(Here is an in-game thread, because I am stupid.

Everyone gets 1 extra token, and the ones from yesterday you didn't use have not vanished, because I am stupid.)

(Okay, each of you has 3 TOKENS now.

In the void, there is potential... and power. The power may or may not prove to be a bit hard to control... but it exists, nonetheless.

Also in the void is a single sun, and a planet that spins around it, with plant and animal life of many kinds...

AnBas, Lyric, and Xan exist in the void surrounding the sun and its planet...

(Remember: do NOT say "I do this." Say "I ATTEMPT to do so-and-so," and then tell me what you rolled, and I'll narrate what actually happens.

Unless of course you do something that doesn't require a roll, in which case go right ahead.)
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:02, Fri 27 Nov 2020.

Slowly floating through the void Xan was getting dizzy until she bumped into AnBas.
"Oooof. What I hit ?" Xan's violet eyes looked around, "Oh, hi Mr. Black Wings."

*smiles* "Hello little one. What are you doing out here alone?"

"Where are we ? Oh your like me, your not an animal. I like your wings."
She shows her own little wings. (See Description)

"I feel a bit dizzy, maybe we should move closer to the nice warm ball."
She looked around and pointed at the sun.

*smiles* "Ah, you are a new. And you have a long life in front of you."  he offers her his hand. "We can move closer if you like."

Xan nodded enthusiastically.

"I like it there, it's nice and warm."

Xan tried to help flapping her little wings in time with the other person.

"Oh Im Xan, I am new !" Smiling.

She could feel the warmth and the light allowed her to see AnBas more clearly.

"Is Chaos your mom too ?"

*smiles* "I am Anbas, it is nice to meet young Xan." *chuckles* "No, Chaos is not my mother, but I do know her." he is careful with Xan, ensuring that he does not fly to fast.

Xan nods, "Hey there is a smaller ball. Can we go see that ?" She points at the planet and then almost vibrates with excitement, "It's young like me, I can feel it and, and, I think Animals is there !"

*chuckles* "Certainly, we can check it out." he changes direction and makes for the planet. "So you like animals?"

"He is my dad, I like his aspects especially the fluffy ones." She smiled as they headed for the planet.

"I will show you, if I see any." Her little wings flapping faster.

"Who is your mom and dad, AnBas ?"

*smiles* "I have no parents, much like your mother, I just am."  *chuckles* at her comment about the fluffy ones.

"Yes, Mom is really neat ! She is so mercurial though." Xan roles her eyes.

She will land on the planet and fold her wings.

"Your not Chaos or Animals, AnBas are you the master of all AnBases ?"

Her eyes looked all around, "Wow lot's of animals !" She waved and said hello to each one before turning her attention back to AnBas.

*smiles* "Correct, I am not Chaos or Animals" *chuckles* "You could say that I am the Master of all AnBases. For a part of me is the shadow of all things." he looks a little sad "But that is not something you need to concern yourself little one." he waves to her, I shall be back shortly.

He then flies up and finds nice mountain valley, and attempts to make a home for himself by having rock of the mountain erode away.

Xan nods and walks over to a  wooly mammoth and pets it. Trying to fit in and not startle the things of this world. She tries to look as adorable as possible to the animals.




11:15, Today: Xan rolled 10 using 2d6+1.  Disguise Self.

(AnBas gets 1 xp.)

AnBas tries to create something, but he doesn't manage to control his powers.

The rock erodes... but when it's done, all that's there are some sort of giant... beings.

( https://www.dungeonsolvers.com...05/Galeb_duhr_5e.jpg )

The rocky beings blink at the sunlight, move around, start trying to eat things. They try eating gravel, tree branches... they aren't really fast enough to catch anything else...

They vary in size... the smallest are about six feet. The largest are about 15 feet in height.

(AnBas, what will you name these beings?)


Meanwhile, Xan's attempt to fit in and look adorable to the animals works just right.

(Xan, say whether you truly change your form, or if it's just an illusion.

Since your roll was good, if it's just an illusion, it will even smell right to the animals.

You may regain your true form whenever you want.)


The rocky beings head down the mountainside... They are clumsy, though, most of them rolling down like rockslides...

They're headed for Xan and the animals...

Xan played with a baby mammoth and mingled happily with all the animals she met.
She was happy to just move from animal to animal talking with them and making them feel loved.
When she sees the big rock folk.

"Ooooh what are those ?" She ran over to meet the rock people. Waving and smiling.

The rock folk reach out for Xan. Maybe she will be good to eat.

And...

And...

...Some sort of survival instinct is causing them to not pick up the goddess and eat her.

They reach out... One circles its big hand around her... tighter--

--No. Less tight. Something makes them feel like they shouldn't touch-- that they would squeeze too tight. This thing in front of them is just too... adorable.

The rock beings begin to wander off to find something else to eat.

They show interest in the animals, but they're not fast enough to catch any so far...

"hmmm, that is not what I was expecting.  I will call them Mountain Giants" he muses allow to himself.  He watches them, sad that they are focus on destruction, but it cannot be helped at this time. As he observes, he is momentarily concerned as one of the animals runs up to them and waves, but he relaxes as he realizes it must be Xan.  He flies down and smiles "They are Mountain Giants" he says to the Xan-imal."

Xan saw one reach down for her and she hugged it's hand as it did so, giggling.

"You are all young like me !" She smiled not realizing how close she had come to being eaten. Bouncing on her little legs she followed the Rock people. She looked back, "Oh I forgot, I have to wait for AnBas. We can play later."

She waved to her friends and went back to where she was looking up towards the mountain hoping to see AnBas.  "There you are ! Hi again. Mountain Giants, they are big not very fluffy but they seem nice."

*smiles* "Time will tell, but you are correct.  They are brand new to the world." he offers his hand "Come with me, I want to show you something."

Xan nods and follows AnBas.

"Oooh is it a surprise ?" She smiled.

*smiles* "Yes, sort of.  I think you will like it." he takes flight and takes her to the valley.  "Take a look at this valley.  It will make a nice home.  Sadly, I am not good at creating.  But I can see its potential."

"Oh ! did you want my help ? I am good at creating." Xan smiled and looked all around. She admired all the new things to see here in the valley.

"I think this would be a nice home for you."

*nods* "Yes, I think I would like your help very much." *smiles* he kneels down to look her in the eyes, he rests his hands on the side of her head and leans forward so that they foreheads touch and he sends her his vision of the castle in the mountainside overlooking the waterfall.

Similar to this:

"Ha ha ha we bonked heads." She smiles then sees the image, "Oh that is pretty, can I have someplace to live in it ? I can create a youthful castle, or young workers to build the castle, or give you a seed that will grow into your castle. What would you like me to try ?" She looked happy to help out.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 17:33, Mon 30 Nov 2020.

*smiles* "Yes, you can have a place to stay and a play room within." he sits back "Workers would probably be best, as a seed grows, it too will eventually fade away."

Xan bobs her head.

She focuses and call up a young crew of many, many workers to help construct the castle.
Youthful not infants.



11:56, Today: Xan rolled 7 using 2d6+2.  Create youthful Castle Construction Crew.
I will take a -1 to next roll ?

Xan pouts, "Awwww I could have done better."

Pats her on the head, "Better than my attempt" *smiles* "We will get there."

Xan looks up smiling happily, "You have a positive attitude !"
Like spring eternal Xan put on a happy face.

She waves at the youthful crew she had called up and says, "Hello !"

*smiles* "I try." as he watches her interact.

AnBas gives power to Xan, and he does such a good job, he doesn't really lose any power himself.

(Xan gets an extra token, and AnBas does not lose one.)

Xan creates some helpers to build a castle for AnBas... They're all about 6 feet tall, and they're basically more Mountain Giants... except they seem more ready to take orders. They line up in front of Xan, ready to be told what to do.

Except that they keep getting distracted by clouds and leaves and squirrels and things. Every few seconds one of them will sit down, or run off, and the one right in front of Xan, who's a bit thinner than the others, will sort of roar at them, and then they'll hurry to get back in line and wait for orders.

Xan was very tolerant of the mountain giants getting distracted.
She finally spoke with the thin one and thanked him for helping to wrangle the others to work on the castle. For a while she simply sits on a rock watching the castle get constructed.

"Good work everyone !"

*smiles* Happy for the company and for someone who does not fear what he is. "May I join you and watch?" he asks the small bundle of energy that is Xan.

It's too soon to say if this is true for all mountain giants, but the helpers that Xan created have the power to shape stone, molding it like clay to their will.

...On the other hand, the workers are still easily distracted... and sometimes they argue with each other over design choices... And sometimes they just start eating leftover bits of the rocks they break off... The thin one is too busy stomping around roaring at them to keep them on-task to get much work done himself.

But... it's getting done... And the results, as they come into being, look very good. It's just getting done... slowly.

(Xan, name the thin young mountain giant.)

Xan looked to the thin one, "I shall name you, Humphrey !" She gave a wide smile and hoped he was happy with the name.

She said, "Your doing a good job, all of you !"

*smiles* as he watches the little one as she finds such joy in simple things.  Meanwhile, his shadows are returning the energy of the living things have have expired, keeping the balance even as he enjoys his time with Xan.

Xan walks back to AnBas, "They will get your castle built, it will just take some time. So what should we do now ?" She looks all around then back to AnBas.

*smiles* "Time is something all of us have right now.  So I am not concerned." he looks down at Xan and gives her a gentle pat. "What would you like to do?  We can fly around some more and see what else we find." he asks her with a gentle serene tone.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:29, Wed 02 Dec 2020.

"That sounds good. We can see what the others are up to !"

She starts to flap rising up to join AnBas.

"I like our rock people, I hope they like this beautiful world."

*chuckles* "Me too, little one, me too." he offers her his hand as they fly.  He is careful never to go to fast for her to keep. up. They fly around looking for the next thing to discover.

"Hey, I sense another god, down there."

She points at a lovely waterfall. Lush greenery down below.

"Can we see who is there AnBas ?"

*nods* "Certainly little one." he guides them down there, but the hint of a presence that he felt when Xan pointed it out vanished like the wind on cool autumn day.  As they land and look around "I no longer sense a presence." *smiles* "Well, it seems they are not ready to play yet.  Give it time and I am sure we will run into them when it they are ready." gives her a pat on the head.

"Well, I am learning how to do things. It is fun. I guess I need to sense better to find people to play with."

Looking all around, "Maybe they don't want to play with me." She held a hand to her mouth and her eyes got wide.

"Or maybe they are playing hide and seek !" She bounced happily.

Noric was, of course, aware of what was going on regarding the creation of the Mountain Giants and the home for AnBas, since each involved rock and stone (though he wasn't exactly aware of whom AnBas was).

The Mountain Giants interested Noric greatly.

Honestly, Noric was a little bored.

He wanted his own intelligent beings down in tunnels and caverns.

(10:18, Today: Noric rolled 10 using 2d6+2 ((3,5)).)

It went well! Noric created the Arys Tal, the crystal people.

https://i.imgur.com/lOTj6wS.jpeg

https://i.pinimg.com/564x/70/e...077cd86d5737aca6.jpg

https://64.media.tumblr.com/d2...fAR1rczerdo1_500.jpg

They "ate" by absorbing select other minerals, and two or more individuals could create children by mixing growing crystals between them (it involved a lot of standing or sitting still at first, but Arys Tal were very good at that).

Noric sat down amongst them and began talking to them, hoping that they would eventually learn to speak...

In rolls a cloud, a cold front, as if the heavens decided to skim along the surface of the earth: and so they did, because here’s Lyric lounging on their little cloud, casting a shadow on the earth because they’re hovering just above (don’t want to touch down, now, do they?). They were staying aloof and out of the way, you see, but something made them want to look at their brother, and so here they are.

They know he's here. Down. Dumb rocks, and so weather wears...

Lyric’s cloud-curly is a tarnished silver, the color of a stormfront, drifting into insubtantial whorls. Lyric crowned with lightning and they wear a collar of stars. This is the beginning, or near enough the beginning, so they’ve got a youthful, regal aspect.

So here is a cave, and the wind goes whisper-whisper through it, c'mon out, Noric, c'mon out!

(Noric, if I need to roll Tell for this, I give you full permission to roll for me- I'm at work so not really able to check things too frequently)
This message was last edited by the player at 14:51, Sat 12 Dec 2020.

(Nah, I'm gonna rule that you don't need to roll for this.)

...There shouldn't be that much breeze down here. Not unless there was a hurricane up on the surface that would rip up plants and topsoil and entire lakes and maybe hills. And there wasn't.

So it was his sister.

Noric sighed. She didn't want to come down, so she wanted him to come up. Maybe someday he'd make a little messenger-- there was a stalactite that looked a bit like a resting bat that he could maybe bring to life? --but... he did sort of want to show his sister his little people, after all...

He got up, walked away from his people, and then sank into the stone...

...Re-forming himself up near the surface.

He walked out. "...Hello, sister," he rumbled.

There's a little dust devil flurry of wind and the mist rises up then recoalesces and Lyric now comes about as close to touching the filthy ground as Lyric deems necessary right now.

"Are you always going to be deep down in the dark?" Lyric says, as if injured. Lyric isn't spoiling for a fight, per se. Lyric is trying to seem above it all, as usual. But Lyric is also glad to see their brother. "What are you doing down there?"

"...Usually..."



Noric seems about as excited as Lyric's ever seen. Which isn't exactly all that much, but still. "I made some little people. They can talk and walk. They can each think for themselves." He's proud, Lyric thinks. "They're delicate, but I talk, in the dark, and they are picking up how to talk from me." Delicate, Lyric thinks, probably means they'd break if you dropped them to the ground from a mile up, but the meaning is nonetheless understood-- they're too fragile to appear before in true divine form, too fragile to do anything but barely whisper around in a divine voice.

Usually gets a pout, and their lightning crown flashes; so, too, their eyes, a crackle of ozone, but Lyric leaves it at that.

For now.

Lyric folds their arms, rests their chin (which seems pointed, now) on the dip there. Right now, their eyes are the clear robin's egg (pretend this world has robins and eggs) blue, a Spring-sky sort of blue, cloudless (wait, is that a hint of cloud? No...), happy and serene.

"They can think for themselves?" Pause. Lyric does a little loop de loop, coming to float/drift/hover on Noric's other side. "Bring one up. I want to see! Show me, Noric. I mean, are they really real if they're just in the deep down dark where nobody and nothing can see them or feel them? I don't know."

(? Because she's lying down...?)




"Yes."







"...I do, though." Pause. "We are too... powerful. For them to see us directly. Do you want to change form to observe them, or just hide?"

The way he said it, it seemed that he would prefer to just hide.

Yup: On a bit of mist/cloud. Floating, drifting, sitting, etc. Best way for a deity to get around.



"We'll see," Lyric says, doubtfully. It's clear they don't quite think things that the Sky can't see count as 'real,' but they're willing to entertain the notion (for the brief flash of time) if their brother really insists. "If you want us to hide, we will hide."

Lyric ... glances around, even more doubtfully, because would they have to actually touch the ground to hide properly? They let their cloud settle even lower, so they're really just on Noric's level, and follow his lead as far as hiding goes.

What could go wrong?

Noric simply becomes invisible and intangible and inaudible... any deity can do that, after all.

The complicated part would be getting his little people up here. Lyric wanted to see them now, so just getting them to walk up here was out of the question, and Lyric didn't want to go down, so...

Once Lyric was invisible, inaudible, intangible (not to non-divine beings, of course, but to the Arys Tal), Noric tried creating something again...

(14:13, Today: The GM rolled 13 using 2d6+2 with rolls of 6,5.  Creating a couple of portals..)

Oh, good, it worked!

A very large (well, to an Arys Tal) half-circle of metal rose up out of the ground, and energy swirled within it.

Another rose up down below where the Arys Tal were.

Noric knew the light and vibrations of the energy would attract them...

They started walking through it, curious...

Success!

They liked the sunlight, the second light source they'd ever seen after the portal. It fed them, a little, in a different way than water with minerals did. If water with minerals was their food, sunlight was like their milk or juice to them, quenching a sort of craving they didn't know they had.

Noric was pleased. He hadn't known they would like this so much. And they could always use the portals to quickly go back below, if they wanted...

Well, Lyric had never seen anything quite like the Arys Tal, that was for sure. Lyric wasn't sure how to feel about the fact that they didn't BREATHE-- no air in, no air out. When they spoke to one another, they just sort of vibrated-- their voices were like bells... It was still pretty, though... And the sounds still traveled through the air... these people just didn't breathe. Huh.

Xan was busy trying to find the hiding god. Picking up big leaves and looking under them. Sticking her head in the waterfall and looking around. Even climbing a tree to get a better sight.

Noric definitely has to remind Lyric that they can become invisible and intangible but once reminded they’ll let their cloud drift behind a rock and become Unseen And Inaudible To Mortal Eyes.

"They're very beautiful, my brother," Lyric says, somewhat jealously. "They look good in the open air. Are you sure they're really thinking for themselves?"

Lyric listens to some of their conversations. What sort of things do crystal people discuss when faced with sunlight and portals and their first emergence out of darkness? Maybe Lyric can steal them...

Though Lyric doesn't want to upset Noric...

But Lyric is lazy and while it sort of occurs to them that they could try making their own creatures, to rival these crystal folk, they aren't quite ready to stop admiring Norics' handiwork.

A flush of pride: their brother is surely the best at creating pretty things.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:00, Sat 12 Dec 2020.

Seeing a chasm far off Xan looked to AnBas, "I think maybe they are hiding there." Points at the chasm.

She flew from the tree towards the chasm.
"Ready or not here I come !"

"Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee !" down into the chasm.

"Yes."




The Arys Tal speak slowly, by Lyric's standards, but they're practically chatterboxes at the moment. Everything's all "the light feels good" and "what are these upright things that aren't stones?" (they mean trees) and "the ground is strangely pliant but I like it" and "look at those white stones in the sky" (clouds), lots of discovery and noticing going on.

Then there's the portal... they have fun for a while walking back and forth... Many are overwhelmed by the abundance of sensations on the surface, and feel more comfortable underground... but most of them come back now and then.

Then there are a few who prefer it on the surface... After having fun going back and forth through the portal a few times each, they stay on the surface, exploring...

Since fun is being had, Xan becomes aware of the location...

(Note: I think the default of deities will be to appear invisible and inaudible and intangible to mortals, otherwise we'll all keep going places and destroying mortals who happen to be there and going "ooh, sorry..." Of course Xan looks like a little mortal (mammal) girl right now-- I mention this because AnBas)

"Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee."

"Oh that looks nice, fluffy and soft !" Lyric's cloud.

Whooosh through the cloud she goes getting wet then....PANG !

Xan hits the ground pig tails splayed out.
"Ow !"

The Arys Tal near either of the two portals discuss them.

They feel that Noric must have created them, so they could choose to get some light now and then.

Lyric notes that they are very vaguely aware of Noric as their creator, the deity of rock and stone (and therefore also themselves) but that they don't seem to be aware of the existence of any other deities yet...

They don't seem to be aware of other deities? Lyric means to change that, stat. There's a flicker of lightning on the horizon, perhaps; a roil of clouds, gathering, less 'white stones' and more 'tarnished silver'... Lyric means for some of their winged creatures to descend from the light, and tell these crystal people all about how Awesome is Lyric, how they owe their ascent into the light to Lyric, the responsible sibling, etc etc.

<Orange:OOC: This roll is all I could have dreamed for fun times, to be honest. :grin:

17:08, Today: Lyric rolled 3 using 2d6 with rolls of 1,2.  Tell! Crystal people gotta know about the Sky Deity, who is so excellent and basically the best.</Orange>

And a little mortal girl goes splat through Lyric's cloud.

Lyric's cloud reforms around the little girl shaped hole and Lyric, startled, Spring-sky eyes turning to the white uncertainty of an Autumn morning's sky, looks up, rather wondering where the girl came from.

*smiles* "You must be more Careful Xan.  You don't want to end up hurt do you?"  He flies down to check on her, after all it is not her time yet. Then Standing, he says "Hello. I see we have two new friends and a new race of creatures." he address the thin air and the Arys Tal.

One of Xan's pigtails pries itself from the ground and taps her on the shoulder.

"Mii fafe urts AnBas."

Dozens of parrots descend from the skies, and land among the Arys Tal.

They speak about a rival deity to Noric named Lyric, how Lyric is awe-inspiring and terribly powerful, about how Lyric is the one who controls when the sun comes and goes, about how Lyric is burdened with glorious purpose.

The Arys Tal don't know what to make of all this.

"What are you creatures?"
"What makes Lyric so full of awe?"
"What-- what does Lyric do with all that power?"
"What are Lyric's pronouns?"
"The sun is going to go somewhere?!? But I like the sun!"
"What is Lyric's glorious purpose, and why is it a burden?"
"Does Noric know about this...?"
"Who taught you creatures to speak like us?"
"I bet it was this Lyric deity!"
"What does Lyric want?!"

The parrots are taking no follow-up questions, however, and they all fly away.

The Arys Tal discuss this new information amongst themselves... one goes back underground to tell the others... another comes with, in case anyone thinks the first one is just making it up.

Other Arys Tal notice Xan:

"Who are you?"
"Do you have anything to do with those not-touching-the-floor creatures?"
"Are you Lyric?"
"What are your pronouns?"
"Are you burdened with glorious purpose?"
"Is the sun going somewhere?"

Xan pries herself up she is missing some teeth and has a black eye. She is already healing up though.

"Huh, oh small mountain giants. Hi ! Im Xan, it is nice to meet you."
She gives her few teeth missing smile.

Seeing her teeth on the ground she picks them up.
"I sense you will be useful for something." She says to her teeth.

"Oh no I am not Lyric, hmmm I was flying with my friend AnBas if anyone is burdened with glorious purpose it is probably him. The sun ? I know it hides sometimes and it is really good at it but it comes back."

"Mountain giants?"
"Small mountain giants?"
"Are you okay?"
"Are you a god?"
"What's AnBas' glorious purpose?"
"The sun hides? But it always comes back? How long does it stay gone? Do we need to look for it when it goes...?"

Xan nods, "Your mountain giants just small ones. You have so many questions I LOVE THAT !" She smiles more.

"I will be better, just thought that soft fluffy thing would break my fall, yes I am a goddess. The goddess of youth." her teeth were growing back.

"Well, AnBas is a god too. He is the god of death which sounds scary right but he is really nice."

Xan tilts her head, "The sun, oh no you don't have to look for the sun though sometimes I do. I like hide and seek. Hey your all young !"

She let's her love for the things of her orbit shine through so they know they are loved.

“Noric,” Lyric says, in a complaining sort of voice — tremulous, filled with terrible possibility. They’re not sure they entirely like the way their rainbow flock has muddled things. The complaining sort of voice matches the astonished expression (for those who can see such things) on the Sky deities regal if youthful features. Their eyes flick to a cold winter-sky green full of stars.

Lyric also hides behind Noric. Lyric will deny allegations of such should any allegations ever be brought up. Noric may feel a whisper as Lyric delicately, finickily pinches Noric's sleeve-or-skin-or-shoulder-or-a-lock-of-hair, something to hold on to all my brother not yours mine and ack new things I wasn't expected it I am not afraid I am the sky deity and the sky deity is not afraid.

Lyric is beginning to feel a little more encouraged by the patter of questions and the back and forth with AnBas and Xan. Once Lyric figures out Xan's a god (maybe not all that far in advance of her telling the Arys Tal), they stare at both new/old gods, peeping from around their more solid brother.

"Hello. You're Death and Youth then? What do you do?"

OOC: Edited 'cause I"ll let Death explain what they do
This message was last edited by the player at 22:51, Sat 12 Dec 2020.

*smiles* "That is why you should watch where your going" *chuckles*

"Greetings, Xan is the goddess of youth and vitality, she is the springtime of all life." *smiles* and gives her a pat on the head.
"I am as Xan said, AnBas the God of Death," *smiles kindly* "or another way to look at it, I am the end of all things. But only when it is their time."


Editing to address what we do, so that Xan's post makes sense.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:23, Sat 12 Dec 2020.

Xan looks around, "Oh HI !" Waves.

Xan then looks mad, "You better not AnBas they are young and have not had the chance to really enjoy life." Her look was serious. She stands defensively between the Arys Tal and AnBas.

*chuckles* "Worry not Xan, none of our friends here are close to their end."

Xan relaxes.

She looks happy again.

"That is a good way to describe us, beginning and end."

"We are?"
"There are bigger Arys Tal?"




"Really? We have a few children. I think most of them are down below."




"Yes?"

Xan bobs her head at the Arys Tal's question.

"Your friendlier though."

"Where are the big ones?"

"Are they very big?"

"Are they scary?"

Xan looks to AnBas, "He could explain better. I tried to talk to them and they completely ignored me. I was sad."

Lyric stays hiding behind Noric and Yes? he says and Lyric whispers a secret thought  although they drift upward a little; enough to seem to rest their elbows on Noric’s head and rest their chin on their hands. Their hair continues to billow like clouds do and there’s a fizzle-ozone taste of lightning in the air.

After assessing AnBas and Xan a little further, Lyric says, "Greetings, then. That is what you are. But what have you done? My brother Noric is the Lord of Earth the Heart of Stone the Unmovable One the Wrathful One and he has created these things and they think. What about you?"

My brother is the best and you two have a ways to go, seems to be the implication. Lyric is a rather tempestuous, challenging and not necessarily very mature deity this near the beginning and in this aspect.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:04, Sun 13 Dec 2020.

"I got to play with mammoths and other animals ! Oh and made some people to help build a home." She seems more proud of the playing with mammoths feat.

*smiles* "Sadly, I am not good at creating things.  The Mountain Giants are similar to these 'Arys Tal' but made of the stone of a mountain.  They are alive, because I know when they each will end, but currently they don't seem to be as advanced as these." points to the Arys Tal.

"They range from 6 feet to 15 feet in height and communicate through roars. " *grins* "Xan, here, is much better at creating things than I.  She created helpers to create our home a ways away in a mountain. They are more advanced than my Mountain Giants."

"Mammoths are fine for things that cannot fly," Lyric says loftily, but their eyes have gone to an easy Spring-sky noonday blue. "I like blowing their hair back," and Lyric laughs after, QUITE LOUDLY, very well-amused at whatever mental image that conjures, and there's a whirl-whisk of wind in the area where the gods have gathered and speak around the Arys Tal. Lyric smiles when AnBas says Noric's little crystal people are more advanced than the Mountain Giants and whisks away from Noric to float somewhat more near Xan. "Have they finished your home? What will you do with them now?"

Xan smiles, "I like when their hair blows in the wind too !"

Xan shakes her head, "No it will take some time. They like to play and enjoy themselves but some are more serious and get them to work again."

"He? He whom?"




"Who are you talking to?"




"Miss? Xan? Hello? Are there other gods here...?"


Xan remembers that the Arys Tal can't see or hear the other gods unless they change form or something...

Xan nods, "Yes."

She then smiles, "They are just shy."

"What are they the gods of? What do they look like? What're their pronouns?"

"Could you all appear, please. I would rather have them answer for themselves."

*smiles* "I'm not sure what you mean Xan?  I am as I have always been." he is confused.

"Take form, so that these nice people can see you."

She motioned around to the Aryas Tal.

Ponders this a moment and then tries to "Disguise Self" to appear as he sees himself (Angel Form).
OOC: 11:03, Today: AnBas rolled 8 using 2d6 ((5,3)). For Disguise Self - Angel Form.


"Is this better?" he says after he thinks he changed

Lyric scowls. "No. I already sent them messengers to tell about me and they have not implored me for so much as a scrap of information, only going on among themselves about what does this mean. Have they thought to properly ask, by, um, uh, offering something pretty for the sky? No. So they must figure the rest out for themselves."

It is, of course, monstrously unfair of Lyric to expect her brother's creations to, after being told scraps of myth by a flock of parrots, to just naturally come up with the idea to implore Lyric the sky-deity for help, but Lyric is not always a very reasonable deity.

Lyric floats up, further away from the ground. "Farewell, brother! Your sister enjoys your creations." Their tone is a mingling of sullen they're okay I guess and actual wonder and jealous awe. "Farewell for now, Youth and Death!"

Xan bobs her little head, "Perfect."

Then to the Arys Tal, "This is my friend AnBas !"

She then pouts, "Lyric is leaving. Bye Lyric, I hope we meet again."

AnBas appears as a large Arya Tal, but it's... kind of unnerving: very spiky, very thin, very cracked, holding a big hammer.

Most of the Arys Tal run away (well, as fast as they can run. They aren't the fastest runners in the world).

Three stay, but they're scared. "...That... is your... friend...?" an orange one asks Xan. "He looks... dangerous...?"

Lyric returns to the heavens and their home in the sky, where pillars seem to rise forever, bordered by stars and light and clouds, and it's all grandeur, grandeur, constantly moving grandeur. Lyric flings their lightning crown into a cloud, and the whole thing lights up, shaky with thunder.

Then Lyric rolls up their sleeves (they have sleeves now, for this reason alone) and, after finding what seems like a decent enough spot on the world below, lots of high cliffs and sweeping plains, they set about Creating. They want a thinking people (who they will teach to be properly reverent, of course), and a pretty one. They like winged creatures so maybe they'll give these people wings.

Lyric gets thoroughly lost in the process.

Lots of noises from the sky. Boom. Crash. Shake.

11:19, Today: Lyric rolled 12 using 2d6+2 with rolls of 6,4.  Create. BLUSTER! STOMP! I'ma make my OWN people.

"I know, many people are scared of him, I was too but he is nicer then he looks."

She looked around the Aryas Tal that stayed.

"Should I get your friends ? They are running away ?"

*smiles* "No, let these three become comfortable around me, then they can convince the others that it is safe."

The orange Arya Tal to Xan: "Um, no... we'll... talk to them later... I hope..."

The orange Arya Tal to AnBas: "...Um... Hello... AnBas...?"

The remaining Arys Tal all look ready to run...

Xan nods to them.

"I like to make friends, hopefully we can become friends." She says to the orange Aryas Tal.

"I would like to give you a gift !" She puts a game that the Aryas Tal would really enjoy into their minds.



10:15, Today: Xan rolled 9 using 2d6+2 with rolls of 5,2.  Create game for Aryas Tal.

(Hmm, a 9. I feel like it should be really simple... like bocce or horseshoes or something? (Can't really have written instructions, because they don't have a written language yet...) What do you think it should be like...?

Maybe... dice? And they enjoy it, and it's fun, but she's accidentally invented gambling...?

Give me your thoughts)

I see it as something they can do with themselves, no outside things needed so maybe Rock, Paper, Scissors. Just a varient that makes sense to them and it creates a competitiveness.

Xan teaches the Arys Tal "rock paper leaf."

Soon they are teaching each other... "rock breaks branch, branch pokes hole in leaf, leaf hides rock!"

They like it, and are soon playing the guessing game with one another... Some start betting pebbles on the outcome, just to keep track of who's won the most...

Xan looks happy.

"I am glad you like it !" She plays a few games with them and with AnBas too.

Lyric’s new Creations are kinda humanish, because Lyric is humanish and use themselves as a general template (the best template).

But these are very light-boned and agile, and Very, Very, Very Beautiful. Their eyes come in all the colors of the sky in its glory and they’ve been given pretty voices, though they know not how to use them yet.

Lyric gives them taloned feet and feathered wings and their faces, too, seem to owe something to certain species of avian creature, owls and crows mostly. The feathers are often iridescent and glass-like, catching and refracting light into many little rainbows, but occasionally their feathers are a deep and fiery gold and copper, like drops of molten light. Lyric wants them to be quick and fierce and to be able to withstand extreme temperatures and ride the winds without fear.

ooc: There. I guess they're like, really flashy dramatic harpies, kinda. These pictures aren't quite right but they'll do I guess: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/9359111715524963/ that
and https://www.pinterest.com/pin/8725793017155930/

*smiles* "Hello, Arya Tal, it is nice to meet you." he says with a slight bow.

Amused at the Rock, Stick, Leaf game that Xan introduced to them.

He smiles and whispers to Xan and Noric "Seems Lyric was inspired by you two."

"Did she do something ? She left so fast."

"H-hello, O AnBas. I am pleased that y-you are pleased..."




"Oh?" says Noric. "...How so...?"

(You are, of course, correct that AnBas would be aware of this. Noric, however, is not.)
This message was last edited by the player at 19:55, Mon 14 Dec 2020.

*smiles* "That is good Ayra Tal." and reaches out to pat its head like he does with Xan.

Then looks at Noric "Oh, well, then I shall let it be a surprise."

The Arya Tal flinches, but lets the scary-looking thing pat its head briefly.



Noric shrugs. Lyric, he knew, would do what Lyric wanted.

"Mr. Noric, could you appear to your people ? I am sure they would like to meet you. Maybe even play Branch, Leaf, Rock with you." Xan was still as adorable as could be.

Noric thinks about this. He kind of doesn't like the effort of having to change form, but perhaps Xan has a point.

(09:25, Today: Noric rolled 10 using 2d6 with rolls of 5,5.  Disguise Self.)

Noric changes his form, and becomes a very sanded-down version of how the other gods see him: a craggy-but-living stone statue: handsome, dignified, about 12 feet tall. "Well. That went well." He turns to the Arys Tal. "Arys Tal, I am Noric, deity of stone, your creator."

The Arys Tal are full of questions, some even coming back near AnBas.

"Why did you create us?"
"What are your pronouns?"
"Is there a Ms. Noric?"
"How old are you?"
"Can you play Rock Leaf Branch?"

"I suppose I might have been somewhat lonely. He and him. There is no Ms. Noric. I feel that I am very old, but just started waking up and taking an interest in the wider world recently. I can play Rock Leaf Branch, I think."

Noric plays Rock Lead Branch with the nearest Arya Tal-- they both choose Rock. Trying again, Noric chooses Branch, while the Arya Tal chooses Rock again. "Ah ha! Rock breaks branch!"

Xan is all smiles as she likes interaction the world was so lonely till she met her parents, and then AnBas.

The first thing Lyric does upon shaping the first generation of the Lyr is do a little dance. The little dance manifests as a sun shower, a pale rainbow shaken free. Lyric decides they will wear the rainbow, and they pull it out’ve the sky and wrap it around them, pinning it with a blackbird.

Lyric is not very good at being subtle, but Lyric can try. They whisper oh gentle when the air is a kiss and oh it's just a suggestion of brightness and the weather is lovely and doesn't the sky go on forever they whisper just enough of speech to get the Lyr started and just enough of music to get them started with that, too. Let language and music be brother and sister, Lyric thinks. The Lyr will do what they want: little chicks, all new.

Lyric is smugsmugsmugsmugsmug.

Xan finally blinks, "Oh that is what you mean by pronouns."

Xan starts to think then runs around in circles tugging at her pigtails.

"Am I an it ? Mom is an It, Ooooooh I don't know."

She keeps running around in circles.

"AnBas what are your pronouns ?"

He is happy that the Ayra Tal doesn't run when he pats it.  "See no danger."
*smiles* "I am a he, the opposite of a she.  So my pronouns are he, him, his."

She shakes her little head, "I am too young to decide, maybe It, They, Them."

"Is that confusing ?" She stops running for a moment.

"I don't think it's confusing... Words are small things to describe a whole person. So the person should at least get to pick what words should apply."

"Thank you Noric, I appreciate that. Maybe when or if I get older I can decide but I kind of like It, They, Them." She then looks to the Aryas Tal, "Those are my pronouns." It smiled happy with itself.

...Noric's curiosity started getting the better of him.

...He wondered what Lyric was up to.

...Did he want to go see?

...Yes, he kind of did.

...Where was Lyric...?

He looked around the planet...

He didn't know for certain where she was... but there were some new bird-people up in the mountaintops... He only barely noticed them, but mountains were definitely a part of his domain, so...

...He could only barely sense them, though. ...He kind of wanted to go take a better look.

...But did he want to release the new form he'd changed into? Or did he want to walk?

...................He decided to start walking.

He stood up. "...I want to go see what my sister Lyric is doing. I won't be gone forever... Call me, and I might hear you."

"We'll call you if we need you, O Noric," said the Arys Tal.

Noric started walking...

"Bye Mr. Noric, it was really nice to meet you !"

Xan walked over to AnBas, "Are you going to go away too ? Can I come along ?"

Now, Noric’s new creatures have language, so Lyric thinks it’s only fair to get the Lyr started. In the way of deities who’re still burning with Creation, that is, by subtle sign and nudging, Lyric gets the Lyr started with language — and with music. Music is air, after all, wind across holes in stone, first music (maybe), wind combing through grass — Lyric wants their people to create, too. A little. What will happen with these basics, as the years roll by? Will they be enshrined or forgotten, embroidered upon or...?

Lyric (unseen, invisible) races two of her creations as they dive toward the earth. Lyric laughs, happy, and feathers and hair whisk around. Lyric floats on their back just above the earth, looking up as their creations flit here and there, so very bright.

Lyric's eyes are the Springiest, calmest blue they ever get.

Noric gets tired of walking.

Well, not really. He finds the walking rather invigorating, actually. He just gets tired of not getting where he's going.

He considers-- he could grow to the size of a mountain-- then he'd reach his destination in just a few minutes...

...No. Better to just let go of his current form. He can always try the mountain-size thing later if he wants.

But...

He kneels.

(Bless/Give: 12:46, Today: Noric rolled 7 using 2d6+1 ((5,1)).)

Noric abandons the form he's taken... but he tries to leave it behind as a statue.

He succeeds... but it's just a statue. He'd wanted it to have some sort of special powers, or something... But no.

Still, a statue of himself is nice, too.

He sinks into the earth, and reforms on a far-away mountaintop.

He looks at the Lyr, watches them fly.

"...Pretty..." he observes, though the Lyr cannot hear-- only Lyric can hear him.

Xan wonders if AbBas is ok.

she waves her arms wildly.

"Are you ok ?"

“Oh, I don’t know,” Lyric says, ‘modestly,’ although Noric can tell Lyric is Very Excited and is Not Modest At All. Lyric is feeling really chuffed. Truly: the sky is full of rainbow light today — it’s a continuous, dramatic thing: all that loveliness.

“They’re okay for a first try, I guess. Some of us are just naturally good at creating people! Like me. I'm naturally good at it: see? But the next batch will be better." Lyric had been whisking around rather quickly, but settles down beside (not quite touching the mountain's surface) Noric.

"First I’ll see how this group turns out. They can also speak a little, like yours! And they have melodies. Well they’re starting to figure out really easy music. I’ll teach them to play music for you, dear brother. And look! They can think for themselves too! I can’t wait to see what they do once things start going wrong for them,” Lyric laughs. The sky lightens: isn't the sun pretty today? It is. A golden afternoon. A perfect day, as far as the sky is concerned.

“But not yet, I want them to be happy right now! Do you think they’ll get along with your people? We get along, don’t we? So they probably will. But who do you think would win in a contest? We could drop one of your people from a great height and drop one of mine and see what happens. Or we could put one of mine underground and one of yours underground and tell them they have to get back to the surface.” Lyric pauses, and frowns. “But not that contest yet. I don't think they'd like going underground.”
This message was lightly edited by the player at 20:45, Sat 19 Dec 2020.

*smiles* "Yes, Xan, I am well.  Just a few things that attracted my attention."
He looks over the Arys Tal and Waves. "We can go, where would you like to go?"

"Well, I found them ! So let's go to a place of your choice now. Since I symbolize beginnings and you endings I was thinking maybe we can work on something together."

She moved over to him and held her its up to be carried since it really liked this form and didn't want to give it up quite yet.

"Bye Arys Tal, it was wonderful meeting you."

OOC: 11:27, Today: AnBas rolled 8 using 2d6 ((4,4)). To Transform and return to normal

*chuckles* Picks her up.  He concentrates to return to his normal form.

"Thank you AnBas."

Xan hops up into AnBas's arms.

"I am sure we can find something else to do."

"...I don't want things to go wrong for the Arys Tal. I don't want them to be afraid nor upset if they don't have to be. Certainly not because of me."

Is there a tiny hint, there, of and certainly not because of you?

One supposes that that's for a given listener to decide for themselves.

"Won't you get bored of them?" Lyric asks. "Won't they get bored? Where's the glory?"

"I think that for now, there's enough world to explore that they won't get bored. It's really quite large, when one must walk, like a mortal being. And they are keeping me from being bored with their learning about the world."

 

"...Glory? What do you mean...?"

"I know how large it is," Lyric replies. Here they are in their more regal aspect, their haughty, lofty, Lord of the Heavens aspect: "I compass it and reshape it daily. It's all under my sight. It's all made visible because the sun in the sky allows for it. The world's really not much without the sky. But right, that's why I wanted to make my people fly. Maybe the Arys Tal can learn to fly, too? They can get around much more quickly."

"Glory is..." Lyric performs a lazy loop de loop and gathers up some fog and clouds and pulls on one of the rainbows their pleasure at the Lyr brought into creation and after a brief flurry Lyric lounges on a drifting throne made from these. They offer Noric a chair made from a rainbow, too, although it doesn't (can't) quite touch the ground and would require a hop even in divine-world.

"You should know what it is. You're such a good Creator, Noric. You've got so many pretty things under your domain. Glory is when you strive to do something grand, or bold, or new, and it's so splendid that you get renown for it. Just living day to day isn't full of glory without trouble to overcome. Unless you're creating something, I guess."

"...I think they're safer on the ground, at least for now. If I'd wanted them to fly, I would have given them wings."



"...Ahh. That kind of glory. Mm. You may have a point. Perhaps I will teach the Arys Tal how to make something. But I think there's plenty of time for that yet..."

((Reposting this in case AnBas missed it ))

"They do seem to like sunlight. They might get punch drunk on it," Lyric agrees, after a fraught moment during which they debate whether or not they are annoyed that Noric cavalierly thinks he can just give wings out willy-nilly, letting whatever riff-raff he likes into their (singular) sky. This, even though Lyric is the one who suggested the Arys Tal learn to fly. Lyric is not cool-headed by any means. It all comes to naught anyway. Lyric is still too much in a good mood to pick a fight.

"What should I teach my people to do? Do you want to tell them something, like I told the Arys Tal about how great I am?" Lyric sounds very magnanimous, offering this.

AnBas takes flight, but his wings are still stone.  But that is the power of a god, to fly with stone wings.
"So little one, where would you like to go?  Visit the Air people?"

"I love to explore and meet things, and fellow gods. There is so much to see, and the world is so beautiful. It is young like me."

She looked up to AnBas, "I am glad we are friends, where opposite of each other. I am when things start, and you are where things end. Kind of like a circle."

She looks all around, "Let's try and find a wonder, like the creation of other gods. I think I would like to do that."

*smiles* "Me too, Xan, I am very happy that we are friends." *chuckles* "A circle, I like that. It describes what happens."
he flew farther and faster, carrying Xan that he did when she was flying with him.
It didn't take him long to find the Lyr, a few false stops as new life was being born here and there in some of the animals, plants that creations has made.  But He eventually got close enough to sense Noric and Lyric and hone in on the Lyr.

Xan sees the Lyr.

She waves her trunk like crazy.

"They have wings like us ! We can all fly together."

A brilliant smile at the Lyr.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:54, Tue 22 Dec 2020.

Hold the phone. (It hasn't been invented yet, but just wait. Lyric will get around to it just so somebody can hold the darned phone. Right now.) Wait a second. Sit tight. The deities of death and youth appear, all winged and visible (?) to the Lyr.

The temperature drops, noticeably. Lyric abandons Noric to whirl (North wind, devil wind) around AnBas and Xan. "What are you doing?" they say, coolly. "I didn't mean for them to see divine beings yet and I was going to let my brother get first crack at it, an honor, you see. Don't let them know you're divine."

Xan is still in her disguised mortal adorable form.

She whispered to Lyric, "I am in disguise, I will tell my friend to change somewhere.
"AnBas could you change and come back ?" She hopped out of AnBas hands.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:54, Tue 22 Dec 2020.

*nods* "As you wish Xan and Lyr."  he moves into a cloud so that he is hidden and tries to transform into a Lyr.

09:58, Today: AnBas rolled 7 using 2d6 ((2,5)).
This message was last edited by the player at 15:13, Tue 22 Dec 2020.

Xan moves behind a rock but it is not big enough to hide her small mammoth body.


This message was last edited by the player at 15:16, Tue 22 Dec 2020.

*Peeks out from behind the rock.*

There's a final, mighty gust of wind, which whistles across stone. Up here in the mountains, gold leaves on trees which twist out of the lovely cliffs where the Lyr were first created shiver and dance in the wind - a few leaves torn off, whisking downward.

Lyric says, haughtily, "I don't know why you have to be visible at all, but that is much better. You didn't get it quite right, did you, Anbas?" Lyric sounds pretty cheery, as they often do when they're assured of their own superiority. of course, they have not tried to take a shape at all, but that doesn't have anything to do with their own brand of Noblesse Oblige. Lyric finds Xan's antics amusing, and suddenly starts giggling.

More leaves are torn off branches, flowers dance in the wind. It's all very dance-y, the sunlight shining down like the warmest of benedictions, all Glorious and Heavenly.

*smiles* "This is how I've always been. This 'visible' as you put it." *chuckles* "Changing forms is not my specialty"

From behind the rock, "He is supposed to be scary, it's his charm."

At first, the Lyr — innocent still, as they are new-made, new-fashioned — are puzzled. Some gather closer together, flocking. Others fly to better perches, the better to peer at the newcomers—oh! No. Wait, from the Lyr's perspective there’s only the mysterious young mammoth hiding behind a rock. The other figure faded into a cloud. Some of the glamorous bird-people fly into the cloud too, investigative.

And one of the young Lyr, a female with crow-bright eyes and very black feathers stripled in gold, flits up to the top of the rock that Xan is hiding behind and peers downward, tail fanned out. The female Lyr looks back at her companions and then prepares to (playfully!) dive-bomb Xan! There’s something about that cute fuzzy thing that makes the female Lyr want to play. Peekaboo I see you! PLAYPLAYPLAY!! Like any crow.

"Who's supposed to be scary?!" the Lyr says like it's a great joke and then DIVES.

The others want to know: Where are your wings? Was it the wind that brought you?

And: Why is he supposed to be scary?

When AnBas transforms into his terrifying version of the Lyr, the two Lyr who were investigating what happened to him in the cloud come tearing out of the cloud, in attitudes of wariness. "What happened to you?" they sing. They don't have any idea what sickness or death is yet, but he certainly looks unsettling.

Xan bounces on her little mammoth legs, "Oh no you caught me !" She happily says.

"Eeeeep." Dodgy on her little legs when dive bombed.

"Oh my friend AnBas, sometimes he is hard to see. Oh no I don't have wings like this. In a way the wind carried me, my friend AnBas has wings and he carried me here on the wind. I would love to play with you, your lots of fun."

AnBase-Lyr flies down from the cloud and lands near to and the left of Xan.
"Nothing is wrong with me. This is how I look." he gives a sad sigh as he realizes that his form is not exactly the same as the Lyr.

The Lyr confer amongst themselves:

He makes me think of I don't know it's something cold but I like the cold
I think we offended him
He is a brother in need, he has stories on his talons
He seems unhappy
Do you think that is his child? They are very different.
No, he is twisted but one of us.
Is he one of us? But he came from somewhere else...
None of us have ever been somewhere else...
Perhaps we should go...?
Perhaps there are others...?

Then one of the other black-winged Lyr, this one apparently male, with great volumes of cascading be-feathered hair and a particularly sharp nose, flies closer to AnBas. Don't be dismayed. When we were created, you must have been last and lost, but the wind brought you back now...

The female Lyr who has been playing with Xan--laughing to catch the mammoth!--also seems inclined to be a little alarmed of AnBas, but she makes a soothing clicking in the back of her throat. If the wind brought you you must be good because the wind helps us fly. She flirts her wings. Do you want to see who can get to the bottom of the mountain fastest?

They are extremely not suspicious, the Lyr...

Xan thinks, "I bet I could, but then it would really hurt hitting the bottom. I already fell today, so I would rather not but we could still race because it is fun and I love to have fun." Xan's little trunk trumpeted a bit.

*smiles as best as he can in Lyr form* "Thank you.  Your kindness and acceptance will always be remembered."

Anbas attempted to bless the Lyr, so that when it was their time to die they would always have a gentle and peaceful end.

This works. When it is any Lyr's time to die, fate will always bend it so that the death of each is as gentle and peaceful as possible.

The problem is that each Lyr becomes aware of their future death. Freezing to death, dying in their sleep, dying from a numbing poison, slowly bleeding to death, death by drinking too much fermented fruit juice, from magic, from disease...

The Lyr will be very lucky when it comes to avoiding violent, painful deaths.

And very UNlucky when it comes to trying to avoid gentle, peaceful deaths.

And each of them becomes very, very vaguely aware of it. Eating the wrong thing... getting cut... feeling cold... being half-awake... being asleep... something about magic...

This message was last edited by the GM at 15:24, Tue 05 Jan 2021.

Sensing a miracle being placed Xan couldn't help but bless the Lyr as well. That they would always have a youthful energy and enjoyment of the world. Playing games, learning, etc.


08:53, Today: Xan rolled 7 using 2d6+2 with rolls of 4,1.  Create Blessing.
Token Spent

This works. The Lyr will always be fun-loving, enjoying the world around them with a playful zest and energy.

...The only thing is, it makes them a bit reckless. They'll try anything once (well maybe the first time was a fluke? Better try it twice?), and the temptation to do something that they think might turn out well is very hard for them to resist (especially since luck seems to watch over them when it comes to actually dying painfully)...

Xan giggled and ran along playing with the crow like Lyr and enjoying herself.
She had found some new friends and it made her feel happy to have met them.

Now, how does everybody's favourite (the only) Deity of the Skies, Lord of the Heavens, Storms, All Things That Fly, with their lightning-crackle attitude and their tempestuous heart react to all of this blessing of their new creation?

Pretty well, all things considered. They look on with curious indulgence, for now. The other gods aren't revealing themselves, though who knows what the Lyr will tell their children and their children's children and so on about the time a stranger came to the First Lyr, all black-clad and haunted and sad, with a little joyful mammoth in their shadow.

Lyric nudges Noric. "You're slow, brother. I wanted you to have first crack."

Now, the Lyr's mountain peak cliff-side waterfall chasm-heavy place is not particularly mammoth-frolic friendly, but the brave female Lyr does her best... And then another couple join in the games...

"...I am slightly better at making new things than I am at blessing others..." says Noric. He doesn't want to mess this up...

(09:22, Today: Noric rolled 7 using 2d6+2 ((2,3)).)

Oh dear.

Noric attempts to make some nice caves for the Lyr to sleep in when they're tired, or when the weather's rainy or blizzardy or whatever weather does up in mountaintops, he doesn't really know...

And he does. Many nice open caves open up, with lots of nice dry caverns and perch-y places and great wide places to make a nest if that's their thing...

...But the problem is, he makes it a whole cavern system that goes down and connects to the cavern system below... and something else shows up, too... The Zareb, the whirling dust people. The Zareb are silicon life-forms who look like columns of spinning dust and sand... and tunnels are their natural home... particularly these new tunnels that open high up...

"Caves !" Xan had a new place to run and play much better then a mountain side.

"Come on friends !" She bugled more from her trunks and charged along through the tunnels happy to be alive and free and young.

Lyric floats very tentatively into just the mouth of the cave. Lyric does not really like to be away from their element, even if it means a visit to their brother's realm. Still, Lyric is pleased by the accomodations, and the Lyr are also curious. When the little mammoth runs in, the braver Lyr also go in, while the others keep watch (they don't watch for dangers, per se, still being new, but then again they now have a conception of death...).

Lyric zips out of the caverns (there I did it I explored) and loftily says to Noric, "I approve, my brother. I will return the favor with something for your Arys Tal." But then AnBas is a distraction. Lyric drifts closer to the grim 'Lyr,' eyes going a tarnished storm hue. They say, "Fellow God, I would have you come with me," rather haughtily. "Will you fly this way?"

And Lyric drifts out over one of the particularly steep cliffs, hovering to see whether AnBas will follow before... well, before showing the God of Death whatever it is they have decided to show AnBas...

"...There is no need for hurry, my sister..." says Noric. If Lyric does reciprocrate, Noric hopes she does a better job than he feels he (and Xan, and AnBas) just did...

Since he's no longer in a physical form, Noric, curious, keeps an eye prepared to see what Lyric is going to show AnBas...

In reply to Lyric (msg # 158):
*smiles* "Certainly, Xan seems to be in safe company for now." he flies over to Lyric. "Lead on God of the Sky." he says with deference.

"Keep up, if you can!" Lyric wants to race-y racerace so Lyric races! Circling back should Death ever fall behind, but ain't that the thing about Death? You can't quite lose it no matter how hard you try.

They go far from the mountain. They go toward the sun as it sets, across a great lake the color of tarnished silver. There a river, all brightly illumined by the sunlight. Has night even dared be invented yet? It's all flat lands but the way the river twists around, islands in the lake--maybe it's a bit skull and snake like.

Here Lyric looks around with great (smug) satisfaction and says, “This place reminds me of you, so make people here now. It is only fair that I have something of yours to bestow a gift upon, as you bestowed a gift upon my Lyr.”

AnBase smiles as he races with Lyric, always just behind her like a shadow.  After all, it isn't her time yet, so it makes sense that Death does not catch the God of the Sky this day.  He frowns with that passing thought, but smiles as they arrive at this destination.

*Chuckles* "For you Sky God, I shall try.  But creation is not my best skill"

AnBas concentrates and attempts to create a new peoples that reflect the island and lakes.
17:23, Today: AnBas rolled 6 using 2d6-1 ((4,3)). 2nd Token Used.

Meanwhile Xan is playing Hide and Seek with the Lyr in the caves and having the time of her life !

(There's a sun, and the planet rotates, so there's night, but no moon nor stars yet.

Night is currently very dark.)







AnBas creates the (as-yet not officially named) cobra people.

(Cobra people
--venomous
--fast
--cold-blooded
--intelligent
--carnivorous
--can see in the dark
--GM is waiting on AnBas to name them officially
--they don't actually have clothing nor weapons yet, that was just the best representative pic I could find
--other details to be revealed at later time (which is true of the Zareb too))

(Forgot to mention earlier:

Cobra people
--Also amphibious, but only for fresh water, not salt water

AnBas looks upon his creation the Slitherkin and then turns to the Sky God Lyric "Well, I did warn you I am not very good at creation." *smiles* "But they are fit for the area at least."

“They’re not as nice as the Lyr, but I don’t see any reason to dislike them. What will you call them? What will you call them to do?,” Lyric says, loftily. "What did you want them to be? If you don't like them, shall we destroy them and you can use the parts to begin again?"

Lyric watches the slitherkin with curiosity, sending a very gentle breeze to rustle (hiss) through the river-side and lake-side grasses, copying the undulations a cobra people might make through the water or on the land.

Wanders out of the caves, "Hey, where did everyone go ?"

In reply to Lyric (msg # 167):

"No, we shall not destroy them.  It is not their time yet." he says in a kind voice.
"We shall see what they do.  Now that they live, their lives are their own."
He remains flying as he looks at Lyric, "But I am hesitant to show them to Xan, especially in her current form."

*smiles* at Lyric.  "I look forward to see what blessing you bestow upon the Slitherkin."

"Ah Ha they must be hiding from me !"

Runs into the cave sniffing with her trunk and giggling.

"I'm going to get you !"

Xan goes deeper and deeper, until it is quite dark. If she weren't a deity, she wouldn't be able to see at all.

But she does find... something. Three somethings, actually. Pillars of sand, columns that don't reach the ceiling, shifting and rotating and sort of blowing and spinning, each in one spot.

"...What... is it...? What is this thing...?" says one of the sandy, spinning columns...
This message was last edited by the player at 18:50, Mon 11 Jan 2021.

"Whoah what are you ?" Blinking with her big lashes.

"We are Zareb. What are you? Why are you in our tunnels?"

"I am Xan and what a magnificent Xan I am. These are your tunnels ? There very nice. Have you seen two beings trying to hide down here in your tunnels ?"

"We have not! Are there more of you...?!"

"Nope I am a one of a kind Xan."

Xan starts to spin around like them.

"Wow don't you get dizzy doing that ?"

"We do not. What are you, O Xan? You are not a Zareb, yet you can communicate. Why are you here? When will you leave?"

"Well two others I am trying to find but they are not Xan, one is AnBas, the other is the wonderous Lyric.  I think Lyric would like you she can fly and float like you. I am Xan and well I am a mammoth. I just wanted to see if they were here, but if none of you saw them they must be hiding some place else so I can go now. It was nice meeting you."

Xan trumpets on her trunk and trots back to the entrances of the caves. Hmmmmph !
Where can she be ?

AnBas's gentle approach to life and death is lost on Lyric, but they do not reach for a philosophical debate at present with their fellow deity. They merely refrain from smiting the Slitherkin.

13:41, Yesterday: Lyric rolled 9 using 2d6 with rolls of 4,5.  Oh yeah. I DID say I was gonna bless your not-as-cool-as-mine people..

Lyric watches the Slitherkin discovering the world for a little while before deciding on an appropriate blessing. They drag some sunlight out of the sky and cast it upon the Slitherkin, warming them as they pronounce (unheard to all but divine ears), The Lord of the Heavens blesses you, people shaped by the Deity of Endings. You will discover a treasure of great value, that will make your days happy.

Lyric wants to give them dancing, like the wind dances across the water--give that cobra grace an outlet and a purpose.

"...There are others," the first Zareb says to the other two.

"They seek," says the second Zareb.

"They hide," says the third Zareb.

"They think," says the second Zareb.

"We must prepare..." says the first Zareb.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:31, Tue 12 Jan 2021.

The Slitherkin hunt.

They move.

They use stealth.

They slide.

They strike.

They feed.

They... grow cold.

They hunt again.

They feed.

They grow cold.

They try attacking larger prey. Does feeding warm them?

No. Feeding is feeding. It is merely needed for life. It is the sun that warms them...

...And the hunt.

The movements of the hunt warm them. They do not feel the cooling of their blood while they hunt. The more smooth, skilled, graceful they are, the more it warms them.

The hunt, the kill-- but especially the dance before the kill-- these warm. They nourish. The sun seems to smile on them then.

The hunting movements of the Slitherkin become dancing, become ritual, become hypnotically graceful.

The dance provides food, and food provides life, but the dancing itself provides life, too.

The Dance of the Hunt becomes increasingly long and drawn-out (without actually leading to any chasing of fleet-footed prey-- unless it involves herding them where the hunter wants them to go)...

The Slitherkin come to value most highly those of their number who have mastered the mesmerizing Dance of the Hunt...
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:44, Tue 12 Jan 2021.

Stomps out of the cave one her little mammoth legs and bugles on her trunk.

"ANBAS !!!"  LYRIC  NORIC."

Maybe they left me. Her eyes got big and shimmery.

"Ahhhh my eyes are raining !"

Noric, in his divine form, becomes aware of Xan's distress, and he leaves the scene of the Slitherkin's creation and development for a moment to go to the little mammothoid.

"I am here, Xan. AnBas has been creating new life, far from here. My sibling has just... blessed it."

"Noric !" She runs over and hugs him with her trunk.

"I was worried, I thought everyone was playing hide and seek with me and so I went looking for them and found these stone whirly winds. They didn't see anyone so I came back. I was kind of." She looks embarrassed, "Scared that you all abandoned me like my parents did."

"...Stone...? --We did not..." Noric sighs. "You are a goddess, Xan. If you resume your sacred form, you can find us easily. But... Stone whirlwinds...?" Noric uses his divine senses to look into the caves. "...I see..."

"Yes stone and they spin and spin. I don't know how they keep from being dizzy spinning like that. They were really curious about me."

"Oh, yeah I could change back but sometimes I really like a form I change into and being a Mammoth is really fun. I like my big ears, and my long nose, and I have four cool legs."

"Very interesting.  Thank you Lyric, on behalf of the Slitherkin, for your blessing. It was most generous."

Xan cries out for Lyric where Lyric’s (chosen, favored) people are. Xan cries out for Lyric under the open sky, in a place of rainbows and mists, of wing and wonder. Xan cries out for Lyric and Lyric — in their full divinity, as they currently are — feels it like an itch on the shoulderblade. Can’t quite get it. Busy blessing the Slitherkin, busy watching the Slitherkin discover their blessing. Busy with a general air of noblesse oblige, somewhat ruined by smugness, inclining their head to Anbas.

"I am known for my extreme generousity," the sky-deity says. "That's why I never let the Sun go for too long. The mortals seem to like it, don't they? Your people will be most interesting to watch."

A passing winged insect grabs Lyric's attention and Lyric drifts in the eddying air left in the insect's wake.

But Lyric feels like they have a taste for creating things now. After a moment's thought, Lyric says, "Fare well for now, Anbas. I have business elsewhere."

*nods* "Fair the well Lyric. Until we meet again." he smiles and takes off returning where Xan is at full speed.

Seeing AnBas arrive Xan trumpets and runs over hugging him with her trunk.

He gives her a pat on head. "Sorry, I was gone longer than I thought." *smiles* "Did you have fun?"

"I did, I even found some dizzy people !"

(If one changes form and gets 10 or higher on the roll, one can revert to one's normal divine form at will without rolling.

If one gets 9 or lower, there is some sort of penalty. (Sometimes the penalty is being stuck in your new form for a while, but not this time.)

You got another penalty (being scary beyond reason), so there would be no reason you could not drop the form at will and return to your normal divine form.)

OOC: Thank you GM :)  Also switching off Royalred, while I like the color, I am finding it hard to read.  So I apologize for any past eye strain

*smiles* "Dizzy people?  Where did you find them?"

"In the caves ! Though they live deep in there where it is pretty dark."

*smiles* "I see, I guess that is Noric's second creation.  We will have to visit them at some point."

"I apologize I was gone so long, but Lyric ask that I try to create a new race for her to bless."

"It's ok, I thought you were playing hide and seek and might be in the caves hiding. So I went in looking all around. Noric explained I could find you in my divine form but then that might be considered cheating in hide and seek right ?"

*chuckles* "In deed little one, it could be cheating, which is why I will always be the one to hide.  Because I will always be able to find those that we seek."

"I would like to make something together, I don't know what." She tilts her head.

"Do you think there are more things out there like the fountain ? Want to look for such primal things with me ?"

*smiles* "Certainly, my dear Xan, I would love to create something with you someday." *chuckles* "I am sure there are other things like the fountain." he then looks at Xan and grins "I would be my pleasure to search far and wide with you to find other new things."
To himself, he thinks "If she knew that finding new life is easy for me, but only because I am a part of it.  It would ruin her fun and probably color how she views me." he is a bit sad at that.

[OOC Yes I believe so:  She is just looking for anything cool like it]

Noric turns to AnBas. "...The mountain giants... have finished building for you, AnBas..." Noric observes...

He looks surprised "That didn't take as long as I expected." *smiles* "It should be big enough for you and Lyric and well if you like.  Would you like to see it?" he turns to Xan and Noric.  He then calls out to Lyric "Lyric, would you like to see the mountain home Xan and I have?  You are welcome to reside there as well."

"Oh, I would like to see it !"

Trumpets.

*smiles* "Noric, do you wish to be carried or will you arrive on your own?" he asks as he bends down to pick up Xan.

"...I shall travel on my own..."

Xan hops up into AnBas arms.

Lyric, having bamfed off on 'business elsewhere,' does not hear Anbas's (prayer? Does it count as a prayer if it's just another deity, speaking?) request. The air is empty, alas, and not full of a sense of listening--divine or otherwise.

ooc: I think you'd have to use Tell, Anbas, to get a message to Lyric right now. Don't worry, they'll pop back up, once I figure out what business I want them to have busily been off to do. :P

AnBas carries Xan and flies towards the home he and she started.
"So Xan are you excited to see our home?"

It does not take him long as he is fast in his normal form.

Xan trumpets and nods.

"I can't wait."

The two of them arrive on the wings of an angel.  Looking down at the castle in the mountain, it blends in well with the natural terrain of the area.
He lands in the court yard and sets Xan down. "Let's check it out.  But So far so go."

AnBas lets the baby mammoth investigate at her own pace.  He takes a quick tour of the castle and find it satisfactory, if a bit austere.
His personal chambers and "throne" room are much to his liking.  And there is plenty of space to expand and for a host of deities to call it home.

Humphrey, the thinner mountain giant whom Xan named, comes up to Xan (since he/it can see her, in her baby mammoth form), and points at various things. It's basically as if he's saying "and look at this. And look at that. And look what we did there."

Xan walks around Ooooing and ahhhing at the various things shown to her and she tells Humphrey that he has done a very good job ! Trying to make sure Humphrey knows how pleased she is.

AnBas smiles and is pleased with what he has seen thus far.  He follows, a quiet unseen presence, Xan and Humphrey through the tour.

"This is wonderful!  And there is room to expand."

Closes his eyes and concentrates.

OOC: Yep, Don't need a villain for this game.  The Dice Roller does just fine :)
14:30, Today: AnBas rolled 5 using 2d6+2 ((1,2)).
Well, we see how Death becomes so reviled and feared :)  He is just a nice guy trying to do nice things that go horribly wrong!

The mountain giants, including Humphrey, become afraid. What sort of horrible being have they been working for?

In their new state of heightened awareness and understanding, they run out of the palace, surely never to return, looking for some safer corner of the world away from that horrible doom that surely almost destroyed them...

Xan runs with them but will after a bit like a child return because scary he may be but AnBas is her friend.

She will flit through the castle looking for him.

In reply to The GM (msg # 215):

As he sees the Mountain Giants flee, he feels particularly down.  He goes to the throne room and sits on the chair, the lonely god.

Xan moves over to the throne lifts AnBas hand and puts it on her head and smiles up at him.

He gives her a weak smile and pats her head with tenderness gaining comfort from her companionship.
"It seems little one, that you are the only one who is not frightened of me. Or cares to have my company. It means a lot to me Xan.  Thank you."

"Were beginnings and endings AnBas. People are afraid of both of us. I was a little scared too when seeing you change like that but your my friend. We accept one another I just need to build up my courage more." She smiles more.

*smiles warmly* "You are also wise, little one, and you have more courage than you realize." he looks around, but not seeing the hear and now, but looking at all of his shadows. "Time has flowed and our creations are doing well, they are adapting as the world changes."

Xan looked around, "So what should we do now ? You look good on that throne by the way."

*Chuckles* "Thank you little one."  then grins "Same thing we do every night, Xan."
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 18:21, Thu 04 Mar 2021.

"Something fun !" Xan smiled even brighter.

"We could fly around or maybe find some things to put in our big place. It's kind of empty in here."

*smiles* "Which ever you choose, little one."

"Well we can make a game to play. Maybe make a game called beginnings and endings. We can both contribute to it !"

Xan starts the process wanting to make a board game type game.
Xan plans it out in her head bopping to some music only she is imagining. She is real good at creating things and games are something she loves. After sketching in some dust for a while and planning it out she stands up and says, "I have it !"

Flapping her wings to commence the miracle.

"Behold a game for us ! Well for other people who want to play too."



13:18, Today: Xan rolled 12 using 2d6+2 with rolls of 5,5.  Making Beginnings and Endings Game.


This message was last edited by the player at 22:41, Fri 05 Mar 2021.

Meanwhile, Lyric has been having a good time, whipping up storms and gentle breezes, playing with clouds, lightning, little bats and birds, and otherwise painting grand images in the sky, walking their Sky Halls as they consider what they want to do.

Lyric decides to make certain the Lyr know to worship them and (less importantly) their brother, preferably via the making of music—and she wants them to have a celebration of the skies every year.

15:44, Yesterday: Lyric rolled 10 using 2d6 with rolls of 4,6.  Let's Tell the Lyr stuff. .

That seems to go well.

And then, as the Mountain Giants stampede out of the home for the gods made by the God of Death and scatter across the world, Lyric's interest is caught; they follow along with some of them, and then decide to tell the Mountain Giants that they should revere the Arys Tal and the Lyr.

15:45, Yesterday: Lyric rolled 2 using 2d6 with rolls of 1,1.  Let's Tell the Mountain Giants stuff. .

...Less well.

The Lyr are delighted to get instructions, and start getting ready for their festival right away.




High up in the mountains to the east, Humphrey and his people (for a your-mileage-may-vary value of the concept of "people") misunderstand their instructions of "revere the Arys Tal and the Lyr," and set off instead to "remove the Arys Tal and the Lyr."

So, they boldly (they're anxious about getting near the palace of that horrible death-god, but maybe we won't have to deal with him) set off to head back toward the center of the continent, to find and remove the Arys Tal and the Lyr from the planet. Crushing them ought to work-- works on most things. Maybe throwing boulders, if ranged combat is needed? Yeah, that sounds good. Off we go...!

I did spent a Miracle point on the game too.

Xan does a headstand and wiggles her feet. She then flips back onto her feet.

Wow poor AnBas he must really be depressed.

AnBas smiles at Xan's antics. "Yes, let's try your ingenious game little one."

Smiles and sets up the game the board looks like the world. Clouds drifting over the board with birds and Lyr.

Xan picks up her piece which looks like a mini mammoth.

(The game board and pieces are magical, and the winner gets a boon that will be decided between them and the GM, but which will involve a Beginning, an Ending, or one of each.)

AnBas picks up his Piece, which is a dark hooded figure. "So, little one, how does the game begin?"

Well we start here she points at a place on the board that has a black swirling mass. Her piece trumpets and walks there.

"You see this spinny thing we spin that to determine how far our piece can move. Along the way our pieces will have all kinds of adventures till they reach the end where you have more control of things." She smiles brightly.

*smiles* and focuses on his piece and it glides to the starting point. "Since this is your game, you should go first.  This way I can see how it is played."

Xan spins the dial her eyes watch with glee as it spins round and round. It stops on a number and her piece moves till it hits a fork in the path and she choses the downward path. The little mammoth walks into the subterranean caverns. It is dark down there. She reads letters that float up. Vision hampered by darkness movement limited -1 to movement.

She nods to herself smiles then says, "Your turn."

Lyric becomes aware that one of the Lyr is calling to her...

Lyric's attention is pulled from the bat and moth duet they were watching, and the sky lord zips all lightning-strike lickety split to hear the rest of the Lyr's petition. They're a fickle god, Lyric. But they do like their own creations, and, to a lesser degree, their brother's creations...

To summarize, what the Lyr wants is threefold: guidance, on:

1. We've noticed these slightly creepy snake-people slithering around to the north... They're making villages, slowly expanding their territory... Any advice on what opinion we should have of them?

2. A couple of our number have disappeared... We wake up, and they're gone, and never come back... It doesn't seem to be the snake-people; they haven't gotten this far south yet... Advice?

3. Army of big rock-people coming vaguely this direction from the east... That anything we should be worried about or anything...?

AnBas spins the dial and his piece moves those number of squares.  His value was smaller than Xan's so he doesn't get as far on the board.
"Hmmm, interesting."

The sky lord in their most regal aspect (which would obliterate the poor Lyr, if it was to see) listens to these petitions.

Then they flit off to their Sky Halls again, walking through the hall of sunset radiance, the ever-mercurial corridors, the lightning observatory, to think. They peek in on the Slitherkin, then drift with the Mountain Giants for a little, listening to their talk--should the Lyr be worried? Whoops, maybe.

Finally, they decide to do the thing they despise most in all of creation, which is don a disguise so they can walk the planet and be seen by those whose eyes aren't divine. Ugh. Horrid.

But c'est la vie. They go for a Lyr-shape, no hint of any celestial glory, not even a scrap of trailing cloudy vestments or sky blue eyes, and then they mean to approach the Lyr from afar as a 'stranger,' summoned by the Glorious and Great Lyric to investigate the disappearances.

Lyric means to stay where some of the disappeared Lyr were last seen, and go from there.

Lyric? does not enjoy touching the ground at all and will avoid it fussily as much as possible.


13:10, Today: Lyric rolled 8 using 2d6-1 with rolls of 5,4.  Ugh. Disguising my glorious self.

Lyric assumes a mortal form.

Lyric will be able to get out of said mortal form at will, becoming once again invisible, inaudible (save as a whoosh of wind and a clap of thunder), ephemeral.

However, for now, the mortal form Lyric assumes is that of a (female) Slitherkin. Whoops. Guess Lyric was distracted by thinking about them a bit too much...

Xan looks at the board and sees AnBas is in a pumpkin patch.

"Hmmm your piece looks particularly good there for some reason." She thinks on it for a while then spins the spinner and her piece walks into the caverns more at -1 movement because of overcoming darkness.

"We can overcome darkness with god powers AnBas, and the Stone Giants seem at home around stone even in the dark but maybe we should create some kind of portable sun for people. What do you think ?"

Her piece stops in a crystal cavern and she lowers herself down to look at the board, "oooooh pretty."

Xan looked at AnBas, "Are you day dreaming AnBas ? I do that a lot."