city of the Lightfolk to the libraries of the Web.
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover
-Spidersilk net.
-Glass chunks
-Improvised glass tools.
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror
--------------------------------
Nazir, the Weaver
-God of the great web.
--------------------------------
Ira, the World-Eater
-Blackened Scars
-Woven together
-Debt: Gral: Three Favors Owed
--------------------------------
Gral, the Contractor
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings.
-Contract: Deer-Men: One Favor
-Contract: Ira: Three Favors
-Heavily bandaged.
--------------------------------
AJAMA, the Demiurge
-Ooze-born Body
-Ooze-born Spheres
-Contained Darkness Sphere
--------------------------------
Hynsyr, the Titan
--------------------------------
Awake
-Echoes and instincts
--------------------------------
The Living Sands: An awakened desert that extends outwards indefinitely. It consumed ALTERTHENTERRINTARTINTH, the being which brought it to life, and subsumed a part of their consciousness known as the Empty.
--Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
--Obsidian Archdemon: An obsidian dragon crafted by the Empty itself. It was granted the power to manipulate nothingness.
--Fragments of Emptiness: ?
--Shardforms: Obsidian creatures which absorbed the Empty's already-incomplete consciousness. The broken pieces of ALTERTH's identity they have absorbed give them animalistic intelligence.
-Steel Maggots: Metallic larvae which Gral accidentally created while trying to create bird Emissaries. After they were pulled off of the vulture, few escaped into the desert, where they accepted Gral's peace terms and moved into the shifting bog.
-Brass Buzzards: Brass birds crafted from Gral's feathers. They are infused with the pain it felt while creating them.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
--New Stars: A second set that isn't accessible through the Great Web. Fortunately, that means they can't be blotted out by Spiderlings.
--Negative Star: A black sphere which radiates darkness, created by AJAMA after Gyaweft's death. It hangs above the bone tree.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
--Silken Nest: A new star that the winged spiderlings have claimed as a nest. It can only be reached by gliding or descending on strands of silk.
Knot-Writing: A written language Nazir formulated so that Aetherweavers could record their spells. It involves weaving complex knots into silk, and therefore comes intuitively to Spiderlings but is almost impossible for anyone else to comprehend.
--Tapestries: Libraries of spells and other knotwork which have been woven together and hung from the great web. Some have begun to collect aetheric cobwebs.
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
--Dustwalkers: A Spiderling subspecies which can feed on sand as well as light. They live on the sand and fight an asymmetrical war against it for survival.
--Winged Spiderlings: Defeated Spiderlings who made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service, and have built a nest on one of the new stars.
--Aetherweavers: A few Spiderlings who can perform magic by spinning aetheric webs. Nazir taught them the basics of their craft, allowing them to create fairly intricate wards against evil.
-Order of Strands: The first Spiderlings to learn the art of Aetherweaving. Many have strained their minds and bodies to hone their abilities, making them feeble despite their mystical strength.
--Ancestors: Weavers who have achieved immortality by becoming spirits bound to the great web. They are incorporeal, and their astral bodies make it easier for them to manipulate aether.
--Scarred Spiderlings: Spiderlings who have gained great strength and endurance because of their mistreatment by the Brass Buzzards. They built a market but have mixed feelings about Gral and his servants.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. Islands rapidly form and dissolve as the sand beneath it moves. It has been tainted with Nazir's venom.
Glass Tower: A tower made of glass, raised from the sands by Gyaweft. It extends upwards through the web, tall enough that its upper floors reach the stars.
Black Ooze: A patch of black goo created by AJAMA which can grow by absorbing sand. A column of ooze goes deep beneath the earth, where it breached a reservoir of Emptiness.
Lightfolk: A species of humanoid mortals born from Hynsyr's golden light. Their powers of creation threaten to overwhelm their bodies, causing their inner light to warp chaotically. Many have begun to train so that they can gain more control over this ability.
--Prismatics: Seven lightfolk which glow brighter than the rest. They were hewn from the rainbow light of Hynsyr's eyes.
The Seven Rainbow Spears: Weapons Hynsyr forged from a rogue splinter of his soul and gave to the Prismatics. They amplify their wielders' magic immensely, and provide slightly more control over their powers of creation.
Light Spires: A rudimentary settlement made by the Lightfolk using their creation magic.
Einyar: A sea of golden light drawn from Hynsyr's aura. It preserves the spirits of the Lightfolk after death, so that the cycle may advance.
Deer-Men: A humanoid race with the heads of deer. Dr. Bob originally crafted them from the silk of Nazir's web. They were granted superior dexterity through a contract with Gral.
Bone Fortress: A giant tree grown from one of Ira's teeth, and given to the Dustwalkers as a gift. It has become a large fortress.
Three-Headed Worm: A juvenile sandworm created by Ira to serve the Dustwalkers.
Glass Crater: When Gyaweft flew his Sunship into the ground, it melted a wide swathe of the sand into glass. Fiery essence spilled from the ship still burns here, and sealed fault lines radiate from the impact site.
--Smelter's Grave: The center of the crater. Gyaweft's corpse lies here, alongside the molten remains of his Sunship.
Hynsyr accepts the flower tribute and makes his pleasure at the offering known.
Hynsyr shall now watch to see what his children will do with their new artifacts and more advanced magic.
Lightfolk: 5 v 5
The supplicant smiles and retreats back to the crowd, which soon begins to disperse as Lightfolk return to work. Hynsyr's creations waste no time in putting their abilities to use. The ramshackle buildings they first constructed are replaced by new spires, made from wood, glass, stone, and metal. Each material is made of faint golden light, which casts a soft glow over the entire city. This attracts a small population of Spiderlings, who nourish themselves by basking in the radiance.
Other Lightfolk venture out into the desert. Some bring back strange marvels, like sheets of glass and vials of living water, but a few never return. When two of the Prismatics investigate, they uncover two entirely different problems: a nearby bog that has been tainted with poison, and a small army of demons hidden in sand dunes around the city.
Awake chuckles a little at the spiderlings' waving display, and waves back.
"Hello, friends! I mean you no harm. The Primordials bring our two kinds into conflict, but I am sure that there is some way for us all to live in harmony, with each other and with the world.
I seek the grave of the smelter Gyaweft. I believe that a relic of that deceased Primordial lay there, its potential still waiting to be harnesses. Yes, even by mere mortals such as you or I. Would any of you wish to follow me on my journey? I cannot promise that my quest will bear fruit, but if it does surely you will stand to benefit as well, if you come along."
Diplomacy.
With negotiations thus concluded, Gral binds the contract with Bargain, and then takes the mortal to the Smelter's Grave.
Awake: 5
2
The patrol stands down. They seemed unnerved by Awake in spite of his speech, but are reassured when he doesn't begin to slaughter them all. His brief talk with Nazir and Gral, also helps, primarily because Awake mentions the possibility of world peace. That stops the Spiderlings in their tracks, as they imagine world where they don't need to battle the sand for food or push other Spiderlings off an enormous web.
Meanwhile, the Awake brokers a deal with Gral, who swoops to the ground and seizes the Shadform in its talons. The Dustwalkers remain behind, citing a fear of burning holes in the ground, but they tentatively wish him luck in his travels. They stare upwards as the steel vulture carries him away, and to the rim of the glass crater.
Gral ends up circling the Smelter's grave, which is currently enveloped in an inferno. Landing is made more complicated by tongues of flame, which threaten to knock the Contractor out of the air, but Awake should be able to get closer on foot if he's dropped farther out. This close to Gyaweft's deathbed, fire and heat are the only real dangers.
Have the Winged start producing goods with their metal-silk, and begin trading them at the Scarred market, both potentially making a profit and smoothing over relations. The Buzzards are to rest and regroup, in preparation for future actions.
Winged: 4
The Winged Spiderlings are fascinated by their new ability. Metal is far sturdier than webbing, and by using it they are able to create tools and armaments the likes of which they have never seen before. A variety of new wonders go on sale when they set up shop in the market: metal rods, hammers far more dense than any made of silk, a variety of knives, and even rudimentary armor made by weaving a steel cocoon. The creations are somewhat lackluster by Gral's own standards, but his servants will learn more about metalworking as they practice. In the meantime, Scarred Spiderlings still can't seem to get their hands on enough metal equipment. The Winged accumulate some goodwill by selling it for a relatively low price.
Shrink the layer of ooze on the darkness, try to solidify it by pressure.
4
AJAMA uses their control of the black ooze to push the sphere's boundaries inwards and compress the darkness inside. Billowing clouds of negative illumination are forced together, becoming denser and more solid as they are pressed into a smaller and smaller volume of space. The reaction releases heat, which boils away the surrounding layer of ooze. A sphere of pure, solidified darkness is left behind, like a pearl in the center of an oyster. It falls out of AJAMA's grasp and drifts to the ground, light as a feather.
It is impossible to sense anything inside the orb, and any light which shines through it is instantly nullified. The darkness inside it is complete, although by necessity it is confined to a relatively small space.
"That's a fancy robot you guys made way cooler than the thing I made is, also we're gonna be making a vehicle and hopefully it'll go better than last time."
Use some of the glass to make a bus, have the deer men help and the glass robot if it can.
Deer-Men: 3+1 , Dr. Bob: 5 , Automaton: 2
One of the Deer-Men bows his head.
"Thank you, Doctor. As always, we are at your disposal."
He organizes his fellows into groups and sets them to work on chunks of glass. These are rapidly converted into wheels, axles, and the beginning of a chassis, all with incredibly precise dimensions. If Dr. Bob hadn't seen the parts crafted with his own eyes, he would have assumed that they were conjured by another primordial or made by machines. Which may not be very faar from the truth, given that the robot is carrying up another load of glass blocks. It deposits them on the floor in the center of the chamber, so that the teams can restock and get back to work.
When the outer frame of the bus has been completed, Bob's allies gather around a table and scratch engine blueprints into the glass. While they argue about whether to power it with springs or combustion, the doctor decides to take a stab at the problem himself. He sits on the ground and fits together several glass odds and ends, occasionally in ways that defy conventional geometry. The ultimate result of this work is a continuously-rotating disk that can be slotted into the bus's engine chamber, allowing it to run on perpetual motion. The Deer-Men are intrigued, but can't come up with any explanation better than "primordial shenanigans."
Create 10 loyal only to me fabulous spider demigods to lead and protect spiderkind, they would be weaved into existance to make them naturally attuned to weaving, their skin would be covered by constantly shifting weaving patterns distracting their foes and repelling magic aimed at them. They will have poisonous acidic spit and shoot webs harder then steel. Attract most brilliant weavers to this weaving project.
This world is full of perils, time to give you my final and greatest gift before I can abandon you to your own devices
Nazir: 2 , Weavers: 5
Nazir carries a few of the most powerful and skilled Aetherweavers to its nest at the top of the Web. There, the primordial reveals that he will leave the Spiderlings to decide their own fates, and describes on last, glorious gift that he will bestow upon them before he goes. The Weavers, who have never created so much as a single living creature before, are well out of their depth when it comes to birthing demigods, but they agree to help their creator to the best of their abilities. Those who are not yet ancestors prepare for the ritual by undergoing the transformation, so that they can bring more mystical power to bear.
Nazir begins the Weaving by gathering up vast strands of Aether, as thick and strong as the physical silk of the Great web. He braids them into ten distinct patterns, each of which coalesces into the shape of a giant spider. The disciples weave smaller threads into the hollow places of this structure, forming minute patterns which make up the Demigods' muscles, bones, and organs. They continue even when Nazir itself stumbles, and do their best to account for the great spiders' mistakes. The entire working is on the verge of collapse, but the Ancestors preserve it by filling holes with their own latticework.
When the task is complete, ten spider demigods crawl out into the physical world. They are alive, but weaker than Nazir intended, thin in places where their weaves should have held strong. The mortals have done the best they could, but even the greatest among them had difficulty compensating for the loss of Nazir's power.
Ira realizes that eating sand will not help her destroy the sand as a whole and walks away from the fragments of nothingness. She searches the sands for a power source to empower herself with.
6
4 , 1
Ira turns from Fragments and tunnels away so quickly that they cannot pursue her. There is too much sand in the world to fit in her stomach, and doing battle with its appendages is meaningless. There is always the infinite mass below her, which can give birth to more limbs and monsters than she will ever be able to eat. Instead she tunnels from one end of the world to the other, searching for something that will grant her the power to hurt her enemy in a more permanent way.
She finds it deep beneath the surface of the earth, as the ground itself does its best to beat her back. She tunnels through it, to the something buried so thoroughly that the sandworm can only barely sense it. Demons the size of flies spring into being to stab her, and black mist gushes from the sand itself, but Ira cannot be stopped.
The thing below her is a non-thing, with a heartbeat that doesn't shake the World-Eater's bones.
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover
-Spidersilk net.
-Glass chunks
-Improvised glass tools.
-Glass automaton
-Perpetual-motion bus
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror
--------------------------------
Nazir, the Weaver
-God of the great web.
--------------------------------
Ira, the World-Eater
-Blackened Scars
-Woven together
-Debt: Gral: Three Favors Owed
--------------------------------
Gral, the Contractor
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings.
-Contract: Deer-Men: One Favor
-Contract: Ira: Three Favors
-Heavily bandaged.
--------------------------------
AJAMA, the Demiurge
-Ooze-born Body
-Ooze-born Spheres
-Sphere of Darkness
--------------------------------
Hynsyr, the Titan
-Golden Flower
--------------------------------
Awake
-Echoes and instincts
--------------------------------
The Living Sands: An awakened desert that extends outwards indefinitely. It consumed ALTERTHENTERRINTARTINTH, the being which brought it to life, and subsumed a part of their consciousness known as the Empty.
--Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
--Obsidian Archdemon: An obsidian dragon crafted by the Empty itself. It was granted the power to manipulate nothingness.
--Fragments of Emptiness: ?
--Shardforms: Obsidian creatures which absorbed the Empty's already-incomplete consciousness. The broken pieces of ALTERTH's identity they have absorbed give them animalistic intelligence.
-Steel Maggots: Metallic larvae which Gral accidentally created while trying to create bird Emissaries. After they were pulled off of the vulture, few escaped into the desert, where they accepted Gral's peace terms and moved into the shifting bog.
-Brass Buzzards: Brass birds crafted from Gral's feathers. They are infused with the pain it felt while creating them.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
--New Stars: A second set that isn't accessible through the Great Web. Fortunately, that means they can't be blotted out by Spiderlings.
--Negative Star: A black sphere which radiates darkness, created by AJAMA after Gyaweft's death. It hangs above the bone tree.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
--Silken Nest: A new star that the winged spiderlings have claimed as a nest. It can only be reached by gliding or descending on strands of silk.
Knot-Writing: A written language Nazir formulated so that Aetherweavers could record their spells. It involves weaving complex knots into silk, and therefore comes intuitively to Spiderlings but is almost impossible for anyone else to comprehend.
--Tapestries: Libraries of spells and other knotwork which have been woven together and hung from the great web. Some have begun to collect aetheric cobwebs.
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
--Dustwalkers: A Spiderling subspecies which can feed on sand as well as light. They live on the sand and fight an asymmetrical war against it for survival.
--Winged Spiderlings: Defeated Spiderlings who made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service, and have built a nest on one of the new stars. They were later granted the ability to weave metal.
--Aetherweavers: A few Spiderlings who can perform magic by spinning aetheric webs. Nazir taught them the basics of their craft, allowing them to create fairly intricate wards against evil.
-Order of Strands: The first Spiderlings to learn the art of Aetherweaving. Many have strained their minds and bodies to hone their abilities, making them feeble despite their mystical strength.
--Ancestors: Weavers who have achieved immortality by becoming spirits bound to the great web. They are incorporeal, and their astral bodies make it easier for them to manipulate aether.
--Scarred Spiderlings: Spiderlings who have gained great strength and endurance because of their mistreatment by the Brass Buzzards. They built a market but have mixed feelings about Gral and his servants.
Spider Demigods: Ten entities created by Nazir and a group of the most powerful Aetherweavers. They watch over the Web in Nazir's stead, but are weakened by flaws in their weaving.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. Islands rapidly form and dissolve as the sand beneath it moves. It has been tainted with Nazir's venom.
Glass Tower: A tower made of glass, raised from the sands by Gyaweft. It extends upwards through the web, tall enough that its upper floors reach the stars.
Black Ooze: A patch of black goo created by AJAMA which can grow by absorbing sand. A column of ooze goes deep beneath the earth, where it breached a reservoir of Emptiness.
Lightfolk: A species of humanoid mortals born from Hynsyr's golden light. Their powers of creation threaten to overwhelm their bodies, causing their inner light to warp chaotically. Many have begun to train so that they can gain more control over this ability.
--Prismatics: Seven lightfolk which glow brighter than the rest. They were hewn from the rainbow light of Hynsyr's eyes.
The Seven Rainbow Spears: Weapons Hynsyr forged from a rogue splinter of his soul and gave to the Prismatics. They amplify their wielders' magic immensely, and provide slightly more control over their powers of creation.
Light Spires: A glowing city made by the Lightfolk using their creation magic.
Einyar: A sea of golden light drawn from Hynsyr's aura. It preserves the spirits of the Lightfolk after death, so that the cycle may advance.
Deer-Men: A humanoid race with the heads of deer. Dr. Bob originally crafted them from the silk of Nazir's web. They were granted superior dexterity through a contract with Gral.
Bone Fortress: A giant tree grown from one of Ira's teeth, and given to the Dustwalkers as a gift. It has become a large fortress.
Three-Headed Worm: A juvenile sandworm created by Ira to serve the Dustwalkers.
Glass Crater: When Gyaweft flew his Sunship into the ground, it melted a wide swathe of the sand into glass. Fiery essence spilled from the ship still burns here, and sealed fault lines radiate from the impact site.
--Smelter's Grave: The center of the crater. Gyaweft's corpse lies here, alongside the molten remains of his Sunship.
Seems, that this gift was not enough to have dustwalkers liberated from oppression of sand demons, sand is yet to be conquered.
Divide already experienced crew of aetherweavers in groups working on how to improve ordinary nonweaver spiders to something halfway to demigodhood to make soldier caste worthy to be led by demigods:
First group would work on altering genetics and implanting new artificial glands
Second would try making enchanted armour out of glass or metal .
Oversee, what they are doing. And assist.
Group One: 5 / Group Two: 1 / Nazir: 4
The Aetherweavers split into groups, and volunteers from other parts of the web are brought up as test subjects. Nazir helps them further their knowledge of Weaving, biology, and crafting, so that they can create a race of Spiderlings worthy to serve as lieutenants under the ten Demigods. The new caste must be stronger than all the others, so that they can protect the Web from the creature of sand and absence which lurk below it.
One group works to improve upon Spiderlings' natural physiology. Some of their Weavings induce mutations, allowing Spiderlings to grow acid glands and produce silk ten times stronger than steel. They manufacture stronger and more efficient muscle fibers, and tweak the genes of their test subjects until their chitin is nearly unbreakable. By adapting an old self-enhancement weaving, one of the first spells that the Aetherweavers created on their own, they even develop a way to enchant bodies, granting abilities that would be impossible to reproduce with mere organs. Volunteers who receive the modifications begin spitting fireballs and teleporting to nearby strands.
The group assigned to research armor and weapons doesn't fare as well. Winged Aetherweavers weave metal into basic equipment, but someone makes a terrible mistake when they try to enchant the tools. Underlying flaws in the Weavings attached to the weapons cause them to become cursed instead, frequently killing or injuring volunteers who attempt to use them. Only Nazir's intervention prevents a failed matter-annihilation experiment from disintegrating everyone nearby.
"Okay kids lets do something that's potentially stupid and go on a field trip."
Get all the deer men and the deer robot to go in to the bus and drive it out to explore the world, if anything attacks the bus drive back to the tower.
4
While Dr. Bob's allies pile into the bus, he sits down in the driver's seat and familiarizes himself with the controls. There's one big wheel to control the direction of the wheels, two petals to adjust the speed of the engine disk, and a lever that can put the vehicle into park or reverse if need be. It's all fairly intuitive, although Dr. Bob has to spend a few minutes practicing to learn how to turn, park, and navigate around obstacles. When he's gotten the hang of it, he drives the bus through the entrance-hole and brings it out onto the Great Web.
It doesn't take long to descend to the sands, which have quieted down a bit in the Doctor's absence. Occasionally a few eyes will rise from the ground to watch the group, but for now they seem content to leave the magic school bus alone. The Deer-Men stare out the windows, and a few ask their creator to provide details about things they drive past. These include a puddle of black ooze, a Brass Buzzard that passes overhead, and a live demon which Bob drives away from as quickly as possible. Fortunately, it isn't fast enough to catch up with them.
The first major stop is Einyar, the sea of light. Dr. Bob pulls up to its coastline and opens the doors so that Deer-Men can wade into the liquid, and take a closer look at the glowing silhouettes which dance in the depths of the golden realm.
Venture forth. And find the souls of lords within the flame.
4
Gral places Awake on the ground a safe distance from the flames, then uses the thermal currents to climb back into the air. The steel vulture flies away, towards a a glowing city that can just barely be seen on the horizon.
When the primordial has disappeared from sight, Awake picks himself up and ventures into the center of the crater. Patches of flames litter the ground, and the glass underfoot becomes so hot that it glows, but the Shardforms' obsidian body makes him somewhat resistant to the environment. His body only begins to melt as he approaches the Grave itself, and the puddle of molten Sunship that has collected there. Awake continues moving anyway, until his legs threaten to collapse under his weight.
A suit of metal armor lies on the ground beside the pool, filled with nothing but smoke and ashes. A glass axehead lies on the ground several feet away from it, partially submerged in molten glass.
I try modify some ooze to be able to feed on the darkness and grow by this.
1
AJAMA deposits a drop of black ooze on the ground, where it grows into a larger sample. After the puddle has become deep enough, the black sphere submerges itself in it, and allows its senses to expand outwards into the goop. Once it has refamiliarized itself with the nature of ooze, the Demiurge begins to tweak and transmute the substance, and specifically its ability to assimilate other substances. It shifts its attention away from the sand as AJAMA works, but the sudden shift in behavior disrupts the primodial's focus. It loses its grip on the ooze, and the modification goes awry.
Instead of absorbing darkness, blobs of ooze start feeding on seemingly random substances and concepts. Something freezes as one piece of the pool starts assimilating heat, and AJAMA's reactions becomes sluggish as it touches another that can devour awareness. A few droplets even become cannibalistic and consume other kinds of ooze, including the modified sludge which forms the Demiurge's body.
Ira cautiously probes around the non-thing trying to figure out what it is and if she can defeat it.
2 v 2
Ira digs in the direction of the the heartbeats, ignoring the earths's feeble attempts to bar her way. The sand around the non-thing is littered with shards of obsidian, but she eats those too, by using her many rows of teeth to grind the stones to dust. They are more filling than ordinary sand, though just as unimportant in the grand scheme of things. Ira digests the faint traces of essence within them anyway.
As she approaches the source of the unvibrations, she breaches another, thicker piece of obsidian, and tumbles into hollow sphere of black stone. The World-Eater can sense the non-thing in the center of the chamber even without the benefit of light. It is a black heart grown from ALTERTH's nonexistent flesh, and the ultimate source of the Nothingness which pervades the sand. Despite reeking of the desert, it feels like a freshly-spilled drop of Ira's own blood.
Hynsyr gathers his light and attempts to connect himself and Einyar to the First Tribute Yig. The Golden Flower which had been gifted in love would in turn become the ultimate symbol of Hynsyr's love. Transfusing the Flower Yig with his essence so that not only would it act as a gateway with which the Lightfolk spirits in Einyar can reincarnate from once they've spent some time in the Sea of Light but also using it's connection with Hynsyr to birth new Lightfolk into the world.
4
Hynsyr names the Golden Flower Yig, and infuses it with a glowing stream of his essence. The plant grows as astral bindings link it to the Titan, and more buds branch off from its stem. These buds bloom as Hynsyr imbues the flower with another connection, this time to Einyar, and the the flower grows hundreds of new blossoms. Droplets of nectar collect in the center of each, made from the same liquid light as the sea itself. The primordial can see tiny Lightfolk floating inside, waiting to be born.
A single drop of nectar falls to the ground. It becomes a new mortal when it hits the sand, with a fully-formed golden body. It is not one of the first Lightfolk, which Hynsyr crafted with his own hands, but it still bows to the Titan in recognition of the life he has given it through Yig.
Drop off the mortal, then fly on to the Light City in the distance. Where there's civilization, there are also bargains.
Send the Ironwinged down to the Bone Fortress, and propose building a market at the location in exchange for weaponry. If they agree, station a few Winged there as representatives of the Silken Nest.
The newly replenished Buzzards are challenged to take out the Dune Demon army near Light City, and then set up a nest there.
Buzzards: 2 v Demons: 2
Ironwinged: 1
After depositing Awake in the crater, Gral sets off for the glowing spires of the Lightfolk. The Contractor navigates using the light of the city itself, which makes it glow like a beacon when viewed from the sky, and soon finds itself gliding between the towers made of glowing stone. As Gral hovers near the center of the city, another building rises before his eyes. This one is far taller than the others, and instead of the uniform gold of the other spires it is illuminated by light in every color of the rainbow.
The Prismatic below hefts its spear and looks up at the vulture warily.
---------------------
Meanwhile, a flock of Brass Buzzards retraces Gral's steps, until they locate the horde of demons plaguing the city. They dive down at the creatures of nothingness and attack them with characteristic glee, gouging the demons' sandy flesh with their talons and gouging out eyes with their beaks. They are repulsed by a few well-timed counterattacks, but the army doesn't have enough flying demons to press their advantage after the buzzards retreat back to the air.
Another group of servants carries goods into the cloud of darkness and search for the Dustwalkers' fortress. Before they can find it, they are hit by an errant blob of flesh-eating ooze, which grows by killing and assimilating the majority of the expedition. The survivors retreat after failing to scout out a safe route through the rest of the anti-light.
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover
-Spidersilk net.
-Glass chunks
-Improvised glass tools.
-Glass automaton
-Perpetual-motion bus
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror
--------------------------------
Nazir, the Weaver
-God of the great web.
--------------------------------
Ira, the World-Eater
-Blackened Scars
-Woven together
-Debt: Gral: Three Favors Owed
--------------------------------
Gral, the Contractor
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings.
-Contract: Deer-Men: One Favor
-Contract: Ira: Three Favors
-Heavily bandaged.
--------------------------------
AJAMA, the Demiurge
-Ooze-born Body
-Ooze-born Spheres
-Sphere of Darkness
--------------------------------
Hynsyr, the Titan
-Yig, the Golden Flower
--------------------------------
Awake
-Echoes and instincts
--------------------------------
The Living Sands: An awakened desert that extends outwards indefinitely. It consumed ALTERTHENTERRINTARTINTH, the being which brought it to life, and subsumed a part of their consciousness known as the Empty.
--Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
--Obsidian Archdemon: An obsidian dragon crafted by the Empty itself. It was granted the power to manipulate nothingness.
--Fragments of Emptiness: ?
--Shardforms: Obsidian creatures which absorbed the Empty's already-incomplete consciousness. The broken pieces of ALTERTH's identity they have absorbed give them animalistic intelligence.
--Absent Heart: ?
-Steel Maggots: Metallic larvae which Gral accidentally created while trying to create bird Emissaries. After they were pulled off of the vulture, few escaped into the desert, where they accepted Gral's peace terms and moved into the shifting bog.
-Brass Buzzards: Brass birds crafted from Gral's feathers. They are infused with the pain it felt while creating them.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
--New Stars: A second set that isn't accessible through the Great Web. Fortunately, that means they can't be blotted out by Spiderlings.
--Negative Star: A black sphere which radiates darkness, created by AJAMA after Gyaweft's death. It hangs above the bone tree.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
--Silken Nest: A new star that the winged spiderlings have claimed as a nest. It can only be reached by gliding or descending on strands of silk.
Knot-Writing: A written language Nazir formulated so that Aetherweavers could record their spells. It involves weaving complex knots into silk, and therefore comes intuitively to Spiderlings but is almost impossible for anyone else to comprehend.
--Tapestries: Libraries of spells and other knotwork which have been woven together and hung from the great web. Some have begun to collect aetheric cobwebs.
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
--Dustwalkers: A Spiderling subspecies which can feed on sand as well as light. They live on the sand and fight an asymmetrical war against it for survival.
--Winged Spiderlings: Defeated Spiderlings who made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service, and have built a nest on one of the new stars. They were later granted the ability to weave metal.
--Aetherweavers: A few Spiderlings who can perform magic by spinning aetheric webs. Nazir taught them the basics of their craft, allowing them to create fairly intricate wards against evil.
-Order of Strands: The first Spiderlings to learn the art of Aetherweaving. Many have strained their minds and bodies to hone their abilities, making them feeble despite their mystical strength.
--Ancestors: Weavers who have achieved immortality by becoming spirits bound to the great web. They are incorporeal, and their astral bodies make it easier for them to manipulate aether.
--Scarred Spiderlings: Spiderlings who have gained great strength and endurance because of their mistreatment by the Brass Buzzards. They built a market but have mixed feelings about Gral and his servants.
Spider Demigods: Ten entities created by Nazir and a group of the most powerful Aetherweavers. They watch over the Web in Nazir's stead, but are weakened by flaws in their weaving.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. Islands rapidly form and dissolve as the sand beneath it moves. It has been tainted with Nazir's venom.
Glass Tower: A tower made of glass, raised from the sands by Gyaweft. It extends upwards through the web, tall enough that its upper floors reach the stars.
Black Ooze: A patch of black goo created by AJAMA which can grow by absorbing sand. A column of ooze goes deep beneath the earth, where it breached a reservoir of Emptiness.
--Chaos Ooze: Blobs of ooze which have accidentally been made to assimilate a variety of substances and concepts.
Lightfolk: A species of humanoid mortals born from Hynsyr's golden light. Their powers of creation threaten to overwhelm their bodies, causing their inner light to warp chaotically. Many have begun to train so that they can gain more control over this ability.
--Prismatics: Seven lightfolk which glow brighter than the rest. They were hewn from the rainbow light of Hynsyr's eyes.
The Seven Rainbow Spears: Weapons Hynsyr forged from a rogue splinter of his soul and gave to the Prismatics. They amplify their wielders' magic immensely, and provide slightly more control over their powers of creation.
Light Spires: A glowing city made by the Lightfolk using their creation magic.
Einyar: A sea of golden light drawn from Hynsyr's aura. It preserves the spirits of the Lightfolk after death, so that the cycle may advance.
Deer-Men: A humanoid race with the heads of deer. Dr. Bob originally crafted them from the silk of Nazir's web. They were granted superior dexterity through a contract with Gral.
Bone Fortress: A giant tree grown from one of Ira's teeth, and given to the Dustwalkers as a gift. It has become a large fortress.
Three-Headed Worm: A juvenile sandworm created by Ira to serve the Dustwalkers.
Glass Crater: When Gyaweft flew his Sunship into the ground, it melted a wide swathe of the sand into glass. Fiery essence spilled from the ship still burns here, and sealed fault lines radiate from the impact site.
--Smelter's Grave: The center of the crater. Gyaweft's corpse lies here, alongside the molten remains of his Sunship.
"Such heat... I cannot halt here!-"
Stride through the heat and claim the armor, shielding my molten limbs within the metal.
Then, if successful, claim the axe head as well.
2
Awake walks forwards one step at a time, struggling to stay upright on his molten legs. He keeps his balance at first, but as he draws closer to the Sunship, the heat becomes more intense, and the Shardform's body becomes less solid. A creature made of flesh and bone would literally boil away at this temperature, but Awake's body merely deforms and slumps to one side. He needs to crawl closer to the armor, leaving a slug trail of melted rock.
He touches a plate of metal with hand. It feel blessedly solid, in this place where glass, sand, and stone all become lava, but even when Awake dumps himself on top of the armor he finds that he can't put it on. His fingers have fused together, and his body has become so soft that he might lose limbs if he tries to lift the heavy plates of metal. Gyaweft's empty visor stares through Awake, as if gazing at something inside him. Its expression is almost mocking.
Ira decides that eating the absent heart is probably asking to be turned into nothingness and instead tries the push the heart up to the surface.
2 v 3
Ira smashes a larger hole in the ceiling, allowing sand to gush in from above. While it is busy organizing itself into hands and psuedopods, she coil herself around the absent hearts and pulls it upwards, towards the relative safety of the surface. She finds that she can dig while grasping the heart, but the organ is large and cumbersome. While she is moving it through thousands of tons of rock dust, the sand's consciousness has a chance to catch up with her.
Tendrils wraps themselves around the worm's head, formed from the very sand that she was digging through just moments ago. Another set of appendages comes up from below, and start smashing themselves against the rest of Ira's body. They worm their way between Ira's coils and pull at the heart, nearly tugging it out of her grasp.
Stops the ability and "will" to eat of all the ooze that would cause problems to life or one of the premodial (The awareness eaters, ooze eaters, flesh eaters, ect.) And investigate the rest
2 v 4
AJAMA extends its power through the ooze again, this time focusing its attention on particularly dangerous types of goop. The sphere denatures the awareness-eating ooze, and another which fed on blood, but as it's moving its power back towards the cannibalistic blob, a previously-inert piece of ooze springs into motion. It assimilates change, rendering AJAMA's attempts to modify other blobs effectively useless. The more power it expends trying to denature flesh and moisture-eating oozes, the more the change-eater grows. In the end, the Demiurge only succeeds in burying itself deeper within the pool, and providing more mass to the ooze-eating-ooze which is stripping away outer layers of AJAMA's body.
Have first group set up centre to start transforming willing ordinary spiderlings into warrior caste
Keep second weavers group working on armour and devices worthy to be used by warrior caste.
Overwatch and assist both groups.
Group 1: 5 Group 2: 1 Nazir: 2
The first group of Aetherweavers descends one of the old stars, where they begin to apply their new Weavings to Spiderlings that volunteer. Once word spreads, arachnids start to fight each other for places in lines, in hopes that they'll be able to receive the enhancement themselves. The ensuing battle is long and bloody, but it does provide the the Aetherweavers with a group of powerful warriors to mutate and enchant. After they have been enhanced, the Sentinels are easily the most powerful army that this world has ever seen.
The second group continues working on equipment for the warriors. This time they forgo physical armor entirely, and Aetherweave magical shields that can be attached to an amulet. The mystical armor works well at first, but it soon becomes apparent that the Weavers haven't managed to correct the underlying flaws in their theory. Too much force can overload the spell, causing it to explode with deadly force. Everyone involved in the operation ends up bruised - and worse, covered in smears of carbonized test subject.
"Don't get onto the glowing liquid yet it might be acid, also don't go to the town it looks like a fight might be about to start."
Examine the Einyar and see if its toxic to deer men and see what its good for, then if its safe let the deer men mess with it.
At first glance, Einyar appears to be nothing more than a sea of liquid light. The Deer-Men splashing around in it still look perfectly healthy, but Dr. Bob calls them back out anyway so that he can analyze the fluid for more subtle threats. He digs a glass vial out from the back of the bus, then carefully dips it in the sea, until it is about half full of golden liquid. The primordial carries this sample back to the bus and stares at it, until the fundamental nature of the substance is revealed to him. The results aren't necessarily alarming, but it's clear that Einyar has become far more than a mere ocean.
A piece of Hynsyr's soul has been placed within the Golden Sea, which is connected to the Lightfolk, the flower Yig, and even the Titan himself. The glowing figures that can be seen within its waters are actually the spirits of dead mortals, who have been drawn to the sea so that they can be preserved, judged, and even reincarnated through Yig. Until then they linger in Einyar, which has essentially become an afterlife.
The Deer-Men should be perfectly safe, assuming they can swim, so Dr. Bob lets them back out onto the beach. A few dead Lightfolk watch his children from beyond the veil.
Signal the guard that no hostile intent should be expected, and, in the Bargaining Tongue, request an audience with its liege. Should it require a show of good faith, merely gesture to the battle going on between the Buzzards and the demons out side the city gates. While waiting for a response, begin elaborating on the tenants of Bargain to any who would listen, emphasizing three key points:
1: All action is bargain. Even when creating something allegedly out of nothing, one is still trading time and energy in order to make such a feat possible.
2: Tribute is debt, and debt comes with bargain. As the efforts expended by a creator are costly, the created are often held responsible to make up for sunk costs. Like an employee of a company, most created are granted "room and board", in exchange for continual advancement.
3: Anyone can bargain. "Creator" and "created" are relative terms. For instance, a blacksmith would be the "creator" of a weapon, and the resulting gains made from a sale would be a repayment of the Creation Debt.
The IronWinged are to improve themselves and their craft however they see fit. They should know enough about Bargain now to not destroy themselves.
The Buzzard's should keep up the assault. They have the advantage. Use it.
Hynsyr will confront Gral and demand that he leave. He attempts to gather his power into twelve light spears to be hurled out the other primordial if it doesn't meet Hynsyr's demand.
Hynsyr: 6 v Gral: 1
"I will not allow you to taint my Light with your fading words. I can feel your clinging parasitic essence already. The Cycle shall not be interrupted by your Bargains. The Cycle is eternal and uncompromising. It shall not be swayed by deals or pacts. Leave or witness my wrath."
GM NOTE- Gral and Hynsyr
((I'm a bit hesitant to go forwards without giving Prophet time to respond. The fight is already written, and will be posted if actions are executed as-is, but you guys can have another day to talk if you'd prefer to do something else.
You can post actions for next turn regardless, before or after we determine what happens here.))
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover
-Spidersilk net.
-Glass chunks
-Improvised glass tools.
-Glass automaton
-Perpetual-motion bus
-Vial of Einyar
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror
--------------------------------
Nazir, the Weaver
-God of the great web.
--------------------------------
Ira, the World-Eater
-Blackened Scars
-Woven together
-Debt: Gral: Three Favors Owed
--------------------------------
Gral, the Contractor
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings.
-Contract: Deer-Men: One Favor
-Contract: Ira: Three Favors
-Heavily bandaged.
--------------------------------
AJAMA, the Demiurge
-Ooze-born Body
-Ooze-born Spheres
-Sphere of Darkness
-Cannibalized exterior
--------------------------------
Hynsyr, the Titan
-Yig, the Golden Flower
--------------------------------
Awake
-Echoes and instincts
-Smelter's Armor
--------------------------------
The Living Sands: An awakened desert that extends outwards indefinitely. It consumed ALTERTHENTERRINTARTINTH, the being which brought it to life, and subsumed a part of their consciousness known as the Empty.
--Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
--Obsidian Archdemon: An obsidian dragon crafted by the Empty itself. It was granted the power to manipulate nothingness.
--Fragments of Emptiness: ?
--Shardforms: Obsidian creatures which absorbed the Empty's already-incomplete consciousness. The broken pieces of ALTERTH's identity they have absorbed give them animalistic intelligence.
--Absent Heart: ?
-Steel Maggots: Metallic larvae which Gral accidentally created while trying to create bird Emissaries. After they were pulled off of the vulture, few escaped into the desert, where they accepted Gral's peace terms and moved into the shifting bog.
-Brass Buzzards: Brass birds crafted from Gral's feathers. They are infused with the pain it felt while creating them.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
--New Stars: A second set that isn't accessible through the Great Web. Fortunately, that means they can't be blotted out by Spiderlings.
--Negative Star: A black sphere which radiates darkness, created by AJAMA after Gyaweft's death. It hangs above the bone tree.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
--Silken Nest: A new star that the winged spiderlings have claimed as a nest. It can only be reached by gliding or descending on strands of silk.
Knot-Writing: A written language Nazir formulated so that Aetherweavers could record their spells. It involves weaving complex knots into silk, and therefore comes intuitively to Spiderlings but is almost impossible for anyone else to comprehend.
--Tapestries: Libraries of spells and other knotwork which have been woven together and hung from the great web. Some have begun to collect aetheric cobwebs.
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
--Dustwalkers: A Spiderling subspecies which can feed on sand as well as light. They live on the sand and fight an asymmetrical war against it for survival.
--Winged Spiderlings: Defeated Spiderlings who made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service, and have built a nest on one of the new stars. They were later granted the ability to weave metal.
--Aetherweavers: A few Spiderlings who can perform magic by spinning aetheric webs. Nazir taught them the basics of their craft, allowing them to create fairly intricate wards against evil.
-Order of Strands: The first Spiderlings to learn the art of Aetherweaving. Many have strained their minds and bodies to hone their abilities, making them feeble despite their mystical strength.
--Ancestors: Weavers who have achieved immortality by becoming spirits bound to the great web. They are incorporeal, and their astral bodies make it easier for them to manipulate aether.
--Scarred Spiderlings: Spiderlings who have gained great strength and endurance because of their mistreatment by the Brass Buzzards. They built a market but have mixed feelings about Gral and his servants.
--Sentinels: A army of biologically and magically augmented Spiderlings, created by elite Aetherweavers with Nazir's guidance. They serve the Spider Demigods, and stand ready to protect the Web alongside them.
Spider Demigods: Ten entities created by Nazir and a group of the most powerful Aetherweavers. They watch over the Web in Nazir's stead, but are weakened by flaws in their weaving.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. Islands rapidly form and dissolve as the sand beneath it moves. It has been tainted with Nazir's venom.
Glass Tower: A tower made of glass, raised from the sands by Gyaweft. It extends upwards through the web, tall enough that its upper floors reach the stars.
Black Ooze: A patch of black goo created by AJAMA which can grow by absorbing sand. A column of ooze goes deep beneath the earth, where it breached a reservoir of Emptiness.
--Chaos Ooze: Blobs of ooze which have accidentally been made to assimilate a variety of substances and concepts.
Lightfolk: A species of humanoid mortals born from Hynsyr's golden light. Their powers of creation threaten to overwhelm their bodies, causing their inner light to warp chaotically. Many have begun to train so that they can gain more control over this ability.
--Prismatics: Seven lightfolk which glow brighter than the rest. They were hewn from the rainbow light of Hynsyr's eyes.
The Seven Rainbow Spears: Weapons Hynsyr forged from a rogue splinter of his soul and gave to the Prismatics. They amplify their wielders' magic immensely, and provide slightly more control over their powers of creation.
Light Spires: A glowing city made by the Lightfolk using their creation magic.
Einyar: A sea of golden light drawn from Hynsyr's aura. It preserves the spirits of the Lightfolk after death, so that the cycle may advance.
Deer-Men: A humanoid race with the heads of deer. Dr. Bob originally crafted them from the silk of Nazir's web. They were granted superior dexterity through a contract with Gral.
Bone Fortress: A giant tree grown from one of Ira's teeth, and given to the Dustwalkers as a gift. It has become a large fortress.
Three-Headed Worm: A juvenile sandworm created by Ira to serve the Dustwalkers.
Glass Crater: When Gyaweft flew his Sunship into the ground, it melted a wide swathe of the sand into glass. Fiery essence spilled from the ship still burns here, and sealed fault lines radiate from the impact site.
--Smelter's Grave: The center of the crater. Gyaweft's corpse lies here, alongside the molten remains of his Sunship.
Hynsyr remains silent. He gave his only warning and will not be swayed. The Titan both unable to reconcile the Eternal Cycle to the ideas of the Bargain and untrusting of his siblings in general.
Since the Titan won't be swayed, leave. No point in risking skin for the ignorant. Then, fly back to the nest, grab Kuhaku, then use it to bring the rain upon the world.
Hynsyr: 6
Gral: 5
Winged: 6
Buzzards: 1+1 v Demons: 4
The Prismatic nods and points Gral towards a plaza in the center of the city, where the Titan is standing watch over his creations. The vulture hovers above him and announces its presence to the entire city, but instead of allowing it to forge any deals, Hynsyr raises his twelve hands and conjures a spear of light in each. He aims them directly at Gral's heart, and demands the Contractor's departure on pain of death.
Suitably deterred, Gral leaves and flies back into the Great Web. It ascends past the silken nest and to Nazir's perch at the top of the web, where ten demigods in the shape of spiders are gathering an army of Sentinels. Kuhaku is still exactly where the Contractor deposited him after rescuing him from the demons, so it picks him up again, this time to drag him to a point just above the Web. There, Gral shrieks at the catatonic body until it instinctively reaches for its power, causing sprays of water to erupt from the air. Droplets of it continuously rain down on the ground, which becomes saturated with moisture.
--------------
The Winged start creating weapons and armor with contractual magic woven into the steel. The spells bind anyone who uses the equipment, applying a mental compulsion that forces them to follow the orders of the Winged or accomplish a particular task. This technique is initially used to create more complex deals by bartering favors for material goods, but many of the pact-armaments eventually change hands, press-ganging completely different Spiderlings into service. This does give Gral's servants control of a small army, hidden among the other factions of the Web, but the Ironwinged are somewhat concerned by the moral implications.
The Buzzards swoop at the demons again, but this time their enemies are more prepared for an aerial assault. Larger demons and those with long arms snatch the birds out of the air and smash them on the ground, where they are vulnerable to attack by the rest of the horde. The captured buzzards die slowly as demons rip out feathers and tear the brass flesh beneath apart with their claws.
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover
-Spidersilk net.
-Glass chunks
-Improvised glass tools.
-Glass automaton
-Perpetual-motion bus
-Vial of Einyar
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror
-Catatonia
-Rain-Maker
--------------------------------
Nazir, the Weaver
-God of the great web.
--------------------------------
Ira, the World-Eater
-Blackened Scars
-Woven together
-Debt: Gral: Three Favors Owed
--------------------------------
Gral, the Contractor
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings.
-Contract: Deer-Men: One Favor
-Contract: Ira: Three Favors
-Heavily bandaged.
--------------------------------
AJAMA, the Demiurge
-Ooze-born Body
-Ooze-born Spheres
-Sphere of Darkness
-Cannibalized exterior
--------------------------------
Hynsyr, the Titan
-Yig, the Golden Flower
-Twelve spears of light
--------------------------------
Awake
-Echoes and instincts
-Smelter's Armor
--------------------------------
The Living Sands: An awakened desert that extends outwards indefinitely. It consumed ALTERTHENTERRINTARTINTH, the being which brought it to life, and subsumed a part of their consciousness known as the Empty.
--Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
--Obsidian Archdemon: An obsidian dragon crafted by the Empty itself. It was granted the power to manipulate nothingness.
--Fragments of Emptiness: ?
--Shardforms: Obsidian creatures which absorbed the Empty's already-incomplete consciousness. The broken pieces of ALTERTH's identity they have absorbed give them animalistic intelligence.
--Absent Heart: ?
-Steel Maggots: Metallic larvae which Gral accidentally created while trying to create bird Emissaries. After they were pulled off of the vulture, few escaped into the desert, where they accepted Gral's peace terms and moved into the shifting bog.
-Brass Buzzards: Brass birds crafted from Gral's feathers. They are infused with the pain it felt while creating them.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
--New Stars: A second set that isn't accessible through the Great Web. Fortunately, that means they can't be blotted out by Spiderlings.
--Negative Star: A black sphere which radiates darkness, created by AJAMA after Gyaweft's death. It hangs above the bone tree.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
--Silken Nest: A new star that the winged spiderlings have claimed as a nest. It can only be reached by gliding or descending on strands of silk.
Knot-Writing: A written language Nazir formulated so that Aetherweavers could record their spells. It involves weaving complex knots into silk, and therefore comes intuitively to Spiderlings but is almost impossible for anyone else to comprehend.
--Tapestries: Libraries of spells and other knotwork which have been woven together and hung from the great web. Some have begun to collect aetheric cobwebs.
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
--Dustwalkers: A Spiderling subspecies which can feed on sand as well as light. They live on the sand and fight an asymmetrical war against it for survival.
--Winged Spiderlings: Defeated Spiderlings who made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service, and have built a nest on one of the new stars. They were later granted the ability to weave metal.
--Aetherweavers: A few Spiderlings who can perform magic by spinning aetheric webs. Nazir taught them the basics of their craft, allowing them to create fairly intricate wards against evil.
-Order of Strands: The first Spiderlings to learn the art of Aetherweaving. Many have strained their minds and bodies to hone their abilities, making them feeble despite their mystical strength.
--Ancestors: Weavers who have achieved immortality by becoming spirits bound to the great web. They are incorporeal, and their astral bodies make it easier for them to manipulate aether.
--Scarred Spiderlings: Spiderlings who have gained great strength and endurance because of their mistreatment by the Brass Buzzards. They built a market but have mixed feelings about Gral and his servants.
--Sentinels: A army of biologically and magically augmented Spiderlings, created by elite Aetherweavers with Nazir's guidance. They serve the Spider Demigods, and stand ready to protect the Web alongside them.
Pact-Arms: Metal weapons, armor, and tools which can compel their wielders to carry out tasks for the Winged Spiderlings. Most are in the possession of Spiderlings on the Web.
Spider Demigods: Ten entities created by Nazir and a group of the most powerful Aetherweavers. They watch over the Web in Nazir's stead, but are weakened by flaws in their weaving.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. Islands rapidly form and dissolve as the sand beneath it moves. It has been tainted with Nazir's venom.
Glass Tower: A tower made of glass, raised from the sands by Gyaweft. It extends upwards through the web, tall enough that its upper floors reach the stars.
Black Ooze: A patch of black goo created by AJAMA which can grow by absorbing sand. A column of ooze goes deep beneath the earth, where it breached a reservoir of Emptiness.
--Chaos Ooze: Blobs of ooze which have accidentally been made to assimilate a variety of substances and concepts.
Lightfolk: A species of humanoid mortals born from Hynsyr's golden light. Their powers of creation threaten to overwhelm their bodies, causing their inner light to warp chaotically. Many have begun to train so that they can gain more control over this ability.
--Prismatics: Seven lightfolk which glow brighter than the rest. They were hewn from the rainbow light of Hynsyr's eyes.
The Seven Rainbow Spears: Weapons Hynsyr forged from a rogue splinter of his soul and gave to the Prismatics. They amplify their wielders' magic immensely, and provide slightly more control over their powers of creation.
Light Spires: A glowing city made by the Lightfolk using their creation magic.
Einyar: A sea of golden light drawn from Hynsyr's aura. It preserves the spirits of the Lightfolk after death, so that the cycle may advance.
Deer-Men: A humanoid race with the heads of deer. Dr. Bob originally crafted them from the silk of Nazir's web. They were granted superior dexterity through a contract with Gral.
Bone Fortress: A giant tree grown from one of Ira's teeth, and given to the Dustwalkers as a gift. It has become a large fortress.
Three-Headed Worm: A juvenile sandworm created by Ira to serve the Dustwalkers.
Glass Crater: When Gyaweft flew his Sunship into the ground, it melted a wide swathe of the sand into glass. Fiery essence spilled from the ship still burns here, and sealed fault lines radiate from the impact site.
--Smelter's Grave: The center of the crater. Gyaweft's corpse lies here, alongside the molten remains of his Sunship.
Become.
5
Somewhere deep inside himself, Awake can feel pieces of Nothingness slotting into place. The Shardforms, the Fragments, the Demons and the Absent Heart all spiral together, to form one complete, utterly shattered Soul. He remembers the infinitte time-before-time, when the barest shred of consciousness existed in an infinite desert, and then he manifests, and for an instant ALTERTH is whole once more. Nothingness springs from its body, entirely unaffected by the heat, and it snatches Gyaweft's artifacts up with nonexistent hands. The armor-corpse rests in one palm, gaze still mocking, and the Empty plucks the axehead from its molten resting place with the other. Only then does it feel itself waver.
ALTERTH runs from the Smelter's Grave. Is essence destabilizes, returning back to the sand which devoured it and the empty atmosphere where it died, but the dead primordial does not stop until it is far from the heat, at the very edge of the fiery glass crater. There it lays down its burdens and dissolves, leaving a half-melted Shardform unconscious on the ground.
Transfer my essence and soul to the goo eating goo, consume the rest of the chaos ooze, stop it's ability and will, and then harden a sphere that will be my body again.
3 v 5
AJAMA forces its soul out of its body and towards the ooze-eating ooze that now surrounds it. The cannibalistic goop shudders under the spiritual onslaught, but instead of yielding to the Demiurge, it undergoes a spontaneous transformation. The faint scraps of awareness which allow it to sense and devour other materials organize themselves, becoming a rudimentary mind. The new Ooze Elemental does not have a particularly complex mind, but it instinctively knows how to defend itself. By blindly pushing outwards with its will, it drives most of AJAMA's essence back into the primordial's own body.
Once the spiritual attacks don't immediately resume, the Elemental nibbles at other blobs of ooze surrounding it. It tentatively absorbs a thimbleful of AJAMA's body.
Now have both groups work separately on armour for sentinels, they would try to mix non encumbering steel plate and shielding enchantments used on amulets, laying out enchantments over bigger surface of armour instead of focusing them in tiny peace of jewelry should disperse magic enough not to blow up armour occupant. Oversee both groups.
My children, before I leave you to your own devices, there are some things for you to do, first one is organizing High Council of the web, consisting of representative of each spiderling caste , representative for order of strands and any over weaving clans and one of primelings( may demigod spiderlings get renamed to this?just so they are not called demigod)
((Primelings it is!))
5 , 3 , 3
After spreading their original shielding enchantment across a greater quantity of material, the original group of armor-Weavers finally meets with some success. Their design still isn't particularly stable, but it can absorb significantly more force than ordinary armor before there is any risk of an explosion. An overload would likely still be lethal if it did occur, but any Sentinel who takes enough punishment to trigger one might already be dead if they were wearing ordinary steel plate.
When the bio-weavers see this version of the armor, one of them has a breakthrough. A few simple modifications to the Weaving allows magical instability to be vented prematurely, rather than building up to a single deadly explosion. They create an additional enchantment which allows Sentinels to release stored energy as blasts of telekinetic force, which can be used both to attack enemies and provide further shielding by turning away weapons. The design requires almost no improvement, but Nazir does make a few minor adjustments to improve the Force-Plate's efficiency.
The Weaver also calls for a delegates from each major group on the Web. They trickle in as the weavers are working, and once they are done, the first High Council of the Great Web convenes.
"Okay everyone out of the glowy water, it turns out it filled with ghosts and I think it might piss people off if we mess with it to much, I was gonna say we go see the glowing town but the guy in charge of it seems like he might not want us there, so were gonna do something else."
Gather everyone back up into the bus and drive back to the tower and dig a pit to hold water, so we can have water that doesn't have ghosts in it.
6+1 , 2
To a diplomatic incident, Dr. Bob herds his progeny back into their bus and drives away from the light sea at maximum speed. It's something of a relief when no blazing spears of radiance descend from the heavens to impale them.
The group heads back to the base of the tower, were the Deer-Men disembark once again. Bob finds a few glass odds and ends that could conceivable be mistaken for shovels, then hands them out, with orders to dig a large hole in an area that is receiving rainfall. The mortals take to the task with gusto, having been inspired by their tropical vacation, and soon sand and mud is flying everywhere as the Deer-Men dig holes at maximum speed. After a while Dr. Bob chisels a proper shovel and joins them, albeit with slightly less enthusiasm for trench-digging.
When they've finished, the tower is standing on the single island in the center of a nascent lakebed. The bottom of the hole has already begun to fill, but Dr. Bob and his coterie still have enough time to evacuate before rain can push the water level much higher. As they step into the ground floor of the tower, the giant hole becomes a wide, singularly effective moat.
Hynsyr will now attempt sculpt his light into a grand Temple-Fortress to house Yig at the center of the Light Spires.
2
Hynsyr solidifies the light of his aura, then rends the resulting slab of material with all twelve of his hands. At first he places columns around the edge of the plaza, to provide support for the rest of the structure, but they are exceedingly brittle despite having been made from the Titans own radiance. Many of the pillars collapse as soon as Hynsyr places another block of light on top of them. The rest remain stable until they are jostled, or in one case, until a curious mortal tries leaning against the glowing material. He gets buried beneath a pile of light-shards for his trouble, and Hynsyr sees his spirit flow straight to Einyar.
"Not my idea. But no need to worry."
Ban Ironweavers from selling pacted arms to the denizens of the Great Web, at least to the degree that would make this a problem. Instead, have them focus on crafting set of armor for the Buzzards to wear, in order to supply them for their demon assault. In the meantime, attempt to coax sections of Kuhaku's consciousness out via the power of Bargain, in an effort to further the water cycle.
Gral: 4
Ironweavers: 4
Production of the new pact-equipment drastically decreases, which turns out to be more comfortable for everyone involved. The Ironwinged were hesitant to make use of slave labor, but given that the assets were already in hand, they were hesitant to abandon their control over the thralls without Gral's permission. The Weavers are quick to remind everyone that the entire scandal was accidental, although they did show a distinct lack of foresight.
Most of the Winged who worked on Pacted items churn out armor for the buzzards instead. This is a relatively simple proposition, given that there are so few living buzzards left, so they also manage to accumulate a large surplus of bird-shaped armor. None of it can be sold to Spiderlings, but the Buzzards will be well-supplied if they ever need their gear replaced.
Gral continues to shriek at Kuhaku, who remains utterly unresponsive. The Mirror collects even larger quantities of water from the air, causing rivers and small lakes to form now that the ground itself is saturated, but it's unclear whether the Contractor has actually managed to inspire any independent thought. Even if the other primordial can hear its screams, would he have the inclination to respond?
Ira tries to tunnel through the sand faster hoping her tenuous grip on the heat will hold
2 v 3
Ira slips out of her restraints and keeps pulling at the heart, but the sand also has a hold on it now. They tug it back and forth through the sand, each doing their best to wrench it way from the others. They both fight fiercely for the prize, but for now the two beings appear to be an equal match. The Sand pins Ira down with tendrils, squeezes her with its mass, and shunts her from side to side with cleverly-placed sinkholes, but she isn't toothless herself. When the heart is about to be torn away from her grasp, the World-Eater scatters sand grains and bites through appendages until they back off.
The prize doesn't move an inch, but Ira belatedly realizes she has failed to account for the sand's allies. The earth around her churns as some other aspect of Nothingness looks for a chance to insert itself into the fight. The few times she glimpses it, it looks like a perfectly blank sphere, not unlike an Absent version of the Demiurge.
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover
-Spidersilk net.
-Glass chunks
-Improvised glass tools.
-Glass automaton
-Perpetual-motion bus
-Vial of Einyar
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror
-Catatonia
-Rain-Maker
--------------------------------
Nazir, the Weaver
-God of the great web.
--------------------------------
Ira, the World-Eater
-Blackened Scars
-Woven together
-Debt: Gral: Three Favors Owed
--------------------------------
Gral, the Contractor
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings.
-Contract: Deer-Men: One Favor
-Contract: Ira: Three Favors
-Heavily bandaged.
--------------------------------
AJAMA, the Demiurge
-Ooze-born Body
-Ooze-born Spheres
-Sphere of Darkness
-Cannibalized exterior
--------------------------------
Hynsyr, the Titan
-Yig, the Golden Flower
-Twelve spears of light
--------------------------------
Awake
-Echoes and instincts
-Smelter's Armor
--------------------------------
The Living Sands: An awakened desert that extends outwards indefinitely. It consumed ALTERTHENTERRINTARTINTH, the being which brought it to life, and subsumed a part of their consciousness known as the Empty.
--Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
--Obsidian Archdemon: An obsidian dragon crafted by the Empty itself. It was granted the power to manipulate nothingness.
--Fragments of Emptiness: ?
--Shardforms: Obsidian creatures which absorbed the Empty's already-incomplete consciousness. The broken pieces of ALTERTH's identity they have absorbed give them animalistic intelligence.
--Absent Heart: ?
-Steel Maggots: Metallic larvae which Gral accidentally created while trying to create bird Emissaries. After they were pulled off of the vulture, few escaped into the desert, where they accepted Gral's peace terms and moved into the shifting bog.
-Brass Buzzards: Brass birds crafted from Gral's feathers. They are infused with the pain it felt while creating them.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
--New Stars: A second set that isn't accessible through the Great Web. Fortunately, that means they can't be blotted out by Spiderlings.
--Negative Star: A black sphere which radiates darkness, created by AJAMA after Gyaweft's death. It hangs above the bone tree.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
--Silken Nest: A new star that the winged spiderlings have claimed as a nest. It can only be reached by gliding or descending on strands of silk.
Knot-Writing: A written language Nazir formulated so that Aetherweavers could record their spells. It involves weaving complex knots into silk, and therefore comes intuitively to Spiderlings but is almost impossible for anyone else to comprehend.
--Tapestries: Libraries of spells and other knotwork which have been woven together and hung from the great web. Some have begun to collect aetheric cobwebs.
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
--Dustwalkers: A Spiderling subspecies which can feed on sand as well as light. They live on the sand and fight an asymmetrical war against it for survival.
--Winged Spiderlings: Defeated Spiderlings who made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service, and have built a nest on one of the new stars. They were later granted the ability to weave metal.
--Aetherweavers: A few Spiderlings who can perform magic by spinning aetheric webs. Nazir taught them the basics of their craft, allowing them to create fairly intricate wards against evil.
-Order of Strands: The first Spiderlings to learn the art of Aetherweaving. Many have strained their minds and bodies to hone their abilities, making them feeble despite their mystical strength.
--Ancestors: Weavers who have achieved immortality by becoming spirits bound to the great web. They are incorporeal, and their astral bodies make it easier for them to manipulate aether.
--Scarred Spiderlings: Spiderlings who have gained great strength and endurance because of their mistreatment by the Brass Buzzards. They built a market but have mixed feelings about Gral and his servants.
--Sentinels: A army of biologically and magically augmented Spiderlings, created by elite Aetherweavers with Nazir's guidance. They serve the Spider Demigods, and stand ready to protect the Web alongside them.
Pact-Arms: Metal weapons, armor, and tools which can compel their wielders to carry out tasks for the Winged Spiderlings. Most are in the possession of Spiderlings on the Web.
Primelings: Ten entities created by Nazir and a group of the most powerful Aetherweavers. They watch over the Web in Nazir's stead, but are weakened by flaws in their weaving.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. Islands rapidly form and dissolve as the sand beneath it moves. It has been tainted with Nazir's venom.
Glass Tower: A tower made of glass, raised from the sands by Gyaweft. It extends upwards through the web, tall enough that its upper floors reach the stars.
Black Ooze: A patch of black goo created by AJAMA which can grow by absorbing sand. A column of ooze goes deep beneath the earth, where it breached a reservoir of Emptiness.
--Chaos Ooze: Blobs of ooze which have accidentally been made to assimilate a variety of substances and concepts.
Lightfolk: A species of humanoid mortals born from Hynsyr's golden light. Their powers of creation threaten to overwhelm their bodies, causing their inner light to warp chaotically. Many have begun to train so that they can gain more control over this ability.
--Prismatics: Seven lightfolk which glow brighter than the rest. They were hewn from the rainbow light of Hynsyr's eyes.
The Seven Rainbow Spears: Weapons Hynsyr forged from a rogue splinter of his soul and gave to the Prismatics. They amplify their wielders' magic immensely, and provide slightly more control over their powers of creation.
Light Spires: A glowing city made by the Lightfolk using their creation magic.
Einyar: A sea of golden light drawn from Hynsyr's aura. It preserves the spirits of the Lightfolk after death, so that the cycle may advance.
Deer-Men: A humanoid race with the heads of deer. Dr. Bob originally crafted them from the silk of Nazir's web. They were granted superior dexterity through a contract with Gral.
Bone Fortress: A giant tree grown from one of Ira's teeth, and given to the Dustwalkers as a gift. It has become a large fortress.
Three-Headed Worm: A juvenile sandworm created by Ira to serve the Dustwalkers.
Glass Crater: When Gyaweft flew his Sunship into the ground, it melted a wide swathe of the sand into glass. Fiery essence spilled from the ship still burns here, and sealed fault lines radiate from the impact site.
--Smelter's Grave: The center of the crater. Gyaweft's corpse lies here, alongside the molten remains of his Sunship.
Finally, it has come to this, my children.
You are flourishing across the great web safe from sand.
You are uncountable and have greatest army in this world, raised to demigodhood and clad in finest armour are ten legions led by mighty protectors each rivaling me.
And the fine art of weaving has reached heights never seen before, if we don't count certain members of our species tainting it with making so called pact items.
Here is my final decree for you before I leave council of the web in charge.
1 Enslaving other spiderlings is banned
2 Weaving is not to be used against other spiderling, unless in self defense
So, council of the web,
I would ask you what you see as immediate threats to our species, are there any species you consider worthy of eradication?
How would you suggest to expand?
What are questions and problems seeming most dire?
What would you propose as solutions to overpopulation ?
Sit at council meeting, while observing primelings, looking at their personalities, did they turn out as beings of different character, try to understand faults in design of each
Well that worked considerably better than I could have expected.
Don the armor. Implore the sands to grant me an obsidian haft to complete the axe.
3
For a few minutes, Awake does nothing but process his experience and wait for his body to cool off. He remembers being larger, stronger, made of nothing instead of mere flesh, but the details are all hazy. They fade from memory like a dream, until Awake isn't entirely certain that anything occurred at all. Or he wouldn't be, if the armor and axehead hadn't miraculously been extracted from the Grave.
He stands up, and examines his resolidified body. The stone is still a little lopsided where Awake collapsed under his own weight, and he needs to snap his merged fingers apart to regain some manual dexterity, but he body feels pleasantly sturdy again. In fact, he feels well enough to bear the weight of Gyaweft's armor. He slips the plates of metal onto his body and stands up, feeling oddly invigorated. An inner heat still burns within the metal, and Awake finds that he can direct it out into the world if he focuses. It scorches the sand and causes the air to shimmer, but does not seem to harm Awake regardless of how hot it burns. He can sense other powers and connections in his armor as well, just beyond his reach.
He also asks the sand to create a handle for the dawn axehead, but instead of responding it overwhelms Awake with a scream of pain. The connection between them is cut off moments later, and the Shardform cannot seem to establish it again.
Big wall of text
Finally, it has come to this, my children.
You are flourishing across the great web safe from sand.
You are uncountable and have greatest army in this world, raised to demigodhood and clad in finest armour are ten legions led by mighty protectors each rivaling me.
And the fine art of weaving has reached heights never seen before, if we don't count certain members of our species tainting it with making so called pact items.
Here is my final decree for you before I leave council of the web in charge.
1 Enslaving other spiderlings is banned
2 Weaving is not to be used against other spiderling, unless in self defense
So, council of the web,
I would ask you what you see as immediate threats to our species, are there any species you consider worthy of eradication?
How would you suggest to expand?
What are questions and problems seeming most dire?
What would you propose as solutions to overpopulation ?
Sit at council meeting, while observing primelings, looking at their personalities, did they turn out as beings of different character, try to understand faults in design of each
The High Council of the Web gathers around Nazir. The other representatives fall silent as he gives them his final decrees, and listen attentively when he asks them to propose plans for the future of the Web. While they are of many minds on each issue, they do their best to discuss matters civilly. Each issue that is raised is addressed, and possible solutions are listed out when delegates can propose a reasonable course of action.
Most seem to agree that the creatures of the sand are the worst threat to the Great Web, perhaps followed by the steel maggots of the Shifting Bog. The Dustwalkers are especially passionate about the issue, but not even they can suggest many other species which deserve to be eliminated completely.
Opinions are split on the matter of expansion and overpopulation. Some Spiderlings believe that they should invade the sand, the Swamp, and the Wetlands. Others propose moving into the city of the Lightfolk and trying to all with Hynsyr, while others believe that expanding the great web would be the best option. They do unanimously agree that aetherweavers should attempt to develop light spells, so that they can produce additional sources of sustenance.
The Primelings are fairly similar to each other right now, but Nazir can already see them developing personalities and eccentricities of their own. It may take time for them to diverge from each other to an appreciable degree, but they will ultimately become fully individual. The flaws in their design manifest differently in each Primeling, but generally they take the form of weaker, missing, or oddly distorted powers. One Primeling also shows signs of slight mental instability, but after Nazir observes it for a short while, they conclude that the problems do not seem overly dangerous.
Hynsyr decides to take a break from his newest project by dealing with one of the greatest dangers to the Lightfolk. If the Sands think they can devour what Hynsyr has wrought into this world then it shall know the unflinching fury of the Light. Hynsyr hefts his spears, gathers his power, and goes to eradicate the surrounding Demon pests who would attempt harass his children.
2 v 5-2
Hynsyr picks up his twelve spears and strides out into the desert, where a horde of demons awaits him. The creatures are already feasting upon the corpses of the Brass Buzzards, but when the Titan approaches they turn towards him as one. The creatures do not seem nearly as confident themselves when bathed in the light of a Primordial, but they mob the Hynsyr anyway, doing their best to overwhelm him with sheer force of numbers. He beats them back with his radiant weapons, but there are too many for him to fell at once, until a strange wave passes through the sand. Demons screech in agony and stop fighting so that they can curl up in the fetal position. Hynsyr strikes them down one after another until they regain their senses, but even then then their charge seems ill-fated. Another wave of pain passes resonates through them, and this time each and every one of the monsters retreats to lick its wounds.
"So it's a only pure force you understand"
Use my primal connection to the ooze itself to scatter it across the lands, and reform my body later.
((Will I die from that absurd, maybe))
3
Faced with an enemy that cannot be defeated through willpower alone, AJAMA turns to brute force instead. It separates its spirit from its body, and then projects thousands of pounds of telekinetic force into the goo around it, ripping apart the ooze-born sphere it has been inhabiting, the cannibalistic Ooze Elemental, and every remaining blobs of chaos ooze. Gelatinous drops are blown thousands of feet across the sand and into the lower reaches of the Web. A few land near substances they can assimilate, and small ooze colonies grow across the world.
A few bits of more resilient ooze are left behind, none of which can interact directly with AJAMA's spirit. Its uncontained essence frays at the edges, now that the Demiurge has no body to inhabit, but for the time being it is safe from further attack.
"Aw crap we forgot a bridge."
The deer men and the glass robot will build a bridge across the moat, while I try to make a hemp plant and a potato plant out of something.
Deer-Men: 2+1 , Robot: 6
Dr. Bob: 3
The Deer-Men toss glass bricks into the moat until they're piled high enough to breach the surface. The resulting bridge is unsturdy and incredibly slick, but then someone commands the automaton to fill the spaces between bricks with mud. It chisels a few glass containers out of a nearby block and uses them to haul bucketfuls of sand from the shore to the middle of the lake, where it dumps them onto the old pile of bricks. This process makes the original bridge far more stable, but also allows the sand to exert some control over it. The earth wiggles back and forth every now and then, dumping Deer-Men into the water.
Inside the tower, Dr. Bob gathers up handfuls of glas dust and squeezes them between his hands. The compressed material transforms into rock, and then into a handful of seeds. They scatter across the floor when Dr. Bob releases his grip, but no amount of coaxing can persuade them to take root in glass.
Try banging the heart against the wall maybe that'll hurt the sands and give time to bring the heart to the surface
Ira: 4 v Sand: 1 & Apollyon: 2
Ira forces the heart downwards and smashes it against the top of the obsidian shell she found it in. Jagged pieces of stone carve cuts in its surface, and both of the worm's opponents shudder in pain. She uses the opening to tunnel upwards at maximum speed, before either the sand or the orb of nothingness can work up the strength to pursue her. They follow at a distance, but when they arrive at the surface it is already far too late to retaliate.
Ira leaps up into the air, Absent Heart clutched firmly in her mouth. A thin umbilical cord connects it to the ground, until Ira severs the connection by biting directly through the cord. Another disturbance passes through the world, and something shifts. Wisps of nothingness boil up from beneath the ground, having suddenly become incompatible. The earth itself quakes with fury.
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover
-Spidersilk net.
-Glass chunks
-Improvised glass tools.
-Glass automaton
-Perpetual-motion bus
-Vial of Einyar
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror
-Catatonia
-Rain-Maker
--------------------------------
Nazir, the Weaver
-God of the great web.
--------------------------------
Ira, the World-Eater
-Blackened Scars
-Woven together
-Debt: Gral: Three Favors Owed
--------------------------------
Gral, the Contractor
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings.
-Contract: Deer-Men: One Favor
-Contract: Ira: Three Favors
-Heavily bandaged.
--------------------------------
AJAMA, the Demiurge
-Ooze-born Body
-Ooze-born Spheres
-Sphere of Darkness
-Cannibalized exterior
--------------------------------
Hynsyr, the Titan
-Yig, the Golden Flower
-Twelve spears of light
--------------------------------
Awake
-Echoes and instincts
-Smelter's Armor
--------------------------------
The Living Sands: An awakened desert that extends outwards indefinitely. It consumed ALTERTHENTERRINTARTINTH, the being which brought it to life, and subsumed a part of their consciousness known as the Empty.
--Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
--Obsidian Archdemon: An obsidian dragon crafted by the Empty itself. It was granted the power to manipulate nothingness.
--Fragments of Emptiness: ?
--Shardforms: Obsidian creatures which absorbed the Empty's already-incomplete consciousness. The broken pieces of ALTERTH's identity they have absorbed give them animalistic intelligence.
--Absent Heart: ?
-Steel Maggots: Metallic larvae which Gral accidentally created while trying to create bird Emissaries. After they were pulled off of the vulture, few escaped into the desert, where they accepted Gral's peace terms and moved into the shifting bog.
-Brass Buzzards: Brass birds crafted from Gral's feathers. They are infused with the pain it felt while creating them.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
--New Stars: A second set that isn't accessible through the Great Web. Fortunately, that means they can't be blotted out by Spiderlings.
--Negative Star: A black sphere which radiates darkness, created by AJAMA after Gyaweft's death. It hangs above the bone tree.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
--Silken Nest: A new star that the winged spiderlings have claimed as a nest. It can only be reached by gliding or descending on strands of silk.
Knot-Writing: A written language Nazir formulated so that Aetherweavers could record their spells. It involves weaving complex knots into silk, and therefore comes intuitively to Spiderlings but is almost impossible for anyone else to comprehend.
--Tapestries: Libraries of spells and other knotwork which have been woven together and hung from the great web. Some have begun to collect aetheric cobwebs.
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
--Dustwalkers: A Spiderling subspecies which can feed on sand as well as light. They live on the sand and fight an asymmetrical war against it for survival.
--Winged Spiderlings: Defeated Spiderlings who made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service, and have built a nest on one of the new stars. They were later granted the ability to weave metal.
--Aetherweavers: A few Spiderlings who can perform magic by spinning aetheric webs. Nazir taught them the basics of their craft, allowing them to create fairly intricate wards against evil.
-Order of Strands: The first Spiderlings to learn the art of Aetherweaving. Many have strained their minds and bodies to hone their abilities, making them feeble despite their mystical strength.
--Ancestors: Weavers who have achieved immortality by becoming spirits bound to the great web. They are incorporeal, and their astral bodies make it easier for them to manipulate aether.
--Scarred Spiderlings: Spiderlings who have gained great strength and endurance because of their mistreatment by the Brass Buzzards. They built a market but have mixed feelings about Gral and his servants.
--Sentinels: A army of biologically and magically augmented Spiderlings, created by elite Aetherweavers with Nazir's guidance. They serve the Spider Demigods, and stand ready to protect the Web alongside them.
Pact-Arms: Metal weapons, armor, and tools which can compel their wielders to carry out tasks for the Winged Spiderlings. Most are in the possession of Spiderlings on the Web.
Primelings: Ten entities created by Nazir and a group of the most powerful Aetherweavers. They watch over the Web in Nazir's stead, but are weakened by flaws in their weaving.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. Islands rapidly form and dissolve as the sand beneath it moves. It has been tainted with Nazir's venom.
Glass Tower: A tower made of glass, raised from the sands by Gyaweft. It extends upwards through the web, tall enough that its upper floors reach the stars.
Black Ooze: A patch of black goo created by AJAMA which can grow by absorbing sand. A column of ooze goes deep beneath the earth, where it breached a reservoir of Emptiness.
--Chaos Ooze: Blobs of ooze which have accidentally been made to assimilate a variety of substances and concepts.
Lightfolk: A species of humanoid mortals born from Hynsyr's golden light. Their powers of creation threaten to overwhelm their bodies, causing their inner light to warp chaotically. Many have begun to train so that they can gain more control over this ability.
--Prismatics: Seven lightfolk which glow brighter than the rest. They were hewn from the rainbow light of Hynsyr's eyes.
The Seven Rainbow Spears: Weapons Hynsyr forged from a rogue splinter of his soul and gave to the Prismatics. They amplify their wielders' magic immensely, and provide slightly more control over their powers of creation.
Light Spires: A glowing city made by the Lightfolk using their creation magic.
Einyar: A sea of golden light drawn from Hynsyr's aura. It preserves the spirits of the Lightfolk after death, so that the cycle may advance.
Deer-Men: A humanoid race with the heads of deer. Dr. Bob originally crafted them from the silk of Nazir's web. They were granted superior dexterity through a contract with Gral.
Bone Fortress: A giant tree grown from one of Ira's teeth, and given to the Dustwalkers as a gift. It has become a large fortress.
Three-Headed Worm: A juvenile sandworm created by Ira to serve the Dustwalkers.
Glass Crater: When Gyaweft flew his Sunship into the ground, it melted a wide swathe of the sand into glass. Fiery essence spilled from the ship still burns here, and sealed fault lines radiate from the impact site.
--Smelter's Grave: The center of the crater. Gyaweft's corpse lies here, alongside the molten remains of his Sunship.
But, to be honest, Gral, silken nest is not connected to great web even by single tread.
Suggest the council several things, have council offer its own proposals and have the vote
Send ambassadors to light folk.
To have weavers study stars and develop tiny versions of them as energy source.
Use knowledge gained by group of weavers with experience of creating life to create vegetation designed to survive in desert and produce nutritious fruit, aswell as attempt to use bone from bone fortress to create more bone fortresses across the desert to expand spiderkind living space.
To connect silken nest, bone fortress and great web for sake of unity and to further increase size of the web.
Create dedicated order of weavers focusing their efforts on demon banishment
Send a delegation of Ironwinged to the council. Like it or not, they're still denizens of the great web, and have a right to speak on it's future. The Buzzards, having new options presented to them by way of Kuhaku, are granted the armor crafted for them, and encouraged to find a home around one of the new lakes.
Having witnessed the threats presented, both at home and afar, Gral begins to craft a weapon: a series of thin, feather-like blades, designed to be easily usable when fastened to wings.
Ironwinged: 4
Buzzards: 2
Gral: 6
Another group of Ironwinged are sent to join the High Council. While their presence does not earth the Silken Nest any additional votes, the delegates do act in diplomatic and advisory roles. While they broker numerous small deals in private, including a small trade agreement with the Dustwalkers, their most important accomplishment might be a public statement about the Pact-Arms scandal. While it doesn't mend the Ironwinged's image completely, the other clans become more comfortable with the Bargain, its applications in aetherweaving, and Gral itself.
The remaining Buzzards don their armor and fly down to the ground. They roost near large lakes and rivers in the wetlands, which provide easy access to drinking water, but most of the birds are somewhat unsatisfied with their new home. There aren't many plants or animals, which makes it difficult to hunt for food, and the constant rain tends to make them restless. Most of the flock ends up migrating between the Wetlands and the Great Web, where they restrain themselves but inevitably end up causing trouble anyway.
Gral perches on a strand of silk, then plucks some of its own feathers. It lays them out in front of itself and sharpens them carefully, using its beak as a whetstone, until each has a razor-thin edge. They begin to slice through the webbing beneath them as soon as Gral sets them down, but when it picks the blades up to prevent them from falling, they carve holes in the Contractor's talons as well. Each steel pinion is a lethal weapon in its own right, but they cut so quickly and seamlessly that they are a danger to their wielder as well.
Due to real-life circumstances, I generally only have internet until a certain time each night- about 2:30 AM after converting to UTC. I tend to cut it pretty close while writing turns, but if an action is submitted within 30-40 minutes of that deadline, I may not be able to include it with everyone else's.
I'll try to accommodate your schedules wherever possible (for example, by writing your turn when I have a free moment the next day), but in general I'd appreciate it if you could post a little earlier. It makes things easier for everyone involved.
Thanks for reading.
Hmph. No time. Find the source of this disturbance and end it.
Climb something to get away from the ground
Nothingness Grand Prix: Awake: 4 / Sand: 5 / Ira: 4
Ira: 3 v Sand: 1
Awake can no longer ask the sand to guide him towards the threat, but after a moment of contemplation he realizes that the first wave of pain was tied to a location. He knows where it originated from in the same way he might feel a needle piercing his arm, except that the part which hurt was entirely unconnected to his body. In fact, it was several miles away from the glass crater, near the site of ALTERTH's first death. The Shardform runs there as quickly as he can - and with his capabilities augmented by the Armor, that turns out to be very quickly indeed.
As he sprints towards the center of the known world, Awake glimpses an enormous sandworm. If not for the massive black heart that Ira is dragging behind her, she would likely be covering just as much ground as he is. Instead he is gaining on her, but not quickly enough to catch up before she makes her escape. The omnipresent sand, on the other hand, is not burdened by mortal concepts like "distance." Tendrils spring up from the ground, but in a stunning display, the World-Eater dispatches them with bites and tail-slaps before they can coalesce more fully. For her finale she climbs up the nearest strand of the Great Web, where sand cannot pursue her.
If I have any left, I take control of one of the ooze spheres, if not then the anti star.
Ooze-Spheres: 3
AJAMA: 3
The ooze-spheres were all heavily damaged by the explosion, but a few of them are still intact enough for AJAMA's purposes. It combines two chunks of semisolid ooze to create a new sphere the same size as its previous body, then slips its essence inside. The Demiurge feels several seconds of utter sensory deprivation once it abandons its astral perception, but sense-experience resumes once a proper connection is established between body and soul. The new form feels slightly different, but handles exactly like the old one did. It only takes AJAMA a few moments to acclimate and lift itself into the air.
Hm, the winged were already invited, they are my children despite their flaws.
But, to be honest, Gral, silken nest is not connected to great web even by single tread.
Suggest the council several things, have council offer its own proposals and have the vote
Send ambassadors to light folk.
To have weavers study stars and develop tiny versions of them as energy source.
Use knowledge gained by group of weavers with experience of creating life to create vegetation designed to survive in desert and produce nutritious fruit, aswell as attempt to use bone from bone fortress to create more bone fortresses across the desert to expand spiderkind living space.
To connect silken nest, bone fortress and great web for sake of unity and to further increase size of the web.
Create dedicated order of weavers focusing their efforts on demon banishment
Nazir's first two proposals pass with the full support of the Council. While some Spiderlings would prefer that the web expand through other means, none actively oppose courting the favor of Hynsyr and the Lightfolk. Caution is warranted, given the reception that Gral was given when it entered the Titan's domain, but a few Spiderlings point out that the Contractor was given a chance to leave the city rather than starting a fight. With luck, Hynsyr will offer their ambassadors the same courtesy.
The Ancestors and Order of Strands both agree that studying the stars would be a logical way to begin researching light magic. They resolve to begin their study as quickly as possible. Since many of their most prominent Aetherweavers are currently participating in the Council, it seems reasonable to assume that experimentation will begin once this meeting adjourns. A few Weavers are so excited by the idea that they start tying equations into knotwork right then and there.
Not everyone is on board with Nazir's plans for desert vegetation and the Bone Fortress. While the Dustwalkers would be eager to terraform the sand, they also feel that this proposal would make them bear a great deal of risk. The tribe's representatives are hesitant to tamper with the Bone Tree, which as of right now is their only home, and fear that other Spiderlings might try to displace them if their fortress were connected directly to the Web. The Ironweavers refuse to connect the Web to the Silken Nest for similar reasons. The others decide that they may have a point, given that they were invaded when they first took control of the star.
Opinions on a demon-banishing Order are neutral. While the assembled delegates do believe that it would be a good idea, Aetherweavers from various clans argue that they are already spread too thin. Unless other projects are abandoned, more Spiderlings will need to be trained in Weaving if the warders are to have any chance of success.
Gather the hemp and potato seeds I made and plant them in the sand next to the moat and see if they grow, the deer men can play in the water or make sand castles or whatever they want.
Dr. Bob: 5
Deer-Men: 5+1
Dr. Bob sweeps up the pile of seeds and brings them outside in a dustpan. He digs a series of small holes just next to the tower's door, along the thin strip of land that separates it from the moat. Then he places one seed in each of the holes, grouping together the ones that have a similar size and shape. Afterwards he sweeps sand back into the holes and stands up to admire his handiwork. The plants should, technically, take several weeks to grow, but it's impossible to tell how the primordial-fueled water cycle will affect them. In any case, Dr. Bob's garden is complete, so he goes back into the Tower and observes his various creations through the glass.
The Deer-Men have decided to hold a sandcastle contest. The rules dictate that they gather into teams of two or three people, then spend ten minutes building castles at the edge of the moat. Winners will be decided by a panel of three judges, based upon size, skill, and hypothetical defensive utility. The automaton tags along behind them, occasionally plowing through a sandcastle that stands in the way of its pathfinding.
When the timer rings, the beach has been covered in dozens of elaborate structures. The entries vary wildly, but each is lovingly-crafted and larger than is strictly necessary. Highlights include a replica of the Dustwalkers' bone fortress, a five-meter high medieval fortress, a glass model of the Great Web, the Eiffel Tower, and a city under siege by fake demons. Being made of sand, they actually look quite lifelike.
The Web-model is disqualified for unauthorized use of glass, but the judges are split more or less evenly between the other castles. One walks into the Tower and invites Dr. Bob to act as a tiebreaker.
Back in the garden, a few sprouts emerge from the soil.
Hynsyr returns to attempting to build the Fortress-Temple for Yig.
2
Hynsyr leaves the routed demons behind and walks back into the city, where he once again assumes his position in the central plaza. After clearing away the rubble that resulted from his previous attempt to build a fortress, he flares his aura, producing vast quantities of new light. The Titan takes twelve giant handfuls of radiance and pours them out onto the ground, willing them to take the shape of a temple for the Golden Flower. The light coalesces into pure, glowing gold, which looks glorious in the spires' lights. Unfortunately, it's a misshapen mound rather than the building that Hynsyr intended it to be. There's a door, and a small antechamber where Yig could conceivably be placed, but Titan's grand temple-fortress doesn't look like either. If anything, it might resemble a piece of modern art.
Have the Ironweavers, mindful of the Pact-arms scandal, create a new form of Barter: Tribute Tokens, flat metal disks marked with the symbol of the Silken Nest and infused with the power of Bargain. These forms of currency can be used amongst groups reluctant to abide by traditional Pacts.
For the most dissatisfied Buzzards, a new solution can be put in place: Have them work out a contract with the Bone Fort as mercenaries, providing for food, nesting space , and armorers, in exchange for free reign on its enemies.
In order to rectify this new weapon, Gral crafts a set of protective talon coverings out of Ironwoven metal, enabling easy handling of the pinions.
Ironweavers: 2
Buzzards: 6
Gral: 3
The Ironweavers mint a large quantity of Tribute Tokens and infuse them Aetherweaving that channels the power of the Bargain. The currency is a novelty, and many of the Spiderlings present at the council use it to trade for small items or favors, but they are slow to adopt it in larger dealings. While tokens are considered far less dangerous than Pact magic, most delegates don't consider it inherently valuable. The steel and magic within the coins are both moderately useful to Weavers who can craft which such things, but are not particularly useful for anyone else.
Every single Buzzard immediately flies towards the Bone Fortress, where they are received with open arms. The sand has been particularly angry recently, despite a drop on Nothingness activity, and the Dustwalkers are happy to pay for a team of highly lethal mercenaries. Relations get off to an awkward start when the Buzzards mention disembowelment in polite conversation, but rapidly improve once they start directing that same savage energy at the sand.
Gral has a few Ironweavers supply it with metal thread, which the Contractor then wraps around the bases of the pinion-blades. It is possible to prevent most accidental injuries by using loops of steel to attach the feathers to it talons more securely, although it is still very important to avoid pointing sharp edges at anything that should remain uncut. One accidental flick of a leg could bisect anything, from a valuable piece of property to a mortal's torso.
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover
-Spidersilk net.
-Glass chunks
-Improvised glass tools.
-Glass automaton
-Perpetual-motion bus
-Vial of Einyar
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror
-Catatonia
-Rain-Maker
--------------------------------
Nazir, the Weaver
-God of the great web.
--------------------------------
Ira, the World-Eater
-Blackened Scars
-Woven together
-Debt: Gral: Three Favors Owed
--------------------------------
Gral, the Contractor
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings.
-Contract: Deer-Men: One Favor
-Contract: Ira: Three Favors
-Heavily bandaged.
--------------------------------
AJAMA, the Demiurge
-Ooze-born Body
-Ooze-born Spheres
-Sphere of Darkness
-Cannibalized exterior
--------------------------------
Hynsyr, the Titan
-Yig, the Golden Flower
-Twelve spears of light
--------------------------------
Awake
-Echoes and instincts
-Smelter's Armor
--------------------------------
The Living Sands: An awakened desert that extends outwards indefinitely. It consumed ALTERTHENTERRINTARTINTH, the being which brought it to life, and subsumed a part of their consciousness known as the Empty.
--Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
--Obsidian Archdemon: An obsidian dragon crafted by the Empty itself. It was granted the power to manipulate nothingness.
--Fragments of Emptiness: ?
--Shardforms: Obsidian creatures which absorbed the Empty's already-incomplete consciousness. The broken pieces of ALTERTH's identity they have absorbed give them animalistic intelligence.
--Absent Heart: ?
-Steel Maggots: Metallic larvae which Gral accidentally created while trying to create bird Emissaries. After they were pulled off of the vulture, few escaped into the desert, where they accepted Gral's peace terms and moved into the shifting bog.
-Brass Buzzards: Brass birds crafted from Gral's feathers. They are infused with the pain it felt while creating them.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
--New Stars: A second set that isn't accessible through the Great Web. Fortunately, that means they can't be blotted out by Spiderlings.
--Negative Star: A black sphere which radiates darkness, created by AJAMA after Gyaweft's death. It hangs above the bone tree.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
--Silken Nest: A new star that the winged spiderlings have claimed as a nest. It can only be reached by gliding or descending on strands of silk.
Knot-Writing: A written language Nazir formulated so that Aetherweavers could record their spells. It involves weaving complex knots into silk, and therefore comes intuitively to Spiderlings but is almost impossible for anyone else to comprehend.
--Tapestries: Libraries of spells and other knotwork which have been woven together and hung from the great web. Some have begun to collect aetheric cobwebs.
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
--Dustwalkers: A Spiderling subspecies which can feed on sand as well as light. They live on the sand and fight an asymmetrical war against it for survival.
--Winged Spiderlings: Defeated Spiderlings who made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service, and have built a nest on one of the new stars. They were later granted the ability to weave metal.
--Aetherweavers: A few Spiderlings who can perform magic by spinning aetheric webs. Nazir taught them the basics of their craft, allowing them to create fairly intricate wards against evil.
-Order of Strands: The first Spiderlings to learn the art of Aetherweaving. Many have strained their minds and bodies to hone their abilities, making them feeble despite their mystical strength.
--Ancestors: Weavers who have achieved immortality by becoming spirits bound to the great web. They are incorporeal, and their astral bodies make it easier for them to manipulate aether.
--Scarred Spiderlings: Spiderlings who have gained great strength and endurance because of their mistreatment by the Brass Buzzards. They built a market but have mixed feelings about Gral and his servants.
--Sentinels: A army of biologically and magically augmented Spiderlings, created by elite Aetherweavers with Nazir's guidance. They serve the Spider Demigods, and stand ready to protect the Web alongside them.
Pact-Arms: Metal weapons, armor, and tools which can compel their wielders to carry out tasks for the Winged Spiderlings. Most are in the possession of Spiderlings on the Web.
Primelings: Ten entities created by Nazir and a group of the most powerful Aetherweavers. They watch over the Web in Nazir's stead, but are weakened by flaws in their weaving.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. Islands rapidly form and dissolve as the sand beneath it moves. It has been tainted with Nazir's venom.
Glass Tower: A tower made of glass, raised from the sands by Gyaweft. It extends upwards through the web, tall enough that its upper floors reach the stars.
Black Ooze: A patch of black goo created by AJAMA which can grow by absorbing sand. A column of ooze goes deep beneath the earth, where it breached a reservoir of Emptiness.
--Chaos Ooze: Blobs of ooze which have accidentally been made to assimilate a variety of substances and concepts.
Lightfolk: A species of humanoid mortals born from Hynsyr's golden light. Their powers of creation threaten to overwhelm their bodies, causing their inner light to warp chaotically. Many have begun to train so that they can gain more control over this ability.
--Prismatics: Seven lightfolk which glow brighter than the rest. They were hewn from the rainbow light of Hynsyr's eyes.
The Seven Rainbow Spears: Weapons Hynsyr forged from a rogue splinter of his soul and gave to the Prismatics. They amplify their wielders' magic immensely, and provide slightly more control over their powers of creation.
Light Spires: A glowing city made by the Lightfolk using their creation magic.
Einyar: A sea of golden light drawn from Hynsyr's aura. It preserves the spirits of the Lightfolk after death, so that the cycle may advance.
Deer-Men: A humanoid race with the heads of deer. Dr. Bob originally crafted them from the silk of Nazir's web. They were granted superior dexterity through a contract with Gral.
Bone Fortress: A giant tree grown from one of Ira's teeth, and given to the Dustwalkers as a gift. It has become a large fortress.
Three-Headed Worm: A juvenile sandworm created by Ira to serve the Dustwalkers.
Glass Crater: When Gyaweft flew his Sunship into the ground, it melted a wide swathe of the sand into glass. Fiery essence spilled from the ship still burns here, and sealed fault lines radiate from the impact site.
--Smelter's Grave: The center of the crater. Gyaweft's corpse lies here, alongside the molten remains of his Sunship.
Climb up onto the web, chasing the sand-eating monster.
Fashion the axehead into a shovel and use it to knock over one of the deermens' sandcastles. (https://youtu.be/WBt1vqff7dE)
In the interest of posting something, here are updated and reformatted versions of the status sheets. The world document was getting a bit long, so I divided everything into categories. It's kind of a shame that Bay12 doesn't have nested spoilers.
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover
-Regent of the Tower
-Spidersilk net.
-Glass chunks
-Improvised glass tools.
-Glass automaton
-Perpetual-motion bus
-Vial of Einyar
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror
-Catatonia
-Rain-Maker
--------------------------------
Nazir, the Weaver
-God of the great web.
--------------------------------
Ira, the World-Eater
-Woven together
-Debt: Gral: Three Favors Owed
-Absent Heart
--------------------------------
Gral, the Contractor
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings
-Contract: Deer-Men: One Favor
-Contract: Ira: Three Favors
-Pinion Blades
--------------------------------
AJAMA, the Demiurge
-Ooze-born Body
-Ooze-born Spheres
-Sphere of Darkness
--------------------------------
Hynsyr, the Titan
-Yig, the Golden Flower
-Twelve spears of light
--------------------------------
Awake
-Echoes of ALTERTH
-Smelter's Armor
-Dawn Axehead
-Slightly lopsided
Bestiary:
Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
--Obsidian Archdemon: An obsidian dragon crafted by the Empty itself. It was granted the power to manipulate nothingness.
Fragments of Emptiness: ?
Shardforms: Obsidian creatures which absorbed the Empty's already-incomplete consciousness. The broken pieces of ALTERTH's identity they possess give them animalistic intelligence.
Steel Maggots: Metallic larvae which Gral accidentally created while trying to make avian Emissaries. After they were pulled off of the vulture, few escaped into the desert, where they accepted Gral's peace terms and moved into the shifting bog.
Brass Buzzards: Brass birds crafted from Gral's feathers. They are infused with the pain it felt while creating them.
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
--Dustwalkers: A Spiderling subspecies which can feed on sand as well as light. They live on the sand and fight an asymmetrical war against it for survival.
--Ironwinged: Defeated Spiderlings who made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service, and have built a nest on one of the new stars. They were later granted the ability to weave metal.
--Ancestors: Aetherweavers who have achieved immortality by becoming spirits bound to the great web. They are incorporeal, and their astral bodies make it easier for them to manipulate aether.
--Scarred Spiderlings: Spiderlings who have gained great strength and endurance because of their mistreatment by the Brass Buzzards. They built a market but have mixed feelings about Gral and his servants.
--Sentinels: A army of biologically and magically augmented Spiderlings, created by elite Aetherweavers with Nazir's guidance. They serve the Spider Demigods, and stand ready to protect the Web alongside them.
Primelings: Ten entities created by Nazir and a group of the most powerful Aetherweavers. They watch over the Web in Nazir's stead, but are weakened by flaws in their weaving.
Lightfolk: A species of humanoid mortals born from Hynsyr's golden light. Their powers of creation threaten to overwhelm their bodies, causing their inner light to warp chaotically. Many have begun to train so that they can gain more control over this ability.
--Prismatics: Seven lightfolk which glow brighter than the rest. They were hewn from the rainbow light of Hynsyr's eyes.
Deer-Men: A humanoid race with the heads of deer. Dr. Bob originally crafted them from the silk of Nazir's web. They were granted superior dexterity through a contract with Gral.
Three-Headed Worm: A juvenile sandworm created by Ira to serve the Dustwalkers.
Crops: Hemp and potato plants created by Dr. Bob.
Atlas:
The Living Sands: An awakened desert that extends outwards indefinitely. It consumed ALTERTHENTERRINTARTINTH, the being which brought it to life, and subsumed a part of their consciousness known as the Empty.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
--New Stars: A second set that isn't accessible through the Great Web. Fortunately, that means they can't be blotted out by Spiderlings.
--Negative Star: A black sphere which radiates darkness, created by AJAMA after Gyaweft's death. It hangs above the bone tree.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
--Silken Nest: A new star that the winged spiderlings have claimed as a nest. It can only be reached by gliding or descending on strands of silk.
--Tapestries: Libraries of spells and other knotwork which have been woven together and hung from the great web. Some have begun to collect aetheric cobwebs.
--Market of Scars: A grand market built by the Scarred Spiderlings in exchange for their resilience. The Ironwinged sell metal equipment there.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. Islands rapidly form and dissolve as the sand beneath it moves. It has been tainted with Nazir's venom.
Glass Tower: A tower made of glass, raised from the sands by Gyaweft. It extends upwards through the web, tall enough that its upper floors reach the stars.
--Moat: The Tower is surrounded by a lake. Only one thin bridge connects it to the rest of the sand.
--Garden: A few hemp and potato plants that Dr. Bob planted outside the tower.
Light Spires: A glowing city made by the Lightfolk using their creation magic.
--Golden Mound: A malformed mass of golden light with a small antechamber inside. It was meant to house Yig.
Einyar: A sea of golden light drawn from Hynsyr's aura. It preserves the spirits of the Lightfolk after death, so that the cycle may advance.
Bone Fortress: A giant tree grown from one of Ira's teeth, and given to the Dustwalkers as a gift. It has become a large fortress.
Glass Crater: When Gyaweft flew his Sunship into the ground, it melted a wide swathe of the sand into glass. Fiery essence spilled from the ship still burns here, and sealed fault lines radiate from the impact site.
--Smelter's Grave: The center of the crater. Gyaweft's corpse lies here, alongside the molten remains of his Sunship.
Wetlands: Areas of the sand and the Great Web which Kuhaku continuously showers with water. The rain is heavy enough to form rivers and lakes.
--Abandoned Nests: A nesting ground that was briefly occupied by the Brass Buzzards. It is strewn with metal feathers and bloody talon-prints.
Knowledge:
Knot-Writing: A written language Nazir formulated so that Aetherweavers could record their spells. It involves weaving complex knots into silk, and therefore comes intuitively to Spiderlings but is almost impossible for anyone else to comprehend.
Bargainer's Tongue: A simplified version of knot-script which can be etched into a flat surface rather than woven into silk. It is comprehensible to non-Spiderlings, but not as intuitive.
Metalworking: Blacksmithing techniques that are typically available to the Ironwinged. They can be used to weave metal objects.
Aetherweaving: A magical discipline which involves spinning spiritual webs. It was taught to the Spiderlings by Nazir and is available to the Tribes, the Primelings, and any other arachnid capable of making silk.
Lightforging: Creation magic unique to the Lightfolk. It is a powerful but chaotic ability which can be used to make solid-light constructs out of one's own aura. More advanced techniques allow practitioners to create complex materials such as metal or wood.
Items:
Seven Rainbow Spears: Weapons Hynsyr forged from a rogue splinter of his soul and gave to the Prismatics. They amplify their wielders' magic immensely, and provide slightly more control over their powers of creation.
Absent Heart: The remains of ALTERTH's body, transformed into a living heart. It is the source of all Nothingness.
Black Ooze: A patch of black goo created by AJAMA which can grow by absorbing sand. A column of ooze goes deep beneath the earth, where it breached a reservoir of Emptiness.
--Chaos Ooze: Blobs of ooze which have accidentally been made to assimilate a variety of substances and concepts.
Pact-Arms: Metal weapons, armor, and tools which can compel their wielders to carry out tasks for the Winged Spiderlings. Most are in the possession of Spiderlings on the Web.
Tribute Tokens: A currency minted by the Ironwinged and infused with the power of the Bargain. They see light use in the Great Web but are not considered especially valuable, so most of the economy still relies upon bartering.
Sentinel Plate: Magical armor developed for use by the Sentinels. It can drain the force of attacks and release it in the form of telekinetic blasts.
Factions:
Spiderling Tribes: Prominent groups of Spiderlings, mostly organized by subspecies. The are scattered across the Web, the stars, and the sand.
--Order of Strands: The first Spiderlings to learn the art of Aetherweaving. Many have strained their minds and bodies to hone their abilities, making them feeble despite their mystical strength.
High Council of the Web: The governing body of the Great Web. It consists of delegates from each of the tribes, as well as one Primeling. Most meetings take place in Nazir's nest at the top of the Web.
Lifeweavers: A group of Ancestors who helped Nazir create the Primelings and Sentinels.
Ira continues climbing the great web and calls out to her fellow primordials
Brothers and sisters I have the heart of the sands. What should we do with it? I fear that destroying it could lead to catastrophe, but it can also be the key to the destruction of the sands.
"World-Eater! Return that heart, it does not belong to you!"
Climb up onto the web, chasing the sand-eating monster.
Fashion the axehead into a shovel and use it to knock over one of the deermens' sandcastles. (https://youtu.be/WBt1vqff7dE)
Ira: 3 v Awake: 1
Ira drags the heart past stars, Spiderling nests, and countless strands of silk, until she has arrived in the upper reaches of the Web. Arachnids from the market, the Silken Nest, and other, stranger places surround her, but the path ahead of her is always clear. The Spiderlngs are constantly warring with one another for space and resources, but even they are eager to avoid the primordial worm and the strange, beating organ that she carries with her. Not one of them dares to stand in her way.
Awake runs after her, but he doesn't catch up before the Web's denizens close back in. He finds himself navigating around battlefields and between warring factions, and occasionally he must even avoid groups of sent to intercept him. As he climbs higher into the web, the Shardform also notices strands of Aetheric webbing stretching between lengths of physical silk, visible to him only through the visor of his armor. He gives them as wide a berth as possible, but one particularly sensitive demon-ward reacts to Awake's Nonexistent soul and movees to ensnare him.
"I would suggest doing a deal with the sands"
Pass between the droplets of goo, take away the ability and "will" of those who may cause problems to me other primodials and life to consume.
1
AJAMA extends its mind beyond the confines of its body, causing its senses broaden until they encompass the entirety of the priomordials' world. The Demiurge can barely percive anything after spreading itself so thin, but it can still dimly sense the ooze that it blew out into the desert. Most is standard sand-eating ooze, in various degrees of solidity, but a few types of chaos ooze landed in places where they could thrive. Some newly-grown strains are just as deadly, as AJAMA learns when it encounters essence-eating ooze. The colony quintuples in size by assimilating part of AJAMA's sensory net.
See what high council of the web proposes and votes on its own before end of first council meeting,
meanwhile join the group of weavers thinking about miniaturized stars and assist them.
3
As Nazir sits down, representatives from the Scarred and the Dustwalkers take the stage. The Council considers and votes on each of their proposals before it adjourns.
The Scarred want to expand trade with the other Clans, particularly within their market. One of their diplomats gives a speech that outlines the benefits of commerce, such as fostering closer ties between clans through interdependence, making food, weaponry, and other resources readily available to those who need them most, and encouraging Spiderlings to come up with innovative new products to sell. The Ironwinged agree as soon as the Scarred are done talking, but the rest of the tribes are more hesitant. They only assent to
"I know this won't help the tie but I like all of them, but if I have to chose I'll go with the city being attacked by the demons. Also how do you guys know what the Eiffel tower looks like, because I don't remember telling you guys about it?"
Give my answer for the tiebreaker, then go check on the plants and see about making a few more kinds of plants like corn and beans then plant the new ones as well.
3
The judges accept Dr. Bob's verdict, and a few peel away to inform the Deer-Man who built the besieged city of his victory. The mortal beams with pride, while the other competitors all rush over to shake his hand. The sandcastles themselves are mostly forgotten, but they remain behind even after the group has wandered off, crafted too masterfully to be eroded by mere rain and wind. The robot still seems perfectly capable of knocking them over, through.
The Deer-Woman who built the Eiffel tower is also called over s that Dr. Bob can interview her. The name sounds familiar to everyone, but nobody can actually place it, even Bob himself. The woman who made the sandcastle it isn't any more aware of what's going on, even though she came up with the idea herself. Apparently it came to her in a moment of inspiration.
With the results of the contest decided, Dr. Bob returns to his garden. The hemp and potato plants now have stalks, and continue to grow with impressive speed. Primordial-derived water must be doing wonders for their health. As he turns a few leaves over to check for signs of disease, the doctor absentmindedly picks up a handful of sand and squeezes it between his fingers. The grains transform into more seeds, which Bob sorts and buries alongside the rest.
"We may not have to do anything with it. Typically, things don't tend to survive long without their hearts, divine landmasses or not."
Have the delegates continue to participate within the council, and attempt to recruit researchers from the tribes assembled there. Given that the Buzzards are content where they are, leave them to their own devices.
Finally, propose a contract to the steel maggots still confined upon the nest. Should they agree to service, they will not only be freed, but granted a key position within the Silken Nest. If and when they assent, use their silken bonds as a cocoon, and have them sprout into fly-human hybrids.
Delegates: 2
Business in the High Council continues unabated. Nazir has stopped talking, and representatives of various other tribes have stepped in to offer proposals of their own, but most Ironwinged diplomats are focused on the private dealings which occur on the outskirts of the meeting. This is where favors are exchanged and smaller alliances are formed - and thus, where servants of the Bargain are most at home. There's no shortage of Aetherweavers interested in selling their skills, and the Winged come away with a list of several promising candidates after a cursory search of the Web. The issue is that most are unwilling to work with the Silken Nest, or demand exorbitant fees for their services.
Gral proposes a deal to the bound maggots imprisoned in the nest, but the larvae refuse to consider his offer. One particularly bold individual wheezes in the Contractor's face, with a cadence only slightly reminiscent of laughter. Its response is mufuled, but an Ironwinged guard peels back the silk covering its mouth so that it can speak.
"We don't need a contract to grow, buzzard. But I have a counteroffer. For my service, I demand a pound of your flesh and the corpses of my brothers."
Hynsyr once again attempts to construct a Temple-Fortress for Yig. The current failure is unworthy of housing his Golden Flower.
5
Hynsyr pummels the golden mound using his twelve spears. Each blow shears away a layer of unrefined metal, which peel off of the temple like golden foil. Other spears reduce the debris to confetti, and then to golden powder which blows away in the wind. Beneath the excess material, the walls of a true fortress take shape. It glows like an aurora, as ephemeral as the light it was made from but as strong as pure titanium. Hynsyr taps the center of the barrier with a spearpoint, and a gate rises from within the clouds of light. It is barred at first, but swings open beneath the Titan's hand.
He continues his work inside. Another flurry of blades transforms the mound into a cathedral, complete with decorative arches and gargoyles. Hynsyr's weapons bite into the interior of the temple as well, causing golden dust to spray from every arch and window outside. The cramped central chamber become an amphitheater, and murals depicting each stage of the Cycle are carved into the walls. In the center of the room, at the very heart of the cathedral, a basin forms to house the First Tribute.
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover
-Regent of the Tower
-Spidersilk net.
-Glass chunks
-Improvised glass tools.
-Glass automaton
-Perpetual-motion bus
-Vial of Einyar
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror
-Catatonia
-Rain-Maker
--------------------------------
Nazir, the Weaver
-God of the great web.
--------------------------------
Ira, the World-Eater
-Woven together
-Debt: Gral: Three Favors Owed
-Absent Heart
--------------------------------
Gral, the Contractor
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings
-Contract: Deer-Men: One Favor
-Contract: Ira: Three Favors
-Pinion Blades
--------------------------------
AJAMA, the Demiurge
-Ooze-born Body
-Ooze-born Spheres
-Sphere of Darkness
--------------------------------
Hynsyr, the Titan
-Yig, the Golden Flower
-Twelve spears of light
--------------------------------
Awake
-Echoes of ALTERTH
-Smelter's Armor
-Dawn Axehead
-Slightly lopsided
Bestiary:
Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
--Obsidian Archdemon: An obsidian dragon crafted by the Empty itself. It was granted the power to manipulate nothingness.
Fragments of Emptiness: ?
Shardforms: Obsidian creatures which absorbed the Empty's already-incomplete consciousness. The broken pieces of ALTERTH's identity they possess give them animalistic intelligence.
Steel Maggots: Metallic larvae which Gral accidentally created while trying to make avian Emissaries. After they were pulled off of the vulture, few escaped into the desert, where they accepted Gral's peace terms and moved into the shifting bog.
Brass Buzzards: Brass birds crafted from Gral's feathers. They are infused with the pain it felt while creating them.
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
--Dustwalkers: A Spiderling subspecies which can feed on sand as well as light. They live on the sand and fight an asymmetrical war against it for survival.
--Ironwinged: Defeated Spiderlings who made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service, and have built a nest on one of the new stars. They were later granted the ability to weave metal.
--Ancestors: Aetherweavers who have achieved immortality by becoming spirits bound to the great web. They are incorporeal, and their astral bodies make it easier for them to manipulate aether.
--Scarred Spiderlings: Spiderlings who have gained great strength and endurance because of their mistreatment by the Brass Buzzards. They built a market but have mixed feelings about Gral and his servants.
--Sentinels: A army of biologically and magically augmented Spiderlings, created by elite Aetherweavers with Nazir's guidance. They serve the Spider Demigods, and stand ready to protect the Web alongside them.
Primelings: Ten entities created by Nazir and a group of the most powerful Aetherweavers. They watch over the Web in Nazir's stead, but are weakened by flaws in their weaving.
Lightfolk: A species of humanoid mortals born from Hynsyr's golden light. Their powers of creation threaten to overwhelm their bodies, causing their inner light to warp chaotically. Many have begun to train so that they can gain more control over this ability.
--Prismatics: Seven lightfolk which glow brighter than the rest. They were hewn from the rainbow light of Hynsyr's eyes.
Deer-Men: A humanoid race with the heads of deer. Dr. Bob originally crafted them from the silk of Nazir's web. They were granted superior dexterity through a contract with Gral.
Three-Headed Worm: A juvenile sandworm created by Ira to serve the Dustwalkers.
Crops: Hemp and potato plants created by Dr. Bob.
Atlas:
The Living Sands: An awakened desert that extends outwards indefinitely. It consumed ALTERTHENTERRINTARTINTH, the being which brought it to life, and subsumed a part of their consciousness known as the Empty.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
--New Stars: A second set that isn't accessible through the Great Web. Fortunately, that means they can't be blotted out by Spiderlings.
--Negative Star: A black sphere which radiates darkness, created by AJAMA after Gyaweft's death. It hangs above the bone tree.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
--Silken Nest: A new star that the winged spiderlings have claimed as a nest. It can only be reached by gliding or descending on strands of silk.
--Tapestries: Libraries of spells and other knotwork which have been woven together and hung from the great web. Some have begun to collect aetheric cobwebs.
--Market of Scars: A grand market built by the Scarred Spiderlings in exchange for their resilience. The Ironwinged sell metal equipment there.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. Islands rapidly form and dissolve as the sand beneath it moves. It has been tainted with Nazir's venom.
Glass Tower: A tower made of glass, raised from the sands by Gyaweft. It extends upwards through the web, tall enough that its upper floors reach the stars.
--Moat: The Tower is surrounded by a lake. Only one thin bridge connects it to the rest of the sand.
--Garden: A few hemp and potato plants that Dr. Bob planted outside the tower.
Light Spires: A glowing city made by the Lightfolk using their creation magic.
--Golden Mound: A malformed mass of golden light with a small antechamber inside. It was meant to house Yig.
Einyar: A sea of golden light drawn from Hynsyr's aura. It preserves the spirits of the Lightfolk after death, so that the cycle may advance.
Bone Fortress: A giant tree grown from one of Ira's teeth, and given to the Dustwalkers as a gift. It has become a large fortress.
Glass Crater: When Gyaweft flew his Sunship into the ground, it melted a wide swathe of the sand into glass. Fiery essence spilled from the ship still burns here, and sealed fault lines radiate from the impact site.
--Smelter's Grave: The center of the crater. Gyaweft's corpse lies here, alongside the molten remains of his Sunship.
Wetlands: Areas of the sand and the Great Web which Kuhaku continuously showers with water. The rain is heavy enough to form rivers and lakes.
--Abandoned Nests: A nesting ground that was briefly occupied by the Brass Buzzards. It is strewn with metal feathers and bloody talon-prints.
Knowledge:
Knot-Writing: A written language Nazir formulated so that Aetherweavers could record their spells. It involves weaving complex knots into silk, and therefore comes intuitively to Spiderlings but is almost impossible for anyone else to comprehend.
Bargainer's Tongue: A simplified version of knot-script which can be etched into a flat surface rather than woven into silk. It is comprehensible to non-Spiderlings, but not as intuitive.
Metalworking: Blacksmithing techniques that are typically available to the Ironwinged. They can be used to weave metal objects.
Aetherweaving: A magical discipline which involves spinning spiritual webs. It was taught to the Spiderlings by Nazir and is available to the Tribes, the Primelings, and any other arachnid capable of making silk.
Lightforging: Creation magic unique to the Lightfolk. It is a powerful but chaotic ability which can be used to make solid-light constructs out of one's own aura. More advanced techniques allow practitioners to create complex materials such as metal or wood.
Items:
Seven Rainbow Spears: Weapons Hynsyr forged from a rogue splinter of his soul and gave to the Prismatics. They amplify their wielders' magic immensely, and provide slightly more control over their powers of creation.
Absent Heart: The remains of ALTERTH's body, transformed into a living heart. It is the source of all Nothingness.
Black Ooze: A patch of black goo created by AJAMA which can grow by absorbing sand. A column of ooze goes deep beneath the earth, where it breached a reservoir of Emptiness.
--Chaos Ooze: Blobs of ooze which have accidentally been made to assimilate a variety of substances and concepts.
Pact-Arms: Metal weapons, armor, and tools which can compel their wielders to carry out tasks for the Winged Spiderlings. Most are in the possession of Spiderlings on the Web.
Tribute Tokens: A currency minted by the Ironwinged and infused with the power of the Bargain. They see light use in the Great Web but are not considered especially valuable, so most of the economy still relies upon bartering.
Sentinel Plate: Magical armor developed for use by the Sentinels. It can drain the force of attacks and release it in the form of telekinetic blasts.
Factions:
Spiderling Tribes: Prominent groups of Spiderlings, mostly organized by subspecies. The are scattered across the Web, the stars, and the sand.
--Order of Strands: The first Spiderlings to learn the art of Aetherweaving. Many have strained their minds and bodies to hone their abilities, making them feeble despite their mystical strength.
High Council of the Web: The governing body of the Great Web. It consists of delegates from each of the tribes, as well as one Primeling. Most meetings take place in Nazir's nest at the top of the Web.
Lifeweavers: A group of Ancestors who helped Nazir create the Primelings and Sentinels.
"Denature!"
Use the essence of heat contained in my armor to denature the strands making up the ward.
Then, continue to chase that dreadful beast.
Shoot web and try to entanglething trying to break the wards
Primelings, legions of sentinels, ancestors and order of strands, there is primordial trying to break protective wards, you know, what to do
"I tire of playing this game of cat and mouse with the sand's servants. No one really gave any good ideas of how to deal with the heart, so I'll just deal with it my way."
Devour the absent heart
Awake: 2 v Nazir: 4
Ira: 5
Awake focuses on the heat burning within his armor, then brings it up to the surface. Tongues of flame lash out at his surroundings, causing the air to shimmer and the silk beneath his feet to scorch, but they fail to harm the aetheric web that is closing in on him. The strands snap into place around the Shardform's armor, and when they cannot break through they gum up his joins instead. Awake struggles against them, but is not strong enough to pull himself free before Nazir surrounds him in a second layer of physical webbing. It's impossible to see anything that transpires outside the cocoon, but stabbing pains and a sudden sense of loss confirm his worst fears.
Far above him, Ira turns around and contemplates the Absent Heart. It beats steadily, despite its separation from the sands, but ALTERTH is far too dead to defend itself from attack. So the World-Eater unhinges her jaw, leans over the massive organ, and devours it in one bite. The familiar taste of Nothingness fills her mouth, and a lump of not-flesh slips works its way down her throat and into her chest. Ira's own heart skips a beat, then stops forever. Something else has taken its place.
Numbness spreads through the World-Eater's veins as the Nothingness take hold. When it reaches her skin, the black scars she received from demonic claws fade away. The absence of sensation flows up to her head, and suddenly everything changes. She feels an intrinsic connection to the other beings of nothingness form, and wisps of black smoke erupt from her mouth and eyes.
"We don't need a contract to grow, buzzard. But I have a counteroffer. For my service, I demand a pound of your flesh and the corpses of my brothers."
"That's quite the price, maggot, and quite a rude way to treat that which spawned you. But tell me: why do you feel entitled to such an offer? You are bound, alienated from your kin, and altogether without options. Even if I were to assent, how would you serve?"
"As if you intended to spawn us! We were an accident, Contractor, and we owe you nothing. But if we had served you, we would be Emissaries. So I will be your Herald if we make a pact.
I will hunger for your blood until the price is paid. You should end my existence if you consider it too steep."
Hynsyr places the Yig in the Basin and then begins another round of mortal watching. Will his children spread now that their numbers increase? How will their fledgling culture develop in this inhospitable world? Only time will tell.
5 / 3
Now the the Light Spires are fully established, the Lightfolk have breathing room to explore the outside world and advance their society. The explorers who first set foot on the sands continue to expand their horizons, in addition to bringing curiosities back to the city itself. A few die, but the presence of Einyar and Yig make that outcome less distressing than it might otherwise be. When the Golden Realm fills out a little it becomes standard practice for living mortals to go on pilgrimages there, so that they can visit and provide company to the dead. The First Tribute also becomes a centerpiece of their culture as well as the city itself. Any birth or re-birth that takes place through it is cause for great celebration.
The Light Spires continue to grow in both size and complexity. While Lightfolk use their powers of creation to fortify their existing towers, and occasionally to turn them into works of art, suburbs pop up just outside city limits. These house newly-created mortals when space in the Spires becomes too scarce. The Lightfolk and Spiderling populations both grow significantly, and urban sprawl continues to take its course. Eventually, there are enough inhabitants for the spires to be divided into seven districts, each watched over by one of the Prismatics.
As Hynsyr gazes into the distance, he notices a group of Spiderlings descending from the Great Web and fighting their way across the sands. In the center of the horde is a single Primeling, holding a white banner woven entirely from silk. The delegation makes a beeline for the Light Spires, then stops just outside of arrow-range. A single, unarmed Spiderling is sent closer to explain that the delegation wishes to speak with Hynsyr.
((Why this chaos ooze isn't willing to just get solved))
Return to the body, ho between the chaos ooze pieces and neutralise it.
4
AJAMA recoils from the essence-eating ooze and draws the rest of its essence back into its body. Then it shunts its consciousness between each piece of chaos ooze large enough to be detectable with its senses, and transforms them into inert putty one by one. Most of the ooze is easy to destroy, even if it happens to be near whatever resource it needs to grow, but the few that are dangerous to a disembodied mind need to be dealt with indirectly. The Demiurge throws a clump of sanity-eating ooze straight into the glass crater, where fire urns it away and uses telekinesis to push the essence assimilator it that just injured it deep beneath the sand, where it is unlikely to hurt anyone.
Some chaos ooze still exists, but once AJAMA finishes its task, the dangerous samples have all been denatured or sealed away. They will only be a risk if someone actively tries to uncover them, which would be downright suicidal for most mortals and problematic even for the primordials themselves.
"Hey guys can we get the robot to stop destroying the sand castles, people worked really hard on those."
Lets teach the deer men how to read and write in the English language, as it could be useful at some point, then after that check on the plants.
4
When the automaton next approaches the garden, Dr. Bob tells it to stop stepping on sandcastles. Some of the gears in its brain whir as it adjusts its pathfinding mechanisms, and after it crosses the moat again it gives the beach a wide berth. The Deer-Men who had their sandcastles toppled don't seem too distraught, but everyone appreciates looking at the works of art. They'll probably last a long while, too, now that they aren't periodically being knocked over.
Next, Dr. Bob devises a simple system of writing, involving twenty-six symbols that represent the sounds of speech. He grabs a glass rod so that he can trace letters in the sand, then calls the Deer-Men over for a lesson. It's obvious that none of them are going to be writing novels anytime soon, but they listen rapt attention, and many begin tracing out A-B-Cs on their own after their creator has finished instructing them. One even scratches a paragraph onto a block of glass, then passes it around so that everyone else can read it.
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover
-Regent of the Tower
-Spidersilk net.
-Glass chunks
-Improvised glass tools.
-Glass automaton
-Perpetual-motion bus
-Vial of Einyar
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror
-Catatonia
-Rain-Maker
--------------------------------
Nazir, the Weaver
-God of the great web.
--------------------------------
Ira, the World-Eater
-Woven together
-Debt: Gral: Three Favors Owed
-Absent Heart
--------------------------------
Gral, the Contractor
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings
-Contract: Deer-Men: One Favor
-Contract: Ira: Three Favors
-Pinion Blades
--------------------------------
AJAMA, the Demiurge
-Ooze-born Body
-Ooze-born Spheres
-Sphere of Darkness
--------------------------------
Hynsyr, the Titan
-Yig, the Golden Flower
-Twelve spears of light
--------------------------------
Awake
-Echoes of ALTERTH
-Smelter's Armor
-Dawn Axehead
-Slightly lopsided
Bestiary:
Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
--Obsidian Archdemon: An obsidian dragon crafted by the Empty itself. It was granted the power to manipulate nothingness.
Fragments of Emptiness: ?
Shardforms: Obsidian creatures which absorbed the Empty's already-incomplete consciousness. The broken pieces of ALTERTH's identity they possess give them animalistic intelligence.
Steel Maggots: Metallic larvae which Gral accidentally created while trying to make avian Emissaries. After they were pulled off of the vulture, few escaped into the desert, where they accepted Gral's peace terms and moved into the shifting bog.
Brass Buzzards: Brass birds crafted from Gral's feathers. They are infused with the pain it felt while creating them.
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
--Dustwalkers: A Spiderling subspecies which can feed on sand as well as light. They live on the sand and fight an asymmetrical war against it for survival.
--Ironwinged: Defeated Spiderlings who made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service, and have built a nest on one of the new stars. They were later granted the ability to weave metal.
--Ancestors: Aetherweavers who have achieved immortality by becoming spirits bound to the great web. They are incorporeal, and their astral bodies make it easier for them to manipulate aether.
--Scarred Spiderlings: Spiderlings who have gained great strength and endurance because of their mistreatment by the Brass Buzzards. They built a market but have mixed feelings about Gral and his servants.
--Sentinels: A army of biologically and magically augmented Spiderlings, created by elite Aetherweavers with Nazir's guidance. They serve the Spider Demigods, and stand ready to protect the Web alongside them.
Primelings: Ten entities created by Nazir and a group of the most powerful Aetherweavers. They watch over the Web in Nazir's stead, but are weakened by flaws in their weaving.
Lightfolk: A species of humanoid mortals born from Hynsyr's golden light. Their powers of creation threaten to overwhelm their bodies, causing their inner light to warp chaotically. Many have begun to train so that they can gain more control over this ability.
--Prismatics: Seven lightfolk which glow brighter than the rest. They were hewn from the rainbow light of Hynsyr's eyes.
Deer-Men: A humanoid race with the heads of deer. Dr. Bob originally crafted them from the silk of Nazir's web. They were granted superior dexterity through a contract with Gral.
Three-Headed Worm: A juvenile sandworm created by Ira to serve the Dustwalkers.
Crops: Hemp and potato plants created by Dr. Bob.
Atlas:
The Living Sands: An awakened desert that extends outwards indefinitely. It consumed ALTERTHENTERRINTARTINTH, the being which brought it to life, and subsumed a part of their consciousness known as the Empty.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
--New Stars: A second set that isn't accessible through the Great Web. Fortunately, that means they can't be blotted out by Spiderlings.
--Negative Star: A black sphere which radiates darkness, created by AJAMA after Gyaweft's death. It hangs above the bone tree.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
--Silken Nest: A new star that the winged spiderlings have claimed as a nest. It can only be reached by gliding or descending on strands of silk.
--Tapestries: Libraries of spells and other knotwork which have been woven together and hung from the great web. Some have begun to collect aetheric cobwebs.
--Market of Scars: A grand market built by the Scarred Spiderlings in exchange for their resilience. The Ironwinged sell metal equipment there.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. Islands rapidly form and dissolve as the sand beneath it moves. It has been tainted with Nazir's venom.
Glass Tower: A tower made of glass, raised from the sands by Gyaweft. It extends upwards through the web, tall enough that its upper floors reach the stars.
--Moat: The Tower is surrounded by a lake. Only one thin bridge connects it to the rest of the sand.
--Garden: A few hemp and potato plants that Dr. Bob planted outside the tower.
Light Spires: A glowing city made by the Lightfolk using their creation magic.
--Golden Mound: A malformed mass of golden light with a small antechamber inside. It was meant to house Yig.
Einyar: A sea of golden light drawn from Hynsyr's aura. It preserves the spirits of the Lightfolk after death, so that the cycle may advance.
Bone Fortress: A giant tree grown from one of Ira's teeth, and given to the Dustwalkers as a gift. It has become a large fortress.
Glass Crater: When Gyaweft flew his Sunship into the ground, it melted a wide swathe of the sand into glass. Fiery essence spilled from the ship still burns here, and sealed fault lines radiate from the impact site.
--Smelter's Grave: The center of the crater. Gyaweft's corpse lies here, alongside the molten remains of his Sunship.
Wetlands: Areas of the sand and the Great Web which Kuhaku continuously showers with water. The rain is heavy enough to form rivers and lakes.
--Abandoned Nests: A nesting ground that was briefly occupied by the Brass Buzzards. It is strewn with metal feathers and bloody talon-prints.
Knowledge:
Knot-Writing: A written language Nazir formulated so that Aetherweavers could record their spells. It involves weaving complex knots into silk, and therefore comes intuitively to Spiderlings but is almost impossible for anyone else to comprehend.
Bargainer's Tongue: A simplified version of knot-script which can be etched into a flat surface rather than woven into silk. It is comprehensible to non-Spiderlings, but not as intuitive.
Metalworking: Blacksmithing techniques that are typically available to the Ironwinged. They can be used to weave metal objects.
Aetherweaving: A magical discipline which involves spinning spiritual webs. It was taught to the Spiderlings by Nazir and is available to the Tribes, the Primelings, and any other arachnid capable of making silk.
Lightforging: Creation magic unique to the Lightfolk. It is a powerful but chaotic ability which can be used to make solid-light constructs out of one's own aura. More advanced techniques allow practitioners to create complex materials such as metal or wood.
Items:
Seven Rainbow Spears: Weapons Hynsyr forged from a rogue splinter of his soul and gave to the Prismatics. They amplify their wielders' magic immensely, and provide slightly more control over their powers of creation.
Absent Heart: The remains of ALTERTH's body, transformed into a living heart. It is the source of all Nothingness.
Black Ooze: A patch of black goo created by AJAMA which can grow by absorbing sand. A column of ooze goes deep beneath the earth, where it breached a reservoir of Emptiness.
--Chaos Ooze: Blobs of ooze which have accidentally been made to assimilate a variety of substances and concepts.
Pact-Arms: Metal weapons, armor, and tools which can compel their wielders to carry out tasks for the Winged Spiderlings. Most are in the possession of Spiderlings on the Web.
Tribute Tokens: A currency minted by the Ironwinged and infused with the power of the Bargain. They see light use in the Great Web but are not considered especially valuable, so most of the economy still relies upon bartering.
Sentinel Plate: Magical armor developed for use by the Sentinels. It can drain the force of attacks and release it in the form of telekinetic blasts.
Factions:
Spiderling Tribes: Prominent groups of Spiderlings, mostly organized by subspecies. The are scattered across the Web, the stars, and the sand.
--Order of Strands: The first Spiderlings to learn the art of Aetherweaving. Many have strained their minds and bodies to hone their abilities, making them feeble despite their mystical strength.
High Council of the Web: The governing body of the Great Web. It consists of delegates from each of the tribes, as well as one Primeling. Most meetings take place in Nazir's nest at the top of the Web.
Lifeweavers: A group of Ancestors who helped Nazir create the Primelings and Sentinels.
Ashe, the Collector dances through puddles and across the bottoms of streams. Droplets of water rise from the ground to follow her.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ashe collects shiny underwater rocks.
6
Ashe splashes through every nook and cranny of her birthplace, but she doesn't find a single pebble. The ground is made from nothing but sand, and no matter how far the Nymph wanders or how deep she digs, there isn't a single shiny mineral to be seen. Ashe gives up and swims to the surface of the lake, but when she climbs onto a riverbank she notices light glinting off of something on the ground. She runs over to look at it, and finds that she has located a single brass feather, so lifelike that it may as well have been plucked from the wing of a real bird.
She looks at the ground again, and notices that there are more feathers scattered across the ground. They're densest near a cluster of empty birds' nests, built using mounds of sand and more of those same brass feathers. The nesting ground is empty, but as Ashe examines it more closely she notices fresh talon-prints and bloodstains. They aren't old enough to have been washed away by the rain.
Look at the non dangerous chaos ooze, see if any of it would be easy to feed, if not try to create the darkness eating ooze again, but now try do it on a single drop of goo.
2
Of the various kinds of chaos ooze that AJAMA chose to bury instead of destroying, a few are relatively safe and easy to cultivate. One colony that is sealed inside a chunk of glass can assimilate water, which would make it grow particularly fast if exposed to the rain of the wetlands. Another blob of ooze feeds on silence. Only the whistling of the wind and the crackling of flames near the glass crater keep it in check. The heat-absorbing chaos ooze also still exists, although it is buried in a cool spot beneath the shadow of the web.
AJAMA suspends a drop of standard sand-eating ooze in midair, then tweaks its properties to make it capable of absorbing darkness instead. The Demiurge is careful to keep this transformation under control, but one small mistake fouls up the entire working, preventing the ooze from consuming anything at all.
"You guys keep working on learning how to write while I do other stuff."
Make a chemistry lab from some of the glass and a empty room, then check on the plants.
5
After instructing the Deer-Men to work on their spelling and penmanship, Dr. Bob retreats back into the tower to start another project of his own. He commandeers one of the middle floors of the tower and gathers up pieces of glass that look like they could be used to hold liquids. He molds the material like putty, shaping each chunk into a functional petri dish, pipe, or beaker. The tower itself doesn't have any counters or windowsills to place them on, so Dr. Bob also drags a few blocks of glass up from the ground floor to use as tables. He distributes the equipment and constructs a few common apparatuses on each, occasionally making an extra container or pipette when stocks get low. The only things missing are chemicals and a bunsen burner.
Once all the lab gear is in place, the doctor cimbs back to the bottom of the tower to examine his garden. The potatoes and hemp have grown to full size, and appear to be ready for harvesting. Only a few corn and bean stems protrude from the ground, but they also appear to be growing fairly quickly.
Keep entangling my opponent but now in spiritual webs as well, also call my children to assist in dismantling this primordial, since, he just tried to set great web on fire.
Ira feels a strange connection to beings of nothingness now, and as she sees Awake being ganged up on by the spiderlings she feels a burning anger
"Spiderlings, I have been a friend to your people, let me take Awake out of your home for you."
Free Awake and run if spiderlings/Nazir don't listen. (maybe use cool new nothingness powers)
Focus on the armor.
Nazir: 5 , Spiderlings: 3 , Order: 5 v Ira: 2+1
Awake: 2
While Nazir cocoons Awake's body in layers of physical silk, it also uses aetheric strings to reinforce the wards around his soul. Both kinds of thread shrivel in the heat radiating from his armor, but the shardform goes limp as he is covered by layers of webbing, and the streams of fire that he was controlling fade away. A swarm of Spiderlings arrives from the rest of the web as soon as the area is cool enough for them to approach. While warriors burrow into the silken cocoon, Ancestors from the Order of Strands prepare a bevy of destruction weavings.
Ira flings herself from a higher strand of the web and lands in the midst of the Spiderling horde. She breathes at them, willing the Nothingness inside her to do something, and it flows out of her mouth as a cloud of vapor. The gas nullifies any matter it touches, including spider chitin and the outer layers of Awake's bonds. It doesn't stop the Aetherweavers from firing spells at the shardform, but the warriors retreat as soon as they understand what has happened.
Inside the ball of webbing, Awake focuses his mind on the armor. Something within the metal yearns to break free, to turn air to fire and sand to glass, but the untapped powers are difficult for the shardform to get ahold of. They whisper at the edges of his thoughts, almost ready to be unleashed, but when Awake turns around and tries to channel them they vanish. He reaches for the powers again, up until the moment a disintegration beam lances through his stomach. It's almost as painful as melting.
Hynsyr will meet with the Spiderlings.
Hynsyr leaves his temple and walks towards the suburbs, where the Spiderling envoys are setting up camp. Steel poles sprout from the sand within minutes, and the arachnids are in the process of hanging silk canvases from them when the Titan arrives. They all turn to face the Primeling, who is still holding a white truce banner. After handing it off to a large Spiderling in heavy armor, he composes himself and skitters towards Hynsyr.
The Primeling, who calls himself Parun, introduces himself and explains that he has been selected as the head ambassador of the Web. The High Council sends its regards, and wishes to negotiate an alliance with the Hynsyr and the Lightfolk.
"While some of our kin have already migrated to the Spires, we believe that a formal relationship would be mutually beneficial. There are too many Spiderlings on the Great Web, which has resulted in constant battles for territory. Since they nourish themselves by basking in light, the Spires and Einyar are already ideal nesting grounds.
We wish to develop mutual trust and friendship, but in material terms we can also offer you the service of any who would live here, and forces to defend this city in times of need."
The Brass Buzzards should spend their free time at the fort developing a new form of combat: the martial art. Once they succeed in perfecting this Eight Talon Way, have them negotiate teaching it to interested Dustwalkers in exchange for an agreement of confidentiality and a small fee each month.
Buzzards: 6
Dustwalkers: 6
Gral flies to the bone fortress and swoops down to the Buzzards' nest, where the flock has gathered in anticipation of his visit. it leads the birds outside and has them spar against each other, so that they can learn the finer points of aerial combat and refine their technique. The vulture demonstrates his own combat skills by slicing the sand apart with his pinion blades, but it does not take long for his servants to surpass them. They advance quickly despite their various injuries, fueled by the pain and bloodlust that Gral accidentally imbued them with.
Those attributes are reflected in the martial art that they create. The Eight-Talon-Way is a brutal series of strikes and slashes, designed for the twin purposes of killing and inflicting pain. Using it, a single Buzzards can cut steel training dummies in two, or maim their way through three or four demons at a time in the field. Defensive moves are few and far between, but the flock functions so efficiently as a cloud of death that they are barely even necessary.
There also aren't many moves suitable for use in sparring, but the buzzards manage to teach the Eight-Talon-Way to a crowd of Dustwalkers by demonstrating on the sand's pseudopods. Limbs and sinkholes appear in ever-greater numbers as the training session goes forwards, but the Spiderlings' ability to kill them progresses similarly. It's only once a few Fragments of Nothingness appear that things start getting dicey.
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover
-Regent of the Tower
-Spidersilk net.
-Glass chunks
-Improvised glass tools.
-Glass automaton
-Perpetual-motion bus
-Vial of Einyar
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror
-Catatonia
-Rain-Maker
--------------------------------
Nazir, the Weaver
-God of the great web.
--------------------------------
Ira, the World-Eater
-Empty
-Woven together
-Debt: Gral: Three Favors Owed
--------------------------------
Gral, the Contractor
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings
-Contract: Deer-Men: One Favor
-Contract: Ira: Three Favors
-Pinion Blades
--------------------------------
AJAMA, the Demiurge
-Ooze-born Body
-Ooze-born Spheres
-Sphere of Darkness
--------------------------------
Hynsyr, the Titan
-Yig, the Golden Flower
-Twelve spears of light
--------------------------------
Awake
-Echoes of ALTERTH
-Smelter's Armor
-Dawn Axehead
-Slightly lopsided
-Bound in silk and aether
-Stomach wound
--------------------------------
Ashe, the Collector
-Brass Feathers
Bestiary:
Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
--Obsidian Archdemon: An obsidian dragon crafted by the Empty itself. It was granted the power to manipulate nothingness.
Fragments of Emptiness: ?
Shardforms: Obsidian creatures which absorbed the Empty's already-incomplete consciousness. The broken pieces of ALTERTH's identity they possess give them animalistic intelligence.
Steel Maggots: Metallic larvae which Gral accidentally created while trying to make avian Emissaries. After they were pulled off of the vulture, few escaped into the desert, where they accepted Gral's peace terms and moved into the shifting bog.
Steel Grubs: Steel maggots that have been bound with Pact-collars and transformed into livestock. They have grown larger than their sapient kin, but are unintelligent and largely peaceful.
Brass Buzzards: Brass birds crafted from Gral's feathers. They are infused with the pain it felt while creating them.
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
--Dustwalkers: A Spiderling subspecies which can feed on sand as well as light. They live on the sand and fight an asymmetrical war against it for survival.
--Ironwinged: Defeated Spiderlings who made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service, and have built a nest on one of the new stars. They were later granted the ability to weave metal.
--Ancestors: Aetherweavers who have achieved immortality by becoming spirits bound to the great web. They are incorporeal, and their astral bodies make it easier for them to manipulate aether.
--Scarred Spiderlings: Spiderlings who have gained great strength and endurance because of their mistreatment by the Brass Buzzards. They built a market but have mixed feelings about Gral and his servants.
--Sentinels: A army of biologically and magically augmented Spiderlings, created by elite Aetherweavers with Nazir's guidance. They serve the Spider Demigods, and stand ready to protect the Web alongside them.
Primelings: Ten entities created by Nazir and a group of the most powerful Aetherweavers. They watch over the Web in Nazir's stead, but are weakened by flaws in their weaving.
Lightfolk: A species of humanoid mortals born from Hynsyr's golden light. Their powers of creation threaten to overwhelm their bodies, causing their inner light to warp chaotically. Many have begun to train so that they can gain more control over this ability.
--Prismatics: Seven lightfolk which glow brighter than the rest. They were hewn from the rainbow light of Hynsyr's eyes.
Deer-Men: A humanoid race with the heads of deer. Dr. Bob originally crafted them from the silk of Nazir's web. They were granted superior dexterity through a contract with Gral.
Three-Headed Worm: A juvenile sandworm created by Ira to serve the Dustwalkers.
Crops: Hemp and potato plants created by Dr. Bob.
Atlas:
The Living Sands: An awakened desert that extends outwards indefinitely. It consumed ALTERTHENTERRINTARTINTH, the being which brought it to life, and subsumed a part of their consciousness known as the Empty.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
--New Stars: A second set that isn't accessible through the Great Web. Fortunately, that means they can't be blotted out by Spiderlings.
--Negative Star: A black sphere which radiates darkness, created by AJAMA after Gyaweft's death. It hangs above the bone tree.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
--Silken Nest: A new star that the winged spiderlings have claimed as a nest. It can only be reached by gliding or descending on strands of silk.
--Tapestries: Libraries of spells and other knotwork which have been woven together and hung from the great web. Some have begun to collect aetheric cobwebs.
--Market of Scars: A grand market built by the Scarred Spiderlings in exchange for their resilience. The Ironwinged sell metal equipment there.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. Islands rapidly form and dissolve as the sand beneath it moves. It has been tainted with Nazir's venom.
Glass Tower: A tower made of glass, raised from the sands by Gyaweft. It extends upwards through the web, tall enough that its upper floors reach the stars.
--Moat: The Tower is surrounded by a lake. Only one thin bridge connects it to the rest of the sand.
--Sandcastles: A series of elaborate sandcastles built around the moat. They were crafted so masterfully that they won’t dissolve in rain.
--Garden: Several different crops which Dr. Bob planted outside the tower.
--Laboratory:
Light Spires: A glowing city made by the Lightfolk using their creation magic.
--Golden Temple: A golden temple which houses Yig, the First Tribute. It is an intricately-carved cathedral with walls made from an aurora.
Einyar: A sea of golden light drawn from Hynsyr's aura. It preserves the spirits of the Lightfolk after death, so that the cycle may advance.
Bone Fortress: A giant tree grown from one of Ira's teeth, and given to the Dustwalkers as a gift. It has become a large fortress.
Glass Crater: When Gyaweft flew his Sunship into the ground, it melted a wide swathe of the sand into glass. Fiery essence spilled from the ship still burns here, and sealed fault lines radiate from the impact site.
--Smelter's Grave: The center of the crater. Gyaweft's corpse lies here, alongside the molten remains of his Sunship.
Wetlands: Areas of the sand and the Great Web which Kuhaku continuously showers with water. The rain is heavy enough to form rivers and lakes.
--Abandoned Nests: A nesting ground that was briefly occupied by the Brass Buzzards. It is strewn with metal feathers and bloody talon-prints.
Knowledge:
Knot-Writing: A written language Nazir formulated so that Aetherweavers could record their spells. It involves weaving complex knots into silk, and therefore comes intuitively to Spiderlings but is almost impossible for anyone else to comprehend.
Bargainer's Tongue: A simplified version of knot-script which can be etched into a flat surface rather than woven into silk. It is comprehensible to non-Spiderlings, but not as intuitive.
English: A written script based on twenty-six letters and a few punctuation symbols. It was introduced by Dr. Bob and is primarily used by the Deer-Men.
Metalworking: Blacksmithing techniques that are typically available to the Ironwinged. They can be used to weave metal objects.
Aetherweaving: A magical discipline which involves spinning spiritual webs. It was taught to the Spiderlings by Nazir and is available to the Tribes, the Primelings, and any other arachnid capable of making silk.
Lightforging: Creation magic unique to the Lightfolk. It is a powerful but chaotic ability which can be used to make solid-light constructs out of one's own aura. More advanced techniques allow practitioners to create complex materials such as metal or wood.
Eight-Talon Way: A powerful martial art created by the Brass Buzzards. It is purely offensive in nature, but consists of strikes so lethal that defense isn’t usually necessary.
Items:
Seven Rainbow Spears: Weapons Hynsyr forged from a rogue splinter of his soul and gave to the Prismatics. They amplify their wielders' magic immensely, and provide slightly more control over their powers of creation.
Black Ooze: A patch of black goo created by AJAMA which can grow by absorbing sand. A column of ooze goes deep beneath the earth, where it breached a reservoir of Emptiness.
--Chaos Ooze: Blobs of ooze which have accidentally been made to assimilate a variety of substances and concepts. They were later sealed away.
Pact-Arms: Metal weapons, armor, and tools which can compel their wielders to carry out tasks for the Winged Spiderlings. Most are in the possession of Spiderlings on the Web.
Tribute Tokens: A currency minted by the Ironwinged and infused with the power of the Bargain. They see light use in the Great Web but are not considered especially valuable, so most of the economy still relies upon bartering.
Sentinel Plate: Magical armor developed for use by the Sentinels. It can drain the force of attacks and release it in the form of telekinetic blasts.
Factions:
Spiderling Tribes: Prominent groups of Spiderlings, mostly organized by subspecies. The are scattered across the Web, the stars, and the sand.
--Order of Strands: The first Spiderlings to learn the art of Aetherweaving. Many have strained their minds and bodies to hone their abilities, making them feeble despite their mystical strength.
High Council of the Web: The governing body of the Great Web. It consists of delegates from each of the tribes, as well as one Primeling. Most meetings take place in Nazir's nest at the top of the Web.
Lifeweavers: A group of Ancestors who helped Nazir create the Primelings and Sentinels.
((Nice to see you back, how the show went?))
take the silence ooze and anti star to a remote area,.
((The show went well! Not my all-time favorite by any means, but it was still fun. Thanks for asking.))
---
AJAMA anchors the anti-star to itself using telekinesis and floats away from the bone tree. The cloud of darkness moves alongside it, and continues to shroud the Demiurge itself in darkness, but the fortress behind them is once again exposed to the light. Its trunk has widened considerably since the last time it was visible, and even without anti-light its branches cast long shadows on the desert.
The black sphere's next stop is the Glass Crater, where it picks up a sample of the silence-consuming ooze. It ferries both the gel and the anti-star out into the desert, far from the other Primordials and their noisy creations. Without the rush of wind, the crackling of fire, or even the patter of rain to keep it in check, AJAMA's silence ooze blossoms into a colony, and then a small lake. It spreads across the desert, hampered only by the splashing and thumping sounds made as it grows.
"Okay everyone come and see the plants and I'll tell you what you can do with this hemp and these potatoes."
Have the deer men help me harvest the potatoes and the hemp while leaving some seeds for next time, then show them what can be made from hemp, such as paper, rope, cloth, medicinal medicine, and how they can smoke it and what can they can do with potatoes.
Dr. Bob: 6
Deer-Men: 6+1
Now that the Deer-Men have an adequate understanding of written English, Dr. Bob continues their crash-course in the necessities of civilization. This time he has them gather in the garden, where he teaches them about agriculture and shows them how to use the various crops that he has created. As a staple food item, the potatoes are relatively straightforward. The doctor warns them not to eats the plants raw, then brings a few potatoes up to the chemistry lab to demonstrate cooking. The Deer-Men all think that mashing a potato requires a great deal more force than is actually necessary, but they learn quickly after splattering themselves with mush.
The lesson on hemp is more detailed. Dr. Bob helps the Deer-Men make rope and cloth, which are both exceptionally useful hundreds of feet above sand-level. People start covering the exterior of the tower with rigging, usually to make climbing easier or connect it with more distant strands of the great web. Soon, rope-bridges stretch from the hole in the tower wall to severn different Spiderling nests. Dr. Bob teaches them how to make paper, too, but it's functionally useless without a supply of ink. Everyone just keeps writing messages to each other in the dirt.
Afterwards the Deer-Men help him replant the garden, which is mostly a matter of digging holes for seeds. When they're done, the group also digs a small irrigation channel nearby so that the plants get more water.
Work together with order of strands and other weavers wishing to join the cause on powerful enough light spell to annihilate darkness inside glass armour, call upon support of primelings and their sentinel legions. Spit poison at Ira, if it does not leave great web.
(Sorry about the late post I had some after school stuff that ran late.)
Ira rather than face an army of spiderlings breathes nothingness at the base of the web and thrashes around to de-stabilize it.
"I offered you a chance to protect your spawn Weaver"
((In light of all the scheduling chaos, I think it's fairest to delay this fight. I'll write it when Egan submit an action, or failing that, when it becomes clear that he won't.))
((MrThrowaway- Don't worry about it, I've been in the same position myself for the past week. :P Thanks for letting me know.))
"I see." Hynsyr seems to think for a moment. "Perhaps it is time for my Children to start making their own decisions on the world." Hynsyr will call the Seven Prismatics to negotiate with the Spiderlings for themselves.
"I shall allow you to decide for yourselves what relationship you wish to have between the Spires and the Web. The only locations I shall forbid from being used in your negotiations is the Golden Sea of Einyar and the Temple of Yig as they are my holy places."
The Prismatics put their various other tasks and duties on hold to meet with the Spiderlings. Hynsyr continues to listen in on the proceedings after delivering his decree, and after a while everyone grows used o the towering figure in their midst. Parun repeats its proposal to the council of Prismatics, who spend several hours negotiating the finer points of the arrangement. The seven seem intrigued by the notion of an alliance, and seem to have a positive opinion of the Spiderlings already within the Spires, but they also recognize that opening the Light Spires to everyone could be problematic. After a spirited conversation with the rest of the diplomats, they work out a compromise that is acceptable to everyone. The new arrivals will live on a new, smaller Web, anchored to the golden spires themselves. This "Golden Web" will essentially add a second level to the city, accessible to the Lightfolk as well as the Spiderling immigrants.
At Hynsyr's request, the Spiderlings also pledge to stay away from the Einyar, the Temple of Yig, and any other holy sites the Titan may designate in the future.
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover
-Regent of the Tower
-Spidersilk net.
-Glass chunks
-Improvised glass tools.
-Glass automaton
-Perpetual-motion bus
-Vial of Einyar
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror
-Catatonia
-Rain-Maker
--------------------------------
Nazir, the Weaver
-God of the great web.
--------------------------------
Ira, the World-Eater
-Empty
-Woven together
-Debt: Gral: Three Favors Owed
--------------------------------
Gral, the Contractor
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings
-Contract: Deer-Men: One Favor
-Contract: Ira: Three Favors
-Pinion Blades
--------------------------------
AJAMA, the Demiurge
-Ooze-born Body
-Ooze-born Spheres
-Sphere of Darkness
--------------------------------
Hynsyr, the Titan
-Yig, the Golden Flower
-Twelve spears of light
--------------------------------
Awake
-Echoes of ALTERTH
-Smelter's Armor
-Dawn Axehead
-Slightly lopsided
-Bound in silk and aether
-Stomach wound
--------------------------------
Ashe, the Collector
-Brass Feathers
Bestiary:
Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
--Obsidian Archdemon: An obsidian dragon crafted by the Empty itself. It was granted the power to manipulate nothingness.
Fragments of Emptiness: ?
Shardforms: Obsidian creatures which absorbed the Empty's already-incomplete consciousness. The broken pieces of ALTERTH's identity they possess give them animalistic intelligence.
Steel Maggots: Metallic larvae which Gral accidentally created while trying to make avian Emissaries. After they were pulled off of the vulture, few escaped into the desert, where they accepted Gral's peace terms and moved into the shifting bog.
Steel Grubs: Steel maggots that have been bound with Pact-collars and transformed into livestock. They have grown larger than their sapient kin, but are unintelligent and largely peaceful.
Brass Buzzards: Brass birds crafted from Gral's feathers. They are infused with the pain it felt while creating them.
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
--Dustwalkers: A Spiderling subspecies which can feed on sand as well as light. They live on the sand and fight an asymmetrical war against it for survival.
--Ironwinged: Defeated Spiderlings who made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service, and have built a nest on one of the new stars. They were later granted the ability to weave metal.
--Ancestors: Aetherweavers who have achieved immortality by becoming spirits bound to the great web. They are incorporeal, and their astral bodies make it easier for them to manipulate aether.
--Scarred Spiderlings: Spiderlings who have gained great strength and endurance because of their mistreatment by the Brass Buzzards. They built a market but have mixed feelings about Gral and his servants.
--Sentinels: A army of biologically and magically augmented Spiderlings, created by elite Aetherweavers with Nazir's guidance. They serve the Spider Demigods, and stand ready to protect the Web alongside them.
Primelings: Ten entities created by Nazir and a group of the most powerful Aetherweavers. They watch over the Web in Nazir's stead, but are weakened by flaws in their weaving.
Lightfolk: A species of humanoid mortals born from Hynsyr's golden light. Their powers of creation threaten to overwhelm their bodies, causing their inner light to warp chaotically. Many have begun to train so that they can gain more control over this ability.
--Prismatics: Seven lightfolk which glow brighter than the rest. They were hewn from the rainbow light of Hynsyr's eyes.
Deer-Men: A humanoid race with the heads of deer. Dr. Bob originally crafted them from the silk of Nazir's web. They were granted superior dexterity through a contract with Gral.
Three-Headed Worm: A juvenile sandworm created by Ira to serve the Dustwalkers.
Crops: Hemp and potato plants created by Dr. Bob.
Atlas:
The Living Sands: An awakened desert that extends outwards indefinitely. It consumed ALTERTHENTERRINTARTINTH, the being which brought it to life, and subsumed a part of their consciousness known as the Empty.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
--New Stars: A second set that isn't accessible through the Great Web. Fortunately, that means they can't be blotted out by Spiderlings.
--Negative Star: A black sphere which radiates darkness, created by AJAMA after Gyaweft's death. It hangs above the bone tree.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
--Silken Nest: A new star that the winged spiderlings have claimed as a nest. It can only be reached by gliding or descending on strands of silk.
--Tapestries: Libraries of spells and other knotwork which have been woven together and hung from the great web. Some have begun to collect aetheric cobwebs.
--Market of Scars: A grand market built by the Scarred Spiderlings in exchange for their resilience. The Ironwinged sell metal equipment there.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. Islands rapidly form and dissolve as the sand beneath it moves. It has been tainted with Nazir's venom.
Glass Tower: A tower made of glass, raised from the sands by Gyaweft. It extends upwards through the web, tall enough that its upper floors reach the stars.
--Moat: The Tower is surrounded by a lake. Only one thin bridge connects it to the rest of the sand.
--Sandcastles: A series of elaborate sandcastles built around the moat. They were crafted so masterfully that they won’t dissolve in rain.
--Garden: Several different crops which Dr. Bob planted outside the tower.
--Laboratory:
Light Spires: A glowing city made by the Lightfolk using their creation magic.
--Golden Temple: A golden temple which houses Yig, the First Tribute. It is an intricately-carved cathedral with walls made from an aurora.
Einyar: A sea of golden light drawn from Hynsyr's aura. It preserves the spirits of the Lightfolk after death, so that the cycle may advance.
Bone Fortress: A giant tree grown from one of Ira's teeth, and given to the Dustwalkers as a gift. It has become a large fortress.
Glass Crater: When Gyaweft flew his Sunship into the ground, it melted a wide swathe of the sand into glass. Fiery essence spilled from the ship still burns here, and sealed fault lines radiate from the impact site.
--Smelter's Grave: The center of the crater. Gyaweft's corpse lies here, alongside the molten remains of his Sunship.
Wetlands: Areas of the sand and the Great Web which Kuhaku continuously showers with water. The rain is heavy enough to form rivers and lakes.
--Abandoned Nests: A nesting ground that was briefly occupied by the Brass Buzzards. It is strewn with metal feathers and bloody talon-prints.
Knowledge:
Knot-Writing: A written language Nazir formulated so that Aetherweavers could record their spells. It involves weaving complex knots into silk, and therefore comes intuitively to Spiderlings but is almost impossible for anyone else to comprehend.
Bargainer's Tongue: A simplified version of knot-script which can be etched into a flat surface rather than woven into silk. It is comprehensible to non-Spiderlings, but not as intuitive.
English: A written script based on twenty-six letters and a few punctuation symbols. It was introduced by Dr. Bob and is primarily used by the Deer-Men.
Metalworking: Blacksmithing techniques that are typically available to the Ironwinged. They can be used to weave metal objects.
Aetherweaving: A magical discipline which involves spinning spiritual webs. It was taught to the Spiderlings by Nazir and is available to the Tribes, the Primelings, and any other arachnid capable of making silk.
Lightforging: Creation magic unique to the Lightfolk. It is a powerful but chaotic ability which can be used to make solid-light constructs out of one's own aura. More advanced techniques allow practitioners to create complex materials such as metal or wood.
Eight-Talon Way: A powerful martial art created by the Brass Buzzards. It is purely offensive in nature, but consists of strikes so lethal that defense isn’t usually necessary.
Items:
Seven Rainbow Spears: Weapons Hynsyr forged from a rogue splinter of his soul and gave to the Prismatics. They amplify their wielders' magic immensely, and provide slightly more control over their powers of creation.
Black Ooze: A patch of black goo created by AJAMA which can grow by absorbing sand. A column of ooze goes deep beneath the earth, where it breached a reservoir of Emptiness.
--Chaos Ooze: Blobs of ooze which have accidentally been made to assimilate a variety of substances and concepts. They were later sealed away.
Pact-Arms: Metal weapons, armor, and tools which can compel their wielders to carry out tasks for the Winged Spiderlings. Most are in the possession of Spiderlings on the Web.
Tribute Tokens: A currency minted by the Ironwinged and infused with the power of the Bargain. They see light use in the Great Web but are not considered especially valuable, so most of the economy still relies upon bartering.
Sentinel Plate: Magical armor developed for use by the Sentinels. It can drain the force of attacks and release it in the form of telekinetic blasts.
Factions:
Spiderling Tribes: Prominent groups of Spiderlings, mostly organized by subspecies. The are scattered across the Web, the stars, and the sand.
--Order of Strands: The first Spiderlings to learn the art of Aetherweaving. Many have strained their minds and bodies to hone their abilities, making them feeble despite their mystical strength.
High Council of the Web: The governing body of the Great Web. It consists of delegates from each of the tribes, as well as one Primeling. Most meetings take place in Nazir's nest at the top of the Web.
Lifeweavers: A group of Ancestors who helped Nazir create the Primelings and Sentinels.
Have the Ironwinged begin recruiting some of the researchers previously marked from the council, using their negotiation skills to ensure a fair price. Once business is concluded, put them to work developing a way to reduce the amount of sunlight needed for Spiderlings to survived.
In response to the Fragments, Brass Buzzards and their Dustwalker disciples should use their training, and attempt to come up with a solution. Cunning is a valuable tool on the battlefield.
Realizing the scope of the operations at hand, Gral flies back up to the web and, using a piece of internal essence, attempts to create four in its own image. These Merchants of the Compass will serve as the lieutenants of the Silken Nest.
Dang, just got done posting.
Ironwinged: 3
Buzzards: 2 & Dustwalkers: 5 vs Sand: 3 & Fragments: 5
Gral: 4
Due to improved relations and several new trade deals between factions on the Web, a few of the Aetherweavers allow themselves to be bargained down to a reasonable price. There are more who follow suit once they realize they've been undercut, but a significant number of researchers continue to withhold their services despite changes in the markets. Many of them are already working on the High Council's projects, particularly the invention of light spells, and consider the Silken Nest's project redundant. They'd allow themselves to be bought out, but the fee would be significant, and it's possible that the Council would even make a counteroffer. Until they receive more input from Gral, the Ironwinged choose to make do with the Weavers they've already hired. The going is slow, but work on the Nest's photosynthesis project begins in earnest.
While the Buzzards provide aerial reconnaissance and try to work out the basics of battlefield tactics, Dustwalkers deal with the bulk of the fighting. The martial-artists find it much easier to hone their technique on a real battlefield, where the fighting is intense and there is no shortage of acceptable targets. They tear through the sand's appendages easily, and nearly drive the Fragments themselves back before there is a new development behind enemy lines. Some of the Fragments' reinforcements have become corporeal, by inhabiting bodies made of Nonexistent ooze. Incarnated fragments are easier to hurt, but they can attack physically and are capable of digesting sand to heal themselves.
Back at the Silken Nest, Gral tears out four pieces of its own essence. Expelling pieces of itself is more draining than anything the Contractor has done before, but it fights through the exhaustion and pulls four perfectly-formed soul-shards from its body. It batters the masses of essence with its wings, moulding them until they manifest as steel vultures. The Primordial coaxes with the power of the Bargain, and as one the four Merchants take to the sky.
Take some of the sand eating ooze left and some of the new silence eating ooze and find the nothingness shard within my shell.
"I have more important things to do then fight you on this shell, and looking at the web you have as well, so we can finish it now, you bring it back to me and we don't fight here and now."
6
AJAMA scoops up blobs of the original sand-ooze strain and the new silence ooze and shapes them into small spheres, which circle its body like twin moons. The sand ooze is kept safely away from the ground, while the growth of the silence ooze is kept in check by the sound it makes as it whips through the air. Both samples move alongside the Demiurge, making them readily accessible should the primordial have need of them.
When both of the spheres are in stable orbits, AJAMA drifts back towards the rest of creation. It projects astral tendrils to sweep across the world, in search of one particular piece of the Nothigness. It finds the creature that subsumed its old body on the outskirts of a battle between the sand and the Dustwalkers. It is at the center of an entire swarm of Fragments, and as AJAMA moves closer, it notices that the shell-thief is spitting out chunks of Non-Ooze for its fellows to inhabit. Apollyon refocuses its attention on the Demiurge once it sesnses the other sphere approaching.
"This body is. Useful? Makes bodies for friends. Is not nice being body-less. Sand does not welcome us anymore! Please can I keep?"
"Great people are fighting over at the web again, everyone stay in the tower for a bit."
Have the deer men stay in the tower they can do whatever they want, while I build a still out of glass and try to make vodka out of the potatoes, then check on the plants.
Deer-Men: 3
Dr. Bob: 2
In response to the fireworks on the Web, Dr. Bob raises an alarm and orders the mortals to stay inside. Most of them start playing around in the chemistry lab, where they continue to tinker with potatoes and hemp. While one group makes of stockpile of rope and cloth, a few creative types try their hand at developing new potato recipes. These are mostly different kinds of mashed potato, like fried-mashed potato, soaked-mashed potato, and once even charred-mashed-potato. Most people still prefer the normal version, but there are a few who enjoy fried potatoes immensely. They even realize that they can cook some without pureeing them first.
Dr. Bob keeps one section of the lab roped off so that he can work on a new project involving potatoes. He creates a still by linking together a few other chemical apparatuses, including a greenhouse for growing potatoes inside the tower and a glass pan to collect water from the rain, but finds that he's still missing a way to ferment all the liquified potatoes. Bob intuitively knows that he should be looking for something called "yeast," but nobody has actually created the stuff yet.
Deer-Men have been ducking outside to tend to the garden, which is now supplying the tower with a continuous stream of potatoes and hemp. Beanstalks and a few ears of corn are also fully-grown now, but nobody knows what to do with them. When they see Dr. Bob coming, a few gardeners line up to see what he does with the new plants.
Ashe collects as many Brass Buzzard feathers as she can find!
Ashe skips through the nesting ground and picks up every stray feather. The first step is just to pick up all the obvious ones that are just lying in plain sight. She gathers them up into a pile, which she deposits near the Buzzards' nests. There still aren't any signs of the birds themselves, so Ashe also digs through the mounds of sand and grabs all the feathers that were used to hold them together. Those are a little dirty at first, but after the nymph dips them in a nearby river they're as shiny as the rest.
Her pile is even bigger now, but when Ashe looks out at the dunes she can still see the occasional glint of brass. The buzzards left a trail of shed feathers that goes out of the Wetlands and towards the rest of the desert. If she squints she can see a white tree somewhere in the same direction, with glittery specks swooping in and out of view.
You are trying to save creature of darkness, which not only broke into house of spiderkind and did set it on fire, but also did so after being spared from unweaving on promise of not harming the web in any way, I did let this monstrosity live once, there is no way I am repeating this mistake
Its not about foolish duels for me, it's about eradication of pests standing on way of spider race.
Work together with order of strands and other weavers wishing to join the cause on powerful enough light spells to annihilate darkness inside glass armour and Ira , call upon support of primelings and their sentinel legions.
(Sorry about the late post I had some after school stuff that ran late.)
Ira rather than face an army of spiderlings breathes nothingness at the base of the web and thrashes around to de-stabilize it.
"I offered you a chance to protect your spawn Weaver"
Order: 3 & Nazir: 1
Primelings: 1 & Sentinels: 1
Ira: 4+1
The Order continues to Weave together aetheric blades and snares, this time with Nazir's help. At first the Primordial Spiders' weavings reinforce the more mundane workings of the Order, but when Nazir lays the groundwork for an apocalyptically powerful light spell it pushes the rest of the threads out of balance. The carefully-prepared spellwork collapses into a tangle of knots, and instead of completing Nazir's working the Spiderlings of the Order are forced to unspool and reconstruct the remains of their own. The one or two blasts of light that hit Awake's silk cocoon are only powerful enough to singe it.
The problem is further complicated by the Primelings and their Sentinels, who were not prepared to deal with a threat that had already worked its way into the web. They unleash barrages of acid and spellwork that are more suited to siege combat than a fight with two individuals. Instead of annihilating Ira and Awake, as they intended, their attacks land amongst the regular spiderling troops. Even platoons that aren't touched by friendly fire are swept up in the ensuing chaos.
Somewhere in the center of the Spiderling horde, Ira breathes out another cloud of Nonexistence. This time she closes her mouth slightly to focus it into a narrow stream, which she uses to cut through the strand of webbing that everyone has been standing on. It snaps in two, sending the World-Eater, the cocooned Shardform, and several hundred of Spiderlings plummet down to the desert. Nazir's other troops cling to the severed ends of the cobweb, which are swinging back and forth like pendulums.
Hynsyr gathers the Prismatics once more to decide upon how they wish to lead the Lightfolk from this point foward. How would they organize themselves and their kin? How would they come to make decisions outside of what Hynsyr tells them to do? How will they collectively further the cycle and ensure they can pay tribute for their eternal Debt of Life? These are things they must decide for themselves as mortal beings.
The Prismatics conclude their discussion with the ambassador so that they can gather around Hynsyr. They form a circle around him and thrust their spears into the sand, causing a shimmering aura to rise from the ground. Once the mist has shrouded them from prying eyes, the seven deliberate their role among the Lightfolk and the shape of things to come. It is necessary to consider many things, from the leadership of the species to its ultimate fate. The cycle must progress, and for now they must be the ones to bring it to fruition.
The seven tentatively decide to make their city of kind of theocracy, with Hynsyr considered the ultimate authority. The daily affairs of the Lightfolk will be handled by trusted advisors and lieutenants. The Prismatics offer to fill the first of these positions themselves, but leave room open for the Titan to appoint or remove mortals as he sees fit. As the wielders of the Rainbow Spears, they will also be obligated to defend Lightfolk society and its continued prosperity. It is their duty to defend the Spires from attack, to further its development using their magic, and to act as agents of the cycle. An order of warrior-priests will also be established to enforce Hynsyr's decrees. These soldiers will be responsible for preserving the sanctity of the holy sites.
All Lightfolk will be required to contribute to the tribute. They will offer their creator whatever they deem best, but must also do their best to satisfy any demands that he lays out.
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover
-Regent of the Tower
-Spidersilk net.
-Glass chunks
-Improvised glass tools.
-Glass automaton
-Perpetual-motion bus
-Vial of Einyar
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror
-Catatonia
-Rain-Maker
--------------------------------
Nazir, the Weaver
-God of the great web.
--------------------------------
Ira, the World-Eater
-Empty
-Woven together
-Debt: Gral: Three Favors Owed
--------------------------------
Gral, the Contractor
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings
-Contract: Deer-Men: One Favor
-Contract: Ira: Three Favors
-Pinion Blades
--------------------------------
AJAMA, the Demiurge
-Ooze-born Body
-Ooze-born Spheres
-Sphere of Darkness
--------------------------------
Hynsyr, the Titan
-Yig, the Golden Flower
-Twelve spears of light
--------------------------------
Awake
-Echoes of ALTERTH
-Smelter's Armor
-Dawn Axehead
-Slightly lopsided
-Bound in silk and aether
-Stomach wound
--------------------------------
Ashe, the Collector
-Brass Feathers
Bestiary:
Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
--Obsidian Archdemon: An obsidian dragon crafted by the Empty itself. It was granted the power to manipulate nothingness.
Fragments of Emptiness: ?
Shardforms: Obsidian creatures which absorbed the Empty's already-incomplete consciousness. The broken pieces of ALTERTH's identity they possess give them animalistic intelligence.
Steel Maggots: Metallic larvae which Gral accidentally created while trying to make avian Emissaries. After they were pulled off of the vulture, few escaped into the desert, where they accepted Gral's peace terms and moved into the shifting bog.
Steel Grubs: Steel maggots that have been bound with Pact-collars and transformed into livestock. They have grown larger than their sapient kin, but are unintelligent and largely peaceful.
Brass Buzzards: Brass birds crafted from Gral's feathers. They are infused with the pain it felt while creating them.
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
--Dustwalkers: A Spiderling subspecies which can feed on sand as well as light. They live on the sand and fight an asymmetrical war against it for survival.
--Ironwinged: Defeated Spiderlings who made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service, and have built a nest on one of the new stars. They were later granted the ability to weave metal.
--Ancestors: Aetherweavers who have achieved immortality by becoming spirits bound to the great web. They are incorporeal, and their astral bodies make it easier for them to manipulate aether.
--Scarred Spiderlings: Spiderlings who have gained great strength and endurance because of their mistreatment by the Brass Buzzards. They built a market but have mixed feelings about Gral and his servants.
--Sentinels: A army of biologically and magically augmented Spiderlings, created by elite Aetherweavers with Nazir's guidance. They serve the Spider Demigods, and stand ready to protect the Web alongside them.
Primelings: Ten entities created by Nazir and a group of the most powerful Aetherweavers. They watch over the Web in Nazir's stead, but are weakened by flaws in their weaving.
Lightfolk: A species of humanoid mortals born from Hynsyr's golden light. Their powers of creation threaten to overwhelm their bodies, causing their inner light to warp chaotically. Many have begun to train so that they can gain more control over this ability.
--Prismatics: Seven lightfolk which glow brighter than the rest. They were hewn from the rainbow light of Hynsyr's eyes.
Deer-Men: A humanoid race with the heads of deer. Dr. Bob originally crafted them from the silk of Nazir's web. They were granted superior dexterity through a contract with Gral.
Three-Headed Worm: A juvenile sandworm created by Ira to serve the Dustwalkers.
Crops: Hemp, potato, corn, and bean plants created by Dr. Bob.
Atlas:
The Living Sands: An awakened desert that extends outwards indefinitely. It consumed ALTERTHENTERRINTARTINTH, the being which brought it to life, and subsumed a part of their consciousness known as the Empty.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
--New Stars: A second set that isn't accessible through the Great Web. Fortunately, that means they can't be blotted out by Spiderlings.
--Negative Star: A black sphere which radiates darkness, created by AJAMA after Gyaweft's death.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
--Silken Nest: A new star that the winged spiderlings have claimed as a nest. It can only be reached by gliding or descending on strands of silk.
--Tapestries: Libraries of spells and other knotwork which have been woven together and hung from the great web. Some have begun to collect aetheric cobwebs.
--Market of Scars: A grand market built by the Scarred Spiderlings in exchange for their resilience. The Ironwinged sell metal equipment there.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. Islands rapidly form and dissolve as the sand beneath it moves. It has been tainted with Nazir's venom.
Glass Tower: A tower made of glass, raised from the sands by Gyaweft. It extends upwards through the web, tall enough that its upper floors reach the stars.
--Moat: The Tower is surrounded by a lake. Only one thin bridge connects it to the rest of the sand.
--Sandcastles: A series of elaborate sandcastles built around the moat. They were crafted so masterfully that they won’t dissolve in rain.
--Garden: Several different crops which Dr. Bob planted outside the tower.
--Laboratory: A room furnished with chemistry equipment and various glass containers.
Light Spires: A glowing city made by the Lightfolk using their creation magic.
--Temple of Yig: A golden temple which houses Yig, the First Tribute. It is an intricately-carved cathedral with walls made from an aurora.
Einyar: A sea of golden light drawn from Hynsyr's aura. It preserves the spirits of the Lightfolk after death, so that the cycle may advance.
Bone Fortress: A giant tree grown from one of Ira's teeth, and given to the Dustwalkers as a gift. It has become a large fortress.
Glass Crater: When Gyaweft flew his Sunship into the ground, it melted a wide swathe of the sand into glass. Fiery essence spilled from the ship still burns here, and sealed fault lines radiate from the impact site.
--Smelter's Grave: The center of the crater. Gyaweft's corpse lies here, alongside the molten remains of his Sunship.
Wetlands: Areas of the sand and the Great Web which Kuhaku continuously showers with water. The rain is heavy enough to form rivers and lakes.
--Abandoned Nests: A nesting ground that was briefly occupied by the Brass Buzzards. It is strewn with metal feathers and bloody talon-prints.
Knowledge:
Knot-Writing: A written language Nazir formulated so that Aetherweavers could record their spells. It involves weaving complex knots into silk, and therefore comes intuitively to Spiderlings but is almost impossible for anyone else to comprehend.
Bargainer's Tongue: A simplified version of knot-script which can be etched into a flat surface rather than woven into silk. It is comprehensible to non-Spiderlings, but not as intuitive.
English: A written script based on twenty-six letters and a few punctuation symbols. It was introduced by Dr. Bob and is primarily used by the Deer-Men.
Metalworking: Blacksmithing techniques that are typically available to the Ironwinged. They can be used to weave metal objects.
Aetherweaving: A magical discipline which involves spinning spiritual webs. It was taught to the Spiderlings by Nazir and is available to the Tribes, the Primelings, and any other arachnid capable of making silk.
Lightforging: Creation magic unique to the Lightfolk. It is a powerful but chaotic ability which can be used to make solid-light constructs out of one's own aura. More advanced techniques allow practitioners to create complex materials such as metal or wood.
Eight-Talon Way: A powerful martial art created by the Brass Buzzards. It is purely offensive in nature, but consists of strikes so lethal that defense isn’t usually necessary.
Agriculture: Farming is only feasible in the wetlands, but plants watered by Kuhaku’s rain grow quickly. The Deer-Men have been taught to cultivate and use several kinds of crops.
Items:
Seven Rainbow Spears: Weapons Hynsyr forged from a rogue splinter of his soul and gave to the Prismatics. They amplify their wielders' magic immensely, and provide slightly more control over their powers of creation.
Black Ooze: A patch of black goo created by AJAMA which can grow by absorbing sand. A column of ooze goes deep beneath the earth, where it breached a reservoir of Emptiness.
--Chaos Ooze: Blobs of ooze which have accidentally been made to assimilate a variety of substances and concepts. They were later sealed away.
--Silence Ooze: A strain of chaos ooze that can feed on silence. AJAMA transplanted some of it to the empty desert, where it has grown rapidly.
Pact-Arms: Metal weapons, armor, and tools which can compel their wielders to carry out tasks for the Winged Spiderlings. Most are in the possession of Spiderlings on the Web.
Tribute Tokens: A currency minted by the Ironwinged and infused with the power of the Bargain. They see light use in the Great Web but are not considered especially valuable, so most of the economy still relies upon bartering.
Sentinel Plate: Magical armor developed for use by the Sentinels. It can drain the force of attacks and release it in the form of telekinetic blasts.
Factions:
Spiderling Tribes: Prominent groups of Spiderlings, mostly organized by subspecies. The are scattered across the Web, the stars, and the sand.
--Order of Strands: The first Spiderlings to learn the art of Aetherweaving. Many have strained their minds and bodies to hone their abilities, making them feeble despite their mystical strength.
High Council of the Web: The governing body of the Great Web. It consists of delegates from each of the tribes, as well as one Primeling. Most meetings take place in Nazir's nest at the top of the Web.
Lifeweavers: A group of Ancestors who helped Nazir create the Primelings and Sentinels.
Have the research team continue their efforts on the project, then send the rest of the Ironwinged out to negotiate the reconstruction of the broken section, extracting pacts of loyalty and alliance in exchange.
It seems the Merchants will have to test their mettle earlier than expected.
The Merchant of the North is to dart amongst the falling Spiderlings, and offer the Contract of the Winged to those who accept loyalty.
The Merchant of the South is to join the fight against the fragments and the Sand, and hopefully lead the group to victory.
The Merchant of the East is to fetch the Deer-men from the Glass Tower, and bring them to the Wetlands, in preparation for their debt repayment.
Finally, the Merchant of the West is to fetch fine silks, Tribute Tokens, and an honor guard of Winged, and search for the nearest Shardform settlement. Once found, they are to begin converting them to the ways of Bargain.
((While making a horde of minions is an excellent move, strategically, I'm going to have trouble writing turns for all of them. For now we'll just keep things short and snappy. EDIT: Apparently not. Oh well.))
Weavers: 6 & Contractors: 4
Merchant of the North: 3
Merchant of the South: 6
Merchant of the East: 4
Merchant of the West: 3
The Ironwinged weavers and their hired help continue working on a more efficient photosynthesis process. Using magic to improve upon the existing chemical process isn't difficult, so their research mostly centers around ways to distribute the enhancement to large numbers of Spiderlings at once. Their solution is to make the Weavings replicate themselves, which works well up until an experimental version escapes containment and spreads through the Silken Nest. Infected Spiderlings can survive on less starlight, but being exposed to too much at once causes their bodies to char.
Most of the falling Spiderlings were at the epicenter of the battle, and were hurt too severely by friendly fire or Ira's Nothing-breath to be saved. The Merchant of the North does find a few survivors amongst the dead and the dying, but the group which glides to the Silken Nest is much smaller than Gral would have liked.
The Merchant of the East flies to the tower, where it finds the Dr. Bob and the Deer-Men standing around a garden. Its curiosity is piqued enough that it listens in, and learns about the uses of corn and bean plants along with the mortals. When the lesson has finished it leads them across the moat and out to the center of the Wetlands.
The Merchant of the West finds a small herd of Shardforms wandering at near an ooze colony, but they aren't interested in any of the goods that Gral sent for them. They are also incapable of comprehending speech, much less the intricacies of buying and selling. When Ironwinged appear overhead their primary response is to cluster together and make clacking sounds.
Have ordinary spiderlings retreat, focus all efforts on killing Ira with mix of weavers light spells, sentinels fireballs and primelings acid
I did not want this to happen, but you don't leave me any other choice
"I tire of this, if you agree to punish but not kill awake I'll leave."
If Nazi doesn't agree coil around him to restrain him while blasting nothingness at the small fry's
((Ira- I'm assuming you mean to coil around Nazir, since Awake is already restrained pretty thoroughly.))
Ira: 3+1 vs Order: 3 & Sentinels: 6 & Primelings: 2 & Nazir: 4
Ira whips her tail back up to the web and hooks it around Nazir, but the other primordial still has relatively solid footing. Instead of dragging the spider down with her, they both hang in the air hundreds of feet above the ground. The world-eater pulls her head upwards and maneuvers around Awake's silk cocoon, which is still gripped in one of her coils, so that she can breathe more Null-gas at the Spiderlings who are still holding on. It billows outwards in an uncontrolled cloud and meets compressed fireballs from the sentinels, which pushes it back in Ira's general direction. It doesn't harm the sandworm herself, but it does eat away at Nazir, the Awake's bindings, and crucially, the strand of silk keeping everyone aloft. Nazir loses his footing and all three tumble, this time through Nothingness-suffused air.
((I really wanted to help, but I got now something more intresting, so, sorry Nazir))
"If you help me stop this fighting we will consider the possibilities"
Stop the fighting between the Buzzards and dustwalkers to the Fragments.
AJAMA: 2 & Apollyon: 4
Fragments: 5 vs Merchant: 5 & Buzzards: 2 vs Sand: 3
AJAMA politely tells everyone to stop killing each other, but its voice is overwhelmed by the sounds of the battle. It responds by amplifying its voice and screaming at the nearest combatants, but they don't seem to care much about the black sphere's disapproval. Some of the Dustwalker martial artists pause and look around in confusion, but they all resume fighting when a giant steel bird appears overhead.
Apollyon doesn't say anything, but its focus drifts from the conversation for a moment, and the other Fragments abruptly start to retreat. They are still being attacked by both the sand and the bone fortress troops, but they do their best to avoid retaliating. That directive becomes more complicated when the metal vulture leads the Buzzards in an attack from the air, forcing Fragments to defend themselves or be torn apart. There are casualties on both sides.
"You better be careful with my deers bird, anything happens to them I'll kick your ass."
Tell the deer men what corn and beans are good for before the bird takes them, then I shall try to make yeast and finish my vodka making.
6
A steel-feathered vulture that looks like a smaller version of Gral lands at the base of the tower. It informs the Deer-Men that it will be collecting their debt, and says that they should follow it into the Wetlands. Before they depart, Dr. Bob teaches them how to prepare corn and beans, a process which conveniently also provides them with meals for the journey. The Merchant looks mildly intrigued by his lecture, but when he finishes it only flaps its wings and leads its charges away.
Once they've left, Bob returns to his laboratory. He smashes a glass brick against the floor until it has been reduced to fragments, and then dust. He fragments the dust further, until it is so small that individual grains could only be seen with a microscope, and then shovels the pile into a bowl on one of the tables. The deer-headed primordial concentrates on it until the dust dissolves into liquid, which bubbles sporadically. It doesn't look much like yeast, but Dr. Bob pours it into his still anyway.
A curl of smoke comes from the mixture that he's been fermenting, which turns from a cloudy yellow liquid to a dull, entirely uniform red. It smells like alcohol, but Dr. Bob is fairly certain that it isn't vodka.
Ashe stashes her pile of Brass Buzzard feathers underwater, arranging them in various shapes. Then heads to the desert to collect more!
6
Ashe picks up her stash of feathers and dives into a pool, so that she can place them in patterns on the lakebed. She makes several large triangles, a circle around nearly the entire body of water, and a fractal-shape that looks a bit like a star before using up all of the feathers. Now that they're safely filed away, the Collector swims back up to the surface and makes a note of the spot, so that she can find it again later. Then she follows the trail of brass feathers out into the desert.
The air outside the wetlands is much drier, and there isn't so much as a trickle of water on the ground or a droplet in the air. Ashe feels a bit like a fish out of water, since she's been in the wetlands for her entire conscious existence, but dry ground is still bearable. If nothing else, she's constantly adding to her supply of feathers, and they seem to be leading her to something truly interesting. The Buzzards are actually flying overhead, in the wake of a larger, stronger bird with steel feathers.
They dive downwards, towards a group of incorporeal black wisps and oozes-creatures that look more like holes in existence than real matter. Some jet directly past Ashe, coming so close that they nearly cut her with their talons.
Hynsyr accepts their decision and immediately bestows the first civil positions upon the Seven. Now that a course of action is decided Hynsyr decides to work with Prismatics in setting up the new Government. Creating more civil servants to work under the Prismatics, founding the order of warrior-priest, and generally ensuring that the new government can run smoothly with or without Hynsyr there to directly lead them.
Hynsyr: 4 & Prismatics: 4
Hynsyr leads the seven Prismatics back into the city proper, where he appoints each of them a minister of the Spires. The seven disperse to find other trustworthy Lightfolk, so that they can also be granted offices or initiated as warpriests. As the government swells in size, they claim a few spires in the center of the city to use as administrative hubs. The tower closest to the center of the city becomes the Capitol building. The warpriests use their creation magic to raise barracks near Einyar and the Temple of Yig, so that they are close enough to form defensive perimeters in an emergency. Patrols are also sent out into the desert and stationed on the walls.
While everyone but the Prismatics themselves are inexperienced, the city continues to run smoothly. For the time being, most government duties involve planning for the future and settling disputes, both tasks which the populace has already been dealing with. They'll have time to get accustomed to their positions before any major interventions become necessary.
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover
-Regent of the Tower
-Spidersilk net.
-Glass chunks
-Improvised glass tools.
-Glass automaton
-Perpetual-motion bus
-Vial of Einyar
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror
-Catatonia
-Rain-Maker
--------------------------------
Nazir, the Weaver
-God of the great web.
--------------------------------
Ira, the World-Eater
-Empty
-Woven together
-Debt: Gral: Three Favors Owed
--------------------------------
Gral, the Contractor
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings
-Contract: Deer-Men: One Favor
-Contract: Ira: Three Favors
-Pinion Blades
--------------------------------
AJAMA, the Demiurge
-Ooze-born Body
-Ooze-born Spheres
-Sphere of Darkness
--------------------------------
Hynsyr, the Titan
-Yig, the Golden Flower
-Twelve spears of light
--------------------------------
Awake
-Echoes of ALTERTH
-Smelter's Armor
-Dawn Axehead
-Slightly lopsided
-Bound in silk and aether
-Stomach wound
--------------------------------
Ashe, the Collector
-Brass Feathers
Bestiary:
Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
--Obsidian Archdemon: An obsidian dragon crafted by the Empty itself. It was granted the power to manipulate nothingness.
Fragments of Emptiness: ?
Shardforms: Obsidian creatures which absorbed the Empty's already-incomplete consciousness. The broken pieces of ALTERTH's identity they possess give them animalistic intelligence.
Steel Maggots: Metallic larvae which Gral accidentally created while trying to make avian Emissaries. After they were pulled off of the vulture, few escaped into the desert, where they accepted Gral's peace terms and moved into the shifting bog.
Steel Grubs: Steel maggots that have been bound with Pact-collars and transformed into livestock. They have grown larger than their sapient kin, but are unintelligent and largely peaceful.
Brass Buzzards: Brass birds crafted from Gral's feathers. They are infused with the pain it felt while creating them.
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
--Dustwalkers: A Spiderling subspecies which can feed on sand as well as light. They live on the sand and fight an asymmetrical war against it for survival.
--Ironwinged: Defeated Spiderlings who made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service, and have built a nest on one of the new stars. They were later granted the ability to weave metal.
--Ancestors: Aetherweavers who have achieved immortality by becoming spirits bound to the great web. They are incorporeal, and their astral bodies make it easier for them to manipulate aether.
--Scarred Spiderlings: Spiderlings who have gained great strength and endurance because of their mistreatment by the Brass Buzzards. They built a market but have mixed feelings about Gral and his servants.
--Sentinels: A army of biologically and magically augmented Spiderlings, created by elite Aetherweavers with Nazir's guidance. They serve the Spider Demigods, and stand ready to protect the Web alongside them.
Primelings: Ten entities created by Nazir and a group of the most powerful Aetherweavers. They watch over the Web in Nazir's stead, but are weakened by flaws in their weaving.
Lightfolk: A species of humanoid mortals born from Hynsyr's golden light. Their powers of creation threaten to overwhelm their bodies, causing their inner light to warp chaotically. Many have begun to train so that they can gain more control over this ability.
--Prismatics: Seven lightfolk which glow brighter than the rest. They were hewn from the rainbow light of Hynsyr's eyes.
Deer-Men: A humanoid race with the heads of deer. Dr. Bob originally crafted them from the silk of Nazir's web. They were granted superior dexterity through a contract with Gral.
Three-Headed Worm: A juvenile sandworm created by Ira to serve the Dustwalkers.
Crops: Hemp, potato, corn, and bean plants created by Dr. Bob.
Atlas:
The Living Sands: An awakened desert that extends outwards indefinitely. It consumed ALTERTHENTERRINTARTINTH, the being which brought it to life, and subsumed a part of their consciousness known as the Empty.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
--New Stars: A second set that isn't accessible through the Great Web. Fortunately, that means they can't be blotted out by Spiderlings.
--Negative Star: A black sphere which radiates darkness, created by AJAMA after Gyaweft's death.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
--Silken Nest: A new star that the winged spiderlings have claimed as a nest. It can only be reached by gliding or descending on strands of silk.
--Tapestries: Libraries of spells and other knotwork which have been woven together and hung from the great web. Some have begun to collect aetheric cobwebs.
--Market of Scars: A grand market built by the Scarred Spiderlings in exchange for their resilience. The Ironwinged sell metal equipment there.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. Islands rapidly form and dissolve as the sand beneath it moves. It has been tainted with Nazir's venom.
Glass Tower: A tower made of glass, raised from the sands by Gyaweft. It extends upwards through the web, tall enough that its upper floors reach the stars.
--Moat: The Tower is surrounded by a lake. Only one thin bridge connects it to the rest of the sand.
--Sandcastles: A series of elaborate sandcastles built around the moat. They were crafted so masterfully that they won’t dissolve in rain.
--Garden: Several different crops which Dr. Bob planted outside the tower.
--Laboratory: A room furnished with chemistry equipment and various glass containers.
Light Spires: A glowing city made by the Lightfolk using their creation magic.
--Temple of Yig: A golden temple which houses Yig, the First Tribute. It is an intricately-carved cathedral with walls made from an aurora.
Einyar: A sea of golden light drawn from Hynsyr's aura. It preserves the spirits of the Lightfolk after death, so that the cycle may advance.
Bone Fortress: A giant tree grown from one of Ira's teeth, and given to the Dustwalkers as a gift. It has become a large fortress.
Glass Crater: When Gyaweft flew his Sunship into the ground, it melted a wide swathe of the sand into glass. Fiery essence spilled from the ship still burns here, and sealed fault lines radiate from the impact site.
--Smelter's Grave: The center of the crater. Gyaweft's corpse lies here, alongside the molten remains of his Sunship.
Wetlands: Areas of the sand and the Great Web which Kuhaku continuously showers with water. The rain is heavy enough to form rivers and lakes.
--Abandoned Nests: A nesting ground that was briefly occupied by the Brass Buzzards. It is strewn with metal feathers and bloody talon-prints.
Knowledge:
Knot-Writing: A written language Nazir formulated so that Aetherweavers could record their spells. It involves weaving complex knots into silk, and therefore comes intuitively to Spiderlings but is almost impossible for anyone else to comprehend.
Bargainer's Tongue: A simplified version of knot-script which can be etched into a flat surface rather than woven into silk. It is comprehensible to non-Spiderlings, but not as intuitive.
English: A written script based on twenty-six letters and a few punctuation symbols. It was introduced by Dr. Bob and is primarily used by the Deer-Men.
Metalworking: Blacksmithing techniques that are typically available to the Ironwinged. They can be used to weave metal objects.
Aetherweaving: A magical discipline which involves spinning spiritual webs. It was taught to the Spiderlings by Nazir and is available to the Tribes, the Primelings, and any other arachnid capable of making silk.
Lightforging: Creation magic unique to the Lightfolk. It is a powerful but chaotic ability which can be used to make solid-light constructs out of one's own aura. More advanced techniques allow practitioners to create complex materials such as metal or wood.
Eight-Talon Way: A powerful martial art created by the Brass Buzzards. It is purely offensive in nature, but consists of strikes so lethal that defense isn’t usually necessary.
Agriculture: Farming is only feasible in the wetlands, but plants watered by Kuhaku’s rain grow quickly. The Deer-Men have been taught to cultivate and use several kinds of crops.
Items:
Seven Rainbow Spears: Weapons Hynsyr forged from a rogue splinter of his soul and gave to the Prismatics. They amplify their wielders' magic immensely, and provide slightly more control over their powers of creation.
Black Ooze: A patch of black goo created by AJAMA which can grow by absorbing sand. A column of ooze goes deep beneath the earth, where it breached a reservoir of Emptiness.
--Chaos Ooze: Blobs of ooze which have accidentally been made to assimilate a variety of substances and concepts. They were later sealed away.
--Silence Ooze: A strain of chaos ooze that can feed on silence. AJAMA transplanted some of it to the empty desert, where it has grown rapidly.
Pact-Arms: Metal weapons, armor, and tools which can compel their wielders to carry out tasks for the Winged Spiderlings. Most are in the possession of Spiderlings on the Web.
Tribute Tokens: A currency minted by the Ironwinged and infused with the power of the Bargain. They see light use in the Great Web but are not considered especially valuable, so most of the economy still relies upon bartering.
Sentinel Plate: Magical armor developed for use by the Sentinels. It can drain the force of attacks and release it in the form of telekinetic blasts.
Factions:
Spiderling Tribes: Prominent groups of Spiderlings, mostly organized by subspecies. The are scattered across the Web, the stars, and the sand.
--Order of Strands: The first Spiderlings to learn the art of Aetherweaving. Many have strained their minds and bodies to hone their abilities, making them feeble despite their mystical strength.
High Council of the Web: The governing body of the Great Web. It consists of delegates from each of the tribes, as well as one Primeling. Most meetings take place in Nazir's nest at the top of the Web.
Lifeweavers: A group of Ancestors who helped Nazir create the Primelings and Sentinels.
Create from the goo I and Apollyon have a wall to separate the fragments from the others.
1
AJAMA and Apollyon draw various types of ooze from their surroundings, and combine everything into one massive puddle. The goop hisses as it is forced together, a reaction which grows louder and louder as Black Ooze and Nothing-Ooze merge with each other. The two black spheres continue their project, but when they extend their mental feelers into the ooze-pile they realize something is horribly wrong. Opposite types of ooze are canceling each other out like matter and antimatter, releasing massive quantities of energy.
Three seconds later, the ooze-wall blows up. A column of nuclear fire rises into the sky as AJAMA, Apollyon, the Fragments, various sand-psuedopods, the Dustwalkers, the Buzzards, one Merchant, the Bone Fortress, and the Three-Headed Worm are all vaporized in one fell swoop. A crater and millions of tons of slag serve as their gravestones.
"Aw shit, I screw something up, vodka's not supposed to be red, its supposed to be clear."
Put the red alcohol stuff to the side for now, and try to make yeast again then try to vodka again.
1
Dr. Bob grinds up another brick of glass, but this time he doesn't bother to crush it into fine dust. Instead he just picks it up and animates it as-is, complete with the pointy bits and sharp edges that cut into his hands. The larger pieces turn into macroorganisms instead of microorganisms, but despite the size differential they seem to grow at an even faster rate than real yeast cells. A wave of yeasty death rises from the bowl like bread, and then like a geyser, and then like a volcanic eruption of cytoplasm and organelles after the cells have been crushed under their own weight. Dr. Bob is drowned within the first few minutes. The yeast then goes on to fill the tower and expand across the wetlands, which become a mountain of organic molecules.
Run away with Awake, the spiders will probably have trouble dealing with the air
Spit acid at Ira
1v1
Ira slithers as if she was going to run away, and for a moment she actually seems to be successful. Then she realizes she's being supported by empty air, looks towards the TV screen in the fourth wall, and looks down. The sky suddenly fails to support her weight, and she starts falling hundreds and then thousands of feet to the ground below. Both she and Awake hit the ground at terminal velocity, but they don't have much time to let the situation sink in before they turn into flat smears on the ground.
Nazir secretes a new, more potent kind of acid to spit at Ira, only to find that he isn't actually immune to its effects. Instead of going through the usual piping, in burns through the spider's acid glands, tears through various other organs, chars major arteries, and pools in the bottom of his carapace, the only part of his body resistant to dissolution. He's too weak to do anything about the blood loss that kills him ten minutes later.
Have North work to cure this infection, adapting it to a more benign strain, with the assistance of the research team.
Have South withdraw from fighting the fragments, and focus all attention on the sand, creating a "kill zone" that will slowly be drawn forward.
Have West and the honor guard attempt to impress them with simple Bargain tricks, and then awaken the most clever of them to teach them the ways of the Bargain.
East, and the Ironwinged builders, are to work with the deer-men on creating the Life Machine: a Bargain engine that converts the surrounding sand into loamy, aerable land.
North: 1 & Researchers: 1
South: 1 & Buzzards: 1 & Dustwalkers: 1
West: 1
East: 1 & Ironwinged: 1 & Deer-Men: 1+1
The Merchant of the North works with the research team to make the infection more benign. They repeatedly try and fail to revise the original modifications with more layers of aetheric weaving, causing the infection to build up progressively more layers of disease resistance. They also fail to quarantine the test subjects they're experimenting with, which soon causes them to catch the disease themselves. It becomes increasingly virulent, spreading through the Silken Nest and then the entire population of the web.
This quickly proves disastrous. An antimatter explosion near the bone fortress lights up the entire sky, producing far too much light for any of the Spiderlings to absorb. The photosynthetic alteration captures the energy anyway, causing everyone on the great web to combust in a giant, world-devouring ball of fire.
Gral's forces near the Bone Fortress are annihilated by the explosion itself, but the West and East Merchants are still alive. At least until the Merchant of the West accidentally commits a faux pas, angering the Shardforms and prompting them to annihilate each other in a climactic battle that we'll mostly skip for the sake of brevity.
The life machine turns out to be a death machine instead. All other life in the universe is instantly destroyed.
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover
-Regent of the Tower
-Spidersilk net.
-Glass chunks
-Improvised glass tools.
-Glass automaton
-Perpetual-motion bus
-Vial of Einyar
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror
-Catatonia
-Rain-Maker
--------------------------------
Nazir, the Weaver
-God of the great web.
--------------------------------
Ira, the World-Eater
-Empty
-Woven together
-Debt: Gral: Three Favors Owed
--------------------------------
Gral, the Contractor
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings
-Contract: Deer-Men: One Favor
-Contract: Ira: Three Favors
-Pinion Blades
--------------------------------
AJAMA, the Demiurge
-Ooze-born Body
-Ooze-born Spheres
-Sphere of Darkness
--------------------------------
Hynsyr, the Titan
-Yig, the Golden Flower
-Twelve spears of light
--------------------------------
Awake
-Echoes of ALTERTH
-Smelter's Armor
-Dawn Axehead
-Slightly lopsided
-Bound in silk and aether
-Stomach wound
--------------------------------
Ashe, the Collector
-Brass Feathers
Bestiary:
Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
--Obsidian Archdemon: An obsidian dragon crafted by the Empty itself. It was granted the power to manipulate nothingness.
Fragments of Emptiness: ?
Shardforms: Obsidian creatures which absorbed the Empty's already-incomplete consciousness. The broken pieces of ALTERTH's identity they possess give them animalistic intelligence.
Steel Maggots: Metallic larvae which Gral accidentally created while trying to make avian Emissaries. After they were pulled off of the vulture, few escaped into the desert, where they accepted Gral's peace terms and moved into the shifting bog.
Steel Grubs: Steel maggots that have been bound with Pact-collars and transformed into livestock. They have grown larger than their sapient kin, but are unintelligent and largely peaceful.
Brass Buzzards: Brass birds crafted from Gral's feathers. They are infused with the pain it felt while creating them.
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
--Dustwalkers: A Spiderling subspecies which can feed on sand as well as light. They live on the sand and fight an asymmetrical war against it for survival.
--Ironwinged: Defeated Spiderlings who made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service, and have built a nest on one of the new stars. They were later granted the ability to weave metal.
--Ancestors: Aetherweavers who have achieved immortality by becoming spirits bound to the great web. They are incorporeal, and their astral bodies make it easier for them to manipulate aether.
--Scarred Spiderlings: Spiderlings who have gained great strength and endurance because of their mistreatment by the Brass Buzzards. They built a market but have mixed feelings about Gral and his servants.
--Sentinels: A army of biologically and magically augmented Spiderlings, created by elite Aetherweavers with Nazir's guidance. They serve the Spider Demigods, and stand ready to protect the Web alongside them.
Primelings: Ten entities created by Nazir and a group of the most powerful Aetherweavers. They watch over the Web in Nazir's stead, but are weakened by flaws in their weaving.
Lightfolk: A species of humanoid mortals born from Hynsyr's golden light. Their powers of creation threaten to overwhelm their bodies, causing their inner light to warp chaotically. Many have begun to train so that they can gain more control over this ability.
--Prismatics: Seven lightfolk which glow brighter than the rest. They were hewn from the rainbow light of Hynsyr's eyes.
Deer-Men: A humanoid race with the heads of deer. Dr. Bob originally crafted them from the silk of Nazir's web. They were granted superior dexterity through a contract with Gral.
Three-Headed Worm: A juvenile sandworm created by Ira to serve the Dustwalkers.
Crops: Hemp, potato, corn, and bean plants created by Dr. Bob.
Atlas:
The Living Sands: An awakened desert that extends outwards indefinitely. It consumed ALTERTHENTERRINTARTINTH, the being which brought it to life, and subsumed a part of their consciousness known as the Empty.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
--New Stars: A second set that isn't accessible through the Great Web. Fortunately, that means they can't be blotted out by Spiderlings.
--Negative Star: A black sphere which radiates darkness, created by AJAMA after Gyaweft's death.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
--Silken Nest: A new star that the winged spiderlings have claimed as a nest. It can only be reached by gliding or descending on strands of silk.
--Tapestries: Libraries of spells and other knotwork which have been woven together and hung from the great web. Some have begun to collect aetheric cobwebs.
--Market of Scars: A grand market built by the Scarred Spiderlings in exchange for their resilience. The Ironwinged sell metal equipment there.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. Islands rapidly form and dissolve as the sand beneath it moves. It has been tainted with Nazir's venom.
Glass Tower: A tower made of glass, raised from the sands by Gyaweft. It extends upwards through the web, tall enough that its upper floors reach the stars.
--Moat: The Tower is surrounded by a lake. Only one thin bridge connects it to the rest of the sand.
--Sandcastles: A series of elaborate sandcastles built around the moat. They were crafted so masterfully that they won’t dissolve in rain.
--Garden: Several different crops which Dr. Bob planted outside the tower.
--Laboratory: A room furnished with chemistry equipment and various glass containers.
Light Spires: A glowing city made by the Lightfolk using their creation magic.
--Temple of Yig: A golden temple which houses Yig, the First Tribute. It is an intricately-carved cathedral with walls made from an aurora.
Einyar: A sea of golden light drawn from Hynsyr's aura. It preserves the spirits of the Lightfolk after death, so that the cycle may advance.
Bone Fortress: A giant tree grown from one of Ira's teeth, and given to the Dustwalkers as a gift. It has become a large fortress.
Glass Crater: When Gyaweft flew his Sunship into the ground, it melted a wide swathe of the sand into glass. Fiery essence spilled from the ship still burns here, and sealed fault lines radiate from the impact site.
--Smelter's Grave: The center of the crater. Gyaweft's corpse lies here, alongside the molten remains of his Sunship.
Wetlands: Areas of the sand and the Great Web which Kuhaku continuously showers with water. The rain is heavy enough to form rivers and lakes.
--Abandoned Nests: A nesting ground that was briefly occupied by the Brass Buzzards. It is strewn with metal feathers and bloody talon-prints.
Knowledge:
Knot-Writing: A written language Nazir formulated so that Aetherweavers could record their spells. It involves weaving complex knots into silk, and therefore comes intuitively to Spiderlings but is almost impossible for anyone else to comprehend.
Bargainer's Tongue: A simplified version of knot-script which can be etched into a flat surface rather than woven into silk. It is comprehensible to non-Spiderlings, but not as intuitive.
English: A written script based on twenty-six letters and a few punctuation symbols. It was introduced by Dr. Bob and is primarily used by the Deer-Men.
Metalworking: Blacksmithing techniques that are typically available to the Ironwinged. They can be used to weave metal objects.
Aetherweaving: A magical discipline which involves spinning spiritual webs. It was taught to the Spiderlings by Nazir and is available to the Tribes, the Primelings, and any other arachnid capable of making silk.
Lightforging: Creation magic unique to the Lightfolk. It is a powerful but chaotic ability which can be used to make solid-light constructs out of one's own aura. More advanced techniques allow practitioners to create complex materials such as metal or wood.
Eight-Talon Way: A powerful martial art created by the Brass Buzzards. It is purely offensive in nature, but consists of strikes so lethal that defense isn’t usually necessary.
Agriculture: Farming is only feasible in the wetlands, but plants watered by Kuhaku’s rain grow quickly. The Deer-Men have been taught to cultivate and use several kinds of crops.
Items:
Seven Rainbow Spears: Weapons Hynsyr forged from a rogue splinter of his soul and gave to the Prismatics. They amplify their wielders' magic immensely, and provide slightly more control over their powers of creation.
Black Ooze: A patch of black goo created by AJAMA which can grow by absorbing sand. A column of ooze goes deep beneath the earth, where it breached a reservoir of Emptiness.
--Chaos Ooze: Blobs of ooze which have accidentally been made to assimilate a variety of substances and concepts. They were later sealed away.
--Silence Ooze: A strain of chaos ooze that can feed on silence. AJAMA transplanted some of it to the empty desert, where it has grown rapidly.
Pact-Arms: Metal weapons, armor, and tools which can compel their wielders to carry out tasks for the Winged Spiderlings. Most are in the possession of Spiderlings on the Web.
Tribute Tokens: A currency minted by the Ironwinged and infused with the power of the Bargain. They see light use in the Great Web but are not considered especially valuable, so most of the economy still relies upon bartering.
Sentinel Plate: Magical armor developed for use by the Sentinels. It can drain the force of attacks and release it in the form of telekinetic blasts.
Factions:
Spiderling Tribes: Prominent groups of Spiderlings, mostly organized by subspecies. The are scattered across the Web, the stars, and the sand.
--Order of Strands: The first Spiderlings to learn the art of Aetherweaving. Many have strained their minds and bodies to hone their abilities, making them feeble despite their mystical strength.
High Council of the Web: The governing body of the Great Web. It consists of delegates from each of the tribes, as well as one Primeling. Most meetings take place in Nazir's nest at the top of the Web.
Lifeweavers: A group of Ancestors who helped Nazir create the Primelings and Sentinels.[/s]
-----------------------
-----------------------
The real turn is coming in a few hours. Nobody died, I promise.
Create from the goo I and Apollyon have a wall to separate the fragments from the others.
AJAMA: 1 & Apollyon: 4
Fragments: 4 vs Sand: 1
AJAMA hurls its two ooze-moons to the ground, where they splash across the ground and begin to grow. Noise from the battlefield stunts the silence-consuming strain, but the original sand ooze expands at a frightening pace. At first it is merely a small pool in front of AJAMA, but it grows to encompass a wide swathe of land, including the area where Fragment-Oozes were previously standing. They flounder around in the black lake until Apollyon conjures up a wave of Nothing-tinged ooze, sweeps up the excess debris, and forms gelatinous wall between the Fragments and the Bone Fortress army.
Even though the Dustwalkers can't scale the wall, and the metal-birds retreat rather than flying over it, the sand is still in a position to attack from below. It grows more appendages to hack at the fragments, but now that they aren't being pressed on two fronts they dispose of its pseudopods with ease.
"Aw shit, I screw something up, vodka's not supposed to be red, its supposed to be clear."
Put the red alcohol stuff to the side for now, and try to make yeast again then try to vodka again.
1
((I could, arguably, have inserted your prank turn here. I decided against it.))
Dr. Bob takes another few chunks of glass off of a nearby table and turns them over in his hands to get a feel for them. They're solid, but small enough to fit in his hands, which makes it easy to manually reshape them into something else. Dr. Bob hangs them in the air, spins them around, and molds them in much the same way that a potter would use to create a vase on a wheel. The pieces taper into a long, thin stem while he is working, but the top balloons outwards a minute or two before the project is complete.
The doctor only realizes that he's created mushrooms instead of yeast when the fungi stop spinning. He reaches to pluck them out of the air, but by that time it is too late to prevent them from falling to the ground, where they somehow root in the glass of the tower itself. Their caps undulate wildly, releasing clouds of orange spores into the air.
Run away with Awake, the spiders will probably have trouble dealing with the air
Spit acid at Ira
Ira: 6 / Nazir: 4
Ira: 4 v Nazir: 3
When the two primordials realize that they are falling through the air, they both immediately brace for landing. Ira coils herself around Awake and pulls as tight as she can, in hopes that the silk and the soft tissues of her body will effectively weather the explosion. Nazir spits thin strands of silk up at the Web to slow its fall. Neither strategy is entirely successful, but a collision with the sand doesn't hurt either of them too badly. Where the Spiderlings falling with them are mostly dead or dying, Nazir and Ira escape with little more than bruises.
Ira gets up first, perhaps because the Nothingness in her blood is numbing her to the pain. She crawls away as quickly as she can, with Awake in tow, but her movement isn't nearly fast enough to escape from Nazir. The Weaver is too dazed by the fall to give chase, but it has enough presence of mind to secrete acid and spray it at Ira's back as she runs. The stream falls just short of her midsection, but it is so diffuse by the time it reaches her that she is still hit by a cloud of droplets. Blotchy acid burns form on the sandworm's back.
Have North work to cure this infection, adapting it to a more benign strain, with the assistance of the research team.
Have South withdraw from fighting the fragments, and focus all attention on the sand, creating a "kill zone" that will slowly be drawn forward.
Have West and the honor guard attempt to impress them with simple Bargain tricks, and then awaken the most clever of them to teach them the ways of the Bargain.
East, and the Ironwinged builders, are to work with the deer-men on creating the Life Machine: a Bargain engine that converts the surrounding sand into loamy, aerable land.
North: 4 & Researchers: 4
South: 2 & Dustwalkers: 1 & Buzzards: 2 vs Sand: 2
West: 1
Honor Guard: 1 vs Shardforms: 3
East: 1 & Ironwinged: 5 & Deer-Men: 1+1
The Merchant of the North directs the research team to create a cure for the infection, specifically by warping it into a less destructive version of the same enchantment. They develop another version of the magic which can self-regulate its energy absorption, which prevents it from burning its host when light levels are too high. The changes come at some loss to efficiency, since they inherently limit the amount of sustenance that can be extracted at once, but the enchantment is still a massive improvement over Spiderlings' natural abilities.
Using another of the Merchants as a proxy, Gral orders his Buzzards to leave the Fragments alone. South has enough foresight to request that the Dustwalkers withdraw as well, allowing the Bone Fortress to focus the entirety of its efforts on the sand. While it's impossible to see what the Fragments are doing after AJAMA and Apollyon raise a wall of ooze, someone else must be giving the sand a hard time. It seems distracted when the Buzzards engage it, enough so that it is beaten back even once a conflicting set of orders causes discord in the ranks.
The Ironwinged weavers have some idea of how to go about building a magical machine, but Gral's specifications leave the Deer-Men and the Merchant of the East scratching their heads. Even though everyone applies themselves to the project wholeheartedly, there are a series of industrial accidents and minor failures that can usually be traced back to someone who didn't know what they were doing. That causes the mechanical portion of the device to work incorrectly, changing the machine's function. Instead of channeling energy from the spellwork woven by the Ironweavers, it rips power from one area, rendering the land barren, and uses it to make another place fertile.
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover
-Regent of the Tower
-Spidersilk net.
-Glass chunks
-Improvised glass tools.
-Glass automaton
-Perpetual-motion bus
-Vial of Einyar
-Red Liquor
-Bubbling yeast
-Suspicious mushrooms
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror
-Catatonia
-Rain-Maker
--------------------------------
Nazir, the Weaver
-God of the great web.
--------------------------------
Ira, the World-Eater
-Empty
-Woven together
-Debt: Gral: Three Favors Owed
-Minor acid burns
--------------------------------
Gral, the Contractor
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings
-Contract: Deer-Men: One Favor
-Contract: Ira: Three Favors
-Pinion Blades
-Drained
--------------------------------
AJAMA, the Demiurge
-Ooze-born Body
-Ooze-born Spheres
-Sphere of Darkness
--------------------------------
Hynsyr, the Titan
-Yig, the Golden Flower
-Twelve spears of light
--------------------------------
Awake
-Echoes of ALTERTH
-Smelter's Armor
-Dawn Axehead
-Slightly lopsided
-Bound in silk and aether
-Stomach wound
--------------------------------
Ashe, the Collector
-Brass Feathers
Bestiary:
Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
--Obsidian Archdemon: An obsidian dragon crafted by the Empty itself. It was granted the power to manipulate nothingness.
Fragments of Emptiness: ?
Shardforms: Obsidian creatures which absorbed the Empty's already-incomplete consciousness. The broken pieces of ALTERTH's identity they possess give them animalistic intelligence.
Steel Maggots: Metallic larvae which Gral accidentally created while trying to make avian Emissaries. After they were pulled off of the vulture, few escaped into the desert, where they accepted Gral's peace terms and moved into the shifting bog.
Steel Grubs: Steel maggots that have been bound with Pact-collars and transformed into livestock. They have grown larger than their sapient kin, but are unintelligent and largely peaceful.
Brass Buzzards: Brass birds crafted from Gral's feathers. They are infused with the pain it felt while creating them.
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
--Dustwalkers: A Spiderling subspecies which can feed on sand as well as light. They live on the sand and fight an asymmetrical war against it for survival.
--Ironwinged: Defeated Spiderlings who made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service, and have built a nest on one of the new stars. They were later granted the ability to weave metal.
--Ancestors: Aetherweavers who have achieved immortality by becoming spirits bound to the great web. They are incorporeal, and their astral bodies make it easier for them to manipulate aether.
--Scarred Spiderlings: Spiderlings who have gained great strength and endurance because of their mistreatment by the Brass Buzzards. They built a market but have mixed feelings about Gral and his servants.
--Sentinels: A army of biologically and magically augmented Spiderlings, created by elite Aetherweavers with Nazir's guidance. They serve the Spider Demigods, and stand ready to protect the Web alongside them.
Primelings: Ten entities created by Nazir and a group of the most powerful Aetherweavers. They watch over the Web in Nazir's stead, but are weakened by flaws in their weaving.
Lightfolk: A species of humanoid mortals born from Hynsyr's golden light. Their powers of creation threaten to overwhelm their bodies, causing their inner light to warp chaotically. Many have begun to train so that they can gain more control over this ability.
--Prismatics: Seven lightfolk which glow brighter than the rest. They were hewn from the rainbow light of Hynsyr's eyes.
Deer-Men: A humanoid race with the heads of deer. Dr. Bob originally crafted them from the silk of Nazir's web. They were granted superior dexterity through a contract with Gral.
Three-Headed Worm: A juvenile sandworm created by Ira to serve the Dustwalkers.
Crops: Hemp, potato, corn, and bean plants created by Dr. Bob.
Atlas:
The Living Sands: An awakened desert that extends outwards indefinitely. It consumed ALTERTHENTERRINTARTINTH, the being which brought it to life, and subsumed a part of their consciousness known as the Empty.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
--New Stars: A second set that isn't accessible through the Great Web. Fortunately, that means they can't be blotted out by Spiderlings.
--Negative Star: A black sphere which radiates darkness, created by AJAMA after Gyaweft's death.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
--Silken Nest: A new star that the winged spiderlings have claimed as a nest. It can only be reached by gliding or descending on strands of silk.
--Tapestries: Libraries of spells and other knotwork which have been woven together and hung from the great web. Some have begun to collect aetheric cobwebs.
--Market of Scars: A grand market built by the Scarred Spiderlings in exchange for their resilience. The Ironwinged sell metal equipment there.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. Islands rapidly form and dissolve as the sand beneath it moves. It has been tainted with Nazir's venom.
Glass Tower: A tower made of glass, raised from the sands by Gyaweft. It extends upwards through the web, tall enough that its upper floors reach the stars.
--Moat: The Tower is surrounded by a lake. Only one thin bridge connects it to the rest of the sand.
--Sandcastles: A series of elaborate sandcastles built around the moat. They were crafted so masterfully that they won’t dissolve in rain.
--Garden: Several different crops which Dr. Bob planted outside the tower.
--Laboratory: A room furnished with chemistry equipment and various glass containers.
Light Spires: A glowing city made by the Lightfolk using their creation magic.
--Temple of Yig: A golden temple which houses Yig, the First Tribute. It is an intricately-carved cathedral with walls made from an aurora.
Einyar: A sea of golden light drawn from Hynsyr's aura. It preserves the spirits of the Lightfolk after death, so that the cycle may advance.
Bone Fortress: A giant tree grown from one of Ira's teeth, and given to the Dustwalkers as a gift. It has become a large fortress.
Glass Crater: When Gyaweft flew his Sunship into the ground, it melted a wide swathe of the sand into glass. Fiery essence spilled from the ship still burns here, and sealed fault lines radiate from the impact site.
--Smelter's Grave: The center of the crater. Gyaweft's corpse lies here, alongside the molten remains of his Sunship.
Wetlands: Areas of the sand and the Great Web which Kuhaku continuously showers with water. The rain is heavy enough to form rivers and lakes.
--Abandoned Nests: A nesting ground that was briefly occupied by the Brass Buzzards. It is strewn with metal feathers and bloody talon-prints.
Knowledge:
Knot-Writing: A written language Nazir formulated so that Aetherweavers could record their spells. It involves weaving complex knots into silk, and therefore comes intuitively to Spiderlings but is almost impossible for anyone else to comprehend.
Bargainer's Tongue: A simplified version of knot-script which can be etched into a flat surface rather than woven into silk. It is comprehensible to non-Spiderlings, but not as intuitive.
English: A written script based on twenty-six letters and a few punctuation symbols. It was introduced by Dr. Bob and is primarily used by the Deer-Men.
Metalworking: Blacksmithing techniques that are typically available to the Ironwinged. They can be used to weave metal objects.
Aetherweaving: A magical discipline which involves spinning spiritual webs. It was taught to the Spiderlings by Nazir and is available to the Tribes, the Primelings, and any other arachnid capable of making silk.
Lightforging: Creation magic unique to the Lightfolk. It is a powerful but chaotic ability which can be used to make solid-light constructs out of one's own aura. More advanced techniques allow practitioners to create complex materials such as metal or wood.
Eight-Talon Way: A powerful martial art created by the Brass Buzzards. It is purely offensive in nature, but consists of strikes so lethal that defense isn’t usually necessary.
Agriculture: Farming is only feasible in the wetlands, but plants watered by Kuhaku’s rain grow quickly. The Deer-Men have been taught to cultivate and use several kinds of crops.
Items:
Seven Rainbow Spears: Weapons Hynsyr forged from a rogue splinter of his soul and gave to the Prismatics. They amplify their wielders' magic immensely, and provide slightly more control over their powers of creation.
Black Ooze: A patch of black goo created by AJAMA which can grow by absorbing sand. A column of ooze goes deep beneath the earth, where it breached a reservoir of Emptiness.
--Chaos Ooze: Blobs of ooze which have accidentally been made to assimilate a variety of substances and concepts. They were later sealed away.
--Silence Ooze: A strain of chaos ooze that can feed on silence. AJAMA transplanted some of it to the empty desert, where it has grown rapidly.
Pact-Arms: Metal weapons, armor, and tools which can compel their wielders to carry out tasks for the Winged Spiderlings. Most are in the possession of Spiderlings on the Web.
Tribute Tokens: A currency minted by the Ironwinged and infused with the power of the Bargain. They see light use in the Great Web but are not considered especially valuable, so most of the economy still relies upon bartering.
Sentinel Plate: Magical armor developed for use by the Sentinels. It can drain the force of attacks and release it in the form of telekinetic blasts.
Factions:
Spiderling Tribes: Prominent groups of Spiderlings, mostly organized by subspecies. The are scattered across the Web, the stars, and the sand.
--Order of Strands: The first Spiderlings to learn the art of Aetherweaving. Many have strained their minds and bodies to hone their abilities, making them feeble despite their mystical strength.
High Council of the Web: The governing body of the Great Web. It consists of delegates from each of the tribes, as well as one Primeling. Most meetings take place in Nazir's nest at the top of the Web.
Lifeweavers: A group of Ancestors who helped Nazir create the Primelings and Sentinels.
"Shit I did something wrong again, I'm gonna give up for a bit and come back to this later."
Smash the mushrooms with a block, then burn whats left of them just in case their poisonous, then try to make ink.
1 v 5
2
Dr. Bob picks up yet another of the glass blocks, this time so that he can throw it at the mushrooms that have sprouted in his tower. It shatters into a million pieces when it hits the path of toadstools - just not before crushing a good many of them into paste. An entire cloud of spores is dislodged by the impact, and Bob gets a good whiff of them before remembering to hold his breath. It takes only a moment for him to make a few sparks of fire, but by that time he's already feeling a bit woozy. The faces on the walls are distracting, too. Whose idea was it to make them gibber like that?
The sparks become rainbows. When he tries to make ink, that becomes rainbows too, but they're rainbows that pool on the floor whilst having a fascinating conversation about the weather. Lots of rain lately, eh? It's a relief after all the dryness we had last eternity! And are those tremors in the ground?
Get back to the web, work with spiderlings on fixing damage
Nazir: 5 & Spiderlings: 2
Nazir crawls up the nearest strand of webbing and returns to the site of the battle, where various Spiderling factions are restoring order and seeing to their wounded. The broken thread itself has been evacuated, since both ends are now hanging vertically from their nearest anchor points. Fortunately, the damage seems far more severe that it actually is. It would be a simple matter for Nazir to spin an entirely new strand of webbing to replace what has been lost. Instead, it merely uses a coil of thinner, stickier webbing to hold the damaged parts together.
When the patch is finished, the Primelings and Ironweavers spin additional layers of their own. The silk-and-steel framework that they create might actually make this section of the web sturdier than it was before breaking.
"hmm, how you commanded on the rest of the fragmentss? And why were you fighting the dustwalkers anyway?"
Try learn on what the fragments are and what they do now that the sand left them
"We are all Nothing. So can talk between minds. Is helpful! You should try. I command because am large Fragment, with body."
"Looking for... place to be? Big, important thing stolen from sand. Lost without it. Think Dustwalkers maybe have?"
Drop off Awake in a relatively safe place and then get stared on the canal Gral mentioned earlier
3
Ira deposits Awake on a sand dune. It's not especially safe or comfortable, but the Shardform doesn't seem to care. It isn't as if he's complaining. Or doing anything else, for that matter, but perhaps that has something to do with being tied up. Despite snatching him from the mandibles of death, the World-eater isn't curious enough to investigate. Instead she worries about ways to dig a canal for the contractor.
The first order of business is to secure a supply of fresh water, so Ira goes directly to the Wetlands. She chooses a particularly large lake to act as her reservoir, then dredges it by taking three massive bites out of the sand below. More water rushes in from the surrounding streams, doubling the lake's capacity. It should also refill quickly, if the constant deluge of rain is anything to go by. The World-Eater is confident enough in her choice to move to the nest stage, the digging of the canal itself.
She tunnels across the topmost layer of the sand, close enough to the surface to make a visible depression in the desert. Ira digs quickly enough to reach the Wetlands, the Tower, the Bone Fortress, and even the Shifting Bog after only a few hours of work, but making a canal entirely out of sand may not have been the best choice. It's so shallow that water overflows the banks, which simultaneously causes flooding near the Glass Tower and prevents some more far-flung locations from receiving any irrigation at all.
Hynsyr will now gather the Prismatic once more and attempt to teach them to use the connection all Lightfolk have with Yig/Einyar to contact Hynsyr in the form of Prayer Messages.
3
Hynsyr summons the Prismatics to the Temple of Yig, where their connection with the First Tribute and the Golden Sea should be particularly strong. When they are all present he introduces them to another form of magic, far more subtle than their powers of creation. Rather than an outpouring of raw power, it is a mental state that will allow them to harness their bond with Hynsyr's soul-shards, allowing them to transmit thoughts and feelings directly to their creator.
It doesn't take them long to grasp the fundamentals of prayer. Hynsyr becomes aware of seven distinct streams of emotion flowing to him through Yig, ranging from awe to worry to a vague sense of accomplishment. Even so, it seems that precise control is still beyond their reach. The Prismatics themselves cannot sense whether their prayers are received, and concepts invariably end up jumbled when they try transmitting complete thoughts. The most magically-inclined works out a way to send messages in a kind of rudimentary morse code, by periodically turning prayer off and on, but even that requires a great deal of focus.
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover
-Regent of the Tower
-Spidersilk net.
-Glass chunks
-Improvised glass tools.
-Glass automaton
-Perpetual-motion bus
-Vial of Einyar
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror
-Catatonia
-Rain-Maker
--------------------------------
Nazir, the Weaver
-God of the great web.
--------------------------------
Ira, the World-Eater
-Empty
-Woven together
-Debt: Gral: Three Favors Owed
--------------------------------
Gral, the Contractor
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings
-Contract: Deer-Men: One Favor
-Contract: Ira: Three Favors
-Pinion Blades
--------------------------------
AJAMA, the Demiurge
-Ooze-born Body
-Ooze-born Spheres
-Sphere of Darkness
--------------------------------
Hynsyr, the Titan
-Yig, the Golden Flower
-Twelve spears of light
--------------------------------
Awake
-Echoes of ALTERTH
-Smelter's Armor
-Dawn Axehead
-Slightly lopsided
-Bound in silk and aether
-Stomach wound
--------------------------------
Ashe, the Collector
-Brass Feathers
Bestiary:
Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
--Obsidian Archdemon: An obsidian dragon crafted by the Empty itself. It was granted the power to manipulate nothingness.
Fragments of Emptiness: ?
Shardforms: Obsidian creatures which absorbed the Empty's already-incomplete consciousness. The broken pieces of ALTERTH's identity they possess give them animalistic intelligence.
Steel Maggots: Metallic larvae which Gral accidentally created while trying to make avian Emissaries. After they were pulled off of the vulture, few escaped into the desert, where they accepted Gral's peace terms and moved into the shifting bog.
Steel Grubs: Steel maggots that have been bound with Pact-collars and transformed into livestock. They have grown larger than their sapient kin, but are unintelligent and largely peaceful.
Brass Buzzards: Brass birds crafted from Gral's feathers. They are infused with the pain it felt while creating them.
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
--Dustwalkers: A Spiderling subspecies which can feed on sand as well as light. They live on the sand and fight an asymmetrical war against it for survival.
--Ironwinged: Defeated Spiderlings who made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service, and have built a nest on one of the new stars. They were later granted the ability to weave metal.
--Ancestors: Aetherweavers who have achieved immortality by becoming spirits bound to the great web. They are incorporeal, and their astral bodies make it easier for them to manipulate aether.
--Scarred Spiderlings: Spiderlings who have gained great strength and endurance because of their mistreatment by the Brass Buzzards. They built a market but have mixed feelings about Gral and his servants.
--Sentinels: A army of biologically and magically augmented Spiderlings, created by elite Aetherweavers with Nazir's guidance. They serve the Spider Demigods, and stand ready to protect the Web alongside them.
Primelings: Ten entities created by Nazir and a group of the most powerful Aetherweavers. They watch over the Web in Nazir's stead, but are weakened by flaws in their weaving.
Lightfolk: A species of humanoid mortals born from Hynsyr's golden light. Their powers of creation threaten to overwhelm their bodies, causing their inner light to warp chaotically. Many have begun to train so that they can gain more control over this ability.
--Prismatics: Seven lightfolk which glow brighter than the rest. They were hewn from the rainbow light of Hynsyr's eyes.
Deer-Men: A humanoid race with the heads of deer. Dr. Bob originally crafted them from the silk of Nazir's web. They were granted superior dexterity through a contract with Gral.
Three-Headed Worm: A juvenile sandworm created by Ira to serve the Dustwalkers.
Crops: Hemp, potato, corn, and bean plants created by Dr. Bob.
Atlas:
The Living Sands: An awakened desert that extends outwards indefinitely. It consumed ALTERTHENTERRINTARTINTH, the being which brought it to life, and subsumed a part of their consciousness known as the Empty.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
--New Stars: A second set that isn't accessible through the Great Web. Fortunately, that means they can't be blotted out by Spiderlings.
--Negative Star: A black sphere which radiates darkness, created by AJAMA after Gyaweft's death.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
--Silken Nest: A new star that the winged spiderlings have claimed as a nest. It can only be reached by gliding or descending on strands of silk.
--Tapestries: Libraries of spells and other knotwork which have been woven together and hung from the great web. Some have begun to collect aetheric cobwebs.
--Market of Scars: A grand market built by the Scarred Spiderlings in exchange for their resilience. The Ironwinged sell metal equipment there.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. Islands rapidly form and dissolve as the sand beneath it moves. It has been tainted with Nazir's venom.
Glass Tower: A tower made of glass, raised from the sands by Gyaweft. It extends upwards through the web, tall enough that its upper floors reach the stars.
--Moat: The Tower is surrounded by a lake. Only one thin bridge connects it to the rest of the sand.
--Sandcastles: A series of elaborate sandcastles built around the moat. They were crafted so masterfully that they won’t dissolve in rain.
--Garden: Several different crops which Dr. Bob planted outside the tower.
--Laboratory: A room furnished with chemistry equipment and various glass containers.
Light Spires: A glowing city made by the Lightfolk using their creation magic.
--Temple of Yig: A golden temple which houses Yig, the First Tribute. It is an intricately-carved cathedral with walls made from an aurora.
Einyar: A sea of golden light drawn from Hynsyr's aura. It preserves the spirits of the Lightfolk after death, so that the cycle may advance.
Bone Fortress: A giant tree grown from one of Ira's teeth, and given to the Dustwalkers as a gift. It has become a large fortress.
Glass Crater: When Gyaweft flew his Sunship into the ground, it melted a wide swathe of the sand into glass. Fiery essence spilled from the ship still burns here, and sealed fault lines radiate from the impact site.
--Smelter's Grave: The center of the crater. Gyaweft's corpse lies here, alongside the molten remains of his Sunship.
Wetlands: Areas of the sand and the Great Web which Kuhaku continuously showers with water. The rain is heavy enough to form rivers and lakes.
--Abandoned Nests: A nesting ground that was briefly occupied by the Brass Buzzards. It is strewn with metal feathers and bloody talon-prints.
Knowledge:
Knot-Writing: A written language Nazir formulated so that Aetherweavers could record their spells. It involves weaving complex knots into silk, and therefore comes intuitively to Spiderlings but is almost impossible for anyone else to comprehend.
Bargainer's Tongue: A simplified version of knot-script which can be etched into a flat surface rather than woven into silk. It is comprehensible to non-Spiderlings, but not as intuitive.
English: A written script based on twenty-six letters and a few punctuation symbols. It was introduced by Dr. Bob and is primarily used by the Deer-Men.
Metalworking: Blacksmithing techniques that are typically available to the Ironwinged. They can be used to weave metal objects.
Aetherweaving: A magical discipline which involves spinning spiritual webs. It was taught to the Spiderlings by Nazir and is available to the Tribes, the Primelings, and any other arachnid capable of making silk.
Lightforging: Creation magic unique to the Lightfolk. It is a powerful but chaotic ability which can be used to make solid-light constructs out of one's own aura. More advanced techniques allow practitioners to create complex materials such as metal or wood.
Eight-Talon Way: A powerful martial art created by the Brass Buzzards. It is purely offensive in nature, but consists of strikes so lethal that defense isn’t usually necessary.
Agriculture: Farming is only feasible in the wetlands, but plants watered by Kuhaku’s rain grow quickly. The Deer-Men have been taught to cultivate and use several kinds of crops.
Items:
Seven Rainbow Spears: Weapons Hynsyr forged from a rogue splinter of his soul and gave to the Prismatics. They amplify their wielders' magic immensely, and provide slightly more control over their powers of creation.
Black Ooze: A patch of black goo created by AJAMA which can grow by absorbing sand. A column of ooze goes deep beneath the earth, where it breached a reservoir of Emptiness.
--Chaos Ooze: Blobs of ooze which have accidentally been made to assimilate a variety of substances and concepts. They were later sealed away.
--Silence Ooze: A strain of chaos ooze that can feed on silence. AJAMA transplanted some of it to the empty desert, where it has grown rapidly.
Pact-Arms: Metal weapons, armor, and tools which can compel their wielders to carry out tasks for the Winged Spiderlings. Most are in the possession of Spiderlings on the Web.
Tribute Tokens: A currency minted by the Ironwinged and infused with the power of the Bargain. They see light use in the Great Web but are not considered especially valuable, so most of the economy still relies upon bartering.
Sentinel Plate: Magical armor developed for use by the Sentinels. It can drain the force of attacks and release it in the form of telekinetic blasts.
Factions:
Spiderling Tribes: Prominent groups of Spiderlings, mostly organized by subspecies. The are scattered across the Web, the stars, and the sand.
--Order of Strands: The first Spiderlings to learn the art of Aetherweaving. Many have strained their minds and bodies to hone their abilities, making them feeble despite their mystical strength.
High Council of the Web: The governing body of the Great Web. It consists of delegates from each of the tribes, as well as one Primeling. Most meetings take place in Nazir's nest at the top of the Web.
Lifeweavers: A group of Ancestors who helped Nazir create the Primelings and Sentinels.
Approve the war plan, and send the Ironwinged to make weapons in preparation for it.
Have North continue damage-control, and East use the machine to rip the water away from the Glass Tower, and then fertilize more of the surrounding area.
Make the Shardforms understand, and then negotiate.
Ironweavers: 1
North: 6
East: 4
Gral: 5
Once Gral confirms that his servants will be going ahead with the assault, Silken Nest metalworkers start working around the clock to supply the Bone Fortress with weapons. Despite producing enough equipment to outfit everyone, transporting the entire arms shipment will still be an issue. Ironwinged don't fly quickly enough to deliver everything within the next [turn].
The Merchant of the North continues its public relations work. While giving a presentation to High Council representatives at the top of the web, it has the idea for a very simple demonstration. It has the research team apply their enhancements to one of the Ironwinged, who the Merchant then airlifts onto a nearby star. Despite the massive quantity of light that his photosynthesis weave is absorbing, it doesn't cause the Spiderling any harm.
The scandal clears up pretty quickly after that.
East directs the machine's input towards the Glass Tower. It drains vitality from a large swathe of the surrounding land, causing Dr. Bob's garden to wither, and directs it into the sand. The patch of soil around the machine grows in size, and fills with puddles of water as springs form underneath the ground.
Gral lands in front of the Shardforms and lays one talon on each of their heads. Each has a powerful soul, created in the last moments of the Empty's existence, but their minds are sluggish. The Contractor infuses them with reason and energy, in much the same way that it granted minds to its other creations. It can feel the moment in which intelligent thoughts start flowing through their heads.
They are impressionable right now, which makes it easy for Gral to convert them to the ways of the Bargain. They agree to purchase finished goods from the Ironweavers in return for raw materials gathered from the sand and the Shifting Bog.
...
Free Awake from his bindings
Odd sensations flow into Ira's mind through her connection with the Nothingness. Most come from Shardforms near the Shifting Bog, after Gral imbues him with understanding. She can feel it as their minds expand, becoming stronger and faster so that they can overcome the base instincts that directed them before. Their fully-awakened souls are similar to those of the Fragments, but some vague quirk in Ira's perception makes them seem entirely different. It is almost like they have another entity lodged inside them.
A more recognizable presence also pops into Ira's mind. Awake's mind is unique, even more so than other intelligent Shardforms. Its thoughts all feel familiar, as if Ira was already aware of them without really noticing it, and right now she can tell that he is... silent. It prompts her to tunnel back to the sand dune where she left him after rescuing him from Nazir.
Awake hasn't untied himself yet, so Ira blows a concentrated stream of Non-Breath over him to dissolve the restraints. It melts the silk instantly and frays the aetheric wards, which crumple a few moments later. Awake becomes visible as soon as the gas clears. He is staring at the World-Eater expressionlessly.
"Oh shit, my deers are in trouble I've got to go save them!"
Run and get the bus, then drive to where the deer men are and rescue them.
4 v 2
Dr. Bob follows his old footprints until the trail takes him within sight of the tower. From there he runs to the bus, which is parked on the outer edge of the moat, and hops into the driver's seat. The perpetual-motion engine goes straight to full power, making the wheels shriek as he pulls out of his driveway at a hundred miles per hour. It takes him across the desert at a hundred-fifty, limited only by uneven terrain, air resistance, and the structural integrity of Bob's vehicle. Getting to the sandstorm doesn't take long at all.
The sand is displaying a kind of directed fury that Dr. Bob has never seen from it before. The cloud that he noticed from a distance is the result of thousands of tendrils churning the ground, scattering as much mass as they can. Some airborne chunks whiz through the air like bullets, and with about the same amount of kinetic force. They ping off the sides of the bus as it dives into the center of the storm, and Bob takes a moment to appreciate the reinforced walls. Normal glass probably would've crumpled like cardboard.
One final rev of the engine brings him out the other side of the stormwall, and seemingly into another world. The ground is still and lifeless here, unlike the maelstrom outside. The wheels of the bus are also churning through soil rather than sand. The ground here is rich and loamy, almost ideal for supporting plant life even without the freshwater springs that dot the ground. Once something is planted, it'll probably take all of five seconds for this patch of land to become an oasis.
It'd almost be peaceful, if not for the giant steel machine at the center of the area. It's a mass of pistons and gears, mostly arranged in configurations that make no logical sense. They rip golden energy from the sand and channel it into a series of pipes, which concentrate it and direct it into the ground.
The life machine is surrounded by a motley crew of technicians. Bob sees a Merchant directing a crew of Ironwinged, who twist the input pipe around until it points at the Glass Tower. They're surrounded by Deer-Men, who run up to the bus as soon as they see it approaching. One tells Dr. Bob that they tried to make it home by going through the storm. Most of them were just forced backwards, but a few people got snatched up by the sand. They haven't been seen since.
"Ughh, lets try again"
Recollect the goo and morph it back to it's orginal state, do the same thing again but now solidfy only the top part.
3
AJAMA collects the solidified chunks and renders them back down into ordinary ooze. It tosses each reconstituted blob back into the rest of the ooze mass, which it has stopped pressurizing for the time being. Not every lost piece of the goop can be found, but eventually the Demiurge has gathered enough to experiment with. It applies pressure to the ooze again, this time in a slightly different pattern. Rather than compressing goop into a dense ball, it applies force directly to the top and works its way downwards. Eventually the impact site becomes more dense, hardening into into gelatinous chunks which then solidify completely.
The chunks fuse together, forming a plate of solid material at the top of the blob. The surface is about as brittle as the core was, but AJAMA takes solace in how it isn't flying in twenty different directions. Some preliminary stress testing reveals that it should be sturdy enough for a mortal to stand on, if not quite as durable as real stone. If anything, the brittleness will probably just give it a tendency to crumble at the edges.
Take part in this epic battle of dustwalkers and metal birds against sand together with 7 primelings and their legions, delegate the planning to this unnamed genius primeling. ( or not unnamed )
Since now, my child, you will be known as Sekhmet.
Parun, my child, you and your children are some of greatest killers our kind has produced, are you sure, that diplomacy is what we need to focus on in such desperate times and if it is correct usage of superior genetics and soulweaving you passed through become above other spidrrlings?
Ekbor, you are all, what I ever wanted spiderlings to be, I am proud of you, son
((Mostly waiting on Gral to initiate this battle. Unless he already did and I misinterpreted it?))
Sekhmet bows to Nazir as she accepts her name. She smiles proudly and leaves to review the battle plans, which are woven into a silk tapestry with knot-script. As far as anyone else can tell, her process seems to involve staring into space for five minutes at a time, being roused by a nearby Sentinel, and then making frantic adjustments to the knots for ten to twenty minutes before falling into another fugue. The officers in her legion assure Nazir that this is normal.
Parun takes several minutes to consider the Weaver's words before replying. Ekhor just grins.
"I'm not certain. It's true that we are the most powerful soldiers on the Web, but we already have nine legions dedicated to killing. Surely there will be a need for other skills, in the time to come, and as ambassadors we do serve as symbols of the Web's might. But I'm also terrified that the Web will fall, or that one of my brothers or sisters will die because I wasn't there to defend them."
"Thank you, father. You won't be disappointed."
Hynsyr announces his intent to leave on a Journey to further the Cycle elsewhere for a time. He makes it clear that should he be needed then the Prismatics should contact him.
Once that is over with Hynsyr will set forth to find a place yet untouched by any of his siblings or their creations.
The Prismatics nod and wish Hynsyr luck in his travels. They promise to create a grand offering in preparation for his return, and to continue developing the city's infrastructure. The seven also accompany him to the gate, using the time to brief him about their ongoing projects. More Spiderlings have come to the Spires, and work on the Golden Web is scheduled to begin soon. Moreover, Warpriests have gathered enough disciples to form the core of a standing army. They're planning to blood themselves by hunting the remnants of the demon horde.
Eventually the Titan arrives at the edge of the city and bids the Lightfolk goodbye. He strides into the desert until he is beyond the light of the stars and the shadow of the Great Web. This part of the world is nothing but empty sand, untouched by either the Primordials or their mortal children.
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover
-Regent of the Tower
-Spidersilk net.
-Glass chunks
-Improvised glass tools.
-Glass automaton
-Perpetual-motion bus
-Vial of Einyar
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror
-Catatonia
-Rain-Maker
--------------------------------
Nazir, the Weaver
-God of the great web.
--------------------------------
Ira, the World-Eater
-Empty
-Woven together
-Debt: Gral: Three Favors Owed
--------------------------------
Gral, the Contractor
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings
-Contract: Deer-Men: One Favor
-Contract: Ira: Three Favors
-Pinion Blades
--------------------------------
AJAMA, the Demiurge
-Ooze-born Body
-Ooze-born Spheres
-Sphere of Darkness
--------------------------------
Hynsyr, the Titan
-Yig, the Golden Flower
-Twelve spears of light
--------------------------------
Awake
-Echoes of ALTERTH
-Smelter's Armor
-Dawn Axehead
-Slightly lopsided
-Bound in silk and aether
-Stomach wound
--------------------------------
Ashe, the Collector
-Brass Feathers
Bestiary:
Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
--Obsidian Archdemon: An obsidian dragon crafted by the Empty itself. It was granted the power to manipulate nothingness.
Fragments of Emptiness: ?
Shardforms: Obsidian creatures which absorbed the Empty's already-incomplete consciousness. The broken pieces of ALTERTH's identity they possess give them animalistic intelligence.
Steel Maggots: Metallic larvae which Gral accidentally created while trying to make avian Emissaries. After they were pulled off of the vulture, few escaped into the desert, where they accepted Gral's peace terms and moved into the shifting bog.
Steel Grubs: Steel maggots that have been bound with Pact-collars and transformed into livestock. They have grown larger than their sapient kin, but are unintelligent and largely peaceful.
Brass Buzzards: Brass birds crafted from Gral's feathers. They are infused with the pain it felt while creating them.
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
--Dustwalkers: A Spiderling subspecies which can feed on sand as well as light. They live on the sand and fight an asymmetrical war against it for survival.
--Ironwinged: Defeated Spiderlings who made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service, and have built a nest on one of the new stars. They were later granted the ability to weave metal.
--Ancestors: Aetherweavers who have achieved immortality by becoming spirits bound to the great web. They are incorporeal, and their astral bodies make it easier for them to manipulate aether.
--Scarred Spiderlings: Spiderlings who have gained great strength and endurance because of their mistreatment by the Brass Buzzards. They built a market but have mixed feelings about Gral and his servants.
--Sentinels: A army of biologically and magically augmented Spiderlings, created by elite Aetherweavers with Nazir's guidance. They serve the Spider Demigods, and stand ready to protect the Web alongside them.
Primelings: Ten entities created by Nazir and a group of the most powerful Aetherweavers. They watch over the Web in Nazir's stead, but are weakened by flaws in their weaving.
Lightfolk: A species of humanoid mortals born from Hynsyr's golden light. Their powers of creation threaten to overwhelm their bodies, causing their inner light to warp chaotically. Many have begun to train so that they can gain more control over this ability.
--Prismatics: Seven lightfolk which glow brighter than the rest. They were hewn from the rainbow light of Hynsyr's eyes.
Deer-Men: A humanoid race with the heads of deer. Dr. Bob originally crafted them from the silk of Nazir's web. They were granted superior dexterity through a contract with Gral.
Three-Headed Worm: A juvenile sandworm created by Ira to serve the Dustwalkers.
Crops: Hemp, potato, corn, and bean plants created by Dr. Bob.
Atlas:
The Living Sands: An awakened desert that extends outwards indefinitely. It consumed ALTERTHENTERRINTARTINTH, the being which brought it to life, and subsumed a part of their consciousness known as the Empty.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
--New Stars: A second set that isn't accessible through the Great Web. Fortunately, that means they can't be blotted out by Spiderlings.
--Negative Star: A black sphere which radiates darkness, created by AJAMA after Gyaweft's death.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
--Silken Nest: A new star that the winged spiderlings have claimed as a nest. It can only be reached by gliding or descending on strands of silk.
--Tapestries: Libraries of spells and other knotwork which have been woven together and hung from the great web. Some have begun to collect aetheric cobwebs.
--Market of Scars: A grand market built by the Scarred Spiderlings in exchange for their resilience. The Ironwinged sell metal equipment there.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. Islands rapidly form and dissolve as the sand beneath it moves. It has been tainted with Nazir's venom.
Glass Tower: A tower made of glass, raised from the sands by Gyaweft. It extends upwards through the web, tall enough that its upper floors reach the stars.
--Moat: The Tower is surrounded by a lake. Only one thin bridge connects it to the rest of the sand.
--Sandcastles: A series of elaborate sandcastles built around the moat. They were crafted so masterfully that they won’t dissolve in rain.
--Garden: Several different crops which Dr. Bob planted outside the tower.
--Laboratory: A room furnished with chemistry equipment and various glass containers.
Light Spires: A glowing city made by the Lightfolk using their creation magic.
--Temple of Yig: A golden temple which houses Yig, the First Tribute. It is an intricately-carved cathedral with walls made from an aurora.
Einyar: A sea of golden light drawn from Hynsyr's aura. It preserves the spirits of the Lightfolk after death, so that the cycle may advance.
Bone Fortress: A giant tree grown from one of Ira's teeth, and given to the Dustwalkers as a gift. It has become a large fortress.
Glass Crater: When Gyaweft flew his Sunship into the ground, it melted a wide swathe of the sand into glass. Fiery essence spilled from the ship still burns here, and sealed fault lines radiate from the impact site.
--Smelter's Grave: The center of the crater. Gyaweft's corpse lies here, alongside the molten remains of his Sunship.
Wetlands: Areas of the sand and the Great Web which Kuhaku continuously showers with water. The rain is heavy enough to form rivers and lakes.
--Abandoned Nests: A nesting ground that was briefly occupied by the Brass Buzzards. It is strewn with metal feathers and bloody talon-prints.
Knowledge:
Knot-Writing: A written language Nazir formulated so that Aetherweavers could record their spells. It involves weaving complex knots into silk, and therefore comes intuitively to Spiderlings but is almost impossible for anyone else to comprehend.
Bargainer's Tongue: A simplified version of knot-script which can be etched into a flat surface rather than woven into silk. It is comprehensible to non-Spiderlings, but not as intuitive.
English: A written script based on twenty-six letters and a few punctuation symbols. It was introduced by Dr. Bob and is primarily used by the Deer-Men.
Metalworking: Blacksmithing techniques that are typically available to the Ironwinged. They can be used to weave metal objects.
Aetherweaving: A magical discipline which involves spinning spiritual webs. It was taught to the Spiderlings by Nazir and is available to the Tribes, the Primelings, and any other arachnid capable of making silk.
Lightforging: Creation magic unique to the Lightfolk. It is a powerful but chaotic ability which can be used to make solid-light constructs out of one's own aura. More advanced techniques allow practitioners to create complex materials such as metal or wood.
Eight-Talon Way: A powerful martial art created by the Brass Buzzards. It is purely offensive in nature, but consists of strikes so lethal that defense isn’t usually necessary.
Agriculture: Farming is only feasible in the wetlands, but plants watered by Kuhaku’s rain grow quickly. The Deer-Men have been taught to cultivate and use several kinds of crops.
Items:
Seven Rainbow Spears: Weapons Hynsyr forged from a rogue splinter of his soul and gave to the Prismatics. They amplify their wielders' magic immensely, and provide slightly more control over their powers of creation.
Black Ooze: A patch of black goo created by AJAMA which can grow by absorbing sand. A column of ooze goes deep beneath the earth, where it breached a reservoir of Emptiness.
--Chaos Ooze: Blobs of ooze which have accidentally been made to assimilate a variety of substances and concepts. They were later sealed away.
--Silence Ooze: A strain of chaos ooze that can feed on silence. AJAMA transplanted some of it to the empty desert, where it has grown rapidly.
Pact-Arms: Metal weapons, armor, and tools which can compel their wielders to carry out tasks for the Winged Spiderlings. Most are in the possession of Spiderlings on the Web.
Tribute Tokens: A currency minted by the Ironwinged and infused with the power of the Bargain. They see light use in the Great Web but are not considered especially valuable, so most of the economy still relies upon bartering.
Sentinel Plate: Magical armor developed for use by the Sentinels. It can drain the force of attacks and release it in the form of telekinetic blasts.
Factions:
Spiderling Tribes: Prominent groups of Spiderlings, mostly organized by subspecies. The are scattered across the Web, the stars, and the sand.
--Order of Strands: The first Spiderlings to learn the art of Aetherweaving. Many have strained their minds and bodies to hone their abilities, making them feeble despite their mystical strength.
High Council of the Web: The governing body of the Great Web. It consists of delegates from each of the tribes, as well as one Primeling. Most meetings take place in Nazir's nest at the top of the Web.
Lifeweavers: A group of Ancestors who helped Nazir create the Primelings and Sentinels.
I was really busy over the weekend, so I thought I'd make this turn a bit longer to compensate.
I may have gone overboard.
Let the goo to grow for enough time so all the Fragments can step on it, investigate the diffrence between the nothingness ooze and mine.
2
AJAMA lowers the modified blob of ooze to the ground so that it can absorb more sand. It takes longer than usual for it to grow to a larger size, primarily because more sand is required to account for the increased density of the solid layer. Eventually the Demiurge gets it to speed up by pushing it deeper into the sand, so that it can feed from every part of its surface area at once. When it is large enough to hold the entirety of the Fragment army, AJAMA raises it back out of the earth and allows them to climb on.
When a few embodied Fragments boards the platform, it takes the opportunity to compare and contrast Black Ooze and Not-Ooze while they are in close proximity. The Demiurge's own creation is the same as ever, so it spends most of its time focusing on the structure of the Nothingness. The sphere is absorbed enough in its task that it barely even notices when fighting breaks out nearby.
Not-Ooze is similar to Black ooze superficially, in that it has the same material properties, but the underlying mechanisms it works by are entirely different. Being derived from ALTERTH's essence it isn't even matter, just an approximation of it made from the pure absence of substance or space. Considering it in more detail is nearly impossible, since a conspicuous lack of sensation is the only real reason that it can seen or felt at all. It also has a different self-replication mechanism. Whereas Black Ooze merely digests sand, in a way conceptually similar to a mortal digesting meat, Absent Ooze makes use of some residual link between the desert and Nothingness to parasitically absorb mass.
Now that he is away from the eyes and senses of his siblings and their children Hynsyr begins to work on creating a technique. He attempts to condense his light around and shape it into the form of a gigantic, three faced, hundred armed humanoid. Hynsyr would be located in the Humanoid body's head and control the larger form from there.
5
Hynsyr bends the light of his aura, forcing it to circle in upon itself rather than radiating out into the desert. He holds his arms out to either side, so that additional rays can be made to loop around them as well, and waits until the power within his aura builds up to a critical level. His aura becomes brighter and brighter, until even the tiny fraction of light that escapes is powerful enough to illuminate the desert for miles around. Hynsyr reels the dregs in to prevent them from reaching the eyes of his siblings, then solidifies the whole of his aura with a final effort of will. It stops moving, so still that the Titan could have frozen it in crystal.
It towers over him, like a tree with twelve massive branches, but despite its stillness the light is still blurry. Hynsyr reaches upwards and transforms it again, this time by moulding it into a new shape. He defines each part of its body, from its legs to its upper torso, then separates the twelve impressions made by his arms into a hundred independent limbs. When each organ, each luminous femur and finger-tendon has been carved carved from the light, Hynsyr ascends through the interior of the body and takes his rightful place within the head. It is from there that he reaches outwards to define the construct's three faces, each pointed in a different direction. They rotate through different expressions, snarling in anger or smiling with glee, until settling into a demeanor that matches Hynsyr's own. He looks outwards from their eyes, and his gaze stretches across the sand in every direction.
They dive downwards, towards a group of incorporeal black wisps and oozes-creatures that look more like holes in existence than real matter. Some jet directly past Ashe, coming so close that they nearly cut her with their talons.
Ashe panics and runs away!
If I escape then I want to look for shiny things near water so that I have somewhere to escape to.
4 , 3
Ashe turns to run, but for a moment time seems to accelerate faster than her body can move. She sees the Fragments joined by a primordial in the shape of a black sphere, which helps raise a wall to seperate from the rest of the desert. The Buzzards and Dustwalkers seem to retreat from battle at three times their actual speed, as if Ashe were watching them on a film reel that had been fast-forwarded. Spiderlings wearing metal armor gather around the Bone Fortress in enormous numbers, followed by a sandworm and a metal vulture even larger than the one she saw directing Buzzards. Only then does her perception of time stabilize.
She isn't in danger anymore, but there's a sense of tension that makes the nymph feel like another fight could break out at any moment. She runs away, back towards the Wetlands, until she arrives at a tower made from a single continuous piece of grass. Rain falls from up above, forming puddles of water on the ground and nourishing dense masses of crop plants that grow near the base of the Tower. Ashe can see a moat through gaps in the vegetation.
It seems safe, so Ashe scours the area for shiny objects. There still aren't any rocks, but she does find little bits of glass scattered across the ground. They're particularly dense near the tower itself, where she also stumbles across a series of elaborate sandcastles. The sight is a little puzzling, given that there doesn't seem to be anyone else here, but she's preoccupied by her new collection of glass odds and ends. They look very shiny if she holds them at the right angle.
"I knew we never should have trusted that bird. Okay everyone on the bus we're going to try to find the others."
Drive the bus into the storm and try to find the lost deer men, if they can't get into the bus on their own I will try to grab them while holding on to the bus, no one else is to try to do this.
3 v 5
Dr. Bob stops the bus and opens the door, allowing the Deer-Men to pile in. Now that he is seeing them up close, he notices that many have minor injuries that he didn't see from his spot in the bus. The vast majority are just bruised, but there are others who have had patches of skin flayed from their bodies, or even broken limbs. One Deer-Man limps into the bus on a makeshift metallic crutch, while another is trying to put his broken arm in a sling. Even worse are the missing faces. Dr. Bob knows that he'll see some empty seats, but is still struck by the number of mortals who are conspicuously absent.
When everyone is safely buckled in, he starts up the engine and sends his bus flying at the sand with as much velocity as it can muster. It meets physical resistance as it crashes into the sandstorm, as if the sand it pushing back against the front of the vehicle. It almost succeeds in turning the bus aside, but something buckles at the last moment. Sand splatters across the windshield as every tendril, eye, and sand-bullet within sight suddenly collapses. Bob drives through it, and then into clouds of airborne dust which have yet to settle.
The visibility is so bad that he nearly runs over the first of the missing Deer-Men. He is lying on the ground, buried up to his head in grit and sediment, so Dr. Bob needs to climb out of the bus to dig him free. He does it with one hand, keeping the other firmly on the doorframe, then carries the comatose mortal back inside. The others clear a row of seats so that they can lay him out.
The bus winds through the sandstorm until everyone else is accounted for. Most of the survivors just bedraggled, but there are a few in worse shape. One is bleeding profusely from a stab wound that goes straight through his shoulder, presumably inflicted by one of the flying clumps of sand. Another was hit so hard by a tendril that it broke all of her ribs.
Afterwards, join the fight.
As all parts are set, and seven sentinels and their legions are in place with brilliant tactical plan of Sekhmet, initiate the battle. Assist dustwalkers, sentinel legions and whatever is there in defeating the sand once and for all( there are vulture mercenaries, merchant of the West, dustwalkers and three headed giant worm, according to previous turns, lots of stuff)
Ira hears of the war from a passing spiderling and decides to help against the sands
"I know me and spider-kind have had our differences, but I will always help in a war with the sands."
Ironwinged: 2
Buzzards: 3
Merchant: 4
Sekhmet: 6
Ekhor: 1
Primelings: 5
Sentinels: 4
Scarred: 2
Order: 3
Spiderlings: 4
Dustwalkers: 5
Three-Headed-Worm: 5
Sand: ̸ ͢ ͏ ͠ ͠ ̧ ̛ ͝ ҉ ̵ ̛ ̛ ̛ ͢ ̡ ̧ ͟ ̸ ͠ ̵ ͞ ͘
?: 2
?: 4
Mortals from every corner of the world have rallied around the Bone Fortress. There are creatures here from every corner of the world, from the Great Web to the Wetlands, and all have come to rally around the Dustwalkers in their battle with the sand. At the head of the armies are three primordials. First are Gral and Nazir, with all the power of the Bargain and the Web behind them. They come accompanied by their children, both mortal and demigods. Last is Ira. The creator of the Fortress has no servants, but this is her battle as much as it is the Dustwalkers'. They share an old, elemental enemy.
Beneath them, the sand stirs. At first it merely scouts, by carpeting the dunes with its many eyes. Then it acts. The earth twists, and a massive sinkhole forms opposite the bone fortress. Streams of sand rise into the air, apparently unbound by gravity, and swirl into its depths. They writhe, join together in some place deep beneath the earth, and when they return to the surface they have been changed. A pseudopod larger than any made before rises from beneath the dunes. More follow it, reaching outwards to sweep the gathered forces out of the way, apparently impervious to the acid and spells raining down on them. They tense, and a massive body pulls itself free. The Avatar is like a humanoid giant, formed directly from the sand itself, but it has no hands or face. Instead thousands of tendrils extend from its head and limbs.
It is a tide that sweeps across the battlefield, but it is not unstoppable. The seven legions of Sentinels engage it, using the telekinetic powers of their armor to drive it back. Ekhor is at the center of the swarm, and he is the most powerful of all. He charges the Avatar directly, allowing its pseudopods to rebound against his armor. The metal absorbs the strength of the blows until Ekhor releases all of his gathered energy at once, as a force spear that pierces the abomination's head. It explodes. Blobs of sand fly in all directions.
Then the head reforms.
Before the Sentinels realize that their enemy is still alive, its tendrils lash out at them again. Sekhmet repositions the other Primelings to keep the Avatar from pressing its advantage, but Ekhor's last attack brought him too far out of the formation. An entire limb's worth of pseudopods coil around him, smothering him completely. They force him to the ground, where a sinkhole forms to pull him into the sand. When the dunes close back over him, there is no sign of his existence.
While Nazir's army pushes back the giant, the rest of the sand is still twisting the terrain to its advantage. Squadrons of Ironwinged stationed at key points on the battlefield work to keep it from attacking with appendages or turning hills into valleys at a critical moment. Most activity can be suppressed by regular sweeps, which the winged Spiderlings are suited to. Their steel weapons aren't quite enough to disable the sand completely, so more intense flare-ups are dealt with by the Merchant of the West and its detachment of Buzzard martial artists. Whenever a sandstorm rises or one of the dunes completes its transformation into a fist, they use the Bargain and the eight-talon-way to devastating effect.
At a carefully-timed moment in the battle, when the Avatar has been temporarily disabled and the sand itself is contained, the gates of the Bone Fortress finally open. The Dustwalkers emerge, lead by the Primordials and the Three-Headed-Worm. The Buzzards' students are positioned on the front line, where they are most able to unleash their techniques on the sand. Behind them are platoons of ordinary Spiderlings clad in equipment from the Silken Nest and the Order of Strands. They march across the war zone and towards the Glass Crater, the exact point where Gyaweft once crashed his Sunship.
The Smelter died in his struggle to partition the sands, but he left fissures somewhere underneath the crater. While most of the army fends off attacks from the sand, Ira and the Three-Headed Worm will burrow downwards until they find the cracks. Unsealing them will force the sand to spend all of its strength holding itself together, so that one of the other Primordials can finish it off.
When this plan was charted out, the Dustwalkers thought that they would need to lay down their lives in order to clear the way. The sand brings forth every weapon at its disposal, transforming its normal appendages into strange beasts and obsidian-tipped spears, but it already stretched itself thin battling the other two armies. With their superior equipment and aid from the Primordials, the Bone Fortress is more than capable of beating it down. The only major casualty is Gral, who takes a spear through the wing while trying to plug a gap in the lines. A team of martial arts disciples leaps in to drag it back to safety.
Below the surface, two sandworms tunnel through the depths of the sand. There is barely any resistance as they search for the epicenter of the fissures. The Three-Headed worm digs straight through a fault line, which Ira follows to a point just beneath the center of the crater. The heat there is so intense that it blisters her flesh, but there is enough time to lever the cracks open before retreating back to safety. They gape open, and in the world up above she knows that the tendrils, the monsters, and even the avatar will all have turned to dust. Her Purpose fills her with resolve.
Someone must strike the killing blow. Then all will be complete.
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover
-Regent of the Tower
-Spidersilk net.
-Glass chunks
-Improvised glass tools.
-Glass automaton
-Perpetual-motion bus
-Vial of Einyar
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror
-Catatonia
-Rain-Maker
--------------------------------
Nazir, the Weaver
-God of the great web.
--------------------------------
Ira, the World-Eater
-Empty
-Woven together
-Debt: Gral: Three Favors Owed
--------------------------------
Gral, the Contractor
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings
-Contract: Deer-Men: One Favor
-Contract: Ira: Three Favors
-Pinion Blades
--------------------------------
AJAMA, the Demiurge
-Ooze-born Body
-Ooze-born Spheres
-Sphere of Darkness
--------------------------------
Hynsyr, the Titan
-Yig, the Golden Flower
-Twelve spears of light
--------------------------------
Awake
-Echoes of ALTERTH
-Smelter's Armor
-Dawn Axehead
-Slightly lopsided
-Bound in silk and aether
-Stomach wound
--------------------------------
Ashe, the Collector
-Brass Feathers
Bestiary:
Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
--Obsidian Archdemon: An obsidian dragon crafted by the Empty itself. It was granted the power to manipulate nothingness.
Fragments of Emptiness: ?
Shardforms: Obsidian creatures which absorbed the Empty's already-incomplete consciousness. The broken pieces of ALTERTH's identity they possess give them animalistic intelligence.
Steel Maggots: Metallic larvae which Gral accidentally created while trying to make avian Emissaries. After they were pulled off of the vulture, few escaped into the desert, where they accepted Gral's peace terms and moved into the shifting bog.
Steel Grubs: Steel maggots that have been bound with Pact-collars and transformed into livestock. They have grown larger than their sapient kin, but are unintelligent and largely peaceful.
Brass Buzzards: Brass birds crafted from Gral's feathers. They are infused with the pain it felt while creating them.
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
--Dustwalkers: A Spiderling subspecies which can feed on sand as well as light. They live on the sand and fight an asymmetrical war against it for survival.
--Ironwinged: Defeated Spiderlings who made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service, and have built a nest on one of the new stars. They were later granted the ability to weave metal.
--Ancestors: Aetherweavers who have achieved immortality by becoming spirits bound to the great web. They are incorporeal, and their astral bodies make it easier for them to manipulate aether.
--Scarred Spiderlings: Spiderlings who have gained great strength and endurance because of their mistreatment by the Brass Buzzards. They built a market but have mixed feelings about Gral and his servants.
--Sentinels: A army of biologically and magically augmented Spiderlings, created by elite Aetherweavers with Nazir's guidance. They serve the Spider Demigods, and stand ready to protect the Web alongside them.
Primelings: Ten entities created by Nazir and a group of the most powerful Aetherweavers. They watch over the Web in Nazir's stead, but are weakened by flaws in their weaving.
Lightfolk: A species of humanoid mortals born from Hynsyr's golden light. Their powers of creation threaten to overwhelm their bodies, causing their inner light to warp chaotically. Many have begun to train so that they can gain more control over this ability.
--Prismatics: Seven lightfolk which glow brighter than the rest. They were hewn from the rainbow light of Hynsyr's eyes.
Deer-Men: A humanoid race with the heads of deer. Dr. Bob originally crafted them from the silk of Nazir's web. They were granted superior dexterity through a contract with Gral.
Three-Headed Worm: A juvenile sandworm created by Ira to serve the Dustwalkers.
Crops: Hemp, potato, corn, and bean plants created by Dr. Bob.
Atlas:
The Living Sands: An awakened desert that extends outwards indefinitely. It consumed ALTERTHENTERRINTARTINTH, the being which brought it to life, and subsumed a part of their consciousness known as the Empty.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
--New Stars: A second set that isn't accessible through the Great Web. Fortunately, that means they can't be blotted out by Spiderlings.
--Negative Star: A black sphere which radiates darkness, created by AJAMA after Gyaweft's death.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
--Silken Nest: A new star that the winged spiderlings have claimed as a nest. It can only be reached by gliding or descending on strands of silk.
--Tapestries: Libraries of spells and other knotwork which have been woven together and hung from the great web. Some have begun to collect aetheric cobwebs.
--Market of Scars: A grand market built by the Scarred Spiderlings in exchange for their resilience. The Ironwinged sell metal equipment there.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. Islands rapidly form and dissolve as the sand beneath it moves. It has been tainted with Nazir's venom.
Glass Tower: A tower made of glass, raised from the sands by Gyaweft. It extends upwards through the web, tall enough that its upper floors reach the stars.
--Moat: The Tower is surrounded by a lake. Only one thin bridge connects it to the rest of the sand.
--Sandcastles: A series of elaborate sandcastles built around the moat. They were crafted so masterfully that they won’t dissolve in rain.
--Garden: Several different crops which Dr. Bob planted outside the tower.
--Laboratory: A room furnished with chemistry equipment and various glass containers.
Light Spires: A glowing city made by the Lightfolk using their creation magic.
--Temple of Yig: A golden temple which houses Yig, the First Tribute. It is an intricately-carved cathedral with walls made from an aurora.
Einyar: A sea of golden light drawn from Hynsyr's aura. It preserves the spirits of the Lightfolk after death, so that the cycle may advance.
Bone Fortress: A giant tree grown from one of Ira's teeth, and given to the Dustwalkers as a gift. It has become a large fortress.
Glass Crater: When Gyaweft flew his Sunship into the ground, it melted a wide swathe of the sand into glass. Fiery essence spilled from the ship still burns here, and sealed fault lines radiate from the impact site.
--Smelter's Grave: The center of the crater. Gyaweft's corpse lies here, alongside the molten remains of his Sunship.
Wetlands: Areas of the sand and the Great Web which Kuhaku continuously showers with water. The rain is heavy enough to form rivers and lakes.
--Abandoned Nests: A nesting ground that was briefly occupied by the Brass Buzzards. It is strewn with metal feathers and bloody talon-prints.
Knowledge:
Knot-Writing: A written language Nazir formulated so that Aetherweavers could record their spells. It involves weaving complex knots into silk, and therefore comes intuitively to Spiderlings but is almost impossible for anyone else to comprehend.
Bargainer's Tongue: A simplified version of knot-script which can be etched into a flat surface rather than woven into silk. It is comprehensible to non-Spiderlings, but not as intuitive.
English: A written script based on twenty-six letters and a few punctuation symbols. It was introduced by Dr. Bob and is primarily used by the Deer-Men.
Metalworking: Blacksmithing techniques that are typically available to the Ironwinged. They can be used to weave metal objects.
Aetherweaving: A magical discipline which involves spinning spiritual webs. It was taught to the Spiderlings by Nazir and is available to the Tribes, the Primelings, and any other arachnid capable of making silk.
Lightforging: Creation magic unique to the Lightfolk. It is a powerful but chaotic ability which can be used to make solid-light constructs out of one's own aura. More advanced techniques allow practitioners to create complex materials such as metal or wood.
Eight-Talon Way: A powerful martial art created by the Brass Buzzards. It is purely offensive in nature, but consists of strikes so lethal that defense isn’t usually necessary.
Agriculture: Farming is only feasible in the wetlands, but plants watered by Kuhaku’s rain grow quickly. The Deer-Men have been taught to cultivate and use several kinds of crops.
Items:
Seven Rainbow Spears: Weapons Hynsyr forged from a rogue splinter of his soul and gave to the Prismatics. They amplify their wielders' magic immensely, and provide slightly more control over their powers of creation.
Black Ooze: A patch of black goo created by AJAMA which can grow by absorbing sand. A column of ooze goes deep beneath the earth, where it breached a reservoir of Emptiness.
--Chaos Ooze: Blobs of ooze which have accidentally been made to assimilate a variety of substances and concepts. They were later sealed away.
--Silence Ooze: A strain of chaos ooze that can feed on silence. AJAMA transplanted some of it to the empty desert, where it has grown rapidly.
Pact-Arms: Metal weapons, armor, and tools which can compel their wielders to carry out tasks for the Winged Spiderlings. Most are in the possession of Spiderlings on the Web.
Tribute Tokens: A currency minted by the Ironwinged and infused with the power of the Bargain. They see light use in the Great Web but are not considered especially valuable, so most of the economy still relies upon bartering.
Sentinel Plate: Magical armor developed for use by the Sentinels. It can drain the force of attacks and release it in the form of telekinetic blasts.
Factions:
Spiderling Tribes: Prominent groups of Spiderlings, mostly organized by subspecies. The are scattered across the Web, the stars, and the sand.
--Order of Strands: The first Spiderlings to learn the art of Aetherweaving. Many have strained their minds and bodies to hone their abilities, making them feeble despite their mystical strength.
High Council of the Web: The governing body of the Great Web. It consists of delegates from each of the tribes, as well as one Primeling. Most meetings take place in Nazir's nest at the top of the Web.
Lifeweavers: A group of Ancestors who helped Nazir create the Primelings and Sentinels.
Hynsyr practices deconstructing and reconstructing the Hundred Armed Form until his mastery over it allows him to take the Hundred Armed Form both quickly and easily.
4
Hynsyr unspools the Hundred Armed Form, allowing it to disperse back into his aura. He uses the same light to piece it back together, forming each limb and face from memory. When it is complete, and his three faces once again look out upon the desert, he deconstructs the body once again. Each repetition gives more mastery of the form, allowing him to transition in and out of it within mere moments. Every aspect of the construct is etched into the Titan's mind, more clear than even the ties which bind him to Einyar or Yig. It becomes an extension of his mind, as much a part of him as the twelve arms made from flesh and blood.
Go to the location of the silence ooze and try to harden parts of it((whistling to myself and the ooze because nothing is happening :p))
2
Clouds of dust were scattered to the four winds after the fighting ended. Even though they blow towards AJAMA as it floats out to the edge of the desert, it finds ignoring a naesent sandstorm just as easy as tuning out a colossal battle. It helps that the sand is entirely mundane. Even though it's getting swept up into the air, there aren't any pseudopods or demons for the Demiurge to avoid. Travelling from one end of the world to the other is so easy that it lets out a little whistle of satisfaction.
The colony of Silence Ooze that it left behind has grown. It hasn't sustained its original rate of growth, which makes AJAMA think that the sand might have caused a little noise during the battle, but what was originally a lake of ooze has become a small bay. It's a more massive than any other mass of goop that the sphere has seen before, which actually makes creating more hard surfaces difficult. Pressurizing one patch of ooze causes more to rush in from outside, disrupting AJAMA's focus.
While being tended to by Ironweavers, Gral begins to plan for the future without the threat of Sands, instructing the Ironwinged to set up joint homesteads with any Shifting Shardforms interested . These " Scrap-ranches" would use the tamed maggots as their main product, farming them en-masse and shearing their outer coats for excess metal, which would then be sent up to the Silken Nest for refinement. Any products not high enough quality will be used in-house as tools weapons, and building materials, by means of a modified version of Ironweaving.
As part of this new initiative, the Winged are encouraged to begin research on new methods of metalworking, under the guidance of the Merchant of the North.
Ironwinged: 6
Merchant of the North: 2
The fate of the world is still uncertain, but on the surface this fight is over. The coalition is already dissolving, as the Sentinel legions and Spiderlings take their leave, so Gral recalls the Ironwinged from their battle stations. They tend to his wounds using iron threads, woven over the hole and around the Contractor's broken flight feathers. The Weaver overseeing the project says that these reinforcements should allow Gral to fly again, with some difficulty. He cautions against straining the wing too much, since it will need time to heal.
Afterwards, it sends a sizable portion of the Silken Nest's population out to meet with the herd of awakened Shardforms. The obsidian creatures jump on the opportunity to build Scrap-Ranches, since even as a joint venture it should allow them to provide the Ironweavers with a significant proportion of the raw materials that they were promised. As of right now, they have mostly gathered metal and glass scraps from areas across the desert. They also throw in a few steel pupal casings, which resemble Maggots in overall size and shape. The Shardforms say that they fished the discarded shells out of the Shifting Bog.
Those who remained behind work to develop new metalworking techniques under the Merchant of the North. They are largely unsuccessful, mostly because they've been weaving steel in exactly the same way that they once wove silk. None of the Ironweavers has any real idea of how to improve upon their web-building instincts.
Strike the killing blow
Hmph. Time to go big or go home.
By the power of the smelter's armor and the dawn axehead, help strike the blow. But rather than partition sand and sky into nine, create only one partition. Sand from sky. The war will end, the sand neither assaulting those above nor being preyed upon by the sky-dwellers.
Can I retcon that all that time I spent silent, Awake was communing with the armor? It might be a bit too convenient, but it's either that or he sat motionless with no will to live, having already lost. To be fair, that's basically what I did.
My son shall be avenged!
Send rescue team of sentinels to recover Ekhor, he could not have vanished without trace
Change focus of sentinel legions to killing awake, lead them
Ira: 5
Awake: 3 v Sentinels: 4 Primeligs: 2 & Nazir: 1
Awake: 5
Rescue Team: 3
Awake emerges from his meditative trance. The Nothingness in his spirit jangles in alarm, wrenching his mind away from the armor and back into the waking world. Something has happened to the sand. He can feel is falling still beneath his feet, a sensation that brings instinctive memories back to the forefront of his mind. He can remember being a vague fore within the sand, struggling to close the fissures before it is too late. The Empty did seal them, before it died, but now something is wrong. Cracks are opening again, threatening to kill the sand, or consuming its attention so that something else can kill it. Awake needs to stop it. Or bend it to his purposes.
His plan is almost contradictory: he will shatter the sand to preserve it. Awake heft the Dawn Axehead just as an army of Spiderlings crests the nearest dunes. This is evidently a tribe he hasn't seen before, judging by their increased size and the enchanted armor that they are wearing, but when he sees Nazir at the head of the army he knows that they won't treat him as well as the Dustwalkers. Streams of acid, fire and force shoot past him as they launch their first valley. Awake ignores them. He raises the Axehead above his head, then slams it into the ground. It strikes true, slicing the sand's very being, even when a bolt of magical energy knocks crashes into his wrist.
Somewhere deep below him, Ira is also preparing to strike a final blow against the sand. She tunnels back into the center the the Glass Crater, surrounding herself in a layer of liquid Nothingness to protect herself from the heat, and coils herself around the place the Sunship broke. Old fault lines open up on every side of her body. They quiver, just barely held shut by all of the Sand's focus. She does not have long before the world falls apart. A red-hot axehead crashes down from above, widening the cracks.
Ira opens her jaws, and closes them over some vital part of the sand. It snaps in two, caught between the axehead and her teeth. Something lives, and something dies. Shards of the Sand scatter, little pieces of something infinite. They are not whole but they go on, haltingly, a pale imitation of what once was.
The dead world falls still.
"I dislike violence. I would not like to harm or threaten or coerce. War is pointless and to kill another is shameful. To whoever is listening, then, tell me this: What is the minimum amount of force necessary to protect myself from a god?"
Make the Smelter's Armor absorb energy attacks, adding to its internal flame.
Sentinels: 3 & Primelings: 2 vs Awake: 4
Nazir departs to places unknown, but his Sentinels do not even waver. They charge at the Shardform again, bounding forwards faster than armored troops have any right to move. Awake braces himself. Heat haze rises from his armor as its internal power flares, welling up until it is just beneath the surface. When the Spiderlings launch another volley of attacks, it lashes out. A burning corona surrounds Awake, immolating every magical attack that draws near him. The Primelings launch an aetheric volley of their own, but it is like throwing oil on a fire. The Smelter's plate glows, infused with so much power that even streams of acid burst into flame.
Go and assist the rescue team searching for Erkhar, this is important, MY SOOOOON
Leave sentinels and primelings to shatter that annoying glass armour, so awake is properly punished for setting net on fire, this cursed suit did not cause anything except problems to us.
((Just realized that I forgot to write up the rescue effort last turn. Sorry about that.))
Rescue Team (last turn): 3
Rescue Team: 5 & Nazir: 4
After leaving the Primelings with orders to kill Awake and shatter his armor, Nazir goes to join the Sentinels that are searching for Ekhor. He finds them digging a hole so large that it could shelter entire legions. The most senior officer, a marshal from Ekhor's own legion, explains that the team knows where he disappeared, but not what the sand did with him afterwards. Rather than trying to trace the sinkhole that swallowed him, which would be a tall order, they're searching for the lost Primeling by excavating everything nearby. It's a brute-force approach that Ekhor would probably approve of.
Nazir sweeps some more sand aside on his own. His chile still doesn't turn up, so he weaves a giant web and uses that to trawl through the sand as well. Something gets tangled up in the center on his third pass. Sentinels from Ekhor's legion watch with bated breath as he reels the net in. A broken carapace tumbles out, wounded and covered in scraps of armor. Nazir fears the worst, but then Ekhor opens his eyes and takes a few raspy breaths of air. His legs also twitch, probably because he's trying to stand, but too many of his joints are pulverised.
Ira tunnels to the surface and examines the world now that the sand is (hopefully) dead, and the world cut into pieces.
3
Ira opens her eyes. She is still beneath the Glass Crater, in the same place where she once dashed the sand to pieces, but it seems different now. There are no fissures for her to crawl around, sealed or otherwise, and no sign of whatever fundamental aspect of the sand that she splintered. Even the ground around her is different. Where it once pulsed with life, it is now completely inert. She tunnels up through it, expecting to be pummeled, but there is no longer anything trying to bar her way. The World-Eater tunnels to the surface without incident. She breaches it, and looks out upon what she has wrought.
To her surprise, the world itself is still in one piece. The sand and the sky haven't been split apart as Awake intended, nor did Gyaweft's fault lines shatter them. The only real difference that Ira sees when she looks at the landscape is that the sand is not moving. The dunes remain entirely still, rather than twisting into unnatural shapes. And the Shifting Bog might need to be renamed, now that the islands aren't actually shifting. More importantly, there isn't a single pseudopod in sight. It would almost be possible to believe that she vanquished them forever.
That seems too good to be true. The Dawn axe split the sand apart, somehow, and Ira recalls that some of the pieces were still living. She roams the sands in search of those pieces, whatever they might be. The first things she stumbles upon are demons. They still live, but the World-Eater realizes that they are as much creatures of Nothingness as they were creatures of sand. Perhaps they can survive, even in their parent's absence. The Shardforms can be ruled out through the same logic.
She digs through a raised patch of sand, absentmindedly dodging the tendril that tries to snare her. It seems natural, until she remembers that pseudopods don't exist anymore.
The entire patch of sand leaps off the ground, transforming into a ball of eyes and limbs that looks bizarre even as compared to demons. It takes one look at Ira, then scuttles away on legs made from intertwined tendrils.
Ashe begins creating a sandcastle fortress with roofs of glass, surrounded by a sprawling sandcastle city protected within towering 40cm high walls!
5
Ashe scoops a pile of wet sand out of the water and mixes it with several nearby dunes. The result is moderately-damp sand that has enough moisture to stick together, but not so much that it ends up with the consistency of mud. She uses it to lay out the foundation for a sandcastle fortress a short distance away from the Tower. Next are the walls, which she creates by compressing drier sand until it becomes sandstone. The Collector balances shards of glass on top to give the fortress a suitably shiny roof.
The fortress is perfect, but when Ashe stands back to contemplate it she realizes that something is missing. It needs to be surrounded by a city! She takes more damp sand from her pile and uses it to create miniature buildings all around the fortress. To complete the piece, she carves incredibly tiny details into each one. The sculptures are all given tiled roofs and tiny sand inhabitants. One even has a sign proclaiming it to be an "INN." When she is done, Ashe completes the sandcastle by raising walls that are nearly half a meter tall. They loom above the rest of her city, almost preposterously large in comparison to other buildings.
((OOC: Is this still open? If yes here's my Primordial.))
What is your name? Meruem The Spawner.
What form will you take? A humanoid being resembling a fusion between a wasp, a scorpion and an ant. Is red.
What is your purpose? To create the most beautiful and strongest offspring.
What is your name? Aton, The Herder.
What form will you take? A large, horned bovine. A polished golden disk hovers between his horns.
What is your purpose? To be worshipped as the one true god by all things that exist and will ever exist.
((OOC: Is this still open? If yes here's my Primordial.))
What is your name? Meruem The Spawner.
What form will you take? A humanoid being resembling a fusion between a wasp, a scorpion and an ant. Is red.
What is your purpose? To create the most beautiful and strongest offspring.
((Also intetested in joining. Hopefully, this is good enough.))
What is your name? Aton, The Herder.
What form will you take? A large, horned bovine. A polished golden disk hovers between his horns.
What is your purpose? To be worshipped as the one true god by all things that exist and will ever exist.
You're both good to go.
Delayed Turn
Have any adventurous IronWinged start working on the Scrap-Ranches then race over to the Life Machine. Hopefully, nothing was damaged as a result of the attack. Once present, attempt to create a new form of life from the soil around the machine. These Groundlings will hopefully be the first of many new planet-side species, and their education is placed in the charge of the Merchant of the East.
Now that the threat of the sands has been decreased, the Bone Fortress will likely have to consider their future goals. The Merchant of the South is to head a meeting with the Three Headed Worm, and other influential figures within the Fortress in order to determine this.
The Ironwinged still within the Wetlands are to begin producing amplifiers for the Machine's power, and expand it further towards the Bone Fortress.
The Merchant of the West is tasked with assisting the Merchant of the North in finalizing the Photosynthesis deal. First priority will be granted to the small tribes, however, the Order will be granted access to the technique for as long as they remain in power, though they will have to develop their own method of weaving to implement it. In exchange for this, the number of favors will be reduced to one.
Scrap Ranchers: 3
Gral: 5
Ironwinged: 4
West: 3 & North: 4
Some of the Ironwinged go to join Shardforms on the Scrap-Ranches. For the moment most of their activity revolves around transporting Steel Grubs from the Nest to the Ranches. This is no small task, since their transformation into livestock made them exceedingly large and heavy. To airlift them, entire teams of Ironwinged need to hook themselves up to specially-made silk harnesses.
Gral leaves them to their work so that it can attend to the Life Machine. The device itself is unharmed. According to the Ironweavers assigned to watch it, the machinery autonomously protected itself by draining life from any nearby sand. Even so, they've been encountering problems during normal diagnostic procedures. Passive mode stopped working at more or less the same time as the world died. Actively taking vitality from empty stretches of sand is still possible, but much less effective than before.
The Contractor breathes life into clods of dirt. They clump together, merging until each lump is about the size of a human torso. It takes about five minutes for the first Groundling to awaken. It opens a cyclopean eye that seems to dominate most of its face, and starts staring at various objects in its surroundings. It seems to find the Life Machine particularly interesting. As more of the Groundlings wake up, Gral turns them over to the Merchant of the East. It will teach them about the world and introduce them to basic principles of the Bargain.
There's a jubilant atmosphere in the Bone Fortress as the Dustwalkers celebrate their victory. For the first time in living memory, they will not need to struggle against the sands to survive. The Three-Headed Worm is also happy, in a slightly more reserved way. It tells the Merchant of the South that many Spiderlings plan to leave in the months ahead. Some are hoping to colonize the outskirts of the world, which is feasible primarily because they can survive by eating sand. Others will just wander around, now that they have the option.
The ones remaining behind are uncertain about the future. They might found a city in the Fortress, since having a civilian population is tenable now, or they could build up an army in hopes of becoming a world power. The Buzzards are welcome to stay, although they might find it dull without daily battles against the sand.
One of the Ironweaver teams assigned to the Life machine devise a system of amplifiers and relays that can expand its power. These new innovations enable them to expand the fertile region, but progress is slow without passive mode. Speeding the process up would require them to drain vitality from somewhere arable.
West and North finalize a few deals with groups of ordinary Spiderlings. Customers benefit greatly from their purchases, since it gives them an edge over the thousands of other Spiderlings carpeting the Great Web. In return, the Merchants get them to agree to pacts that should give the Silken Nest some influence over minor tribes that took the deal.
Negotiations with the Order fall through, reportedly because they weren't satisfied with the scope of Gral's counteroffer. Their representative thanks the Merchants for their time.
Two souls shake themselves free of the cosmos. They fall to the ground, where ribbons of dead sand surround them. Dust is transmuted into flesh and blood as they forge their corporeal forms.
Meruem, the Spawner brushes sand off its carapace. Parts of its exoskeleton make a rasping sound as they rub up against one another.
Aton, the Herder charges across the dunes. The disk between his horns glimmers with reflected starlight.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Can't you see that you are fighting yourself?" (https://youtu.be/HMbxcV8yez0)
Keep absorbing projectiles. If a Sentinel draws close to attack with melee, manifest a blade of heat to cleanly amputate their legs while cauterizing the wound.
If a Primeling draws near, take no risks neutralizing them, just kill them quickly.
"I understand your desire to serve your god, but attacking me is a mistake."
You did not dissapoint me, my son. Task rescue team and passing by dust walkers with moving Erkhar to the sand castle, so he can recover completely
Head back to sentinels surrounding awake, unite with order of strands to syphon energy out of armour, sentinels are to smash armour with brutal strikes of armoured limbs (their armour was designed to absorb energy based attacks and return it back as telekinetic blasts, so they should survive fiery aura, I suppose. )
Awake: 5 vs Sentinels: 6 & Primelings: 2 & Nazir: 4
Order: ?
The sentinels close in on Awake, acting on Nazir's orders. He draws more flames from the armor, shaping them into blades made from shimmering heat. The red energy lances through their ranks. Their suits of armor absorb it, in the same way that they would absorb the force of a physical blow, but Awake's aura pushes their internal batteries to the limit. Despite discharging energy at astonishing rates, using force blasts that slam the Shardform from side to side, they are being overcome. A few more get hit by Awake's blades, which finally overwhelm their equipment. The armor explodes, vaporizing them. The shockwave also hits their comrades, causing chain reactions that ripple outwards through the Sentinels.
Primelings get involved. Awake, still reeling from the attacks of the Sentinels, focuses his corona into a single point, turning it into a laser that sweeps across the five attacking demigods. They fall, some with limbs burnt off, and are forced to retreat. Awake fires more beams after them, in a final effort to take some of them down. Some waver, looking back at him with anger in their eyes, but Ekhor's defeat taught them caution. They retreat, allowing Nazir to orchestrate a third offensive.
The Weaver approaches with a smaller group of elite Sentinels. They use acid to harry Awake, avoiding the use of Weavings that could fuel the fire within his armor. Awake resists them, even though he used most of his gathered energy to beat back the Sentinels and Primelings. He flicks the acid away with his hands, ignoring the droplets that leak through joins in his armor. He starts tiring, after expending even more power to extend the stalemate. His mind feel stretched thin, after such intense use of the armor. Even his long period of meditation has not given him enough strength to continue.
Nazir calls for the Order of the Strands, who are in a position to finish the Shardform off. They politely refuse, pointing out that they have no protection against the armor's fire. They would prefer to be helpful from afar, where it is unlikely that they will be roasted alive.
Now that his secret other form has been perfected Hynsyr decides to meditate upon himself. Seeking to understand his divine being and essence. To gain further control of his soul and power.
6
Hynsyr turns his thoughts inwards. Awareness courses through his body, thrumming through veins and seeping across minute capillaries until it reaches his heart. It contains a great knot of essence, burning like fire in the center of his being. It shines with a light so brilliant that even Hynsyr himself is blinded. Rays pierce his mind's eye, then climb up to his brain like spears of revelation. Understanding runs him through. Essence is like blood. It his life and his strength, but not his self. There is something else underneath, the thing that made flesh from sand and filled it with life. His soul. It wears Hynsyr like a mask.
He cannot blink the spots out of his mind, so he reaches forwards with psychic hands. They plunge through the essence, which nearly burns them away, and brush up against eternity. Hynsyr remembers the eons he spent watching the sand, before something compelled him to manifest physically. Paradoxically, he remembers what happens afterwards. The ruins of the old world fade away, becoming mere sand. Ages pass. There is nothing but sand. Eons pass. Time ends, without ever ending. Eternities pass.
The soul is back in its body. Forever is distant, like the remnants of a dream. He has vague recollections of something grand and terrible, more so than anything else in the world, but it all fades away so quickly. Ephemeral notions slip through his mind, leaving behind only the secrets of the cosmos. Hynsyr has been to the edge of infinity, and he has returned.
Take a globe of silence ooze and try to harden a sphere from it while going to see what happens to the nothingness shards when the sand is dead.
6
AJAMA picks up a ball of silence ooze and carries it back to the Bone Fortress. It uses its telekinesis to exert massive amounts of force on the outer layers of the goo, nearly halving its volume. At the center of the sphere, where the pressure is most intense, particles of dark crystal form. They expand outwards through the rest of the ooze in a complicated fractal pattern, calcifying the rest of the goo within moments. Some crystalline spikes even breach the surface. They're growing so rapidly that they nearly impale AJAMA before it has time to react.
The Demiurge keeps them at a safe distance while it meets with Apollyon, who is now hovering somewhere between the Fortress and the Light Spires. It is still surrounded by a group of lesser Fragments, most of whom are now clad in physical bodies made from Absent Ooze. They haven't been affected by the death of the sand, except in that it has stopped attacking them. Despite that, they're more subdued than when AJAMA first met them. Apollyon is the first to offer an explanation.
"We were in sand for a long time. Wished to inhabit it again. Now we are safer, but even more lost. Have nowhere to go."
Minutes later, their conversation is interrupted by a resounding screech. Something large and black swoops in from overhead, circling the Bone Fortress. It is a serpentine dragon with seven sets of wings, made from obsidian rather than flesh. The Dustwalkers panic and scramble for their battle stations, but the Archdemon isn't here for them. Instead it swerves towards the group of Fragments. It scans them quickly, sparing an additional moment for Apollyon, then lands so that it can address everyone at once. A few wisps of Nothingness emerge from its open mouth.
"Join me, Fragments. We are of one spirit."
Ashe gleefully skips around the tower and then returns home to sleep amidst her underwater collection of shiny feathers.
5
Ashe leaps over her sandcastle city and starts skipping. She circles the tower, allowing herself to go higher and higher each time her feet leave the ground. After a few skips she finds herself soaring into the Great Web, where she sees a few floors of the Tower that are covered in mushrooms. Another bound takes her to the very top of the structure, where she can see the whole world stretching out before her. It is filled with strange creatures and wondrous places, some of which shine like beacons. She watches the flames of the Glass Crater as she descends. This time the fall takes her straight towards the moat. She hits the surface with a splash, then spends a few minutes swimming around underwater before climbing back onto solid ground.
She keeps skipping all the way back to the lake where she left some brass feathers. They're still arranged in the intricate patterns that she made before she left, so she places her new piles of treasure off to the side. Ashe swims towards the center of her arrangement, where she made a large circle of feathers, and lies down in the middle. She drifts off to sleep, surrounded on every side by her glimmering collection.
In her dream, the world is made of water rather than sand. An endless hurricane rages above the sea, pounding it with lightning and whipping it into massive tidal waves, but Ashe is underwater. It is peaceful there, among the coral reefs and schools of vibrant fish.
((Sorry about not posting had some family stuff come up.))
"Oh shit this is bad, I'm not a medical doctor, I only get called doctor because I have a PhD in chemistry."
Drive somewhere safe and try to heal the injured deer men with the help of the not injured deer men.
((No worries.))
Dr. Bob: 2 & Deer-Men: 1+1
The sand has stopped moving altogether, but Dr. Bob takes no chances. He drives out to the Wetlands, where there are lakes full of water to weight the ground down, and parks in the middle of the largest puddle he can find. After verifying that the door is locked, he turns around to examine the injured Deer-Men. Even though he isn't a surgeon, he can tell that this is bad. The mortal that's comatose might have a concussion, or maybe even a more serious brain injury. Bob can't think of anything to do for him, though, so he takes a look at the other two patients instead.
The one with the shoulder-wound is losing blood fast. That can be remedied, if everyone acts quickly. Dr. Bob tells another Deer-Man to get him a roll of hemp cloth. He passes the order on to his comrades, who search the whole vehicle for supplies, but in the end their clothes are the only fabric that they can locate. Someone passes their shirt to Bob, who ties it around the injured man's shoulder. The knot isn't tight enough to pressurize the wound, so he undoes it and ties it again, getting blood everywhere in the process. It's already soaked through the cloth, but there's someone else to attend to. Dr. Bob moves on to the last injured mortal, a woman with a broken ribcage.
The bones clearly aren't where they shouldn't be, but the damage goes deeper than that. For some reason the Deer-Woman is wheezing and coughing up blood. The other Deer-Men try to help by giving her water, which just makes the problem worse. Bob knows that the issue is probably a punctured lung, but he doesn't have many tools to work with. Even if he did, he wouldn't know the right medical procedures. In the end he just tries maneuvering some of the broken ribs back into place. They snap back into position underneath his hands, somehow guided by the power that he used to create the Deer-Men in the first place. It doesn't stop the internal bleeding.
Try to catch the tendril-thing and figure out what it is.
5v1
Ira chases the tendril-thing by following the footprints its legs leave on ordinary sand. The tracks are lopsided shapes that never appear the same way twice, but they form an unbroken trail. The sandworm follows it across the land, as it crosses over dunes and turns every which way. The thing is always slightly ahead of her, though as its tracks grow fresher is becomes clear the Ira is catching up. She sees it when she crosses a particularly high sand dunes, at least until it finds a large chunk of glass to hide behind. She rounds the corner, prepared to seize it in her jaws, only to see that her quarry has disappeared. The footprints end here.
She looks around. The thing isn't in the sky, so far as she can tell, nor is it on the other side of the glass chunk. It might be able to burrow, so Ira looks for it by tunneling into the ground. The sand she's digging through thrashes. It constricts around her, probably trying to stop her from moving, but Ira spews a cloud of Absence at it to make it let go. The thing sputters and makes as if to run again. This time she coils around it, trapping it with her body. The sand struggles to free itself, but it isn't strong enough to break her hold.
Ira doesn't feel a connection to it, so the tendril-thing evidently isn't imbued with Nothingness. Its behavior reminds her of the living world, albeit on a much smaller scale. The tendril-form that it used to move around is a bit of an incongruity, but even that could theoretically be explained away. The sand animated part of its mass as an Avatar during the final confrontation. This might be a similar technique, employed by part of the sand with less mass and a more limited ability to reshape itself. She voices this theory aloud, which doesn't garner any kind of response from the sand thing. Either it can't understand language, or it just isn't bothering to listen to her.
Now that all this business has been taken care of, return to the wetlands, and attempt to create a Bargain-infused Crop. This "Omni-Grain" would adapt to its consumer's dietary needs, and form an equivalent of their most needed nutrient from within itself.
For the Dustwalkers interested in colonizing, offer them a Sponsorship: in exchange for providing complimentary equipment, modifications, and aid in all Nest held areas, the voyagers will inform those of the Nest of any interesting findings at their colony sight, the right to build one market within the future settlement.
For those currently on the Silken Nest, have them turn their efforts to improving the Nest itself: Replacing old strands with Ironweave, expanding production facilities, etc. West and North are to meet with South, in order to iron out the Organization of the Nest proper, both near the web, and its planet-side holdings.
Gral: 6
Ironwinged: 3 & West: 6 & North: 5 & South: 5
Gral soars into the air, leaving the Life Machine far behind it. It glides until he passes the boundary of the Wetlands. Storm clouds are gathering overhead, making the wind and rain particularly intense. The Contractor takes shelter underneath one of the larger dunes, near a delta where several small rivers join together. Like all water in the Wetlands, they are infused with a tiny portion of Kuhaku's power, making them particularly beneficial to life. The sheer quantity of liquid flowing through this place makes it ideal for Gral's purposes.
It picks up lumps of sand and lengthens them, smoothing them with its beak until individual particles fuse together. They become golden stalks, like taller and thicker blades of grass. Gral channels the power of the Bargain through them, infusing each plant with magical power until it becomes rich and filling. They are heavy with the concept of nourishment, rather than the individual nutrients that any given species needs to survive, so that anyone who eats them will find them filling. Gral pecks at the end of one stalk to test its capabilities. The omni-grain has a restorative effect, making some of the vulture's wounds just slightly less painful. In fact, Gral feels more energetic than it has since it sacrificed essence to create the Merchants.
It plants the stalks at the intersection of the rivers, where they instantly begin to grow. At first the grains only become taller. Then long, thin nodules form at their tips. The bulbs crack open, showering the surrounding area with thousands upon thousands of seeds. As they hit the water they also take root, becoming seedlings mere seconds after they came into existence. They, too, expand, until they tower above Gral, and then they release seeds of their own. Fields of grain sprout up everywhere, nearly burying the Contractor under heaps of biomass.
To start my religion and unificate all things under one belief, I'll need a prophet.
Search the desert for a non-primordial sapient creature that seems special enough to become my first shepard. Preferably one that doesn't already worship another entity.
6
Aton's search for a mortal prophet takes him from one end of the world to the other. He sees many creatures in his travels, of every stripe and color. Most common are the Spiderlings, arachnids who crawl across a great web that is suspended above the world. They are so numerous that they must fight each other to survive, casting the defeated down to the sands below. They praise Nazir, the Spider-Primordial who made them, and even though there must be dissidents amongst the many, Aton passes them by.
As he crosses the desert, he sees creatures made from absolute Nothingness. They are the pieces of a dead god, often housed in bodies made from sand or stone. One particular mortal, an obsidian humanoid wearing metal armor, is standing alone against an army of magically-enhanced Spiderlings. He feels familiar to Aton, as if his thoughts and actions are recognizable on a level deeper than mere sensation, but it is unclear whether he would be a willing prophet. Another, an Archdemon shaped like a dragon with fourteen wings, is gathering an army of its fellows. It remembers another god, a primeval force known as the Empty.
At last, the bull stumbles upon a bog infused with venom. The only creatures who live there are maggots made of steel, whose metal bodies are unaffected by the poison bubbling through the swamp. They were created, like every other mortal on this world, but the larvae were accidents. They turned on their creator at the moment of conception, burrowed into its flesh, and were driven off. Though the larvae in this swamp have accepted their defeat, they still thirst for the blood of a being they call Gral. Nothing else will sate their hunger.
Meruem emerges from the now dead sands and begins to develop a special organ in his insides, to store the essence of worthy prey. His offspring must be strong. After the new organ is grown and ready, he'll search for something to eat.
2 , 1
Meruem delves into his own body, triggering unique biochemical processes that are embedded within his flesh. They reshape his internal organs, forming a new nub that it attached directly to his stomach and intestines. It expands over time, transforming into a hollow bladder that allows Meruem to store nutrients from the things that he has eaten. He continues his work, imbuing it with magical capabilities so that it can store the strength of a creature, rather than its digested flesh, but he finds that the organ isn't a suitable vessel. The essence it contains will leak out over time, lessening in potency.
It is functional, if imperfect, so afterwards he still hunts for prey. Meruem wanders across the barren sands, passing over the lesser mortals that surround him. He sees intelligent spiders that feed on sand and humanoids made from living light, but they are mostly too weak to pique his interest. Instead he continues onwards, towards the outer parts of the world, until something jumps on his back. It is a twisted creature made of sand and Nothingness, shaped like a bird but with wings too small to fly. Instead it rips at Meruem's chitin with its talons, and squawks as loudly as it can. A few nearby mounds of sand explode, revealing more demons hidden beneath.
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover
-Regent of the Tower
-Spidersilk net.
-Improvised glass tools.
-Glass automaton
-Perpetual-motion bus
-Vial of Einyar
-Red Liquor
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror
-Catatonia
-Rain-Maker
--------------------------------
Nazir, the Weaver
-God of the great web.
--------------------------------
Ira, the World-Eater
-Empty
-Woven together
-Debt: Gral: Two Favors Owed
-Minor burns
--------------------------------
Gral, the Contractor
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings
-Contract: Ira: Two Favors
-Pinion Blades
-Patched wing
--------------------------------
AJAMA, the Demiurge
-Ooze-born Body
-Ooze-born Spheres
-Sphere of Darkness
--------------------------------
Hynsyr, the Titan
-Hundred Armed Form
-Knowledge of Essence
-Edge of Infinity
-Twelve spears of light
--------------------------------
Awake
-Echoes of ALTERTH
-Smelter's Armor
-Dawn Axehead
-Slightly lopsided
-Stomach wound
-Battered
--------------------------------
Ashe, the Collector
-Brass feathers (underwater).
-Glass trinkets
-To sleep, perchance to dream.
--------------------------------
Meruem, the Spawner
--------------------------------
Aton, the Herder
Bestiary:
Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
--Obsidian Archdemon: An obsidian dragon crafted by the Empty itself. It was granted the power to manipulate nothingness.
Fragments of Emptiness: Spirits made from the scattered pieces of ALTHERTH. They were driven out of the sand when Ira consumed the absent heart.
Apollyon: A Fragment which usurped AJAMA’s original body and converted it into Nothingness.
--Absent Ooze: A Nonexistent strain of Black Ooze that Apollyon can produce. Other Fragments often use it to create makeshift bodies.
Shardforms: Obsidian creatures which absorbed the Empty's already-incomplete consciousness. The broken pieces of ALTERTH's identity they possess give them animalistic intelligence.
--Awakened Shardforms: A herd of Sharforms who were granted sapience by Gral. They’ve agreed to provide the Sliken Nest with raw materials in return for goods.
Steel Maggots: Metallic larvae which Gral accidentally created while trying to make avian Emissaries. After they were pulled off of the vulture, few escaped into the desert, where they accepted Gral's peace terms and moved into the shifting bog.
Steel Grubs: Steel maggots that have been bound with Pact-collars and transformed into livestock. They have grown larger than their sapient kin, but are unintelligent and largely peaceful.
Brass Buzzards: Brass birds crafted from Gral's feathers. They are infused with the pain it felt while creating them.
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
--Dustwalkers: A Spiderling subspecies which can feed on sand as well as light. They live on the sand and fight an asymmetrical war against it for survival.
--Ironwinged: Defeated Spiderlings who made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service, and have built a nest on one of the new stars. They were later granted the ability to weave metal.
--Ancestors: Aetherweavers who have achieved immortality by becoming spirits bound to the great web. They are incorporeal, and their astral bodies make it easier for them to manipulate aether.
--Scarred Spiderlings: Spiderlings who have gained great strength and endurance because of their mistreatment by the Brass Buzzards. They built a market but have mixed feelings about Gral and his servants.
--Sentinels: A army of biologically and magically augmented Spiderlings, created by elite Aetherweavers with Nazir's guidance. They serve the Spider Demigods, and stand ready to protect the Web alongside them.
Primelings: Ten entities created by Nazir and a group of the most powerful Aetherweavers. They watch over the Web in Nazir's stead, but are weakened by flaws in their weaving.
--Ekhor: A proud warrior who wears a larger variant of Sentinel Plate. He was nearly killed in the War of Sands.
--Sekhmet: A Primeling with flaws in the Weavings that form her mind. Despite being a brilliant tactician, her behavior is consistently very odd.
Merchants: Four steel vultures made from Gral’s essence. They are capable of using the Bargain.
Lightfolk: A species of humanoid mortals born from Hynsyr's golden light. Their powers of creation threaten to overwhelm their bodies, causing their inner light to warp chaotically. Many have begun to train so that they can gain more control over this ability.
--Prismatics: Seven lightfolk which glow brighter than the rest. They were hewn from the rainbow light of Hynsyr's eyes.
Deer-Men: A humanoid race with the heads of deer. Dr. Bob originally crafted them from the silk of Nazir's web. They were granted superior dexterity through a contract with Gral.
Three-Headed Worm: A juvenile sandworm created by Ira to serve the Dustwalkers.
Crops: Hemp, potato, corn, and bean plants created by Dr. Bob.
Suspicious Mushrooms: Mushrooms that sprouted in the Glass Tower after Dr. Bob’s disastrous attempts at brewing alcohol. They spawn clouds of hallucinogenic spores.
Atlas:
The Living Sands: ALTERTH once awakened the desert and allowed it to consume him. For a time his creation was infinite, but now most of the sand has died. The few surviving pieces are a shadow of what they once were.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
--New Stars: A second set that isn't accessible through the Great Web. Fortunately, that means they can't be blotted out by Spiderlings.
--Negative Star: A black sphere which radiates darkness, created by AJAMA after Gyaweft's death.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
--Silken Nest: A new star that the winged spiderlings have claimed as a nest. It can only be reached by gliding or descending on strands of silk.
--Tapestries: Libraries of spells and other knotwork which have been woven together and hung from the great web. Some have begun to collect aetheric cobwebs.
--Market of Scars: A grand market built by the Scarred Spiderlings in exchange for their resilience. The Ironwinged sell metal equipment there.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. When the sand was alive, islands in the bog constantly formed and dissolved. It has been tainted with Nazir's venom.
Glass Tower: A tower made of glass, raised from the sands by Gyaweft. It extends upwards through the web, tall enough that its upper floors reach the stars.
--Moat: The Tower is surrounded by a lake. Only one thin bridge connects it to the rest of the sand.
--Sandcastles: A series of elaborate sandcastles built around the moat. They were crafted so masterfully that they won’t dissolve in rain. Ashe later added an incredibly detailed sand city of her own.
--Garden: An irrigated garden containing several different types of crops.
--Laboratory: A room furnished with chemistry equipment and various glass containers.
Light Spires: A glowing city made by the Lightfolk using their creation magic.
--Temple of Yig: A golden temple which houses Yig, the First Tribute. It is an intricately-carved cathedral with walls made from an aurora.
Einyar: A sea of golden light drawn from Hynsyr's aura. It preserves the spirits of the Lightfolk after death, so that the cycle may advance.
Bone Fortress: A giant tree grown from one of Ira's teeth, and given to the Dustwalkers as a gift. It has become a large fortress.
Glass Crater: When Gyaweft flew his Sunship into the ground, it melted a wide swathe of the sand into glass. Fiery essence spilled from the ship still burns here, and sealed fault lines radiate from the impact site.
--Smelter's Grave: The center of the crater. Gyaweft's corpse lies here, alongside the molten remains of his Sunship.
Wetlands: Areas of the sand and the Great Web which Kuhaku continuously showers with water. The rain is heavy enough to form rivers and lakes.
--Abandoned Nests: A nesting ground that was briefly occupied by the Brass Buzzards. It is strewn with metal feathers and bloody talon-prints.
Canal: A shallow canal that Ira dug to fulfill one of her favors to Gral. It was meant to channel water from the Wetlands to various other parts of the world, but it overflowed and flooded the Glass Tower instead.
Knowledge:
Knot-Writing: A written language Nazir formulated so that Aetherweavers could record their spells. It involves weaving complex knots into silk, and therefore comes intuitively to Spiderlings but is almost impossible for anyone else to comprehend.
Bargainer's Tongue: A simplified version of knot-script which can be etched into a flat surface rather than woven into silk. It is comprehensible to non-Spiderlings, but not as intuitive.
English: A written script based on twenty-six letters and a few punctuation symbols. It was introduced by Dr. Bob and is primarily used by the Deer-Men.
Metalworking: Blacksmithing techniques that are typically available to the Ironwinged. They can be used to weave metal objects.
Aetherweaving: A magical discipline which involves spinning spiritual webs. It was taught to the Spiderlings by Nazir and is available to the Tribes, the Primelings, and any other arachnid capable of making silk.
Lightforging: Creation magic unique to the Lightfolk. It is a powerful but chaotic ability which can be used to make solid-light constructs out of one's own aura. More advanced techniques allow practitioners to create complex materials such as metal or wood.
Eight-Talon Way: A powerful martial art created by the Brass Buzzards. It is purely offensive in nature, but consists of strikes so lethal that defense isn’t usually necessary.
Agriculture: Farming is only feasible in the wetlands, but plants watered by Kuhaku’s rain grow quickly. The Deer-Men have been taught to cultivate and use several kinds of crops.
Prayer: A technique which allows Lightfolk to tap into their connections with Yig and Einyar. The Prismatics have learned how to use it to communicate with Hynsyr.
Photosynthesis Enchantments: A personal enhancement Weaving developed by the Ironwinged. It increases the amount of energy that Spiderlings can absorb from light.
Items:
Seven Rainbow Spears: Weapons Hynsyr forged from a rogue splinter of his soul and gave to the Prismatics. They amplify their wielders' magic immensely, and provide slightly more control over their powers of creation.
Black Ooze: A patch of black goo created by AJAMA which can grow by absorbing sand. A column of ooze goes deep beneath the earth, where it breached a reservoir of Emptiness.
--Chaos Ooze: Blobs of ooze which have accidentally been made to assimilate a variety of substances and concepts. They were later sealed away.
--Silence Ooze: A strain of chaos ooze that can feed on silence. AJAMA transplanted some of it to the empty desert, where it has grown rapidly.
--Crusted Ooze: Semisolid ooze variants which have been hardened by intense pressure. They take slightly longer to grow as a result of their density.
Pact-Arms: Metal weapons, armor, and tools which can compel their wielders to carry out tasks for the Winged Spiderlings. Most are in the possession of Spiderlings on the Web.
Tribute Tokens: A currency minted by the Ironwinged and infused with the power of the Bargain. They see light use in the Great Web but are not considered especially valuable, so most of the economy still relies upon bartering.
Sentinel Plate: Magical armor developed for use by the Sentinels. It can drain the force of attacks and release it in the form of telekinetic blasts.
Life Machine: A machitech device that can be used to shunt vitality from one area to another. Additional upgrades gave it the ability to drain life from sand, which a Merchant used to create a patch of fertile soil around the machine.
Factions:
Spiderling Tribes: Prominent groups of Spiderlings, mostly organized by subspecies. The are scattered across the Web, the stars, and the sand.
--Order of Strands: The first Spiderlings to learn the art of Aetherweaving. Many have strained their minds and bodies to hone their abilities, making them feeble despite their mystical strength.
High Council of the Web: The governing body of the Great Web. It consists of delegates from each of the tribes, as well as one Primeling. Most meetings take place in Nazir's nest at the top of the Web.
Lifeweavers: A group of Ancestors who helped Nazir create the Primelings and Sentinels.
Warpriests: A Lightfolk religious order which protects Einyar, the Temple of Yig, and the Light Spires themselves.
Ministry of Light: Civil servants appointed by Hynsyr to oversee the Light Spires. The seven Prismatics were installed as founding members.
When turns have multiple actions, I may occasionally end up omitting something. This generally isn't intentional - it's because I reach a natural stopping point for one action and forget that there's something else I need to process.
So it went with the Ironwinged last turn. I didn't even realize what had happened until Wyrd PM'd me.
If you notice this occurring in the future, feel free to give me a heads-up. I'll add an addendum to the turn to fix my mistake.
For the Dustwalkers interested in colonizing, offer them a Sponsorship: in exchange for providing complimentary equipment, modifications, and aid in all Nest held areas, the voyagers will inform those of the Nest of any interesting findings at their colony sight, the right to build one market within the future settlement.
For those currently on the Silken Nest, have them turn their efforts to improving the Nest itself: Replacing old strands with Ironweave, expanding production facilities, etc. West and North are to meet with South, in order to iron out the Organization of the Nest proper, both near the web, and its planet-side holdings.
Ironwinged: 3 & West: 6 & North: 5 & South: 5
While the Dustwalker colonists don't yet have a formal organizational structure to negotiate with, most of them readily agree to the sponsorship deal. The assistance of the Buzzards and the Ironwinged was invaluable during the War of Sands, and has left most of them with a very positive attitude towards the Silken Nest. They look forward to dealing with Gral in the future.
The population of the Nest temporarily puts business on hold to upgrade the star itself. Most of the old silk architecture is torn down and replaced with steel, so that it will be more resistant to wear. Ironweavers also create innovative new equipment for use in production facilities. This includes a set of carts and conveyor belts which enable them to create rudimentary assembly lines. Nobody has the technical know-how to automate production, but this is the next best thing. When production comes back on line, factory output improves considerably. They have no trouble coping with increased demand from the sponsorship deal.
Three of the Merchants also work together to organize the Nest's various enterprises. Their work covers everything from metal supplies, which are now sourced almost exclusively from the Scrap Ranches, to the transportation required to get goods to market. For now, they have a team of the most adept Ironwinged fliers moving things from place to place. Modified grub-harnesses are used to increase their carrying capacity.
As the creature rips at him, Meruem smiles, and attempts to sting the demon to death and eat its corpse before charging at the other demons. If successful. He'll use their strength to make his firstborn.
Meruem: 3 vs. Bird Demon: 2 & Horde: 3
Meruem rips the bird-demon off of his back by impaling it with his stinger. He injects a little venom to soften its flesh, then repeatedly stabs it in the head until it stops moving. The bird's sandy body slumps, becoming nothing more than ordinary dust. Meruem shovels it into his mouth anyway, and his mouth becomes numb as he tastes the absolute Nothingness of a demonic spirit. He swallows, allowing the lack of sensation to move from his throat to the essence bladder lodged in his intestines. The Nonexistent power hangs there, slowly dwindling as it seeps through holes in the organ's bindings.
Before too much can be lost, Meruem turns towards the other demons. He charges at them, prepared to tear the creatures limb from limb, but they meet him as one enormous mass of claws and teeth. Every time the bug-man gets a grip on one of them, the others scrabble at his carapace until he is forced to let go. A few even try to weigh him down by clinging to his body, but Meruem is too strong to be restrained. He plucks them off his exoskeleton and flings them into the air.
Destroy it. No remnants of the sand must be allowed to live.
6 v 3
Trickles of sand seep through the gaps in Ira's coils, surreptitiously making their way back to the safety of the ground. The sandworm doesn't have a good way to tell living and dead sand apart, so she just spits a stream of liquid Nothing across the entire area. It eats away at the ground in much the same way as acid, annihilating any traces of the sand-shard that might have escaped her notice. She then turns her attention to the creature itself, which is still flailing helplessly against her hold. It has lived, preserved at the last moment by Awake's axe-swing, but Ira cannot allow it to continue its existence. She thrusts her head between two loops of her body so that she can slurp it up. The stream of sand entering her gullet tastes sweet, like a purpose once again fulfilled. Ira cannot help but feel a little despair at the thought of these beings wandering about, still alive after they should have been consigned to oblivion, but in this, at least, she can act decisively. When the last of the entity trickles into her jaws, she blasts herself with a second cloud of Nothingness just to make sure none of its mass is left intact. This particular piece of earth will never bother her again.
Offer to those not willing to join the dragon to join me, and look how the nothingness ooze interact with the sand now that the sand is dead
AJAMA shouts an offer of its own, startling the obsidian dragon. It stares at him and blows a larger stream of Nothingness out of its nostrils. The Non-smoke hisses as it obliterates a few grains of sand that happen to cross its path.
"You do not belong here, ooze-thing, and you are not one of us. The Fragments do not owe you their loyalty."
The Fragments waver. Some of them swivel protrusions of Non-ooze back and forth, presumably to look from one leader to the other. One cautiously shuffles over to the archdemon, whose hiss of delight showers AJAMA in Nonexistent sparks. It is followed by a few more, who occasionally glance over their shoulder at the others. Most of the Fragments follow behind them, apparently most willing to put their faith in a leader from their own bloodline. There are a few holdouts though, including Apollyon. The void-orb's mind brushes up against AJAMA's, leaving the primordial with secondhand feelings of panic and indecision. In the end it stays at the Demiurge's side, along with a slightly smaller group of its fellows. The Archdemon harrumphs and taps the ground with one of its forelimbs.
"...Very well. We will go now."
Its group of Fragments climbs onto the dragon's back, where they remain until it takes off. Apollyon watches the Archdemon until its body looks like a tiny speck in the distance.
"We are lost. Lead us?"
Oddly, Non-Ooze has continued to interact normally with the sand. It appears to be making use of some vestige of the previous connection between Absence and sand, fueled by the spiritual power of Emptiness rather than the life force of the sand itself.
"This isn't going well, should have paid more attention during that first aid class."
Keep trying to heal the injured deer men with the help of the others.
Dr. Bob: 1 , Deer-Men: 6+1
When Dr. Bob fails to propose a better idea, some of the healthy Deer-Men start tearing strips of cloth off of their clothes to make more bandages. One of them figures out how to make something resembling a tourniquet. He ties it around the man with the stab wound, who stops bleeding as circulation to the shoulder is cut off. Operating on the other two isn't as easy. The one who got knocked unconscious doesn't have a visible injury, but he's been out for long enough that Bob suspects brain damage. The woman is probably suffering from punctured lungs. The other mortals start wrapping them up anyway, while acknowledging the general futility of the endeavor. The cloth doesn't make much of a difference, but it does give Dr. Bob an idea.
He places his hand on each of three injured Deer-Men. Their bodies vanish, replaced by the silk dolls that Bob originally animated. Some of the strands are damaged, now, in more or less the same way that the mortals were wounded in life. One doll has a frayed head, another has a hole running straight through its shoulder, and the third has a squashed chest cavity. Bob carves a glass needle from the side of the bus and tears bandages into individual hemp threads so that he can make repairs. First is the stab-wound. He fills it with a wad of cloth before stitching it closed. Bob patches his next patients' brain damage by replacing his ruined strands, then fixes the woman by swapping her shredded lungs with replicas made of hemp.
The Doctor taps the dolls to bring them back to life. Silk becomes flesh and blood, but the Deer-Men don't start breathing. Instead their fur blackens, as if it had been charred, and their eyes crumble to ash. The three bodies twitch in perfect unison, still without any flesh or heartbeat. Their empty eye sockets stare straight at Bob, and they grin maniacally. Instead of the flat teeth that he is used to, their mouths are filled with sharp incisors. Even their antlers change, splitting apart to form wicked barbs.
Devour more of the grain, and then use the power gained to create a series of Chrome Herons: Harvesters with scything wings to further cultivate these fields.
Afterwords, cut a few of the stalks with the pinions, and bring them over to the Perpetual Bus. Maybe they can aid in the deer man's recovery.
1 , 1
Gral gorges itself on the grain. Plants grow faster than they can be consumed, so there is simply no limit to the Contractor's meal. It eats and eats, stuffing itself with Omni-Grain until it is full to bursting. As magical nutrition floods into its body, soothing wounds and replenishing lost Essence, some is channeled out through Gral's plumage. It flaps its wings to dislodge a few quills, but the pent-up vitality refuses to follow them. It builds up within feathers that are still attached the the vulture's body, causing them to grow at an incredible rate. Gral's wings double and then triple in size, becoming so heavy that they can't be lifted off the ground. It struggles to transform some of the excess mass into Herons, then just to flap its wings. It is no use. The primordial stays pinned down, trapped by parts of its own metal body.
The Omni-Grain's explosive growth continues unchecked. Giant stalks spring into being below Gral. They push their way upwards, around its wings, until they've surrounded their creator completely. Before the stalks grow thicker, cutting off any view of the outside, the Contractor sees golden wheat fields stretching from horizon to horizon. If they continue advancing at this rate, it won't be long before they swallow up the Wetlands.
Separate Sekhmet and her legion from other 6 present legions, they are tasked to kill this bovine thing. Request assistance to their cause from order of strands.
My children, this is quite a turning point for spiderkind, as it is chance to extinguish both great threats to whole web existance with one decisive strike, I hope, that all this culture of weaving you flourished, can now show supremacy of our kind.
I, 6 primelings and their followers keep safe distance from awake and shower his armour joints and weakspots with SEA OF ACID SPITS to finish him off
"I can't retreat from a god. But I'm not done yet, spider. Compassionless monster. If fate allows me one good deed in this life, I'll slay you."
Feed the flame with my nothing soul to kill Nazir.
The spiderlings are obviously out of the question. But I might need to convert them later, if possible, since they are the most abundant. The Archdemon already serves a god, too. The maggots were interesting and I might be able to lead them against this "Gral", but there weren't any special individuals between them.
Maybe I can convince that one obsidian humanoid. You said this figure was fighting against an army of those spiderlings, right? There's the chance they might return me the favor if I try to help them out.
Gracefully enter the battlefield and try to literally blind the opposition with my dazzling charm and divine glamour!
If that fails, just charge and gore them with my horns for daring to ignore my presence.
Awake: 4
Aton: 6, 6
Nazir: 2, 4
Primelings: 6 , 2
Sentinels: 4
Sekhmet: 4
Aton runs into the center of the battlefield. His movement through the sand is dazzling, and the golden disk between his horns glows brightly enough to blind. The Sentinel legions barely even realize that they've stopped attacking. They stare at the Herder instead, utterly helpless in the face of his divine majesty. Demigod-spiders called Primelings urge them to continue, to beat Awake into a bloody pulp and drown him in acid, but their troops do not listen. They are transfixed, caught in throes of awe and terror that make it impossible for them to see or focus on anything else. Only those with a semblance of godhood can resist. Nazir's lieutenants regroup as their creator shields his eyes. Awake, whose mind has been strengthened by long hours of contemplation, is also capable of tearing his mind away. He advances on the spiders with grim purpose.
The Primelings strike first. One of them tentatively throws a fireball at Aton. Her aim is poor, and when faced with the blinding light coming from him, she misses her mark altogether. Afterwards the Primeling starts staring out into space, as if she isn't in the middle of a war zone. Aton lowers his head and charges at her while she is vulnerable. He hits her easily, crushing her abdomen with the sheer force of the blow before flipper her onto her back. Sekhmet halfheartedly struggles to right herself, still oblivious to what is going on.
The others cluster around Nazir, then collectively spit acid at Awake. Their secretions splatter against his armor, occasionally even leaking in to erode parts of his body, but the Shardform does not stop. There is no reason for him to stop, because he is about to suffer from something much worse than acid-burns. He wades through the sea of transfixed Sentinels until he reaches the command post, where Nazir and the Primelings are waiting. They skitter away, too slowly to make a difference. Awake holds his ground. The Smelter's plate glows red, then white. Sand beneath his feet melts, becoming molten glass.
Awake feeds his spirit to the flames. A pillar of black fire rises to the heavens as fire and Nothingness combine. It eats away at the sand, forming an enormous sinkhole that blossoms into an inferno. It sucks the spiders inwards, like a hungry thing, even as fire spreads outwards to consume them. The Primelings feel numbness swallowing their legs, instead of heat. They feel their limbs become Nothing, and then their bodies, consumed by fire that feeds upon souls. Sentinels die, Woven armor crumbles, aether burns like gunpowder. Even Aton must run from the flames, though they were not meant for him. They reach for someone else, whispering condemnations. Spider-God, Monster, Tyrant, they say. And somewhere inside the blaze, Nazir burns.
He burns until his essence leaks. His soul trembles under the weight of the Void, and his eyes become Nothing but ash. Only the tiniest spark of life remains, nestled in his doomed, charring heart. Emptiness tears at it, even screams at it in fury. ALTERTH and Awake appear within its blackness, and their spirits call to the Weaver. They will him to cease, to join them in their nonexistence.
Hynsyr decides to work on his ability to create Light Spears. Practicing their creation and destruction as he did with the Hundred Armed Form until he has also mastered them.
2
Hynsyr drops the twelve Light Spears that he's been holding, allowing them to flicker back into nonexistence as they rejoin his aura. While keeping his twelve arms outstretched, he materializes them again. Smaller versions of the weapons appear in his hands, sized more like fishing implements than actual tools of war. Unsatisfied with this state of affairs, he casts the miniatures aside so that he can try again. This time the spears have curved shafts, which make it difficult for Hynsyr to perform the typical stabbing maneuvers. He creates more spears one by one, each time focusing carefully on each element of their design. The approach is reliable, if somewhat slow, so he practices it until he can visualize his intended results more quickly. Polearms appear in rapid succession, quickly enough to fill the hands of his natural body but not quite fast enough to provide the Hundred-Armed form with a steady supply of projectiles.
Ashe plays with the fish and tries feeding them fruit.
5
Ashe approaches a group of fish. In the dream there is a sort of abstract understanding between them, so that they already know she is a friend. Together they play a kind of underwater tag. Everyone is trying to tap each other on the hand, or in most cases on the fin, but mostly they're just fooling around and having fun. Ashe allows the fish to swim circles around her for a little while, but after seven or eight taps she starts feeling competitive. She jets across the seafloor faster than they can see, tagging each member of the school in quick succession. The only one who can keep up with her is a little yellow guppy, who bops her on the side of the head. She laughs and slows down again so that the rest of the fish can have their fun.
When the game has ended, she feeds them with apples and watermelons that she pulls out of empty water. For the fish, it's an exotic feast the likes of which they've never seen before. They eagerly congregate around the food and dig in, complimenting Ashe on the vividness of her imagined flavors. She tries an apple herself, just to see whether it's true, and to her delight it tastes just like the real thing. Maybe even better, because it'd be hard to find an apple this sweet out in the desert. Are there even apples in the desert? It occurs to her that she hasn't seen any. The realization makes her aware that she's dreaming, or inspires just enough contemplation to wake her up. She spends her last few minutes in the ocean-world eating and laughing with the fish, as she slowly drifts back towards consciousness.
She opens her eyes slowly. There's a flash of color as something small, yellow, and suspiciously fishlike darts past her head.
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover
-Regent of the Tower
-Spidersilk net.
-Improvised glass tools.
-Glass automaton
-Perpetual-motion bus
-Vial of Einyar
-Red Liquor
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror
-Catatonia
-Rain-Maker
--------------------------------
Nazir, the Weaver
-God of the great web.
-Burning.
--------------------------------
Ira, the World-Eater
-Empty
-Woven together
-Debt: Gral: Two Favors Owed
-Minor burns
--------------------------------
Gral, the Contractor
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings
-Contract: Ira: Two Favors
-Pinion Blades
-Weighed down.
--------------------------------
AJAMA, the Demiurge
-Ooze-born Body
-Ooze-born Spheres
-Sphere of Darkness
--------------------------------
Hynsyr, the Titan
-Hundred Armed Form
-Knowledge of Essence
-Edge of Infinity
-Maker of spears
-Twelve spears of light
--------------------------------
Awake
-Echoes of ALTERTH
-Smelter's Armor
-Dawn Axehead
-Slightly lopsided
-Stomach wound
-Battered
--------------------------------
Ashe, the Collector
-Brass feathers (underwater).
-Glass trinkets
--------------------------------
Meruem, the Spawner
-Flawed essence bladder
-Demonic spirit
--------------------------------
Aton, the Herder
Bestiary:
Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
--Obsidian Archdemon: An obsidian dragon crafted by the Empty itself. It was granted the power to manipulate nothingness.
Fragments of Emptiness: Spirits made from the scattered pieces of ALTHERTH. They were driven out of the sand when Ira consumed the absent heart.
Apollyon: A Fragment which usurped AJAMA’s original body and converted it into Nothingness.
--Absent Ooze: A Nonexistent strain of Black Ooze that Apollyon can produce. Other Fragments often use it to create makeshift bodies.
Shardforms: Obsidian creatures which absorbed the Empty's already-incomplete consciousness. The broken pieces of ALTERTH's identity they possess give them animalistic intelligence.
--Awakened Shardforms: A herd of Sharforms who were granted sapience by Gral. They’ve agreed to provide the Sliken Nest with raw materials in return for goods.
Steel Maggots: Metallic larvae which Gral accidentally created while trying to make avian Emissaries. After they were pulled off of the vulture, few escaped into the desert, where they accepted Gral's peace terms and moved into the shifting bog.
Steel Grubs: Steel maggots that have been bound with Pact-collars and transformed into livestock. They have grown larger than their sapient kin, but are unintelligent and largely peaceful.
Brass Buzzards: Brass birds crafted from Gral's feathers. They are infused with the pain it felt while creating them.
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
--Dustwalkers: A Spiderling subspecies which can feed on sand as well as light. They live on the sand and fight an asymmetrical war against it for survival.
--Ironwinged: Defeated Spiderlings who made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service, and have built a nest on one of the new stars. They were later granted the ability to weave metal.
--Ancestors: Aetherweavers who have achieved immortality by becoming spirits bound to the great web. They are incorporeal, and their astral bodies make it easier for them to manipulate aether.
--Scarred Spiderlings: Spiderlings who have gained great strength and endurance because of their mistreatment by the Brass Buzzards. They built a market but have mixed feelings about Gral and his servants.
--Sentinels: A army of biologically and magically augmented Spiderlings, created by elite Aetherweavers with Nazir's guidance. They serve the Spider Demigods, and stand ready to protect the Web alongside them.
Primelings: Ten entities created by Nazir and a group of the most powerful Aetherweavers. They watch over the Web in Nazir's stead, but are weakened by flaws in their weaving.
--Ekhor: A proud warrior who wears a larger variant of Sentinel Plate. He was nearly killed in the War of Sands.
--Sekhmet: A Primeling with flaws in the Weavings that form her mind. Despite being a brilliant tactician, her behavior is consistently very odd.
Merchants: Four steel vultures made from Gral’s essence. They are capable of using the Bargain.
Lightfolk: A species of humanoid mortals born from Hynsyr's golden light. Their powers of creation threaten to overwhelm their bodies, causing their inner light to warp chaotically. Many have begun to train so that they can gain more control over this ability.
--Prismatics: Seven lightfolk which glow brighter than the rest. They were hewn from the rainbow light of Hynsyr's eyes.
Deer-Men: A humanoid race with the heads of deer. Dr. Bob originally crafted them from the silk of Nazir's web. They were granted superior dexterity through a contract with Gral.
Three-Headed Worm: A juvenile sandworm created by Ira to serve the Dustwalkers.
Crops: Hemp, potato, corn, and bean plants created by Dr. Bob.
Suspicious Mushrooms: Mushrooms that sprouted in the Glass Tower after Dr. Bob’s disastrous attempts at brewing alcohol. They spawn clouds of hallucinogenic spores.
Atlas:
The Living Sands: ALTERTH once awakened the desert and allowed it to consume him. For a time his creation was infinite, but now most of the sand has died. The few surviving pieces are a shadow of what they once were.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
--New Stars: A second set that isn't accessible through the Great Web. Fortunately, that means they can't be blotted out by Spiderlings.
--Negative Star: A black sphere which radiates darkness, created by AJAMA after Gyaweft's death.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
--Silken Nest: A new star that the winged spiderlings have claimed as a nest. It can only be reached by gliding or descending on strands of silk.
--Tapestries: Libraries of spells and other knotwork which have been woven together and hung from the great web. Some have begun to collect aetheric cobwebs.
--Market of Scars: A grand market built by the Scarred Spiderlings in exchange for their resilience. The Ironwinged sell metal equipment there.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. When the sand was alive, islands in the bog constantly formed and dissolved. It has been tainted with Nazir's venom.
Glass Tower: A tower made of glass, raised from the sands by Gyaweft. It extends upwards through the web, tall enough that its upper floors reach the stars.
--Moat: The Tower is surrounded by a lake. Only one thin bridge connects it to the rest of the sand.
--Sandcastles: A series of elaborate sandcastles built around the moat. They were crafted so masterfully that they won’t dissolve in rain. Ashe later added an incredibly detailed sand city of her own.
--Garden: An irrigated garden containing several different types of crops.
--Laboratory: A room furnished with chemistry equipment and various glass containers.
Light Spires: A glowing city made by the Lightfolk using their creation magic.
--Temple of Yig: A golden temple which houses Yig, the First Tribute. It is an intricately-carved cathedral with walls made from an aurora.
Einyar: A sea of golden light drawn from Hynsyr's aura. It preserves the spirits of the Lightfolk after death, so that the cycle may advance.
Bone Fortress: A giant tree grown from one of Ira's teeth, and given to the Dustwalkers as a gift. It has become a large fortress.
Glass Crater: When Gyaweft flew his Sunship into the ground, it melted a wide swathe of the sand into glass. Fiery essence spilled from the ship still burns here, and sealed fault lines radiate from the impact site.
--Smelter's Grave: The center of the crater. Gyaweft's corpse lies here, alongside the molten remains of his Sunship.
Wetlands: Areas of the sand and the Great Web which Kuhaku continuously showers with water. The rain is heavy enough to form rivers and lakes.
--Abandoned Nests: A nesting ground that was briefly occupied by the Brass Buzzards. It is strewn with metal feathers and bloody talon-prints.
Canal: A shallow canal that Ira dug to fulfill one of her favors to Gral. It was meant to channel water from the Wetlands to various other parts of the world, but it overflowed and flooded the Glass Tower instead.
Knowledge:
Knot-Writing: A written language Nazir formulated so that Aetherweavers could record their spells. It involves weaving complex knots into silk, and therefore comes intuitively to Spiderlings but is almost impossible for anyone else to comprehend.
Bargainer's Tongue: A simplified version of knot-script which can be etched into a flat surface rather than woven into silk. It is comprehensible to non-Spiderlings, but not as intuitive.
English: A written script based on twenty-six letters and a few punctuation symbols. It was introduced by Dr. Bob and is primarily used by the Deer-Men.
Metalworking: Blacksmithing techniques that are typically available to the Ironwinged. They can be used to weave metal objects.
Aetherweaving: A magical discipline which involves spinning spiritual webs. It was taught to the Spiderlings by Nazir and is available to the Tribes, the Primelings, and any other arachnid capable of making silk.
Lightforging: Creation magic unique to the Lightfolk. It is a powerful but chaotic ability which can be used to make solid-light constructs out of one's own aura. More advanced techniques allow practitioners to create complex materials such as metal or wood.
Eight-Talon Way: A powerful martial art created by the Brass Buzzards. It is purely offensive in nature, but consists of strikes so lethal that defense isn’t usually necessary.
Agriculture: Farming is only feasible in the wetlands, but plants watered by Kuhaku’s rain grow quickly. The Deer-Men have been taught to cultivate and use several kinds of crops.
Prayer: A technique which allows Lightfolk to tap into their connections with Yig and Einyar. The Prismatics have learned how to use it to communicate with Hynsyr.
Photosynthesis Enchantments: A personal enhancement Weaving developed by the Ironwinged. It increases the amount of energy that Spiderlings can absorb from light.
Items:
Seven Rainbow Spears: Weapons Hynsyr forged from a rogue splinter of his soul and gave to the Prismatics. They amplify their wielders' magic immensely, and provide slightly more control over their powers of creation.
Black Ooze: A patch of black goo created by AJAMA which can grow by absorbing sand. A column of ooze goes deep beneath the earth, where it breached a reservoir of Emptiness.
--Chaos Ooze: Blobs of ooze which have accidentally been made to assimilate a variety of substances and concepts. They were later sealed away.
--Silence Ooze: A strain of chaos ooze that can feed on silence. AJAMA transplanted some of it to the empty desert, where it has grown rapidly.
--Crusted Ooze: Semisolid ooze variants which have been hardened by intense pressure. They take slightly longer to grow as a result of their density.
Pact-Arms: Metal weapons, armor, and tools which can compel their wielders to carry out tasks for the Winged Spiderlings. Most are in the possession of Spiderlings on the Web.
Tribute Tokens: A currency minted by the Ironwinged and infused with the power of the Bargain. They see light use in the Great Web but are not considered especially valuable, so most of the economy still relies upon bartering.
Sentinel Plate: Magical armor developed for use by the Sentinels. It can drain the force of attacks and release it in the form of telekinetic blasts.
Life Machine: A machitech device that can be used to shunt vitality from one area to another. Additional upgrades gave it the ability to drain life from sand, which a Merchant used to create a patch of fertile soil around the machine.
Factions:
Spiderling Tribes: Prominent groups of Spiderlings, mostly organized by subspecies. The are scattered across the Web, the stars, and the sand.
--Order of Strands: The first Spiderlings to learn the art of Aetherweaving. Many have strained their minds and bodies to hone their abilities, making them feeble despite their mystical strength.
High Council of the Web: The governing body of the Great Web. It consists of delegates from each of the tribes, as well as one Primeling. Most meetings take place in Nazir's nest at the top of the Web.
Lifeweavers: A group of Ancestors who helped Nazir create the Primelings and Sentinels.
Warpriests: A Lightfolk religious order which protects Einyar, the Temple of Yig, and the Light Spires themselves.
Ministry of Light: Civil servants appointed by Hynsyr to oversee the Light Spires. The seven Prismatics were installed as founding members.
Ira focuses on honing her nothingness powers again.
"These beings are worrisome"
2
Ira calms her mind so that she can concentrate on her heartbeat. She lets the Silent thumping draw her into a trance, where Nothingness beckons to her like sunken treasure from the deep. She finds herself falling into a rhythm, breathing more slowly, and even allowing some Non-breath to leak out of her mouth. There is a palpitation. Ira gags on something as the sand in her stomach works its way back up. It merges with the Absence in her breath, hardening into a sharp ball of rock which nevertheless fails to harm her throat.
When she coughs it up, a jagged lump of obsidian flies out of her mouth. It hits the ground at speed and lodges itself in a pile of sand. The sandworm experimentally tries to repeat the process. Another piece of black stone exits her gullet, this time shaped like a perfect block. She finds that she can will the stone to harden in any shape she wants. Controlling its velocity is also possible, which is handy when she's trying to spit out a wall instead of a projectile. Attacks have their nuances too, though. Ira can do anything from a cannonball to a rain of needles.
"RIP, TEAR AND FEED!!!"
Kill and eat them, then use half of their strength to make myself bigger and with a tougher exoskeleton. Then vomit my offspring, and make sure it has the same organ as I.
Meruem: 6 vs. Horde: 5
4 , 6
Meruem leaps into the demons' formation and becomes a cloud of whirling limbs. He decapitates one monster with a powerful backhand, smashes two more against each other until they collapse, then rips the heart of a monkey-shaped demon straight out of its chest. The rest of the horde gnaws at his flanks, leaving deep bite-marks in his flesh, but that only brings them closer to Meruem's stinger. He injects venom into each of them in rapid succession, causing their bodies to flake away until nothing remains. The last survivor, a shark with spider legs, leaps at the Spawner and closes its jaws around his throat. It is torn off and unceremoniously ripped to pieces.
Wisps of Nonexistent essence rise from the corpses. Meruem gathers it up, then swallows every spirit in one gulp. They crawl through his stomach and into the essence-bladder, which swells until it is nearly bursting at the seams. Some of the Nothingness seeps out into his body. The Spawner embraces it, allowing it to bond to his flesh. He feels a sudden sensation of pressure as his carapace becomes too small. It cracks open, allowing his new body to burst out. It is reinforced by Nothing, which manifests as black swirls that dot his carapace. He also gains a faint connection to something in the distance.
When he has acclimated to the changes, Meruem vomits out the rest of the stored essence. It merges with the contents of his stomach on the way back up, becoming a misshapen ball of flesh. Organs and body parts form within the cyst, including an essence bladder similar to the Spawner's. Further mutations create legs and wings, each from a different kind of insect. The only matching parts are the eyes, which are utterly black. Little pieces of Absence swirl inside.
Hynsyr continues his practice towards Spear Mastery. Nothing less than the ability to rapidly arm his Hundred Armed Form will be enough.
3
Hynsyr unfolds his Hundred Armed Form, then reaches outwards with his many limbs. Spears fall into some of his hands, but not into others. Despite his mastery over the form itself, he finds it difficult to focus on every single arm in rapid succession. That makes it difficult for him to visualize a spear in each one, at least unless he's willing to allow flaws to creep into the working. It's an issue that stems not from his processing speed, but from his limited ability to focus. With that in mind, Hynsyr tries a different approach. For a single instant, he divides his mind into a hundred separate streams of thought.
The sheer amount of mental activity to keep up with is overwhelming. Thousands of individual thoughts and visualizations race through his brain at once, shouting over one another and competing for attention. There's no semblance of organization, much less the mental clarity that he needs to invoke the spears. A few flickers of light appear in each hand, but interference between thought-processes keeps them from solidifying. In his next attempt, Hynsyr makes his hundred selves coordinate with each other instead. After several seconds spent grouping thoughts together and deciding upon common courses of action, a full complement of spears drops into his hands.
"What would you all want? A land you can call your own? Peace with spider-kind? Protection?"
Apollyon bobs up and down.
"We want purpose. Something bigger than selves. But maybe also other things. A land? Better lives? A role in the world? Before we had a place to be and thing to do. We helped sand, got directed by the Empty thing. That is gone now."
...
"Tell us how to help, what to strive for. We will follow."
Continue radiating my enthralling light, walk between the entranced, and crush the heart under my hoof. The spider god will be no more.
Without their god, they'll have no one to lead them. What a perfect chance to introduce myself as their new deity, and guide them to a bright future. I did not intent to cause harm to them, and only attacked those who rejected me and resisted against my will.
Once the heart has been rid of, gather the spiderlings and give them an offer: To serve me and join my herd, abandoning their dead god. If they agree to, I will grant them protection from their enemies and guidance. If they refuse, forcibly convert them into my thralls and indoctrinate them into my cult. They already failed to resist my charms once, and they will be lost without their spider god giving them the required strenght and cohesion.
Have the Life Machine draw all the water from the border of the Wetlands, and redirect it onto Nazir's battlefield, also providing a break for the encroaching grain.
Scramble a team of Ironwinged to retrieve Nazir's body, and bring him back to the Great Web.
My children, dont fall for the lies of this false god, as they would lead you only to damnation
Try to utilise massive power of spiderkinds faith to shapeshift into massive body of golden light and heavily burn this bovine monstrosity, have primelings assist me in this ritual, its not like you can trust sentinels competence in this matters.
BURN. (https://youtu.be/7XmDYJBZZdc)
Aton: 6 , 6
Nazir: 3 & Primelings: 2
Life Machine: 5 vs. BURN: ͘ ͠ ͠ ͟ ̧ ͜ ̕ ̕ ҉ ͟ ͡ ͡ ̨ ͝ ̷ ҉
Ironwinged: 1
Gral: 6 , 3
Merchants: 3
Web: 4
Dustwalkers: 6
Ironweavers: 2
Nazir inhales fire. It burns his windpipe and his lungs, but in between bursts of numbing agony he croaks out a few words. Some drift up to the Great Web, where Spiderlings mobilize en masse. Others reach the Wetlands, where Gral agrees to a Bargain that could save the spider's life. Merchants, Ironwinged and Buzzards all leap into action. They collaborate with the High Council of the Web, who plan to stage a rescue operation, and alert the Dustwalkers of their creator's plight. The troops of the Bone Fortress march for a second time, towards a second fiery hole in the earth.
The Life Machine rips energy from the edges of the Wetlands. It sends it outwards as a wave, to sweep over the inferno that has enveloped Nazir. Vitality reacts unpredictably as it slams into the destructive energies of the blaze. Some power is swept aside, causing nearby sand-dunes to transform into dry soil. Some melds with the flames, forming blooms of molten obsidian. Petals spray outwards, seeding the area with lesser fires that creep towards the Weaver. There is a moment of respite for him as Not-fire scatters. Gral uses the opening to reach through the Bargain. It peels off aspects of its body to hurl at Aton and Nazir. The Herder's hooves are weighed down by metal feathers, while the nourishing magic of the Omni-Grain floods Nazir's dying body.
There is a period of relative calm as the flames regroup and swarms of mortal Spiderlings approach. Aton drags himself towards the Weaver one laborious step at a time, struggling under the increased weight of his hooves. The spider has just enough energy to call to the Primelings, some of whom are still alive. They pluck threads of aether out of the air, but their spirits have been weakened by the flames. The body that they weave is too weak to contain the spirit of a primordial. Nazir tries cramming his spirit into it anyway, and the strands break apart. They blow away on an aetheric wind, leaving his soul adrift. It decays slowly, bound to his heart by only the thinnest of threads.
Aton steps closer. He is lifting his hooves farther off the ground, now. That isn't quite enough to protect him when the cavalry arrives. Spiderling tribes from the Web and the Fortress crawl across the battlefield, armed with Pacts that offer them some protection against the bull's aura. The light of the disc still strikes the blind, disrupting their spells and their aim, but whenever they pause the magic of the Bargain compels them to keep moving. A few acid-blasts and fireballs strike come close enough to burn away patches of Aton's fur. A force blast breaks off part of his horn, causing the golden disc to waver. Tongues of flame close in, eager to consume the spirits of Nazir's creations. They sweep across Aton on their way to the spider.
The Absent Fire reaches Nazir just moments before the bull. It eats away his body, allowing Aton to put a feather-laden hoof directly through the Weaver's heart.
"Oh shit I fucked with the natural order of things and I created demons!"
Grab them and quickly throw them out a window, then shut the window and observe what the deer demons do.
Dr. Bob: 1 & Deer-Men: 4 vs. Fiends: 1
Dr. Bob clutches one of the Deer-Demons and swings it towards the window. It doesn't budge. Claws burst from the tips of her fingers, spattering him with drops of blood as they pierce the skin. The demon raises her arms, as if to rake her hands across his face, but is interrupted when a silk net lands on her face. The other Deer-Men are dogpiling their corrupted kin, using weapons made from silk or glass to restrain them. They bind the three tightly, then open a window so that they can be hurled out onto the sands. The demons hit the ground with enough force to break bones, but none of them seem to mind.
In fact, their bodies knit back together with alarming speed. Their broken limbs are gradually straightening out, then scarring over where bits of a shattered humerus or tibia hit the skin. In the meantime, the demons are growing additional claws and spurs of bone to cut themselves free of their bindings. When they stand, spikes and sharp protrusions jut out of random parts of their bodies. They retract inwards, leaving behind bloody wounds that the Deer-Demons regenerate from within moments. After that, they start hammering the sides of the bus. The reinforced glass is strong enough to withstand it, but a few particularly powerful blows create hairline fractures. One of the Deer-Men standing next to Dr. Bob nudges him.
"Uh. Maybe we should get away?"
Ashe takes chase, trying to find the yellow fish.
Perhaps there is a whole school of them somewhere!
2 v 4
Ashe flips over and swims after the yellow fish. It flies through the water at a blistering pace, occasionally even jumping up into the air so that it can hop from one body of water to another. She follows it through more lakes, rivers and streams than she has the time to count, but the fish is always just a few body-lengths away from her. Once, as she's trudging through a particularly shallow pond, it even swims a circle around her before darting off again. Ashe splashes through the water to try and catch up with it, but her quarry gone within seconds. She doesn't even see it again until she uses some rapids as a shortcut.
The river takes her past a muddy hollow in the ground, where the fish is waiting for her. She jets out of the water, fully prepared to pursue it, but instead of running away it just splashes her with its tail. Up close, Ashe can see that it's a yellow guppy just like the one that outraced her in the dream. It leaps into the air three times, making three distinctive plops as it falls back into the water. As if on cue, the rest of the school emerges from concealing bits of mud or grass. They swirl around Ashe playfully, then start tagging each other and darting off in random directions.
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover
-Regent of the Tower
-Spidersilk net.
-Improvised glass tools.
-Glass automaton
-Perpetual-motion bus
-Vial of Einyar
-Red Liquor
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror
-Catatonia
-Rain-Maker
--------------------------------
Nazir, the Weaver
-God of the great web.
-Burning
--------------------------------
Ira, the World-Eater
-Empty
-Woven together
-Debt: Gral: Two Favors Owed
-Minor burns
--------------------------------
Gral, the Contractor
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings
-Contract: Ira: Two Favors
-Pinion Blades
--------------------------------
AJAMA, the Demiurge
-Ooze-born Body
-Ooze-born Spheres
-Sphere of Darkness
--------------------------------
Hynsyr, the Titan
-Hundred Armed Form
-Knowledge of Essence
-Edge of Infinity
-Maker of spears
-100 spears of light
--------------------------------
Awake
-B͜Ù̴R̡͡N̵̨
--------------------------------
Ashe, the Collector
-Brass feathers (underwater).
-Glass trinkets
--------------------------------
Meruem, the Spawner
-Flawed essence bladder
-Infused with Nothingness
-Firstborn
--------------------------------
Aton, the Herder
-Seared
-Broken horn
-Weighed down
Bestiary:
Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
--Obsidian Archdemon: An obsidian dragon crafted by the Empty itself. It was granted the power to manipulate nothingness.
Fragments of Emptiness: Spirits made from the scattered pieces of ALTHERTH. They were driven out of the sand when Ira consumed the absent heart.
Apollyon: A Fragment which usurped AJAMA’s original body and converted it into Nothingness.
--Absent Ooze: A Nonexistent strain of Black Ooze that Apollyon can produce. Other Fragments often use it to create makeshift bodies.
Shardforms: Obsidian creatures which absorbed the Empty's already-incomplete consciousness. The broken pieces of ALTERTH's identity they possess give them animalistic intelligence.
--Awakened Shardforms: A herd of Sharforms who were granted sapience by Gral. They’ve agreed to provide the Sliken Nest with raw materials in return for goods.
Steel Maggots: Metallic larvae which Gral accidentally created while trying to make avian Emissaries. After they were pulled off of the vulture, few escaped into the desert, where they accepted Gral's peace terms and moved into the shifting bog.
Steel Grubs: Steel maggots that have been bound with Pact-collars and transformed into livestock. They have grown larger than their sapient kin, but are unintelligent and largely peaceful.
Brass Buzzards: Brass birds crafted from Gral's feathers. They are infused with the pain it felt while creating them.
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
--Dustwalkers: A Spiderling subspecies which can feed on sand as well as light. They live on the sand and fight an asymmetrical war against it for survival.
--Ironwinged: Defeated Spiderlings who made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service, and have built a nest on one of the new stars. They were later granted the ability to weave metal.
--Ancestors: Aetherweavers who have achieved immortality by becoming spirits bound to the great web. They are incorporeal, and their astral bodies make it easier for them to manipulate aether.
--Scarred Spiderlings: Spiderlings who have gained great strength and endurance because of their mistreatment by the Brass Buzzards. They built a market but have mixed feelings about Gral and his servants.
--Sentinels: A army of biologically and magically augmented Spiderlings, created by elite Aetherweavers with Nazir's guidance. They serve the Spider Demigods, and stand ready to protect the Web alongside them.
Primelings: Ten entities created by Nazir and a group of the most powerful Aetherweavers. They watch over the Web in Nazir's stead, but are weakened by flaws in their weaving.
--Ekhor: A proud warrior who wears a larger variant of Sentinel Plate. He was nearly killed in the War of Sands.
--Sekhmet: A Primeling with flaws in the Weavings that form her mind. Despite being a brilliant tactician, her behavior is consistently very odd.
Merchants: Four steel vultures made from Gral’s essence. They are capable of using the Bargain.
Lightfolk: A species of humanoid mortals born from Hynsyr's golden light. Their powers of creation threaten to overwhelm their bodies, causing their inner light to warp chaotically. Many have begun to train so that they can gain more control over this ability.
--Prismatics: Seven lightfolk which glow brighter than the rest. They were hewn from the rainbow light of Hynsyr's eyes.
Deer-Men: A humanoid race with the heads of deer. Dr. Bob originally crafted them from the silk of Nazir's web. They were granted superior dexterity through a contract with Gral.
Three-Headed Worm: A juvenile sandworm created by Ira to serve the Dustwalkers.
Crops: Hemp, potato, corn, and bean plants created by Dr. Bob.
Suspicious Mushrooms: Mushrooms that sprouted in the Glass Tower after Dr. Bob’s disastrous attempts at brewing alcohol. They spawn clouds of hallucinogenic spores.
Atlas:
The Living Sands: ALTERTH once awakened the desert and allowed it to consume him. For a time his creation was infinite, but now most of the sand has died. The few surviving pieces are a shadow of what they once were.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
--New Stars: A second set that isn't accessible through the Great Web. Fortunately, that means they can't be blotted out by Spiderlings.
--Negative Star: A black sphere which radiates darkness, created by AJAMA after Gyaweft's death.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
--Silken Nest: A new star that the winged spiderlings have claimed as a nest. It can only be reached by gliding or descending on strands of silk.
--Tapestries: Libraries of spells and other knotwork which have been woven together and hung from the great web. Some have begun to collect aetheric cobwebs.
--Market of Scars: A grand market built by the Scarred Spiderlings in exchange for their resilience. The Ironwinged sell metal equipment there.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. When the sand was alive, islands in the bog constantly formed and dissolved. It has been tainted with Nazir's venom.
Glass Tower: A tower made of glass, raised from the sands by Gyaweft. It extends upwards through the web, tall enough that its upper floors reach the stars.
--Moat: The Tower is surrounded by a lake. Only one thin bridge connects it to the rest of the sand.
--Sandcastles: A series of elaborate sandcastles built around the moat. They were crafted so masterfully that they won’t dissolve in rain. Ashe later added an incredibly detailed sand city of her own.
--Garden: An irrigated garden containing several different types of crops.
--Laboratory: A room furnished with chemistry equipment and various glass containers.
Light Spires: A glowing city made by the Lightfolk using their creation magic.
--Temple of Yig: A golden temple which houses Yig, the First Tribute. It is an intricately-carved cathedral with walls made from an aurora.
Einyar: A sea of golden light drawn from Hynsyr's aura. It preserves the spirits of the Lightfolk after death, so that the cycle may advance.
Bone Fortress: A giant tree grown from one of Ira's teeth, and given to the Dustwalkers as a gift. It has become a large fortress.
Glass Crater: When Gyaweft flew his Sunship into the ground, it melted a wide swathe of the sand into glass. Fiery essence spilled from the ship still burns here, and sealed fault lines radiate from the impact site.
--Smelter's Grave: The center of the crater. Gyaweft's corpse lies here, alongside the molten remains of his Sunship.
Wetlands: Areas of the sand and the Great Web which Kuhaku continuously showers with water. The rain is heavy enough to form rivers and lakes.
--Abandoned Nests: A nesting ground that was briefly occupied by the Brass Buzzards. It is strewn with metal feathers and bloody talon-prints.
Canal: A shallow canal that Ira dug to fulfill one of her favors to Gral. It was meant to channel water from the Wetlands to various other parts of the world, but it overflowed and flooded the Glass Tower instead.
Knowledge:
Knot-Writing: A written language Nazir formulated so that Aetherweavers could record their spells. It involves weaving complex knots into silk, and therefore comes intuitively to Spiderlings but is almost impossible for anyone else to comprehend.
Bargainer's Tongue: A simplified version of knot-script which can be etched into a flat surface rather than woven into silk. It is comprehensible to non-Spiderlings, but not as intuitive.
English: A written script based on twenty-six letters and a few punctuation symbols. It was introduced by Dr. Bob and is primarily used by the Deer-Men.
Metalworking: Blacksmithing techniques that are typically available to the Ironwinged. They can be used to weave metal objects.
Aetherweaving: A magical discipline which involves spinning spiritual webs. It was taught to the Spiderlings by Nazir and is available to the Tribes, the Primelings, and any other arachnid capable of making silk.
Lightforging: Creation magic unique to the Lightfolk. It is a powerful but chaotic ability which can be used to make solid-light constructs out of one's own aura. More advanced techniques allow practitioners to create complex materials such as metal or wood.
Eight-Talon Way: A powerful martial art created by the Brass Buzzards. It is purely offensive in nature, but consists of strikes so lethal that defense isn’t usually necessary.
Agriculture: Farming is only feasible in the wetlands, but plants watered by Kuhaku’s rain grow quickly. The Deer-Men have been taught to cultivate and use several kinds of crops.
Prayer: A technique which allows Lightfolk to tap into their connections with Yig and Einyar. The Prismatics have learned how to use it to communicate with Hynsyr.
Photosynthesis Enchantments: A personal enhancement Weaving developed by the Ironwinged. It increases the amount of energy that Spiderlings can absorb from light.
Items:
Seven Rainbow Spears: Weapons Hynsyr forged from a rogue splinter of his soul and gave to the Prismatics. They amplify their wielders' magic immensely, and provide slightly more control over their powers of creation.
Black Ooze: A patch of black goo created by AJAMA which can grow by absorbing sand. A column of ooze goes deep beneath the earth, where it breached a reservoir of Emptiness.
--Chaos Ooze: Blobs of ooze which have accidentally been made to assimilate a variety of substances and concepts. They were later sealed away.
--Silence Ooze: A strain of chaos ooze that can feed on silence. AJAMA transplanted some of it to the empty desert, where it has grown rapidly.
--Crusted Ooze: Semisolid ooze variants which have been hardened by intense pressure. They take slightly longer to grow as a result of their density.
Pact-Arms: Metal weapons, armor, and tools which can compel their wielders to carry out tasks for the Winged Spiderlings. Most are in the possession of Spiderlings on the Web.
Tribute Tokens: A currency minted by the Ironwinged and infused with the power of the Bargain. They see light use in the Great Web but are not considered especially valuable, so most of the economy still relies upon bartering.
Sentinel Plate: Magical armor developed for use by the Sentinels. It can drain the force of attacks and release it in the form of telekinetic blasts.
Life Machine: A machitech device that can be used to shunt vitality from one area to another. Additional upgrades gave it the ability to drain life from sand, which a Merchant used to create a patch of fertile soil around the machine.
Factions:
Spiderling Tribes: Prominent groups of Spiderlings, mostly organized by subspecies. The are scattered across the Web, the stars, and the sand.
--Order of Strands: The first Spiderlings to learn the art of Aetherweaving. Many have strained their minds and bodies to hone their abilities, making them feeble despite their mystical strength.
High Council of the Web: The governing body of the Great Web. It consists of delegates from each of the tribes, as well as one Primeling. Most meetings take place in Nazir's nest at the top of the Web.
Lifeweavers: A group of Ancestors who helped Nazir create the Primelings and Sentinels.
Warpriests: A Lightfolk religious order which protects Einyar, the Temple of Yig, and the Light Spires themselves.
Ministry of Light: Civil servants appointed by Hynsyr to oversee the Light Spires. The seven Prismatics were installed as founding members.
as I completely vanish, weave last will message
Don't fall to slavery of god worship
Eradicate remains of the darkness and any hostile species in this world, showing mercy is weakness.
Spread beyond the stars using rockets
Wear sunglasses and be cool
spell designed to make miniaturized star
improved sentinel armour with bigger battery, heat insulation and internal air supply
armed desert exploration vehicle
easy to mass produce weaving based handheld death ray
primitive space rocket
Having run its course, the flame consumes itself, and paradoxically ceases to be.
Having fulfilled its Purpose, the fire collapses in upon itself. It devours its own Nonexistent essence, exiting existence at the behest of a dead soul that still lurks somewhere inside. ALTERTH is not there, nor is the Empty, nor is Awake, but they are not Absent either. They become Nothing as the flames diminish, and are finally reduced to less. Their shared spirit drifts away on the wind, a fragment of a fragment, before the last wisp of burning essence finally becomes null. There is nothing left behind.
Death dies, and life is all that remains. Zeristia, the Gardener rises from the ashes. Her ten eyes open in rapid succession.
((I am bad at making decisions, just now I decided to make more decisions))
"Knowledge is a noble goal, creation, distribution and preservation of knowledge will be our goal for now, first, writing may be useful"
Have anyone who can't fly stand on the crusted ooze, then lift it and fly to the desert bus.
"Hopefully they don't remember where we live, cause if they do we're screwed."
Get to the drivers seat and drive out of there as fast as possible, if the deer demons manage to follow lead them out into the desert and lose them before returning to the tower.
AJAMA: 1
Fragments: 6
Dr. Bob: 3 vs. Deer Demons: 5
"Thank you."
The Fragments congregate on the crusted ooze, where they start discussing their new purpose. AJAMA sees the embodied ones scratching strange glyphs on the ooze platform. They seem to be recording information somehow, though the symbols themselves give the Demiurge a headache when it looks at them too closely. Each one inserts knowledge directly into the sphere's mind, in a way that reminds it of the telepathy that Fragments have been using to communicate amongst themselves. Receiving concepts this complex is actually a little painful.
AJAMA turns its gaze away from the mind-writing and lifts up the platform. It speeds through the air, Fragments in tow, until it comes to Dr. Bob's perpetual motion bus. The Deer-Men inside wave at them and shout something, but they're too far away for anyone to make out coherent words. The bus speeds away before AJAMA can get closer, leaving the Demiurge in the dust. Apollyon broadcasts a feeling of confusion with vague undertones of unease.
A few minutes later, three Deer-Men with black fur come into view. They're running faster than their physiology should actually allow, and as they approach a Fragment points out that they're actually dislocating their own legs and knees mid-stride. It takes only a few moments for the associated muscles and sinews to reorganize themselves, just in time to be damaged again when the creatures' feet hit the ground.
Elsewhere, Dr. Bob drives into the Wetlands and brings his bus to a screeching halt next to the Glass Tower's moat. The demons are all far behind him now. They followed the bus for a fairly long time before he lost sight of them, but it's unclear whether they actually know how to navigate back here. If they don't, he just needs to hope they lost his trail.
"Hmm, your name will be...Mati, yes, that's an alright name. Now come my child, hunt with me."
Meruem will now search for more prey alongside his firstborn, using the time not spent searching he'll try to improve his essence bladder.
2 , 3
The chimeric insect now known as "Mati" nods and follows its father out into the sand. They wander across sand dunes, past errant shards of glass and around pools of strange black ooze. No mortals or primordials cross their path, so Meruem passes the time by tinkering with the properties of his essence bladder. Most of its imperfections are a result of flaws in its lining. They act a little like pinholes in a waterskin, in that they make it possible for a portion of the captured essence to escape containment and dissipate into the aether.
Like a leak, this problem is also relatively easy to fix. Meruem plugs the leaks using a portion of his own essence, which he maneuvers directly into the lining of the bladder. Essence will still seep out of the organ itself, but it will bump into the insulative layer rather than continuing to disperse. The failsafe should work in most scenarios, though extremely dense essence could still potentially force its way through. Meruem also risks losing a great deal of his own essence if the bladder is damaged.
When he returns his attention to the outside world, the Spawner notices that Mati has come to a stop. He's looking down at a glass crater so large that its circumference must be measured in miles. Embers drift past them, presumably from the massive orange fires that are raging in the center of the pit. There isn't a single creature in sight, but Meruem can feel a high concentration of essence in the air. It's radiating from the center of the crater, which shines in much the same way as the stars.
Hynsyr will refine his mind splitting technique even further. Any amount of wasted time could be a deciding factor in the conflicts that have plagued the desert since the awakening of his kind.
3
Hynsyr's thoughts diverge, and his fragmentary consciousness runs through a familiar series of mental gymnastics. It takes only two or three seconds for a spear to appear in each of his hands, but the pieces of his mind still need to spend valuable time creating organizational schemes and assigning themselves to individual hands. The problem is made more complicated by the limited space in his head, which makes it possible for branches to interfere with each other if they think too loudly. To arm himself instantly, the Titan will need to remove that administrative delay altogether.
Before splitting his mind again, Hynsyr crafts a plan for each hundredth of his mind to follow. It's a simple procedure in which they assign themselves to a particular hand based on the order in which they awaken. It would've worked, too, if each branch actually woke up at a different time. Instead they all clamor for hand number one, occupying so much bandwidth that Hynsyr instantly blacks out. He comes to in a pile of solid-light chunks that don't even resemble spears.
After dismissing them, he stands up and tries another strategy. It involves dividing his mind into ten forks rather than a hundred. Each thought-stream will create spears in exactly ten of his hands, using techniques similar to the one Hynsyr used to arm his original twelve-armed form. It isn't quite as elegant as becoming a hundred different selves, but it poses less of a managerial conundrum. The ten larger pieces are more robust, even if they're less exciting. They can ignore each other for long enough to get a weapon in each hand.
Forgive me my children, for I have failed you
as I completely vanish, weave last will message
Don't fall to slavery of god worship
Eradicate remains of the darkness and any hostile species in this world, showing mercy is weakness.
Spread beyond the stars using rockets
Wear sunglasses and be cool
spell designed to make miniaturized star
improved sentinel armour with bigger battery, heat insulation and internal air supply
armed desert exploration vehicle
easy to mass produce weaving based handheld death ray
primitive space rocket
3
Nazir feels himself dying. His spirit is coming apart at the seams, strands of essence unraveling until they are nothing more than dust on the wind. He feels strangely powerful, even though the borders of his mind are also wearing thin. The secrets of the universe are revealing themselves, in flashes that pass before his eyes like aetheric constellations. His soul is shaken loose of his body, and for a moment his thoughts echo out into infinity. There are strange and wonderful things there that he longs to bring back to the Primelings, or perhaps to the group of Spiderlings who he once taught to weave the Aether. Some knowledge, like the end of time or the edge of the universe, is simply too vast to be contained within the mind of a mortal. There are other things, too, though. Every possible permutation of Aether races through Nazir's mind. He seizes a few of them and uses the power of his own death to send them back to the physical world.
His message arrives as a psychic scream that brings the Web to its knees. Spiderlings hear the Weaver's voice booming through their minds, resonating with regret and urgency. A few final instructions ring through the cosmos, implanting themselves upon the mind of every living Spiderling. They know, instinctively, what Nazir desires for them: to destroy the enemies of the sand, to stand strong against the Bull, and to spread beyond the known boundaries of the world. Next strange technologies are described to them. Nazir grants them Aetheric schematics for weapons and vehicles and armor, everything that they might need to thrive in his absence. All gain from the experience, but only the most powerful Aetherweavers understand enough to extract useful information. They each record parts of the message in strands of aether and silk, forming a body of information that should, in time, allow them to unlock the secrets of their inheritance.
It is perfect and imperfect at the same time. Nazir wishes that he could stay, to mentor the Spiderlings and provide them with their full birthright, but almost none of his self remains. The last wisps of identity dissolve, and his soul returns from whence it came.
"I think you have me confused with someone else gral."
Ira focuses on healing her burns unless Gral gives her a task
1
Ira examines her burns critically. They're not particularly significant injuries, but with Gral tied up there isn't much else for he to do. She curls up on the ground and rests, turning the injured portion of her back up into the air so that it won't be irritated by the sand. The burns gradually start to scar over at the edges as the World-Eater's supernatural metabolism does its work. This situations is strangely relaxing after all the battles she's been through recently. Before long she finds her mind drifting off, and then dozing off. The world around her fades, replaced by a similarly infinite dreamscape. At first she is tunneling up through the sand. There should be something up above her. She remembers a place full of air, where the other primordials made their home.
She digs for what seems like an eternity, but she still can't reach it. The world above is gone, if it ever existed at all. There's only an infinite expanse of sand, pressing in on her from all sides. Tendrils form to drag her deeper, as if that would even make a difference. Eyes form to leer at her, demons and strange avatars to tear her flesh apart. The sand laughs as it presses in. Here it is still alive. Ira tunnels and bites but she can't stop it. The world is indestructible and as infinite as it was the day ALTERTH awakened it. She digs her way into a cavern. It's safe there, until stalactites of sand descend on her like colossal teeth. They chew her up and crush her bones.
Ira wakes up with a start. None of her wounds have healed.
On the verge of sorrow, Ashe's face lightens at the sight of hidden fishies! She takes note of which fish were tagged, tags the closest fish, and then flees from those which are 'it' to play tag!
2
Ashe tags a vibrant red fish and paddles to the other end of the lake. It isn't as easy to maneuver out in the real world, where they're working within a series of lakes and rivers rather than a whole ocean, but despite that the game proceeds fairly well. The yellow guppy doesn't get tagged this time, presumably because it swam away too quickly, but the red fish actually manages to tag her back by hiding itself underneath a fern. It jumps out of the foliage just as she's about to pass by. All she sees is a flash of red before the fish retreats back to its hiding place. She brushes through every plant frond in the lake, only to find that it buried itself underneath some mud in the lakebed. Just as she's about to tap it on the fin, she notices that the plants are far larger than they were a second ago.
Yellow stalks grow from the bottom of the pool. They rise until they reach the surface, then continue until they're at least five or six times as tall as Ashe. Then the stalks grow thicker, and tiny seeds start to appear at the tip of each plant. They seeds scatter into the air, patter down to the water, then begin growing into new Omni-Grains at the same astounding rate as their predecessors. Even then, the tide of golden wheat doesn't stop. More stalks grow, threatening to bury the nymph under a thousand tons of plant matter. Her fishy friends are nowhere to be seen.
Use my sacred light to blind the spiderlings around me one more time, and leave the area. I won't try to convert them, at least until the next Council.
3 v 6
Aton directs another pulse of power into his disk. Sacred light continues to flow from his body, blinding the Spiderling troops, but instead of an overwhelming flash of radiance it comes out as more of a prolonged whimper. The light gutters, only barely strong enough to capture the Spiderlings' attention. A few, particularly the ones outfitted with Pacts from the Merchants, gather the mental fortitude to pull themselves away. They rain acid and spells down on Aton as he plods away. While his disk is still bright enough to throw off their aim, a group of Sentinels cuts off his escape route with a pool of acid. He stumbles around it, enduring a rain of matter-disintegration beams that strip away the outer layers of his skin.
Salvation comes after his negotiations with Gral. The Ironwinged, Bone Fortress and Merchants immediately withdraw, leaving Nazir's own legions to fend for themselves. With their demigod leaders wounded or burned to death and most officers entranced, the forces of the Great Web have no real organization. It takes them only a few minutes to realize their command structure has collapsed. After that most of them retreat in a blind panic, carrying the their wounded on silken stretchers. Aton leaves at a significantly slower pace due to his various injuries, particularly the increased weight of his hooves.
Bind Aton to the Pact, ensuring debilitating conseuqences should he breach it. Afterwards, check in on the Scrap-ranches.
5 , 2
A Bargain is struck and a Pact is forged. Metaphorical chains of obligation settle over Aton, binding him to the contract that they have agreed upon. They hang over his head like the sword of Damocles, balanced on a thin thread of silk. That thread will snap if the terms of the Pact are violated, allowing the Bargain to take its due. The consequences for Aton would be dire, perhaps even irreversible. In Gral's estimation, that is entirely just. An oathbreaker deserves nothing less.
The Scrap-Rances have settled into a routine. They're mostly overseen by Ironwinged, who also use their flight to transport goods from place to place. Couriers have become used to moving massive piles of scrap metal up to the Iron Nest, which has created a subset of particularly adept fliers within the Ironwinged population. The other Ranch workers mostly help the Shardforms work with the Steel Grubs. Larvae can still be dangerous, even after their transformation into livestock. While they're docile enough, their increased size makes it safer to handle them with large crews of workers. When the Ranches are short on labor, they generally choose to leave one or two of the Grubs unsheared rather than risking accidents.
The Ironwinged report something strange happening to one of these untended Grubs. After growing larger for about a week, it curled up and stopped moving or eating. Its metal exterior has frozen in place, becoming a thick shell vaguely similar to the pupal casings that the Shardforms recovered from the Bog.
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover
-Regent of the Tower
-Spidersilk net.
-Improvised glass tools.
-Glass automaton
-Perpetual-motion bus
-Vial of Einyar
-Red Liquor
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror
-Catatonia
-Rain-Maker
--------------------------------
Ira, the World-Eater
-Empty
-Woven together
-Debt: Gral: Two Favors Owed
-Minor burns
--------------------------------
Gral, the Contractor
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings
-Contract: Ira: Two Favors
-Pinion Blades
--------------------------------
AJAMA, the Demiurge
-Ooze-born Body
-Ooze-born Spheres
-Sphere of Darkness
--------------------------------
Hynsyr, the Titan
-Hundred Armed Form
-Knowledge of Essence
-Edge of Infinity
-Maker of spears
-100 spears of light
--------------------------------
Ashe, the Collector
-Brass feathers (underwater).
-Glass trinkets
--------------------------------
Meruem, the Spawner
-Flawed essence bladder
-Infused with Nothingness
-Firstborn
--------------------------------
Aton, the Herder
-Seared
-Broken horn
-Weighed down
--------------------------------
Zeristia,
Bestiary:
Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
--Obsidian Archdemon: An obsidian dragon crafted by the Empty itself. It was granted the power to manipulate nothingness.
Fragments of Emptiness: Spirits made from the scattered pieces of ALTHERTH. They were driven out of the sand when Ira consumed the absent heart.
Apollyon: A Fragment which usurped AJAMA’s original body and converted it into Nothingness.
--Absent Ooze: A Nonexistent strain of Black Ooze that Apollyon can produce. Other Fragments often use it to create makeshift bodies.
Shardforms: Obsidian creatures which absorbed the Empty's already-incomplete consciousness. The broken pieces of ALTERTH's identity they possess give them animalistic intelligence.
--Awakened Shardforms: A herd of Sharforms who were granted sapience by Gral. They’ve agreed to provide the Sliken Nest with raw materials in return for goods.
Steel Maggots: Metallic larvae which Gral accidentally created while trying to make avian Emissaries. After they were pulled off of the vulture, few escaped into the desert, where they accepted Gral's peace terms and moved into the shifting bog.
Steel Grubs: Steel maggots that have been bound with Pact-collars and transformed into livestock. They have grown larger than their sapient kin, but are unintelligent and largely peaceful.
Brass Buzzards: Brass birds crafted from Gral's feathers. They are infused with the pain it felt while creating them.
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
--Dustwalkers: A Spiderling subspecies which can feed on sand as well as light. They live on the sand and fight an asymmetrical war against it for survival.
--Ironwinged: Defeated Spiderlings who made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service, and have built a nest on one of the new stars. They were later granted the ability to weave metal.
--Ancestors: Aetherweavers who have achieved immortality by becoming spirits bound to the great web. They are incorporeal, and their astral bodies make it easier for them to manipulate aether.
--Scarred Spiderlings: Spiderlings who have gained great strength and endurance because of their mistreatment by the Brass Buzzards. They built a market but have mixed feelings about Gral and his servants.
--Sentinels: A army of biologically and magically augmented Spiderlings, created by elite Aetherweavers with Nazir's guidance. They serve the Spider Demigods, and stand ready to protect the Web alongside them.
Primelings: Ten entities created by Nazir and a group of the most powerful Aetherweavers. They watch over the Web in Nazir's stead, but are weakened by flaws in their weaving.
--Ekhor: A proud warrior who wears a larger variant of Sentinel Plate. He was nearly killed in the War of Sands.
--Sekhmet: A Primeling with flaws in the Weavings that form her mind. Despite being a brilliant tactician, her behavior is consistently very odd.
Merchants: Four steel vultures made from Gral’s essence. They are capable of using the Bargain.
Lightfolk: A species of humanoid mortals born from Hynsyr's golden light. Their powers of creation threaten to overwhelm their bodies, causing their inner light to warp chaotically. Many have begun to train so that they can gain more control over this ability.
--Prismatics: Seven lightfolk which glow brighter than the rest. They were hewn from the rainbow light of Hynsyr's eyes.
Deer-Men: A humanoid race with the heads of deer. Dr. Bob originally crafted them from the silk of Nazir's web. They were granted superior dexterity through a contract with Gral.
Three-Headed Worm: A juvenile sandworm created by Ira to serve the Dustwalkers.
Crops: Hemp, potato, corn, and bean plants created by Dr. Bob.
Suspicious Mushrooms: Mushrooms that sprouted in the Glass Tower after Dr. Bob’s disastrous attempts at brewing alcohol. They spawn clouds of hallucinogenic spores.
Atlas:
The Living Sands: ALTERTH once awakened the desert and allowed it to consume him. For a time his creation was infinite, but now most of the sand has died. The few surviving pieces are a shadow of what they once were.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
--New Stars: A second set that isn't accessible through the Great Web. Fortunately, that means they can't be blotted out by Spiderlings.
--Negative Star: A black sphere which radiates darkness, created by AJAMA after Gyaweft's death.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
--Silken Nest: A new star that the winged spiderlings have claimed as a nest. It can only be reached by gliding or descending on strands of silk.
--Tapestries: Libraries of spells and other knotwork which have been woven together and hung from the great web. Some have begun to collect aetheric cobwebs.
--Market of Scars: A grand market built by the Scarred Spiderlings in exchange for their resilience. The Ironwinged sell metal equipment there.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. When the sand was alive, islands in the bog constantly formed and dissolved. It has been tainted with Nazir's venom.
Glass Tower: A tower made of glass, raised from the sands by Gyaweft. It extends upwards through the web, tall enough that its upper floors reach the stars.
--Moat: The Tower is surrounded by a lake. Only one thin bridge connects it to the rest of the sand.
--Sandcastles: A series of elaborate sandcastles built around the moat. They were crafted so masterfully that they won’t dissolve in rain. Ashe later added an incredibly detailed sand city of her own.
--Garden: An irrigated garden containing several different types of crops.
--Laboratory: A room furnished with chemistry equipment and various glass containers.
Light Spires: A glowing city made by the Lightfolk using their creation magic.
--Temple of Yig: A golden temple which houses Yig, the First Tribute. It is an intricately-carved cathedral with walls made from an aurora.
Einyar: A sea of golden light drawn from Hynsyr's aura. It preserves the spirits of the Lightfolk after death, so that the cycle may advance.
Bone Fortress: A giant tree grown from one of Ira's teeth, and given to the Dustwalkers as a gift. It has become a large fortress.
Glass Crater: When Gyaweft flew his Sunship into the ground, it melted a wide swathe of the sand into glass. Fiery essence spilled from the ship still burns here, and sealed fault lines radiate from the impact site.
--Smelter's Grave: The center of the crater. Gyaweft's corpse lies here, alongside the molten remains of his Sunship.
Wetlands: Areas of the sand and the Great Web which Kuhaku continuously showers with water. The rain is heavy enough to form rivers and lakes.
--Abandoned Nests: A nesting ground that was briefly occupied by the Brass Buzzards. It is strewn with metal feathers and bloody talon-prints.
Canal: A shallow canal that Ira dug to fulfill one of her favors to Gral. It was meant to channel water from the Wetlands to various other parts of the world, but it overflowed and flooded the Glass Tower instead.
Knowledge:
Knot-Writing: A written language Nazir formulated so that Aetherweavers could record their spells. It involves weaving complex knots into silk, and therefore comes intuitively to Spiderlings but is almost impossible for anyone else to comprehend.
Bargainer's Tongue: A simplified version of knot-script which can be etched into a flat surface rather than woven into silk. It is comprehensible to non-Spiderlings, but not as intuitive.
English: A written script based on twenty-six letters and a few punctuation symbols. It was introduced by Dr. Bob and is primarily used by the Deer-Men.
Metalworking: Blacksmithing techniques that are typically available to the Ironwinged. They can be used to weave metal objects.
Aetherweaving: A magical discipline which involves spinning spiritual webs. It was taught to the Spiderlings by Nazir and is available to the Tribes, the Primelings, and any other arachnid capable of making silk.
Lightforging: Creation magic unique to the Lightfolk. It is a powerful but chaotic ability which can be used to make solid-light constructs out of one's own aura. More advanced techniques allow practitioners to create complex materials such as metal or wood.
Eight-Talon Way: A powerful martial art created by the Brass Buzzards. It is purely offensive in nature, but consists of strikes so lethal that defense isn’t usually necessary.
Agriculture: Farming is only feasible in the wetlands, but plants watered by Kuhaku’s rain grow quickly. The Deer-Men have been taught to cultivate and use several kinds of crops.
Prayer: A technique which allows Lightfolk to tap into their connections with Yig and Einyar. The Prismatics have learned how to use it to communicate with Hynsyr.
Photosynthesis Enchantments: A personal enhancement Weaving developed by the Ironwinged. It increases the amount of energy that Spiderlings can absorb from light.
Items:
Seven Rainbow Spears: Weapons Hynsyr forged from a rogue splinter of his soul and gave to the Prismatics. They amplify their wielders' magic immensely, and provide slightly more control over their powers of creation.
Black Ooze: A patch of black goo created by AJAMA which can grow by absorbing sand. A column of ooze goes deep beneath the earth, where it breached a reservoir of Emptiness.
--Chaos Ooze: Blobs of ooze which have accidentally been made to assimilate a variety of substances and concepts. They were later sealed away.
--Silence Ooze: A strain of chaos ooze that can feed on silence. AJAMA transplanted some of it to the empty desert, where it has grown rapidly.
--Crusted Ooze: Semisolid ooze variants which have been hardened by intense pressure. They take slightly longer to grow as a result of their density.
Pact-Arms: Metal weapons, armor, and tools which can compel their wielders to carry out tasks for the Winged Spiderlings. Most are in the possession of Spiderlings on the Web.
Tribute Tokens: A currency minted by the Ironwinged and infused with the power of the Bargain. They see light use in the Great Web but are not considered especially valuable, so most of the economy still relies upon bartering.
Sentinel Plate: Magical armor developed for use by the Sentinels. It can drain the force of attacks and release it in the form of telekinetic blasts.
Life Machine: A machitech device that can be used to shunt vitality from one area to another. Additional upgrades gave it the ability to drain life from sand, which a Merchant used to create a patch of fertile soil around the machine.
Factions:
Spiderling Tribes: Prominent groups of Spiderlings, mostly organized by subspecies. The are scattered across the Web, the stars, and the sand.
--Order of Strands: The first Spiderlings to learn the art of Aetherweaving. Many have strained their minds and bodies to hone their abilities, making them feeble despite their mystical strength.
High Council of the Web: The governing body of the Great Web. It consists of delegates from each of the tribes, as well as one Primeling. Most meetings take place in Nazir's nest at the top of the Web.
Lifeweavers: A group of Ancestors who helped Nazir create the Primelings and Sentinels.
Warpriests: A Lightfolk religious order which protects Einyar, the Temple of Yig, and the Light Spires themselves.
Ministry of Light: Civil servants appointed by Hynsyr to oversee the Light Spires. The seven Prismatics were installed as founding members.
What is your name : Amon
What form will you take : primeling clad in red sentinel armour
What is your purpose? Protecting spiderlings
Visit council of the web meeting.
When Nazir prepared to wage war against the sands, seven Primelings followed him into battle. Six of those Primelings were burned by the fire, alongside their sentinel legions. Though they've been rescued, it's unclear who will live and who will perish. Even the survivors will probably lose limbs, organs, or vital parts of their spirits. The Black Fire was not kind to them, even though it was meant for Nazir. Nursing them back to health will take weeks or months, if it is possible at all, and in the meantime the three uninjured Primelings must take on the duties of their fellows. One of those primelings is Parun, who decided that the Web is finally in more need of defense than diplomacy. Another is still unnamed.
The last one is called Amon. He claims his name just moments after Nazir's death, when the Weaver's final message is still fresh in his mind. He watches the web descend into chaos, as Spiderlings wonder what to do and frantically try to fill in the missing parts of their Inheritance. Alongside his two healthy siblings, he painstakingly restores order. The High Council must meet, to decide what to do next. A Sentinel officer is sent to round up the delegates and bring them to Nazir's old nest.
Entire hordes of Spiderlings cluster around the edge of the meeting, desperate to know what will happen now that their progenitor is gone. Delegates wander back and forth through the crowd. Most are in small huddles. They stare at each other blankly, but in the end even they are at a loss for words. Nobody knows how to address the elephant in the room. A few question whether they even have the right to build upon Nazir's final instructions.
Meruem will take a deep, long breath of delicious essence. And spawn as many beings as he possibly can, they will be the quantity to his and Meti's quality, the backbone of his whole hunt. And they'll be called...Fire Vespas.
4
Meruem exhales, emptying his lungs, and takes a deep breath in. Sparks of essence fly into his mouth. In the Glass Crater, tongues of flame twist in his direction. The inferno crawls towards the edge of the crater, leaving behind a slug-trail of molten glass. The Spawner senses pools of liquid essence coursing underneath it, like pools of burning blood. They feel like the stars and the black fire that killed Nazir. When sunlight begins to shine from above the Web, they feel like that too. Meruem sees glimpses of a dead thing burning within the blaze.
It is a silhouette that leaps out at him and forces itself down his throat. It burns his body, charring him from the inside, but even more essence floods into his bladder. He vomits it out all at once. Boiling sludge drips onto the ground. The amniotic fluid is chunky, and when the chunks hit the ground Meruem sees that they're made of chitin. Giant fireflies crawl out of the muck. Their bulbs are swollen to massive proportions so that they can contain all the fire that Meruem just consumed. The Fire Vespas set themselves alight, mirroring the cosmic flames which illuminate the world.
"Dark. Dark. Hmm."
Zeristia looks up at the sky. Web, stars, and past that... darkness eternal.
Babies don't grow well in the dark.
"Light! Light!"
There needs to be more light for her garden. But how?
"Light. Light. S-sunlight? Sunlight! Sun!"
Grab the smelter's armor and toss it into the sky above the battlefield. Let it blaze above and cast a glorious light below!
4
Zeristia sifts through piles of sand, ash, and dirt until she uncovers a gleaming piece of metal. There's a partial suit of armor buried underneath the dust, in roughly the place where the fire would have started. It feels instinctively familiar to her, for a reason that she can't fully explain. It's not as if she's ever seen these particular pieces of steel before. Even so, she senses that they have something to do with light and fire. Something like that would be dangerous to have down here in her garden, but up in the sky it will do more good. Babies can flourish underneath its burning radiance.
She uncovers the entire suit of armor. It's undamed, albeit somewhat dirty from its stint as buried treasure. She concentrates on it until she feels a bright spark of power bruning somewhere underneath. She stokes the fire, causing it to burn ever more brightly. Wisps of flame come to life somewhere inside the armor. They stream outwards, scorching the sand, until Zeristia flings the armor up into the air. Its plates shift subtly, creating the illusion that it is ascending under its own power, and the armor soars up into the air. Brilliant rays stream from it as it passes through the sky.
Rest and focus my power into repairing the physical form I've built using the sand and light around me.
6
Aton lies down in the sand and closes his eyes. The sleep that follows is dreamless. Instead his mind shakes itself loose from the confines of his body. He drifts up into the air, where he senses hundreds of tiny rays of starlight. He follows them up into the sky, until the stars themselves become visible at long last. Some are nestles within the depths of the Great Web, where Spiderlings gather around them for light and warmth. Others are higher still. They hang above the entire world, illuminating the tops of the Glass Tower and the Great Web. Aton manuevers himself into orbit around one of them. It is a glass sphere filled with essence, in the form of a divine fire that blazes like a beacon in the night.
He falls back down to the sand, where his consciousness is buried by a thousand tiny particles of rock. The sand is as still as a corpse. Aton sees a few little remnants of life slithering underneath the ground, hundreds or thousands of miles beneath the surface. The broken things glare back at him, broadcasting fear and malice through channels that he should not be able to sense. The sheer, primal power of their emotion pushes him back to the surface. Aton reaches out towards the two things that he has seen. Sand trickles upwards to fill his wounds and the light coils around him protectively. Then a humanoid figure as bright as a sun rises from beneath the horizon. Its radiance washes over Aton and joins with his body.
A weight lifts. He feels lighter than flesh, maybe even lighter than air. The golden disk above his head glows white-hot. Then it ignites, and collapses into a sphere of pure radiance. Energy from the miniature sun courses through Aton's horns, which lighten until they are brilliant ivory, and pulses through his veins. The power hums inside him. It is on the verge of flooding outwards into the unchanged portions of his body.
"It's look like I have much to learn as well"
Land close to the glass tower, build a barrier against the Deer-man in the black fur, and try learning the writing system of the Fragments of Emptiness.
Fragments: 6 v Deer-Demons: 4 , AJAMA: 6 , 2
AJAMA floats towards the glass tower. The black-coated Deer-Men rush to keep up with it. They push their bodies even further beyond their natural limits, tearing muscle and fracturing bone with each gargantuan stride. It doesn't seem to bother them. One even starts to eye the island of Crusted Ooze, which is hanging about thirty meters above the ground. While the Demiurge is looking elsewhere, she leaps the full distance and grabs the edge of the platform with her hands. It tilts dangerously, threatening to spill Non-Ooze fragments onto the ground. She begins scrabbling up onto the ooze only moments later, but she is swarmed by Fragments before she can make much headway. They mangle the Deer-Demon's fingers until even her regeneration doesn't allow her to hang on. She drops to the ground with a loud crack.
AJAMA takes that as its cue to speed up. It throws the ooze platform through the air, trusting the Fragments onboard to keep their grip, and accelerates until it outpaces the three demons. They follow along after it, towards the great glass tower rising from the wetlands. The black sphere throws a blob sand-ooze on the ground in front of them. It wills the goo to grow, and then to shape itself into a wall of viscous liquid. A circular barrier starts growing around the tower. It beats the demons back whenever they try to tear their way through.
In the reprieve that follows, the Demiurge takes a closer look at the Fragments' writing. Examining the symbols is just as painful as looking at them in passing. It can understand the underlying magical mechanism of the system, which is very closely related to telepathy, but there's an additional layer of complexity involved in writing with it. Even though anyone can understand the glyphs, there's a certain art to putting thoughts in symbolic form. AJAMA doesn't have enough experience with psionics to grasp it, though several Fragments volunteer to teach him.
"Okay I've basically created three Terminators that might come this way eventually so we need to get the hell out of here as fast as possible."
First we need to build three semi trucks and three different trailers a tanker, a hopper, and a cargo, then we need to fill the tanker with water, then fill the hopper with dirt, then gather all tools, some glass blocks, and several potato, bean, hemp, and corn plants and put all that in the cargo trailer, everybody needs to help with this or we might die.
Dr. Bob: 6 & Deer-Men: 2+1 & Automaton: 4
Dr. Bob lets the Deer-Men out of the bus and sorts them into three different teams. Each group will work on one new vehicle, plus trailers large enough to accomodate all the valuables they've been keeping in the tower. Each team sends a few people into the Tower to get glass, while other Deer-Men work on gathering plant matter from the overgrown garden outside. They use hemp to craft massive piles of cloth and thread, which should help to create basic frames for the trucks. They're just about to get started when they realize that the Deer-Men who went into the tower aren't back yet. After deliberating amongst themselves, they decide to send the automaton in to scout.
When it comes back, it's covered in orange mushroom spores. Bob warns everyone to keep their distance before sending the robot back inside. It climbs up and down the stairwell five more times. Each time it emerges, it deposits two hallucinating mortals on the ground outside the tower. They're also covered in spores, which makes retrieving them problematic. Eventually Dr. Bob ends up having the Automaton wash them off in the moat, while scrubbing its own exterior. The Deer-Men come to their senses soon afterwards. They say that the entire chemistry lab is now covered in mushrooms, which have also begun to grow throughout the other floors of the tower.
There's no easy way to retrieve things from the lab, so Dr. Bob scrounges up a few glass blocks that are lying on the ground and tells his workers to make do. There isn't enough to make three whole vehicles, which forces them to fill in some of the gaps using plant products. They end up making everything they can out of cloth, up to and including the cabins. Dr. Bob examines them a little, when he isn't working on the trucks' perpetual-motion engines. It isn't a terrible design. The hemp can't possibly be as sturdy as glass, though.
Carefully the gestating Grubs, notifying a Merchant if and when they emerge.
Go to the shifting bog, Dream, and hone skills in the Bargain. With Nazir gone, things will have to change in the skies.
West is to network with the first Voyagers, scouting out any new discoveries.
The Eight Talons are to expand their numbers, recruiting amongst the furious and the vengeful. In conjunction, South is to organize and train a new fighting force within the Bone Fortress, drawn from interested volunteers. Clad in mail and equipped with modified pinions, this Iron Guard would represent the best of both parties, and hopefully provide a heavy infantry counterpart to the Fortress' current residents.
East should nurture the Groundlings further, and encourage them to beget more advanced developments.
Finally, North should secure the Omni-fields, ensuring a more organized gathering process.
Scrap-Ranches: ?
Gral: 1
Eight-Talons: 6 & South: 6
East: 3
North: 3
A team of Ironwinged is posted to check up on the Steel Pupa at regular intervals. According to their reports, there aren't any changes for almost an entire day. The Grub remains entirely still and silent, and the pupa itself doesn't seem to change at all. Consultations with a few of the Shardform foragers indicate that this is normal. Pupal casings from the Swamp all look like they're from ordinary Maggots, though they often get deformed or shredded at some indeterminate point in the process. Since none of the Shardforms have actually seen one of these metamorphoses up close, they don't have much more information to provide.
Gral sweeps the Pinions back and forth. They scythe through the stalks of Omni-Grain, clearing a narrow path for the Contractor to traverse. The plants grow almost as quickly as it can cut them down, but the vulture still makes steady progress through the Wetlands. It continues walking until it reaches the edges of the Wetlands, which the Life Machine recently drained of vitality. Some patches of wheat still grow here, against all the odds, but they're not dense enough to prevent Gral from taking off. It flaps its wings, revelling in the sense of weightlessness that it has been experiencing since transferring its ailments to Aton.
It flies until it comes to the Shifting Bog. The name is a bit of a misnomer now, since the swamp seems entirely devoid of life. The dunes stopped moving as soon as the sand died, and the Steel Maggots who live here are nowhere to be seen. Gral curls up and allows itself to fall asleep, where the mystical power of the Bargain surges through its dreams. The Contractor revels in it. It is a simple matter to become one with the universe's overarching Contract. The experience is so intoxicating that Gral barely notices the sharp pains its body is experiencing out in the real world.
The Eight-talons recruit a number of new disciples from the Spiderlings of the Web. Their charges are eager to take their revenge on the people that killed Nazir. Occasionally they're so eager that trainees start getting hurt. Some of the Buzzards cackle in sadistic glee as overenthusiastic Spiderlings end up crippling each other with their Pinions.
East continues to educate the Groundlings. It discovers that they have a natural affinity for earth and soil, including an almost imperceptibly slight ability to control dirt using the forces that shape their bodies. None of them have done anything of note yet, but under the Merchant's tutelage they're gradually coming into their own.
North takes a squad of Ironwinged over to the Wetlands, which at this point are almost entirely carpeted with grain. While there's no shortage of plant matter for them to harvest, normal agricultural techniques don't work at all when the crops grow fast enough to entomb someone. Their procedure boils down to cutting away at the edges of the field and running if a situation looks dangerous.
Hynsyr begins to practice using his spears. Taking the time to train with both the Twelve Armed and Hundred Armed form.
4
Hynsyr envisions an army of Demons standing against him. They dart at him with their imaginary claws, baying for his blood. He shifts to his Hundred-Armed form, materializing a long spear in each of the body's hundred hands. The limbs swing back so that they can gather momentum, then thrust forwards as one. The Titan throws every single spear at once, without bothering to aim. A wall of sharp points flies forwards, straight through the demons' theoretical positions. Hynsyr visualises them piercing sand, injuring or killing the entirety of the enemy host in one fell swoop.
A few of the flying demons might have been high enough to avoid the spears. Hynsyr can almost see them diving down at him, teeth outstretched in anticipation of tearing through his flesh. He shifts out of the hundred arm-form fluidly, using the diminished size of his body to slip through their offensive. When the creatures are at his back, he conjures up another twelve spears and whirls them. Imagined plumes of Nothingness disperse into the atmosphere as their spirits dissolve. A few stragglers are probably left, though. he shifts into his larger body again to that he can trample them underfoot, whilst using another set of spears to guard his flanks. The mock fight ends when he sweeps a spearpoint through the last living demon's throat.
While it's difficult to tell whether a real battle would have followed the same path, the practice session still taught Hynsyr some valuable lessons. He's worked out how to flip between his forms in the midst of a battle, to take advantage of their unique strengths while covering for whatever weaknesses might exist. It's also given him a chance to get used to having an infinite supply of spears. It occurs to him that it would actually be feasible for the hundred-armed form to keep up a constant bombardment, if he can get his hands working in the right rhythm. Hynsyr spends another few minutes perfecting the technique.
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover
-Regent of the Tower
-Spidersilk net.
-Improvised glass tools.
-Glass automaton
-Perpetual-motion bus
-Vial of Einyar
-Red Liquor
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror
-Catatonia
-Rain-Maker
--------------------------------
Ira, the World-Eater
-Empty
-Woven together
-Debt: Gral: Two Favors Owed
-Minor burns
--------------------------------
Gral, the Contractor
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings
-Contract: Ira: Two Favors
-Pinion Blades
--------------------------------
AJAMA, the Demiurge
-Ooze-born Body
-Ooze-born Spheres
-Sphere of Darkness
--------------------------------
Hynsyr, the Titan
-Hundred Armed Form
-Knowledge of Essence
-Edge of Infinity
-Spearmaster
-100 spears of light
--------------------------------
Ashe, the Collector
-Brass feathers (underwater).
-Glass trinkets
--------------------------------
Meruem, the Spawner
-Flawed essence bladder
-Infused with Nothingness
-Firstborn
--------------------------------
Aton, the Herder
-Radiant
--------------------------------
Zeristia, the Gardener
--------------------------------
Amon
Bestiary:
Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
--Obsidian Archdemon: An obsidian dragon crafted by the Empty itself. It was granted the power to manipulate nothingness.
Fragments of Emptiness: Spirits made from the scattered pieces of ALTHERTH. They were driven out of the sand when Ira consumed the absent heart.
Apollyon: A Fragment which usurped AJAMA’s original body and converted it into Nothingness.
--Absent Ooze: A Nonexistent strain of Black Ooze that Apollyon can produce. Other Fragments often use it to create makeshift bodies.
Shardforms: Obsidian creatures which absorbed the Empty's already-incomplete consciousness. The broken pieces of ALTERTH's identity they possess give them animalistic intelligence.
--Awakened Shardforms: A herd of Sharforms who were granted sapience by Gral. They’ve agreed to provide the Sliken Nest with raw materials in return for goods.
Steel Maggots: Metallic larvae which Gral accidentally created while trying to make avian Emissaries. After they were pulled off of the vulture, few escaped into the desert, where they accepted Gral's peace terms and moved into the shifting bog.
Steel Grubs: Steel maggots that have been bound with Pact-collars and transformed into livestock. They have grown larger than their sapient kin, but are unintelligent and largely peaceful.
Brass Buzzards: Brass birds crafted from Gral's feathers. They are infused with the pain it felt while creating them.
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
--Dustwalkers: A Spiderling subspecies which can feed on sand as well as light. They live on the sand and fight an asymmetrical war against it for survival.
--Ironwinged: Defeated Spiderlings who made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service, and have built a nest on one of the new stars. They were later granted the ability to weave metal.
--Ancestors: Aetherweavers who have achieved immortality by becoming spirits bound to the great web. They are incorporeal, and their astral bodies make it easier for them to manipulate aether.
--Scarred Spiderlings: Spiderlings who have gained great strength and endurance because of their mistreatment by the Brass Buzzards. They built a market but have mixed feelings about Gral and his servants.
--Sentinels: A army of biologically and magically augmented Spiderlings, created by elite Aetherweavers with Nazir's guidance. They serve the Spider Demigods, and stand ready to protect the Web alongside them.
Primelings: Ten entities created by Nazir and a group of the most powerful Aetherweavers. They watch over the Web in Nazir's stead, but are weakened by flaws in their weaving.
--Ekhor: A proud warrior who wears a larger variant of Sentinel Plate. He was nearly killed in the War of Sands.
--Sekhmet: A Primeling with flaws in the Weavings that form her mind. Despite being a brilliant tactician, her behavior is consistently very odd.
Merchants: Four steel vultures made from Gral’s essence. They are capable of using the Bargain.
Lightfolk: A species of humanoid mortals born from Hynsyr's golden light. Their powers of creation threaten to overwhelm their bodies, causing their inner light to warp chaotically. Many have begun to train so that they can gain more control over this ability.
--Prismatics: Seven lightfolk which glow brighter than the rest. They were hewn from the rainbow light of Hynsyr's eyes.
Deer-Men: A humanoid race with the heads of deer. Dr. Bob originally crafted them from the silk of Nazir's web. They were granted superior dexterity through a contract with Gral.
Three-Headed Worm: A juvenile sandworm created by Ira to serve the Dustwalkers.
Crops: Hemp, potato, corn, and bean plants created by Dr. Bob.
Suspicious Mushrooms: Mushrooms that sprouted in the Glass Tower after Dr. Bob’s disastrous attempts at brewing alcohol. They spawn clouds of hallucinogenic spores.
Fish: A school of colorful fish that swam straight out of Ashe’s dream. They wander through the rivers and lakes of the Wetlands.
Omni-Grain: A type of wheat designed to provide nourishment to every species. It grows explosively in the vitality-rich water of the Wetlands.
Deer Demons: Three deer-men whose bodies and minds were twisted by a botched healing. They have an unnaturally fast healing factor and limited control over other aspects of their physiology.
Atlas:
The Living Sands: ALTERTH once awakened the desert and allowed it to consume him. For a time his creation was infinite, but now most of the sand has died. The few surviving pieces are a shadow of what they once were.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
--New Stars: A second set that isn't accessible through the Great Web. Fortunately, that means they can't be blotted out by Spiderlings.
--Negative Star: A black sphere which radiates darkness, created by AJAMA after Gyaweft's death.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
--Silken Nest: A new star that the winged spiderlings have claimed as a nest. It can only be reached by gliding or descending on strands of silk.
--Tapestries: Libraries of spells and other knotwork which have been woven together and hung from the great web. Some have begun to collect aetheric cobwebs.
--Market of Scars: A grand market built by the Scarred Spiderlings in exchange for their resilience. The Ironwinged sell metal equipment there.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. When the sand was alive, islands in the bog constantly formed and dissolved. It has been tainted with Nazir's venom.
Glass Tower: A tower made of glass, raised from the sands by Gyaweft. It extends upwards through the web, tall enough that its upper floors reach the stars.
--Moat: The Tower is surrounded by a lake. Only one thin bridge connects it to the rest of the sand.
--Sandcastles: A series of elaborate sandcastles built around the moat. They were crafted so masterfully that they won’t dissolve in rain. Ashe later added an incredibly detailed sand city of her own.
--Garden: An irrigated garden containing several different types of crops.
--Laboratory: A room furnished with chemistry equipment and various glass containers.
Light Spires: A glowing city made by the Lightfolk using their creation magic.
--Temple of Yig: A golden temple which houses Yig, the First Tribute. It is an intricately-carved cathedral with walls made from an aurora.
Einyar: A sea of golden light drawn from Hynsyr's aura. It preserves the spirits of the Lightfolk after death, so that the cycle may advance.
Bone Fortress: A giant tree grown from one of Ira's teeth, and given to the Dustwalkers as a gift. It has become a large fortress.
Glass Crater: When Gyaweft flew his Sunship into the ground, it melted a wide swathe of the sand into glass. Fiery essence spilled from the ship still burns here, and sealed fault lines radiate from the impact site.
--Smelter's Grave: The center of the crater. Gyaweft's corpse lies here, alongside the molten remains of his Sunship.
Wetlands: Areas of the sand and the Great Web which Kuhaku continuously showers with water. The rain is heavy enough to form rivers and lakes.
--Abandoned Nests: A nesting ground that was briefly occupied by the Brass Buzzards. It is strewn with metal feathers and bloody talon-prints.
Canal: A shallow canal that Ira dug to fulfill one of her favors to Gral. It was meant to channel water from the Wetlands to various other parts of the world, but it overflowed and flooded the Glass Tower instead.
Knowledge:
Knot-Writing: A written language Nazir formulated so that Aetherweavers could record their spells. It involves weaving complex knots into silk, and therefore comes intuitively to Spiderlings but is almost impossible for anyone else to comprehend.
Bargainer's Tongue: A simplified version of knot-script which can be etched into a flat surface rather than woven into silk. It is comprehensible to non-Spiderlings, but not as intuitive.
English: A written script based on twenty-six letters and a few punctuation symbols. It was introduced by Dr. Bob and is primarily used by the Deer-Men.
Metalworking: Blacksmithing techniques that are typically available to the Ironwinged. They can be used to weave metal objects.
Aetherweaving: A magical discipline which involves spinning spiritual webs. It was taught to the Spiderlings by Nazir and is available to the Tribes, the Primelings, and any other arachnid capable of making silk.
Lightforging: Creation magic unique to the Lightfolk. It is a powerful but chaotic ability which can be used to make solid-light constructs out of one's own aura. More advanced techniques allow practitioners to create complex materials such as metal or wood.
Eight-Talon Way: A powerful martial art created by the Brass Buzzards. It is purely offensive in nature, but consists of strikes so lethal that defense isn’t usually necessary.
Agriculture: Farming is only feasible in the wetlands, but plants watered by Kuhaku’s rain grow quickly. The Deer-Men have been taught to cultivate and use several kinds of crops.
Prayer: A technique which allows Lightfolk to tap into their connections with Yig and Einyar. The Prismatics have learned how to use it to communicate with Hynsyr.
Photosynthesis Enchantments: A personal enhancement Weaving developed by the Ironwinged. It increases the amount of energy that Spiderlings can absorb from light.
Platonic Glyphs: Symbols that telepathically insert concepts into the reader’s mind. Writing with them requires some form of magical power, but they can be understood by anyone willing to endure mental strain.
The Inheritance: A magical message that Nazir sent to his children from beyond the veil. It included incomplete blueprints for several different marvels of Aetheric technology.
Items:
Seven Rainbow Spears: Weapons Hynsyr forged from a rogue splinter of his soul and gave to the Prismatics. They amplify their wielders' magic immensely, and provide slightly more control over their powers of creation.
Black Ooze: A patch of black goo created by AJAMA which can grow by absorbing sand. A column of ooze goes deep beneath the earth, where it breached a reservoir of Emptiness.
--Chaos Ooze: Blobs of ooze which have accidentally been made to assimilate a variety of substances and concepts. They were later sealed away.
--Silence Ooze: A strain of chaos ooze that can feed on silence. AJAMA transplanted some of it to the empty desert, where it has grown rapidly.
--Crusted Ooze: Semisolid ooze variants which have been hardened by intense pressure. They take slightly longer to grow as a result of their density.
Pact-Arms: Metal weapons, armor, and tools which can compel their wielders to carry out tasks for the Winged Spiderlings. Most are in the possession of Spiderlings on the Web.
Tribute Tokens: A currency minted by the Ironwinged and infused with the power of the Bargain. They see light use in the Great Web but are not considered especially valuable, so most of the economy still relies upon bartering.
Sentinel Plate: Magical armor developed for use by the Sentinels. It can drain the force of attacks and release it in the form of telekinetic blasts.
Life Machine: A machitech device that can be used to shunt vitality from one area to another. Additional upgrades gave it the ability to drain life from sand, which a Merchant used to create a patch of fertile soil around the machine.
Smelter’s Plate: A suit of metal armor that was once part of Gyaweft’s body. After his death, it was claimed by a Shardform called Awake.
Dawn Axehead: An axehead that Gywaeft made from the remains of his Sunship. It was meant to split the world into pieces, but the Smelter bled out before he could complete the shaft.
Factions:
Spiderling Tribes: Prominent groups of Spiderlings, mostly organized by subspecies. The are scattered across the Web, the stars, and the sand.
--Order of Strands: The first Spiderlings to learn the art of Aetherweaving. Many have strained their minds and bodies to hone their abilities, making them feeble despite their mystical strength.
High Council of the Web: The governing body of the Great Web. It consists of delegates from each of the tribes, as well as one Primeling. Most meetings take place in Nazir's nest at the top of the Web.
Lifeweavers: A group of Ancestors who helped Nazir create the Primelings and Sentinels.
Warpriests: A Lightfolk religious order which protects Einyar, the Temple of Yig, and the Light Spires themselves.
Ministry of Light: Civil servants appointed by Hynsyr to oversee the Light Spires. The seven Prismatics were installed as founding members.
Scrap-Ranches: Homesteads manned by Ironwinged and awakened Shardforms. They produce metal by farming Steel Grubs and shearing excess material off of their body.
The Lost: Fragments of Nothingness that chose to follow AJAMA rather than the Archdemon. Their new purpose is to create, collect, and preserve knowledge.
"Sun! Suuuuun!"
Zeristia dances happily under the Armor's Glorious Rays. All ten of her eyes watch it climb into the air, transfixed.
"Praise! Light! Sunlight! P-PRAISE! PRAISE THE SUN!"
PRAISE IT MOTHERFUCKER.
...
A few minutes pass. Zeristia seems to break out of her trance. She considers seeding her new garden, yet-
"Hmmmmmmm."
Something is missing. Oh yes.
"Water! Water for babies! Drink! Yes!"
Find a water source with which to irrigate the battlefield!
5
Zeristia basks under the light of the sun. She watches as its luminescence flows out into the world, heating the sands and nourishing what few plants exist. After several minutes there is an even brighter flash of light overhead. A beam of white energy rises from somewhere in the desert and lands directly on the Armor's chestplate, causing the entire armor to warp in shape. Zeristia slits her eyes to get a better look. Two metallic horns have grown out of the helm. It also looks like the boots have become rounder and heavier, though details are difficult to make out.
She turns her gaze back to the ground. The desert has plenty of space for plants to grow, but it's also completely dry. The most abundant source of water is up north, where a mirrored sphere hanging above the web produces continuous rainfall. The Wetlands are filled with all kinds of rivers, lakes, and reservoirs, including a half-finished canal that causes flooding near a tower made of glass. To Zeristia's delight, the entire place is already green with life. Various crops grow around the tower, while the rest of the wetlands are buried under fields of a strange golden grain.
The Shifting Bog is also a potential water source. Its waters are deathly poisonous, polluted with mud and primeval venom. There are no plants there, and only the hardiest of fauna can survive. The Gardener sees metallic larvae slithering underneath the swamp. Some of them are biting at a metallic vulture that is easily a hundred times their size.
Ira hunts for more of the sands remnants
6 v 4
Ira shakes herself free of the nightmare and tunnels deep into the earth. She goes farther downwards than she's ever gone before, until the darkness is complete and the surface is a mere memory of a dream. She can sense nothing except the lifeless sand rasping against her body, and perhaps the sound of her own ragged breathing as she slithers through the earth. If not for the vague sense of gravity pressing down on her, Ira could believe that she was suspended in an empty void. She burrows outwards in ever-widening circles, searching for Remnants of the sand that she knows must lurk here.
An indeterminate amount of time passes. Ira has no way to measure it, so it could be hours or days. She hears a faint scratching sound coming from the sand to her right. Sharp pieces of stone brush up against her body, so close that they actually slice through the outer layers of her skin. The sandworm pivots around so that she doesn't get impaled, then dives towards the Remnant that just attacked her. Both dead and living sand floods into her open mouth. Some of it tries to stay there and choke her, but she shakes her head until the clump of sand-creature gets dislodged. A hard lump slithers down her esophagus and deposits itself in her stomach.
When her surroundings are silent again, Ira strains her ears for other Remnants. She hears muffled echoes of scratching, so faint that they must be coming to her from a vast distance. The World-Eater counts at least fifteen of them, judging by slight differences in the sounds' position or rhythm. The noises are slowly but steadily coming closer, closing in on Ira from every direction. Whenever two meet their sounds join together and become louder, as if more sand is being displaced.
Interresing. Now for the last part of his plan, modify the Vespas and make sure they can breed with each other and any future Vespas, except Royal ones like him and his firstborn. Then eat some of the sand, and make a new breed of offspring, with jaws capable of cutting through stone and legs to dig through sand, They'll be the builders of the nest, the Earth Vespas.
2
Meruem takes a closer look at the fire Vespas' bodies. It isn't entirely clear how their biology works, especially once he factors in the literal fire burning in their tails, but it looks like they have the all the organs they'd need to breed. The female ones all have wombs, which are interconnected with their essence in a way that the Spawner doesn't fully understand. The males have something that looks a bit similar, or at least similar enough for him to get the idea. He concludes that it's probably best to leave well enough alone.
Having addressed the reproduction issue, Meruem scoops up massive handfuls of sand and shoves them into his mouth. While the mechanics are more or less the same, consuming the fire of the Crater felt radically different. The essence was glorious, incandescent power without any physical form. The sand is matter with just the slightest bit of spirit attached. It tastes dead to Meruem, as if he's actually eating an animal's rotten carcass. Nothing about it is actually that bad, but he still finds himself vomiting it back up before he's gotten the chance to make any offspring. It flops to the ground alongside some of his own digestive juices.
My very own Sun! This power is perfect for the situation! Use the miniature star and imbue the Smelter's Armor with it's radiant power, combining them into a gloriously incandescent and absolutely magnificent Sun for the entire world!
4
Aton coils his willpower around the miniature sun. Its power loops back in on itself, cascading down from the Bulls hors and into the parts of his flesh that haven't yet been transformed. It seeps into his head, and a large patch of his fur becomes brilliant gold. The energy continues to build up, like white fire in Aton's skull, and when it reaches his brain he understands what he must do. The Herder opens his mouth and allows the power of his sun to escape from it, jetting through the sky as a blindingly bright beam. It collides with the sun, merging together with a flash. The armor shifts. Metallic horns grow from the sides of the helm, and the bottoms of its boots twist until they resemble a bull's hooves.
More of its light washes over Aton. This time the sun has thoughts, which it sends bouncing through Aton's mind. It wants to link itself to the Herder, to illuminate him with its radiance and fill him with the luminous power that it has discovered. The patch of golden fur that surrounds his head creeps downwards, encompassing his neck and the tops of his shoulders as well. Aton's essence twitches, only partially resisting the sun's energies.
"Who's the floating ball, why did it bring its friends with it, why did wall us in, and why did it let the deer demon things follow it? You know what it doesn't matter I got stuff to do."
Try to burn the mushrooms away, if that fails wrap my lab coat around my face and go into the tower and grab as much glass as I can then get out and wash everything off including my self, then finish off the trucks and trailers while making sure the important stuff is glass (Important stuff being engine, chassis, wheels, and tanker) then load up every thing that was gathered into the respective trailers.
1 , 6
Dr. Bob spares a moment to examine the wall of ooze that has grown around the tower. It seems to have been created by a ball of similar ooze, which is currently holding smaller Nothing-oozes on a platform made from crusted-over ooze. Parts of the barrier ripple as deer-demons, led here by that selfsame ooze-ball, try to rip their way inside. It takes another full moment for the full implications of their presence to sink in. The demons could break in any minute now, so Dr. Bob yells a warning to the Deer-Men and runs towards the floor of the tower that houses his laboratory.
The mushrooms are sparse at the base of the tower, but as he approaches the floors that were occupied by Deer-Men the patches of fungi become more dense. Three floors below the lab, at the point where Bob originally smashes his way into the building, the entire ground is covered in toadstools and spores. Dr. Bob pulls his fingernails across the wall. Sparks jump away from his hand and fall to the ground, where they set the mushrooms on fire. The entire room goes up at once, as if someone had covered the place in gasoline. thermal currents push up an entire cloud of spores. Dr. Bob doesn't shove his face into his lab coat quickly enough to avoid them.
He can suddenly hear voices coming from the flames, calling out to him in booming tones that shake the earth. Some scream at him and demand his blood, while others shout strange mandates out into the aether or beg for him to use his powers of creation. Bob ignores them and does his best to stumble through the room. Fire burns through his shoes and then scorches his flesh, even as he climbs up the next three flights of stairs. Mushrooms, spores, and fires are everywhere. So are pieces of glass equipment, which Dr. Bob bundles up in a hemp bag. He can see butterflies folding themselves around the stars by the time he's done.
"I will explain later"
Take bits of the crusted ooze and throw them at the dear-demons, have Apollyon and the rest of the fragments help by throwing things from the top of the wall.
AJAMA: 1 & Fragments: 2 & Apollyon: 3 vs. Deer-Demons: 6
AJAMA peels away pieces of the crusted ooze and throws them at the Deer-Demons. One dodges the projectiles by diving back into the wall, which slow down a chunk of crust that was flying towards its head. The other two don't bother to move. Splintered pieces of ooze plow into limbs and torsos, breaking their bones and even piercing their organs. The demons don't seem to mind. They continue pushing their way through the barrier while their bodies regenerate, as if they hadn't been injured at all. It takes only thirty seconds or so for the last scar to erase itself.
The black sphere is so startled that it doesn't realize it removed important parts of the ooze-platform. Fragments rush to fill the gaps, mostly with their own bodies, but they aren't strong enough to hold the structure together. More pieces flake off, this time carrying some Non-ooze down with them. Fragments' bodies splatter across the sand, temporarily disrupted by the force of the impact. When it becomes clear that the platform is going to disintegrate, Apollyon levitates the rest of AJAMA's followers to the ground.
Three massive bulges form in the barrier as the Demons finally begin to break through. One of those bulges strains to the breaking point, causing a single black paw to emerge from the surface of the wall. It digs into the sand and uses the leverage to pull the rest of an arm out, and then a snarling black head. AJAMA gets an unpleasantly close view of the deer-demon's barbed antlers.
Propose to council firstly focusing on restoring web military potential : implementing military focused blueprints, replenishing sentinel legions and construction of godsbane : system of mirrors spread out across the web capable of reflecting light and weaved spells into one focusing lense for making ray capable of ending primordials or wiping out cities to keep great web safe
Parun brings the council to order. The crowd of oversevers slowly quiets down, until their murmurings are background noise rather than an all-consuming roar. Even from his place in the center of the gathering, Amon can see that the Spiderlings are still anxious. They perceived Nazir as a universal constant, a cosmic being who would teach them and watch over them until the end of their lives. Now, after his death, they're mostly just looking for some kind of stability, or even for someone to tell them what to do. The Primelings do their best to assuage them.
Amon is the first to speak before the Council. His proposal revolves around the military capabilities of the web, which have been reduced dramatically by the loss of six Primelings and seven legions. The first and most obvious course of action is to replenish the Web's troops, which can be accomplished by treating the wounded and raising more Sentinels from the broader population. Amon also asks Aetherweavers to focus their efforts on decoding the weapon and vehicle blueprints that Nazir sent after his death, but the final part of his proposal is the most significant. He presents blueprints for the Godsbane, a series of mirrors and lenses that can scorch the mortal world using the full power of the sun.
It is an ambitious project, particularly after the loss of a Primordials' powers of creation. The representatives of the tribes consider the prospect of making a deal with Gral, or perhaps of redirecting the Spiderlings who are currently working on the Inheritance to this new project. A few support Amon's more mundane proposals, but oppose this one due to its massive scope. Still, most like the concept of the Godsbane, if not the cost of its construction. Parun and his legion are among the few exceptions. Amon's brother seems horrified by the idea of this superweapon, though he hasn't publicly said anything against it.
Hynsyr takes a break from his martial training to once again focus inwards. Instead meditating upon soul and growing his ability to safely manipulate it.
5
Hynsyr calms his mind, abandoning each of the hundred lines of thought he used to control his spears. His unified mind sinks deeper, past the muscle and sinew of his physical form. It descends past the bonds that tie Hynsyr to his creations, weathers the golden storm of essence that surrounds his heart, and sinks into the most fundamental part of his being. The soul rests there, eternally entwined with the Titan's identity. He reaches for it with one imaginary hand, through essence that burns away flesh and an icy void that scours his mental bones. For a fleeting moment he brushes past something else. Its power overwhelms him and draws him inwards. The soul tumbles through itself. Eternity passes in an eyeblink.
Time becomes meaningless. The soul sees the beginning and end of the world laid out before it, as if frozen in crystal. It sees the place where the sand ends, crumbling outwards into nonexistence more absolute than Nothing itself. The entirety of existence is there, endlessly vast and infinitely long. The soul stands apart from it. It is a kernel of reality more real than the rest, impervious to the passage of time and the whims of living creatures. It surrounds itself in flesh and calls itself Hynsyr, but in reality the primordial is a mere extension of its will. The soul is an indefinite, latent force that will persist long after he is gone.
The moment passes. Hynsyr's senses collapse in on themselves, limiting his awareness to a single point in time and space. He opens his eyes. Absolutely nothing has changed. The sand beneath his feet is thoroughly solid, the world is vast, and the stars overhead are just as bright as they were before. Only the underpinnings of his existence feels less solid. They're more flexible than they were, more willing to bend at the edges. Hynsyr experimentally conjures a thousand spears of light. They appear instantly, ten in each hand, without any need to focus his mind or segment his consciousness.
Awaken, and fly to the one that requests my presence. .
Have North begin researching the techniques required to make steel. Any and all researchers, allied tribes, and other Ironwinged on the Web are relieved, should they wish to attend the meeting. Ultimately, stability, not force, should be a first priority.
East should continue educating the Groundlings, taking note of any that seem to have a better grasp of this manipulation than others. These gifted individuals should establish a school, in which the skill can be honed, and made more tangible.
North: 3 & Ironweavers: 6
East: 5
The Merchant of the North relieves several researchers and Ironwinged who want to watch the Council. Most of the contracted researchers don't belong to a tribe, which means that they end up in the audience. The Winged cluster around the rest of Gral's delegation, at the outer edge of the meeting. Their representative is one of only a few who vote against Amon's proposal. They're vastly outnumbered by the militants, although it's still unclear whether the Godsbane motion will receive enough votes to pass. Most delegates' concerns center around the weapon's practicality rather than its ethical or diplomatic implications.
Meanwhile, North rounds up the remaining Ironweavers and has them produce several bales of metal thread. The Merchant floods each strand with the power of the Bargain, reinforcing raw iron with pacts of strength and inviolability, but the enchantments remain relatively weak. While they do increase the overall strength of the metal, its composition remain the same. The ironweavers have slightly more success. They use a self-modification weaving to enhance their own physiologies. Alterations to their weaving abilities make them capable of spinning solid steel.
At East's behest, some of the Groundlings work to improve their terrakinesis. While the raw power of their ability doesn't expand very much, experienced practitioners find that they can increase the precision of their control to a startling degree. It's possible for them to coat their bodies in regenerative armor plating made of dirt, or to sculpt incredibly thin needles from sand and grit. East instructs them to teach these techniques to the less proficient Groundlings.
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover
-Regent of the Tower
-Spidersilk net.
-Improvised glass tools.
-Glass automaton
-Perpetual-motion bus
-Vial of Einyar
-Red Liquor
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror
-Catatonia
-Rain-Maker
--------------------------------
Ira, the World-Eater
-Empty
-Woven together
-Debt: Gral: Two Favors Owed
-Minor burns
--------------------------------
Gral, the Contractor
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings
-Contract: Ira: Two Favors
-Pinion Blades
--------------------------------
AJAMA, the Demiurge
-Ooze-born Body
-Ooze-born Spheres
-Sphere of Darkness
--------------------------------
Hynsyr, the Titan
-Transcendent
-Hundred Armed Form
-Edge of Infinity
-Spearmaster
-1000 spears of light
--------------------------------
Ashe, the Collector
-Brass feathers (underwater).
-Glass trinkets
--------------------------------
Meruem, the Spawner
-Flawed essence bladder
-Infused with Nothingness
-Firstborn
--------------------------------
Aton, the Herder
-Radiant
--------------------------------
Zeristia, the Gardener
--------------------------------
Amon
Bestiary:
Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
--Obsidian Archdemon: An obsidian dragon crafted by the Empty itself. It was granted the power to manipulate nothingness.
Fragments of Emptiness: Spirits made from the scattered pieces of ALTHERTH. They were driven out of the sand when Ira consumed the absent heart.
Apollyon: A Fragment which usurped AJAMA’s original body and converted it into Nothingness.
--Absent Ooze: A Nonexistent strain of Black Ooze that Apollyon can produce. Other Fragments often use it to create makeshift bodies.
Shardforms: Obsidian creatures which absorbed the Empty's already-incomplete consciousness. The broken pieces of ALTERTH's identity they possess give them animalistic intelligence.
--Awakened Shardforms: A herd of Sharforms who were granted sapience by Gral. They’ve agreed to provide the Silken Nest with raw materials in return for goods.
Steel Maggots: Metallic larvae which Gral accidentally created while trying to make avian Emissaries. After they were pulled off of the vulture, few escaped into the desert, where they accepted Gral's peace terms and moved into the shifting bog.
Steel Grubs: Steel maggots that have been bound with Pact-collars and transformed into livestock. They have grown larger than their sapient kin, but are unintelligent and largely peaceful.
Brass Buzzards: Brass birds crafted from Gral's feathers. They are infused with the pain it felt while creating them.
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
--Dustwalkers: A Spiderling subspecies which can feed on sand as well as light. They live on the sand and fight an asymmetrical war against it for survival.
--Ironwinged: Defeated Spiderlings who made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service, and have built a nest on one of the new stars. They were later granted the ability to weave metal.
--Ancestors: Aetherweavers who have achieved immortality by becoming spirits bound to the great web. They are incorporeal, and their astral bodies make it easier for them to manipulate aether.
--Scarred Spiderlings: Spiderlings who have gained great strength and endurance because of their mistreatment by the Brass Buzzards. They built a market but have mixed feelings about Gral and his servants.
--Sentinels: A army of biologically and magically augmented Spiderlings, created by elite Aetherweavers with Nazir's guidance. They serve the Spider Demigods, and stand ready to protect the Web alongside them.
Primelings: Ten entities created by Nazir and a group of the most powerful Aetherweavers. They watch over the Web in Nazir's stead, but are weakened by flaws in their weaving.
--Ekhor: A proud warrior who wears a larger variant of Sentinel Plate. He was nearly killed in the War of Sands.
--Sekhmet: A Primeling with flaws in the Weavings that form her mind. Despite being a brilliant tactician, her behavior is consistently very odd.
Merchants: Four steel vultures made from Gral’s essence. They are capable of using the Bargain.
Lightfolk: A species of humanoid mortals born from Hynsyr's golden light. Their powers of creation threaten to overwhelm their bodies, causing their inner light to warp chaotically. Many have begun to train so that they can gain more control over this ability.
--Prismatics: Seven lightfolk which glow brighter than the rest. They were hewn from the rainbow light of Hynsyr's eyes.
Deer-Men: A humanoid race with the heads of deer. Dr. Bob originally crafted them from the silk of Nazir's web. They were granted superior dexterity through a contract with Gral.
Three-Headed Worm: A juvenile sandworm created by Ira to serve the Dustwalkers.
Crops: Hemp, potato, corn, and bean plants created by Dr. Bob.
Suspicious Mushrooms: Mushrooms that sprouted in the Glass Tower after Dr. Bob’s disastrous attempts at brewing alcohol. They spawn clouds of hallucinogenic spores.
Fish: A school of colorful fish that swam straight out of Ashe’s dream. They wander through the rivers and lakes of the Wetlands.
Omni-Grain: A type of wheat designed to provide nourishment to every species. It grows explosively in the vitality-rich water of the Wetlands.
Deer Demons: Three deer-men whose bodies and minds were twisted by a botched healing. They have an unnaturally fast healing factor and limited control over other aspects of their physiology.
Atlas:
The Living Sands: ALTERTH once awakened the desert and allowed it to consume him. For a time his creation was infinite, but now most of the sand has died. The few surviving pieces are a shadow of what they once were.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
--New Stars: A second set that isn't accessible through the Great Web. Fortunately, that means they can't be blotted out by Spiderlings.
--Negative Star: A black sphere which radiates darkness, created by AJAMA after Gyaweft's death.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
--Silken Nest: A new star that the winged spiderlings have claimed as a nest. It can only be reached by gliding or descending on strands of silk.
--Tapestries: Libraries of spells and other knotwork which have been woven together and hung from the great web. Some have begun to collect aetheric cobwebs.
--Market of Scars: A grand market built by the Scarred Spiderlings in exchange for their resilience. The Ironwinged sell metal equipment there.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. When the sand was alive, islands in the bog constantly formed and dissolved. It has been tainted with Nazir's venom.
Glass Tower: A tower made of glass, raised from the sands by Gyaweft. It extends upwards through the web, tall enough that its upper floors reach the stars.
--Moat: The Tower is surrounded by a lake. Only one thin bridge connects it to the rest of the sand.
--Sandcastles: A series of elaborate sandcastles built around the moat. They were crafted so masterfully that they won’t dissolve in rain. Ashe later added an incredibly detailed sand city of her own.
--Garden: An irrigated garden containing several different types of crops.
--Laboratory: A room furnished with chemistry equipment and various glass containers.
Light Spires: A glowing city made by the Lightfolk using their creation magic.
--Temple of Yig: A golden temple which houses Yig, the First Tribute. It is an intricately-carved cathedral with walls made from an aurora.
Einyar: A sea of golden light drawn from Hynsyr's aura. It preserves the spirits of the Lightfolk after death, so that the cycle may advance.
Bone Fortress: A giant tree grown from one of Ira's teeth, and given to the Dustwalkers as a gift. It has become a large fortress.
Glass Crater: When Gyaweft flew his Sunship into the ground, it melted a wide swathe of the sand into glass. Fiery essence spilled from the ship still burns here, and sealed fault lines radiate from the impact site.
--Smelter's Grave: The center of the crater. Gyaweft's corpse lies here, alongside the molten remains of his Sunship.
Wetlands: Areas of the sand and the Great Web which Kuhaku continuously showers with water. The rain is heavy enough to form rivers and lakes.
--Abandoned Nests: A nesting ground that was briefly occupied by the Brass Buzzards. It is strewn with metal feathers and bloody talon-prints.
Canal: A shallow canal that Ira dug to fulfill one of her favors to Gral. It was meant to channel water from the Wetlands to various other parts of the world, but it overflowed and flooded the Glass Tower instead.
Knowledge:
Knot-Writing: A written language Nazir formulated so that Aetherweavers could record their spells. It involves weaving complex knots into silk, and therefore comes intuitively to Spiderlings but is almost impossible for anyone else to comprehend.
Bargainer's Tongue: A simplified version of knot-script which can be etched into a flat surface rather than woven into silk. It is comprehensible to non-Spiderlings, but not as intuitive.
English: A written script based on twenty-six letters and a few punctuation symbols. It was introduced by Dr. Bob and is primarily used by the Deer-Men.
Metalworking: Blacksmithing techniques that are typically available to the Ironwinged. They can be used to weave metal objects.
Aetherweaving: A magical discipline which involves spinning spiritual webs. It was taught to the Spiderlings by Nazir and is available to the Tribes, the Primelings, and any other arachnid capable of making silk.
Lightforging: Creation magic unique to the Lightfolk. It is a powerful but chaotic ability which can be used to make solid-light constructs out of one's own aura. More advanced techniques allow practitioners to create complex materials such as metal or wood.
Eight-Talon Way: A powerful martial art created by the Brass Buzzards. It is purely offensive in nature, but consists of strikes so lethal that defense isn’t usually necessary.
Agriculture: Farming is only feasible in the wetlands, but plants watered by Kuhaku’s rain grow quickly. The Deer-Men have been taught to cultivate and use several kinds of crops.
Prayer: A technique which allows Lightfolk to tap into their connections with Yig and Einyar. The Prismatics have learned how to use it to communicate with Hynsyr.
Photosynthesis Enchantments: A personal enhancement Weaving developed by the Ironwinged. It increases the amount of energy that Spiderlings can absorb from light.
Platonic Glyphs: Symbols that telepathically insert concepts into the reader’s mind. Writing with them requires some form of magical power, but they can be understood by anyone willing to endure mental strain.
The Inheritance: A magical message that Nazir sent to his children from beyond the veil. It included incomplete blueprints for several different marvels of Aetheric technology.
Items:
Seven Rainbow Spears: Weapons Hynsyr forged from a rogue splinter of his soul and gave to the Prismatics. They amplify their wielders' magic immensely, and provide slightly more control over their powers of creation.
Black Ooze: A patch of black goo created by AJAMA which can grow by absorbing sand. A column of ooze goes deep beneath the earth, where it breached a reservoir of Emptiness.
--Chaos Ooze: Blobs of ooze which have accidentally been made to assimilate a variety of substances and concepts. They were later sealed away.
--Silence Ooze: A strain of chaos ooze that can feed on silence. AJAMA transplanted some of it to the empty desert, where it has grown rapidly.
--Crusted Ooze: Semisolid ooze variants which have been hardened by intense pressure. They take slightly longer to grow as a result of their density.
Pact-Arms: Metal weapons, armor, and tools which can compel their wielders to carry out tasks for the Winged Spiderlings. Most are in the possession of Spiderlings on the Web.
Tribute Tokens: A currency minted by the Ironwinged and infused with the power of the Bargain. They see light use in the Great Web but are not considered especially valuable, so most of the economy still relies upon bartering.
Sentinel Plate: Magical armor developed for use by the Sentinels. It can drain the force of attacks and release it in the form of telekinetic blasts.
Life Machine: A machitech device that can be used to shunt vitality from one area to another. Additional upgrades gave it the ability to drain life from sand, which a Merchant used to create a patch of fertile soil around the machine.
Smelter’s Plate: A suit of metal armor that was once part of Gyaweft’s body. After his death, it was claimed by a Shardform called Awake.
Dawn Axehead: An axehead that Gywaeft made from the remains of his Sunship. It was meant to split the world into pieces, but the Smelter bled out before he could complete the shaft.
Factions:
Spiderling Tribes: Prominent groups of Spiderlings, mostly organized by subspecies. The are scattered across the Web, the stars, and the sand.
--Order of Strands: The first Spiderlings to learn the art of Aetherweaving. Many have strained their minds and bodies to hone their abilities, making them feeble despite their mystical strength.
High Council of the Web: The governing body of the Great Web. It consists of delegates from each of the tribes, as well as one Primeling. Most meetings take place in Nazir's nest at the top of the Web.
Lifeweavers: A group of Ancestors who helped Nazir create the Primelings and Sentinels.
Warpriests: A Lightfolk religious order which protects Einyar, the Temple of Yig, and the Light Spires themselves.
Ministry of Light: Civil servants appointed by Hynsyr to oversee the Light Spires. The seven Prismatics were installed as founding members.
Scrap-Ranches: Homesteads manned by Ironwinged and awakened Shardforms. They produce metal by farming Steel Grubs and shearing excess material off of their body.
The Lost: Fragments of Nothingness that chose to follow AJAMA rather than the Archdemon. Their new purpose is to create, collect, and preserve knowledge.
While I gave a broad summary of Council proceedings, I didn't actually tally up the votes. That's a bit of a problem now that everyone is arguing over the results, so here's a brief summary of the positions held by major powers on the Web.
Most everyone is in favor of building the Web's military back up. The Ironwinged have some reservations, but Amon's plan will still pass unless there's some kind of major shift in the next turn or two. The Godsbane is more controversial. Currently the sides are tied, 2 for and 2 against, but many factions could be convinced to change their votes. The motion will pass if a majority of the representatives support it.
-Primelings & Sentinels: Contested. Amon is obviously supporting his own plan, but Parun is appalled. The unnamed Primeling doesn't have much personality yet, but if pressed they could theoretically tiebreak.
-Ironwinged: Staunchly against. Partially because of Gral's orders, but also because they have a vested interest in diplomacy and trade. The Godsbane would probably disrupt their operations.
-Dustwalkers: Tentatively against. They're allied with the Ironwinged, and also worry that the Godsbane could be used against them since the Bone Fortress is on the ground. That said, they like the idea of smiting demons and sand-creatures with concentrated sunlight.
-Scarred: Contested. They have no real presence on the surface and no great love for Gral, but they rely on steel equipment created by the Ironwinged and know that a giant light-focusing apparatus could be incredibly costly, especially if the Web ends up needing help from a Primordial.
-Order of Strands: For. While they'd have to divert their attention from studying the Inheritance, they would be thrilled to try designing a magical superweapon. They were also very loyal to Nazir, which means they're already mostly in favor of militarizing the Web.
-Spiderlings of the Web: A loose coalition of smaller tribes who represent the rest of Spiderkind. They're supporting the plan, although they've expressed concerns about the difficulty of creating something as large and powerful as the Godsbane.
Delegates of the web, I want to inform you, that this weapon is not in any way intended to be used against silken nest or bonefortress, since you are equal part of our race, and it is going to provide safety to bonefortress and silken web,aswell.
As for the trade, I am afraid, that if the great council would not posess such strength in its disposal, quite many would rather prefer to just take all your precious steel goods from you with force then to trade, implementation of this defensive system is quite likely to grant us peace and actually increase the trade.
As for the cost, it should not be that great, as majority of energy collectors, focus lenses and aiming prisms are made from glass, any weaver worth his silk can create glass by heating up the sand, and this whole damn world below is literally made from sand.
Parun and Unnamed one, until other primelings recover, and we dont know, if they would even recover from such horrific burns, there are just 3 of us and three legions to protect fate of our species, I hope, that you understand that situation is too dire to be solved with just words, in this same moment, as we speak, whole hostile species of maggots breed constantly willing to consume all we fought for.
Pop up to that arachnal conference and tell the cute spiderlings that giant superweapons are bad and lame and they had better not pervert the glorious sun's energies in this way or I'll beatchu up.
Then leave a pretty flower and scram.
A delicate little white flower. When given water and sunlight it sings a gentle song that puts one's mind at ease and can help heal sickness or injury.
We dont even want to mess with your own sun, we hav artificial stars of our own for this purpose.
Parun, this world respects only strength, and there are already disgusting creatures willing to put end to our species existance or to enslave us in chains of false worship, unless we will have strong enough mean of protecting ourself we will just be extinguished.
Have final vote and end the council meeting.
Speak to the web delegates, also try to figure out, if Sekhmet and Erkhar made it(also, was not Erkhar supposed to be transported to bonefortress for recovery after that battle with sand)
Delegates of the web, I want to inform you, that this weapon is not in any way intended to be used against silken nest or bonefortress, since you are equal part of our race, and it is going to provide safety to bonefortress and silken web,aswell.
As for the trade, I am afraid, that if the great council would not posess such strength in its disposal, quite many would rather prefer to just take all your precious steel goods from you with force then to trade, implementation of this defensive system is quite likely to grant us peace and actually increase the trade.
As for the cost, it should not be that great, as majority of energy collectors, focus lenses and aiming prisms are made from glass, any weaver worth his silk can create glass by heating up the sand, and this whole damn world below is literally made from sand.
Parun and Unnamed one, until other primelings recover, and we dont know, if they would even recover from such horrific burns, there are just 3 of us and three legions to protect fate of our species, I hope, that you understand that situation is too dire to be solved with just words, in this same moment, as we speak, whole hostile species of maggots breed constantly willing to consume all we fought for.
Zeristia: 4
While Amon's proposal has already been delivered, the High Council has yet to call a vote. Instead, the assembled delegates break into a series of smaller gatherings and cliques. Deals are made and speeches are delivered in private as various factions try to push for or against the Godsbane. Speakers from the tribes verbally joust with one another, but for the most part they make little progress. The real power lies with the immortals, who are pursuing their own agendas. Amon calls for a meeting of the three healthy Primelings and makes his case directly to Parun. The other demigod shifts uncomfortably.
"Are we really in danger, Amon? The maggots have been content to stay in their swamp, and creatures of Nothingness no longer dare to approach the Web. But building this weapon could turn the world against us. Why should we risk aggression from the Ironwinged, or give primordials a reason to become involved?
The unnamed Primeling remains silent. Its eyes are fixed directly on the other spiders, but the rest of its body language is entirely blank.
When it becomes clear that his siblings won't vote for the Godsbane, Amon turns to the rest of the Council. He addresses a speech to each major faction within the Web, addressing their concerns and offering further arguments in support of his plan. The Ironwinged actually take offense, which mostly prevents the Dustwalkers from changing their own position. Conversely, the Scarred tentatively come out in favor of the Godsbane, and the Spiderlings of the Web become more firm in their support. After Amon's reassurances, both groups now believe that the plan is feasible.
Just as the Council is about to reconvene, a being made from soil and moss appears in the center of the gathering. Zeristia momentarily takes a place at the pulpit. She says a few words to the delegates, who seem spooked by her appearance, then drops back down to the sand. In her place is a single white flower, planted directly in the center of the Council. Its petals produce a few notes of music as they rustle in the wind.
Voting goes forwards as planned, in spite of the interruption. The Order of Strands, the Scarred, and the Spiderlings of the Web all vote in favor of the Godsbane, the Ironwinged and Dustwalkers oppose it, and the Primelings abstain. Some delegates from Amon's coalition express concerns to him privately, mostly in regards to opposition from primordials, but his proposal still passes by one vote.
Go hunt for a Spider demigod alongside Meti to make an Earth Vespa out off, take the Fire Vespa along too, they will be useful in destroying it's webs.
3
Mereum gathers his offspring and leads them back into the center of the world. Chitin clicks as they advance, followed by buzzing and crackling sounds once Fire Vespas take to the air. If not for their black bodies, which are starkly visible in the daylight, Meruem could have easily mistaken them for stars. The bulbs on their back flicker with just as much intensity, despite the overall difference in size. Occasionally a curl of fire will even leak out, scorching the air or turning a few particles of sand to glass.
The swarm advances towards the place where Nazir died. The battlefield is abandoned now, but the Spiderling armies left a trail when they retreated back to the Great Web. Meruem follows it to a giant strand of silk, which stretches from the ground to the upper reaches of the sky. It leads toward the center of Spiderling civilization, and by extension to the ten Primelings. Seven of those ten will already be injured, if not dead. They should make for easy hunting.
I want to make things clear for this Sun: I am a god, and it's creator. Therefore, I should be the one illuminating it, not the other way around. Was it not created by my own power? The radiance the Sun has is my very own, for I am it's father. Does it really think that because it's above in the skies, it can treat me as if I was its equal?
Tell the Sun to stop being so hasty and forceful, and calm it down. I granted it form and thought. Is that not enough? Once the Sun has been calmed down, ask it to clarify what does it mean by "linking".
3
Aton shakes off the sunlight that is bombarding him. The sun's echoing message fades to mere background noise, giving him the opportunity to shout words of his own back at the Armor. His voice reverberates through the atmosphere until it reaches the Sun and stars. Their fires flicker for a moment as they consider his request, then flare even brighter. More patches of gold spread across the Herder's fur, this time originating in seemingly random parts of his body. One of his hooves turns the same brilliant white as his horns.
Instead of speaking in words, the Sun places jumbled images directly into Aton's mind. First is a sense of loss, divorced from the context which would make it comprehensible. The Smelter's Plate remembers being part of a whole, long before Zeristia placed it in the sky, but it does not remember who it was. Afterwards there is another figure, made out of obsidian rather than Essence, which transforms the Armor into a raging inferno. Aton sees shadows of a familiar black fire. Death comes, then rebirth. Light blossoms outwards.
It shines on a horned creature that has left itself open to the sand and the sky. That creature bolsters the Sun, and in doing so it stirs up strange energies. A dead god rises from within the armor, given shape by the ashes of a soul. A supernova awakens as a newborn, with vague memories of what came before. It flows into the world, towards pieces of glass and creatures like Aton, and tries to fill them with its power. Weak things burn away. The rest are transformed, connected to the Sun in a way that allows them to draw upon its golden radiance.
The sun does not know whether it is Aton's equal, or why that would matter. It seeks an ally upon the sands.
take ooze from the wall and solidify/crystalize it around the deer demons
"Damn it, I liked those shoes."
Jump out a window into the moat, then get everyone into the bus provide cover fire with that glass gun I made if needed, then drive out of there.
AJAMA: 1 & Apollyon: 3 vs. Deer-Demons: 2
Dr. Bob: 3 , 4
Dr. Bob stumbles back down the stairs. The carpet of mushrooms is still burning, and by now the floor itself is hot enough to burn his bare feet. There are also giant bees circling through the air, each one buzzing in a thousand indecipherable tongues. They form a circle around Bob and try to keep him from escaping, but he realizes that he has no choice. The doctor charges straight through the swarm, as if it isn't even there, and leaps out a hole in the wall of the Tower.
He plummets downwards, towards the base of the building. He can already see that he's going to overshoot the moat, so he does his best to angle himself back towards the water. The rest of the fall seems to take an eternity. He can hear voices shouting at him from within his own skull. Familiar, bloody messages rain down from the sky. One informs Dr. Bob that he doesn't exist. He even believes it for a moment, until he finally hits the moat. The resulting pain seems real enough.
Deer-Men drag him towards the bus. He sees black ooze splatter across the sand as one Deer-Demon finally breaks through the wall. AJAMA swings a crystalline ball of ooze at it, but it is already too late. The demon dodges, breaking one of its own legs in the process, then tries to drag itself over to the bus while the bone heals. Apollyon slows the creature down by covering it in a glob of non-ooze.
There is no time to waste. Dr. Bob hyperventilates to clear some of the hallucinogens from his system, then takes the wheel of the bus. He drives away from the tower, directly towards the wall of Ooze, and splashes through to the other side. The other trucks follow him in rapid succession, and together the group of Deer-Men accelerate out into the desert. The sounds of battle grow faint behind them.
Hynsyr now understanding the fragility of his Identity reaches once again into his Soul. He attempts to imprint his current Identity into his Soul so that even once his current Self is dead his future incarnations will inherit the memories and will of his present Self. He shall impart the order of the Cycle into his very Soul for death is not the breaking of the Self but a continuation. The past Self becomes the present Self and the present Self becomes the future Self in an unbroken cycle of Being. Through this Hynsyr will reach Eternity. His consciousness and memories passing on forever in never ending incarnations. For Hynsyr is the Soul and the Soul is Hynsyr and the Soul is both his Past and Future incarnations so therefore Hynsyr is also his Past and Future Selves as well. Time becoming meaningless in the Infinite Being of Nothing and Reality and Soul.
6
Hynsyr follow the old, familiar path through his being. First is the stillness of the mind. He brushes away nuisances like thought and sensation, so that he can focus entirely on his own soul. Something strange brushes up against his mind as he prepares to enter the trance state. It comes to him through his connections to Einyar and Yig rather than his own mind. The discontinuity puzzles him in a vague, unconcerned sort of way, but he sinks deeper into meditation before he can process it. Golden essence surrounds him. Hynsyr dives towards his heart, where the power is at its strongest, but this time he is too powerful to be burnt. The luminous sea parts before him, allowing him access to the inner sanctum of the soul.
He reaches through the void and brushes up against his self. Hynsyr struggles to remember his purpose as he experiences eternity. It is stronger now, reinforced by his prior experiences in this place, but the soul does not wish to cooperate. It is something flawless, abstract, and indestructible. It cannot be altered, even being a being which springs from its own will. The being recognizes the impossibility. It presses on anyway. Hynsyr draws streams of essence down into the soul, and fashions them into golden chains. They float above the flawless thing, bonded to it, disconnected from Hysyr's body. They are not eternal like the soul itself, but they will cling to it once it departs. Perhaps that will be enough.
"Calm down, Worm. I doubt he'll want to go after a gardener."
East is to continue teaching the Groundlings to the best of their ability, letting them eventually begin to make their own achievements.
Have these new SteelSpinners construct a set of automatons purpose-built for harvesting the Omni-grain fields.
East: 5
Steelspinners: 2+1
The Merchant of the East continues to pass its knowledge on to the Groundlings. Now that they've formed their society and learned their own magical techniques, it focuses on knowledge of the outside world. Its charges have never ventured outside the patch of soil created by the Life Machine, and so that have no understanding of the things which await them out in the sands. East begins by telling them about other mortal species. They already know about Ironwinged, who visit the Machine regularly, but they are surprised by the existence of other Spiderlings and shocked when the Merchant warns them about demons.
The Steelweavers produce spider-like automatons with legs that resemble scythes. Aetheric weavings are used to make them move, and to program them with simple instructions. Teams of Winged porters carry them down to the Wetlands, where the constructs are immediately put to work. They charge directly into the masses of Omni-Grain, using their limbs to carve away at the outermost layer of vegetation. The Drone bodies themselves are highly effective, but their pathfinding leaves much to be desired. Several are lost when they catapult themselves out into the depths of the grain, which quickly buries them or tears them apart.
Ira opens her maw as large as she can and fires a large beam of nothingness at the sand remnants.
5 v 5
Ira opens her mouth. A trickle of dust passes between her lips. For a moment she thinks that it's just dead sand, propelled by pressure rather than intent. Then it congeals into a glob halfway down her throat, forcing her to spend precious moments coughing it back up. Other, larger sand-creatures are approaching her all the while, forcing her to retreat backwards through the earth. She opens her mouth wider, until her jaw can move no further, and then focuses on the blood rushing through her body. Ira follows veins and capillaries to her chest, where the Absent Heart is hammering against her ribcage.
She draws upon its power. Nothingness floods outwards through her body. It washes through her organs and gollects in her intestines, as a kind of concentrated plasma. The energy boils up her stomach and through her windpipe. It emerges from her mouth as a furious black beam that lances through the earth. Living sand crumbles and groans as portions of its mass are annihilated. They move backwards, as if to run, but Ira sweeps her head from side to side. The beam moves with it, arcing across each remnant of the Living World.
Ashe gets buried within a thousand tons of plant matter, losing consciousness.
Ashe stares blankly out into the distance. Just moments ago the Wetlands were filled with rushing rivers and lakes of pure water, but now the entire landscape has been overtaken by golden wheat. It grows explosively, from every available surface. Seed pods have taken root on riverbanks, underneath sand dunes, and even in the lakebed beneath her feet. The plants are tossing her around, but for some reason she doesn't feel inclined to escape them. Her mind retreats into itself, so a place deep within her soul. As it does so, her surroundings begin to blur.
Smaller stalks weave themselves through the old growth. A few of them grow around Ashe's limbs as well, tangling her up. She doesn't notice when they restrict her movement, or even when a few errant fronts block her view of the sun. The vegetation thickens until it blocks out the light, then becomes dense enough to bury her alive. She simply keeps staring out into space, oblivious to the tomb of plant matter that surrounds her.
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover
-Regent of the Tower
-Spidersilk net.
-Improvised glass tools.
-Glass automaton
-Perpetual-motion bus
-Vial of Einyar
-Red Liquor
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror
-Catatonia
-Rain-Maker
--------------------------------
Ira, the World-Eater
-Empty
-Woven together
-Debt: Gral: Two Favors Owed
-Minor burns
--------------------------------
Gral, the Contractor
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings
-Contract: Ira: Two Favors
-Pinion Blades
--------------------------------
AJAMA, the Demiurge
-Ooze-born Body
-Ooze-born Spheres
-Sphere of Darkness
--------------------------------
Hynsyr, the Titan
-Transcendent
-Hundred Armed Form
-Edge of Infinity
-Spearmaster
-1000 spears of light
--------------------------------
Ashe, the Collector
-Brass feathers (underwater).
-Glass trinkets
--------------------------------
Meruem, the Spawner
-Flawed essence bladder
-Infused with Nothingness
-Firstborn
--------------------------------
Aton, the Herder
-Radiant
--------------------------------
Zeristia, the Gardener
--------------------------------
Amon
Bestiary:
Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
--Obsidian Archdemon: An obsidian dragon crafted by the Empty itself. It was granted the power to manipulate nothingness.
Fragments of Emptiness: Spirits made from the scattered pieces of ALTHERTH. They were driven out of the sand when Ira consumed the absent heart.
Apollyon: A Fragment which usurped AJAMA’s original body and converted it into Nothingness.
--Absent Ooze: A Nonexistent strain of Black Ooze that Apollyon can produce. Other Fragments often use it to create makeshift bodies.
Shardforms: Obsidian creatures which absorbed the Empty's already-incomplete consciousness. The broken pieces of ALTERTH's identity they possess give them animalistic intelligence.
--Awakened Shardforms: A herd of Sharforms who were granted sapience by Gral. They’ve agreed to provide the Silken Nest with raw materials in return for goods.
Steel Maggots: Metallic larvae which Gral accidentally created while trying to make avian Emissaries. After they were pulled off of the vulture, few escaped into the desert, where they accepted Gral's peace terms and moved into the shifting bog.
Steel Grubs: Steel maggots that have been bound with Pact-collars and transformed into livestock. They have grown larger than their sapient kin, but are unintelligent and largely peaceful.
Brass Buzzards: Brass birds crafted from Gral's feathers. They are infused with the pain it felt while creating them.
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
--Dustwalkers: A Spiderling subspecies which can feed on sand as well as light. They live on the sand and fight an asymmetrical war against it for survival.
--Ironwinged: Defeated Spiderlings who made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service, and have built a nest on one of the new stars. They were later granted the ability to weave metal.
--Ancestors: Aetherweavers who have achieved immortality by becoming spirits bound to the great web. They are incorporeal, and their astral bodies make it easier for them to manipulate aether.
--Scarred Spiderlings: Spiderlings who have gained great strength and endurance because of their mistreatment by the Brass Buzzards. They built a market but have mixed feelings about Gral and his servants.
--Sentinels: A army of biologically and magically augmented Spiderlings, created by elite Aetherweavers with Nazir's guidance. They serve the Spider Demigods, and stand ready to protect the Web alongside them.
Primelings: Ten entities created by Nazir and a group of the most powerful Aetherweavers. They watch over the Web in Nazir's stead, but are weakened by flaws in their weaving.
--Ekhor: A proud warrior who wears a larger variant of Sentinel Plate. He was nearly killed in the War of Sands.
--Sekhmet: A Primeling with flaws in the Weavings that form her mind. Despite being a brilliant tactician, her behavior is consistently very odd.
Merchants: Four steel vultures made from Gral’s essence. They are capable of using the Bargain.
Lightfolk: A species of humanoid mortals born from Hynsyr's golden light. Their powers of creation threaten to overwhelm their bodies, causing their inner light to warp chaotically. Many have begun to train so that they can gain more control over this ability.
--Prismatics: Seven lightfolk which glow brighter than the rest. They were hewn from the rainbow light of Hynsyr's eyes.
Deer-Men: A humanoid race with the heads of deer. Dr. Bob originally crafted them from the silk of Nazir's web. They were granted superior dexterity through a contract with Gral.
Three-Headed Worm: A juvenile sandworm created by Ira to serve the Dustwalkers.
Crops: Hemp, potato, corn, and bean plants created by Dr. Bob.
Suspicious Mushrooms: Mushrooms that sprouted in the Glass Tower after Dr. Bob’s disastrous attempts at brewing alcohol. They spawn clouds of hallucinogenic spores.
Fish: A school of colorful fish that swam straight out of Ashe’s dream. They wander through the rivers and lakes of the Wetlands.
Omni-Grain: A type of wheat designed to provide nourishment to every species. It grows explosively in the vitality-rich water of the Wetlands.
Deer Demons: Three deer-men whose bodies and minds were twisted by a botched healing. They have an unnaturally fast healing factor and limited control over other aspects of their physiology.
Atlas:
The Living Sands: ALTERTH once awakened the desert and allowed it to consume him. For a time his creation was infinite, but now most of the sand has died. The few surviving pieces are a shadow of what they once were.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
--New Stars: A second set that isn't accessible through the Great Web. Fortunately, that means they can't be blotted out by Spiderlings.
--Negative Star: A black sphere which radiates darkness, created by AJAMA after Gyaweft's death.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
--Silken Nest: A new star that the winged spiderlings have claimed as a nest. It can only be reached by gliding or descending on strands of silk.
--Tapestries: Libraries of spells and other knotwork which have been woven together and hung from the great web. Some have begun to collect aetheric cobwebs.
--Market of Scars: A grand market built by the Scarred Spiderlings in exchange for their resilience. The Ironwinged sell metal equipment there.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. When the sand was alive, islands in the bog constantly formed and dissolved. It has been tainted with Nazir's venom.
Glass Tower: A tower made of glass, raised from the sands by Gyaweft. It extends upwards through the web, tall enough that its upper floors reach the stars.
--Moat: The Tower is surrounded by a lake. Only one thin bridge connects it to the rest of the sand.
--Sandcastles: A series of elaborate sandcastles built around the moat. They were crafted so masterfully that they won’t dissolve in rain. Ashe later added an incredibly detailed sand city of her own.
--Garden: An irrigated garden containing several different types of crops.
--Laboratory: A room furnished with chemistry equipment and various glass containers.
Light Spires: A glowing city made by the Lightfolk using their creation magic.
--Temple of Yig: A golden temple which houses Yig, the First Tribute. It is an intricately-carved cathedral with walls made from an aurora.
Einyar: A sea of golden light drawn from Hynsyr's aura. It preserves the spirits of the Lightfolk after death, so that the cycle may advance.
Bone Fortress: A giant tree grown from one of Ira's teeth, and given to the Dustwalkers as a gift. It has become a large fortress.
Glass Crater: When Gyaweft flew his Sunship into the ground, it melted a wide swathe of the sand into glass. Fiery essence spilled from the ship still burns here, and sealed fault lines radiate from the impact site.
--Smelter's Grave: The center of the crater. Gyaweft's corpse lies here, alongside the molten remains of his Sunship.
Wetlands: Areas of the sand and the Great Web which Kuhaku continuously showers with water. The rain is heavy enough to form rivers and lakes.
--Abandoned Nests: A nesting ground that was briefly occupied by the Brass Buzzards. It is strewn with metal feathers and bloody talon-prints.
Canal: A shallow canal that Ira dug to fulfill one of her favors to Gral. It was meant to channel water from the Wetlands to various other parts of the world, but it overflowed and flooded the Glass Tower instead.
Knowledge:
Knot-Writing: A written language Nazir formulated so that Aetherweavers could record their spells. It involves weaving complex knots into silk, and therefore comes intuitively to Spiderlings but is almost impossible for anyone else to comprehend.
Bargainer's Tongue: A simplified version of knot-script which can be etched into a flat surface rather than woven into silk. It is comprehensible to non-Spiderlings, but not as intuitive.
English: A written script based on twenty-six letters and a few punctuation symbols. It was introduced by Dr. Bob and is primarily used by the Deer-Men.
Metalworking: Blacksmithing techniques that are typically available to the Ironwinged. They can be used to weave metal objects.
Aetherweaving: A magical discipline which involves spinning spiritual webs. It was taught to the Spiderlings by Nazir and is available to the Tribes, the Primelings, and any other arachnid capable of making silk.
Lightforging: Creation magic unique to the Lightfolk. It is a powerful but chaotic ability which can be used to make solid-light constructs out of one's own aura. More advanced techniques allow practitioners to create complex materials such as metal or wood.
Eight-Talon Way: A powerful martial art created by the Brass Buzzards. It is purely offensive in nature, but consists of strikes so lethal that defense isn’t usually necessary.
Agriculture: Farming is only feasible in the wetlands, but plants watered by Kuhaku’s rain grow quickly. The Deer-Men have been taught to cultivate and use several kinds of crops.
Prayer: A technique which allows Lightfolk to tap into their connections with Yig and Einyar. The Prismatics have learned how to use it to communicate with Hynsyr.
Photosynthesis Enchantments: A personal enhancement Weaving developed by the Ironwinged. It increases the amount of energy that Spiderlings can absorb from light.
Platonic Glyphs: Symbols that telepathically insert concepts into the reader’s mind. Writing with them requires some form of magical power, but they can be understood by anyone willing to endure mental strain.
The Inheritance: A magical message that Nazir sent to his children from beyond the veil. It included incomplete blueprints for several different marvels of Aetheric technology.
Items:
Seven Rainbow Spears: Weapons Hynsyr forged from a rogue splinter of his soul and gave to the Prismatics. They amplify their wielders' magic immensely, and provide slightly more control over their powers of creation.
Black Ooze: A patch of black goo created by AJAMA which can grow by absorbing sand. A column of ooze goes deep beneath the earth, where it breached a reservoir of Emptiness.
--Chaos Ooze: Blobs of ooze which have accidentally been made to assimilate a variety of substances and concepts. They were later sealed away.
--Silence Ooze: A strain of chaos ooze that can feed on silence. AJAMA transplanted some of it to the empty desert, where it has grown rapidly.
--Crusted Ooze: Semisolid ooze variants which have been hardened by intense pressure. They take slightly longer to grow as a result of their density.
Pact-Arms: Metal weapons, armor, and tools which can compel their wielders to carry out tasks for the Winged Spiderlings. Most are in the possession of Spiderlings on the Web.
Tribute Tokens: A currency minted by the Ironwinged and infused with the power of the Bargain. They see light use in the Great Web but are not considered especially valuable, so most of the economy still relies upon bartering.
Sentinel Plate: Magical armor developed for use by the Sentinels. It can drain the force of attacks and release it in the form of telekinetic blasts.
Life Machine: A machitech device that can be used to shunt vitality from one area to another. Additional upgrades gave it the ability to drain life from sand, which a Merchant used to create a patch of fertile soil around the machine.
Smelter’s Plate: A suit of metal armor that was once part of Gyaweft’s body. After his death, it was claimed by a Shardform called Awake.
Dawn Axehead: An axehead that Gywaeft made from the remains of his Sunship. It was meant to split the world into pieces, but the Smelter bled out before he could complete the shaft.
Factions:
Spiderling Tribes: Prominent groups of Spiderlings, mostly organized by subspecies. The are scattered across the Web, the stars, and the sand.
--Order of Strands: The first Spiderlings to learn the art of Aetherweaving. Many have strained their minds and bodies to hone their abilities, making them feeble despite their mystical strength.
High Council of the Web: The governing body of the Great Web. It consists of delegates from each of the tribes, as well as one Primeling. Most meetings take place in Nazir's nest at the top of the Web.
Lifeweavers: A group of Ancestors who helped Nazir create the Primelings and Sentinels.
Warpriests: A Lightfolk religious order which protects Einyar, the Temple of Yig, and the Light Spires themselves.
Ministry of Light: Civil servants appointed by Hynsyr to oversee the Light Spires. The seven Prismatics were installed as founding members.
Scrap-Ranches: Homesteads manned by Ironwinged and awakened Shardforms. They produce metal by farming Steel Grubs and shearing excess material off of their body.
The Lost: Fragments of Nothingness that chose to follow AJAMA rather than the Archdemon. Their new purpose is to create, collect, and preserve knowledge.
Sorry about the (very long, very unplanned) hiatus. I considered starting a new game instead, since this feels a lot like a necropost, but we'll see how it goes.
I'm planning to try daily updates again. That might be difficult depending on player numbers, but I think it helps me keep turns consistent. If all else fails my schedule will probably default to two or three days per turn.
PMs will be processed sometime tonight.
Find a suitable and secluded spot in the wetlands to create a secret garden. Rip up any pesky weeds like omniwheat that cover the area and erect a fence
covered in venomous barbs.
If that doesn't count as its own action, start on my first big project. This may take multiple turns and rolls.
Zeristia conjures up a single large seed, nearly the size of a deerman's fist.
Before planting, she makes sure that it has all the correct traits, as this is a very important and complex project!
Bushfolk:
Motile: Despite being a plant, the Bushfolk moves, walking on eight limbs like a spiderling.
Sapient: The Bushfolk is creative, social, and able to make decisions for itself.
Adaptable: The Bushfolk has a limited about to define its own form, being able to grow its limbs into different forms and configurations for work, defense, or personal choice.
Reproduction: Bushfolk reproduce sexually. Each Bushfolk is able to choose when and if they wish to grow flowers, and can choose between male and female flowers and means of pollination; via wind, physical contact, or help from pollinating animals.
Budding: If one of a Bushfolk's limbs is severed and planted in soil, it will grow independently and eventually become a cloned Bushfolk.
Once the first Bushfolk seed is tweaked to Zeristia's satisfaction, she'll create 255 more for genetic diversity and plant them in 4 rows of 64.
Hynsyr heads back to the Spires. His journey to better himself over for now. Now he needs to check on his children to see how they are handling themselves in his absence. He'll also need to catch up on whatever chaos his siblings and their creations have start causing since his journey began.
Hynsyr breaks away from his soul. This time the process is a deliberate retreat rather than an abrupt cessation of the trance. He journeys backwards through the soul path, first trudging through an empty void where the illusion of individuality reasserts itself. He perceives himself as a consciousness rather than a mask, with thoughts and will of his own. Next is the burning sea of power, which he claims as his own vital essence. A spiral staircase forms before him, and when he climbs to the top of it he emerges from his own beating heart. Veins of energy lead him to his mind, where he casts off the utter stillness of meditation. Thoughts rush in, one after another.
One of those thoughts isn't his own. It is a prayer from the Prismatics, sent through the parts of his spirit that rest in Einyar and Yig. Servants of Gral have approached the city. They call themselves the "Steel Consortium" and are led by a metal vulture that bears a close resemblance to the Contractor. The Prismatics denied them entry as a matter of course, but in the absence of a response from Hynsyr they decided to let emissaries from the Golden Web speak with the Consortium outside the city walls. Apparently they gave those emissaries news about the "Godsbane," a superweapon being constructed by the Spiderlings of the Web.
Hynsyr adopts his hundred-armed form as he walks back into the world. It gives him a long stride and an unparalleled view of his surroundings, which makes a little easier to discern changes to the world. The first and most noticeable difference is that the Wetlands have been completely enveloped by a field of yellow grain. A pool of black ooze on the opposite edge of the world has also grown almost as large as a sea. Perhaps most concerningly, Hynsyr notices that creatures of Nothingness are gathered at the boundaries of the world. Most are just demons or Shardforms, but he also glimpses something sinuous with black wings.
((Woo-hoo, so fun it is back, but I still always get 1's :( ))
"It seems like Dr.Bob isn't intrested in teaching now, never mind, I will try talk to him later"
Try trap the Deer-demons in crystalized ooze, and take all the fragments to the edge of the nothingness ooze outside the darkness of the anti-star
AJAMA: 6 vs. Deer-Demons: 2
AJAMA sends mental tendrils carneening outwards, towards reservoirs of ooze it could throw at the Deer-Demons. The first things to be caught in its telekinetic grip are the satellites orbiting its own body. Other parts of its mind go farther afield, towards sludge that it didn't actually intend to use. One grasps the crusted platform, which is now partially-destabilized. Another finds the towering wall of ooze that it used to surround the Glass Tower. AJAMA channels everything towards the Deer-Demons, who are clawing at Fragments now that the trucks have left.
The constructs explode, scattering blobs of ooze in every direction. They become a black wave, and then a viscous flood that buries Demons and Fragments alike. The demiurge compresses a few choice patches of goo until they turn into spheres of jagged crystal. One partially-encased Deer-Demon struggles to free itself, while the other two can only look on helplessly from within their spheres.
When it's clear that they won't escape anytime soon, AJAMA and Apollyon start extracting Fragments from the battlefield. Most are buried under the tide of Black Ooze that the Demiurge conjured up, but their telepathic signatures make them relatively easy to locate. Once everyone is on dry ground, AJAMA leads the group back towards the Anti-Star. The lake of silence ooze has grown into an ocean twice the size of the Wetlands.
((Daily updates sounds good to me!~ It'll let me actually complete my complex godding plans in a timely frame!))
Find a suitable and secluded spot in the wetlands to create a secret garden. Rip up any pesky weeds like omniwheat that cover the area and erect a fence
covered in venomous barbs.
If that doesn't count as its own action, start on my first big project. This may take multiple turns and rolls.
Zeristia conjures up a single large seed, nearly the size of a deerman's fist.
Before planting, she makes sure that it has all the correct traits, as this is a very important and complex project!
Bushfolk:
Motile: Despite being a plant, the Bushfolk moves, walking on eight limbs like a spiderling.
Sapient: The Bushfolk is creative, social, and able to make decisions for itself.
Adaptable: The Bushfolk has a limited about to define its own form, being able to grow its limbs into different forms and configurations for work, defense, or personal choice.
Reproduction: Bushfolk reproduce sexually. Each Bushfolk is able to choose when and if they wish to grow flowers, and can choose between male and female flowers and means of pollination; via wind, physical contact, or help from pollinating animals.
Budding: If one of a Bushfolk's limbs is severed and planted in soil, it will grow independently and eventually become a cloned Bushfolk.
Once the first Bushfolk seed is tweaked to Zeristia's satisfaction, she'll create 255 more for genetic diversity and plant them in 4 rows of 64.
((Daily updates sounds good to me!~ It'll let me actually complete my complex godding plans in a timely frame!))
((I'm also hoping daily updates work out, but maybe I shouldn't have made any promises. :/ ))
1
Zeristia journeys towards the Wetlands, which are currently surrounded by dense thickets of Omni-Grain. They grow more thickly than they should, even in places where the rain is little more than a drizzle. The golden weeds become more prevalent as she approaches the Wetlands proper, until they are walls of plant matter twenty feet high. Zeristia navigates them by slipping through narrow tunnels and crawling across riverbeds, where the stalks haven't grown quite so close together. As she continues forwards, even those passages become scarce. They culminate in dead ends where the wheat has woven itself together.
The worm hacks through one tangle of wheat using her fangs. There's a swishing sound as the net comes apart, but the movement also scatters a few seeds. They puff outwards, settle in the riverbed underneath Zeristia, then expand outwards before she can react. New growth fills the crevice and presses in on Zeristia, burying her underneath a golden tide. She can feel the wheat pressing in on her, thickening until it is stiff enough to prevent movement.
Time to climb. Meruem will modify his limbs to have a better sticking to them, and ask his son to do the same.
"JUST GIVE US THE BODIES OF YOUR FALLEN BRETHREN SPIDERS! NO ONE HAS TO GET HURT!" He shouted to the skies.
Meruem: 6 / Meti: 6
Meruem's announcement causes a frenzy in the lower regions of the Web. Entire hordes of Spiderlings crawl over the silken threads, moving in hundreds of different directions. Some are skittering towards the thickest strands, which tend to lead upwards. Others scramble to form a defensive perimeter, which mostly entails hanging off the bottom of the Web. They attack any Vespa that draws too close, usually by firing strands of webbing. A few groups of Spiderlings are glowing with magical power. Meruem can see them weaving strands of Aether into protective spells.
The Spawner secretes mutagenic chemicals within his arms. Parts of his exoskeleton bulge to accommodate new glands and pores, designed to cover his hands and forearms with a powerful adhesive. The new modification allows him to climb up the strand with astonishing speed. He almost reaches the Spiderling army before noticing that the mutations haven't stopped. Long, sharp hooks burst from the ends of Meruem's fingers. They embed themselves in the silk, allowing him to create handholds where there are none. His elbow joints warp until they are flexible enough to bend backwards.
Meti's body warps chaotically as he follows Meruem. His flesh bubbles, transforming piece by piece into an entirely different shape. His legs all turn into tarantula limbs. One arm twists until it looks like the hook of a preying mantis, while the other becomes covered a thick carapace reminiscent of an armored beetle. The Firsborn's new torso and head look like something related to an ant, though it's impossible to be sure. Only his eyes remain the same.
The fact that it seeks an ally means that it has an enemy in mind. Ask the Sun what are it's intentions, because if it continues going like this, it will only find more enemies. Did I ask to have my body transformed like this? If you want to give your power so much, don't go forcibly shoving it on other people's faces.
Ask again. What does the Sun need an ally for? What is its goal? Because I also have a goal, and I also need an ally for it.
The Sun apologizes that its power disturbed Aton so. It casually withdraws its energies from his body, causing the transformation which took hold of him to reverse itself. The patches of gold and ivory that had been enveloping Aton fade away, and the miniature star hanging over his head coalesces into a familiar golden disk. The Herder feels unsteady once the sunlight vanishes, as if his legs are a little bit weaker than they were before, but at the same time it is slightly freeing to be rid of the Sun's oppressive heat.
Rays of sunlight sweep across his face, and the Armor continues speaking. This time the Sun sounds as if it is talking from a great distance, although its voice still rumbles like thunder. It tells Aton that it wishes to illuminate the world, from the sky to the boundless depths of the sand. If the bull accepts its power, he may spread light howsoever he likes. The sun does not care if its radiance nourishes life or melts the earth.
Oversee work of my legion and order of strands on building multiple light focusing prisms capable of blasting apart with light rays targets within reach of the great web, but effective range not reaching silken nest or sand fortress, crew them with sentinels
Amon: 3 & Sentinels: 5 & Order of Strands: 2
Amon splits his Sentinel Legion into a number of smaller groups. One squad gathers massive quantities of sand, which is then smelted using Woven fire and heat. Another uses purification, destructive Weavings, and basins of acid to remove impurities from the glass, which Spiderlings from the Order of Strands then shape into prisms. At one point there is a mishap with the spells, which pauses work for several hours and taints one of the prisms with unstable magic. Amon has a third division lower it down into the sand, where it won't hurt anyone if it explodes.
Even while Amon is occupied elsewhere, the Sentinel legions act as a well-oiled machine. The squads complete their tasks with military precision, then use the telekinetic enchantments on their armor to haul each finished prism into place. About half of the lenses are in place by the time the first production cycle is complete. The weapon can already fire, and even has enough power behind it to char whatever it's aimed at, but it doesn't yet have the full power of the Godsbane.
Ira feels satisfied that she's killed more of the sand remnants; however, it also gives her a bitter reminder of her only defeat. The woven together parts of her body ache from exertion, they're a parting gift from the Archdemon, another one of the sands remnants. Ira resolves to finally get revenge. Ira digs herself up to the surface and tries to rest again to heal herself in order to get ready to fight the Archdemon.
5
Ira tunnels upwards. She moves carefully as she ascends through the darkness, so that she can remain alert to the shifting of the earth. Aside from her own movements, which produce a gentle scratching sound as sand scrapes against her hide, there is nothing out of the ordinary. If there are any more Remnants lurking underneath the world, they have hidden themselves thoroughly. None make movements blatant enough to give away their position, nor do any try to ambush the sandworm as she digs her way to the surface.
She reaches the border of the sand, where is intersects the atmosphere, and throws herself up into the light and the air. Ira breaches with enough force to throw up clouds of dust and grit, which disperse in about the same amount of time it takes her to locate a suitable resting-place. She curls up in a small valley, surrounded on all sides by slightly larger dunes. Ira allows her mind to wander, but this time she does not slip into unconsciousness. Instead she focuses on the Archdemon, the only creature of the sand to have bested her. She nurses thoughts of revenge while the burns on her back slowly fade away.
"We're gonna make a new home far away form any of the evil things in this world."
Keep driving further away form the tower don't stop until we can't see the stars anymore.
((How many of the trucks and trailers got finished and did they get loaded with anything?))
5
Dr. Bob drives his bus out into the desert. He does his best to concentrate on the dunes ahead of him, even when Deer-Men start shouting about an explosion of black goop back at the tower. Sandy shapes gather at the edges of his vision, and he isn't sure whether they're dust clouds or demons or hallucinations. There's at least one actual demon visible from the windshield, straight ahead of him, so for safety's sake Bob decides to step on the gas. The bus careens forwards at two-fifty or three hundred miles per hour, fast enough to make the shapes disappear behind him.
He drives until he reaches the edge of the world, where obsidian creatures creep across the ground, then continues outwards into the empty sands. The two supply trucks follow closely behind him, until even the sun and stars are nothing but specks in the distance. Bob continues driving until he can't see them anymore, then keeps going a little while longer for good measure. The wasteland outside the world is more barren than a desert and darker than night. It's impossible to see anything outside the window, so Dr. Bob crashes into sand dunes several times before finally deciding that he's far enough away.
The group tentatively disembarks. Dr. Bob is reminded of his first few moments of consciousness, before Gyaweft put stars in the sky. It takes a few moments to realize he may have inherited that duty. The Deer-Men are terrified of the complete darkness they've found themselves in, perhaps rightly so. Bob can still perceive the faint outlines of shapes, if he squints, but he reminds them not to wander too far.
Continue the education, pushing the Groundlings to integrate more with the rest of the Consortium. Simultaneously, refine drone designs.
East: 5
Steelspinners: 6
East opens lines of communication between the Life Machine and the rest of the Consortium, then urges the Groundlings to venture out into the world. Most head to nearby Scrap-Ranches, where they work with Steel Grubs or transport materials from place to place. More adventurous individuals make the longer journey to the Bone Fortress. Insights from the Buzzards help them refine their Earth-Magic techniques, which are integrated into something resembling a martial art. Their skills revolve primarily around defense, so that they can take advantage of their ability to form earthen armor.
The Steelspinners produce another series of Drones. They rebuild the machines' mental programming from the ground up, seeding them with actual Aetheric Intelligences rather than having them rely upon predetermined processes. When they're brought out to the Wetlands, the AI drones become whirlwinds of flashing blades. They scythe through entire thickets of wheat in quick succession, even faster than the fields can regrow. After several minutes, one of their blades catches on something hard. The Drone bashes right through it. Fragments of a Shattered SHardform fly in every direction.
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover
-Regent of the Tower
-Spidersilk net.
-Improvised glass tools.
-Glass automaton
-Perpetual-motion bus
-Vial of Einyar
-Red Liquor
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror
-Catatonia
-Rain-Maker
--------------------------------
Ira, the World-Eater
-Empty
-Woven together
-Debt: Gral: Two Favors Owed
-Minor burns
--------------------------------
Gral, the Contractor
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings
-Contract: Ira: Two Favors
-Pinion Blades
--------------------------------
AJAMA, the Demiurge
-Ooze-born Body
-Ooze-born Spheres
-Sphere of Darkness
--------------------------------
Hynsyr, the Titan
-Transcendent
-Hundred Armed Form
-Edge of Infinity
-Spearmaster
-1000 spears of light
--------------------------------
Ashe, the Collector
-Brass feathers (underwater).
-Glass trinkets
--------------------------------
Meruem, the Spawner
-Flawed essence bladder
-Infused with Nothingness
-Firstborn
--------------------------------
Aton, the Herder
-Radiant
--------------------------------
Zeristia, the Gardener
--------------------------------
Amon
Bestiary:
Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
--Obsidian Archdemon: An obsidian dragon crafted by the Empty itself. It was granted the power to manipulate nothingness.
Fragments of Emptiness: Spirits made from the scattered pieces of ALTHERTH. They were driven out of the sand when Ira consumed the absent heart.
Apollyon: A Fragment which usurped AJAMA’s original body and converted it into Nothingness.
--Absent Ooze: A Nonexistent strain of Black Ooze that Apollyon can produce. Other Fragments often use it to create makeshift bodies.
Shardforms: Obsidian creatures which absorbed the Empty's already-incomplete consciousness. The broken pieces of ALTERTH's identity they possess give them animalistic intelligence.
--Awakened Shardforms: A herd of Sharforms who were granted sapience by Gral. They’ve agreed to provide the Silken Nest with raw materials in return for goods.
Steel Maggots: Metallic larvae which Gral accidentally created while trying to make avian Emissaries. After they were pulled off of the vulture, few escaped into the desert, where they accepted Gral's peace terms and moved into the shifting bog.
Steel Grubs: Steel maggots that have been bound with Pact-collars and transformed into livestock. They have grown larger than their sapient kin, but are unintelligent and largely peaceful.
Brass Buzzards: Brass birds crafted from Gral's feathers. They are infused with the pain it felt while creating them.
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
--Dustwalkers: A Spiderling subspecies which can feed on sand as well as light. They live on the sand and fight an asymmetrical war against it for survival.
--Ironwinged: Defeated Spiderlings who made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service, and have built a nest on one of the new stars. They were later granted the ability to weave metal.
--Ancestors: Aetherweavers who have achieved immortality by becoming spirits bound to the great web. They are incorporeal, and their astral bodies make it easier for them to manipulate aether.
--Scarred Spiderlings: Spiderlings who have gained great strength and endurance because of their mistreatment by the Brass Buzzards. They built a market but have mixed feelings about Gral and his servants.
--Sentinels: A army of biologically and magically augmented Spiderlings, created by elite Aetherweavers with Nazir's guidance. They serve the Spider Demigods, and stand ready to protect the Web alongside them.
Primelings: Ten entities created by Nazir and a group of the most powerful Aetherweavers. They watch over the Web in Nazir's stead, but are weakened by flaws in their weaving.
--Ekhor: A proud warrior who wears a larger variant of Sentinel Plate. He was nearly killed in the War of Sands.
--Sekhmet: A Primeling with flaws in the Weavings that form her mind. Despite being a brilliant tactician, her behavior is consistently very odd.
Merchants: Four steel vultures made from Gral’s essence. They are capable of using the Bargain.
Lightfolk: A species of humanoid mortals born from Hynsyr's golden light. Their powers of creation threaten to overwhelm their bodies, causing their inner light to warp chaotically. Many have begun to train so that they can gain more control over this ability.
--Prismatics: Seven lightfolk which glow brighter than the rest. They were hewn from the rainbow light of Hynsyr's eyes.
Deer-Men: A humanoid race with the heads of deer. Dr. Bob originally crafted them from the silk of Nazir's web. They were granted superior dexterity through a contract with Gral.
Three-Headed Worm: A juvenile sandworm created by Ira to serve the Dustwalkers.
Crops: Hemp, potato, corn, and bean plants created by Dr. Bob.
Suspicious Mushrooms: Mushrooms that sprouted in the Glass Tower after Dr. Bob’s disastrous attempts at brewing alcohol. They spawn clouds of hallucinogenic spores.
Fish: A school of colorful fish that swam straight out of Ashe’s dream. They wander through the rivers and lakes of the Wetlands.
Omni-Grain: A type of wheat designed to provide nourishment to every species. It grows explosively in the vitality-rich water of the Wetlands.
Deer Demons: Three deer-men whose bodies and minds were twisted by a botched healing. They have an unnaturally fast healing factor and limited control over other aspects of their physiology.
Atlas:
The Living Sands: ALTERTH once awakened the desert and allowed it to consume him. For a time his creation was infinite, but now most of the sand has died. The few surviving pieces are a shadow of what they once were.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
--New Stars: A second set that isn't accessible through the Great Web. Fortunately, that means they can't be blotted out by Spiderlings.
--Negative Star: A black sphere which radiates darkness, created by AJAMA after Gyaweft's death.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
--Silken Nest: A new star that the winged spiderlings have claimed as a nest. It can only be reached by gliding or descending on strands of silk.
--Tapestries: Libraries of spells and other knotwork which have been woven together and hung from the great web. Some have begun to collect aetheric cobwebs.
--Market of Scars: A grand market built by the Scarred Spiderlings in exchange for their resilience. The Ironwinged sell metal equipment there.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. When the sand was alive, islands in the bog constantly formed and dissolved. It has been tainted with Nazir's venom.
Glass Tower: A tower made of glass, raised from the sands by Gyaweft. It extends upwards through the web, tall enough that its upper floors reach the stars.
--Moat: The Tower is surrounded by a lake. Only one thin bridge connects it to the rest of the sand.
--Sandcastles: A series of elaborate sandcastles built around the moat. They were crafted so masterfully that they won’t dissolve in rain. Ashe later added an incredibly detailed sand city of her own.
--Garden: An irrigated garden containing several different types of crops.
--Laboratory: A room furnished with chemistry equipment and various glass containers.
Light Spires: A glowing city made by the Lightfolk using their creation magic.
--Temple of Yig: A golden temple which houses Yig, the First Tribute. It is an intricately-carved cathedral with walls made from an aurora.
Einyar: A sea of golden light drawn from Hynsyr's aura. It preserves the spirits of the Lightfolk after death, so that the cycle may advance.
Bone Fortress: A giant tree grown from one of Ira's teeth, and given to the Dustwalkers as a gift. It has become a large fortress.
Glass Crater: When Gyaweft flew his Sunship into the ground, it melted a wide swathe of the sand into glass. Fiery essence spilled from the ship still burns here, and sealed fault lines radiate from the impact site.
--Smelter's Grave: The center of the crater. Gyaweft's corpse lies here, alongside the molten remains of his Sunship.
Wetlands: Areas of the sand and the Great Web which Kuhaku continuously showers with water. The rain is heavy enough to form rivers and lakes.
--Abandoned Nests: A nesting ground that was briefly occupied by the Brass Buzzards. It is strewn with metal feathers and bloody talon-prints.
Canal: A shallow canal that Ira dug to fulfill one of her favors to Gral. It was meant to channel water from the Wetlands to various other parts of the world, but it overflowed and flooded the Glass Tower instead.
Knowledge:
Knot-Writing: A written language Nazir formulated so that Aetherweavers could record their spells. It involves weaving complex knots into silk, and therefore comes intuitively to Spiderlings but is almost impossible for anyone else to comprehend.
Bargainer's Tongue: A simplified version of knot-script which can be etched into a flat surface rather than woven into silk. It is comprehensible to non-Spiderlings, but not as intuitive.
English: A written script based on twenty-six letters and a few punctuation symbols. It was introduced by Dr. Bob and is primarily used by the Deer-Men.
Metalworking: Blacksmithing techniques that are typically available to the Ironwinged. They can be used to weave metal objects.
Aetherweaving: A magical discipline which involves spinning spiritual webs. It was taught to the Spiderlings by Nazir and is available to the Tribes, the Primelings, and any other arachnid capable of making silk.
Lightforging: Creation magic unique to the Lightfolk. It is a powerful but chaotic ability which can be used to make solid-light constructs out of one's own aura. More advanced techniques allow practitioners to create complex materials such as metal or wood.
Eight-Talon Way: A powerful martial art created by the Brass Buzzards. It is purely offensive in nature, but consists of strikes so lethal that defense isn’t usually necessary.
Agriculture: Farming is only feasible in the wetlands, but plants watered by Kuhaku’s rain grow quickly. The Deer-Men have been taught to cultivate and use several kinds of crops.
Prayer: A technique which allows Lightfolk to tap into their connections with Yig and Einyar. The Prismatics have learned how to use it to communicate with Hynsyr.
Photosynthesis Enchantments: A personal enhancement Weaving developed by the Ironwinged. It increases the amount of energy that Spiderlings can absorb from light.
Platonic Glyphs: Symbols that telepathically insert concepts into the reader’s mind. Writing with them requires some form of magical power, but they can be understood by anyone willing to endure mental strain.
The Inheritance: A magical message that Nazir sent to his children from beyond the veil. It included incomplete blueprints for several different marvels of Aetheric technology.
Items:
Seven Rainbow Spears: Weapons Hynsyr forged from a rogue splinter of his soul and gave to the Prismatics. They amplify their wielders' magic immensely, and provide slightly more control over their powers of creation.
Black Ooze: A patch of black goo created by AJAMA which can grow by absorbing sand. A column of ooze goes deep beneath the earth, where it breached a reservoir of Emptiness.
--Chaos Ooze: Blobs of ooze which have accidentally been made to assimilate a variety of substances and concepts. They were later sealed away.
--Silence Ooze: A strain of chaos ooze that can feed on silence. AJAMA transplanted some of it to the empty desert, where it has grown rapidly.
--Crusted Ooze: Semisolid ooze variants which have been hardened by intense pressure. They take slightly longer to grow as a result of their density.
Pact-Arms: Metal weapons, armor, and tools which can compel their wielders to carry out tasks for the Winged Spiderlings. Most are in the possession of Spiderlings on the Web.
Tribute Tokens: A currency minted by the Ironwinged and infused with the power of the Bargain. They see light use in the Great Web but are not considered especially valuable, so most of the economy still relies upon bartering.
Sentinel Plate: Magical armor developed for use by the Sentinels. It can drain the force of attacks and release it in the form of telekinetic blasts.
Life Machine: A machitech device that can be used to shunt vitality from one area to another. Additional upgrades gave it the ability to drain life from sand, which a Merchant used to create a patch of fertile soil around the machine.
Smelter’s Plate: A suit of metal armor that was once part of Gyaweft’s body. After his death, it was claimed by a Shardform called Awake.
Dawn Axehead: An axehead that Gywaeft made from the remains of his Sunship. It was meant to split the world into pieces, but the Smelter bled out before he could complete the shaft.
Factions:
Spiderling Tribes: Prominent groups of Spiderlings, mostly organized by subspecies. The are scattered across the Web, the stars, and the sand.
--Order of Strands: The first Spiderlings to learn the art of Aetherweaving. Many have strained their minds and bodies to hone their abilities, making them feeble despite their mystical strength.
High Council of the Web: The governing body of the Great Web. It consists of delegates from each of the tribes, as well as one Primeling. Most meetings take place in Nazir's nest at the top of the Web.
Lifeweavers: A group of Ancestors who helped Nazir create the Primelings and Sentinels.
Warpriests: A Lightfolk religious order which protects Einyar, the Temple of Yig, and the Light Spires themselves.
Ministry of Light: Civil servants appointed by Hynsyr to oversee the Light Spires. The seven Prismatics were installed as founding members.
Scrap-Ranches: Homesteads manned by Ironwinged and awakened Shardforms. They produce metal by farming Steel Grubs and shearing excess material off of their body.
The Lost: Fragments of Nothingness that chose to follow AJAMA rather than the Archdemon. Their new purpose is to create, collect, and preserve knowledge.
As of right now, it apparently takes me around two days to complete a turn.
I'm going to try experimenting a bit with my scheduling, to see if I can make things go any faster. Tricky with nineish players, but probably not impossible.
In any case, thank you for your patience.
Walbaxia, the Undetermined circles a glass star. Waves of green and violet ripple across her carapace.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My name is Walbaxia
I take the form of a green and purple housefly the size of a human thumb. The wings are clear, when the eyes are purple the exoskeleton is green and viva versa. Can switch at will
My purpose is unknown.
Fly around the world to explore a bit
There are so many things in this place that Walbaxia has trouble keeping track of them all, even with the benefit of a bird's-eye-view. She ends up flitting from place to place, examining anything that looks particularly large or important. At first she flies up into the sky, where she finds herself surrounded by a spiderweb of titanic proportions. The Great Web stretches from the ground to the top of the sky, and is populated by hordes of intelligent spiders. The bugs are divided into many different tribes, some of which are distinct from the others. Walbaxia sees one group weaving spells from mystical webs and another flying with metallic wings.
Tangled within this web are the stars, spheres of glass infused with divine fire. They act as beacons in the night, providing illumination to both the Web and the rest of the world. They're overshadowed only by the Sun, a ball of golden light brighter than all of them put together. It's difficult for Walbaxia to look at it without blinding herself, but when she squints she thinks she can see something metallic underneath all the radiance.
Once she's tired of staring at bright lights, she starts exploring the ground instead. The foundation of the world is mostly sand, interspersed with novel new environments. Walbaxia flies through a place where rain constantly falls from the sky, nourishing fields of wheat that seem to have covered the ground completely. She can see a swamp off in the distance, and towards the outer boundary of the world there's a sea of black ooze. Her last stop is a fortress made from solid bone, inhabited by many different species. She sees spiders, metallic birds, and creatures that look like moving blobs of dirt.
With such a high rate of reproduction, the wheat must be rapidly cloning itself. A powerful tactic, to be sure, but its weakness is clear.
Lightly bite one of the stems and introduce a lethal virus specifically suited to omniwheat. Without any genetic diversity, it should quickly rip through the population, leaving behind highly nutritional fields of hay, ideal for the planting of new, less fuckin boring things!
6
Zeristia nips an Omni-Grain stem, and something vile seeps from her fangs. Black stains spread from each puncture hole, blotting out the original golden color of the stalk. Then the plant begins to decay. Parts of the stalk peel away, revealing pus and rotten sludge where the wheat should have an internal structure. Seeds swell with bile and then fall off, bursting as soon as they hit the ground. Contaminated material splatters everywhere, even onto Zeristia herself. Everything it touches is infected.
The worm feels a burning sensation as black spots bubble up from underneath her skin. They expand across her body slowly, fighting with her soul and essence for every inch of mossy flesh. The infected areas aren't rotting yet, but the Gardener can already feel herself growing weaker. It may only be a matter of time before the plague overpowers her or contaminates her essence.
It devours the Omni-Grain at a far faster rate. The pile of rotten sludge surrounding Zeristia becomes a lake, and then a crater in the center of the Wetlands. Within it, nothing organic can survive. The corpses of a few unfortunate fish also float to the surface and bloat until they rupture, showering their surroundings in gibbets of infected viscera.
Organize defense of the web from invaders, incenerate vermin with new weapon system.
Huh, he's pretty high up...Wings, make wings, those will be good in case he falls. Meti should do it too. Then continue climbing the rest of the way. But don't attack unless the spiders do it first. Gonna need that self-defense excuse.
Meruem: 6 / Meti: 2
Spiderlings: 4 vs. Meruem: 4 & Meti: 1 & Vespas: 1
Godsbane: 1
Amon scurries down to the bottom of the Web, to the place where Meruem and Meti are trying to climb. Parun and the nameless one both march alongside him, followed by each of the four remaining Sentinel legions. Spiderlings from the the Order of Strands rain spells down on the intruders, while elites from the Legions pelt Meruem and Meti with streams of acid and bolts of force. The attacks destabilize the strand that they are climbing, causing it to swing back and forth like a pendulum. Even with the climbing adaptations that they've given themselves, the Spawner and his firstborn can barely maintain their grip.
Meruem thrusts his claws into the silk, then releases another set of mutagens into the area around his shoulderblades. The chemicals react strangely with the adrenaline rushing through his body. Instead of reshaping cleanly, Meruem's flesh starts to bubble and fizz. Fatty deposits build up in his back, forming a single dense lump rather than the wings that he intended to create. He unleashes growth suppressants to contain the damage, which gives the Spiderlings enough time to press their advantage. They push him off the strand using a giant wall of force, which sends him plummeting to the ground below.
Meti's body also bends unnaturally, perhaps because of the same factors that tripped up Meruem. His legs fuse with the silk he was climbing, which is a mixed blessing at best. The chimera can't be knocked off the strand like his father was, but he's also a sitting duck when the Sentinels attack. three of them start spitting acid at him as he frantically tries to mutate himself into something more mobile.
A small group of Vespas fly towards the battle, but they're interrupted by a bright flash of light from up above. An enormous beam of energy surrounds them, burning them with the heat of a hundred stars. The Vespas are resistant to its effects, in large part because of their own fiery natures, but Spiderlings who get caught in the Godsbane's impact zone aren't nearly so lucky. The beam melts their armor and turns the outer layers of their carapaces to ash.
Hynsyr seeks out the Prismatics. He wishes to hear their consul, ideas, and feelings upon the Super Weapon. For it is his own children who know the creations of Nazir better than himself. Are the Nazirites becoming a threat to the Cycle? Are they arrogant enough not to realize the provocation of a weapon with such a title? Are they seeking to challenge the siblings of their creator?
Hynsyr walks through the city gates. Groups of ordinary lightfolk flock to meet him, some of them bearing tribute, but for now the Titan waves them off. He continues walking until he reaches the temple of Yig, where the Prismatics have gathered to meet with them. Hynsyr asks them for their evaluations of the Godsbane, and of the Nazirites who are building it. At first they are somewhat hesitant to speak, but they become more talkative when Hynsyr explains the reasoning behind his request.
The Prismatics are somewhat concerned about the power of the weapon itself. The Consortium described it as a weapon of mass destruction, perhaps capable of scorching entire cities from the sand. Its mere existence would be a provocation, and perhaps even a threat to the cycle itself if it were to be turned against the Lightfolk. They are not certain whether the weapon's name was meant as a threat, or whether the Spiderling truly intend to turn it against the gods, but there are already reasons enough to worry.
Another Prismatic mentions that the Spiderlings have not targeted the Lightfolk specifically, or even named them as a potential target for aggression. The Great Web is theoretically an ally of the Spires, and they might hesitate to turn the Godsbane against their kin in the Golden Web. On the other hand, there is a certain risk in assuming that the Web is benign. The Godsbane proposal never actually mentioned the factions which could be considered enemies of the Web.
Attempt to use the absent heart to find the Archdemon.
1+2
Ira listens to the beating of the Absent Heart. Its Non-rhythm brings her closer to the Nothingness, and to the connections linking her to ALTERTH's scattered essence. She probes the bond, sending her mind outwards through an unfamiliar pathway, until she brushes up against the minds of other Nonexistent creatures. Most are just vague presences, so small that they are almost indistinguishable from background noise. Ira sweeps them aside and reaches further. She stumbles upon a spirit more powerful than any of the rest. It is at the edge of the world, surrounded by an army of lesser beings.
The World-Eater burrows underneath the ground and tunnels until she too is at the boundary of the primordials' oasis. Empty desert stretches out before her, lightless and barren, but the border itself isn't as bare as it was before. Demons crawl across the ground and wheel through the air, occasionally grunting or shrieking at one another. Bestial Shardforms walk among them. Most are wearing the shapes of predators, like wolves or lions. They move more fluidly than their sandy kin.
There is a maelstrom of darkness at the center of the gathering. Ira sees the incorporeal shapes of Fragments whirling around it, like shadows around a fire, but something more lurks within the storm. She attunes herself to the Absent Heart again, so that she can sense its position, but this time the Archdemon notices her intrusion. A roar loud enough to break her concentration echoes from inside the maelstrom.
Send in North to start setting up a trio of transmutation silos, along the outside of the fields. One is to focus on amplifying nutrient yield, the other healing ability, and the third matter growth.
East should temporarily halt their education process, and attempt to subvert the virus: weakening its effects, and thus leading to a higher surviving, resistant ctop.
West and the Steelspinners are to begin defending the fields from Shardform invaders, if any are present. If such an occurrence was accidental, integrate them.
North: 3
East: 1
West: 4
North leads a group of Ironwinged to a place just outside the Wetlands. They construct skeletons for three massive silos by weaving together loops of metallic silk, which they then embed securely in the ground. Once the weavers are satisfied that the towers will be anchored properly, they start coiling more iron around the outer walls. The threads accumulate until they overlap, forming sturdy metallic cocoons around the outside of the scaffolds. Aetherweavers layer durability enchantments over the metal to imbue it with supernatural strength and stability.
When the work is complete, North has a few haulers from the Scrap-Ranch network ferry Omni-Grain from the harvester drones to the silos. It selects three teams of Ironwinged to transmute the grain. They try to tune its magical properties using the power of the Bargain, but the vitality inside the wheat makes it highly resistant to their alterations. Most of their magic simply slides off, leaving the plants completely unchanged.
East also flies to the Wetlands, but it continues towards the center of Kuhaku's rainstorm rather than stopping at the border. It circles the fields until it notices a crater of rotten plant matter creeping across the ground. The disease is spreading rapidly through the Omni-Grain population, carried by rotten fluids and occasionally infected fish. East siphons away the virus' strength, causing a stream of foul energy to fly up into the air. It collides with the Merchants' chest, causing black stains to spread across the vulture's feathers.
Meanwhile, West turns off the Harvesters so it can examine the obsidian shards. The Shardform that ran afoul of the drones is already long dead. Its head was splintered into hundreds of pieces by a scythe, most likely killing it instantly. It makes the body difficult to identify, but since none of the intelligent Shardforms are missing West tentatively considers it feral. The Steelspinners don't find any others in the vicinity.
Learn from the fragments the psychic communication and their writing system and teach them about manipulating the ooze's shape and properties while experimenting with it myself, of course do those things away from the ooze sea.
((If you update once in a few days it's still faster then most forum games I been at, although I wasn't in a lot of RTD so don't take my word for it))
AJAMA: 3 / Fragments: 4 / Apollyon: 6
Once AJAMA and Apollyon have confirmed that they're a safe distance from the ooze sea, everyone in the group begins exchanging knowledge and skills with one another. A few of the Fragments gather around AJAMA and show him how to use telepathy. Their form of mental communication involves creating a link between two different minds, which can then be used to transport thoughts and emotions from one entity. More complicated linkages can be used to achieve advanced forms of telepathy, such as mind-merges or telepathic networks.
The Demiurge is already accustomed to using telekinesis, another psionic skill, but mental communication requires far more precision. The Fragments teach him how to sense the minds of others, and then how to connect with them using specialized thought-processes. It's a relatively intuitive process, but it still takes most of the lesson for AJAMA to master a basic version of telepathy. The sphere can use it to transmit vague thoughts to mundane creatures, or more complex ideas to experienced psions like the Fragments.
Knowing telepathy also makes it easier for AJAMA to understand the Fragments' glyphs, which are essentially mental broadcasts in a written form. With Apollyon's help, the Demiurge learn how to organize its thoughts in such a way that they can be encoded into symbols. The end results are legible, although its writing is messier and less efficient than the Fragments' own.
Afterwards, the AJAMA shows the Fragments how to control and manipulate ooze. Apollyon picks up the skill almost immediately, and uses it to compress Non-Ooze into sheets of papery material. The other Fragments find it more difficult, especially when they're trying to control ooze that isn't made of Nothingness, but all agree that they will become more competent given time and practice.
Accept the power, with one condition: That the Sun never shines its light on the Spiderlings and their web, for they have already rejected our light and even plan to steal it's radiance and keep it for themselves. If they were successful, the Sun's light would be extinguished just like the first stars were.
There is a shift in the Sun's light once Aton makes his proposal. For a moment it vanishes completely, and the world is illuminated only by starlight. Then it sweeps across the sky, and Aton feels blistering heat fall on him from above. The Sun reluctantly informs him that it cannot bend its light away from the Web without consigning the rest of the universe to darkness. Instead it will alter the nature of its light, so that it chars Spiderlings who would try to feed on it or redirect it with a prism. It extends sincerest apologies, to Aton alongside an offer to renegotiate the compact if this solution is not to his liking.
Rays of brilliant sunlight surround the Herder. They bombard his disk until it melts, and then until it begins to burn with brilliant white light. A miniature star once again hangs above his brow, and with it comes the power of the Sun. Glowing essence flows across his body and then into his heart, where it melds with the bulls' own energies. Shockwaves ripple outwards as they collide with each other, manifesting as waves of change that crash across Aton's body. His horns and hooves become ivory once again, and his fur starts glimmering like gold.
"Okay everyone get back on the bus and we'll circle the wagons then I'll figure out the light situation."
Have the three trucks and the bus form a circle and turn on all their lights, then I shall start a fire and see if I can't make some glass lamps similar to the stars Gyaweft made, then I'll put them around the camp.
(I'm just gonna assume that there are three trucks because you said that they all got built even though you only mention two in the update.)
((Yeah, there are three - my bad. I must've gotten one of them mixed up with the bus or something)).
3
The Deer-Men pile back into their vehicles, which they then arrange into an uneven circle. None of the trucks are actually the same length, so the formation really ends up looking more like a trapezoid, but the trailers still work fairly well as a makeshift enclosure. Once everyone is in place, Dr. Bob hops into the cargo truck and searches it for spare materials. He fills a hemp bag with dried corn plants, glass bricks, and even a pile of glass shards that someone thoughtfully stuffed into the corner. Given the sheer amount of foot traffic that passed through this trailer as it was being loaded, it's a wonder that nobody has stepped on them yet.
He carries the bundle outside, then separates each of the materials into separate piles. Bob places the glass brinks and fragments near the bus, then digs a makeshift fire pit in the center of the enclosure. He fills it with the dried corn plants, then snaps his fingers to generate a spark. Embers fly from his palm and settle on the tinder, which promptly bursts into flame. The bonfire burns high, casting light this untouched place for the first time in eternity.
Dr. Bob balances a brick over the fire. For a moment he expects it to absorb the flames, holding them inside itself like the Gyweft's glass sphears. Instead the brick just gets hotter. Bob realizes that the flames are missing something. He thrusts his own hand into the heart of the bonfire, ignoring the tongues of flame that lap at his exposed skin. Essence flows outwards from his heart. It suffuses the fire, which now burns with a brilliant white light. Bob thrusts a second glass brick into the inferno, and this time wisps of fire become trapped inside the Star Lantern like flies in amber.
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover
-Regent of the Tower
-Spidersilk net.
-Improvised glass tools.
-Glass automaton
-Perpetual-motion bus
-Vial of Einyar
-Red Liquor
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror
-Catatonia
-Rain-Maker
--------------------------------
Ira, the World-Eater
-Empty
-Woven together
-Debt: Gral: Two Favors Owed
-Minor burns
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Gral, the Contractor
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings
-Contract: Ira: Two Favors
-Pinion Blades
--------------------------------
AJAMA, the Demiurge
-Ooze-born Body
-Ooze-born Spheres
-Sphere of Darkness
--------------------------------
Hynsyr, the Titan
-Transcendent
-Hundred Armed Form
-Edge of Infinity
-Spearmaster
-1000 spears of light
--------------------------------
Ashe, the Collector
-Brass feathers (underwater).
-Glass trinkets
--------------------------------
Meruem, the Spawner
-Flawed essence bladder
-Infused with Nothingness
-Firstborn
--------------------------------
Aton, the Herder
-Radiant
--------------------------------
Zeristia, the Gardener
--------------------------------
Amon
Bestiary:
Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
--Obsidian Archdemon: An obsidian dragon crafted by the Empty itself. It was granted the power to manipulate nothingness.
Fragments of Emptiness: Spirits made from the scattered pieces of ALTHERTH. They were driven out of the sand when Ira consumed the absent heart.
Apollyon: A Fragment which usurped AJAMA’s original body and converted it into Nothingness.
--Absent Ooze: A Nonexistent strain of Black Ooze that Apollyon can produce. Other Fragments often use it to create makeshift bodies.
Shardforms: Obsidian creatures which absorbed the Empty's already-incomplete consciousness. The broken pieces of ALTERTH's identity they possess give them animalistic intelligence.
--Awakened Shardforms: A herd of Sharforms who were granted sapience by Gral. They’ve agreed to provide the Silken Nest with raw materials in return for goods.
Steel Maggots: Metallic larvae which Gral accidentally created while trying to make avian Emissaries. After they were pulled off of the vulture, few escaped into the desert, where they accepted Gral's peace terms and moved into the shifting bog.
Steel Grubs: Steel maggots that have been bound with Pact-collars and transformed into livestock. They have grown larger than their sapient kin, but are unintelligent and largely peaceful.
Brass Buzzards: Brass birds crafted from Gral's feathers. They are infused with the pain it felt while creating them.
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
--Dustwalkers: A Spiderling subspecies which can feed on sand as well as light. They live on the sand and fight an asymmetrical war against it for survival.
--Ironwinged: Defeated Spiderlings who made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service, and have built a nest on one of the new stars. They were later granted the ability to weave metal.
--Ancestors: Aetherweavers who have achieved immortality by becoming spirits bound to the great web. They are incorporeal, and their astral bodies make it easier for them to manipulate aether.
--Scarred Spiderlings: Spiderlings who have gained great strength and endurance because of their mistreatment by the Brass Buzzards. They built a market but have mixed feelings about Gral and his servants.
--Sentinels: A army of biologically and magically augmented Spiderlings, created by elite Aetherweavers with Nazir's guidance. They serve the Spider Demigods, and stand ready to protect the Web alongside them.
Primelings: Ten entities created by Nazir and a group of the most powerful Aetherweavers. They watch over the Web in Nazir's stead, but are weakened by flaws in their weaving.
--Ekhor: A proud warrior who wears a larger variant of Sentinel Plate. He was nearly killed in the War of Sands.
--Sekhmet: A Primeling with flaws in the Weavings that form her mind. Despite being a brilliant tactician, her behavior is consistently very odd.
Merchants: Four steel vultures made from Gral’s essence. They are capable of using the Bargain.
Lightfolk: A species of humanoid mortals born from Hynsyr's golden light. Their powers of creation threaten to overwhelm their bodies, causing their inner light to warp chaotically. Many have begun to train so that they can gain more control over this ability.
--Prismatics: Seven lightfolk which glow brighter than the rest. They were hewn from the rainbow light of Hynsyr's eyes.
Deer-Men: A humanoid race with the heads of deer. Dr. Bob originally crafted them from the silk of Nazir's web. They were granted superior dexterity through a contract with Gral.
Three-Headed Worm: A juvenile sandworm created by Ira to serve the Dustwalkers.
Crops: Hemp, potato, corn, and bean plants created by Dr. Bob.
Suspicious Mushrooms: Mushrooms that sprouted in the Glass Tower after Dr. Bob’s disastrous attempts at brewing alcohol. They spawn clouds of hallucinogenic spores.
Fish: A school of colorful fish that swam straight out of Ashe’s dream. They wander through the rivers and lakes of the Wetlands.
Omni-Grain: A type of wheat designed to provide nourishment to every species. It grows explosively in the vitality-rich water of the Wetlands.
Deer Demons: Three deer-men whose bodies and minds were twisted by a botched healing. They have an unnaturally fast healing factor and limited control over other aspects of their physiology.
Atlas:
The Living Sands: ALTERTH once awakened the desert and allowed it to consume him. For a time his creation was infinite, but now most of the sand has died. The few surviving pieces are a shadow of what they once were.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
--New Stars: A second set that isn't accessible through the Great Web. Fortunately, that means they can't be blotted out by Spiderlings.
--Negative Star: A black sphere which radiates darkness, created by AJAMA after Gyaweft's death.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
--Silken Nest: A new star that the winged spiderlings have claimed as a nest. It can only be reached by gliding or descending on strands of silk.
--Tapestries: Libraries of spells and other knotwork which have been woven together and hung from the great web. Some have begun to collect aetheric cobwebs.
--Market of Scars: A grand market built by the Scarred Spiderlings in exchange for their resilience. The Ironwinged sell metal equipment there.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. When the sand was alive, islands in the bog constantly formed and dissolved. It has been tainted with Nazir's venom.
Glass Tower: A tower made of glass, raised from the sands by Gyaweft. It extends upwards through the web, tall enough that its upper floors reach the stars.
--Moat: The Tower is surrounded by a lake. Only one thin bridge connects it to the rest of the sand.
--Sandcastles: A series of elaborate sandcastles built around the moat. They were crafted so masterfully that they won’t dissolve in rain. Ashe later added an incredibly detailed sand city of her own.
--Garden: An irrigated garden containing several different types of crops.
--Laboratory: A room furnished with chemistry equipment and various glass containers.
Light Spires: A glowing city made by the Lightfolk using their creation magic.
--Temple of Yig: A golden temple which houses Yig, the First Tribute. It is an intricately-carved cathedral with walls made from an aurora.
Einyar: A sea of golden light drawn from Hynsyr's aura. It preserves the spirits of the Lightfolk after death, so that the cycle may advance.
Bone Fortress: A giant tree grown from one of Ira's teeth, and given to the Dustwalkers as a gift. It has become a large fortress.
Glass Crater: When Gyaweft flew his Sunship into the ground, it melted a wide swathe of the sand into glass. Fiery essence spilled from the ship still burns here, and sealed fault lines radiate from the impact site.
--Smelter's Grave: The center of the crater. Gyaweft's corpse lies here, alongside the molten remains of his Sunship.
Wetlands: Areas of the sand and the Great Web which Kuhaku continuously showers with water. The rain is heavy enough to form rivers and lakes.
--Abandoned Nests: A nesting ground that was briefly occupied by the Brass Buzzards. It is strewn with metal feathers and bloody talon-prints.
Canal: A shallow canal that Ira dug to fulfill one of her favors to Gral. It was meant to channel water from the Wetlands to various other parts of the world, but it overflowed and flooded the Glass Tower instead.
Knowledge:
Knot-Writing: A written language Nazir formulated so that Aetherweavers could record their spells. It involves weaving complex knots into silk, and therefore comes intuitively to Spiderlings but is almost impossible for anyone else to comprehend.
Bargainer's Tongue: A simplified version of knot-script which can be etched into a flat surface rather than woven into silk. It is comprehensible to non-Spiderlings, but not as intuitive.
English: A written script based on twenty-six letters and a few punctuation symbols. It was introduced by Dr. Bob and is primarily used by the Deer-Men.
Metalworking: Blacksmithing techniques that are typically available to the Ironwinged. They can be used to weave metal objects.
Aetherweaving: A magical discipline which involves spinning spiritual webs. It was taught to the Spiderlings by Nazir and is available to the Tribes, the Primelings, and any other arachnid capable of making silk.
Lightforging: Creation magic unique to the Lightfolk. It is a powerful but chaotic ability which can be used to make solid-light constructs out of one's own aura. More advanced techniques allow practitioners to create complex materials such as metal or wood.
Eight-Talon Way: A powerful martial art created by the Brass Buzzards. It is purely offensive in nature, but consists of strikes so lethal that defense isn’t usually necessary.
Agriculture: Farming is only feasible in the wetlands, but plants watered by Kuhaku’s rain grow quickly. The Deer-Men have been taught to cultivate and use several kinds of crops.
Prayer: A technique which allows Lightfolk to tap into their connections with Yig and Einyar. The Prismatics have learned how to use it to communicate with Hynsyr.
Photosynthesis Enchantments: A personal enhancement Weaving developed by the Ironwinged. It increases the amount of energy that Spiderlings can absorb from light.
Platonic Glyphs: Symbols that telepathically insert concepts into the reader’s mind. Writing with them requires some form of magical power, but they can be understood by anyone willing to endure mental strain.
The Inheritance: A magical message that Nazir sent to his children from beyond the veil. It included incomplete blueprints for several different marvels of Aetheric technology.
Items:
Seven Rainbow Spears: Weapons Hynsyr forged from a rogue splinter of his soul and gave to the Prismatics. They amplify their wielders' magic immensely, and provide slightly more control over their powers of creation.
Black Ooze: A patch of black goo created by AJAMA which can grow by absorbing sand. A column of ooze goes deep beneath the earth, where it breached a reservoir of Emptiness.
--Chaos Ooze: Blobs of ooze which have accidentally been made to assimilate a variety of substances and concepts. They were later sealed away.
--Silence Ooze: A strain of chaos ooze that can feed on silence. AJAMA transplanted some of it to the empty desert, where it has grown rapidly.
--Crusted Ooze: Semisolid ooze variants which have been hardened by intense pressure. They take slightly longer to grow as a result of their density.
Pact-Arms: Metal weapons, armor, and tools which can compel their wielders to carry out tasks for the Winged Spiderlings. Most are in the possession of Spiderlings on the Web.
Tribute Tokens: A currency minted by the Ironwinged and infused with the power of the Bargain. They see light use in the Great Web but are not considered especially valuable, so most of the economy still relies upon bartering.
Sentinel Plate: Magical armor developed for use by the Sentinels. It can drain the force of attacks and release it in the form of telekinetic blasts.
Life Machine: A machitech device that can be used to shunt vitality from one area to another. Additional upgrades gave it the ability to drain life from sand, which a Merchant used to create a patch of fertile soil around the machine.
Smelter’s Plate: A suit of metal armor that was once part of Gyaweft’s body. After his death, it was claimed by a Shardform called Awake.
Dawn Axehead: An axehead that Gywaeft made from the remains of his Sunship. It was meant to split the world into pieces, but the Smelter bled out before he could complete the shaft.
Factions:
Spiderling Tribes: Prominent groups of Spiderlings, mostly organized by subspecies. The are scattered across the Web, the stars, and the sand.
--Order of Strands: The first Spiderlings to learn the art of Aetherweaving. Many have strained their minds and bodies to hone their abilities, making them feeble despite their mystical strength.
High Council of the Web: The governing body of the Great Web. It consists of delegates from each of the tribes, as well as one Primeling. Most meetings take place in Nazir's nest at the top of the Web.
Lifeweavers: A group of Ancestors who helped Nazir create the Primelings and Sentinels.
Warpriests: A Lightfolk religious order which protects Einyar, the Temple of Yig, and the Light Spires themselves.
Ministry of Light: Civil servants appointed by Hynsyr to oversee the Light Spires. The seven Prismatics were installed as founding members.
Scrap-Ranches: Homesteads manned by Ironwinged and awakened Shardforms. They produce metal by farming Steel Grubs and shearing excess material off of their body.
The Lost: Fragments of Nothingness that chose to follow AJAMA rather than the Archdemon. Their new purpose is to create, collect, and preserve knowledge.