Chapter 9 

Information:

Criteria:

My current goal is to achieve an understanding of the world around me, thaumaturgically or otherwise, as well as locating resources and securing safety. Extended goals include meeting deities, learning what makes them tick along with preventing said-limitations from affecting me. As of now, anonymity is preferable.

Project 1: Collection / Exploration / Catalogue

In order to understand the world around me, the easiest way to do so is to collect a sample of each thing and carefully [Appraising] them, cataloguing their [Essence] and how they could potentially affect others thaumaturgically. These include:

Weapons, natural resources, emotionally-bonded objects (combs, dolls, wedding rings, etc), fleshy beings, magical items and creatures.

Solutions:

Scouts: Proposed solution for inadequate or unreliable sources of information. These small-sized, nimble flesh-based beings can serve as remote eyes and resource collector from afar, as well as avoiding detection.

Advantages:

* Easy to produce.

* Relies on biomass.

* Directly linked to me, capable of retrieving items at range.

* Can pass through barriers.

* Relatively immune to environmental hazards.

Flaws:

* Relies on limited biomass.

* Not fully autonomous, have little intelligence.

* Cannot be used in combat without personal intervention.

* Is physically limited.

Currently being used as explorers to record the whole of Bvurdrjord and underwater sections. Effectiveness remains to be seen, but proven adequate in avoiding detection.

Hunts / Raids: Iasgairean-formed hunting parties specialized to hunting / retrieving larger or dangerous targets. Operations currently led by Vahisk, they serve the purpose of allowing access to dangerous beings their [Essence].

Advantages:

* Large brute-force potential

* Mostly autonomous

* Can retrieve dangerous / harmful [Essence] for use.

Flaws:

* Mostly flesh-based and requires upkeep.

* Conspicuous, current activities restrained to underwater.

* Difficult to improve or upgrade.

Had been efficient so far in hunting down beings, especially after having given access to my [Gifts]. Current resources retrieved includes:

Wutwyrms, Great Shells, sunken ships and their assorted goods (Gold, accessory, weapons, ship designs, etc), carcasses of sailors, biosamples.

May consider improving functionality or multiuse.

Project 2: Thaumaturgic research and theories

As opposed to collecting items and understanding the properties, understanding the fundamental nature of the world cohesively is just as important. To achieve this, I have delved into researching, or have tasked others with it. Information I seek include:

Spells, theories, magical effects and behaviours, magical laws, understanding of the [Beyond] and derived questions.

Solutions:

Research and Development: The department of Vrraet / Elst, specialized in education and research. Using resources retrieved by other sources, they are responsible for considering the thaumaturgic potential of the items and create new spells as well as training new researchers.

Advantages:

* Allows me to allot my attention on personal agendas.

* Mostly autonomous

* Can exponentially increase the power of the Iasgaireans

Flaws:

* Weak start, revolutionary and uncertain output.

* Mostly flesh-based and requires upkeep.

* Faith-based spells require my own attention.

* Require massive amount of raw resources.

Is perhaps a long-term investment. Takes time for new researchers to be trained and require many resources to fund. Can, however, do my job for me, so can’t complain about that.

Chosen and Emissaries: Reaching out to locals in the form of ‘anonymous’ friendship. Perhaps starting a cult or spreading my belief amongst humans.

Advantages:

* Allows me to access [Resources] in the form of humans.

* Autonomous and subtle.

* Can allow me to harvest [Essence] in the form of piety and access offerings unavailable to the Iasgaireans.

Flaws:

* Dangerous due to lack of control.

* Can discover ‘me’.

* Direct interaction with a race while limited in that I do not want to use violence.

* Their perception of me cannot be forcefully controlled. Require substantial finesse to handle.

The plan is currently limited only to Sophia Creighton and my current designated Emissary, Miss Other. May have accidentally infiltrated the local supernatural power and have no idea how to proceed from that point on. May have to encourage swifter responses from Sophia so the meeting can be facilitated quicker. Besides that, information learned from Evelyn Creighton proved valuable to future plans and my understanding of the world’s perception of magic.

Power:

Criteria:

Personal protection is important, especially against possible thaumaturgical threats such as foreign gods and spirits. These goals are to achieve relative safety for myself as I continue to gather information and protect my investments, acting as either deterrence or gifts.

Project 3: Iasgairean Development

My current representatives are the Iasgairean, having converted them to my eyes and hands. They shall also serve as the main defensive force and resource acquirement, thus allowing them greater power and efficiency will also increase my long-term gain.

Solutions:

Bio-morph: Elst’s proposed abolishment of permanent castes. Through Vrraet, it is proven that intelligence and size have little bearing on each other. As Iasgairean minds are uniquely formed, incorporeal, it should be possible to set up a system where populations can switch body designs freely, or perhaps have bodies with fewer limitations, or even uniting the two castes this way. Either way, the purpose was to reduce the limitations of each caste while still allowing for hyper-specialization.

Bygail:

* Reduces body weakness and inability to breath without currents or moving.

* Lower production costs and reduces reproduction needs.

Saighgair:

* In-built weapons in the form of [Breath Glands], taken from purpose-bred Wutwyrms.

* Improved swarm instinct, taken from fishes.

* Slightly increased production costs.

Stjernmah:

* Removed dependency on egg-rearing. Each had been relocated into a Bygail body until further notice.

* Their purpose is still Vessel rearing, but no longer each dedicated to a Birth Site.

* Scrapped body-form.

Vessels:

* Disconnected markers from Vessels and instead funnelled into the Central Chamber. Vessels are now constantly produced by the Sgnirmah like egg sacks, where each Iasgairean will be reborn. This reduces structural weakness and terrible logistics.

* Increased production rate to increase the total population.

* Scrapped functions.

Sgnirmah:

* Mostly egg production, modelled after ant queens.

* Plant-like tendrils now gain their biomass directly from the earth like some giant plants.

* Personality fully subsumed into the Frayed Serpent.

Alternate Forms: Creating none-intelligent creature’s whose purpose was to be controlled by Iasgaireans. These are meant to be shock troops, requiring no finesse or to be direct extensions of my will. Current productions are purely experimental and are in little number.

Scouts:

* Small

* Easy to produce

* Dedicated reconnaissance unit.

Wyrms:

* Based on Wutwyrms.

* Having been modified to protect Iasgaireans.

* Reduced survival instincts in order to serve as ‘tanks’.

* Ranged attacks.

Other designs are currently on hold until the captured population can be bred to acceptable levels.

Project 4: Spells and Gifts

My thaumaturgic collection. These are things I can currently give to my worshipers. These are all work in progress and prone to change until I properly work out a system to start dolling these out…

…

…

This was the hard part.

I stayed there, staring at nothingness, my mind churning. Many things were happening but I pushed them out of my mind for the moment, focusing on the now.

Why would I ‘give out’ powers? It wasn’t a matter of can or can not but rather that I lack a good reason to do so. If I were to not modify someone’s flesh and [Essence] make up to allow them autonomous sources of power and abilities such as putting a Wutwyrm gland on their palm, every time they use an ability would be draining directly from my stores. Since they were Iasgairean and serving directly under me, I wouldn’t directly manipulate them or else it would defeat the purpose of…

Well.

All in all, I needed a good reason to even consider expending resources like that. Furthermore, I had to consider why someone would like to have powers — it didn’t matter if they were purely utility or not.

With that in mind, the issue wasn’t that my [Gifts] weren’t useful, but rather they were all too destructive. If what I had to give out my current repertoire of [Gifts], the recipient would most likely use it to fight or some other nonsense like that. Though it would probably be rather hypocritical for me to say this at this point but I do not encourage violence.

That sounded silly.

But still, I had no desire to cause conflicts just so there are people who would want to use my abilities to cause even more conflicts. Handing a desperate person a gun or a bomb would just be asking for trouble. If I wanted to be known as this malevolent spirit of conflict and power like some kind of devil, I could totally give my [Gifts] to some serial killer.

But would I? Should I?

I had to carefully consider what sort of image I wanted to portray and decide what kinds of things I can give out.

If I were to go for something destructive, it would be stupidly simple to do so. From my [Breath Glands] and Wutwyrm blast-things, I could already devise a dozen versions of projectile-based attacks that ranged from kinetic force or ripping someone’s [Essence] to shreds.

Or, I could pack {Sunder} into a spell format as I did with Vrraet, which would allow him to snip the [Soul] from a body in a single strike.

Hurting things is easy. The problem is to scale things down.

Something less immediately damaging and more versatile would be hyper-stimulating emotional responses by bombarding them with isolated and refined [Presence], tricking them into feeling things that weren’t theirs to begin with. Things such as fear would be easy to manage.

However, neither of those helped me. I wanted to be seen as something terrifying — not because I’m actively harmful but because of apathy. I must also be seen as something worth approaching for the mortals to pursue their own goals, thus what I give must correlate with what they might want. The only good reason why I would even bother with doing this was that I wanted to acquire agents to pursue knowledge and knowledge…

Knowledge is abstract, complicated.

Let’s use Sophia as an example. Currently, she was chosen as a guinea pig because of luck and because she wanted to learn more, the fact that I had landed within a Coven was just a bonus on top of that. Because of her ability to learn things from her vicinity that I wouldn’t have, I have a vested interest in keeping her alive and providing her with the means of expanding her knowledge.

Now, what would she want? What would a twelve-year-old want from magic?

The first thing I did, of course, was the [Gift] of Understanding, where I offloaded the negative effects of over-studying or rapid-absorption of information, accelerating her learning speed by imprinting knowledge into her brain directly as well as the bonus of understanding all spoken words.

That got to be useful for someone that wants to learn. If she hadn’t had that, she may be still going through that tome of hers even now, greatly slowing down her pace.

Well, that’s a starter.

Aside from that, however, I had absolutely no idea what they might want. Perhaps the ability to see into the [Beyond] like I do? Perhaps the ability to manipulate Spirits directly? Maybe even access to my [Library]?

Beyond that, I also had to set up a method of sacrifice to receive tribute. Perhaps something like Vrraet and Elst did, where I weigh if what they gave was worth giving back, and giving in return to their wishes?

That could work.

Even if it weren’t for Sophia, there must be at least one person out there looking to expand the scopes of magic, a mad scientist or two that would have no qualms making a bargain with me. Even it was something as simple as being able to remember everything they ever see and being able to read words they had never seen before, it would be worth it.

But then, religion is a mess. I was far from being the world’s foremost expert on what gods and believers would want. Either way, before I can give out anything, I would first have to create [Gifts] that are cohesive and worth having,

And that that would require patience.

Vrraet and Elst were already too busy to assign them more work on that part. Until the next generation of Bygails get their act together, I do not have enough manpower to distribute across all these projects.

Is this what setting up a business feels like? It's so bloody complicated.

I made an attempt for a sigh, lungs that failed to fit together wheezing out a single gasp. I shook my head in my chamber where no one can see me, letting the idea fully settle in. Project 4 would have to wait a little bit. Until then, other projects will be taking the stage.

Then…

Project 5: Resources

Resources, things I need to continually fuel my projects and expansions, usually in the form of [Essence] in all its three derivative forms. And [Essence]...

It’s something that usually needs to be taken from what exists unless I take the initiative to farm and refine them. Now, the problem lied in the morality of doing it, of course. [Form], [Spirit] and [Glow] had to be harvested from elsewhere or I would be using up my own — and I had no intention of doing that anytime soon.

[Form].

Things, physical aspects of it, from their molecule makeup and their limitations, [Forms] are what things are in its most literal sense of the world. Predictable, cohesive, there’s no getting around it. It’s like an anchor that other [Essence] hinges on, binding to. An idea is often hinged to a thing in ways as simple as a rock looking like a rock. Without the [Form], only the [Spirit] and whatever [Glow] of the rock would be left, insubstantial, a mere image that wasn’t there.

However, a [Form] without any [Spirit] would disappear. Gone, lacking anything to even symbolize its relation to the world around it — gravity, mass, heat, cold. Nothing can perceive it or interact with it. And with that, it might as well not be there.

I had little desire to mess with that, however. I was only interested in the fact that the Iasgaireans would require them to further the growth of the colony, Simply put, biomass was what I was after. My first response for this was to merge the characteristics of plants and animals together, skipping the middle part of food consumption, allowing the Sgnirmah to lay eggs with resources siphoned from the earth and the water.

But that was slow. Even with the improved hunting parties, the acquisition of food was still at a snail's pace. Some of my Scouts were already scouring the deep seafloor, trying to locate good deposits of resources be it in the form of nutritious volcano goop or massive graveyards of dead fish, embalmed in brine. Even now, my tendrils of flesh dug deeper into the soil, looking for more.

In the same route, the acquired things can also be used for their contained [Spirit], or to be more precise, their [Presence]. Using a comb, for example, one that I had retrieved from the village of Skjra, I could make use of its connections with its previous owner to do things with it.

Summoning the dead, maybe, or perhaps putting a curse on it.

I doubt how well that might work, so Elst’s trainees will handle that later.

After that came the big question — [Glow], the amount of leverage something has on reality.

As far as I could tell, [Glow] was absolutely essential in pushing magic into existence. It had an amplification effect on [Spirit] and [Form], allowing something to exert far more of itself than possible. A person that amplifies his warrior tendencies could probably run faster, fight harder, being closer to the idea of what he thinks he is. Once spent, the person would have exhausted his leverage on reality, becoming less malleable and less likely to make changes.

The weakness of limbs, unluckiness, perhaps. However, [Glow] didn’t seem to be something that could be completely exhausted, that everything had a minimum amount of [Glow] at all times, of which I would agree to be a smart decision. After all, if something were to have less influence than say, a rock, it would make them extremely vulnerable to change from other sources. If anything can impose their will on you and make it permanent…

Well!

And there are a lot of things going around, even if it can’t be seen. Even an errant [Blob] that crashed into someone at a low level of [Glow] would be disastrous. I had tested that out prior and had little desire to see what may happen with my own eyes again. Using a fish as a guinea pig had been both educating, uniquely disgusting and I had enough of that for a while.

Needless to say, [Glow] is not resource I would want to lack. I wasn't sure just how much I had left but I had no desire to test it out without first setting up a system to recover it.

Then, how would I get more of [Glow]?

The crystal that I’m leaching off could help but it was merely a stop-gap only, even with my still seemingly-limitless amount of [Glow]. Sooner or later, until something was done, I could easily run out of it and that thought scared me.

So far, however, the only other way to gain [Glow] other than waiting for my potential of change to ‘recharge’ was to get prayers. As it turned out, having something whole-heartedly believe in your ability to change the world would allow you do actually do so.

This world is fucked.

Well, it was something that was limited to true believers, from those that are not bound to my mind. As it turned out, thinking and worshipping about myself wasn’t enough to give me [Glow]. It required a certain amount of faith and genuineness that I could not manage for myself.

Thus, that came the need for a bunch of worshippers.

And that’s tricky.

First of all, that implied autonomy — especially in those that knew of me. I couldn’t quite stress about just how wrong that felt to me but having things that I couldn’t dedicate was risky, incredibly so. If I had to do that, I would have to build up an entire civilization, start a proper religion and…

Well, Iasgairean could do that, but their not-quite-human psyche would probably work me into being some sort of deep-sea entity, which would limit the options I have when confronting the species above water.

Ah, before that…

Yes, before any of that, I first had to create the people, the Iasgairean’s that have no connection to me, ones that weren’t [Gifted] as the current generation was. With that in mind, there must be a proper ruling system, one similar to the one previously used by the Sgnirmah but with a much larger population.

However, with the magical [Gifts] the uplifted population has, it would be inevitable for conflict to arise because of the disparity of power.

But...

Well, while there was a requirement for them to have free will, there was no need to make it a requirement for them to have independence. With some quick merge of [Essence], I’m sure that we could manage to find a way to create a death-switch of sorts, bound to their magicless bodies and minds in case something does occur.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Hmm…

…

… This sounds awfully lot like a dictatorship.

Well, that would be because it will be.

Oh, who am I kidding? The Iasgaireans were due for a reorganisation. I had left the issue to fester for quite a while now without bothering to properly set up their duties and sects, allowing them to run free. Now, with a major shift of dynamics, I finally had the motivation and excuses to drastically change everything.

Of course, I realized that meant I had to scrap Project 3 almost completely, but it had it coming for a long while. It was time to actually put some thought into management.

The first idea I had was to permanently switch all current Iasgaireans into the form of a Saighgair, which was arguably better in literally every way. Even with my recent modifications, the Bygail body-form was still just so frail and… well, if there was a perfectly better option, there was no reason to not take it.

Then, the lesser Bygail class — a new generation — shall get to be the serfs, the ‘ungifted’, the ones that had no connection to me. They would be ruled over by their Saighgair counterparts, led and bred for labour and worship.

Well…

The logistics of trying to organise that would be an absolute mess, but it would definitely lift the pressure off the current Iasgaireans. Shrugging off the indecisiveness, I made an effort to get to work immediately, refusing to allow myself any more time to sit down and think.

With a flex of my will, I rapidly summoned my Iasgaireans to my chamber. With the slightly reduced population due to my… arrival, the mass of Iasgaireans had little issue fitting in. One by one, across the entire Sanctuary, the Iasgaireans found themselves here, in front of me without having any idea why. Of course, knowing why wasn’t needed, so I froze them for a little while just to make the transition easier.

Swiftly, I separated the masses — Bygail to Bygail, Saighgair to Saighgair, standing on either side of the hall. Then suddenly, the Bygails found themselves in bodies that they previously hadn’t owned, locking down from a vantage point nearly a few feet higher. With a brush of my mind, I {Linked} their [Souls] to their new [Forms], piecing them together without issue. Just like Vrraet, they were given a form that they couldn’t complain about.

Even Elst had been given a new body. It was just like they had always been Saighgair and objectively they were. ‘Nothing’ had occurred, and things were definitely just as they should have been.

There you go, now no more complaining from you.

The remaining bodies of the Bygail were brought down to the Birthing Site where the [souls] of the new generation resided, still incubating inside their sacs. Soon, they shall be the first Adams of the society that hadn’t been just hours ago.

Was this why the Sgnirmah had the Stjernmahs? Some kind of elite task-force and protectors? Hmm...

Well, they would still be given the opportunity to improve themselves and prove themselves to become a Saighgair, but that would be something to work out later.

Before anything more, I shall first sort out the Saighgairs that shall be the leaders of their society.

As of right now, there were three distinct factions — Hunters, Researchers and Labourers. The Hunters were the original Saighgairs, currently led by Vahisk after he was returned to the living reality. Researchers were composed of Vrraet, Elst and their cronies, tasked with the job of exploring the limitations of arcane stuff. The Labourers were the rest of the previous Bygail, used for maintenance, decoration and general labour.

Out of the three, the first two had nothing to change. Their tasks shall remain the same. The third group, however, had to be modified to fit their new duty. I decided that they shall be taking care of the new Bygails, becoming leaders amongst them, priests and chiefs. They shall lead, teach, organise and form the backbone of their society… what shall I call them…? Leaders? Priests? Or perhaps recreating the role of Stjernmah for this?

Oh, what a silly thought.

Caretakers will do.

After all, they would be the ones taking care of the new generations. Giving them a proper name that symbolizes their duty would be great, especially if they were recognized by the Iasgaireans themselves.

Now that that was done, I thought about letting them all go back to whatever they were working on just prior. However, I changed my mind almost immediately. There might be changes I had to make to them as well after I was finished with the Bygails, so I left them in the chamber, all standing as still as statues.

Suddenly, I was once again struck by the absurdity of what I was doing.

Ah. What twisted angels I make.

There wasn’t really much difference, was there? Even if the aesthetic were different, their roles would essentially be the same. Though, I suppose I would be much more diligent with handling them, holding a tight least on their will.

It wouldn’t do to accidentally create my own Lucifer, after all. Can’t have them getting jealous over the free-will of huma— excuse me.

Ahem.

Bygail. Yes.

I chuckled to myself derisively.

Then, the moment passed and the hilarity receded.

Well, now the Bygails had to be properly formed.

I hadn’t done something so drastic in a while and the thought was making me shiver mentally. Since there was no one else using the ‘Bygail’ designation — in fact, no one even knew of it yet — I could just straight-up just change the [Essence] tied to the concept of being a Bygail.

Until now, I had mostly been working with the [Form]-bounded reality such as tweaking individuals. With this massive, made-up idea within a very small population, it was a good time to test if it would work or not.

With that, I focused within myself for the first time in many days, calling on the various resources I had pooled. The ‘Bygail’ concept had been isolated, snipped away from every individual there was — aside from me, of course. Now that the idea was free-floating, tied only to the flesh that will be remade, no longer at the mercy of anyone else, I could {Mould} it however I please without even the slightest bit of resistance.

Suddenly, with a metaphorical pop!, I was suddenly connected to the mass bodies of all Bygails, now gathered at the birthing chamber, the bodies ripe for change. Now absent of their [Souls], I commanded the bodies to swim towards the fleshy bulb in the centre of the domed chamber, my numerous bodies extending their arms, legs and tails simultaneously as the swam, perfectly coordinated. As I approached, I peered in closely, carefully analyzing the paths of which their [Essence] were formed.

The first thing I had to consider was what to do with their cycles of rebirth. As Iasgaireans, the process of being reborn into new flesh was crucial to their psychological development. As a newborn, an Iasgairean would be no more intelligent than a rabid chihuahua, which was to say not at all. It was only through learning through several lifetimes would they grow smarter.

Obviously, that was a system that worked, especially when it came to preserving knowledge without a way to formally record, teach and otherwise transfer knowledge. Without that, the Iasgairean would be been stuck as just fish.

That wasn’t what I was looking for in my believers, obviously. I needed something sufficiently smart enough to consider the idea of worship and the base form of Iasgaireans just weren’t that bright.

Or that empathetic, to be honest. Their emotions and thoughts of purpose weren’t exactly the same as humans…

Hm…

Wait.

I had an idea.

There was no reason why I couldn’t… reference humans. The deficiency of Iasgairean intelligence wasn’t something that was wrong spiritually but rather that of the flesh! As an entire species, their rate of learning was abysmal, relying on trial and error until their brains figure out which way was up, at which point everything was fine.

Indeed, it seemed that through whatever thing the Sgnirmah had done, the Iasgairean’s mind wasn’t exactly bound to their flesh at all. In fact, it was their [Souls] that was important, resulting in that their bodies had less nutritional needs since they were all reincarnations, Spirits!

…

But why?

That I wasn’t quite sure about.

For a moment I debated if I should change the template to accommodate a larger brain. Doing so would solve the issue of having the first generations being completely useless as well as encouraging creative thought instead of the archaic trial-and-error the Iasgaireans were so fond of.

Doing that would be rather easy. I simply had to take the important brain parts of a human and apply it to the Bygail template, forcing the normally incompatible [Essene] together with an inordinate amount of [Glow].

However.

I couldn’t be sure how human psyche would function underwater — probably not so well, I would imagine. I would have to be extra careful in separating these bits of the human mind from the rest that govern their instincts. I wouldn’t want to make my Iasgaireans afraid of the deep dark abyss because of some left-over fears from their human origins. More than that, the Iasgairean lifestyle would have to change again to accommodate their increased need for energy, which meant even more work.

Agh.

I was quite sure that human brains require quite a bit of energy to sustain, if my memories were correct. To counter that, they had to farm things with sugar, things with higher energy content just to survive. If I were to do that to the Iasgaireans, that would mean having to revamp the local environment as well.

Aside from that, I also had no desire to wait a decade for their intelligence to develop, thank you very much.

…

Well, I wouldn’t be doing that then. Not for a long while, at least. Trying to figure out farming before the race was even done would be a tad bit overly ambitious.

Then, I mentally slapped myself for being silly.

There was no reason to do any of that. If Iasgaireans already function by having a disjointed [Soul] and [Form], then there was also no reason for them to not be born that way.

Well…

Well, they wouldn’t be able to survive in a world without magic, that is. If their [Souls] were tied together to their bodies with magic alone, the lack of it would probably cause them to all just die out. Scratch that, even I would probably just evaporate.

How likely will that be, then?

Can that even happen?

What will happen if I were to suddenly return to the Earth that I knew the way that I am?

I wanted to curse out loud.

While not having to obey concrete laws by not having a proper body was a blast, it seemed to also come with its own drawbacks. While I tied myself to the fleshy existence of the Sgnirmah and had built a [Safe] around me, there was no telling what unique vulnerabilities something like me would have.

It was an alarming train of thought that I hadn’t meant to touch on but at this point, it was a tad too late to stop.

...

I’ll leave that as Project 6 for now.

Ah.

Again, not for the first time, I noted down how terrifying this world is.

...

I think I’ll just keep the Bygail’s brains the way they are for now, just need to make their onion-mind the default settings instead of whatever the Sgnirmah was trying to do.

No need to get too complicated.

I randomly chose one of my previously-desecrated Saighgair from way back and stripped him down for parts. The patterns of how his [Soul] linked together would form the basis for all future Bygails, while the rest of him shall remain frozen until I had the need for it. After that, it was relatively simple to change the Bygail template to have a fully-formed, cohesive mind.

Of course, it would be slightly more expensive for them to reproduce but it should be worth the investment.

Aside from all that, I still had to figure out the social structure of the new caste. For that, I spent some time to compile a list of things I would expect of them as well as limitations I must build into their design.

Firstly, food. Most times, the Iasgaireans rely on their weird-blobby fish farms and kelp as food, occasionally hunting larger preys. Obviously, Bygails were not made out for hunting even after my modifications, so I built in a directive to focus on agriculture instead of training martially.

After that came accommodations. Again, Iasgaireans usually lived underground in their winding tunnels of the ruins. However, I intended to expand their territory so I came to the conclusion that they must start constructing homes amidst the kelp forests and plains. That way, the would have easier access to their livelihoods as well as keeping them away from me.

Call it eviction if you will but having some distance away from the serfs would help to promote a sense of superiority and mysteriousness. After all, if I were to grow too close, it would ruin the sense of divinity I was aiming for.

I think. Maybe.

Of course, the first generations of Bygail would have to be raised from young to adulthood even as I gave them the Adam and Eve treatment, stuffing them with prior knowledge on how to work farms, avoiding danger and the like.

Basic stuff.

The Caretakers would take care of other forms of education, keeping an eye on them, serving as ‘priests’ as well as…

Hmm…

I suddenly came upon an idea as well as a question.

If I were to keep my distance away from the Bygail, then it would make no sense for me to handle their birth and rebirths.

In fact, I debated whether I should even allow them to keep their ability to reincarnate. As that process was originally used to allow the Iasgaireans to maintain knowledge across generations as well as reducing the need to reproduce, it would clash with my current plans to expand their territory.

The conundrum however laid in that all Bygails are male, as in only the Sgnirmah had the ability to lay eggs and produce the new generation. Bygails had no concept of family aside for their instinctual need for community, which meant that the entire idea of having them lay eggs would be… strange and needlessly complicated.

That would mean I would have to personally maintain their population since they do not have the potential to expand exponentially at all. If I removed their…

Hmm…

This had gotten too convoluted.

Let’s review the basics.

What I wanted from them was a source of [Glow] from their piety and a source of rare [Essence] in forms of sacrifices. For that, they must believe in me thus they must rely on me in some shape or form.

Judging by that, that meant they must have a need and I must be the only way they can fulfil it, or it would make no sense for them to believe in me. Currently, Bygails were made to serve the colony and only the colony. They had no lofty dreams or desires beyond that, which severely limited my options to fulfil them.

With that in mind, I must purposefully give flaws to the Bygails, a drive to do things. Like the original sins of humans, there must be a reason for them to care enough, to give them the concept of desperation and need for divinity.

Humans, I think, are driven by basic needs such as reproduction, food and safety, so their society was built upon those foundations. That meant I must also give the Bygails similar needs for otherwise, their communal nature would have them serve willingly… in ways that I do not need.

My Saighgairs had no need for them, not anymore.

I only needed piety and sacrifices. Beyond that, I didn’t really care.

Food and safety were simple. Getting them to rely on their Saighgair overlords would take close to nothing. The only change I needed to apply was to heighten their sense of individuality so they would carry doubt in their hearts.

They must learn to fear the deep dark, the endlessly wide world. With a species so faithful to their community, their sense of purpose was so strong that it became a given for them to believe in their actions.

Perhaps, there could be no piety without doubt, no deity without a need for one.

But they already need me, don’t they?

As Iasgairean, they were intrinsically tied to the figure of Sgnirmah and thus to me. Their lives had always been dedicated to their god, nothing changed. However, what I need wasn’t devotions or a workforce. I needed need.

I needed them to crave my attention, to seek me.

A certain cruelty was needed for that.

What I had to do was not savoury at all. If I had a proper mouth, it would probably leave a bitter taste in it.

Getting the concept of sin into the Bygails was tricky. I had almost no samples of these base human things and I did not want to butcher the Reiz the Zweit just yet. Luckily, my Scouts were still spreading across the land.

It was easy to briefly take direct control, capture a Suffering and send it to me directly.

It took me a while longer for me to fit and calibrate the needs of the Bygails, but it was eventually done.

Now, they shall receive nothing from me yet devoting everything. They shall look upon their Saighgair brethren in envy and seek to be closer. They will be isolated, fearful and always seek my attention, seek to be elevated into a Saighgair.

Yes, the being a Saighgair shall be a reward, to be made part of the whole.

That way, they would always have a need to prove their worth, to need me, to believe that I could give them the strength to live better lives and be closer to the truth. The will be more tribalistic, where each action would also take their little community in mind.

With their probable distance away from me, they would need these new instincts badly.

What a twisted society I’m making.

Oh!

And don’t forget to put in a death switch! I reminded myself.

So, I did it.

And damningly enough, I didn’t feel a thing about it.

A swish, flick, the identities of the Bygails were changed irrevocably, just as they always were. Nothing changed, just as they always were.

I waited for it to settle in, contemplating, looking for something to feel.

…

… Yes, that’ll work.

I didn’t know what to expect. It wasn’t my first time creating life out of nothing so perhaps that dampened my reactions.

An imaginary breath left my imaginary lungs, knowing that I had at least moved past one part of the design without too much issue. Hours, perhaps, most of the time I spent on this had been circling around abstract concepts of what I need.

The actual implementation didn’t take all that long, to be honest.

Then, I was back to where I started, back to the same question I had been struggling with — reproduction.

It was painful to decide — not for me but for the Sgnirmah. Even just the idea of severing the Bygail from the hive’s immortality was anathematic for her to feel. Unfortunately for her, I forcefully dampened the feelings, manually turning the gears in her head.

It was necessary.

With a sudden, perhaps even violent twist in my mind, the Bygails lost their link to their cycle of reincarnation. Their [Souls] no longer get to be reborn but were now drawn to their afterlife — to me and my collection as fuel.

Obviously, it would serve as another motivation for them to work harder to become a Saighgair.

Leading on from that, if 'family' wasn’t a thing for the Iasgairean, there was no need to rely on them. Without the system for their reincarnation, nothing was preventing me from creating more of these egg-laying machines as an ‘alternate form’ like the Scouts and Wyrms, let the Caretakers nurse them and become members of the community.

The Bygails can sacrifice their food to the Saighgair who would, in turn, pass it onto me as well as feed these egg-layers, providing new life in return.

It would be an elegant way of making piety central to each community, I feel.

I took a moment to reevaluate my other projects.

With the experiences I gained through working with Elst, creating this new form shouldn’t take too long. For a moment, I froze all Iasgairean functions so I could focus on it.

From here and there, I sampled from the various creatures I had collected. By supplying mass from the bio-matter I had stockpiled, I forced my current egg-laying chamber to grow. The process wasn’t pretty at all. Within moments, the fleshy bulb expanded like a balloon, tendrils of flesh crawling across the ground so quickly that bubbles formed from the chemical heat.

Then, with the various species of asexual beings that I had in my collection, the mass of flesh began to split apart. Like amoebas dividing, the vague, lumpy balls of meat stretched away from each other, the wounds sealing tight as they finally gained proper forms.

They resembled some giant, armoured squid, or perhaps an anemone. Tendrils lined their opened maw, forever left open as it faced upward. The thick neck extended to a tubular body, a dozen stumpy legs protruding from the mass at the bottom, tipped like that of a lobster or crab. Slowly and ponderously, these mindless beings began to lumber about, their giant bodies bumping into each other.

These beings were limited, of course. The right and ability to create Saighgairs were sealed from them, reserved only to yours truly. Some additional ceremony would have to be created later on for converting a Bygail to a Saighgair, but that was a problem for another day.

For now, the bodies were complete. All they needed were minds, however rudimentary they were.

I salvaged the barest bit of intelligence from the remaining Saighgair cadavers I had, stripping them of any individuality but retaining the brutal spark needed for survival.

Most importantly, I gave them my mark, making them part of me, part of the Frayed Serpent. Each of these beings carried a very specific set of instructions and they shall be served by the Caretakers as proof of my divinity and might.

As I pushed the newly made [Souls] into their vessels, awareness suddenly flooded into these beings as well as into me. An entirely new sensorium opened up to me as I became them just as much as they became part of me. They lived, as they always had, and they had a purpose as they always had.

Within them, gestating, were dozens, hundreds of eggs. Their bulbous bodies were sedentary, slow to move but it didn’t matter.

They were ready.

Name?

Name.

I pondered for a few seconds.

Carriers? Eggs? Seeds?

No… they were all a bit too on-the-nose, lacking the oomph that I was looking for.

I wanted something that could symbolize reliance, something that represent their piety to me. I thought for a few minutes until I unceremoniously arrived at an answer.

Altar.

At the core of their being, they would be the representative of what I am to their colony, an interchange of faith.

With but another flex of my will, I’ve bonded the Caretakers to the Altars. The bodies too — they disappeared, crunching up and reused within the Altars, their [Essence] grounded down to make way for the newer versions.

Somewhat satisfied with the results, confident in their ability, I sent them out of the Sanctuary. Altars and their Caretaker escorts — they moved one by one into the wilderness of the sea, spreading out in a circle around the Sanctuary.

I let some remain close by, such as within the kelp forest. For the rest, I forced them to trek further afield. Most of the inherent dangers had been already removed as the Saighgairs hunted their way down at the seafloor. Even the once-dreaded Wutwyrms had become nothing more than prey in their eyes, their nests moving further and further away into the unlit darkness.

It was there that the first villages were made. Gradually, I allowed my iron grip to relax, letting the Iasgaireans resume their activities, to move on their own. The many I shook myself awake, getting out of the trance I placed myself in.

I watched it all unfold for a few moments, calmly looking out through the eyes of the Caretakers. Slowly and inexplicably, these new settlers moved out on a divine mission, armed with faith and little more than that.

I waited again.

And time passed.

Again and again.

I’ve already had an internal debate about playing god so the point was moot.

I tore my attention away.

Simply sitting there wouldn’t help.

I looked down to my lists of projects.

Project 1: Collection / Exploration / Catalogue

Project 2: Thaumaturgic research and theories

Project 3: Iasgairean Development

Project 4: Spells and Gifts

Project 5: Resources

Project 6: Contingencies

So much to do and so little time.

I wanted to sigh and complain about it all but I've already cast my lot.

Then, something tugged on my string of consciousness.

Something important was happening.

My attention diverted and suddenly I was no longer brooding in my chamber but enclosed inside crystalline walls and staring at myself.

Sophia.

It was night time, some days had passed since I last purposefully checked up on her. There were pouchy eyebags under glazed eyes, her hair all frizzled and puffy.

Clearly, she hadn’t been having a good time. With enhanced ability to learn, it was only natural that Evelyn would do her best to stuff the girl with as much knowledge as possible. The lack of sleep gave credence to this claim as her hands trembled. Sitting under candlelight, she was focused upon the dusty book laid across the table, hundreds of tiny words inscribed across the parchment pages.

It was late at night and all the patrons had left. Finny was hovering at the side, her fingers covered in strings, a pair of sticks weaving something out of the yarn. Her face unusually still, emotionless, her moving fingers stiff and unresponsive.

Terse, cold, silent.

She had behaving oddly for some while now and Sophia had no idea what. If something could put Finny on the edge, she reasoned that it couldn’t be good. Despite that, Sophia hadn’t approached her about the topic, keeping her tongue to herself.

The small fire at the fireplace flickered away merrily, small sparks dancing as it observed quietly.

Time ticked on through the slow, soft night.

Then, there was a knock at the door, as jarring as a midday bell would be. Finny paused and looked up, her face hard as stone. The rapid cracking sounds of a knuckle against the heavy wooden door thumped its way through the room, jolting Sophia from her focused study.

So late at night? She thought to herself as Finny stood up, setting down the thing she was making at the table in a hurried manner.

Who could it be? Is Mrs Creighton back?

The other girl said to her, “Continue reading, Sophia,” and moved over to the door, practically stomping across the room in her hurry.

Before the door, she stood there, her hands away from the handle and her face unreadable. She asked loudly, “Who’s it?”

The knocking stopped.

Then, a voice came back. It was masculine though unfamiliar, hesitant, “Miss Creighton? I’m sorry to bother you so late at night but…” There was a shuffling sound as if the person outside wasn’t quite sure what to say, “Well, I’m from the watchman and I’m here about your...Brother.”

Uther? Sophia looked up a draft blew in through the door, the wind shrieking as it entered.

Finny had lifted the bar across the door and allowed a small crack to show. Beyond the door, standing awkwardly in the snow, was a man. White flakes had accumulated on his cap, a small lantern dangling from his hand as it shook in the wind.

“What about him?” Finny asked tensely, her words clipped.

“He came back just some moments ago and…” The man tentatively peered through the gap, seeing Sophia’s inquisitive face and looked away again, “Well, miss, he’s not in good shape.”

Finny pulled the door open completely, her face hidden from Sophia’s sight. In a chillingly calm way, she stated, “Explain.”

“He’s injured, miss. It’s almost like an animal mauled him,” the man whispered back, uncertain. He gestured back out into the darkened streets, “We’ve brought him to the healer but… Perhaps we should speak of this elsewhere.”

“Bring me to him, now!”