103 Worship And Freedom (1/2)
Whenever a creature began to worship me I experienced a sensation that I was growing more and more accustomed to. I felt a rush of alien emotions that surged into my heart.
This odd sensation was addicting and more than that it was unique, subtly different each time. This was true even now, even though I had billions of worshipers. Every single time I gained a worshiper I felt the sensation once more. It was even better when I gained more than one worshiper at a time.
The Ardor family, a clan of noble dark-elven slavers, were in the process of submitting to me. And each of them that did so, that devoted their hearts to me, I felt a great and potent surge of dark power seep into my soul.
This sinister feeling delighted me and made me feel the strange sensation of my sins crawling on my back. I liked it. I felt my own power growing thanks to these recent events.
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The living dark-elves knelt before me. In the moments since they saw their reanimated ancestors, they all dropped to their knees in front of me. I hadn't spoken since I told them to surrender themselves to me. And my words were effective.
I studied them and smiled. Their hearts were mine, gripped in a mixture of ambition and fear, and they recognized that I was basically the embodiment of power. They themselves were powerful creatures, but compared to me their power was nothing.
I then studied the newly reanimated dark-elves. They were three elves, all of whom were males. They were wickedly handsome, and the powers that reanimated them only accentuated their handsomeness.
They had muscular bodies and faces that looked to be chiseled from assorted dark metals by divine artisans. Their scarlet eyes were charming and I could sense the hypnotic power they possessed. I was also able to sense the thirst they radiated. I knew that if I unleashed these vampires freely, I'd be tacitly ordering a bloodbath. The knowledge of the weapon I had acquired in the form of the vampires made me chuckle.
”You all are to form a new order in my name. One that devotes itself first and foremost to me. And whose second devotion is to necromancy.” I told the assembled elves, living and dead alike.
”In exchange for your loyal worship and service, I shall protect you from your enemies and I shall allow the remainder of your mortal lives to be filled with prosperity and decadence. And upon your deaths, I will return you to this world as mighty undead beings.” I told the dark-elves. I looked at the vampiric dark-elves who were openly looking at me.
”I am a generous god. I can and will give your family a new avenue to wealth. I possess power over metals, and I would like to establish a mine below your familial crypt. I understand that such a wish might be seen as... disrespectful, but I have a reason for wanting this.” I explained, looking at my newest minions.
The three of them gave me amused looks, and waited for me to explain. I chuckled at them.
”Establishing a mine below the familial crypt, though it may feel... disrespectful, is actually a really wise move. None of the family members who'd be buried in the crypt will ever need it moving forward, but also this means that stealing from it will be virtually impossible. Since any thieves would have to escape your beautiful home with whatever loot they could carry.” I explained, a smug grin on my face.
This explanation caused my minions and worshipers to also cruelly smile. I sensed that they could keenly sense the wisdom in my words, however disrespectful they might have seemed.
”I can create skeletons to mine the metals in the mine and we can create a vault underneath another part of the estate. And since I can manipulate metals I can generate a literally unlimited amount of precious metals for you to use however you see fit.” I explained.
I felt keen gratefulness to one of the most significant upgrades I had gotten when I first gained access to the quest to become a minor elemental overlord. By that day's end, I gained the ability to manipulate and generate metals. It was an altogether incredible power, one that I have yet to truly abuse despite its incredible potential for abuse.
[Alert: You've created your first secret cult! Secret cults are orders of followers of yours whose activities are not known to the public.
Typically secret cults are cults made up of followers that are opposed to the societies they live in. This means these cults might be made up of secretive spies from foreign nations, assassins who follow your orders and at your discretion might also work as freelancers or families whose influence is increased by their affiliation with your followers.
Secret cults are one of a number of types of cults that you can create and command. They are probably your most influential cults for sowing dissent or disorder in complex societies since they possess freedom not possessed by other types of cults.
Cults can change their type over time, and at your discretion. Each type of cult has its uses and as a god, if you wish to control a large territory it is necessary to balance the needs and uses of various cults of a number of different types.
Secret cults often struggle with retaining and recruiting members though... Your first secret cult is a familial one and it is one that incorporates both the living and the undead so you've effectively curtailed that problem right away. Good job!]
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In the privacy of my own mind, I couldn't contain my joy. This was a decisive moment. This marked the establishment of my first secret cult devoted to evil ends.
I had gained a community-wide evil cult in the form of the reptilefolk who worshiped me as a god of death, war, and angry justice. I had gained a publicly evil cult in the form of the Dragonstone family who worshiped me as a warrior's god and as a god of laws and hierarchies, but now I possessed something incredibly valuable: a secretive cult.
By taking the Ardors and making them into a secretive, reclusive cult I could finally begin to make some serious progress among two specific subdomains that I had wanted to gain influence over for a while now: corruption and necromancy. Both subdomains were enemies of life and virtuous societies, and I knew that in making the choices I was making I would finally be able to gain needed progress for them.