>>286407
It's not a question of standards, it's a question of what's most beneficial.

Focusing on a single girl while he's here is not the same as somehow tying himself down permanently; it could be one night, or a couple weeks, or whatever, depending on how it goes. Picking one would quickly get him an assistant/servant in addition to someone to sleep with, emphasize the upward mobility bit that we're trying to spread here as he teaches her things, and frankly probably result in a more entertaining- if less varied- sex life than jumping every woman that he can.

>>286361
Arkus, start teaching them magic. You can give these people the headstart you never had in your younger years. Back home, the Mortal Coil already has the monopoly on magic and makes it damn near impossible to become a mage without LODES OF EMONE- The same cannot be said for Dionepa. You can hammer home the belief that magic has no price if one is willing to work hard enough. You know how you're always saying it'd be easier to get things done around the arcanoworks if you had a dedicated group of assistants? This is the chance to make that happen. It won't happen overnight... But, if you oversee their growth and convince every man and woman with even a hint of potential to practice the basics of magic every day, you will eventually have an army of magic users completely dedicated to your cause.

>>286361
>For sorting plants, what is the order of importance for collecting samples (medicinal/recovery, medicinal/boosting, defensive, irregular, or otherwise?

Defensive>Boosting>irregular>recovery


>What more should I say about Mordre to continue pushing Belief his way... and mine?

Talk about how Mordre has has faced armies numbering in the tens of thousands numerous times, and always come out on top. How he has faced impossible odds time and time again, only to emerge victorious.
How he has clashed with beings that where believed to be more powerful than him, only for them to fall before his might.

>How do I plan to get my face back between some luscious freckled mountains?

lolidunno

>...Should I speak with Ellayia again?

No, there is no need to at present.

Knock out the irregular ones first. There are less, and it'll go faster.

Bob!t/UKid4z5s 2011/03/05(Sat)17:07 No. 286423 ID: a76809
File 129937363013.gif - (85.38KB , 720x976 , Inferno Golems Upgraded Into Faith Guardian Golems.gif )

>>286367
>>286372
I set to it, having my multitude of helpers dividing up plants, slowly siphoning away those similar enough to plants native to our homeland, the irregular, and all manner of magically inclined plants slowly categorized, sorted, labelled and systematically packaged. I find myself thankful for the experience running the Arcanoworks and recent days as an official State Mage, as I actually have enough familiarity with command to keep this all running smoothly. As I work, I consider what my staff shows me, in particular to the haunting light of souls being cut from their host bodies. Its the defiance of entropy, the stark beauty of eternity-I have to admit now that I have a means to percieve them souls captivate me. They represent the summation of one's life and experiences, the nucleus of their ambitions and dreams, vessel of their hope and despair-the body means little compared to this, the seat of existence. I think I shall need to put more time into investigating how to perceive souls-after all, that's not outright Soul Magic, perfectly legal.

>>286374
As I slowly start rendering, sorting and grading this vast wealth of samples, already quite experienced at mass analysis, I consider what it must be like to have a family-I was a gutter orphan as far back as my memories go, and could never quite relate to others on the sensation of 'family' Hard to understand something I've never experienced. ..Why would my thoughts turn here after thoughts on the nature of life? Do I miss having a family? Certainly, but... no, that's not why I thought of this-have I relatives of any sort, a keen enough perception of Souls would allow me to identify them based on imprinted simularities, right? Yet another reason to do what I can-which will most certainly involve speaking with Bang-he can SEE magic, if I could get that....

As the sorting continues and I ponder the many options before me in my quest to make magic and souls both more visible to me, I continue to speak about Mordre, a topic that never fails to attract attention. I speak of the timeline of his existence-they marvel how his life reads like the baby-steps of a god now entering its maturity, and make no effort to avoid the comparison-being thought of as a God has got to make for good Belief, right? ....And better pull for me, his senior-most follower. I speak with absolute confidence in Mordre's success-even as I note that new faces are appearing in the crowd as the hours wear on-did they send runners to other villages then? I see their eyes glued to my metal axe.....

Okay....

I expend an unnecessary amount of World magic to make my axe crackle, a spark jumping to light an herb mixture touted to me as being consciousness expanding-some blend of mushroom, plant-based oils and grasses alike. As I inhale deeply, the almost hickory and orange flavored smoke coiling along to the backs of my brain and depths of my soul, I tip my head at the newcomers in a show of bravado that should bother me as being out of character-but with a second pull, I realize that if this moment is to be etched into reality in such a way I never regret it, I can't be held back by my conventional mannerisms.

>>286382
I consider my current magical state as I take another break from speaking come afternoon, as the excess herbs are put to spicing a massive feast, villagers from other areas likewise contributing as they feast a visiting noble-I correct them on this, saying I am a Mage, but not a noble. When they express themselves unfamiliar with the term, I eventually find out that their entire grasp of magic is all contact based-all those magically inclined in the village are combat mages. I continue to partake of the herbal roll I was presented as I explain the concept of Arcane magic, using some Phonomancy based hallucinations (flickers of movement, or hiding objects-combined with Aeromancy to make the wind move to my will. All are easily impressed-and the lunch becomes a two-hour affair in which I philosophize on the nature of magic, of how reality is defined as the Self, and the Outside, how one branch of magic, the one they practice, deals with the Self and things defined as part of the Self, is interlinked with the other. A few of those magically inclined try some of my examples-and find limited success quite quickly as I correct them when their soul gets out of balance for Arcane pursuits-again, even a limited perception of souls proves vital.

By the time we are back to sorting, at least ten thousand people have crowded into this village, all drawn by the news of what transpires, so many turning to look towards the distant Orbopolis of Kengehxion that I am left with 'only' five thousand or so helping supply an ever replenishing stack of unsorted flora, as I continue to note down everything brought forth, the pile of packaged herbs now thrice my size, while the unsorted mound is the size of a hut.

I consider my only recently stablized ability to use Will Magic... and the similarity to my self-generated World magic.... and wonder.... the World magic is generated from my blood-if I just keep the magic pooling in my veins couldn't I eventually use that as an insulator to handle my own Blood as a power source in absence of knowledge? And by doing so, would I not then gain enough experience to not need such a sheathing in future uses, allowing me to blend World and Blood together for my every magical use? It seems so simple-as I finish my last drag on the roll, I toss the dreg to the ground and grind it with my boot as I continue to sort the unending stream of specimens-with my REAL attention inward. I pool more and more magic in my veins, tentatively and incessantly testing my plan's viability, constantly failing, until-

My veins crackle with the thunder of a million rampagins beasts rampaging through my body, power unchained and unrestricted flowing everywhere, a deluge that makes my hair stand up my skin squirm and my eyes dilate. My heart's beat jumps and thunders, an echo that reaches to my toes and fingertips and rattles around my brain-

I direct the power outward, enough presence to me that I channel it into my axe, the power going to further anchoring the runes into the weapon itself, into making it a better magic battery.

The power that blinds me to reality is given an outlet as I focus on capturing every detail of the ordeal, learning as much as I can.

I only look down at my axe when I see everyone staring.

I look down.

The runes on the axe have folded in on themselves, now hollow pits that reach through the entirety of the axe from one side to the next-and in those gaps lies a silently howling abyss, a sea of oblivion that defies gravity, pooling in the hollows, quietly raging.

...Oookay.

[MOMENT OF INSPIRATION!]

That... that was definitely Blood magic-I guess the World saturation automatically forced a hybrid magic use-notebook.... ok, got to write down everything I remember, record every sensation and detail-my next attempt will not leave me with so many questions....

>>286385
As the afternoon begins to roll along, I consider how much of a good thing for me the State takeover has been. More prestige, more resources, more funds, more authority-everything involved has given me better resources to keep learning, and continue to grow as a mage. Mordre has consistently proved himself an ideal entity to follow for my own advancement, and this continues to be true. I have absolutely no problem with him being the Councilor Prime, and hope I can learn enough to get named as an Arch-Mage with Mordre, Kyorto and Eisenhardt. From there, I really don't see how I can avoid getting a Mortal Coil invit-

Shit, Kyorto will too.... I hope that gets handled well.

She really has been a great teacher-the hitting on me thing is a bit creepy, considering she is starting to get a bit.... creative in how she uses her particular physiology to 'flirt'. I mean, wow I am learning a good bit about a dead language that will let me read books on Soul Magic and on golem craft, and she's really teaching me a bunch with Phonomancy that really complements the stealth Word magic I know. It ties in very well with my personal studies of Aeromancy, which finally paid off when I manifested Will magic-

On that note having concretely inscribed every sensation from that first Blood magic use into my soul, I think I recognized, through my staff, the way my soul... opened... more fully. I have no other words to describe it, just that rather than growing, I learned how to use it more fully in that instant. Something to ponder.

After I have finished compiling and packing every kind of useful herb within a five league radius, I find attention slipping on me-even as, midway through another herbal roll, I am giving more lessons on Arcane magic with my use of Illusion and wind-manipulation. What could-

I turn around to look where they gaze.

The Sphere Mordre travelled to is rocking and quaking, the roots pulling free of its surface as it floats upward, the dense tnagles knitting together beneath it-

As a Golden figure, gleaming brilliantly in the sweltering heat-stands on its surface.

As people erupt into cheer, I can barely think as the full weight of how hot it is hits me, and I duck aside to strip off my robes and body glove. I don't know if I'm hallucinating when the Milkmaids find me-and I don't care.


..........................................................................[PERSPECTIVE SHIFT: MORDRE] ..........................................................................

Very interesting. Cellular manipulation is not so different, between Curatiomancy and Pomumancy-and my connection to the Sphere beneath me acts as testament to this, as I tap the many magic-producing organs within to keep it afloat without any energy demand from me. I consider what the Sphere God Kengehxion said, as he rent his soul apart to deny me such a feast-'A false heaven is a greater hell than any man could dream.' Rather harsh words..... but considering how much I feasted, how many lives were added to my Eden ,I care not. For in their passing, I learned of the capacity of Spheres, of the power within-and of how many further secrets it could hold.

[TOTAL SOULS REMAINING: 089,712]

I find little can disturb my equilibrium, as I note myself as having nearly a soul for every citizen of the State-and recollect how my Inferno Golems are now external partitions of my Eden, manifestations of my Belief power source....

And find my tranquility disturbed as I float down to spy Arkus... what was the term-ah, 'motorboating' his way down a line of seventeen women, each in the upper ninetieth percentile in mammary development, based on population norms I have yet established for Dionepa. He does not look up as I drift to the ground-granted, he cannot detect through walls as I can, and is within a sturdy shed-and I see nine hundred fifty one pounds of packaged samples, with evidence each was itemized and detailed by Arkus.... he did do as I asked...

But ultimately, the Sphere will not be able to provide spatial warping-I could try using it as a shell to brave the Wall, or dare flying through space, and with it achieve enough speeds to get to the state in hours.... but neither is by any means a sure bet.






What is my next step at this juncture?

>>286423
>What is my next step at this juncture?
I need to solidify my worship, to convert the awe that the people of this land feel into a formal religion designed to channel their Belief to me.

To do so I will need to start with priests - and I see an opportunity to gift Arkus some of what I am collecting. I should publicly implant a Deep Spawn Core into his nascent System to guide its evolution as its Administrator, so that the locals can witness the personal growth that following me leads to. At this time I should anoint him as my Arch-Priest, and also induct a couple of the gathered crowswho possess the strongest magical potentials into the inner mysteries of my cult. When I do that, Mordre should infuse a them with his Belief using the inverted Immortal Genocide, to serve as his priests and missionaries here.

Separately, you should activate the Infuser and have it continuously divert the excess run off from the Belief engine into my own soul.

I should also consider what I have learned of the growth of cells, and hence the formation of life. Such a primal aspect of existence, the generative acts of Creation, one so celebrated by mortals – as my future High Priest is doing pretty much at this moment, actually, cannot help but have garnered a pool of Belief Magic is a counterpart to the Death Magic Weinsho has exploited. I should extend my new sensitivity to Belief to the fullest when I announce to the assembled multitudes what I am creating, and the Deep Spawn core blossoms to life within Arkus' system.

On getting home, when I have left these seeds of my worship behind me, I should reinforce the Sphere as best I can, and then prepare to take it home with us. I can already see many tactical opportunities for the coming conflict in the Land of Daragon, and it would make a perfect home for Niddhogg and her spawn.

What was the disposition of the Sphere Populace and Kengexhion? Did they fight to the last? Is it completely depopulated? What capabilities of the sphere have you discovered?

Also, I wouldn't pay much heed to Kengexhion's words. Empty bravado in the face of lost hope. I doubt he has any place determining whether a heaven is "false" or not, given that it is by and large a very recent concept given actual form. When your three ultimate fates are "be eaten by the system", total annihilation, or, in Mordre's case, "be granted a genuine afterlife, however metaphysical", choosing oblivion is just useless (and foolish) pride and vindictiveness.

Also, what are the capabilities of your Faithfire (as opposed to your SoulFire) and your Faith Guardian Golems?

>>286423
First of, run down of the capabilities gained from nomming so many curatiomancers and pomumancers

Second, run down on all capabilities of the sphere. We need to find ways to improve it if possible.

Third, implant a deep spawn core into it, because we have to put a deep spawn in EVERYTHING! (No I am not sure if I am being serious or not here... might be sleep deprevation)

Also, did we use our new improved Blood Magic?

If so, how did it work?

> -'A false heaven is a greater hell than any man could dream.'
Better to rule in hell than serve in heaven, eh?

Actually, since he recognized our Eden and avoided it, maybe the Spheregods already have a system for their souls to go to - the Roots, or the Spheres, or something.

Just what did Arkus tap to do that to his axe? Void, or that weird thing Mordecai did when he took over, or what?

Whatever we end up doing, should we accept volunteers from the locals to come with us? That sphere could hold, what, 20,000 people comfortably?

Also:

Hey. Hey guys. Remember that tale we joked about with how "Mage" Mordre was never around because his home was basically a floating castle?

We found our castle.

>>286431
>>286431
Yay

We need to fortify the exterior of the sphere somehow to make going through the Wall less of a pain. Also, you didn't get ANY heroics in a population that big?

Troubling.

Also, let's have a chat with our heroic souls that we have now - a round table conference with those who would actually speak with us. Might provide some interesting ideas, no?

Finally, ask Arkus about the Storm Wall and what he knows.

>>286424
When we make our new Priests, we should make it a grand ceremony. First they should renounce their old names, then we should baptise them in a pool of our metal blood, and then we should grant them new names in our service.

>'A false heaven is a greater hell than any man could dream.'
HAHAHAHA
I bet he would sing his tune differently if he was a normal mortal and knew the alternative to Soul Eden.
Fucking prick. Who does he think he is.
We specifically chose him because he was the most cruel and now he tries to tell us something about morals? Meh.

>For in their passing, I learned of the capacity of Spheres, of the power within-and of how many further secrets it could hold.
Which are?
You need to elaborate man.

Also what other powers did you gain besides Curimancy and Ponumancy? They should have know stuff beside those two if they spread their knowledge of Magic so widely.
And what is their level?

I wonder how the cleansing of the polii went through. Did you just bust in and started to kill everybody? How long did it take and what kind of methods did he use? How hard was the fight with Reaver?

>and I see nine hundred fifty one pounds of packaged samples, with evidence each was itemized and detailed by Arkus
Make a crate out of nearby woods. Adore it with metal from your body so that you can move it easily with the help of magnetomancy.

>What is my next step at this juncture?
Use your newfound powers at curimancy to check on Arkus. See if his mind is alright (it is not, he's high).
Then use you healing to put the drugs out of his system and then say to him to put his damn pants on and come out. (or if you are feeling generous, let him have some fun for 15-30 minutes).

He the should tell you something important that will help you get back home (contact with Ellayia)


Give gifts to onlookers, make shit out of your own body or cannonshells (like coins or statues and shit). Just Because.
It should help us with Belief we are generating here.

Make an off hand comment how you dealt with Reaver.
Ask villager what's up.

Also I am voting against for putting Cores into the sphere and absolute no to using PS, for now. We might want to use up everything we've got before spending our most valuable resources.
[If we do make a damn ship/floating castle out of the sphere. Please use the fan-arts that had been posted few days before for extra "oomph" (they aren't from me, but I think the artists wanted them for ship/sphere ideas)]

A PS attempt:
This little venture we just did of exterminating a small nation will have massive social and political fallout in Dionepa.
If we go back home again and never be heard again (for months or forever), these villagers we had contact with will be persecuted and probably killed for being "heretics" or something like that.
So now we need to send a delegation and set up base here. We'll need to have presence over here from now on if we don't want these people to come to harm.
Since we made these people believe we are god, sending people from State might be ill-advisable. I suggest we send our techno-magical Premen friends to set up shop here.
And have Burduko establish a warp-point.
If we don't mind people from back home finding out that here in Dionepa they decided to see us as god, I suggest starting Dregas trade-network here, too.

I think it's obvious that we put all the villagers who want to come into the sphere. I mean all of them, within the next, say, five hours. Should be enough to fill everyone up- they won't refuse going with Mordre, their new Spheregod-substitute, and we could set up some stuff.

We have to come back with Burduko someday.

Also, I can't believe how easy that was. You killed a spheregod just... Like that? No fight, no major scarring, nothing like what happened with the Goran fight...

We're either fuck powerful or the Spheregods are all pussies who've lived too long in luxury. I'm pretty sure it's the first one, though.

Shall we loot the Orbopolis? Half the metal goes to you, other half is divided among all the villagers who come with you. Every cool artifact and magical item also goes to you, especially magic weapons. What weapon did Kengehxion use anyways- we could add it to our Weapon Grave.

PS

Trollzaru uses tractomancy signatures to track us down (as evidenced from the post in Discussion)
That means that he can know where we travel.
Meaning that he would be able to track our Gialgorra base.
Meaning that he will eat Domintus which will lead to BAD END.
Also, if we don't deal with him soon, he might also attack Mordreden and eat Weinsho, which is also BAD END.

>>286439
>I think it's obvious that we put all the villagers who want to come into the sphere. I mean all of them, within the next, say, five hours. Should be enough to fill everyone up- they won't refuse going with Mordre, their new Spheregod-substitute, and we could set up some stuff.

Just make sure that the sphere is not filled with blood and gore from previous inhabitants.

>>286437
>If we go back home again and never be heard again (for months or forever), these villagers we had contact with will be persecuted and probably killed for being "heretics" or something like that.
Well, naturally. Arkus has been breaking their caste system rather rampantly and teaching them of new powers, Mordre is stealing Belief that has historically gone to the Sphere Gods... the obvious reaction is complete extermination of this new religion, root and branch, by the existing Sphere Gods. If Mordre's not there, they'll get rid of his followers. If he IS there, they might well unite against him. It's a sticky business.

>>286424
I do rather like this plan for Arkus and creating priests. The question is, will it be enough to let them survive? I suspect that unless a stronger hand is taken, the answer is no. Well, perhaps if a Deep Spawn infused Arkus is left here to manage and expand the cult personally, he would be able to keep it alive. Could work out well, and while he's learning some cool stuff in the State he could hone his soul like nobody's business by being set to a task as huge as this one, if he manages to succeed in it.

Oh, and make sure that we give Arkus a bit of warning and do nothing that would make others ridicule or disrespect him as we pull him from his current activities. It would be bad for our Belief. And he can explain the details of why there are ten thousand people here and what they think of us before we take any drastic steps.

>I think it's obvious that we put all the villagers who want to come into the sphere. I mean all of them, within the next, say, five hours.
We could use them to staff the Sphere, or possibly we could just use the Sphere to transport them and spread them out widely over the land to spread the good word of our existence and maximize our Belief intake. Depends upon how easily we can maneuver the Sphere and avoid the other Sphere Gods' wrath.

PS attempt: the reason everyone in Trollingwood is insane is the Lortoxite meteor that landed there years ago.

Poor Oz and CANTI; they're just going to get more eccentric the longer they spend in contact with the stuff.

Suggestion 2011/03/05(Sat)19:09 No. 286447 ID: 81f32a
File 129938096973.gif - (971.62KB , 1600x1200 , Sphere-Mobile.gif )

This is how we will arrive back home.
In style.

Should shut up anyone who questions us where we had been the last day.
"Oh, Mordre, FINALLY! Where had- ohwhatthefuckisthat?!"

>>286440
Does this mean he could track us across the Wall to here? We need to keep an eye on that guy, stat.

Or just murder him. Murdering's good.

>>286448
Cannot agree more.


After we get back home.
We should imbue ourself with the alloy we have been planning. We should add platinum and rare valuable gem dust to it. Then add Lenryts tea. Maybe out an Egg Core in the mix.
Do all of this at leyline geyser (and the Sphere if we manage to take it with us).
After this massive upgrade we go to deal with that fucker.

>>286423

>What is my next step at this juncture?
Sail down into a clearing near the village. Enter town, invite followers to join you on your journey home, having them load in the plant materials. Handle the situation with Arkus however you wish and examine his weapon. Get that all sort and squared away with and then get the sphere back into the air. I suggest we go through the wall and attempt to use this >>286071 plan to move through.


>>286424
As an addition to this plan I'd like to propose a system for our up and coming cult. In addition to the baptisms for our priests we should work out a method for advancement amongst the ranks. Give the priests markings, markings made from our own blood iron. Our markings can be rune tattoos, made from our blood iron, using our own blood we can empower it with belief and bind our priests with our ownership. These rune tattos should be focused in a similar manner, giving us better ownership of the wearers and letting them grow in belief as we grow. But as I said, these tattoos are rewards for devotion to us and our cause. When a priest proves himself worthy he can have a tattoo added to him. We don't want them just anywhere though, we need them to concealable so our enemies don't snuff out our belief network. There is an existing example for this, the Yakuza, who wear tattoos that can be hidden under clothing and exposed when needed. Once we learn about Deep Spawn restrictions we may even be able to restrict the priests who serve us in a suitable manner, those who earn high enough rank getting more restrictions as gifts.

>>286431
Wow, that gives me an idea. If this is going to be our floating castle, we need personnel. We need butlers, we need cooks, but most of all we need maids. How do we get these personnel? Let's get them from here, fill our sphere with loyal followers to maintain our home. The regular staff are simple enough, they can be anyone who decides to join us, but the maids need to be hand picked. Arkus has his face resting in the ample resources of some rather capable milk maids. Why not convert these milk maids into our maid maids? With these people and our floating castle we'll add an entire layer to our cover.

All of this is good, but we can build on it, we can do more to perfect it. If we show up with our castle people will ask where we are? To stall the issue we can lock off the center of the sphere, take the same seat of power Kengehxion had. Once safely closed away we use this area as a sort of testing grounds. I propose we not only move the components for our new body that we have been building inside, but also start work on the creation of new beings. We should create our own version of Illia and our various cats by creating life golem versions of them. We never mentioned she was human and being a life golem actually works well with the established personality of Mage Mordre. As for the cats, we should make them monstrous life golem constructs that act as guards. With a little time a work we could get this down, we have the prerequisite magic now. If we ask Kyorto for help I'm sure it could be done in relatively short order.

Whatever you do, make sure that Arkus doesn't forget his robes and body glove.

>>286437
The artist does desire the fanart posted in posts >>286053 and >>285577 to be used in upgrading/modifying the Sphere so as to be capable of surviving going through the Wall, or otherwise capable of getting Mordre and company back to the State safely and quickly.

>>286431
noooo. Not if we say that's where we live, I mean, if we just use it as a floating castle that's fine, but if we say that's the floating castle where Mage Mordre actually lives...

I don't like making elements of our cover into reality. Our cover should remain just as it is, somewhat vague, flexible, and hard to disprove. No one can blow it up and call us out when we sill move around. No one can sneak in and attempt to murder us, only to find we're not there. No one can call us out on something we make up about the place.

>>286453
Downvoting that ending bit hard. I like to think that Mage Mordre would be an eccentric old man, but still pretty normal, not crazy.

First of all use inverted faithfire to preserve the plant collection. That way it'll stay fresh.

The other spheregods might retaliate once they get what's happened. Could you possibly outmaneuver them by say putting runes on the roots they might use for a counterattack so they give you power?

Try getting Arkus to link/interface with the Sphere and see if his System like properties means he can literally make it a self-contained world. Then he might be able to absorb and reprocess souls etc.

Also try out your combined magical abilities. Take some local beasts and plants apart with curatiomancy. Then take a promising local volunteer aside and attempt to REBUILD him using curatiomancy, pomumancy, magnetomancy and soul magic. See if you can add Blootz steel reinforcements, strengthened muscles, bark skin and an order rebalancing to stabilize the creation. You could potentially create some hardy speakers capable of travelling the continent to spread the word of Mordre.

>>286423
So...no heroics? That makes Dionepa seem pretty pathetic. We get anything interesting? Runecrafters, word, rare magic like Phonomancy/Gravimancy/Chronomancy? If not I'm not sure what's really stopping us from just rolling over this entire continent.

>>286463
Well, we did pretty much kill Kengahxion, the most horrible Spheregod around (though not necessarily the most powerful one), and based on the difficulty of the fight (I mean, Bob just skipped it which means it was probably a one-shot or something), I estimate that this spheregod was just a low-tier Heroic, something like Fang-Taker in terms of power.

Given that, one does come to the conclusion that Dionepa fails forever- or we probably just haven't explored far enough to hit the big roadblocks. I'm sure they're out there somewhere- I'm thinking a soul grave the size of a Sphere, fused with the systemroots, or something.

Hopefully, the other spheregods will give up when they find that we've vanished with an entire three or four villages. I mean, Kengahxion couldn't have been the strongest out of all the spheregods based on my argument. But if we go and smash more spheres up, the spheregods will come after us and we will have huge sphere-fights in the air. Not like that's a bad thing, though.

Bob!t/UKid4z5s 2011/03/05(Sat)21:27 No. 286466 ID: a76809
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>>286425
Kengehxion's warrior-worshippers were a mixed bunch, ranging from the lowest level of heroic to a middling tear of magical proficiency-but all based on organic targets. Immune to their strikes, I cleared out every last warrior on the Sphere's surface in one hour, and consumed them all. Not a one fled me, all willingly laying down their lives-and I felt Belief somehow wrapped about their souls, in a manner that made me wonder if it was related to their fanaticism. From there, I fought Kengehxion's personal assistants for the next three hours, two hours of which they benefitted from Kengehxion's personal presence until the last of his attendants perished. They all were... altered, reformed into new beings in a manner similar to Bang's own transformations-and every last one of them had magical capacity roughly ten times more than their soul weight should suggest, thanks to magic-producing organs within their structure. They fought in a manner very similar to Bang, tremendous agility and brute force the attack pattern of choice, with corrosive acids, monomolecularly sharpened bone, and ample manipulation of the Sphere's interior to create new attacks or footing for themselves. With Kengehxion's Ownership of the Sphere I had significant issue for a time, and was forced to use Chaos/Order collisions to outright erase clumps of enemies-I used the ability as minimally as I could, but still the permanent loss of some one thousand of Kengehxion's personal attendants' souls irks me.

Kengehxion himself lived up to the Sphere God image, in my opinion. An Biological weapon some twelve feet tall, he was covered in chitinous orange bone with carbon nanotubes giving them unbelievable durability, while plates of metal where embedded in sections of his shell. Openings allowed for highly pressurize gar expulsions with internal ignition, flame lances that stretched hundreds of feet and carried temperatures hot enough to melt steel in seconds, Acid capable of dissolving more ably than dragons back home, shot with enough pressure to core through armor. Twin translucent portions in his chest were highly specialized lenses, allowing for the refocusing of light to craft lasers of his own-he matched a full discharge of the Amaranthine Annhilator jolt for jolt, and showed regeneration comperable to Bang-at the start.

But no matter how personally powerful, no matter how capable of potentially obliterating me had I miscalculated, he could not stand up to what, at that point, was the weight of nearly a hundred thousand soul's Belief, my existing magic-and the thousands of his followers own organic magics. I began to unmake him, attacking his fatigued soul with my attempts to take Ownership of his body and his vessel. For an hour after the fall of his last supporter he faced me, frequently so overwhelming all my attacks are spent striking away his own offense-but finally he slips, too focused on commanding his Sphere-and I had him. it was at that point, as I was peeling his flesh away to get at his soul, that he used some strange organ to commit spiritual suicide after his parting comment. Words of no value, as he did not even realize how much better than the normal ultimate fate of souls my own Eden has become.

>>286426
I reconsider my new Faith Soldiers, who I can constantly build more of so long as they are facing foes capable of putting any sort of reflexive Belief into their transient existence-non-sapient foes are a poor match-up, but against Mortals with time I can make my own self-sustaining army I need only give general orders to. A powerful force-and, should I reveal it in the State, liable to get me even more attention than trying to bring this Sphere home.

I then consider what my Inferno Golems became-Faith Guardian Golems. By using my paired Deep Spawn assistents within my Eden, I siphon off samples of the total population, and give them reason to believe themselves opposed to their own most hated foe, turning their resultant belief into the offensive force of the golems. With their aide, and Fjordak at full output, I can support twenty such manifestations with the same strain as one Inferno Golem, thirty with the strain of five. I assume the returns to diminish past there, relying more on my own computation to command. They can be sustained indefinately-but if destroyed, permanently deny me the souls manifested in their forms. I learned that the hard way when one with two hundred eighty souls was destroyed by Kengehxion-after which point I made only ten thousand-plus soul Golems.

While my own Eden and twinned Deep Spawn are most useful, it was Fjordak that proved my most useful addition-the aid of Goran's heart rhythmically vibrating thousands of times a second to create a supersonic flow of Blood Iron with glimmerings of Phonomantic and Magnetomantic energy just from running.... quite frankly, I think with Fjordak's boosted Blood Magic at full output, it and my soul could account for an equivalent magical output to a Soul Grave of fifty thousand souls. Fjordak's own spawn are microscopic amplifiers in the whole mix where it imbues its entire essence into the resonating magic of Goran, myself and the internal Deep Spawn. Combined with the unfailingly accurate, ever-replenishing, magic-nullifying cannon... again, I marvel at the scope of the Deep Spawn's versatility.

>>286427
I find myself now fully capable of manipulating the cellular structure of any organic material I make physical contact with-or make contact with through my runed saw rings. Presuming I do not meet an Ownership I cannot overwrite, I am effectively free to do as I please-and likely could emulate many of Bang's modifications, and place them in others, should he be willing to fully demonstrate them to me. Sadly, not a one beyond Kengehxion was Arcanely inclined, and no matter how potent he was, his soul was denied to me. As such, I find myself limited in application in a manner markedly similar... to Bang.

...I fear for this place should I bring Bang here, all the same as I marvel at what he could accomplish here....

The Sphere itself is capable of much. It can create roots to dig into the ground and attempt direct interface with the System for energy absorption purposes, both able to absorb the energy of Core Beings, and the ambient souls caught by the System before the completely dissolve. It can also directly feed from Leyline Geysers, and this is on top of massive internal magic producing organs. While it can internally sustain itself-it would be in an 'emergency' mode, unable to fly, or regenerate. To power full function, where I could, with full devotion of all my magic as conduit, I would need either an external feed from the System-or some truly potent internal engines. With them, I could reshape the Sphere at large like Bang does his body.... a 2.8 mile wide living weapon at my beck and call....

Weinsho and Domintus spring to mind as possible power sources.

Currently, I find myself locked out of the local root system and with enough power left for full function for... twenty three hours, fifty two minutes. I note that only full function allows endless production of nutrients for up to fifty thousand residents. Having completely removed the corpses from the battle, having made the sphere subsume them and derive chemical fuel from their breakdown, I could easily hold every person gathered here-twelve thousand, five hundred eighty as of this moment. With how swiftly their attention turns to Arkus, and the faint pall of Belief I feel directed both at me and to a lesser extent towards Arkus, I seriously consider doing just that. I note he only needed five seconds after noting my presence to find a.. presentable... way to publically greet me on my return. We exchange pleasantries, I comment on his Axe, he notes he used personal System World magic and Blood magic in a hybrid in a magic theory test, with this being the result, while he asks how my battle with Kengehxion went, and I give him a brief rundown. All in all, normal dialogue for us.

>>286430
I check through the vast compendium of memories I consumed along with souls-and find confirmation that the Sphere Gods do indeed have knowledge of and actively tap Belief magic-but it seems to be for their host Orbopolis, not their personal use. I find no reason for this lack of personal empowerment in any of the lives I ate-a pity.

>>286431
>>286433
>>286435
>>286436
>>286437
>>286439
>>286443
>>286447
[FANART BONUS]
>>286453
>>286455
As I consider how the other Sphere Gods will react to this-the memories I consumed suggest they will face me in mass, willing to put aside differences to obliterate a dangerous outsider-and together, I have little doubt they could do it if more than five of Kengehxion's level faced me at once, with everything they had from the start-if Kengehxion had not failed to attack me at range on my approach, things could have gone differently-the shaped lens cannons, the pressure jets, all the weapons the body can hose possess considerable power. If I leave, these villagers, who now clearly begin to Believe in me, would be slaughtered to prevent disruption of Belief. I need to take them with me, lest they die for no purpose. I can house them all in this Sphere. It seems so simple, so straight forward.

I tell them, frankly and without reservation, that the other Sphere Gods will likely retailiate for this, and you want to keep them safe-at the invitation to live within the Sphere, a place hallowed in their legends, all leap at the chance, and after a mere hour spent picking up locals, the ground is depopulated, all the residents now walking about the surface of the Sphere, filing down the many entrance tunnels in the surface level. They bring with them the guts of their homes, and I do not object as they ask to claim things from other villages, friends and belongings alike. At the free extra worshippers, how can I say no? It takes six hours total, and the sun is beginning to set, when No one complains of a missing relative that could join-with a total population of twenty six thousand, seven hundred eleven, not counting myself or Arkus. with the contents of some nine villages and a ground major trade hub all packed within, I have a miniature city now within a construct completely under my Ownership.

It is at this point Arkus comes to me, saying that Ellayia will tell Phohn we are in Dionepa for ten thousand marks, plus ninety thousand more for the two things she found for us. Knowing Burduko to have, via Lenryt, been here before, I readily agree-

And one second later, the Sphere's sensors show me Burduko and Rutgur, teleporting in. I explain their service to me, and they are instantly treated as demigods by the locals, as Rutgur systematically stores them, while I assure them all I will bring them to a safe place, Arkus stored with them-

As Burduko nearly kills himself bringing us to Mordreden, where the massive sphere, the grandest of prizes from a titanic clash that lasted half a day and involved deicide, now hangs above the icy city, I wish myself capable of grinning, as I wonder at all the marvels the Premen's belief in me can achieve when exposed to the more palpable Belief of my new followers.......


I decide I shall take half an hour to set things in affairs here, even while Phohn informs me that per my orders he has dispatched a comment that a Grand Elder Mage of the Mortal Coil called a meeting outside of communication range, so teleportation was not an immediate option. He has left the explanation vague enough I can even go with my plan to use this sphere as the touted 'home' of the Mage Mordre. That Phohn comments Gialgorra has not only arrived, but become a local hero for, with Eisenhardt's aid, completely subjugating a Soul Grave, found already active in a hidden basement of a research outpost. So many possibilities glitter in my future now-I feel I am on the cusp of something important....




GOLEM QUEST ARC 12: COMPLETE]


GOLEM QUEST ARC 13: WHILE WEINSHO'S WIGHT WEEPS, MORDRE MANIFESTS MAJESTY

[Oh right.]

>>286472
honk

Also
><@TheBeardiestBob> tomorrow I will start [the next thread] after wake and baking. It will take some time to write, but will be fun. Feel free to use the tail end of the ended thread to brainstorm how Mordre is going to handle returning, what kind of speech he can make, how to handle Gialgorra thing, etc.

Regarding Gialgorra:

>>285012

So...we ate some heroics but they didn't do any of the stuff heroics are supposed to do? No new abilities? Is our new furnace design broken?

It's probably a side effect of the way our furnace runs, now. Low Level heroics no longer register as significantly unique (like the Jade Soul Monks we devoured).

[It probably also doesn't help that it'd be assinine to have to try come up with the that many unique abilities, and figure out how each one interacts with others. Roll with it, its the price you pay for quantity]

>>286480
But not even one new heroic ability? That's disappointing. We didn't even get to participate in the fight with Kengehxion.

>>286478
As I understand it, it's the Spheregods' training methods at fault. Their mages are spoonfed knowledge and don't properly grow and innovate; their soul weight is Heroic class, but no personality. As such, we get Curatiomancy (Combat, not Arcane) and Pomumancy from them, but no hero soul. Like when we ate the Jade Soul monks, or the Domintus clay golem mages.

>>286447
Honestly, I kind of want to roll up like this.

The massive city sphere descends on Mordreden, Mordre (and Arkus) glowing like a golden god atop it. "MORDRE IS BACK," the earth seems to cry.

Invite at least Lorgk, the Peace Chief, Mingsk, Jojo, Oggroth, and Ulgrokk (perhaps more, like the Sons of Mordre), onto the ship as we bring each other up to speed. Status symbol and a show of power for Mordreden among the other clans, and the old followers get to meet&greet the new ones.

How goes the unification? Any more Red Knights come calling on Lorgk? Oggroth eat any In particular, I'm curious how Jojo and Heol (our resident ghost) are coming along, but that's just me. We did just buy a soul-empty body from Ellayia.

Eventually I'd like to settle the Orb in Mosmordre with Bang aboard and power down. 1) Bang (introduced as "a master Curatiomancer on par with a Spheregod") can deal with any weird Curse stuff that comes calling while he gets up to speed with our Dionepa underlings (zealots?), 2) someone on IRC pointed out that we don't need all our eggs in one basket, or even let word of our new Orb get around, 3) if Mordecai was the old Mosmordren Administrator and if they haven't selected a new one however they do, Curse lands are a good place to tap into the System outside of a Deep Spawn jurisdiction (while we decide whether to hook up Weinsho and Domintus to this thing to give it perpetual energy to the engines; I'm in favor of this by the by, since Bob said we could still decouple them later if we find a way to eat Weinsho).

Also, if Welgahoo can be spared from Mordreden, have come with the Orb and begin restoring Mosmordre's Curse damage, perhaps starting around where Kyorto was found. Or split its time between the two, if it is still needed up north.

I'd also like to dub our Orb 'The Ark', both in honor of Arkus and due to a certain religious overtone in our recent ventures.

>>286489
We didn't actually buy a soul empty body, we bought a World Mage with unbroken skin. Which is not really useful to us anymore, but it was part of the deal for getting us out of there. Maybe Kyorto can still use it.

Aside from that I agree with this.

>>286491
Yep, we bought a whole mage. Arkus should ask what kind of magic she does. Maybe we can employ her (haha no) or more likely just eat her. Here's hoping for something we don't already have.

>>286466
We should wrap Kengehxion's body, and those of his worshippers in Stasis Crystal, so that Bang can inspect them.

It is when we return to Mordreden that we should initiate Arkus as the Hierarch of our new religion and the more magically potent of my new flock as my priests, as described here:
>>286424
and here:
>>286453
This should be peformed in a grand ceremony, and the Premen Shamen would be welcomed to join the priesthood.

We should further augment them with our new knowledge of Curiatomancy and our old Blood Magics we baptise them in our Blood, augmenting with the passive augmentations that we have learned.

In the case of scar, if his captors will permit him, we should devour him whole, adding any runes or heroic souls he has to ourselves, and incorporating his soul furnace for those souls we wish to destroy. After all, Lenryt let us know that the standard soul furnace can be radically upgraded without converting it into a Belief engine.

One thing that must do before coming to State.
Is to make the Administrator Spawn (Acronum) and Engineering/Construction Spawn (Idoneus). Do this while getting more energy from the Sphere.
People will be too distracted by our new form and soul weight to ask questions about them and if they do, we can just brush them off saying that we had been working on them for weeks.

Pay Ellayia for the geyser and the mage. Claim the geyser as property of the State (or Mordre) and eat the delicious mage.

Also put Weinsho and Domintus to power the sphere.

>>286518
>It is when we return to Mordreden that we should initiate Arkus as the Hierarch of our new religion

You know, I am kind of against making the religion thing so obvious, like making priests and shit.
It is unnecessary and will lead to problems.

We let the things go their own way.
We will not go around and flaunting that we are a god and anything like that.
If anyone call us on it, we can say with truth that we have already told them we aren't a god but they refuse to believe and see us like one anyway. And we, in all Mages Mordres glory, will say that we let them do as they pleased but never force anyone anything.

By making arch-mages, temples and shit, we can't denounce this.


Also, it will be weird for Arkus.

Don't eat the mage. Consuming a lone mage of unknown power is a pathetic waste of potential resources when placed against the full scope of our current magical might.

Before we try and decide what we're going to do with this person, lets find out what/who exactly Ellayia has brought us.

>>286521
>You know, I am kind of against making the religion thing so obvious, like making priests and shit.
>It is unnecessary and will lead to problems.
Given what Arkus has already told them, I think that ship has sailed. Now we simply need to exploit use of the fact that he's already explicitly founded a religion as much as we can.

On that note, we should have Burduko infiltrate some of our priests back into that society as missionaries.

We should also consider what we can do with the Sphere. Mordre has the theoretical ability to control/possess multiple golems at once, and, at it's heart, the Sphere is just one very large Life Golem. To do this, may may need to implant a Deep Spawn Core, one based around Life and Growth, to act as the control interface to bind it to our soul, as we have done with Heaven, and make the Sphere body as much us as the body the Morderean Empire made.

Then, when we possess both our conventional body and the Sphere, we should consider how to power and upgrade it. With both Goran and Ugrokk as examples, or, if not, we should get the Deep Spawn's teaching, we should learn how to use the SPhere as an Organic Soul Grave, and use it to eat Weinsho's Death Belief infused soul to fuel both us and the Sphere.

We should also upgrade the Sphere's body, asking Bang for help. We should have it grow a vast circulatory system to pump blood and energy around its body, to give it another power source, Blood.

We should then investigate it's other organs, and seek to copy both the human and plant reproductive system on a massive scale, and grow cloning chambers that combine both. The first use we should put them to is a grow a crop of blanks to trade to Eldghodd for knowledge of the Deep Spawns various magics, but we should go on to create massively genetically engineered clone soldiers to serve in our army.

Given the strategic possibilities this all presents, I vote we spend souls and cores freely to accomplish this. If we can grow our own armies, be simultaneously a Soul Eden and an Organic Soul Forge, depending on which body we use to eat with, and so we able to consume Weinsho, then it would be well worth it.

Actually now that Ellaiya has brought a drugged up world mage perhaps his body can be used as a Mordre proxy puppet body. Doesn't really matter what he looks like if Curatiomancy can alter him a bit.

Try to pick up/kidnap some additional 500 people from Dionepa with Burduko and Rutgur's help and trade them to Weismahn. Things to get are:
- Deep Spawn cores for Arkus' own use
- The ability to alter Deep Spawn restrictions
- More information or ability on how Deep Spawn growth can be forced or encouraged

>>286526
Remember, initiating contact with Deep Spawn alerts the Paradox Knights.
I advise against trading with Weishman, it's better to trade with Eldghodd (besides, we can trade technology with him)

>>286525
Yes.
Arkus told that, not Mordre.
Besides, they made god connections themselves. Arkus just told the story.

Let them start up their religion if they want to but do not do anything as blatant as setting up priests, missionaries, temples, whatever.

>>286532
>Let them start up their religion if they want to but do not do anything as blatant as setting up priests, missionaries, temples, whatever.

I really fail to see the downsides to doing this.

We can have our new worshippers repopulate the ex-Mordesmordan Empire using their magic to protect themselves from the curse, and they'll be isolated from everyone else.

No one else on this continent even needs to know we have a religion.

>>286526
Bump this number up to 700 or so, see if we can trade for some extra Administrator magic tricks?

I would like to echo the warning about trading random humans to Weismahn. The Paradox Knights have a method of monitoring our meetings with the Deep Spawn, and knowing they take place. Trying to trade BULK HUMAN LIVES is liable to get our shit fucked up if they find out about it, and they already KNOW about our dealings.