167 Dastardly Deal Making (1/2)
In the wake of hearing the words of Morehammer, the very first thing I did was begin to search through my plethora of law domain powers. Something I immediately noticed as I searched through the domain's abilities was that there were not only a considerable number of powers, these powers felt a step above the other powers I had acquired over the course of my life to date, particularly with regards to alignment abilities. It was impressive honestly, though the sheer number of mind-altering abilities was a bit disconcerting.
[Law domain passive powers:
Ascension: This is a synergistic power that utilizes the faith domain and the law domain as well as the truth subdomain. With it you can cause creatures who worship you to recognize you as the being they worship no matter which of your guises they worship you as, and you can also cause creatures to recognize you as a god even if they don't already worship you.
Authority Aura: You are capable of exuding an aura of supremacy that causes all creatures to recognize you as an authority figure of supreme power. This aura is especially powerful on lawful neutral or lawful evil extraplanar beings, where it is likely to cause them to submit to you and to vow to serve you outright unless they have extremely powerful wills. Submissive beings submit to your will. Among mortals members of noble families are most vulnerable to this power. Your aura also has other powerful effects.
Magic cast near you from schools of magic you possess influence over fails unless you say otherwise. Creatures of any species that are attracted to males become incredibly attracted to you. Lawful creatures who submit to you as a consequence of this power gain a tattoo that isn't unlike the brand you give witches, warlocks, and wards, that ties them to you and allows you to send sensations to them, as well as cast magic through them. This ability also upgrades over time.
Advanced Contract Creation: You can create contracts with a wider assortment of beings, even other divinities, and higher beings. These contracts are binding and if you create a contract with a being more powerful than yourself you gain copies of some of their powers or domains, if they are gods.
Neither you nor the other party in the contract can break the rules of the contract. This power is so powerful that even if the other party is stronger than you it cannot break the contract. The agreed-upon terms must be mutually agreeable, otherwise, they will not be in the final contract. Lie-based powers do not trick this power.
Organization Creation: You can create organizations and induct lawful beings into them. These can be cults, armies, or even nations. You can also grant creatures various levels of authority over the organization in question though all will be subservient to you and ultimately recognize you, in some form, as the true leader of whatever you create using this power. This is a synergistic power that combines the law domain with a number of other domains most especially the civilization domain.
Order Mastery: You gain mastery over the concept of order. If there is an underlying structure or purpose to something you can detect it. As an example, if on a massive battlefield enemy forces are launching probing strikes that may seem unorganized and opportunistic you can detect the underlying purpose behind the attacks. You can also cause these attacks to fail to achieve their purpose.
This power instills you with great authority and causes you to be seen as the source of order when you use it, at least by mortals. Lawful creatures who are in your presence as you use this power actively may begin to worship you. You can also induce order, transforming a chaotic moment into an orderly one merely by wishing it to be so. How this manifests is context-sensitive.
Seal Mastery: You can create and apply seals to both living creatures and inanimate objects. Seals can have various effects on people and things. One example that would fit you well is a lust seal, which is a secret tool that you can use to punish the chaste or empower the lustful.
One way to use a seal would be to plant a lust seal on someone that makes them more charismatic if they indulge in lustful acts. Or to place an anti-violence seal on someone that eats at their life-force if they so much as raise a hand at someone.
Subordinate Empowerment: You can now exert more direct and indirect control over creatures who worship and serve you. This synergistic power grants you greater influence over your minions and allows you to perform a number of acts, not the least of which include: creating quests for your subordinates, granting experience multipliers to minions that allow them to speed up their level-ups, and also speed up things like their natural health or stamina regeneration.
The sort of powers I had acquired related to law, order, structure, and authority were... truly incredible. Domination and Organization Creation in particular were especially powerful. I looked at Morehammer and began to speak.]
”So... You're willing to leave me and my followers alone if we just leave?” I ask, beginning with a probing ”clarifying question” to ensure that I understood his position. He chuckled at me, possibly believing me to be ignorant and not have listened to him but he nodded.
”Yes. If you and your followers leave, then I shall in fact be willing to leave you alone. If you and your ilk perform a... dark exodus, then you would be free to live in another world, undisturbed by my followers and I.” The vestige explained. He was lying again, and I didn't doubt that he had some strange goal in mind. One that required time to fulfill. That said if I had to bet which of the two of us could grow in power faster I didn't doubt that I had him beat.
I studied him, curiously considering his words for a few moments. Perhaps five seconds of silence passed between the two of us before I finally spoke.
”I possess a potent power that allows us to make a binding contract. If we are to actually do this I would require that a contract be made. Is that acceptable to you?” I asked the creature standing in front of me. He looked at me and was silent for a few moments before he began to smile.
”Do you possess the 'Advanced Contract Creation' power? At your age? You are perhaps less than half a year old, aren't you? That is... an impressive feat unless you born a lawful god. And something tells me you weren't.” The god observed, a smile on his face as he spoke to me.
________________________________________________
Internally I was mulling over a few of my never-before-used powers. I was in a precarious situation and a part of me wanted to try and build some distance between Morehammer and I. I knew of two powers that if used in conjunction would allow me to do that. The first of them was my power to make an avatar. This power would allow me to scout other solar systems thanks to the other power on my mind.
The second power I was mulling over was one of my favorites. It was called ”Stellar Awareness” and was a truly potent power. With it I had access to an older map of the cosmos, but if I wanted it to be truly powerful beyond my current solar system I needed to add other stars to my awareness. And to do so I needed to visit other stars. Which I could do with an avatar.
In a moment of potent decisiveness, after thinking about my powers for perhaps half a minute, I quietly made a choice. For the first time in my life I created an avatar. And far from me, the eldritch and divine processes needed to construct one began for the first time in half a million years.
________________________________________________
Deep in the heart of a volcano located far beneath the waves, something miraculous was occurring. Something... divine.
The hottest part of the underwater volcano flared to life. Magma surged towards one point in particular and began to solidify and harden, forming an eerie shell in the vague shape of a man. This shell was still for a few moments as more and more magma hardened around it to form the outlines of all four of its humanoid limbs.