Arrival:
Whain and Nāri strode through the doors to the room of The Battle of The Gods. The twins were dressed in similar fashion, wearing dresses made of a silky fiber with a golden sheen. They were talking to themselves while they walked towards the table where the other gods were assembled.
"So, this is where it all happens?"
"Apparently, it doesn't look like much, though."
"In the stories it was so much better."
"And all the chairs were made of something good, not like this rock here." Whain said, indicating the Enrithian's god, whom she had mistaken for a chair.
"I think that's one of the competition."
"Oh. Not much for a god, is he?"
"Don't say that to him! He might wake up."
"Okay. So, do we just sit down?"
"I think so, then we are supposed to put our people upon the board."
The piece indicating The Maehī was already on the board, as they had arrived under their own means.
Narī sat down.
"Well, now that that's out of the way, I suppose we can have some fun.
The New World:
Kahi Sat at the back of the great boat, giving him a grand view of the rowers, and one even better of the stars overhead. He had lived upon this world all his life, except for one visit to the first-world. He had been chosen to lead this great fleet of dozens of ships to a new world, and he had accepted it. It was a chance to see new sights, gain great honor for his people, and to rule over a world of his own.
The Maehī were a people with a long history of traveling from world to world. Rather then using such crass methods as moving through the void, or punching through reality with magic, they used the currents. If you know how, they can take you anywhere. Knowing which of the many currents of the oceans could take you was a skill known only to the navigators guild, and they were happy to keep it so.
The stars changed, and they were in a new world. The navigator's horn rang out to announce the transition, and a cheer came up from the rowers, but they couldn't stop now, they had to find land. There are methods that never change from world to world, and the navigator knew that there was land nearby, and so we set sail, to the east, and the challenges of a new world.
They were not the only ones to arrive. The gods protect their people, and follow them where ever they go. But the Maehī's mother goddess was an overgod, and never interfered directly. She sent two of her daughters to watch over them, and was prepared to bring down all the forces of the ancient guardians upon them if they should fail.
Landfall:
They had gone about a week and a half before they sighted land. The clarion call sounded about the boats, and the rowers redoubled their pace. A few hours later, we touched down upon the sandy beach.
Then we began to search around, and found that this was a good land indeed. There was not a lot of creatures around, but the shelled ones told me of some of the strangest things they had found under the waves. There they found crabs with shells the color of rainbows. Huge silver fish that had a taste quite unlike anything on the old world, and.. oh dear. They had found sharks twice the size of the largest seen back home. That could be a problem, as they will form a significant barrier to our raising of the Rechi (Gigantic crustaceans that they get their armor from.), but we shall have to deal with that later.
My kin have begun the creation of a place that we might call home, they have planted the first Haī tree (a sacred kind of tree which has slow growth, cultural significance, and wood like steel.) to show that that land is a sacred place for us, and to tell those guardians of this land that we come in peace.
Now, I must leave to perform the Haka (a sacred dance, with any number of meanings or forms) to gain the acceptance of the land, to claim this world in our name, and to call those guardians of these lands to our side.
The guardians listened, and they heard. They flew from the lands outside, into the world, taking forms, and ownership of lands, and they became as the Maehī willed them to be: Arbitrators, and protectors of what they hold sacred. For they are the servants of the earth-mother, and follow and obey all her children.
Flora and Fauna:
It was the next day. Scouts had been sent out to examine the animals and plants of this new land. They were returning now, a few of them were wounded, obviously this land does not lack in dangerous creatures. Kahi was sitting on a rock, with the other Kaumatua sitting nearby.
Then they landed, drawing the attention of the couple of us who had not noticed their approach.
"We have returned, venerable ones" Said their leader, whose feathers were somewhat faded, a sign of his advanced age and vast experience.
"What have you found?" I asked.
"Well, to start with the plants, we have found that they are ....unusual to say the least."
"In what way?" questioned the ruler of the shelled ones.
"The forests near us are good, rather boring, but when you travel far enough to the north the forests start to change, instead of plants that are somewhat familiar in form, we get these strange crystalline spiky things. They are impossible to do much of anything with, as when you touch them they unleash a cloud of what we presume are seeds, though they might not be. They cut at the skin and make it feel as if it was ablaze; and that's just the bushes.
"What are the trees like?" I asked.
"They are huge towering things, and interconnected. We dare not go on the ground, and we cannot fly in. They also injured Rahe over here by actually firing their seeds at us. They are malevolent and somehow accurate.
"Oh dear. As for the animals?"
"Many of them are giant in form, and those that are not are extremely numerous. They are similar to the lizards of our home, but expanded to fill every way of life. No other creatures, save for a few small furred ones exist. The lizards are also odd in another way: Many of them have feathers of some kind, this includes those with the position of birds, these attacked and wounded some of us, but we managed to fight them off."
We dismissed them, and began to debate on the proper course of action.
Foundations:
Kahi looked over the growing town. He saw workers constructing homes, and from his vantage on the top of the palisade surrounding the common house that took up the highest tier of the town (All of the settlements of the Maheī are build upon tiered earthworks, usually based upon preexisting hills). From up here, he could even see a few of the closer farms and pastures.
It had been several months since arrival. The town's growth had been accelerated by the flow of people and resources from the old world, combined with the abundance of this new world. Except for the strange crystal-trees to the north. Luckily, further exploration had discovered that the forests of these things only took up a few small areas, and the heart of these new lands lay open for the taking.
He saw a group depart from the gates of the currently-unnamed capital, going off to any number of places fit for the taking. They were not the first. He had been to see some of the villages being established. He had seen them fight against the strange reptiles of this new world. Many villages started in haste, gone without sufficient protection had vanished overnight. That always happened when you found a new world. There were always those who went in, disrespectful and unknowing.
On a connected, but lighter note, the Kaumatua of the grounded ones had brought up the topic of domesticating some of these strange lizards for riding. He favorites the comparatively small, but intelligent (and extremely murderous) ones. I challenged him to try, and he has been out for about a week. He's probably got himself hurt, maybe badly, but if he has, it's his fault.
I watched the village go about it's routine, seeing people arrive from the homeworld further up the beach, and watching as buildings were constructed, commodities were brought in to trade, the workshops hummed with life, and in the seas, just barely visible, the shelled ones came and went, constructing their homes buy growing that strange coral of theirs. I saw some of the Lizard People entertaining those who cared to watch, and I was happy. Life is good.