Near the most remote edge of the forest laid the entrance to a cave-system that led deep underground and was used by subterranean creatures who braved the kilometers long journey upward to reach the surface. Inside of this cave-system was an entire ecosystem filled with an astounding variety of life. Monsters, humanoids, and other, more alien things lurked inside of this underground region.
Massive bioluminescent mushrooms illuminated naturally occurring tunnels that stretched for kilometers and led travelers underground and into civilizations vastly unlike those of any creatures who dwelled on the surface.
Deep pools of slightly acidic and sour tasting water were used as neutral places for both predator and prey who inhabited the cave-system. Entire colonies of mold, ooze, and parasitic plants dwelled in the more remote and hostile portions of the cave-system. Humanoids and sapient creatures built eerie civilizations in this and other cave systems throughout the world.
Relatively close to one of the naturally occurring exits that led outside of the cave-system, primarily so that it could occasionally creep outside under the cover of night and corrupt nearby trees, dwelled a demon who at the moment was fairly tiny.
For weeks now the clever thing had squatted on the very edge of a small underground river, a river that went all the out way of the cave and into the greater forest. The corrupt demon spent most days with a lone pseudopod dipped into the water, slowly corrupting and despoiling the water that aided plants nearby and was at times drunk by forest-dwelling animals.
The demon, for the sake of simplicity and to be unbothered by other creatures who lived close to its moist lair and to aid in occasionally creeping outside of the cave-system, had recently mastered the arcane and transformative act of molding itself innocuous forms to shift into that wouldn't cause people to suspect its true nature.
At the moment, as the sun was setting right outside of its cave, the creature looked like a small green slime, perhaps half a meter tall and about that wide, that was hydrating itself by using a sickening pseudopod to absorb some water. In actuality, the fiend was gleefully dumping pollutants and toxins into the water to drive anyone who drank it mad, and to corrupt any plants watered by water its pseudopod had corrupted.
The filth that it was pumping into the water was clear and microscopic in size, so any creatures downstream from it who drank the water would have no way of knowing, by sight alone at least, that they were drinking a polluted substance. The thought that its actions were sickening lifeforms and filling them with near mindless aggression delighted the demon.
The demon, with magical senses that extended well beyond what a mortal would estimate the creature could physically sense, occasionally cackled maniacally, cackles which were unnervingly silent, since from time to time it would feel forest or cave creatures growing weaker because they sipped the water it had poisoned. When it cackled its body would bounce manically as if the critter was performing a wild dance to music only it could hear.
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For the elves, the night had come fairly quickly. One moment they were all grimacing as they felt the dreaded kiss of the sun, even through shade that was kindly provided by nearby trees. And then almost immediately they felt the welcome and chilly touch of the shadows as the sun parted below the horizon and darkness overtook the part of the forest they were in.
The elves were in a part of the forest that was as of yet unexplored by Althos, the mysterious god who had graciously rewarded them for having the wisdom to listen to his counsel while in the lair of the dark unicorn. They had traveled for perhaps forty minutes in the general direction of their mysterious birthplace, the underground, dark-elven city of Undermoon before they set up camp.
The decision to set-up camp was made easy by a trio of factors. The first factor was that all four of them had received mental messages from Althos, once three of them almost instinctively converted to whatever religion the deity was setting up and in doing so became his worshippers after receiving notifications that alerted them to his true nature, instructing them to go and wait somewhere until night-fall. Althos told them he would go to them when the sun had set.
The second factor was that they wanted to return home soon. Their purpose in heading to the surface world in the first place had been for the sake of capturing slaves to sacrifice, and they had admittedly failed in that purpose but they learned of a new god, one that was active on the mortal world, and informing the leaders of their city of that took precedent.
Even the least pious among them, and among any other dark-elves would understand the incredible significance of the discovery of a new god and knew that virtually any failures could be forgiven, even by dark elves, if the failure was followed by and especially if it was caused by the discovery of a new deity.
The third and final factor that led them to stop where they had stopped was that they had advanced farther than their current location but when they had they came across a brightly lit clearing, and they didn't feel like crossing that clearing until they were under the light of the moon. The dark elves could tolerate the sun, but they didn't like it.
When they had first met Althos, the sun's rays didn't directly slam into the clearing that led into Qut's lair but were mercifully blocked by an overcast sky. Now the elves wouldn't have to deal with the cruelty of the sun for another few hours.
Once the elves noticed that the moon was shining overhead, the four elves wordlessly got up and began to walk towards the clearing they had found earlier, under the belief that such a place under a starry sky would be a suitable location to have a conversation with a creature as powerful as a god.
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Althos watched, silent, as the sun finished its descent by dipping just below the tree line of the forest his allies and his new companions were inside of. The group, which numbered a total of seventeen creatures of various sorts, sat beside a small number of campfires in the middle of a clearing deep in the forest. Everyone who sat in the clearing had had a long day.
The devils, including the half-devil priestess, who were present in the encampment began their day by venturing through a dark dungeon, encountering an undead monstrosity that Althos dispatched quite easily, and then spent several hours waiting for Althos to return to them. The two soul orbs who illuminated the air near their master were half of the total creatures from the plane of Infernius who were at the informal encampment and they had gained their vague sort of sentience only earlier today.
Althos' mortal followers, with the exception of Silander, had known each other for months since they were colleagues who had collaborated as part of the same band of orcish raiders who raided frontier settlements. Then they met Althos, who nearly murdered each other of them aside from Gallow. And then the deity had awoken Silander.
Althos gained the sentinel demon as a follower by viciously beating it, and then offering it a chance to stay in the mortal plane and opportunities for violence. The creature was now an attack dog and had taken a seat near Althos, looking increasingly delighted as the moon began to rise into the night's sky.
The goblins who accompanied Althos included a member who had allowed for Althos to create a copy of her entire mind and use it to gain knowledge. The very same knowledge that the deity was currently reflecting on. That knowledge was the price the group unknowingly, aside from Amelie, paid for freedom. They had spoken to the deity and his followers and had shared what they knew with the party. Althos' made use of his absorbed copy of Amelie's memories, thoughts, knowledge, and secrets to confirm that the group was being forthright with the party.
Althos reflected on the knowledge he had gained from Amelie, even as he got up and spent a second mentally messaging Gallow and Silander to accompany him. Then the deity quietly took off into the woods and communicated with his demonic pet to stay in the clearing and watch the goblins, and sent a message to Qu'Ren asking the elf for her location.
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As Althos took his first steps into the wooded part of the forest he silently reflected on the incalculable number of things he had learned by greedily looking through each and every thought and memory Amelie had had until the moment she agreed to give Althos unfiltered access to her mind and in a retroactive way, her life.
His mind was filled with new thoughts. Each of these thoughts was rapidly replaced by another, and the chaos that was the deity's mind didn't distract him from steadily approaching the place Qu'Ren had told him that she and the other elves were waiting for his arrival.
I wonder what meat tastes like. Amelie seems to quite like it. Sex seems... odd. Should I have Gallow teach me how to use a dagger? Being stabbed hurts a mortal a lot. Children are... quite small.
The flurry of activity that now lit up the deity's mind was hilarious to the deity's advisors, who had been alarmed when their mental real estate in Althos' mind was suddenly filled with a variety of mental statues, statues that corresponded to powerful memories and thoughts that Amelie had experienced in her life.
Some of those statues were of fond memories. Amelie's first successful hunt. Amelie joining up with Olizeo. The moment Amelie lost her virginity. Some of the more colorful successes the young goblin had achieved in her 21 years of life like the first time she outdrank a human, her first homemade trap, or the first time she cooked on her own.
In her mind, powerful memories became islands in her own "stream of consciousness", whereas in Althos' mind they became statues of the same quality and make as statues generated by experiences that were actually experienced by the deity himself.
Both Samyaza and M.A. were amused by this change but also noticed that these thoughts were quick but not distracting to the deity. He wasn't sidetracked by them, and they didn't inhibit his ability to move forward and towards the strange creatures who had become his worshippers unnervingly quickly.
The deity's advisors found this behavior by creatures as powerful as dark elves odd, but they also knew that it was impossible to deceive someone's system and that the only way Althos would have received that alert was for them to truthfully convert to his worship.
Both of the deity's advisors also knew that if the dark elves attacked the deity he'd likely either eliminate them or merely stop them. He had stopped a full-grown bear by accident and slew a mummy without breaking a sweat, he could handle a group of dark elves if it came to that.
After considering how to pass the time while the deity and his chosen party walked towards the elves, M.A. saw an opportunity to finally fulfill a promise she had made Althos. The odd entity activated her own system, and began to configure some settings within it, to allow herself to reward Althos for learning and growing relatively on his own.
Within a matter of minutes, Althos, who at the time was in the middle of walking atop soft grass, received a sudden notification, followed immediately with a message from M.A.
[New magic knowledge gained: Necromantic magic.
Necromantic magic is a form of powerful, dark magic that grants users the ability to speak with the dead, to capture souls, raise corpses as a variety of unholy abominations or terrifying spirits. It also allows users to commune with creatures from the planes of shadows, nightmares, and death and sufficiently powerful magic-users can use raw magical power to form undead creatures out of shadow-stuff and death energy as opposed to relying on corpses or existing spirits for raw components.
Necromantic energy can be channeled by powerful living creatures or some types of undead creatures and transformed into poisonous energy or used in its rawest form to inflict deadly wounds that cause living creatures to lose limbs or for their senses to be destroyed.
Necromantic magic isn't actually the same as disease magic though rotting flesh and poison damage are parts of the overall effects of necromantic magic, but if/once that distinct school of magic is understood it's possible to create seemingly non-magical diseases that convert those who of die of them into basic forms of undead.
As a creature with unlimited magical energy, your necromantic potential is incredibly high, and you can now create many basic types of undead creatures. Like with other schools of magic as you increase your knowledge level you also increase the number of spells you immediately gain access too, though spells are only the most basic way to use magical energy.
Also as with other schools of magic, you can now mix and match elements from necromantic magic with elements from other schools.
As an example of this, you could create a magical burst centered around yourself that heals a wound right now but causes a creature to transform into a zombie tomorrow, or whenever they die and immediately attack the closest person. Or you could create an illusion that causes people to attack each other by causing them to see each other as zombies, ghosts, or ghouls rather than by filling those hit by it with rage.
Necromantic spells known at the moment: N/A, as a reward for learning, the entity known as M.A. is using her own energy and lifeforce to grant you this knowledge.
Necromantic spells gained: Vampiric touch, Lethargy of the dead, Necrosis, Rot beam, Darkness, Dark sphere, Weight of the dead, Ghoul gaze, Raise the dead, Harvest soul, Detect soul, Create zombie, Create skeleton, Create ghost, Create ghoul, Blood burst, Energize the undying, Empower the grave, Call the dead, False resurrection, Feign sickness, Vitality absorption, and over 80 more.
You can also construct spells belonging to this school.]
[Hello Althos, I told you I'd teach you about necromancy and I have! Now you're halfway to learning about all of the basic schools of magic, aren't you? Congratulations! That's quite the accomplishment. I am going to go rest for a bit, doing that drained me of some energy and I feel quite tired. But I'm happy to have helped you learn more.]
Althos smiled in delight as he received that notification. In the darkness of the night, he felt more powerful than he ever had at that moment as he read the notification that went on for quite a while, and there was a part of him that was tempted to go and try out one of his new spells right away. But he calmed down and sent M.A. a message to properly express his gratitude and joy.
[M.A., thank you for this. I honestly feel so much stronger now than I did before. Please go and get some rest. By the time you awake I'll have begun to establish my religion. How exciting!]
After another few minutes of wandering through the forest in the direction of his elven worshippers, Althos grew bored once again. This time he came up with a diversion that he thought might bring him some amusement.
The deity looked within himself, as in mentally went through the process of searching his mental, magical codex, for a spell that he could use even as he wandered through the forest. After a few minutes of searching, Althos eventually stumbled across something that seemed suitable.
The deity casually rose his hand in the direction of a tree up ahead's branches. Without uttering a single word he willed a lined of negative energy to fly forth from his open hand and watched as a bolt of sheer darkness, utterly absorbing any nearby light, flew forth and slammed into the tree.
Moments later one of the tree's branches began to suddenly, visibly, and violently rot until the withered husk of the tree's limb snapped and fell to the ground in front of them. Althos kept walking, never once breaking his stride to stand still and watch the result of his handiwork but the whole display made him feel considerably more comfortable with the strange magic he now possessed.
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The elves had to wait less than half an hour before Althos and two of his allies emerged from the wooded part of the forest and into the clearing the elves had selected for this meeting. The creatures Althos had join him as part of an escort and to learn about what he would like from his worshippers were one of the orcs who was a part of his party, and the frog-like humanoid who had meekly stood at the back of the crowd.
As Althos stepped out of the wooded area and into the clearing he got an advice-filled message from Samyaza that helped him get into the right frame of mind.
[Althos, listen to me for a second. You're embarking on the path to real godhood right now. You're holding a meeting, your first meeting, with your worshippers, creatures who want to serve you and enact your will on the world and on the multiverse at large.
M.A. and I know that you've put a lot of thought into the sort of worshipper you want to have. This is the time to vocalize that and to show those who you've gathered here that you truly are a deity. If there has ever been a time to be dramatic and to show off, it is now. Remember: mortals notice size, and they notice magic.]
This advice was somewhat challenging to Althos, whose moments of dramatic flair, such as when he pushed the bear away from him at the river, or when he leapt out of Paimon's window, weren't intended to be dramatic. But it did challenge the young god to go ahead and do things he might not think to otherwise do. This advice left an impression on the deity, that got him to think creatively.
His own thoughts on the topic of what it meant to be a god and how to interact with mortals, were definitely different than Samyaza's.
Gods are or at least appear to be... power incarnate. My power is possibly limitless, my magical energy certainly is anyway, but what does that mean my responsibility is to other creatures who are weaker than I am? I am a leader, by choice, but how do I become an effective leader? I should protect my followers and command them, and I know what I want, but how do I protect those who become my worshippers?
Althos' thoughts were numerous. They drove the deity forward as he drew ever nearer to the creatures who were waiting for him.
The clearing was a small section of the forest that some ancient inhabitant must have cleared out due to its clearly unnatural circular shape. As Althos looked at it, he recognized that the clearing his allies were in was exactly the same, just a bit bigger. This one was a tinier circle to be sure, but otherwise, it had the same features as the clearing where the goblins were currently preparing for bed.
The moon shone up and behind them, still rising to its full height due to the earliness of the evening. Althos had been excited by this and had come as soon as he felt he could, so the evening was just getting started and the stars were just starting to come out of hiding.
Althos readied himself to approach the creatures that he knew as prideful, ambitious beings. He did this by mentally warning his other servants to step back and then he began to allow power to radiate out of him, radiating a combination of divine energy and magical energy.
He began to emanate a mystical aura that leaked out a variety of energy types into his immediate surroundings. The aura that surrounded him was one of darkness, but every few seconds the air around him would shift slightly to accommodate a new energy type, be it the deathly energy of necromancy, the emotional energy of illusion magic, the pleasant energy of healing magic, or a variety of energy types related to evocation magic.
As he drew closer and closer to the creatures he willed away his humanlike disguise and used his powers to modify his appearance.
Over the course of a few footsteps, Althos' body rippled and changed. He mentally visualized a larger and more powerful-looking version of the half-white, half-black creature he had become when he was teleported into Paimon's penthouse and he willed his form to become the image he had in his own mind.
His body expanded in height and width, changed in color and became asymmetrical, swiftly becoming a modified version of his avatar form from Infernius.
His own servants behind him audibly gasped when they saw him change from the humanlike form Althos had adopted around them and shifted into this odd monstrosity.
The elves gazed at him in what he had decided would be his temporary godly form and they felt the softest impact of the far-reaching aura he allowed to surround himself, and waited for him to begin to approach. He nodded at them, and silently began to cross the clearing, where they stood at its center. He willed his aura to not affect those behind him, so Silander and Gallow were untouched by the aura's mystical effects.
Althos then approached the four dark elves, all of whom fell to their knees and lowered their gaze away from him as he approached. This was fascinating to Althos, who due to his studious examination of Amelie's memories now knew that this was the act called "prostration".
He wondered why they were doing this because to him it was an act that screamed of weakness and of humility, things he didn't know the dark-elves to be since in their dealings with him they had been quite prideful. His knowledge of dark elves came from two separate things: the notification he received about them, and their behavior during the negotiations in which he freed the goblins.
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Each of the dark elves was feeling different things at that moment.
Qu'Ren, in her hunger for power and her ambition, was delighted to be in front of the most powerful creature she had ever met, armed with knowledge and ready to show the proper respect and fear such a creature deserved. She was doubly delighted by the fact that the creature had a form, probably its true form, which didn't resemble something as weak as a human.
As he approached, she felt the chaotic nature of his aura even when he was still many meters away, and delighted to feel it flow over her skin, as if his aura was something more sensual, intimate, or at least consistently pleasant. She kept her head low to the ground, and waited until she could sense the creature's proximity and not just his aura.
Milene knew the tales of the gods of the dark elves in the past, fierce creatures who'd kill for as small an infraction as making a noise they didn't like in their presence. Though she felt that Althos wasn't that mindlessly or needlessly destructive, she knew that the gods of old had bizarre quirks that could cause them to lash out for any minor reason. She didn't want to invite the creature to cause her pain, so her instincts shouted at her to show him respect in the dark-elven way.
For her, her prostration came about as a result of an ingrained reflex she had to show respect to any dark elf she perceived to have a higher status than her, by humiliating means.
To a dark elf few things were as humiliating as prostration, because it made the normally somewhat tall creatures look small, took their eyes off of a creature with considerable power, creatures that by nature were deposed to violence and could brutalize those who looked away from them for even a second. Yet in doing it to a stronger creature like Althos or a more powerful dark-elf it invited mercy because it was such a clear act of submission.
The men had similar reactions and feelings in that situation. Althos wasn't hiding his nature from them anymore, having transformed into something they had never seen before, a sort of asymmetrical and chaotic creature that to the two of them reminded them of their own chaotic culture.
As Althos, in the closest thing he had to a "true form", drew nearer and nearer both elves felt the keen kiss of the god's aura. To them, it was a test of courage and endurance, and they felt that in boldly enduring it they were likely proving their worth to the creature.
Mianthus may not have been one of Althos' worshippers but he was no fool and he knew that the creature before him was the single strongest creature he would ever meet. At any point, the beast could demand a sacrifice or command them to fulfill a test and if they refused it, they could very easily be slaughtered for their impertinence. Or Althos, if he felt violent or bloodthirsty, could just kill them outright.
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Althos' own ignorance prevented him from understanding what made him so intriguing and so appealing to the dark elves. He didn't know about dark elven religious history. He had absolutely no knowledge of the terrifying deities that were once worshipped by the various inhabitants of the regions beneath the world.
The dark elves once worshipped incredibly mighty gods whose domains were tied to caves, the underground, and various threats faced by creatures brave enough to dwell within instead of on top of the world. Their gods ruled over underground beasts and monsters and were creatures of incredible violence and depravity.
Whether one specific dark elf was more loyal to the queen of the pit, whose minions devoured soil, rocks, and the very ground itself to create deep and deadly sinkholes that devoured entire cities, or to the spider king, whose favored minions were massive spiders who possessed dark intelligence and even darker appetites, or an uncountable number of other dark entities the gods of the dark elves were cruel and had violent tempers.
They didn't make deals, they issued commands to those unlucky enough to be chosen by them and terrorized anyone who failed them. They ordered things of worth to be sacrificed, material gains to be lost in the name of religion, and destroyed more than they created. Even when they invested their powers in someone, it came at the cost of pain and suffering.
In the past these gods had their minions corrupt dark elven societies subtly or had their warriors brutally subjugate them and then in sinister rituals the magics of the dark gods infected dark elven women and then infused them with power and madness to make them powerful priestesses who then ruled in their names, communing weekly with their divine masters whose cruelty included painfully filling them with fiendish spawn to use as cruel enforcers.
This cruelty inspired the dark elves to remember. By the time the gods and their peers had disappeared cruelty was the way of the land in dark elven society. Pain was commonplace, and wickedness and ambition were the norms of dark elven society.
The dark elves were inspired by their masters, transformed by them, and they wanted to remember what the deities did. So unlike most societies, dark elves wrote about the gods in the wake of their disappearance. They took copious notes on the varied and often monstrous gods who were worshipped underground.
It was these writings that allowed dark elven gods to be remembered. Thousands of generations later, dark elves still talked about this history, they still taught their children about it, they were still inspired by it. This allowed all dark elves to remember a fundamental fact: the dark elves had no kind gods.
The dark elves had no kind gods. They had no merciful gods. Their envisionment of a god was a creature of incredible power who lorded over monster, man, and elf alike through fear, tyranny, and violence. Yet oftentimes it was only through the creatures of the gods that they made their wills known to their dark elven worshippers. Althos wasn't like that.
In Althos the four elves saw a god who had the potential to be unlike any they had ever imagined. The creature before them had the powerful visage of a god, the powers of a god, and yet was direct without violence. It had made a deal with them and fulfilled it, pleasantly.
It had prevented violence and had cooperated with them to grant them the power to still fulfill the goal it knew it was obstructing. It freely gave them power, and it didn't torture them while doing so.
The elves had been thinking about that while they waited for nightfall. It had become quickly become an obsession of theirs. Even Mianthus, who still wasn't about to worship Althos, was fascinated by the odd god who didn't rush to commit violence to get its way.
All of this made it less frightening for them to do something that would otherwise fill a dark elf with terror.
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When Althos reached the center of the clearing, he waited for a second. He expected them to rise on their own, but after more seconds passed, the deity grew somewhat impatience and spoke to the elves in the language of the gods all creatures could understand.
"Rise."
He gave them a one-word command, and his voice reverberated throughout their minds. All four of them quickly rose to their feet and stared at the large creature in front of them. They paid no mind to the non-divine entities Althos had brought with him.
At this point, the creature's eyes, one of which was the color of alabaster and the other of which was the color of charcoal, zeroed in on Milene. The girl had to resist the urge to freeze while feeling the creature's eyes explore her body. Then Althos spoke.
"How did you learn I was a deity?"
It was clear Althos was speaking to Milene, so Qu'Ren had to bite her tongue and work to be silent. After a few seconds Milene gathered the courage needed to speak.
"When you resurrected the powers you were giving us we got a notification that informed us that you were a deity."
Her voice was soft, and she spoke in the language of the elves as opposed to the demon-tongue. Althos listened to what she said and then after a few moments spoke again.
"I see... Well, I suppose I should start off by confirming something: it's true. I am a deity. As far as I know I am the only one of my kind left. I sprung to life three days ago, and have since then been acquiring followers and worshippers, using my powers and gaining knowledge."
Althos then stopped speaking, allowing what he said to sink in. He looked upon the dark elves and found that they were not truly surprised, but rather merely nodded in agreement with what he said. This caught the deity off guard, but it wasn't an unpleasant response to what he said.
The deity then continued to wait for a few more moments, until silently reaching out to Qu'Ren and instructing her to ask a question he worded a specific way. She eagerly complied with her master's command. When she spoke, her acting was impressive and didn't betray the artificial nature of the question.
"Althos, what do you as a deity want?"
Althos grinned at her, his mouth and his lips also asymmetrical messes and then began to speak in response to her question.
"I want worshippers and I want knowledge. I want to know as much as I possibly can, and I want as many worshippers as I can possibly get. I am steadily increasing in power, and I don't plan to stop increasing my power anytime soon. I will use my powers to protect those who worship and who serve me, and I will help them grow in power. I know that three of you,"
Althos said as he looked at each of the four elves in front of him, including Mianthus.
"Are worshippers of mine now, but as a new deity I haven't had time to sit down and determine what worshipping me in practice looks like. That's why we're here now. I'll be accepting input from everyone here, including my other, earlier worshippers."
Althos then rose his hand and silently caused a magical effect to occur in front of his worshippers. The empty air next to his hand shimmered and then suddenly the deity's final worshiper, Ranthor, appeared next to his master.
The orc was alarmed, and also unarmed. He stumbled back and tried to reach for his bow since he had never seen Althos' other form, but he was without his weapon. He began to panic as he looked at the deity he worshipped but didn't recognize and then was doubly surprised to see that mere meters from him stood the dark elves Althos had negotiated with mere hours ago.
It was only when Althos mentally messaged him, explaining the situation that the orc calmed down and walked to his master's side.
The elves exchanged messages with each other and with Althos, and all five individuals had a grim laugh at Ranthor's expense. Then Althos received a surprising new notification.
[New magic knowledge gained: Conjuration magic.
Conjurers are incredibly powerful magicians for whom distance is never an obstacle. Conjuration magic allows users to create things out of nothing, call things from one location to another, teleport things from one location to another, and call or send living or undead beings from one location to another.
Conjurers can call demons, angels, devils, or other extraplanar beings into the mortal plane, summon phantom copies of all sorts of things, send mortals into other planes, and at the highest levels can create permanent portals from one plane to another. Incredibly powerful conjurers can also prevent something including themselves or other people from being teleported or summoned somewhere else.
Spells that revolve around familiars are situated in the conjuration school, and immediately upon willing away this notification information about your familiars, Raverangos, Salifinos, Silander, and the two soul orbs, will be added to your H.U.D., as well as spells that enable you to call them to you at will. All five answered yes or did something akin to that to notifications that asked them if they'd be interested in becoming your familiars, over the course of the last few days.
Conjuration is one of the few schools of magic that is practiced by non-magic-centered peoples, some warriors fight using conjuration magic as a way to spawn well-maintained weapons that can harm undead creatures, some assassins use difficult to trace conjured bows and blades, and some hunters prefer to use conjured tools to bring down game.
Wards, warlocks, and witches are all fond of the conjuration school, and so are many other assorted spellslingers.
Spells known: N/A
New spells granted: Call aberration, Call celestial, Call demon, Call daemon, Call devil, Call loth, Call shadow, Call radiant, Call dragon, Call humanoid, Call giant, Call golem, Call soul, Summon, Create portal, Banish, Teleport, Conjure sword, Conjure mace, Conjure bow and arrows, Conjure helm, Conjure gauntlet, and over 100 more.
You can construct spells and create magical effects that incorporate elements from the conjuration school. Examples include healing someone and summoning a creature to protect it, or curing someone's disease and then immediately teleporting them back to their homes.
You can also mix and match elements from the same school of magic, such as by summoning a giant and outfitting it in a suit of armor and giving it a powerful conjured weapon. You can inflict horrifying damage on someone using necromantic or acidic magic and then teleporting them far away.
Note #1: Some of these spells, especially but not just call soul and call golem are unlike your other spells. Without the proper levels of influence in the right domains, these spells are once a day and both spells cannot be cast on the same day. Golems are often powered by souls, and though you can harvest souls using necromantic magic until you gain the level of influence over the soul domain needed to exert control over souls, using them properly will be challenging.
Note #2: This school of magic cannot be reliably used to gain worshippers. That's because when you conjure a creature type you've never met before you don't conjure a real creature. Instead, you conjure phantom copies of creatures, that are lesser in strength then real creatures.
Note #3: Phantom copies of creatures can form powerful fighting forces, but they are not as powerful as real creatures can be. The old deities had limited magical energy and thus still had a limitation on their spellcasting. You on the other hand...
System commentary: The remaining "basic" schools of magic are trickier than you might think to trigger the notifications for. But here's a hint: mutation, not restoration like resurrecting vestigial traits or enhancements like awakenings, are one of the keys you'll need to begin to legitimately master magic.]
Althos looked in front of himself and at his worshippers, and turned to gesture to those behind him to join the rest. At that moment the deity was filled with pride for the assorted things he had done to date.
Then the deity opened his mouth to speak. He filled his voice with divine power and coated his vocal cords in illusionary energy to make it relaxing to listen to him speak.
"Hello everyone. We are here tonight to define what it means to worship me, Althos. I am more than happy to take suggestions and to learn from you all, so let's start with you telling me about any of the lost gods your races may have once worshipped in the distant past."