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« on: July 24, 2020, 12:36:55 pm »
And so the second turn of the celestial clock did reach it's conclusion. The gods had been busy with this cycle, though their power did not compare to their strength at birth, the gods did come to be more in tune with the world and set many plots in motion.
First, the slime rains began. Across the world, the primordial slime rained down and collected in the nooks and crannies of the world. While most slimes perished before they could evolve to survive in their environment, their moisture adding much needed water to the oceans of the world, many did come to survive. Upon the first land, without much surprise, tar slimes came to survive in the central areas of the continent. The inner tar bogs, a swamp of asphalt and death, came to support populations of these slimes which feed on the unlucky creatures which become trapped in the sludge. Some occasionally wonder out into the less sticky areas of the tar bogs, dwelling in ponds as ambush predators. Though they stood little chance against the larger creatures which called this place home. Surprisingly, no other slimes took up residence here. In the black forests, long limbed green tree slimes can be seen swinging from the trees. A small nucleus with two pseudotentacles not more than a quarter of an inch thick, gives these small statured slimes the ability to swing from limb to limb and feed among the forest canopy. Other slimes here have taken to living in burrows during the day and grazing upon decomposing material on the forest floor at night. Though it is perhaps the tiger slime which one must pay the most attention to. A devastatingly quick slime over short distances, it's stripes bring terror to man and deer alike. Lastly, the mushroom forests have two kinds of slimes appear. The first is the slime shroom, a slime which has adopted a sessile lifestyle and uses mimicry to copy the shapes of nearby mushrooms. The second is grand fungal lord, the first of his kind. This massive slime grows large and old in a pond of spirit water, and has attracted the stereotypical worship practices of the mushfolk, which mostly comprises of leaving gifts of food and shiny rocks within it's reach. Occasionally the Synith can be seen conversing with the fungal lord on the metaphorical implications of rebirth through fungus.
Up on the mountains, both on the Black Land and the mountainous continent of Argonbaugh's make, hard shelled mountain slimes photosynthesize among the boulders, their sunward facing sides growing greenish as the slime builds chloroplasts there. Each slime is shelled by hexagonal shell sections, which many have drawn a comparison to the look of a turtle shell. Other slimes here are small and quick predators, feeding on whatever insects and small animals they can. While they come in a variety of colors, the most common are a dull brown, or slate grey, but occasionally a recessive trait will cause one to be a beautiful ruby red.
Down in the caverns of the world, slimes do become more prevalent than on the surface. The giant cave slime is a particular danger, not due to their speed, which is lacking, or their strength, which is similarly weak, but due to their girth. Whole passages may be blocked as these large creatures wander the caverns, searching for other slimes to eat. This occasionally interferes with the migratory patterns of the stonelings who often wait for the beast to make it's way through the passage, rather than diverge from the safety of their route. Bat slimes come to flit between different mushroom forests, not more than three of four inches across, including their wings. Their bodies have tiny sensitive hairs for detecting air currents, allowing them to navigate the tunnels. These hairs also tend to pick up spores from the mushrooms they feed on, spreading them throughout the tunnels to new locations. Deeper down, near the hot core of the world heart, slimes tend to feed on the massive amounts of heat, clustering near magma pools. Some slimes even burrow into the rocks in these high heat and pressure environments, eventually crystallizing into living gems.
Upon the Archipelago of Ytlia, slimes also take root here. On a few islands, tree slimes similar to their cousins upon the First Land evolve, though they are bulkier somewhat, and more inclined to climb up and down the sparser trees, rather than live in them. They also tend to climb up rock faces in search of food on the stoney islands. In the waters, sea slimes wander the shallow sea. While not inherently dangerous, they are quite hard to distinguish from the surrounding water, though can occasionally be spotted by their increased shimmer compared to the water around them. They tend to crawl along the sea floor, but are capable of swimming over short distances. Other slimes have developed clamlike shells which provide them with safety from predators as they photosynthesize. Precious pearls have been discovered in these slimes occasionally, and become quite popular among the merfolk. Yet, there is a most dangerous slime which hunts these waters, the Red Tide. It is a massive collection of red slimes which float across the water's surface. They can cover miles at a time when conditions are right and release a mild toxin which suffocates the water beneath them. Though these events tend to be short lived, mostly occurring during the height of summer, lasting but two or three days a couple times a year.
The next major act upon the world was to allow the eldritch being Agai to place upon the world a most wonderous garden. There was indeed much fighting between the gods, with Master Bargaineer Multidues eventually winning the bidding war. As such, a new continent was founded. The land was composed of 8 small islands, surrounding a larger central island where the garden will be placed. Each one of the small islands served as a location where the other gods may place down their works, and each is connected to their adjacent islands with a land bridge that barely emerges during low tide and is swallowed by the sea when the tides rise. A more permanent land bridge connects the most northern and the most southern islands to the Garden. This creates two deep pools between the islands, similarly usable for marine life, as the gods desire. Deep beneath the most western and the most eastern islands large caverns and tunnels can be found, some flooded, but most remain dry. The central island is ringed by a large wall, marking the border of the Garden. A large pillar stands in the center of the Garden, allowing one to stand atop it and gaze out not only over the Garden of Agai, but the other islands as well. The Garden itself was organized in concentric rings. The outermost ring is devoted to trees which grow a wide variety of fruits; sapphire oranges, chocolate durians, floating figs, peppered cherries, and glowing mooseberries were the most prevalent among them. The second ring was then devoted to ground crops; moocumbers, sickle wheat, hypermelons, giant pink onions, and snapper shrubs compose most of this ring. The third innermost ring was devoted to more magical plants. Wise Wasabi, large wisabi plants that grow scrolls of wisdom within them, to be read by their harvester. Helpful Horseraddish, which contain within them item their harvester may need. Sustenances, strange plants which grow delectable dishes from around the world once a week. Peaples, strange creatures, are large constructs entirely eldritch in nature. They look exactly as if an apple, or perhaps a pear, had been grown into a large hulking humanoid near twenty feet tall. The peaples wander the roads between the rings, tending the garden as they sing the songs of Agai. The innermost ring was filled with eldritch plants of strange shape and nature. They were hard to look upon, as their physical existence doesn't seem to match up with the reality around them, what you can assume is the equivalents of fruits, vegetables, and meats grow among this row, though some do seem to have within them strange magics.
As such, the focus shifted away from the lands themselves, and towards the people living upon them.
The Archipelago of Ytill did see further separation of the two developing cultures. The merfolk which came to dominate this area did indeed continue to squabble and aquire wealth of all kinds. The newly discovered slime pearls quickly led many to take up pearl hunting as a profession, and slime meat became a staple of the diet of this region. And so to did the merfolk come to live more closely with the lands of this place. While their ancestors may have occasionally ventured onto the lands, the merfolk of today have begun constructing villages which are partially submerged, bridging the gap between land and sea. When the red tides strike during high summer, the merfolk move up onto the lands to avoid the poisonous waters, waiting a few days until the red tides dissipate. This also brought them closer to the new denizens of the area, the blue constructs. These large blue humanoids stood nearly twenty feet high upon long stilt-like legs. They stand high above the waters, wading from island to island, picking fruit from the trees with ease. Their bodies are covered in a smooth yet flexible blue exoskelton of sorts, which gives the creatures unnatural resilience and strength, allowing them to walk through the large waves kicked up during storms with ease. Their lives are mostly nomadic, wandering from island to island, where they gain good relationships with the merfolk there. The constructs are not particularly intelligent, but they are friendly, and pick up a few words of the merfolk, speaking in broken merish. They often give gifts when they arrive, things discovered on their travels and the arrival of one of them in a merfolk village quickly becomes an exciting event. Occasionally a merfolk tribe will try and fight or capture one of the constructs, but this goes quite poorly for them as the unnatural strength of the construct allows them to escape with ease. As such, the two races come to live in harmony.
That is with the exception of the Pyranesis. Their industrious nature and tendency towards slavery led to much conflict between the races. When the constructs wondered near the maelstom surrounding Py, they stopped. They would not draw closer, feeling the swirling nature of Idmova's creation start to pull upon their souls. This did not go unnoticed by the Pyranesis, who tried to buckle the legs of the strange humanoids and set them to work. Yet the unnamed constructs stood resolute, staring at Py, as if analyzing it's nature. Their legs standing resolute as waters bashed against them and spears glanced off them. In time, they would nod, turn, and continue on their journey, much to the chagrin of the Pyranesis. This brough much bewilderment to the defacto leader of the tribe, a merfolk by the name of Cobaol. He had been dubbed the Architect and had not only a deep connection to Idmova, but also a perfect understanding of Py. Despite this, Cobaol could not understand the constructs, which weathered not only the physical element of Py, but the spiritual element as well. Though he could see it did have some effect on them, it seemed as though while the creatures bodies had stopped moving, their minds had not. Though he had a perfect understanding of Py, he could not fathom what thoughts moved through the heads of these creatures. Yet, this was only his musings of the latest hour and during the day, Cobaol had much greater tasks at hand. The Pyranesis tribe grows ever more powerful under his leadership, developing better weapons, and begin to gain an understanding of masonry. While the other merfolk lived in huts and sea caves, the Pyranesis tribe began to construct triangular stone buildings to live in which did not stop the motion of the tempestuous waters, but instead allowed the water to flow around them and continue it's motion. While still small compared to the whole of the merfolk, their tribe has quickly grown to become among one of the largest.
Yet elsewhere did the other races also change and grow. Upon the mountains of the First Land a human prophet by the name of Kide was born. Possessing an innate knowledge of Argonbagh and Acter, Kide was also quick to learn new tasks and develop a reverence for the two gods. He did explain to his people the nature of this place, but many did not believe him. His words fell on dead ears among his people, many of which worshiped a being known as Ming, who is often depicted as a long draconic creature which flies between the mountains. Though, none have seen Ming since the stars grew dark generations ago, nor have they seen Ming since the recent rebirth of the stars, but many have taken that as a sign of Ming's return. Only Kide did know the true nature of their situation. Stolen from their lands by a malicious being and sold to a new set of powers far beyond what any mortal could fully comprehend. Plagued with this knowledge, Kide fell into a depression, despite him being the most loved member of his mountain. Many would come to him daily for his help, calling him the Man Who Could Do Any Task, and in these small moments Kide found solace, forgetting the secret plight of his people and instead seeing only the smiles on their face as he helped them.
The second prophet, named Qaya, did take a very different path. They grew quickly, becoming a large and imposing stoneling woman. By the time she was an adult, she had killed more trilobite dogs than the rest of her tribe combined, wearing a hard armor of their exoskeletons tanned in the heat near the lava pools. Some even said she once moved a giant cave slime with her strength alone, but this is mostly a rumor. Qaya was one who believed deeply in the ways of her tribe. Of the Stone Mother Argonbgh and of the Sculptor Acter who brought them forth from them. Her connection to the gods only strengthened this conviction and she quickly became a spiritual leader, not only of her tribes, but many would seek her out during the annual meeting of the tribes. Oddly enough to most other tribes, her tribe had quite the following of mushfolk. She had been blessed with knowledge of their true nature and had come to respect the strange creatures, and they too had come to depend on Qaya's tribe. In time, they adapted to live among the stonelings, feeding on their scraps and wandering among them. They grew smaller and paler, developing bioluminescent spots across their caps which the stonelings used for light in the darker regions of the caves. This improved their usefulness and brought the two races closer together, the mushfolk, while incapable of speech, began to communicate with a series of hand movements to convey simple ideas, even to the stonelings. As such, Qaya was heralded as a sage for taming, what appeared to be, a race of wild animals, as well as teach them language! Truly a stoneling among stronelings, Qaya's name soon came to be known throughout the entire cavern. Yet there was one thing that few did notice, when Qaya drank from the Hardening Pool, the crystal on her forehead turned a deep blue, and her eyes did glaze over as she peered into the spirit world.
Elsewhere on the First Land, the snakemen did come to adapt to their harsh environment. The weak were weeded out quickly by this god-forsaken bog which surrounded them on all sides. Quickly they grow strong, and their skill in combat the only thing that stood between them and death by elphantoad or carpgator. They were never a particularly religious species, even before they were abducted and sold to you, but among the snake people, they call the mountain they live upon, "Kawg Vaj Huam Sib Luag Thim Txiv Neej". There is no good direct translation, but it generally means 'The Last Stair of Purgatory."
South of them, across the bogs and into the mushroom forest, Aiei did reach out to the fungaloids. Many gathered around the Synith and listened to the strange salamushroom as it spoke of Ualk. Aiei guides them through the steps as he teaches them the spell, but somewhere the spell went awry. Perhaps it was a translation issue, as the mushfolk had no concept of garbage. To them, the world is a collection of treasures and the concept that something would be considered waste by one had not occurred to them. As such, they learned a most sinister variation, as the Synith tried to explain the concept to them. The closest translation which made any sense was "what is left behind when one leaves." Though this concept did cover the intended garbage, but the mushfolk took this much more literally, coming to interpret the meaning of the spell to indicate consumption of the dead bodies. And quickly after learning this, many did descend on the Synith and tear their torso into pieces to devour. This of course did not kill the Synith, who as a fungaloid, would grow back his lost torso over the next few weeks. Yet this did little to diminish the scene of surprisingly socially acceptable cannibalism and carnage. The surrounding mushfolk did indeed grow to be more like the Synith over those next few days, and quickly a religion did grow around the practice. Once a month the fungaloids would gather around the Synith as they tore themselves into little chunks, passing them out to the surrounding crowd. With each iteration, they grew to be less and less like the only marginally intelligent fungaloids and did grow to be slightly more clever, and did come to possess the Synith's innate affiliation for necromancy to some degree. These mushroom folk grew to call themselves the Saprophytic Order.
Yet still, greater workings began not only upon the mortal world, but upon the plane spiritual. The spirit world had grown much and quickly, coming to occupy about an eighth of the world. Though this hardly mattered within the spirit realm, for most places did not exist in one place. They were small places in between places which mattered. The liminal spaces of the world which no one thought about, abandoned, empty or unremarkable places which one would never. Between these twisting labyrinths of places which held no home in the minds of this world, lay islands of the places which did matter. Wide perfectly circular pools of spirit water were common here, holding the land around them in place. It is said that when the waters of these pools lays undisturbed, one may travel from it's corresponding pool in the physical realm, and enter the spirit realm. And indeed, several stonelings did indeed find this to be the case. These were the lucky stonelings which fell into the waters of the Hardening Pool and did not drown, but instead, found themselves in a strange new place. They would stand near the pool, pulling themselves up onto the shore of the spirit realm and see before them vast expanding caverns. The tunnels would look familiar, but only because you've seen one like it in the past. And perhaps you passed through that last cavern in a dream. Soon they would be lost in these places, the unremembered but familiar places of the world stacked together in a shifting maze that one can't recall. Over time their forms would change and warp until they became something else entirely, their bodies drawn out of an eroded shell of the material world until their spirits are all that remained. These were how the Wanderlings are born, spirits of short legs and long grasping arms which wander the liminal labyrinth looking for something they've forgotten. Occasionally one would become food for something bigger. And for a time, this was all there was.
Yet later lands did grow here and the Wanderling's fate was not the only fate of those who came here. The mountains of the First Land did grow here, holding a ring around them within the shifting realm. They became the homes of any lucky enough to stumble upon them within the liminal sea. Quickly they became home to a spatterings of spirits. For not all spirits are the souls of the lost. Here the Six Dragons come to be born, each one a different color and wrapped upon their mountain. Among them grass did come to grow and even tree spirits manifested within particularly old trees. Yet even here, the entrapping tar bogs and fetid swamps manifest, a deep ocean of ooze. And so in time, the first land's spirit came to reflect it's physical form.
The same was true of the Stone Lands. Here the mountains grew witty and wise, and held conversations upon the wintery breeze. Their laughing would shake off the snow and avalanche down their sides, and their bellows would boom as thunder in the sky. If one yelled loudly enough, these booming giants may hear you. Deep below their feet sumberged in magma surrounded by mushroom filled passages and crystal caverns which stretched out a ways before being lost in the liminal sea. Though they do come quite close to the spirit of the World Heart, which beats a drum within the core of the world. Though now its beat quickens as a darkness wraps itself around it.
Elsewhere the archipelago did come to drift upon a sea of infinite water, each horizon indistinguishable from the one you just passed. These islands will occasionally drift past eachother, and spirits may risky the swim, but ultimately it is a lonely empty place.
Last the Garden did grow here, coming to resemble itself. The many islands circled around the center counter clockwise. The rings of the center island spin each in the opposite direction of the one above it, so that one never grew familiar with the ever changing scenery. Here the Cincoire are born, a race of childlike peoples born of the spirit realm. They quickly populated the Garden here and many tribes developed, one upon each ring and island. It was within these places they would discover the spirit pools, and be able to swim into the physical realm, so long as they held their breath. There they would pull their pranks on the other mortals, often drawing them into the spirit realm. For some, they returned, but for many, they would never return. Though occasionally a ceanncoire would make a bad deal with a mortal and end up trapped in the physical realm, the cinncoire a mostly lonely race. As the only other spirits here lay within the center of the garden, with a few wandering the rings. Strange black things whos forms did not match up with the space their body was in. The meandered busily through the rings, performing tasks on objects which weren't there, paying no mind to the fae. Still worse was the hole in the center of the Garden which was a ring of shifting things which did not fit there, shadows cast by their eldritch physical counterparts. The life of a Cinncoire is one of casual protection of a sacred land, inter-spaced with avoiding shadows of things cast across the spirit world and tricking mortals.
