196 Interlude: A Cult Of Life (1/2)
On a planet in the same galaxy but not the same solar system as Torus and Salifinos, a quiet but not tiny temple devoted to Althos stood in the heart of a fertile valley. This temple was the heart of a small community that was populated by members of a number of species, human, dwarf, elf, and even minotaurs and a few odder species as well.
Unlike many Althonian communities throughout the galaxy, this particular community had existed before Althos made himself known to its inhabitants. The temple however, unlike the rest of the community, was fairly new and its clergypeople were all youthful men and women of various species.
The sun had just risen over the mountain to the east of the mountain, and it was roughly 6:30 in the morning as its sunlight began to race across the valley and towards the temple. Within its depths lived a number of clergypeople, and those of them that awoke the earliest had just woken up.
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[Special Notification:
Congratulations on acquiring the third tier of influence over the nature domain. Normally for creatures who are only gods, as in the overwhelming majority of gods that have existed until you came into existence, one needs to reach the third tier of influence over nature before one would begin to gain lordships. Obviously, that is not the case with you, being as you are an elemental overlord as well as a god.
The purpose of this notification is to alert you to the uniqueness of your versions of the third tiers of the nature domain, and the elemental subdomains, coupled with your being a true elemental overlord. It is now fair to call you a fire, liquid, earth, air, and nature god. You have not reached the final tiers of influence over that domain and those subdomains, but you are as close to them as you can be without becoming a greater god.
Enjoy the considerable powers over nature and the elements you now possess, as well as the added reward of becoming a true elemental overlord.]
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In a darkened room that sat at the far end of the tiny temple, a single human priest was conducting the first of the daily rituals he had assigned to himself. He was on his knees right in front of his bed and his eyes were closed. He was muttering a reverential prayer that he hoped his god heard, the first of many that he would utter throughout the day.
”Lord-god Althos, please grant me the wisdom and patience needed to be a successful and pious servant of yours today. Please allow me to know your will and the skills needed to fulfill your designs. Please bless the people of Golden-Gate and guide us through your chosen servants so that we may please you.” The pious man quietly uttered.
The man's body began to radiate an aura of potent, and harsh white light. The light spread from him and banished the darkness that perpetually invaded his room whenever night fell on the tiny community he had long lived in.
The man's eyes relaxed as the harsh and truth-seeking light seeped out into the room and fell over the room's sparse decorations and furniture. The light fell first over the unmade bed that sat in one corner of the room. The priest frowned at the sight but he knew that one of his master's creations, strange entities made of metal that only attacked people out of self-defense and attended to menial tasks throughout the temple, would attend to it and the bed would be made when he retired to the room at the end of the night.
The man sighed and he turned his back on his bed, an object which even by itself dominated a desolate corner of the room. Upon turning he was able to see other furniture throughout the room. The most prominent bit of furniture in the room aside from the bed was a single vanity next to a small closet. Aside from it, other bits of furniture included a tiny table and a quaint desk.
The priest was already dressed and so he ignored the vanity and the other bits of furniture. Instead, he quietly walked towards the door that'd lead him out of his room and into the temple's inner sanctum, a common area for the Althonian clergy.
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[True Nature Deity Details:
As a true nature deity, your powers over and ties to nature are far stronger than they've ever been. You also possess far more potent and precise powers over the elements now, as well as the ability to tie elements and their properties into your other powers.
The new plant subdomain is a potent subdomain that unifies and empowers all plants. With it you can grant permanent sentience and sapience to plants, have an innate empathetic connection to them, and can utilize a number of significant powers, including the ability to create plants from nothing.
To gain further influence over this subdomain, use its powers freely and regularly.
True Nature Deity Prestigious Passive Powers:
Absolute weather manipulation: You are strong enough to have total control over weather. And now for the first time you can control and create thunderstorms which are advanced phenomena that required influence over subdomains and domains. No force, even divine artifacts, can undo the weather you handcreate.
Agro-Aura: You can wreathe yourself in plants as an aura which immbolizes your enemies, uses enchanted pollen to charm neutral characters, and heal allies through restorative pollen and fruits.
Agrogenesis: You can create plants from nothing. As a result of control over the agriculture subdomain, you can now create crops from nothing. This is a wonderfully meaningful power and by using it you can do all sorts of things.
Agrokinesis: You can command and manipulate plants. This is also the power that allows you to grant plants sapience and sentience but even without doing so you can still hear them and communicate with them. This power intersects with the domains of souls and death and with it you can create souls for plants and you can command them to die.
Forest and Jungle Lordship: You gain total power over forests and jungles. This is due to your powers over nature, plants, and the earth itself. Forests and jungles become holy spots and your faithful are far stronger in them. When you step on a planet for the first time you automatically gain an awareness of forests and jungles located on or even in them.
Recognition: Druids, shamans, rangers, spirits of nature, and sapient animals and plants recognize you as a god of nature unless you wish to conceal your identity from them. This power causes them to refuse to harm you, though they may still oppose you or try to change your mind.
Water Lordship: This power is far more intense than it sounds. With it you gain lordship over oceans, lakes, rivers, ponds, and other bodies of water. This power is significant as it turns oceans, lakes, rivers, ponds, and other bodies of water into holy spots.
Werebeast lordship: All werebeasts instinctively recognize you as their lord. Even if you wish to hide the true extent of your strength from werebeasts you come across, they still recognize you as a werebeast whose strength is infinitely superior to their own. Only alphas can muster the will needed to not be servile towards you, and even among them this is only true for the very strongest alphas.
Plant subdomain active power:
Agro-transformation: You can transform a non-plant into a plant. This can be done up to one hundred times per day.
Blessing and Curse details:
Utilizing this subdomain to curse or bless someone who isn't a plant affects how well they interact with powers. Utilizing it to bless or curse a plant empowers or weakens a plant respectively.]
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Unbeknownst to the gentle priest in service to Althos, the moment the man stepped out of his room was the same moment that Althos acquired greater power over nature than he had over anything else. And nature itself reacted to this moment of godly triumph.
In temples devoted to Althos all over the universe, even across dimensional boundaries, plants sprung to life. Flowers, trees, and crops sprung into being in and around temples all over the cosmos. The pious priest had just left his room, and stepped out into the common area that all priests and priestesses that his world's version of the faith mandated be built into all temples as the universe reacted to the emergence of a new nature god.
Ivy sprung into being beneath the temple, becoming visible in areas where the tiled floor had cracks and holes. Massive and stunningly beautiful flowers spontaneously emerged out of the walls throughout the temple. Shrubs grew out of the ground and immediately began to bear fruits for consumption. And that was just in the common area. The sounds of the plants growing and invading the temple were audible throughout it, which awakened every single one of its inhabitants who had been sleeping, be they weary travelers from other communities or the man's fellow clergy.
The man ignored the sounds as the sight alone astounded the priest, who began to smile excitedly at the scene in front of him. And then he began to excitedly speak to himself!
”Yes! Thank you lord-god Althos! Thank you for blessing us this way!” The man said excitedly. He worshiped his god as a deity of life, healing, arts, nature, peace, and lust and in his eyes this was a miracle that proved that the temple was especially blessed by the god they worshipped.
He excitedly walked over to the closest shrub and plucked a single blueberry from it. He flicked the thing into his mouth and his tongue explored it for a moment before he bit into it. He was unsurprised but still delighted to find that the juices that exploded out of it invigorated him and were indeed perfectly healthy to drink.