“So I know that you have some basic knowledge about ‘Ascendants’ already but I’ll begin by telling you a bit about the different types of ascendants we know exist. Properly knowledgeable civilizations use the term ‘Ascendant’ to refer to four different, distinctive kinds of creatures: archdemons, cosmic gods, dragon lords, and sanguinarchs.” Chyliss explains as we step onto a large teleportation gate.
“Archdemons feed off of the eight deadly sins and grow in power through corruption, their attunement to their sins, and a few other power sources. They also tend to have hellish capitals under their control in a multiverse-spanning… super dimension for dark and twisted souls. It is colloquially known as the ‘Over Hell’.” Chyliss begins, causing me to envision the sort of afterlife associated with some faiths on Earth but amped up to a new and unholy degree.
“Dragon lords are unfathomably powerful dragons, masters of both greed and eight ‘draconic’ elements: fire, water, air, earth, poison, storm/electricity, light, and darkness. They lord over legions of dragons and command entire galaxies of dragons.” The thronemaiden declares, smiling as she talks about the second kind of ascendant entities.
“Sanguinarchs are not ascendants we know much about, but as far as we know they are umbral lords and shadowy sovereigns of various types of undead. They feed on connections of all sorts, and have access to powers that differ pretty significantly from those of other ascendants.” The woman tells me, making me wonder what they must be like.
“The only kind of ascendant that matters for this discussion is ‘Cosmic Gods’, and thankfully they are one of the two kinds of ascendants that those of us in Etherscape have solid knowledge about. The other kind are the dragon lords. Cosmic gods are divinities that have been empowered by their knowledge of at least one ‘Logos’ a word of creation spoken by the creator of the multiverse herself at the earliest known point in multiversal history. Each word is the original word for a concept pervasive throughout the multiverse, such as life, or war. These words form the basis for a god’s domain or domains.” Chyliss tells me as our surroundings blur and the device we’re on shunts us out of the command deck of the ship.
We go from standing in close proximity to the others to suddenly appearing in a darkened chamber. The walls of this chamber lack any doors and are instead curiously designed closets and other places of storage filled with strange technologies, which I realize are the ethertech I am here to be outfitted with.
My senses take the span of a heartbeat to fully adjust to my changed location and when they adjust I realize that I am somewhere in the depths of the ship. Velvet quietly springs to action, darting off of the gate and bounding ahead of Chyliss and I as the two of us step off of the gate.
“Cosmic gods have the largest diversity of personal power of all ascendants, with cosmic demigods of some domains, such as fertility, having next to no offensive abilities and physiques only as powerful as the baseline for cosmic gods. Such beings are still well and far beyond humans from Earth, but they would be unable to do anything more impressive than fight… say, a hundred well-trained ethermancers on their own.” Chyliss tells me, which is helpful but only a bit since I’ve never fought an ethermancer myself and my own ethermantic potential is far beyond the norm for ethermancers.
Velvet reaches one of the storage units and opens it up even as Chyliss pauses to think about what to say next. I watch the white-haired thronemaiden begin to open the unit and stare at its contents, her mind furiously recalling the details and abilities of each piece of ethertech she is studying.
“Members of all four types of ascendants signed the anti-aggression pact that rendered Etherscape neutral territory, as far as ascendants go. We learned of this goddess’s intrusion into Etherscape due to one of the signatories of the pact sending a message to some of the peacekeeping and law enforcement forces near the Staneeth Expanse.” Chyliss states, speaking of a region right beyond one of the portals leading in and out of Etherscape. Etherscape invaded the Staneeth Expanse millions of years ago and conquered the region. In the time since emperors and empresses have worked to protect the Expanse and it remains one of a handful of regions outside of Etherscape still controlled by the empire.
“The reason the ascendant, himself a cosmic god, could do this is because of one of the domains he is attuned to, that of spacetime. His attunement to the domain allows him to know when instances of it, such as the goddess in question moving from her territory into etherscapian space, occur. Such instances empower him, and even now the movement of things such as celestial bodies, or even just people going to and from work, transfer minute quantities of power into him and other cosmic gods attuned to spacetime.” Chyliss tells me, causing my eyes to widen.
“Wait a minute, so even if this goddess is… extra-universal, and the god who warned us isn’t, he can sense her movements?” I ask, which causes Chyliss’s facial expression to shift slightly as she thinks about how to answer my question.
“So in the case that you described, yes. This is not always the case, if for example there’s a vast gulf of strength between two cosmic divinities then the weaker one may not be able to draw power from instances of domains caused by the stronger divinity and wouldn’t know of it innately unless they had a stronger connection to the domain in question than the otherwise stronger divinity. The fact that the deity who warned us of the goddess could sense her at all helps us understand her overall strength level.” Chyliss tells me, which is helpful. Still her wording makes me darkly curious about something which I decide to act on and ask her about immediately.
“Could cosmic gods sense my actions? I mean I can imagine that if I’m at the End of Time cosmic gods right now might not sense my actions, but if I act here can they?” I ask, which makes her frown. She is quiet for nearly half a minute, during which time the only sounds that fill the room are the noises of Velvet grabbing ethertech.
“They can. Sufficiently knowledgeable and powerful cosmic gods could sense you from the moment you set foot in Etherscape. Sufficiently mighty and attentive archdemons also became aware of you within minutes, from the first time someone looked at you and had lustful, envious, or otherwise sinful thoughts, potentially even sensing your own sinful thoughts or actions.” Chyliss eventually confesses, causing me to stiffen and stop moving as I process her words.
“So… Some ascendants are already aware that Etherscape has a new emperor?” I ask, and Chyliss nods.
“That is actually a tricker question! So what cosmic gods and archdemons sense when they detect instances of domains and sins differs from god to god and demon to demon. A properly attuned god, such as one attuned to order and knowledge with sufficient influence over the domains probably could detect you from the moment Tepet realized your status. Over ascendants… well other ascendants would need a different kind of message. That said a formal proclamation was issued by the thronemaidens to all of the people of Etherscape and our most critical allies, including the signatories of the anti-aggression pact this morning, but yes. Many, many cosmic gods and archdemons learned of your existence within seconds or minutes of your arrival on Drinn. We had planned to teach you about the existence of these creatures slowly, and eventually even introduce you to friendly, benevolent ascendants before having you meet one in the wild like this.” Chyliss reveals, smiling sadly as she tells me that there was a formal plan in place designed to educate me as to the nature and powers of ascendants. My face darkens as I realize just how much information is unknown to me.
“So… What are the domains? Do we know all of them?” I ask, and I am delighted when Chyliss nods at me and smiles.
“We do! Or at least we are reasonably certain we do. When your ancient ancestor was in negotiations with the ascendants who signed the pact, some ascendants opted to reveal a select few of their abilities as a token of good faith. That initial knowledge, coupled with the knowledge we have gained from other interactions with cosmic divinities in the millions of years since the pact was signed allows us to be reasonably sure we have a complete catalog of the domains of cosmic deities.” She begins.
“There are twenty domains that we are aware of. The twenty known domains are love, lust, fertility, life, creation, death, war, knowledge, science, magic, psi, water, air, fire, earth, spacetime, order, chaos, light, and darkness. Additionally, cosmic gods don’t solely acquire power from their domains.” Chyliss says, as Velvet begins to approach me, armed with new ethertech.
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
“Cosmic gods have a number of power sources, each of which either perpetually supplies them with power so long as they possess examples of the source in question or grants them a tiny bit of power whenever an instance of it occurs. The basic power sources are a deity’s own innate energies, worship from other sapient beings, instances of their names being muttered or uttered, instances of sacrifices made in their name, the number of souls that are in their possession, artifacts they own, the worship they get from members of a race they favor, passive energy generated and distributed among members of their pantheon, instances of their domains, rituals performed in their name, and temples devoted to them or their pantheons. There are a number of complex factors that determine how much power an individual cosmic god gets from an individual power source, but put together… Well, when put together cosmic gods can be terrifying.” The brunette declares, and I am left in stunned silence even as Velvet reaches me and begins to outfit me in armor strikingly similar to Sif’s.
According to what Chyliss has just revealed even the weakest cosmic god can grow in might merely by sitting on their holy asses and allowing instances of their domains to occur. Hell, cosmic gods can sit on their aetheric butts and grow fat in terms of power by simply accruing innate power. It is weirdly like the slowly multiplying energy inside of me that seems to be fashioned from my omega energy mixing with my etheric energy… I wonder what that means…
I allow Velvet to place sabatons on my legs and pauldrons on my shoulders. I muse on what Chyliss has revealed to me and use that knowledge to carefully think about how to proceed, all while I am being dressed. Thankfully what she has revealed is mostly an expansion on what Delphi told me about non-ascended gods last night. There’s clearly a quantifiable difference, due in part to the concept of “Logos” or “Words of Creation”, between normal gods and ascended ones. I imagine that there is something similar occurring with dragons vs dragon lords, demon lords and archdemons, and between normal undead and sanguinarchs.
“The technology we’re putting on you is hyper-advanced ethertech. The sabatons have hovering and flying functionality, and by infusing some of your energy into the pauldrons you will activate a forcefield that surrounds you like a skintight layer of clothing.” Velvet tells me, smiling as she explains the potent ethertech she has now equipped me with.
“The forcefield is not the most durable thing in the world, but it will repel the strongest attacks used by non-ethermancers in Etherscape as well as some ethermantic attacks of middling power. Plus by speaking or projecting your thoughts into the pauldrons you can send messages to thronemaidens and other imperialists equipped with this type of technology.” Velvet explains, eagerly talking about the technology she’s outfitting me with.
“Normally I’d equip you with a customized weapon of your own, but between the scepter and the legendary blade, you have no need for a unique weapon.” She adds, smiling all the while. I examine the scepter. The scepter is casually orbiting me and deftly avoiding the thronemaiden, while my blade remains safely sheathed.
“Alright… So, I’ve only given you a basic loadout but between your powers and the presence of the thronemaidens, as well as Mirvel, you should be fine for now. That said, we want to go and get moving. Mirvel is waiting for us on the surface.” Velvet says, after studying my loadout for several seconds. She darts forward and kisses me on the cheek before skipping past me and gracefully leaping onto the teleportation device. She shuts her eyes and tells me to follow her, before vanishing when the device turns on.
I turn and nod at Chyliss, before walking to the teleportation gate, a series of circles embedded in the floor. I hear the sound of the machinery which surrounds me buzzing to life before I blink and when my eyes open I am standing in a wholly new location.
I am standing right outside of what looks like a factory of some sort though on a scale I cannot begin to meaningfully comprehend. Velvet is standing nearby studying a distant smokestack. Purple fumes pour out of it, and she smiles as she studies the technology. All around me I can hear what must be industrial scale or even beyond industrial scale machinery working constantly. The noise reminds me of what little I know about the hegemony that controls this planet.
The tel’Iomes are a military hegemony. They run massive shipyards, and if I had to guess I’d assume that wherever I am is one example of at least part of one such shipyard.
I get a beat to study the gigantic factory in front of me before I hear the faint noises of another teleportation gate activating near me. I snap my head in the direction of the noise and in doing so I get to see a new figure that I've never seen before.
A woman with a complexion similar to what Americans think Latinas look like appears behind me though not in a blind spot for me thanks to my enhanced senses. She is nude but her body is adorned in elegant jewelry and accessories. She is a vision, as beautiful as the other women I’ve met but also quite more elegant as well as more muscular than most of the women I’ve seen so far. A part of me grows more energetic in her presence but this is not the time or place, though the quickening of her heart as she studies me alerts me to the fact that the yearning I feel is reciprocated on some level.
The bronzed skinned woman approaches me, not knowing that I can already detect her. She is quick to make her presence known, as far as she knows, by darting forward and appearing in front of me. She immediately approaches me and smiles as she extends a hand towards me. I smile back at her and take her hand.
“Hello Princess Mirvel, it is a pleasure to meet you.” I say, sincerely as I lightly shake her hand. Her eyes widen in pleasant surprise when I immediately clock her and address her with at least some of the respect deserved by someone in her position.
“Hello Emperor Ignacio. It is a delight to meet you, though I do wish we could have met under different circumstances.” She replies, and I nod in agreement.
“It looks as though our union will be one that is baptized in the fires of interspecies diplomacy. That said, I have heard great things about the Iome hegemony and about you personally. I am reassured by your presence.” I tell her, sincerely. She brightens at my response, even as I hear the sounds of various teleportation gates targeting the area around Mirvel and I.
The thronemaidens appear around the princess and I, and immediately leap into action to secure the area. I hear Velvet brief Sif succinctly and Sif smiles at her fellow thronemaiden. Over the course of the next few minutes Mirvel guides us to an area situated not far from the place we first appeared in, an elegant housing complex tucked away in the shadow of the factory. As we reach a luxuriously furnished patio I spot a vehicle appear in the sky, one I immediately clock as a spaceship. I immediately pick an opulent seat near the edge of the patio and turn the seat to face the rest of the patio and the building it is affixed to.
“Alright friends, select a place to sit or stand in and commit to it. The newcomer is close.” I say, before tilting my head in the direction of the spaceship. No one questions me and as the vessel continues to close in on the planet that the Iome’s selected for this unusual and last minute meet and greet.
In less than three minutes the vessel is close enough that the thronemaidens can see it. I watch as it enters the planet’s atmosphere and rockets towards the sky directly overhead. After about forty five seconds, during which my future brides and the thronemaidens arrange themselves in different seats and in different areas of the patio, before I hear the quiet noises of teleportation gates targeting the patio. The diplomats appear first, men and women wearing bodysuits that hug and accentuate their curves and muscles. I nod at the diplomats, smiling as they bow at me and then I turn my attention to the space behind the diplomats, and I begin to watch the space curiously, waiting for the ascendant to appear.
----------------------------------------
Mynassa shuts her eyes as she senses powerful ethertech wash over her. She smiles when she senses the machine that is about to shunt her from inside of the frigate that has transported her from the Expanse and into Etherscape proper lock onto her destination. The diplomats have already disappeared, their abrupt disappearances classifying as a form of scientifically enabled motion and thus empowering the curious goddess.
She senses her body begin to move at speeds exceeding the speed of light as the teleportation gate activates and harmlessly hurls her through the solid matter of the frigate and towards the surface of one of the planets owned by the Iome hegemony. The motion counts as a powerful instance of her domain, synergizing with one of her domain perks pertaining to the domain of spacetime. She also senses when she comes to an abrupt stop and that prompts her to open her eyes.
As her eyes open her senses adjust to the barrage of new stimuli. She smiles as she smells the scents associated with an industrial metropolis, as well as hears an array of stunned gasps, even as a quiet corner of her mind is filled with information pertaining to the instances of the domains she’s attuned too that she is causing merely by revealing herself to the leaders of Etherscape, her radiant beauty so bewildering and universal that even the heart of the emperor himself is affected by it. Her beauty is a blistering assault on the senses and willpower of many mortals, and even when it doesn't make people lose themselves it can still soften them up and leave them vulnerable to Mynassa’s peaceful desires and nonviolent heart.
The first things she notices when she opens her eyes are the diplomats. They stand between her and the strangers, a lone man and a gaggle of heart wrenchingly beautiful women. She is familiar with them and easily ignores them.
Mynassa’s remarkable memory and her enhanced physique allow her to study the women in stunning detail. Even with as much as a wayward glance at the maidens and the other women traveling with the lone male the ascendant keenly memorizes each and every physical detail of all of the women present in the traveling harem. That said, her wandering eye comes to a stunned stop when she sees Ignacio for the first time.
The emperor of Etherscape is someone whose new, idealized appearance supernaturally blends approachability and conceptual masculinity. Some of his features emphasize masculinity more than others, such as the symbol of fertility between his legs or his dangerous looking limbs which weigh many pounds and consist entirely of potent, supercharged muscle. Other features of his, such as his warm, inquisitive eyes help hint at his friendly nature.
He is gazing at her and studying her with the same intensity that she is studying him. As the effects of his etheric powers and stunning form bespell and shock the ascendant, the ascendant’s own conceptual, reality-pleasing beauty washes over the omega-nova. It takes Mynassa’s eyes a beat to grow sensitive enough to let her see into the core of the emperor and what she sees stuns her.
Pheromones fill the lungs of the open mouthed ascendant as her eyes center and focus on the emperor. This allows the goddess’s vision to be enhanced enough to see the ether, the omega sparks, and the curious, mixed energy that is the product of when ether and omega energy marry and mingle. The goddess smiles as she recognizes this energy, possessing a strange connection to it herself.
“Vitalis.” She says in a voice so incredibly quiet that only the emperor hears it, and even then he only somewhat hears what she says. This results in him misunderstanding what she has just said. He looks at her curiously and asks a simple, one word question.
“‘Adonis’?” He asks, a confused look on his stunningly handsome face.