17: People’s Power

The next morning the students were all abuzz. Not only was Felinia going to cover the Powers, but they would be allowed to start messing around with the Motes.

After quite a few times hearing this, Garion told those people “We don’t know anything about the Earth Motes. They suggested we hold off on altering them, and considering how twisted they can be for those who ignore their advise, I’m not fumbling around until I learn more.

“Just be careful!”

That left a wake of disappointment and lowered spirits in his path. He did not like it, but he had to warn them.

Garion also listened to a lot of speculation, and had to admit that the powers would probably concern the Earth Motes in part.

Felinia walked onto the stage and the room quieted down.

She gave the room a sweeping glance, and it felt like she was making eye contact with everyone.

Then it began.

“In my reality, there is a story of a guy who got powers based on spiders, who was taught a lesson about Power. It is as follows: With great power comes great responsibility. This holds true here. The powers you receive will be tied to your duties, and limited by them.

“You may eventually rule over entire worlds, but you need to maintain them is a satisfactory state or they will be lost to you.

“All these powers I am about to list are innate unto Estelen. I shall start with the passive ones first.

“You are what is technically classified as Immortal. In this you do not age past your peak, and are immune to all normal sicknesses and Poisons. The only ones to affect you will have to be on a level that can only be reached by the workings of extremely powerful Deities, and even then you will have massive resistance to them. This is a power all Quasi-Deities and above have.

“Those with Domains over things like Elements, or others things that can be used to attack will have automatic resistances to them. For example, a Deity of the Dead with have resistance to necrotic attacks, while a Deity of Greed may have resistance to mind altering attacks as they are focused on greed. Quasi-Deities and above may develop these resistances.

“Aura and Spiritual attunement comes next.

“You possess a very strong aura and your presence in a world may start to affect it. The longer you dwell in a place, the stronger the imprint you leave. A Deity of Light will make an area brighter, while a Deity of Darkness will make things darker. A Deity of Sickness passing a river may taint the water with their aura and those who drink of it downstream sicken. Yet a Deity of Healing could walk by the same river and the water would help people heal faster, or cleanse it of sickness. This is possessed by Quasi Deities and above, but also by powerful mortal beings.

“If you are in a place that opposes your Domains or Aura, it would take more to affect it. For example, a Deity of Fire being in the middle of the ocean in the middle winter while it is pouring sleet would have less of an impact than it was in a stony area. In the water example, they would mostly only heat the area just around them. In the stone example, stones might melt easier, or hold heat better. Maybe the plants and animals around there would become more adaptive to hot areas; animals like Lizard and plants like Firevines It would also take the place longer to cool down once the sun sets due to the heat absorbed by the stones.

“Residence control is an extension of this, and deals with your Motes. As your aura infuses where you dwell, it becomes like an extension of yourself. It starts to shape itself to suite your desires, may follow orders from you, and your awareness expands all of it. However, if there are opposing Auras, it may conflict with yours. If a group dwell there, it is best they accede to you being in control.

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

“Domain Awareness/Influence is also an extension of this as well. The Divine Spark helps you join with your totem, which is in part tied to your Domains. Thus you will possess awareness of things in your Domains, with limits. You will also be able to influence them.

“Your followers count as part of your Domain, and thus you have some slight awareness of things around them.”

She took a break to drink from a water bottle she had there and to let people catch up on their note taking.

“Belief empowerment follows. If you wish to refuse to accept some belief, it has to be focused on. That is normally only done in rare cases where they seek to prevent their totem, and thus themselves being warped by false belief in them.

“Hearing Prayers is the next part. It requires you to be able to think on many things at once, outsource how your power is used, or risk going insane due to all the voices in your head. Yes, imagine being able to hear a million people’s prayers all at once, and feel how they feel about those matters.

“This ends the passive powers you have, and now we continue onto the active powers you will have.

“There are normally two ways to solve the issue with people’s prayers. First is Performing Miracles. This is when you use you power directly. Imagine if people pray that someone would recover from a deadly wound that was going to kill them. A Deity directly intervenes. That is a miracle. Many lesser ones may not be noticed, so Deities tend to be flashy here so people recognize it was their work and they get belief from it.

“The second is to use a priest, paladin or other dedicated follower upon whom you bestow Clerical magic. They act in your place, using the power you give them.

“Next comes another use of your power: Warlocks. In this use of the word a Warlock is someone who receives power from another in exchange for their services. They make a deal and you bestow some power on them.

“This is linked to the next power: Magical contracts. You can magically bind people to deals, if both sides are in agreement. This is also how Demonic and Devilish deals are done. Many Quasi Deities can also do this. Just be careful for even a slightly unconsidered expression may bind you. I’ve heard of stories of people entering Fay lands, and a Fay creature meeting them, and telling them a name to call it by, and asking if he can have their names in exchange. After they tell him he vanishes, and they no longer have those names.”

She was silent here and people grew worried. She nodded and smiled “Yes. Be very careful what you say. If you say you would give anything some something and someone overhears you in passing, and gives it to you, then it may be considered a binding contract, and they could own you as a slave. Let’s just say I know some people who will never again say ‘bet my ass that won’t happen.’ Be afraid people, be afraid.”

Fear was deep in the crowd and Garion’s group paid close attention. Drenak nodded softly. “She is focusing on the worst possibilities, but she needs to. Well, I hope she’s focusing on the worst possibilities.”

Felinia continued. “The next power is being able to shape your form. I can do it, but I normally only use two forms.”

She shifted to her Teifling form and back.

“We can also Subsume other beings. That means merging with them. If they resist it, or are too different, it can cause problems. For example, a Deity of sickness trying to subsume a Deity of Healing would have a lot of resistance. It would be like having a split personality that is opposing you. You would not even be able to trust you own thoughts. Even if they kill the Healing Deity, the essence in them might be too difficult to manage. The conflicting focuses could cause mental problems. Another issue is that it can change the mind and personality of the one doing the subsuming. If a Deity of murder tried to subsume a Deity of Justice it killed, it might merge to make it become a Deity of Vengeance, vigilantes, executioners or goodly assassins.

She paused here and many of the more evilly inclined people showed clear signs of disgust and fear at that.

“You can also create beings from yourself, mostly as lesser Deities.

“You can create use many identities to draw faith unto yourself.

“You can create manifestations of yourself in different Planes of existence. These are called Avatars.

“You can use you Essence for many different things much easier than many people can try for. This includes Incarnations and Hosts. I will cover them latter.”

She looked at all of them. Many were getting close to being overwhelmed.

“You can also get the souls of your followers and take them to your Realm, which is you Residence. There you can have them continue as Petitions and eventually merge with you, or you can have them changed into other beings that serve you. Or you can do other things with them, including selling them, or using them to fuel spells. Maybe even yourself, although I recommend Soul Devouring there.”

Ok, the crowd was now overwhelmed.

“These are just the basics of the powers. We will look at them closer latter.

“Any questions?”

One student actually managed to think of a question “Can we subsume non-Deities?”

Felinia smiled. “Yes. It may be more difficult, but it can be done.”

With that the class was over and everyone staggered out.

They needed to sit down and process everything!