149 A Moment Of Introspection (1/2)
”The seven deadly sins...” I thought, a grim grin on my face as I was finally able to pick and choose which of the remaining six I was able to gain control over.
I had lived my whole life to date with influence over lust. Lust, though often conceptualized as sexual desire, was a bit more nuanced than that.
In truth, though I had used it as a way to weaponize sexual desire, lust was really just intense desire for someone or something. It was an incredibly handy thing to have control over, and I knew that I'd gain more power over it as a result of the second tier of influence over corruption I had just earned. That excited me.
The other six... Greed, pride, sloth, envy, wrath, and gluttony. I had learned a considerable amount about each of them during my time in my tower. All of them were incredibly handy things that a part of me really wanted to get my hands on. Especially now, in my conflict against Morehammer.
Greed. Greed was the overwhelming, obsessive desire for material wealth. It paired well with my powers over the earth, as I could now create things like gold and silver with but a thought. I could make someone infinitely wealthy if I felt like it, and pairing that with greed was an especially potent and devastating combination. With greed I could also have a lot of fun, getting people to serve me in exchange for both wealth beyond imagining and also by instilling greed in their hearts.
Pride. At it's worst it is the false belief that one is superior to someone else. Even in a less destructive state, it is still the embodiment of selfishness. It is the placement of one's own desires before the needs and welfare of others.
Pride can lead to all sorts of malicious behavior and it is a fantastic tool with which to corrupt people with good intentions. That in and of itself makes it worth considering. If I can become a master of pride... Who knows what sort of mischief I could create?
Sloth. The vice of apathy. This one is perhaps the most interesting one to me. Not only is it the opposite of diligence, Morehammer's personal virtue, it is also perhaps the most powerful of the deadly sins to have in a war. With it, I can turn the dwarves Morehammer will turn into his servants into apathetic creatures which my worshippers can slaughter.
With power over sloth, I'd no doubt I would gain a number of incredibly powerful abilities. I could also mix it with powers I already had, ones like the power to grant immortality to people. I bet I could even mix it with powers over dreams, or synergize it with lust in a number of ways. Sloth had a lot of potential.
Envy. It is not just generalized desire, but a desire for that that others possess. This is a truly powerful sin. In many cases, especially from what I've seen in the memories my worshippers have given me, wanting what others have is usually more than just taking something that belongs to someone else, but taking it from them. There's an almost sadistic component to this.
Powers over envy would allow me to more easily cause wars, much like powers over wrath would. With envy, I could also more easily foment hatred and strife. Envy and sloth were probably the two of the sins with the most society-wide impact if used correctly and cleverly.
Wrath. A simple sin but not one to be underestimated. I have felt this one before and I know just how powerful it can be. Wrath is merely uncontrolled or uncontrollable anger but that simplicity is powerful. Even the most carefully laid scheme can be undone in a moment of rage.
Combining wrath with powers over chaos, evil, or war would be incredibly powerful. I could do a lot of damage if I used powers over wrath on a demon, dragon, or a tribe of giants.
Gluttony. Excessive consumption of things to the point of waste. This particular sin, mixed with my powers over agriculture and famine, could be incredibly devastating if there were any communities I wanted to cause to waste away. This one was especially interesting to me, but at the moment I didn't really think it would be useful.
What should I pick? I wondered. I would continue to contemplate which of the remaining six deadly sins to pick, while I began to expand my mind once more and began to explore the world again using my powerful mind-domain abilities.
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The world wasn't still just because I was in my tower. The volcanic eruptions continued to spew countless tons of ash and other harmful substances high into the sky. People continued to pray to me for protection. I continued to answer prayers, idly scanning through them and picking and choosing a fair number of creatures to aid. That said, some groups definitely fared better than others.
Subterranean civilizations only learned of the eruptions through my mass notification, and since I had excluded dwarves the dwarves who lived in the deepest depths of the planet were sparred knowledge of the environmental catastrophes I was causing. They hadn't even been targeted by Morehammer yet, though I didn't doubt that the dwarven god would soon be on the move again.
Puerto Rico itself was doing fine, or at least as fine as any place on the surface could be. There were no volcanoes on or near the island, and this led to the place only experiencing the indirect effects of the eruptions. The skies above San Gerardo and Comillas were darkening due to the intense amount of ash in the air, but right now people could even breathe without too much difficulty.
The inhabitants of the Rodan forest were doing just fine and this was one area that I shielded from some of the chaos by warding away the ash in the air. I was able to blow it away thanks to my power over ash, even remotely. I did so to protect some of my most loyal followers, the goblin Cosechians who obeyed their dryadic high-priestess, Raiz.