Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » The Goddess and The Prophet (1x1)

The Oracle of Silisim, a little feline girl who appeared to be not even seven years of age, dressed in a plain white dress accented by bracelets, armlets, anklets, a tail ring and a torc all made of polished bronze or iron or steel or polised stone; simple peasant ornamentation.

She was walking through a meadow, a beautiful place of vibrant greens and many flowers, with a great many different kinds of creature. She only recognised one or two, but those that she did recognise brought a vague surprise, when a bird with iridescent almost jewel-like feathers flew past she shook her little head, "I've not seen a bird like that in... hm..." She frowned slightly, "Before the Cataclysm. How long ago was that now? Fourteen thousand years? More?" She sighed slightly, it got harder and harder to seperate the past and the future.

Eventually she came to the centre of the meadow and found the being she was searching for, The Oracle bowed low before the Goddess of Birth and Rejuvenation, though not her goddess. She had a very specific reason to seek out this particular being, "Hail and well-met, Kariah." The child said formally her voice held a stately almost queen-like dignity that should not have come from such a small child, "I am Oracle guardian of Silisim, and I have come here from a world we call Aerin to ask your aid. A time fast approaches when one born of the Six Bloodlines of my people shall go unto an ancient and cursed place, a place once home to my people but since despoiled and made unclean. She goes there to retrieve a most powerful and sacred relic and to cleanse the city... She is the culmination of millennia of toil on my part. I wish to recruit your aid, for the gods of my people are forbidden from interfereing in these events and I sense... a stirring. I fear that there are beings that will attempt to prevent that which must come to pass."

The Oracle paused a moment before saying, "If she fails in her task, then my people will be doomed. In time the Elder Gods will break free of their prison, and if she fails in this then they shall destroy us and shall hold once again lordship and dominion over Aerin... their insanity will go uncured, unchecked and it will consume the world and every living thing there... and spread beyond. The taint of the Corruption engendered in them by the Primordial called Chaos will compel them to go forth and destroy, they will swallow all light and hope, they shall devour all things, even unto the furthest star and all that is, all that was and that that would have been will die and be no more... my universe will end."

Despite the horrors she'd just listed there was a strange aloof detachment in her recounting, as if she didn't care one way or the other if her entire universe would be destroyed, "That Which Must Not Be." She said simply, "I have laboued for... aeons to prevent it. It is my task, my duty set before me by the Primordial Time herself, wife of Chaos." There was a slight curiosity in her tone now, "I wonder what shall happen once my duty ends... that is one of the few things veiled from me." She sighed softly, "Maybe I'll die. That might be a nice change."

Kariah had been resting quietly in her meadow sanctuary, after all even gods needed to rest sometimes. She was lying on her belly with her head resting between her front paws. Her eyes were closed with the only thing that showed that she wasn't sleeping were her two tails waving slowly in the air and her ears which twitched as the as the old spirit in a young body spoke. Oh she could tell that while the oracle had a child-like body, her mind and soul were ancient. It would be a poor showing if the goddess was unable to recognize the souls that she had helped give life to.

Once the Oracle finished speak, Kariah opened her eyes and sat up before turning her head to look at her visitor. It was extremely rare to have visitors here as the meadow was well protected against outsiders. One would never be able to find it unless they knew the way or were divine. So the fact that the Oracle had been able to find it gave credence to her words. That and the color of her soul was enough to convince Kariah that the old feline girl spoke the truth.

"I assume that there is reason for your worries or you wouldn't have found your way here as finding the sanctuary of a god is no mere trifle. As it stands, I very rarely grant my aid to mortals, after all, I can't interfere with the world of mortals on a whim after all or everything would be far more chaotic then it already is. However what you ask for is a matter of great importance and thus I will give my aide to your cause."

(Btw, just to be clear. She can recognize souls, but there is only so much she can glean from them. She can tell their age, she can also tell their alignment by their color. The darker the soul, the more wicked they are. She can also tell if they have seriously twisted or damaged their souls through something like black magic. However she can't see things like motives, thoughts, lies, or anything like that.)

The Oracle nodded, bowing her head respectfully, "our aid is most appreciated... it may be that I will have no need of it, but I always ere on the side of caution." She frowned slightly "My sight is being... veiled. A presence is obscuring the future from me, and the threads are becoming... difficult to grasp. Something is changing the order of events that I foresaw. Something powerful." She shook her head, "It is Toren I know it must be. He is stretching forth his will from the prison in which he and the other Elder Gods have languished these many aeons."

The Oracle smiled slightly, "But I have dealt with the Dark One before, I am old enough to remember the first time he and his kind were locked away, he knows me... and somewhere in the depths of his soul, I know that he must fear me." The child turned away from the goddess, "We should go unto Aerin, to the land of Terel'Liren, to the city of Oberoth. There, in the most ancient of all cities, resides Queen Elessia. I have waited long enough; it is time that I put certain events in motion. The funeral of her brother should be occurring soon. I must be there to witness an event, to ensure that it comes to pass. It will be a sure sign that she truly is the one for whom I have waited for all the long Ages of the world."

(Oracle is probaly the closest thing to 'True Neutral' you can get. Her ultimate goals could be considered good, and she strives against a future that is evil, but she has done, or caused there to be done, many terrible things over her life. By now she's mostly detached fom the world, an almost disinterested observer who ensures that child will be born or that man dies, or this nation rises as that nation falls. She's just as likely to side with the genocidal tyrant as she is with the righteous just king, depending on what futue acts she wishes one or the other to take.)

[Tell me a bit about Toren?]

{Toren is the King of the Elder Gods, and was once a benevolent diety of order and law, a craftsman and creator who took delight in all aspects of the world of Aerin that he and his family created. Unfortunately deep within his heart and the hearts of all the Elder Gods there was a sickness - the Corruption which slowly drove them to insanity. They became cruel, capricious and enslaved their creations. The Corruption was placed in them at the moment of their creation by an even older order of deities called The Primordials who were the personifications of the primal forces of the universe, the ones that created the universe in Terelain mythology. The eventual maddening of the Elder Gods was the parting shot of the Primordial called Chaos, father of the Primordials, who fought a civil war, the Dawning War, against his wife, Time, over the creation of the universe.)

[I see, so Kariah would be a deity from a separate universe and immune to this sickness...or maybe over the course of the rp, since she would be in that universe, maybe she was having trouble fending off the sickness herself?.....Then again, I kind of put my foot in my mouth for that with my first post about her recognizing the oracle's soul.

Another question, would Kariah know who Toren is? I'm trying to avoid blending ooc with ic and I don't know exactly how much she would know.]

(I'm not sure if Kariah would know about Toren and his ilk, though it's certainly possible. The Corruption is unique to the Elder Gods and isn't infectious to other deities unless they come into prolonged contact with them and get converted to their world-view, since The Corruption is first and foremost a change in the word-view of the deities that rendered them insane. The Corruption also affects regions they inhabit or inhabited and creatures they make or manipulate, turning them more brutal and savage, poisoning and despoiling the land. The Old Ones are sealed away, so their influence on the world is very slight at the moment, lingering in old places and in the warlike ways of the Younger Races.

Since the city they'll be going to later on was destroyed by the Cataclysm the Old Ones caused I suppose it's possible that Kariah would be affected by their lingering presence, but she'd have to stay there for an extended period of time for the whispers of the Elder Gods to Corrupt her. She might very well be immune, since she's not of this universe and therefore seperate from and removed from The Primordials and their effects on the universe, like the Corruption of the Elder Gods. It depends on how you want to play it.)

(I think I'll go between the two extremes when it comes to the corruption. She will be resistant, but not immune to it. The reasoning will be that as she interacts with this other universe, that interaction isn't entirely one sided. Soas time goes on, she will become more vulnerable to corruption. However she will never be as vulnerable as a proper god from that universe will be. I think I will also choose the middle path when it comes to her knowledge of Toren and his ilk. She will know them some, but the oracle will know more.)

Kariah listened silently as the oracle spoke and then raised a paw when she finished. She then said. "Before any traveling is to be done, I need to know more about Toren. I have a basic understanding of your universe, but no more then that because my business isn't with your universe. The same is likely true for Toren when it comes to me. Now since knowing your adversary is an important step towards victory, I would like to talk here where we are sure to be free from interruptions. I would also like to know what would be an appropriate appearance at our destination. Oh I could make myself invisible, but it's best not to rely on one thing entirely."

After it was readily clear that as she was now, Kariah would stick out like a sore thumb. It wasn't every day that you encountered a huge, talking, winged nekomata shaped feline. Second there was no need to rush since it would take no time at all to get to their destination, after all, it's hard to be late for something when you can teleport.

The Oracle frowned a little, "It is... a long story. But I will try to be concise." She paused, collecting her thoughts, "To tell you of Toren, I should probably tell you why he was created in the first place. As I said before, in the beginning there were The Primordials the children of Time and Chaos. Time had a vision and saw a vision of a jewel suspended in darkness and she conceived a desire to make this jewel come to be... she therefore went unto her children and convinced them to commit to long labours, to create the universe. Chaos feared this universe, for it represented order and a taming of the primeval chaos and thus a lessening of his power and he sought to prevent his wife from completing her task, causing the Dawning War."

Oracle paused and sighed, "In truth, all the history of my universe stems from that conflict. It ended only when Time seduced Chaos and bore from him her last child, Order, who fought his father and defeated him, casting him and all his followers out. The conflict had drained the remaining Primordials and their work was incomplete, therefore they joined together to create the Elder Gods who were tasked with finishing what they had started. Chaos sought to mar the creation of Time so that it would one day be destroyed and his full power returned to him, thus he created The Corruption and infected the newborn Elder Gods with it so that all of their works would be imperfect, allowing chaos into the universe."

Oracle paused again, to consider her next words, "Toren was king and lord of the Elder Gods, or at least of the group of Elder Gods who came to Aerin to fill it with life. They laboured for aeons to craft Aerin and make it ready, they made the sea and the sky and the mountains and all physical things, but no life for The Corruption had festered within them unnoticed. It is said that Toren fell asleep and had a dream in which he saw my world teeming with life of all kinds and a voice spoke unto him and commanded him to mix the dust of the earth with the life-giving waters of the ocean and to craft a doll from it and then to set a star from heaven in its breast. Toren awoke and did as his dream had bid him and thus came to be Terel the father of my people. Terel made for Toren a gem with powerful magics, and this gem we called the Stone of Ancestors and with this jewel did Toren and his followers make life for the world of Aerin, peopling it with plants and animals of all kinds."

The Oracle smiled slightly, "Terel and Toren and the other Elder Gods lived in time in peace and were content with their work, but Terel saw that all creatures came in pairs and had children and multiplied across the world and was filled with loneliness, for he was alone in the world and there were no others like him. Toren saw this and was troubled for in truth Terel was his dearest creation and it pained him to see Father Terel saddened, and so Toren made for Terel a wife who called herself Tara and they loved each other greatly and had many children, six sets of twins, and from these children came the Six Bloodlines of the Terelain race. Pleased greatly by the Terelains the other Elder Gods went forth to make their own races; the Ikari who had great wings and could fly, who roamed ever in the mountains and plains, the Cerendiel who were graceful and beautiful above all beings, who crafted wonders in honour of their creators, they created the Fae, beings of magic who were closest than any other to nature and the living earth. For many ages the Elder Races lived in peace with their creators and made many great works of beauty for them and were content."

Oracle sighed heavily and shook her head sadly, "But it ended, of course. The Corruption festered. Toren, who was a kind and loving god, who revelled in crafting and making, who delighted in song and music, grew distant and aloof. Haughtiness grew to arrogance, arrogance to disdain and disdain into disgust. What once filled him with joy caused only anger and that anger grew fierce into hatred and insanity. Terel went unto his beloved creator, to discover why he had withdrawn from the world and was horrified to discover the terrible changes that had taken place. Toren left his seclusion and began brutally enslaving those who had once given their love freely, whilst Terel fled from the Halls of Toren and went unto his wife who dwelt in the Halls of Elvrenir, Lord of the Oceans, only to find that the sickness had spread and the other Elder Gods were enslaving their subjects, not only Terel's Children, but the Children of Cerend and Ilindos and Falrun, who were the fathers of the Cerendiel, Ikari and Fae.

The suffering was terrible and Terel resolved to flee with his wife and their descendants into the wilds and he gathered the Patriarchs and Matriarchs of the other Elder Races and a host of their children and they fled. This brought even greater madness and hatred in Toren and he pursued them and attempted to kill Terel, but the winds would not smite him, the sun would not burn him, the earth would not swallow him nor the seas consume him, for he was their brother and they would not slay him. Enraged beyond all measure Toren forged a weapon, a sword of darkness, and struck Tara down. Terel was overcome with pain and horror for she was dying... but what was dying to a man who had never before seen death? Toren taunted Terel, revealing the nature of death and cursing all creatures to die. Terel rose up against his creator and smote him and fled with his people into the wilds and declared Eternal War upon his creator and all the Elder Gods... and so the Elder Races fought against their creators for many long years, causing the Elder Gods to make the race of Dragons to hunt them, but who in turn rebelled and joined the other Elder Races and overthrew them.”

Oracle frowned, “Of course there is more afterwards, the Second Golden Age of Aerin, the first Kingdom, the Glorious Alliance of the Elder Races and then the return of the Elder Gds, the Cataclysm and the breaking of the world and the destruction of the Cerendiel, the Ikari and the Fae, leaving only the Terelains and the Dragons who ever dwindle in numbers. But that is the basics of what occurred. Toren was a craftsman above all else and loved to create, but now he is twisted into a destroyer. He is powerful; more so than any other Elder God, but the madness and his long imprisonment have weakened him. If he is ever freed then he will regain his strength and gather the other Elder Gods to make war yet a third time upon their creations. This… is inevitable. There are three outcomes only to this final conflict. Either we are victorious and the Elder Gods are destroyed or freed from The Corruption and restored… or they defeat us and all that is will perish.”

The Oracle frowned at that, “Which is why the Exalted One must find the Stone of Ancestors and restore the Terelain race to its former powers, else we will be weakened when the time of the Elder Gods’ return is at hand.” She then examined the goddess for a moment, “Well, the Cataclysm-born are many and varied. They are the Younger Races. There are the humans, the Nymphaic Races, the reptilian Isthenir or the wolf-like Gillorians… though disguising you as a Gillorian would be ill advised. I suppose the easiest thing to do would be to disguise you as a Terelain. Just enhance your feline characteristics; your fur colour can be anything you desire, since we’re a rather varied people.”

[Would something like this be good as a disguise?]

[Well, so long as she has only one tail, no wings and a less eye-catching colour than purple, I don't seem why not. I mean, purple's not exactly the most common fur colouration out there... and it's normally the result of a hex or potion gone wrong. Which isn't all that bad, if annoying. It's better than having your house teleport halfway up a mountain or turning into cheese.]

[Huh? I don't see any purple....It's all blue and white. Also i figured it would be just one tail and no wings.]

[Oh yeah... I might be a tiny bit colour blind. Red/green mostly, but similar colours like blue and purple or certain shades of yellow and green confuse me.]

{I see. I was wondering if that was the case, well would blue be all right?}

[Maybe a colour that's less unusual? Terelains have all sortsof colours and patterns, like normal cats, but I don't think I've ever seen a cat with blue fur.]

[Silver white? I know that's still a bit unusual tho. It's just I would like to at least use a colar that she actually has if at all possible. xD]

(That can work, white's uncommon but not unheard of, the same with silver, though silver is generally a secondary colouration)