"Raiz, I want to make you look like a true high-priestess. And that means that you walk around, protected." I explained to my newest creation, while I inspected the bizarre beings I had given new life too in order to protect her.
The creatures were reshaped, shambling trees. Two of them vaguely resembled humans or at least humanoids, and one of them was a massive, wolf-like thing made of wood. They all possessed eerie, ethereal eyes, roughly eye-shaped orbs of light that illuminated other empty spaces where their eye sockets would have been on the creatures they modeled after.
The two human-shaped ones loosely held weapons of light, one of them holding a spear of light and the other holding a light-blade. They were both outfitted with one extra piece of gear as well. In the case of the spear-holder, it was gripping an imitation of a leash, tied to the neck of the wolf-tree. I studied all three of my creations before I turned my attention fully to Raiz.
"These creatures are your bodyguards. They have one order: to protect you." I told Raiz over our mental connection. I saw her turn to the arboreal playthings that stood beside her and look at them. She wasn't enthused about the situation, but when she replied to me her tone wasn't as negative as it could have been.
"Alright, master... I trust you." She told me, speaking sincerely albeit somewhat unhappily. I chuckled but kept that hidden from her as to not worsen her mood.
"Thank you, Raiz. Your trust is not misplaced and in time I shall give you protectors that more match your particular aesthetic tastes. Whatever those happen to be." I told her, aware that her concern with her current retinue might well be one of optics rather than something immaterial.
If it was true that her concern was one of optics and aesthetics I could understand that and didn't begrudge her for it. A part of me, perhaps either due to the influence of the domain of faith or the subdomain of corruption, had an intuitive understanding of the importance of optics and aesthetics.
I understood that to mortals, aesthetics carried weight and could shape impressions and opinions. And I wanted mortal worshipers.
Her bodyguards were an odd-looking group. That was only partially my fault, as it was true that I didn't give them especially impressive looking gear, or craft them to be works of art, but it was also partially because trees aren't the kind to give the aesthetic opinions of elves much, if any consideration. That said, every second brought us closer to them.
But in time, we got close enough to my party of servants that the time came for me to cease studying my creations and for me to meet them, in the flesh. Within a few minutes, Farrane and Calorron drew close enough to Raiz and her bodyguards that the elves could see the dryad and her unusual honor-guard.
Our encounter began with my elvish allies verbally greeting the strangers they could finally see.
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"Hello! We are visitors to this forest. May we approach and converse with you?" Calorron asked when we stood about sixty or so meters away from the wooded warriors I had created. I used this time to truly study Raiz for the first time.
She stood under a meter and a half tall. She had a curvy body, one that I had bestowed upon her consciously as a manner to lure lust-driven mortals to her more easily. She had long, wavy, red hair inspired by one of the more common colors of apples that was made all the more lovely by contrasting it with her snow-like pale skin.
She had bright green eyes and the sharp-pointed ears of elven kind. She radiated a faint aura of magic, a dimly visible green one, but at a glance, I had difficulty discerning what kind of magic she was radiating. It was magic, unlike any kind I had seen so far, which was annoyingly limited. While studying the aura I heard the voice of the domain of knowledge whisper into my mind.
"That aura... it's possible she's radiating evocation magic, which tends to be magic that druids excel at manipulating. Not that you would know..." Said my free-loading companion, before making a snarky and unnecessary remark. An accurate one, but still an unnecessary one.
"Hey, all I'm saying is that you should focus on building your influence over all of the subdomains of magic, and not just the ones your soul is attuned to." Complained the domain, which made me roll my eyes. Once again, it wasn't wrong, but it was still annoying.
"Hey, that's the other domains say about me too!" Whispered the obnoxious entity. I heard a faint giggle come from it before I refocused and continued studying Raiz.
Loose piles of multicolored leaves covered Raiz's naked body, keeping the parts of her that mortals tended to find the most pleasurable to look at just out of view. Aside from that she immodestly showed my allies and myself her body, which was quite pleasing to look at.
I would have focused more on her companions, but I had already studied them extensively. I wasn't about to pay them anymore mind just yet. Raiz turned and began to reply to Calorron.
"Hello friends, welcome to the Rodan forest. I am Raiz, the high priestess of the Cosechian faith. Please come and introduce yourselves. Do not be afraid of me or of my... relatives. They are blessings bestowed upon me by the god I serve. They do not seek to harm anyone, only to protect me while I enact my master's will." Raiz declared, her voice carried to us on the winds themselves.
Farrane looked to me, and I shrugged. She then looked to Calorron and he nodded at her. And so we closed what little distance separated us from Raiz and my other creations, with a few swift moments of motion.
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When we stood just 10 or so meters away from Raiz, we found ourselves on one end of a path and found them on the other end. The four of them together soundly blocked us from advancing forward, as although none of them were particularly bulky when they stood shoulder to shoulder they were just tall and wide enough to keep us from advancing unless we went around them.
I was the first to speak, moving a bit closer as I did so. I smiled at my creations, proud of them for so regally and distinctly representing me.
"Hello! My name is Althos and I am a druid and healer who lives in a nearby community. For the past few days I have been coming to this place and healing who I could. I am interested in learning about the Rodan forest, and so are my companions." I declared, speaking excitedly and energetically to the creatures in front of me.
As I spoke I telepathically transmitted a message all of my followers who stood before me, while linking our minds together. It was a simple message.
"Hello, my name is Althos. I am also the entity known as Cosecha. I am your creator, and I aspire to be worthy of your worship and your service." I informed them, knowing that Raiz knew my name already and that my other servants didn't. I felt three powerful surges of awe and worship surge into me as my creations suddenly had names for me. It widened the smile already on my face.
"Hello Althos! I and my... lesser siblings," She said the words "lesser siblings" with a touch of annoyance distinctly audible in her voice. "Are newborn or newly created creations of a young god named Cosechca. This god is a spirit of the harvest, and... other things." She said, smiling cryptically at us.
I had to work to hide my grin as my elven allies looked at Raiz suspiciously. They weren't exactly distrustful of the young dryad, but they weren't fans of the cryptic comment she just made, which was honestly quite fair.
"Raiz, there's a lot... weird about what you just said." Calorron told the young dryad, a tense expression on his face. There was an edge of steel in his voice as he spoke, but he was careful to not make any overtly hostile statements just yet. Raiz turned to look at him and smiled disarmingly.
"I apologize sir..." She said, before quickly waiting for him to introduce himself. The elf, annoyed at both his own rudeness and her exceedingly gentle way of pointing it out, began to speak.
"I am Calorron. I am an elf who is a part of the Ansari empire. As is my companion. Yesterday there was an... event in this forest. The Ansari empire maintains its own colony on a nearby island and that was where we were stationed. Our technology detected... energy coming from this forest." Said Calorron, introducing himself and then immediately beginning to explain why he and Farrane were here. Farrane immediately interrupted him, her eyes throwing daggers his way.
"And I am Farrane. As Calorron was saying, we're here to investigate this place. The existence of a... god, in this forest is definitely something we'd like to learn more about." She said, speaking cautiously and in a tempered way. Raiz smiled at both of them, and her eyes were suddenly filled with palpable energy.
"You're curious about Cosecha? Cosecha is my creator! I'd be thrilled to tell you about it." She said, in a rapid burst of words. Her soft voice was filled with awe as it exploded out of her.
The two elves gave each other a look, one that was intriguing to me because I could tell it was significant to the two of them but was unsure of precisely how. I ended up being the first person of the three of us on my end to speak after her energetic and bubbly voice spilled out of her.
"Why do you keep calling it, Cosecha, an 'it'?" I asked, honestly curious about this. This was a legitimate question, as it was an odd thing that I had picked up on and was intrigued by.
"Well because Cosecha is... a chimera. You see, Cosecha is a god, but also it's more than that." She told me before time suddenly froze again, capturing her mid-thought and mid-utterance. It was easier for me to tell this time because Raiz's mouth was still open.
[Shit.] Muttered the system. This caught me off guard, so I stayed still as I waited for the system to expand on what was happening.
"I told you that you should have told him." Said the domain of knowledge, in a rather smug voice. I couldn't help but chuckle, as I wondered what I was about to learn.
[Well Althos, we have good news...] The system, my oldest companion, told me. Its voice was rather chipper, but clearly artificially and falsely so.
[Do you remember back when you first came to life, your wild-traits?] The system asked, attempting to lead me to a conclusion that almost immediately made itself apparent with just that question.
"Are you telling me that you told my first creation more about myself than you told me? Because I can easily guess that you've figured out what 'More Than Meets The Eye' means." I said, wanting to laugh, but also wishing that the system had a face so I could at least yell at it rather than speak loudly in my own mind.
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[In our defense, she takes after you, and the earliest signs of MTMTE are beginning to show.] The system explained, abbreviating my wild trait. I took a deep breath, and then calmed myself before next speaking.
"So what does it mean? What am I? Because Raiz made it clear that I am not just a god." I asked, both curious and annoyed in equal measure. I was so annoyed that I almost forgot to ask a good question, but I corrected that the second I noticed it.
"Also, what reason could you possibly have for explaining something I don't know about myself to her and keeping it hidden from me?" I asked, and this question was born entirely from annoyance.
[Well Althos, those are all really good questions and fortunately, we've got... somewhat good answers? We've got alright answers. We would have really liked to have more time to research this. You're a... one of a kind creature.] The system teased, before finally launching into a real explanation.
[Althos you aren't just a god.] Explained the system, doing so with surprising boldness and directness. I was quiet, even though I had several questions floating around in my mind. That was the sort of declaration that implied that it wasn't a complete thought.
[To be clear there is no precise word for what you are, as nothing like you has ever existed before. You're a sort of... omni-higher-being. A creature who could potentially have the powers of a number of an unknown number of higher being types. Possibly all of them.] My companion explained, carefully using imprecise language. But now I had a question.
"If nothing like me has ever existed before then did no higher-beings ever breed with another type of higher-being?" I asked, curiously. It sounded, to me anyway, like I was just a hybrid.
[Whenever interbreeding occurred the children that were created were either exceptionally powerful mortals or a higher-being that was a member of one species or another with a handful of powers of the species of their other parent. And you have no parents. Which isn't unheard of for gods, but it's still uncommon.] Said the system, patiently working to help me understand my own uniqueness.
"So wait... functionally, what does this mean for me?" I asked, curiously. The system chuckled before next beginning to speak.
[It means that when we say that no limits affect you we mean it. As an... ultimate higher-being, there truly isn't a power-cap we could imagine affecting you. We've also quietly hypothesized that this is limited to your other wild traits, especially 'Shapeless One'. It would make sense for this weird trait of your genetics to have influenced your lack of a true form.] My first friend revealed.
I took advantage of this moment to aim a casting of "disease bolt" at Calorron, waited for it to collide with him, and then immediately healed him of whatever disease he just received. I figured I might as well take advantage of this moment, as I wasn't frozen even if everything else was.
I smiled as I received the notification about the domain of disease, and mentally refocused on my exact surroundings, as opposed to reading through the thing right away. And the system began to speak once more.
[Right now the domains and I can detect two distinct other sources of power beginning to come from you and we have theories about their causes. One of them is a surge of deep elemental power, which we suspect is the first sign of you being an elemental overlord, an elemental of god-level power.] The entity that resided in my mind explained.
[This power first started emanating from you when you first gained influence over the subdomain of earth. It's likely that as you gain more influence over the other elemental subdomains this'll increase in potency until you start manifesting the powers of an elemental overlord, which are all reality-defying elemental powers.] The voice told me.
[The other source of power we picked up on is that of powerful natural energy, the sort associated with the fey. This started emanating from you last night, so we suspect that its because you gained fey worshipers last night. It's possible that the more fey worshipers you gain, the more... fey power you'll gain. Eventually, this could manifest in you gaining the powers of an archfey, a monarch of a fey court.] The system said, quietly and reverentially. I had questions.
"So wait, you're making it pretty clear that I'll be gaining new powers from this. Are the powers that I would gain from these... additional sets of titles and responsibilities distinct and mutually exclusive from my godly powers?" I asked, curious to learn about what was being revealed to me, and all of its intriguing implications.
[Yes. As a god, if you ever became omnipotent, you'd gain the power to make the sorts of creatures we just talked about but their abilities would be distinct. Now they wouldn't be. If we're correct, and we are, then you're on your way to gaining a virtually unlimited number of powers. The road ahead is long, to be sure, but at the end of it lies a sort of omnipotence no entity ever imagined possible.] The thing announced, confidently.
"What other kinds of higher-beings are there?" I asked, hoping to get a clear answer. I was almost immediately disappointed.
[There are several actually. More than mortals realized. The big ones though are the gods, demon lords, archdevils, archfey, elemental lords, angel kinds, archon queens, and the outer gods.] The voice revealed, teasing me with the suggestion that there were others.
"Why did you tell Raiz before you told me?" I asked, knowing that this conversation was gradually beginning to wind down.
[Ugh. We were hoping you had forgotten about that. We told her because she kept asking what you were, and Truth told her that you were more than a god, because... well she's Truth. She wasn't able to fully explain it, so Raiz took it as you being a hybrid higher-being rather than something that has well and truly never existed before.] The system told me, explaining it quite simply.
"So... what now? Do we know of a way to test if I truly am as limitless as you say I am?" I asked, a few seconds after my companion told me why Raiz was told bits and pieces of the truth about me before I was.
[Well... The way for us to test it is for you to continue building your power. Ultimately it seems like whatever ambient powers are hidden away within you begin to make themselves known to us when you gain influence over the right domains and subdomains and gain the right types of worshipers. So, for now, you need to continue building your power.] The system told me, uncertainty audible in its voice.
[It's possible that in time you'll be asked to undertake epic-level quests in order to truly gain mastery over the non-god higher-being powers we suspect you'll eventually unlock. These quests will probably involve you going into the assorted dimensions that the non-god higher-beings once controlled. Places like Deep-Stone, the Wildlands, and the Heart of Darkness.] The entity said, whispering those names reverentially.
I was quiet for a good while after it said this. I knew there was a question I had wanted to ask, but I couldn't quite articulate it. It was related to something that I had noticed, but couldn't quite verbalize. But eventually, after perhaps a few minutes of silence, I was able to put words to it.
"What is the difference between a god and a spirit? It seems like we use those words kind of interchangeably." I asked, aware that we had described Cosecha as both a god and as a spirit depending on to whom we were speaking. I heard a gentle laugh emanate from the system.
[Gods are a type of spirit. Gods are the strongest kind of spirit actually. And lesser spirits survived the end of the mythic age. So it's easier for many mortals to understand that you are a spirit rather than hoping that they understand what it means that you are actually a god.] The system told me.
I nodded at that, right before the system asked me one quick question.
[Are you ready for us to unfreeze time? Or do you have any questions?] The thing asked.
"If it takes me gaining more influence over the elemental subdomains, can you tell me how to gain the first tier of influence over them?" I asked, while finally beginning to look at the details of the subdomain of disease.
[Nope, I cannot. But you can learn how to gain influence over them yourself if you just work towards it. Just submerge yourself in water, set something on fire, and fly. Remember, gaining access to the quests is supposed to be easy.] The thing told me, and I swore I could hear a grin on its lips if it even possessed any.
[But anyway, finish looking over the disease domain's powers and then we'll unfreeze time.] The entity announced. A part of me wondered how I'd go about even accessing the quest to gain influence over the domain of time, and unsurprisingly the system was silent when it came to that.
I knew it could still hear me, so I let it be. For now anyway. I turned my full attention to the domain notification I had received earlier.
[Details about the disease domain:
The disease domain governs all manners of sicknesses, conditions, and disorders. As such it is... one of the domains that are potentially cataclysmic if used by a god that seeks to bring devastation to a community, civilization, or even entire planet.
There are three domains and one subdomain that together comprise a quarter of entities known as the "Apocalypse Quadrangle". The domains of death, war, disease, and the subdomain of agriculture all wield powers that can decimate planets even at their lowest tiers of influence.
To gain influence over the disease domain it is necessary to build two sorts of cults: cults devoted to the creation and spreading of diseases, and another cult devoted to combating diseases. This is a domain that is influenced both by spreading and combatting what it governs, which isn't uncommon among some of the... eerier domains and subdomains.
Disease domain passive powers:
Cure disease: No disease is beyond your power to heal. Magical, or non-magical, you can cure diseases and can restore someone to health. Magical diseases you cure are added to the disease you can infect someone with, but you can't manipulate them or gain mastery over them just yet.
Non-magical disease manipulation: This power is a vicious one that allows you to seize and control diseases. You can minimize or even eliminate symptoms of a disease, including making the whole thing asymptomatic, but causing carriers to remain infectious.
Inversely you can also magnify the effects of symptoms and increase the overall deadliness of the disease in question. Eventually, you'll be able to add symptoms to diseases, both magical and nonmagical diseases and magical and nonmagical symptoms.
Non-magical disease mastery: This power is one of the more unusual mastery powers. You become a lord of pestilence but that doesn't mean that you automatically control all diseases.
In order to master diseases, you have to learn about them by encountering creatures infected with them. When you do, and you cure the diseases they suffer from or you magnify their effects, you gain mastery over the sicknesses that plagued them. Whenever you encounter someone suffering from a disease of some sort you ought to use your ability to manipulate non-magical diseases.
Parasite dominance: This synergistic power is a fusion of the subdomain of vermin and the disease domain. It functions similarly to the power from the Hymenoptera subdomain that grants mastery over unevolved ants.
Unevolved parasites such as mosquitoes, mites, lice, and more automatically become your worshipers and servants the minute they become aware of you. This power functions retroactively as well so when time is unfrozen you'll automatically gain many new worshipers.
Corruption of the mind: This synergistic power allows you to cause heightened libido to be a symptom of any disease, and to transform any sort of disease into a sexually transmitted disease.
Pestilent aura: This aura is devastating to your enemies, even though it might not seem like it. It infects enemies with all manner of maladies, like boils, rashes, a fever, and other, worse symptoms that linger after the encounter.
Magic granting: You have been granted access to a number of evocation and necromancy spells that spread diseases. You can grant these spells to your followers.
Disease domain active powers:
Magical disease infection: You can infect someone with a magical disease. In order to gain knowledge and influence over magical diseases, you must cure them using your power to cure diseases. This is a twice-every-twelve-hours power.
Madness burst: This synergistic power is the result of the mind domain, the chaos domain, and the disease domain mixing together to create a cruel power. You can use cracks in someone's mental health to drive them mad, and smash their sanity. Not everyone is susceptible to this power, but with each tier of influence you gain over the domain, more people become vulnerable to it.
People driven mad by this lose their previous alignments and neutrally aligned worshipers of yours who seek to enact your will, as they hail you as their lord. Your voice can be heard by them across any distance, and they obey any commands you give them. This power can be used four times per day, but its effects are permanent unless you undo it so be careful.
Magical symptoms: This power allows you to infect eight people per hour with magical conditions.
You can currently infect people with two potent magical symptoms: slow-moving petrification that gradually transforms those infected by it into statues, and a condition that infuses living creatures with unlife energy and if left untreated would transform victims into ghouls, vampires, or zombies, as determined by you when you infect them. You can infect people with these conditions in battle.
Disease domain blessing and curse details:
Blessing someone with a disease domain centered blessing bestows them with either immunity to diseases, or causes them to become immune to any negative symptoms from any diseases they are currently suffering from but it also makes them highly infectious.
Cursing someone using this domain is vicious and it ensures that they'll get infected with any sort of disease carried by anyone they come across. This curse also magnifies their personal infectiousness and the negative effects of any diseases they either contract or had already contracted.]
And as I finished reading the notification, time resumed. The first thing I heard was Raiz continuing to speak.