The declaration of war by a Dungeon, against a Dungeon was an unheard of concept for a long time. Before the first declaration in the year 53 by the Dungeon now known as the Reaper Heretic Core it hadn't ever occurred to any Core previously that war with another Dungeon wasn't only possible, but was beneficial.
The Reaper Heretic Core ascended much faster through the realms of what is possible for a Core to achieve. Solely by plundering the materials needed from other Dungeon Cores.
The Reaper Heretic was named so for attempting to usurp the Gods' control of the flow of souls, and releasing propaganda that compared Dungeon Cores to a bakers' oven. Some people believed the propaganda and have been labeled as heretics as well, moving to the lands the Reaper claims and protects. Others saw it for what it was, a power grab to obtain more servants.
These days Core warfare is much more common, though they have their own sets of rules so as not to draw the ire of mortal armies. Most Cores have avatars and make contracts with humans, trading the Mortal soul for that of a Monster soul, improving the original body while stripping away anything that could be considered a lifespan. These Contracts also seem to lose themselves over time, tending to become mindless puppets of the Dungeon Core in question.There are a few Eccentric Cores where that is not the case.
Sadly there is too many Cores out there in the world to keep track of them all. Couple that with the fact Cores perceive time on a different scale as most flesh and blood races in the world and some Cores don't even get to see a single adventurer. All cores can be broken through enough damage to the Crystal, typically buried off in the deepest room, and behind several traps, puzzles and monsters.
Important to note is that while the Reapers' Core has been reached a few times, and described in detail by those who reached it. Any attempts to damage it led to near immediate death of the attacker. We have learned that magical means, such as spells or enchantments work the best, and that the pedestal underneath the Core also counts as part of the Core.
Destroy the Heretics' Core, be freed of your sins.
Prisoner Pamphlet from the Church of Racell, God of Light - Circa Year 54 of the Grand Hegemony
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It took a year of planning and effort. It wasn't a wasted time either. Some people were outraged by what I'd revealed on the nature of Cores. As they damn well should be. The last year had seen several cores broken by the people of this plane, simply because they didn't want to be eaten by the Gods.
Others however thought it was just lies in an attempt to garner more people to my Island, which is now a peninsula. A video from my past life comes to mind, "The history of the universe, I guess." More people, brought more money, brought more people to make more food to feed the people. So now I'm the owner of a society for a hat.
I don't go outside much anymore, it's easier to deal with the lawbreakers at night, than during the day. Some people worship me, and I hate that. I despise all religion - even my own. Others think that they're strong enough to fight my Avatar, issuing a challenge in the street when they see me. It's why I'm writing this journal/diary/text on the wall to keep myself from going back to insanity from isolation.
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Erifis isn't the same as much anymore. She's a strong independent woman, who often times has religious zealots jump her in the streets. She's died only once and seems changed by it. Same goes for Tomas, he keeps most of his personality when he revives it seems like, but mostly he just wants to ask questions and get answers. Then he poofs off, back to make stuff to sell or write his books or whatever.
Tomas was the first one to die and revive, he was trying to make weaponry, got the chemicals wrong for gunpowder, and he blew up. Only to reappear like nothing happened laying on the floor in front of my Core. Then Erifis was assassinated by the Church of Racell. She kinda tucked away into a shell I haven't been able to crack her out of. She did learn better self awareness and started training with a sword afterwards though. She's foiled four other assassination attempts and If I had to guess would be about half the level I'm at currently.
On that front just breaking one of the Old Cores gave me so much power I kind of became addicted to it. According to Sym, who finally decided on HIS pronouns, I'm probably the equivalent of a level 300 Human. I still can't wrap my mind around the magic mumbo-jumbo of this world though. I smashed the last Old Core a week ago, and with it I regained enough strength to be able to phase through objects again.
I try to talk to Erifis on occasion but she just listens and doesn't respond. If she does respond it's simply an affirmative or a negative and always a one word answer. I've gotten much better at controlling what I send over the Core connections and haven't been flooding people with my rapidly changing emotions.
Mysty, Betty, Sym, and myself have been working on trying to remove the soul changing effect my Core has on people. Mysty is a very beautiful black lady Dragon now. Not just a Wyvern, she's grown so much. Betty is much the same as she was, a little bit bigger, she's smarter too and sends fuller thoughts. Although much like her species is known for, the thoughts jump around from topic to topic.
Hopefully if we can solve the soul changing bit and remove that "feature" I can get my old friends back. I miss talking with people, and I don't want to make more contracts if they're all going to lose themselves over time. My monsters are nice, and they're real, but being mine means they have to like me. I don't want that. I'd rather them decide for themselves, which is why it's important I solve this.
I've been scrawling these entries for the last half a year, it's my only way to not go insane and while it helps to have people show up for performances, I didn't really listen to that many songs in my old life. I really didn't learn to play more than thirty or forty of them on the piano. I never learned to play the drums or any other instruments, and while Otto does sing on occasion, it's not the same without the accompaniment.
The Strings of Fate are so dense coming out of the top of my Core that it looks like a bug net of strings. They lead all over the surface world, not just my peninsula. I've learned that some of them snap before they get to my area, others are here one moment and gone the next. So it isn't a set in stone future forecast. I'm grateful for that, being unable to decide for yourself what is going to happen would be my final straw and I'd just break my own core at that point. I'd like at least to have the illusion of controlling my fate thankyouverymuch.
To that end, I think I'll be heading down to find Brille again. I got so much from eating the other Cores, I would like to either contract with her, or failing that - test myself against her. She seems to be the weakest of the Gods. She doesn't really have many followers, and when mages become a cleric of hers they become necromancers instead. She doesn't seem to eat the souls, and I don't think any of the old cores were aligned to purpling the souls.
I'd like to leave her be if possible, unseating a God would make the others angry in the best case. Fearful in the worst case, since a caged animal fights much harder than one that isn't afraid. I'll see if I can get her to just chat for a while. Sorry wall but writing only is good for so long. Well I know what I'm planning and I've left it here in case someone wants to know what I'm doing. Wish me luck. - Big T