Akamori, Sirsir and Yasiin were in the hanger of Thefaris tending to their gear. They didn’t have much left after Amara had stolen the Indra from under their feet. Sala was off with the Captain. The mood was heavy. No one said more than five words since watching the ship leave the hangar and cast an invisibility spell. Worse, it put their squad down a capable weaver, tactician, and scout being without her.
Akamori tried not to dwell on the loss of his childhood friend as he polished Thanaton’s edges. Even the blade had been dead quiet. He figured her betrayal had bitten even the unusually murderhappy blade’s feelings. For it to be so bad that it didn’t even indulge in its standard brooding spoke volumes about the injury.
A beat later, Sala charged into the empty hangar. “You guys have to see this.”
“You guys have to see, Sir.” Sirsir corrected the private as he addressed the primal with a nod to Akamori. But even the rebuke lacked its typical bite.
Sala threw a flaming ball at the floor and it unfurled into a sector wide missive. The illusion took the shape of a colony world. New Xinjia by the look of it. Sweeping neo Chinese architecture accented with some of the smoother lines seen among neo American designs on New Eden.
In the skies of the colony, a small swarm of ships and dragons descended into the world. Sirsir and Yasin went stiff. Past engagements recalled to memory. None of them good by the looks on their faces.
“My gods…” Sirsir muttered, studying the size of the force.
“That’s the largest we’ve seen yet,” Yasiin said between strokes of oil along his rifle’s barrel.
“How is that possible? They couldn’t have been holding a force this large back? We smashed an entire fleet in the Anazi system and flattened their necromancers on Hidros. Where did they get an army that big so fast?”
Sala zoomed the missive in and pointed. “Look.”
“What am I seeing?” Akamori asked, looking at Sirsir.
“An undead horde. All those troops? They’re dead.”
“Which means the actual percentage of live participants in that engagement is probably three times smaller than the scale of the whole force.” Yasiin said without looking up from polishing his spell rifle.
“Their defenses are getting chewed apart. Those civilians won’t survive this. We have to get over there.”
“How?” Sirsir asked. “Amara jacked our ride, remember? And this big beast isn’t ready to deploy yet.”
Akamori cursed under his breath. They had to go blunt the attack. He knew that in his bones. The question was how? “How old is this?”
“It’s happening live.”
“What are the hold out estimates?”
“Most estimates put them at total planetary casualties by weeks end.”
That gave them six days less the half day they were already knee deep in. Akamori slid off the storage crate he’d been parked on, setting Thanaton on his back. He couldn’t do anything about Amara, so he put a pin in that. He’d deal with her later if and when that time came. For now, people needed help, and he intended to try and provide it.
“Alright then. If the Thefaris is out of the question, maybe we can convince the Federation to deploy us with the Crasher or something. I’ll go ask. You guys get your gear as prepped as you can. We’re going monster hunting.”
He could tell by the grim and eager expressions that everyone was looking forward to this. They needed something they could handle. Some fight or conflict they could make a difference in. Suddenly, Akamori didn’t feel as alone as normal. The rest of the squad went to work prepping their things and packing modest go bags. He’d need to look at procuring them some armor to make up for their gear left behind on the Indra.
His black coat billowed behind him as he stepped out of the hangar and summoned some air magic to him to fly. He liked the cleaner, less frigid feeling of flying on air magic. It also lacked the control of void flight. He stayed as low to the deck as he could, avoiding much of the arboreal overhang of the eternal forest. He dropped out of the sky near the business district that hugged the star port. He needed to visit the Federation Embassy.
Setting down lightly, a few children gave him awestruck looks and gave him a nod and wink. Excited muttering with parents faded away as he strode into the Embassy. A lieutenant sat behind the desk in a well-pressed uniform. He frowned, realizing he hadn’t worn his own in a while.
The young officer barely glanced up from polishing her nails. She was human, like himself. A trait he’d forgotten was so rare on Eryn while he was away at the last stronghold of dragons in the sector. She pushed a tablet towards him with a sign in roster on it.
“Name, Rank, and purpose of visit.” She said flatly, more interested in the small device she was watching than she was attending to guests.
Akamori frowned, scribbling in his name, rank, and that he was here to go to New Xinjia to fight the Sauridius. When he finished, she tugged it back and then her eyes shot up to him and she sat upright in the chair, seeing him for the first time.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it was you.”
He canted his head, confused. “The hero of Hidros. I’ll let the General know you’re here.” She shoved her chair back and practically ran into the general’s office, boots thudding on the Erynian wood of the office. He folded his arms, brows wrinkling. Is that really how people saw him? Some kind of hero?
They are witnessing your divinity. Your lack of religion is an impediment. Cultivating a religion with them now would be most wise.
Akamori frowned, shooting the hilt of Thanaton a sidelong look over his shoulder. Making his own religion just felt grossly pretentious. He wasn’t out here to bathe in adulation; he had a war to fight.
It goes beyond mere praise. Aether is not the only form of power in creation. Worship is another form of power that can be tapped into. It functions as a symbiotic exchange between you and your followers. They give you a portion of their own power, and in return you can gift them boons. If you challenge a gold or diamond ranked god in your current state, you will be significantly weaker than you could be. It is an unnecessary handicap to assume.
A system missive appeared and unfurled before him. Since he was waiting for the general, he read on.
System Info: Codex Entry Updated: Worship and Divinity .
There are many aspects of worship. Once a being ascends beyond Magic Rating (MR) 5, you become a divine being. You gain Divine Rating. (DR). The scale of Divine Rating follows:
0 – Demigod. (MR of 6-9)
Stolen story; please report.
1 – Iron Ranked God (or shard of a whole god)
5 – Silver Ranked God (Large shard of a whole god)
10 – Gold Ranked God (Whole god, or fragment of a greater god)
25 – Diamond Ranked God or Fragment of a titan
50 – Crystal Ranked Half Titan
100 – Transcendant Ranked False Titan
250 – Astral Ranked True Titan
Gaining Divinity -
By virtue of the system, any mortal being can transcend their station and become divine. Every god, regardless of age and epoch, started out as a mortal aside from the original titans.
The fastest way to become a god is to ingest divinity. All wellsprings consisted of Godsblood. Ingestion of enough purified godsblood will grant some initial points of divinity. The other method of attaining divinity is by worship.
After a god has gained their first point of divinity, they may form Pacts. A pact is a spiritual link between worshiped and worshiper. The deity gains aether, and can pass on miracles in return.
For a mortal to receive worship, they must receive 10 magical infusions. This number can vary based on potency and power of the wellspring visited and if they are not given infusions by gods directly.
Permanent vs. Temp. Divinity -
Permanent divinity determines a god’s overall DR. It caps the number of miracles they can grant, the strength of their magic, and the types of divine miracles they can perform. Increasing permanent divinity is a new god’s top priority.
Any time a god gains a permanent divinity, it also refills their Temporary Divinity (TD), and many plan around these phenomena. The only way to regain TD is through worship or through performing Divine Deeds.
Direct Worship scale -
1 Worship – 10,000 followers
2 Worship – 100,000 followers
3 Worship – 500,000 followers
4 Worship – 1 million followers
5 Worship – 10 million followers
6 Worship – 100 million followers
7 Worship – 1 billion followers
8 Worship – 10 billion followers
9 Worship – 100 billion followers
Indirect Worship Scale -
1 TD /
Year – 10,000 followers
Quarter – 100,000 followers
Month – 500,000 followers
Week – 10 million followers
Day – 100 million followers
Hour – 1 billion followers
The deity gains 1 additional TD per hour for each extra billion followers they possess. Any divinity beyond thier max pool is lost.
Akamori swayed at the information overload. “Whoa.” He had no idea. He wasn’t weak compared to most people. But when he looked at that scale and how high it went? He suddenly felt like a tiny fish in a huge ocean. And there were bound to be rather large predators out there, just waiting to gobble him up.
“Maybe forming my own religion isn’t a bad idea.” He relented with a grumble. The whole idea felt so anathema to him. He didn’t like the concept at all. But if it meant protecting the creation from any prick with too much power? Then maybe humiliating himself was worth the price.
You are bumbling around like a toddler in a warzone. You may be among the more powerful mortals, but you are in exceptional danger against any god. The longer you disregard your divinity, the more vulnerable you leave us.
“Little god bad, big god good. Got it.”
“Ah’m sorry?” General Anderson said from his doorway as his slipped around him. “Don’t think I quite caught that.”
Akamori smiled politely and shook his head with a dismissive wave. “Nothing. Just talking to my sword.”
“Ah see. Izat somethin’ ya do often?”
“More than is probably healthy to admit to. Believe it or not, it actually talks back, too.”
The General studied him carefully. He wasn’t certain about Akamori. Not that Akamori could blame the man. Anderson coughed into his hand to redirect the conversation.
“My staff tells me you wanna go fight the Sauridius on New Xinjia. Now normally I’d have no qualms with sending more men into that shit storm. But the pointy’s won’t let any ships leave the planet. Too scared the boogey man is gonna come along and kick over their perfect little garden here.”
Akamori folded his arms and leaned back, ignoring the dig at the Eryn’s. “Wouldn’t you do anything you could to protect New Eden?”
Anderson nodded with a weary sigh. “Yeah, I suppose I would. Which is why it pains me to deny your request.”
Akamori shrugged. He opened a void pocket and fished out a big leather bag full of gold and gems. He set it down on the staff lieutenant’s desk. “That should cover the rest of my contract and my squad. We’re tending our resignations, effective now.”
The General’s eyes narrowed until realization dawned and he leaned back against the wall. “I see. It’s a shame. I can’t stop ya from going to help out on New Xinjia. Just like I can’t stop myself from tellin’ ya that the Crasher has a pretty limited crew. And I can’t stop ya from helpin’ yerself to the old girl if you were so inclined to assist us.”
Akamori smirked. He liked this guy. “We could use some gear. Most of our stuff was stollen recently.”
“Ah heard. Visit the quartermaster at the dock. He should be able to help. Fer a cost, of course.”
“Nothing of value is ever free.” Akamori said with a grin.