A female dark elf quietly and piously knelt in front of her homemade shrine. She was kneeling in her personal chambers and was quietly attempting to quiet the loud voices in her mind. The object she was devotedly praying too could have been interpreted as a sign of her broken mind or as an accurate representation of the formless, lightless god she devoted herself too.
A small, square block of obsidian was placed on top of a small table, and that was the object to which Milene Ardor was quietly praying. That said it wasn't what she was worshipping.
She was an Althonian, but one whose mind was brutally claimed by her master in a move meant to weaken her family. It had worked, and the days since Milene's mind had been attacked and claimed by her master had been the easiest days the Ardor family's slaves could remember.
Not once had their vicious daughter used them for experiments or made their work harder, indeed she had even started to punish her family members who slaked their bloodthirst on the slaves. None of them knew why, as the dark elf hadn't explained her new religion to them, but they were grateful for the reprieve.
The rest of her family, at least the leadership of it, hated Althos. Althos hadn't shown a single member of the family kindness, indeed he had actively brutalized them. Not only did he make them sick, but he also made them suffer persistent nightmares. The deity had even walked into some of their dreams and watched their suffering.
Only Milene had been spared the cruelties of restless sleep and constant nightmares. And she was the only member of her family who would have liked to have them. She would have enjoyed knowing her suffering amusing her master.
The dark-elf, a relatively young member of her species, was on her knees. Words of love and piety escaped her lips, and her mind was filled with thoughts of devotion to her master. She was so focused on her prayers that she didn't even sense her master warping into her chambers.
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In an instant, I went from walking through the streets of Aronms to standing inside of Milene's personal chambers. I was alone, or rather I had been when I teleported.
My last order to Sombra had been to go to my tower and construct a demonic conjuring circle on the top floor. I planned to go ahead and gain the first tier of influence over conjuration magic when I was done here.
In front of me, Milene was kneeling and facing something odd: a small, square block of obsidian. I was keenly aware that she was praying, and I could physically hear her utterances of love and devotion. I silently walked over to the obsidian and grabbed it. When I did, Milene fell silent.
I turned and looked at her. She was staring back at me, and there was an odd look in her eyes. The emotion that emanated from her pitch-black, appropriately obsidian-like, eyes was one that mixed love, devotion, and hope. It was the first time I had ever seen such emotion in a dark elf's eyes, though whenever I stared into Drow's eyes I could see vaguely similar emotions. Milene's eyes were locked onto my form and her lips trembled as she began to ask me a question.
"Are you... Are you Althos?" She asked, awe filling her voice as she did so. I chuckled and nodded at her. Tears began to fill and then stream down her large eyes. I turned and then targeted the block of obsidian.
I had long ago mastered my ability to use an unlimited form of telekinesis. I targeted the block of obsidian and lifted it into the air and silently brought it over to me. It was a roughly hewn and treated block, and it wasn't magical in any particular way. After studying it for a few moments I turned to my servant and began to question her.
"Were you praying to this block?" I asked, mostly rhetorically. I was trying to wrap my mind around it. It was an odd action and one that frankly made no sense to me. Milene nodded at me, her eyes lighting up with excitement even as tears continued to roll down them.
"Yes I was! I didn't know what you looked like... I still don't know what you look like." She explained and then wisely added. I chuckled and mentally conceded that that was a good point.
"I don't have a true form. The old gods did, but I don't. Not by choice, mind you. I came to life lacking one." I explained, grinning at the dark elf. She looked at me sympathetically, and I laughed at the expression on her face.
"I don't particularly want one. Not having a true form isn't a weakness. It's certainly odd, but it's far from a weakness." I told the dark-elf. I could tell she was waiting for me to expand on that after a few moments went by when she didn't make any remarks. I sighed and then went ahead and did so.
"Not having a true form makes it easier for me to expand my church." I told the dark-elf, satisfied with that explanation. She mulled over my words for a few moments before nodding and smiling in understanding.
I locked eyes with her and then readied myself. I wanted to go ahead and get to work. There was a lot to do after all.
"Come Milene. It is time that we set out to enact my will." I told the dark-elf, entering into the proper, proud state of mind that I knew would serve me best in this situation. My dark elf servant's eyes widened and then she smiled eagerly at me. She nodded and got up.
"Yes Althos! What is your will?" She asked, her eyes wide as she considered my words.
"My will is that slavery is wrong, and we will free the slaves. But first I must speak with your family. Could you gather them in a single place for me? Your siblings, your parents, and your cousins." I explained, giving my servant one of the first direct and specific orders I had ever given her.
She looked at me, a look of amusing determination on her face, and nodded. And then she walked out of her room and into a hallway just beyond it. I made myself invisible with but a thought and then set out to watch my servant at work.
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A few minutes later, thirteen people were gathered in the bedroom of one pair of the heads of the Ardor family. The two couples who ruled over the family lived in two bedrooms on other sides of the familial, palatial estate.
Eleven of the thirteen people who had gathered in the bedroom were visibly diseased. Even though anyone who looked at them could tell that they had once been beautiful or handsome members of their species, they were now covered in grotesque sores, had pus seeping down their faces.
Their sores and scars looked painful, but for some reason, the members of the family felt better than they had in days. They had obediently gathered and were now waiting for what Milene had to say.
Milene was one of the middle children, but her cruelty and knowledge made them treat her with respect. They were all hoping that she brought them news about how to defeat their foe, Althos, or how to at least heal themselves of the nightmares and sicknesses he had heaped onto them.
Althos himself was one of the people who was in the room. He lurked silently and invisibly in a corner of the room, undetected by anyone but Milene. He nodded at her, mentally transmitting that it was time for her to begin to talk. She received her instructions and began to obey them immediately.
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"I know how we can be rid of our enemy and of the conditions that are weakening all of us." Milene said, speaking abruptly and powerfully. She looked out at her family members, who merely looked back at her, clearly confused.
"We must surrender to our foe." Milene told her family members. She was expecting jeers and cries labeling her a traitor or a coward. None came. This actually surprised her. Instead, she only received one question.
"Milene... Are you certain that surrender would grant us a reprieve?" Asked Dianos, one of the two patriarchs of the family. He looked at her, uncertainly, and I could tell that he wanted mercy but he was too proud to do anything that wasn't a guaranteed success. Milene looked at me, and I smiled and nodded. And then she spoke again.
"Yes I am. Though... I suspect that our enemy will have... demands for us to fulfill." Milene said, uncertainty creeping into her voice as she said so. I chuckled and winked at the dark elf.
"Our enemy is not without mercy, and he has no real desire to hurt us. He... wanted us to know that we are weak in comparison to him. That's it." Milene explained. There was a frustrated look on her face as she said that. I could tell she didn't really believe it, though she was doing her best to make it believable.
"Althos... Has specific desires. And he's here to communicate them." Milene revealed. I sighed, and stepped out of the corner of the room. I made myself visible and walked to Milene's side.
At last, I found myself face to face with the leadership of the Ardor family. I smiled pleasantly as I wove myself a new form.
Eleven dark elves watched in stunned, disturbed silence, as a figure appeared as if out of nowhere behind them and walked until it was next to one of their own family members. The figure was an entity composed entirely of shadows, and it was silent.
The powerful creature activated a number of its abilities as it came to a stop. One of the most prominent of the powers it activated was one of its newest: "Banishment of lies", a potent power that made it impossible for creatures in its presence to lie. It also activated an assortment of auric abilities to truly set the stage for the confrontation it had waited for, for nearly a week.
The shadowy, vaguely-humanoid shape was a totally dark silhouette and its appearance was enough of a distraction that when a thin blue vapor appeared out of the floor of the bed-chamber they were in none of them noticed. But when the entity suddenly bathed the room in radiant light, the dark-elven family did notice.
They had to shield their eyes to prevent the sudden illumination from temporarily blinding them. Once their eyes adjusted to the light, they moved their hands away from their faces and laid their eyes on the god responsible for their diseased suffering and for the explosion of illumination that now kept their room mildly illuminated.
While it was bathing in the sudden burst of light, the figure responsible for the abrupt illumination had smoothly taken on a new appearance. It went from a dark-elven sized silhouette to a disguise inspired by actual dark elves. Unlike in the past when the strange god had taken on an appearance that was an enlarged version of Drow Dragonstone this new form it took on was a wholly original one.
The god took on the appearance of a male dark elf, one with purple skin. He constructed an original face for himself by mixing and matching the facial features of his worshipers from the Dragonstone family. He did this in an instant, having grown familiar with weaving together disguises and forms over the course of the days he spent practicing his powers and abstaining from acquiring new ones.
He clothed himself in pants made of silk-like darkness and allowed his muscular upper body to be free from the confines of clothing. He was an unfairly attractive dark-elf, thanks in part to his decision to attempt to use his powers to achieve his goals without violence. He radiated strength, charisma, and power, and his aura was one of peace and intrigue.
"Hello. I've waited for this meeting... Well, I've waited for it longer than I've ever waited for anything in my life. Have you enjoyed the small sampling of my power that I've provided you?" He asked, his voice an eerie baritone. There was a sinister smile on his lips as he spoke.
His eyes were void-like orbs that radiated no heat, making them appear even darker when peered at by the dark-elves who could see shades of heat as clearly as they could see light. The god was greeted with silence, as none of the dark elves dared reply to him. He chuckled and with the same ease as he inflicted the diseases that had plagued the family for days he undid them, as a gesture of something akin to good-will.
In an instant, the sores that had covered their once beautiful and handsome forms and the pus that made them grossly slick disappeared. This left the assorted familial elders and their children feeling better than they had in days. The chamber was filled with the sounds of dark-elves sighing in relief, thankful for the mercy the eerie god had just shown them.
"We have much to discuss. And I suppose it'll be better for everyone involved in all of you are at your best as we discuss our... shared futures." The god told them, speaking freely and boldly. His sinister smile had never once left his lips.
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I undid the plagues and poxes I had inflicted on the once beautiful family in an instant. Their emotions flared up and their hearts raced as they felt the weight, pain, and discomfort they had endured for days leave their bodies. They immediately regained their former beauty and handsomeness, and before me now stood a gathering of darkly and evilly sensual creatures.
"This was fun. If I do again... I'd be wise to make it worse for my victims." I thought as the emotions of my victims rushed into me. I felt their hearts react to both my presence and my powers. Their reactions were complete since they were in the space of my "Religious fervor" power and my "Unfettered divinity" ability.
These two powers together bathed this room in light. Even a human's eyes would have been comfortable in the light that bathed this room. It wasn't harsh by any means, but it was vibrant enough for a casual viewer without heat-oriented vision to be able to see me, and the family of dark elves I was hells-bent on making my servants.
"I have come to secure the freedom of the slaves you have abused for untold centuries. I will put an end to this abhorrent practice. But I am not here to make an enemy of you. If you would wisely obey me I will instead make you more powerful than you have ever been." I proclaimed to the gathered dark-elves.
They looked at me skeptically and even hatefully. I chuckled at them, understanding their bitterness and the complex emotions they were feeling. I had made myself an unstoppable foe of theirs, one who hurt them from a distance and who made them feel powerless for days, and now I was offering them both peace and power.
That said, the family refused to speak unkindly to me, instead contenting themselves with their glares and skepticism. I allowed silence to fill the air for a minute, before speaking once more. As I did so, I recalled the day I met Lilith Silverstone.
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"I was once told that dark-elves value 'power, pleasure, and pride'. I have come here to offer you and your family new means to acquire all three of those things." I told the dark elves, a cruel glimmer sparkling in my eyes as I spoke. This intrigued the dark-elves, a few of whom looked at me with renewed interest and emotions more nuanced than hatred or fear. I smirked at them.
"I have not come to deprive you of power, friends. I have come to persuade you to pursue a new means to greatness." I told the gathered creatures. Their interest did not wane, and so I opted to dive right in.
"I am a god of undeath and necromancy. Among many other things. I would like to propose a deal with you. One that I believe fairly compensates you for what you will lose in peacefully liberating the people you have long considered your property." I explained, a smile on my face as I did so.
"For every slave you free, and you will free them all, I will give you control over two tireless undead. The undead are far more efficient laborers than the living and far more cost-effective. I will give them enough intelligence to obey any of your commands, and I will take pains to ensure that they can serve you as laborers as well as additional guards." I explained, pausing for a moment to feign catching a breath. I did this mostly to give the family a chance to absorb the offer I was making.
"In addition to that, you all will become my worshipers. And in doing so I shall grant you society-wide power. You will enter into an alliance with the Dragonstone family, gaining the prestige that comes with being allied with the best-armed noble family in the city." I added and in doing so revealed that the Dragonstones were among my servants.
I stopped talking and smiled patiently at the family. They took to this news, especially the bit about the Dragonstone family, somberly. They lost a bit of their bravado and bluster, and the hate that once filled with their gazes was replaced with a cautious, almost respectful, fear.
The Dragonstones, not just Drow but his entire family, were well-known as a largely apolitical family interested exclusively in warfare and battle, not the machinations of the local nobility. The fact that I could truthfully call them my servants signaled at the depths of my power and added weight to my overall bargaining position.
The dark-elves turned to look at each other and I could see the shifting emotions in their cautious and steely stares. Milene, still beside me, looked at me and whispered something as quietly as she possibly could.
"Althos... They are communicating mentally. Our family is one of the last remaining bloodlines in the city that possesses that power. Even now they are frantically whispering to each other about what to do." The traitorous dark-elf, who happened to be betraying her family to me, muttered. I smiled at her, genuinely surprised by the revelation that her family possessed telepathic abilities.
I established a mental-link that tied her and I together and then spoke to her through it.
"Thank you for sharing that secret. You have done well." I informed her, causing the dark-elf to smile eagerly at me. She visibly relaxed and transmitted a message to me.
"The men are in favor of your deal. The women are not. It's an even split along gendered lines." She told me, revealing the contents of their discussion with great eagerness. I appreciated her sharing that with me. That did make me curious about something though.
"If you all can speak mentally, why did you communicate out loud just now? When you were introducing me?" I asked my one faithful servant. She was mentally silent for a moment before answering.
"I do not know the depths of your powers. I did not wish to assume you could hear me if I spoke mentally to my family." She revealed a gentle grin on her dazzling features. I chuckled, appreciating both her decision and her candor.
"And my family has long kept our ability to speak to each other mentally a secret. We have a family... tradition of replying audibly if one of us speaks out loud. In the distant past, we did it as a defense mechanism, but now our defense mechanism is reverting to our inaudible language, and speaking aloud is the default. Times have changed." Milene mused, seeming to find some sort of comfort in speaking with me mentally. I grinned. And then I readied myself to speak aloud some more.
"I know that you are chatting amongst yourselves." I said to the dark elves, revealing my newly gained knowledge of their defense tactic to keep their thoughts and impressions a secret. This caused them to turn as one at me and stare at me in primal terror. I was delighted to realize that they must not have heard Milene explain their familial gift to me.
"My offer is a generous one, my friends. I offer you power at no cost to yourselves, a chance to increase your prestige in the city, and increased access to pleasures accessible only to the wealthy. I am also willing to give you more if you would but surrender yourselves to me and free those you mistakenly consider your property." I told the dark-elves, speaking soothingly to them.
"Why should we, a people of darkness and cruelty worship a god of goodness and freedom?" Asked one of the dark elves. She was a sibling of Milene, and she stared furiously at me. I chuckled and looked her in the eyes.
"Do you truly believe me to be a god of goodness and freedom? I am, by my own admission a god of undeath and necromancy. Are those good things to you?" I asked the outspoken elf. She kept her gaze locked on mine and spoke with a steely tone.
"In my eyes, you are at most a god of disease, light, and liberation. Your opposition to us is based on our practice of slavery, and you possess... powers over light and disease. I admit you are a god, I find... stating otherwise impossible. That said, I see no evidence that you are a god of necromancy." She said, practically spitting the words at me. I chuckled, as she made a simple but good point.
I stretched a hand out to my right and closed my eyes. As darkness enfolded me, a familiar view came to dominate my mind's eye: the not-so-mini-map. I studied it for a moment and then targeted all of the corpses situated throughout the family's holdings.
There were only a few corpses in the area worth targeting. Whatever the family did with the corpses it inevitably acquired was unknown to me at the moment though I could wager a few gruesome guesses. That said, I effortlessly created a number of motes of unlife energy that at my command would infuse corpses and bestow them with an unholy, unlife.
I paused for a moment to consider what to do with the corpses. I knew that I was targeting dark elves, and more than that I was targeting dark elven relatives of the family whom I was courting. That meant that I ought to show them the elegant nobility undeath offered by bestowing their relatives with the classiest forms of undeath possible. That really only left me with a single option.
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Houses throughout the city of Aronms tended to contain two levels. One of the levels was customarily built within the unyielding earth and stone of the cavern that housed the city rather than atop it. This subterranean part of a familial home was typically where the dead were stored. And this tradition was common among both the nobility and the common dark-elf. It was also upheld by the nobility of the Ardor family.
Three corpses, ancient dark-elven corpses to be exact, were laid to rest within ornate sarcophagi within the crypt that was itself located in the lower level of the estate owned by the Ardor family. Invisible motes of potent unlife energy descended into the luxurious crypt that housed these once-mighty dark-elves.
These motes were undeterred by physical obstacles. They had sunken through the floor beneath their creator with eerie, supernatural ease and ethereally inched closer and closer to their destination: the dark-elven corpses. When they reached the corpses they were created to animate, they did so in a flash of motion and activity.
The corpses they infested and reinvigorated slowly began to reanimate. The dark-elven corpses were still and stiff as the energy the motes were made of began to circulate through them.
Normally this process took a number of days. And normally it was a significantly painful one for those who were returning from the dead. This time though the creature who was orchestrating the process was a god. This afforded the privileged dark-elves who were defeating death, years, and even centuries after their deaths, a painless and speedy reprieve.
In a matter of moments, the three corpses moved as one. The first thing that they, the ancient and almost forgotten leaders of a family with a history spanning hundreds of centuries, did was open their eyes.
Their eyes were no longer the colorless orbs of living dark-elves. Instead, their eyes were vivid, colorful orbs, orbs the color of the fluid they thirsted for: blood. And then they slowly and carefully moved their arms. They were delicately testing their muscles. The almost pitiable creatures were confused and needed a few moments to orient themselves but even in such a state they were wise and were quickly adjusting to the bizarre reality of their new unlives.
All three of them remained entombed within ancient and richly decorated sarcophagi. When they possessed their wits, something even the youngest of them hadn't possessed in centuries, they began to act beyond the strange reflexes they had been imbued with.
Their first order of business was to escape from their lavish coffins. And to do so, all they needed to do was move their powerful arms and push away the lids of their coffins. Which they did a minute after they were reanimated. The three ancient dark-elves then proceeded to push themselves out of their laying positions and take stock of their surroundings.
It was at that moment that the dark crypt that stored their corpses lit up. A scarlet portal had been created by the same entity that reanimated the corpses and was waiting for the trio of noble undead to step through it.
An otherworldly voice whispered into the minds of the newly reanimated dark-elves and informed them of the purpose of the portal. This news, caused the trio of ancient leaders to smile. And then, as if controlled by a singular puppet master, the trio stepped out of their coffins and walked into the portal.
The ancient Ardors stepped through the portal and in doing so were smoothly teleported from their crypt to a place that reeked of the unclean stenches of the living. Their abrupt appearance in the crowded bedroom that temporarily housed Althos and the living heads of the Ardor family elicited gasps of shock, terror, and delight from the occupants of the room.
Althos, their reanimator, looked at them and smiled. They smiled back. The god had reanimated them from a distance, and while doing so made them into unusually sinister and intelligent undead.
Althos looked back at the same dark-elf who had spoken out of turn before. He spoke haughtily at that moment.
"Does my ability to reanimate your long-dead ancestors from a distance and create a magical portal that brings them to us sufficiently prove my powers? Or need I do other... crueler things to prove I am all I say I am and more?" The god asked, a playful smile on his lips.
His creations turned to their descendants and smiled. Their grins revealed their elongated canine teeth, a feature that was one stereotypically thought to be possessed by all vampires, and one that all three of Althos' newest minions now possessed.
The living members of the Ardor family turned from staring at their newly reanimated ancestors, to stare at Althos. He was looking at them with a look that clearly communicated that he was aware that this was his victory. But he didn't rub it anymore. Instead, he spoke with focus and ambition.
"Imagine... The power to overcome death. To live forever." He told them, his eyes sparkling with pride and ambition.
"Come. Serve me. Surrender yourselves to me and never spend another moment afraid of mortality." He whispered, his voice taking on a singularly seductive tone, but not a sensually seductive tone. A corruptively seductive one.
While he spoke he felt the emotions of living dark-elves surge into him as his powers brought more hearts to his worship. This brought a new, and dark grin to his face.
As a way to demonstrate his powers and his goodwill, the living god targeted all of the living dark-elves in his presence and bestowed upon them the necromancer class. As one they closed their eyes and shuddered in delight as they felt dark new powers seep into their souls, sinful magic staining their already stained innermost essences.
Whenever a creature began to worship me I experienced a sensation that I was growing more and more accustomed to. I felt a rush of alien emotions that surged into my heart.
This odd sensation was addicting and more than that it was unique, subtly different each time. This was true even now, even though I had billions of worshipers. Every single time I gained a worshiper I felt the sensation once more. It was even better when I gained more than one worshiper at a time.
The Ardor family, a clan of noble dark-elven slavers, were in the process of submitting to me. And each of them that did so, that devoted their hearts to me, I felt a great and potent surge of dark power seep into my soul.
This sinister feeling delighted me and made me feel the strange sensation of my sins crawling on my back. I liked it. I felt my own power growing thanks to these recent events.
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The living dark-elves knelt before me. In the moments since they saw their reanimated ancestors, they all dropped to their knees in front of me. I hadn't spoken since I told them to surrender themselves to me. And my words were effective.
I studied them and smiled. Their hearts were mine, gripped in a mixture of ambition and fear, and they recognized that I was basically the embodiment of power. They themselves were powerful creatures, but compared to me their power was nothing.
I then studied the newly reanimated dark-elves. They were three elves, all of whom were males. They were wickedly handsome, and the powers that reanimated them only accentuated their handsomeness.
They had muscular bodies and faces that looked to be chiseled from assorted dark metals by divine artisans. Their scarlet eyes were charming and I could sense the hypnotic power they possessed. I was also able to sense the thirst they radiated. I knew that if I unleashed these vampires freely, I'd be tacitly ordering a bloodbath. The knowledge of the weapon I had acquired in the form of the vampires made me chuckle.
"You all are to form a new order in my name. One that devotes itself first and foremost to me. And whose second devotion is to necromancy." I told the assembled elves, living and dead alike.
"In exchange for your loyal worship and service, I shall protect you from your enemies and I shall allow the remainder of your mortal lives to be filled with prosperity and decadence. And upon your deaths, I will return you to this world as mighty undead beings." I told the dark-elves. I looked at the vampiric dark-elves who were openly looking at me.
"I am a generous god. I can and will give your family a new avenue to wealth. I possess power over metals, and I would like to establish a mine below your familial crypt. I understand that such a wish might be seen as... disrespectful, but I have a reason for wanting this." I explained, looking at my newest minions.
The three of them gave me amused looks, and waited for me to explain. I chuckled at them.
"Establishing a mine below the familial crypt, though it may feel... disrespectful, is actually a really wise move. None of the family members who'd be buried in the crypt will ever need it moving forward, but also this means that stealing from it will be virtually impossible. Since any thieves would have to escape your beautiful home with whatever loot they could carry." I explained, a smug grin on my face.
This explanation caused my minions and worshipers to also cruelly smile. I sensed that they could keenly sense the wisdom in my words, however disrespectful they might have seemed.
"I can create skeletons to mine the metals in the mine and we can create a vault underneath another part of the estate. And since I can manipulate metals I can generate a literally unlimited amount of precious metals for you to use however you see fit." I explained.
I felt keen gratefulness to one of the most significant upgrades I had gotten when I first gained access to the quest to become a minor elemental overlord. By that day's end, I gained the ability to manipulate and generate metals. It was an altogether incredible power, one that I have yet to truly abuse despite its incredible potential for abuse.
[Alert: You've created your first secret cult! Secret cults are orders of followers of yours whose activities are not known to the public.
Typically secret cults are cults made up of followers that are opposed to the societies they live in. This means these cults might be made up of secretive spies from foreign nations, assassins who follow your orders and at your discretion might also work as freelancers or families whose influence is increased by their affiliation with your followers.
Secret cults are one of a number of types of cults that you can create and command. They are probably your most influential cults for sowing dissent or disorder in complex societies since they possess freedom not possessed by other types of cults.
Cults can change their type over time, and at your discretion. Each type of cult has its uses and as a god, if you wish to control a large territory it is necessary to balance the needs and uses of various cults of a number of different types.
Secret cults often struggle with retaining and recruiting members though... Your first secret cult is a familial one and it is one that incorporates both the living and the undead so you've effectively curtailed that problem right away. Good job!]
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In the privacy of my own mind, I couldn't contain my joy. This was a decisive moment. This marked the establishment of my first secret cult devoted to evil ends.
I had gained a community-wide evil cult in the form of the reptilefolk who worshiped me as a god of death, war, and angry justice. I had gained a publicly evil cult in the form of the Dragonstone family who worshiped me as a warrior's god and as a god of laws and hierarchies, but now I possessed something incredibly valuable: a secretive cult.
By taking the Ardors and making them into a secretive, reclusive cult I could finally begin to make some serious progress among two specific subdomains that I had wanted to gain influence over for a while now: corruption and necromancy. Both subdomains were enemies of life and virtuous societies, and I knew that in making the choices I was making I would finally be able to gain needed progress for them.
It was actually while I was thinking about this that I received another notification. One that brought a smile to my face.
[Subdomain alert:
The subdomain of necromancy recognizes your labor. It is conscious of the work you've done as an unholy necromancer and the impact that your undead hordes have had on the world.
You are a most unusual necromancer. Your undead creations have unintentionally saved lives and protected people. That said, in order to do so they inflicted terror on the living and killed.
The subdomain of necromancy isn't just nihilistic, it is actively opposed to life. It has mixed feelings about the way that you've handled its powers so far, but it is still happy to offer you the quest to acquire the second-tier of influence over it. It senses how bloodlust affects you and is eager to give you more tools to sate that bloodlust, hoping that you'll more readily surrender to the dark temptations that it so readily offers.
In order to acquire the second tier of influence over the subdomain of necromancy, you must use an army of necromancers and an undead horde to totally destroy a settlement of over 5,000 individuals. All 5,000 individuals living in the settlement must die and if possible become undead. If they don't become undead then at the very least their souls need to be captured.
Once this is complete you'll acquire the second tier of influence over the subdomain of necromancy.]
"So that's all it takes huh?" I asked myself, a grin on my face. I didn't hate the image of a town on fire as my servants explored it, hunting down every last lifeform.
That said, I didn't want to go out and actively destroy just any old settlement in the name of the subdomain, so I would need some time to do some research and pick a target worth destroying, a place that should actually be wiped out.
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A few minutes later, I was actually sitting down for the first time in the last few minutes. I was accompanied by several dark-elves, handsome men who looked at me respectfully and demurely. I smiled at them, and knew they had something to say. It took them a few moments to gather the necessary courage to do so.
"Althos... We feel as though we should be the leaders of your new cult. Your order." One of them, a sibling of Milene's said. He spoke softly at first, but after a few moments wherein he spoke his voice grew stronger. I grinned at him and motioned for him to continue speaking. He gave me a smile, and grew bolder.
"Our sisters doubted you! They don't deserve to stand at the top of our family if they didn't believe in you from the start. We sensed your greatness. Your divinity." The dark-elf proclaimed, as his siblings and other relatives began to smile at me.
I chuckled. I sensed that this was going to take a bit of time. These sorts of negotiations always did.
A fragment of my mind, one even smaller than the fragment that carefully animated and controlled the projections of myself that were running around Puerto Rico focused its attention on the real reason why I had come to the Ardor family holdings.
I kept my eyes wide open even as that small part of my mind focused on ensuring that the guards who had been ordered by the senior family leadership to enact my will actually enacted it.
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A small contingent of elite dark-elven guards spent many years of their lives closely and carefully supervising the daily activities and labor of the hundreds of slaves owned by the Ardor family. It was boring and unchanging work. Or at least it had been, until a few minutes ago.
The dark-elven guards were now furiously working to gather all of the slaves, a challenging task given the sheer number of slaves who worked the gargantuan property owned by the Ardor family. This was a first for them, and they weren't sure what the night held for them.
The order they received from Modred, the unusual prime patriarch of the family solely instructed them to gather every single slave and keep them still near the edge of the familial property. It'd take them over an hour to finish that work.
Little did they know that they were about to undertake a thankfully uneventful trip into the depths of the subterranean region in which Aronms, the encampment, and Althos' eerie tower were all located. The main reason why the trip was uneventful was because of Althos' careful guidance, and his caution. He kept the dark elves and the slaves they were watching over safe from the start of the trip to its end hours later.
As Althos' 11th day alive began, hundreds of new individuals were safely able to reach the eerie and freed settlement of Oscuridad. Their first impression was that it was odd that an abandoned town existed next to an sorcerer's tower.
The town was, as far as they knew, utterly abandoned. And it would continue to look that way until after the dark-elves who had escorted them through the tunnels and other dark regions of the subterranean world were well on their way back home.
Once the guards were gone, the seemingly abandoned settlement began to come to life, as driders and other creatures stepped out of their empty-looking homes and revealed themselves. For the life-long slaves who had endured decades of torture and forced labor at the cruel whims of the Ardor family, it was a strange but exciting way to begin their new lives.
Althos, meanwhile, had been forced to help his newest cultists navigate intrafamily struggles and drama for far longer than he would have liked.
That night his other projections were able to explore a sinister brothel and meet more of the ogres he sought to one day rule over as only a god could. All in all, it was a productive night.