Judicia was having a rough day. She supposed that it had started like any other day. She woke up, did paperwork, wished her subordinates well, talked to priests, and then she had a nice tea time with an acquaintance. All in all, it was gearing up to be an ok day. Then someone just had to bust the door open to her room, making it crash against the floor in an echoing bang throughout her private bedroom within her domain. And she just got it put back up too.
"Judicia!!! Something TERRIBLE has happened." She leaned her head to look at the guy who dared to disturb her tea time. It was Marank. Of course it was fucking Marank. Why wouldn't it be? He's the only one who ever came to her with troubles and a tail between his legs.
".....*sigh* Yes, what is it Marank?" She could faintly hear Marank's tail softly thumping against the floor.
"Someone's destroyed some of my apostles!" In the back of Judicia's mind, she had thought that this seemed like a perfectly fine thing to happen. Marank was a patron to monsters after all, so it was very common to have this happen to him. It also wasn't really that difficult to see why he'd be upset, however, because apostles are terribly expensive to get with the Panopticon. Then again, every time anything of his got destroyed, he always came running to her to fix it. Even if the problem was something like old age, which made those days all that more unbearable having to put up with his whining.
"Marank. I know that apostles are expensive. I know that they're gone now, but just because I was the creator of The Panopticon, it doesn't mean I can-"
"But, Judicia, it was a joint effort between me and Hermant." Now this raised Judicia's eyebrows. Joint efforts between gods were quite uncommon, so it must've been a relatively new creation that they wanted to try out. It's not that efforts between gods didn't exist, but those that did often put others at a relative disadvantage didn't occur. No one would want a target painted on their back for colluding with the other side of the wheel. Thus, it would've likely been a great opportunity for others to sabotage that relationship if others found out it happened. She needed details. For the gossip, of course, if nothing else.
"Ok. I want you to calm down. Explain what happened. Step by step." The frantic breathing Marank slowly calmed down, his scales falling listlessly to his sides. He didn't really need to breath, no god necessarilly did, but while most didn't care to do it, others that came from a more mortal origin still kept towards their instincts.
"Alright, so I made these little babies not more than a couple thousand years ago right. I thought if I made some them apostles of both me and Hermant, we'd get double the points we'd usually get for their lifetimes." It was a sound agreement. Faith was hard to come by unless you either were the sole creater of the species or were actively worshiped by those who held the relevant classes. If a species were to be a joint effort of two beings while not having any viable way to reproduce without their gods help, which was what Marank's usual plans were based off of, then Faith would be a naturally reoccuring process for its entire life instead of only when it prayed. It was the kind of one-two punch that Marank usually played out in the field. However, letting someone in on it was not what he usually did, and while Justicia did want to question him more on the reason of the partnership, she would just rather let it go to get it all out of his system. It would be better if he didn't bother anyone else with this kind of problem.
"I'm with you so far."
"But you know how I am, I want my little babies to shine the brightest when they're in their prime, so I wanted them to hide in a cave for awhile. Build up their strength before taking on the nearest city of Vend." So far, it seemed an entirely reasonable venue, at least for anyone but Marank. Usually he just made the monsters out of ambient mana and let them do whatever they wanted. Seeing him actually put effort into hiding something could only mean that a plot was afoot, albeit one that had certainly gone off the rails judging from his anxiety. The location kind of made sense. If she was thinking right, he had put his monsters within that damnable Caldera, which if one went the right direction, would let whoever it was come out within the Maranese Empire which housed the city. Vend itself, if Justicia remembered correctly, was in fact a contender for a prime antagonist towards Marank, since it housed one of the largest society of [Adventurers] within it, so it made sense that he'd try to start a war with the country again. Plus, she heard that Vend guild had recently put out an order for one of Hermant's creations to be killed, so it'd make sense to collaborate with Marank for revenge in that regard. Honestly, if it weren't for another god actually helping him, she would've just thought that the eventual war would've been over in three months with very little changing. Her musings were abruptly stopped, however, when Maranks grating voice filled her ears.
"So, it'd been about 100 years, since they spawned from their parents, and I thought I'd give them a little treat, you know. I maneuvered some strings here and there and got some little beasties that had a pack in there that were a higher status than the bugs, insects, and rodents they were used to. I thought they were ready for that." Justicia was surprised, however she didn't necessarilly show it. She was the elder one in this scenario, so she had to at least be somewhat presentable. What caused her undue surprise was the simple fact that Marank had made something that could spawn. He usually never did that on purpose, as his monsters usually found ways to go around his decrees. To say he had literally created a creature that could give birth to more of it, it was well akin to saying that the Panopticon would shut down any day now. It just didn't happen. She might've been able to acquate some of it towards Harmont, but his domain didn't have anything spawn either. His was more in the Domain of Abyss and Hunger, than anything actually living. However, she had to keep appearances, and while she wanted to hem and haw on the new information presented to her, she had a tea party to get to.
"Let me guess, they weren't, as usual." Her response, albeit a little abrupt in tone, managed to get Marank to contine his story and stop tearing up.
"No, they were able to take down one." This served to slightly tick off Justicia. What was the point of him talking this much, if he wasn't even going to simply state what the problem was?
"Did they then get corned by the rest of them?"
"No. It was a loner that recently got exiled." Her anger seemed to boil over a tipping point as the calm presence she manufactured slowly but surely fell away, and her voice gave raise towards frustration.
"So, what's the fucking problem Marank? I don't see anything here worth giving a crap about."
"Well....I think there's a new god that made something down there." That made Judicia skeptical. Usually gods had big open celebrations regarding their births and subsequent creations, as the Panopticon was always able to tell when a new god would appear. For a new god, one who was just born, to have started something new in the mortal realm, was highly suspect unless it had some dominion of secrecy. Doubly so, considering that making a new creation right next to another's or even within another's personal Mortal Domain was just poor manners.
"Where's your evidence for this?"
"Here, I'll show you." With that, he pressed some buttons on his link, and a window was sent to Judicia.
What Judicia saw would make her heart stop, if she had one to begin with. There, doing battle against those weird tentacle things, was something different. Now, she wasn't immediately aware it was new, as she more or less also didn't recognize those tentacle eye monsters, but with a quick look at its designation, she would have a sure answer. She had managed to pull up the eyeball monsters identification, which had it listed as a Mind Eater. However, her eyebrows raised as she tried it on the other creature within that cave. It had no listing within the Panopticon. That shouldn't have been possible. Everything was processed through it, even gods and their avatars. The only way that it wouldn't be listed was if it was a fresh Hypatia, but nothing screamed out to her as it having that kind of origin. For all else, her judges had made sure work that the right souls would go to-and then she remembered an incident two days ago. One of her judges had been killed by a sapient soul that was being reassigned based on its past life choices.
It was rare for a judge to be killed unless it was by her will, as competition and threats of divine punishment usually saw fit to have them elevate onto a physical presence worth talking to, let alone tolerating. This one was on the cusp of that, which was what made her so upset. She only had at the most 23 judges, and she was hoping for that 24th to come in so she wouldn't have to work for the 30 minutes of a day on souls and focus her efforts on other more important matters. She had even designated a name for that 24th positional title, which was what others had called a premature move on her part. So, seeing the new creature that she assumed was the cause of her judge's demise, she reacted quite hastily in anger. She had designated the killer a Sinner and reduced the sinner's luck by 50, but thankfully once she had remembered she had done so, she relaxed. Usually that sort of designation got creatures killed within 1 minute of being brought back to life, often by its parents when they saw its status, wanting it dead before they too were also cursed with the title. The Sinner would probably spend 10 lifetimes having its soul torn apart and being put back together and reborn to start all over again. She wasn't exactly sure of the entire process, as another god dealt with the freshly dead souls while she only dealt with the processed ones. At the end of it all, the only thing she was sure would happen, was that she would be able to personally wipe it's memories and send it back down with a clean slate.
That wasn't the normal penalty for a sinner's title, considering a sinner usually had a specific god that it angered, and those gods would typically include a descriptor of who the creature had sinned against. In that case, the Sinner could just go to another god to absolve their sins, and instead be blessed. Ones that saw their actions in a just light usually. This punishment that she wanted to give out to the sinner was considered special as the crimes it committed were severe enough to warrant it. It wasn't an attack on her, but of the Panopticon's whole inner workings. Judges were meant to be neutral presences within the Panopticon, and they usually dealt with matters between gods. Those who killed them, if they were able to, were sentenced with crimes against Law, Order, and the very Panopticon itself, so she had full right to do whatever she pleased with their pitiable existence.
She had been expecting it's presence anytime now. She had sent one of her judges, Absinth, to track the soul's journey. She hadn't heard from them regarding anything from the creature, but she supposed that it was simply because with such a short life, it would be hard to find where its influence was specifically. Without it doing anything drastic towards its environment, all she had was the location she had received from Marank and nothing else. She'd have to either personally search for the creature through tons of files, or something significantly less pleasant to her. She supposed that after three days, it probably had just a high amount of luck. Probably around 50 before the deed, which was exceedingly rare, but still possible if they had been given classes or jobs related to gambling or were made priests of Faentes. But even other god's had to respect her order, so usually she'd expect their class as a priest or follower of Faentes to be revoked, and its bonuses along with it. However, something seemed off with the situation.
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She hadn't really looked at the creature before. It almost seemed something like a Vegnan, but it was a little bit taller and a little less bulky. Also, along with being significantly less hairy, it also seemed to have a fifth finger. That in itself was odd, as that was a trait of a Cregn, which were noticeably taller, had more elongated body proportions, significantly sharper heads, and had belonged towards the upper echelons of Monsters. Whatever this was, it was definitely new. New usually meant it was either a freshly created prototype from a god that had privileges to make creatures, or that whatever it was, it was just a new rollout for a new race. A Newborn. And Newborns always spelled trouble.
"Don't worry Marank. I know what this is. I'll deal with it personally, and offer a refund for this out of my own pocket. It looks like you spent a lot with how it naturally floated too." Marank looked a little surprised at her somewhat quick acquiescence of the monetary value of faith, because usually his schemes didn't work. He'd more often than not just get sent away with a pat on the back and a promise to 'do better next time'. It almost angered him to no end how condescending she had been towards him. He made a note to remember this exact situation to try out later, probably in a few centuries once she had forgotten the incident entirely. It wouldn't hurt to have one of the big influencers of faith on his side once.
"Thank you Justicia. I always knew I can count on you." Maranks face pulled from the saddened pout that it was before to a wide smile, showing off his teeth in all their glory.
"Yeah, just stop smiling will you. Those teeth don't do anything for your face." And with that, he left through the open doorway, leaving her alone. Well, except for the person she was having tea with.
"Was that important Justicia?" She turned towards her guest, a god who had decided his appearance should match a Dwem's if they were perhaps 50% taller, had more muscle, and the wings were not attached towards his arms but instead wrapped around his back. She didn't exactly know why he felt the need to go towards the more primitive version that the Dwem had initially been dealt with, but she didn't mind the way his armor showed off his legs. She shook her head, both to get rid of the image and to answer her residents question.
"Nothing to concern yourself over, Durok. I just need to take care of some more paperwork that's found its way onto my desk." Durok's furred head seemed to ruffle in quick thought, before it went away in a flash. He nodded towards her, reaching under his desk for a serrated blade, before standing up from the table.
"No problem. I was kind of sick of drinking tea anyway. Wanted to go back out and command my legion." Durok was perhaps the most vocal, in terms of activity upon the mortal realm. Others before him usually had the same idea of performing a holy war that they themselves participated in. However, while all the others had failed by now, due to the inability to deal with supplying their forces, Durok had been made for warfare, so he'd survived at least ten times as long as any others. Justicia still did not have a doubt in her mind that he'd inevitably fail, his avatar dead at the hands of his enemies.
"And I hope your faith survives it Justicia." And with a smile, Durok vanished elsewhere to control his battle priests. She stayed within the confines of her white walls for but a moment, contemplating her friendship with the violent god. She inveitably concluded that it was her duty to at least be friends with most of the gods, even if she didn't completely align with their goals or self interests. Well, except the person she had to see at the moment. With that, Justicia translocated to the main hub and walked towards the opposite spoke where she felt IT. If she was right about her suspicions, she had a certain Daryl, god of banners and chocolate, to talk to. Oh how she despised him. Certainly, the being was opposite her sphere of influence, and that wasn't the only reason that she absolutely despised him. The reason that no one really talks to Delvina, goddess of whicker furniture and rum, is because besides their very existence within a conversation or passing phrase was subject to its whims, no one could find him without the aid of Justicia. As her opposite, Judicia could always tell wherever Benj was.
However, it has to be understood that there are rules to how a god acts. Their sphere of influence, is as much an influence on them, as it is to their surroundings. Whether or not that Grendal, being of sandpaper and sandstone, is actively doing these kinds of things is always up for debate, but there is one thing that is known about Secruse's plans. He actively enjoys throwing sinks in other gods plans. Besides him, there was only one other person that Justicia suspected, but she was pretty sure it was fairly impossible for it to happen. Faentes hadn't made any other max lucked beings since the Jucros, and they already limited that from happening again through further modifications of the Panopticon and gotten rid of any mention of those accursed beings. The only way that they were able to even be killed was to completely encapsulate them in a zone of enhanced pleasure. Thankfully, the Panopticon had viewed that as a lucky happenstance, so it happened for all of them over Mundus otherwise who knows what would've happened.
Be that as it may though, a Newcomer was highly screened before converting their soul to a compatible form. For there not to be one in the Panopticon could only mean that shcle was involved. Somehow. There appeared to be no other option, and as she fell up the stairs and through the halls of gravy and marmalade, she wondered why she had put up restrictions to teleport directly to another god. She knew it was for a good reason, but at the moment, the sheer inanity of having to trudge through maple syrup swamps made her question her decisions momentarily, and for that she shuddered. No other god could make her question herself much like Khlem or have thoughts that weren't herself. Finally, she arrived in the throne room. It was the one place every god was required to have and would let her instantly talk to Sheldon even if he was visiting someone else within the Upper Reaches.
"..Sooo, what brings you to my domain of mischief?" There, standing on the wall was the enigmatic being itself. Justicia may not have recognized his new form, but she could still feel that he was her. That was the kind of thing Order was best for feeling out, where there was none.
"There's a creature that I believe you've tampered with." The squid seemed to ponder upon that fact before letting go of its suction cups and falling to the floor in a heap. There, the clothes began to stand end on end towering over her in the vague shape of a Bide.
"Oh hoho, I have no idea what you mean. The last time I was allowed to even create something, was back when I created the mimic. And even then it stands as the worst creation I've ever made." And with that, he smiled wide, showing piano teeth. However, the smile was short, as his face was long as he began to stare up at the ceiling, his marble eyes scanning something that only he could see.
"By the way, I've gotten into interior decorating. What do you think of the constellation on the ceiling." Justicia turned her head up to see what exactly could've gotten them so distracted from the conversation at hand, only to find that besides the inky darkness of a void, there were dots and splashes of color to it, almost seeming like the night sky, except for one key detail. Stars were not blue, nor did they drip from the ceiling.
"...That's not a constellation that's just a bunch of water." Her astute observation made the jello blob giggle in glee before its face bore downwards upon her in all its meaty glory, mouth open in a toothless maw breathing out the last air of a trombone.
"Nononononono, my dear. Not just water. Tears! Hahahahah." With that she fell through the floor laughing, before appearing on the throne in all her resplendent scaled glory. However, his laughter had finally stopped grating her ears off into tiny chunks, as the calm water of his form stopped churning.
"Ahh....yeah. So, why are you here questioning me? I know you hate me." His bubbliness spelled out his concerns in fine print above his head, while Justicia further narrowed her eyes towards schklim, and produced an image from the recording she had recieved earlier today.
"This....thing isn't listed within the design registry of the Panopticon. Leads me to believe he's an illegal Newcomer." At the word illegal, his extremities seemed to dance in their place while the hollow sockets backed away to rest upon the trash heap of a throne.
"....huh. That's delectable. Tell me...how does he taste?" She sighed audibly. She could never figure out why he sometimes changed what words meant, or at least whenever he decided to speak in a different language and do it. It caused her brain an inordinate amount of strife trying to decipher the butchering he was performing, as the little chunks of flesh often seemed to have a mind of their own, wandering away from their parent.
"Bipedal, mammal, and for some reason, really good at resisting mind effects." Her response, as she predicted, seemed to make him shudder, not in joy, but visible disgust, which wafted off of him like a mist of acrid fog.
"....so, a boring one I take it." She rolled her eyes at that, somewhat surprised that they fell out of their sockets in the process. She shuddered immensely. That was one of the more concerning aspects of why she hated coming to them. Their domains naturally affected eachother in often unforseen ways, and neither liked how they had no control when this occured. She shook her head trying to get her thoughts back on track before her head turned into a minecart in the process.
"To you, most everything you don't make is boring unless it's working for you." Heron chuckled a bit at the response, and put a hand over his exposed chest touching the pulsating mess within it before allowing its glow to be seen.
"Touching, but still the curve stands." She scrounged through her mind, trying to search for the correct translation, before she went on with her conversation.
"Just, from what I can understand as well, the Sinner title is not having an effect on the creature, or if it is, the effect has been reduced drastically, somehow...." At this, Fendeg raised his legs in surprise, and belted out a chorus of cutlery, their silver hitting the floor with uncanny harmony before slowly melting into it.
"Oh. Sorry about that dear. Butterfingers, you know. Emotions are such fickle things, you understand?" Justicia sighed as she pulled a spoon that they had belted towards her out of her ear.
"......Yes. I think. You know, it's hard remembering the rules for your speech when you constantly change them." He raised a finger and looked towards the sky as he brought his feet together atop his throne.
"And that is why, you will never understand me and my parents." Frustration was beginning to ebb at her, and judging from the waves of palpable angst lapping at her feet, so was the environment.
"Just give me a straight answer. Yes or No. Did you, in any way, cause this Newcomer to come into existence?" The dire bear seemed to sigh at the inclination of giving a straight answer as it fell upon his throne, letting its feet sink into the plush carpet.
"No. I don't remember any of that happening." She relaxed as relief flooded her pores. She may not have liked the domain, but sometimes it did have a good palpable effect on her that nothing else seemed to get to.
"Alright. That means that there's been a breach in the barrier or something. I really don't want to talk to Deryl though." Her thoughts seemed to work like a cog ticking along, until it cracked under the weight of another interruption from Yildug.
"Deryl is a somewhat important, and interesting man, when he tries Justicia." Justicia sighed. He may have been right at this point in time, but her experience with the other god was at the same level of fury she usually had at the end of the talks with Cristalus here. It just came from a different source.
"You just say that cause he is infuriating to most of us with his boring way of talking." Indeed. Out of all the gods, Deryl was the most important and also the least interesting out of the gods. Once upon a time he wasn't exactly necessary to keep the stability of reality, but ever since the sentient races of Mundus made Prisons and Dungeons, it was only natural that he was able to keep some aspect of reality assured.
"Monotone IS in this minute, you know." Her thoughts towards the bore of a god swerved towards the present moment. She hated how distracted she would get within this space.
"I really wish that the god of boundaries and containment would just.....be a bit better to talk to." Her admission, while correct, wasn't exactly made on her own, as her mouth ran away from her. She struggled to pick it up off the floor while she let Vund continue on, as it had no legs and touching it in certain places certainly felt weird with her proprioception.
"If you really want that, you know what you'd have to give me." Justicia, once having a grasp of her own tongue, pushed herself back together, only to shudder at the surprised touch of the custard that disappeared from its throne and pushed itself entirely upon her shoulder. She knew what it probably wanted, being so close to her. Even if he had signed the Law into being along with all the other gods, scher base instincts couldn't be ignored. She may have not remembered the time from before it was born, but she does know that it reigned supreme for millennium as one of the more powerful of the gods. The only thing keeping it from destroying anyone's hard work, temperarily at least, was the Panopticon.
"Even if I wanted you to.....change his speech pattern, you'd probably just change it to the sound of pears on stone. All squelch, no substance. Even then, the price isn't worth it." Selun frowned her lips of sausage, as Justicia waved off an open oppurtunity to change a god's mannerisms. She brought her fried egg off her shoulder before biting into it, enjoying the breakfasty taste of her hand before stopping for a minute, noticing that, for some reason beyond them, Justicia had remained beyond their permissable length of conversation.
"....Crochette. Well, It has been absolutely wonderful talking to you again. Come visit again sometime, bye!" With a wave of it's head, Justicia was sent away back to her sphere. With that removal of simplicity, chaos could calm and Karl, god of Chaos and Change, could finally let himself relax. He shuddered in relief as the forced breakfast theme of his body no longer held true. Now that no one was watching him, he could think straight once again, now that the presence of Order and Law was without his presence. Sure, he didn't exactly know how long he had to do so, but it always was fun to switch from time-based thinking towards insanity.
Karl was always having a good day. No matter if his plans fell apart or not. For a failed plan was just as successful to him as, well a successful one. Sure, he may not have all the information right now, but at least he had a view of something new. Something exciting. Something that apparently no one had created. It had been awhile since that happened. Plus, his peculiar connection to the Panopticon allowed for all sorts of fun, considering he could FEEL the chaos surrounding this one. It may not have been directly under the Panopticon, but he could feel the general hole in Order, just like Justicia could in his decreased Chaos. He disguised it somewhat with his own introduction to the young lad, but the class was outright rejected in favor of the skill which laid bare his luck to any influences, either good or bad in any encounter. He had plans upon plans concocting within his mind and very soon his penultimate plan would come to fruition. Soon, very soon in fact, M.I.G.W. would be broken completely, and his shackles, while not entirely gotten rid of, would at least be loose enough for some FUN TO FINALLY HAPPEN. Thus, for the rest of the day. Justicia was distracted in her investigation by the sound of cackling laughter that only she could hear, followed by a smattering of jam running out of her nose.