Nature, Chi & Civilization
As I made my way back to the central colony, the one region of Terran territory that the Terrans had actually well developed and furnished, I began to use my non-physical senses. As a deity of a fair amount of power, I had access to a number of abilities that allowed me to sense things on a non-physical level.
My senses weren't just the senses of taste, touch, smell, hearing, and sight. I could feel the ambient flow of life-energy in living things around me, chi, and it was a skill that I had honed during my time steadily building my empire. That was just one form of extrasensory perception I possessed but it was by far the most useful. With it, I could do many things.
As I made my way towards the developed part of the colony that the Terrans have spent the last few years building, I chuckled as I began to sense the tremendous amount of life force all around me. I sensed the life force emanating from a variety of lifeforms, starting with the very grass at my feet, to the smallest bugs I delicately avoided trampling underfoot, to other, larger, nearby creatures such as herbivores that lived underground, and surface-dwelling animals that normally lived a good distance away from colonies.
Some of those creatures were bolder now because I was here. In acquiring the third tiers of influence over the subdomains of animals and plants I gained natural powers that caused them to obey me and also caused them to be naturally drawn to me. I had spent most of my time recently away from places that were heavily dominated by nature, and being back in a place where nature hadn't been conquered reminded me of the innate sway I held over nature in all of its forms.
I was an incredibly powerful being with immense influence over the natural world. Walking through the plain on which the border of the territory loosely held by the Terrans was located allowed me to channel that side of myself for the first time in a while aside from when I used druidic powers against Technos. It felt good to be back in places with a lot of wild grasses and animals unused to humanity or other humanoids.
Animals popped out of hiding to glance at me, and bugs looked up at me, adoringly. I smiled at the creatures that had boldly decided to greet me, or at least to lay their eyes upon me. In time I planned to use some of them as part of my broader strategy to take control of this world. A small part of me was even tempted to call upon the swarm and bring them here so that they may unite with the Terrans and both forces could mutually protect each other.
That said, it was definitely too early for that. The Terrans didn't trust me enough for me to do something that drastic unless I used my powers on them. Which I could do, but for now, at least towards the Terrans, I was trying to be mostly benevolent.
As I made my way closer and closer to the civilized area controlled by my allies, I began to behave as a powerful and benevolent god of the balance between nature and civilization would. I slowly and gently increased the size of the continent, creating new land within the border of the region controlled by my allies, and making said land extremely fertile and appropriate for all manner of new life, on and in it. I also gave my new followers an extra gift in the form of causing the new land to already be bountiful.
In a matter of moments, all manner of new crops began to blossom to life in the newly created land I had just made. I could see all sorts of grains beginning to sprout from the ground, and what's more, was that the new crops were all of abnormal sizes and far larger than they would have been had they been natural crops. I did this specifically because I knew, thanks to Leon's memories, that the food supply of the Terrans was not looking great. Giving them immediate relief would not only show them the diversity of powers I possessed but it would also be seen as an act of great kindness.
I continued to walk towards the firm, guarded wall that made up the actual border of the territory controlled by the Terrans. The wall was a solid thing made of wood and banded together by thick iron bands that connected all of the logs used to make it. Atop the wall were platforms made of wood, supported by pillars and the wall itself. Men walked on those platforms and though some of them were alarmed when they saw me in the distance, others were not and reassured the alarmed men that I was their ally, their hero even.
I could hear their words even though I was still a good distance away. They dutifully informed their allies of my nature and reassured those who were afraid of me that I was their friend and protector. I heard them recount what they had seen me do, and how I had inspired them. They also knew that the newly erected barrier that protected the territory, something every waking inhabitant of the colony saw, was my doing though they weren't sure how.
I smiled at them as I made my way closer and closer to the gate. So far I was quite enjoying my time in Ta Hendo, due in part to them. I could tell this was going to be a fun world to live in and to conquer, under the guise of righteousness. Especially since I had a true and terrifying wealth of powers to use at my leisure. Some of which I made use of even as I took steps towards the wall.
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My phantom copy wasn't done just yet. I didn't will the thing away when it brought knowledge of this world and the three other planets in this solar system to me. I had other, more nefarious ideas in mind for it.
The illusionary being that possessed all of my powers and was more intelligent than an avatar was, was an ideal tool for some darker schemes. After all, the Terrans had a dangerous enemy in the form of the Atlani people. And the Atlani people had a dangerous foe in the form of myself. Especially with my potent powers over illusions, trickery, and falsehoods.
My phantom copy teleported from the sun that warmed this world and all of the nearby ones and reappeared on Ta Hendo. Specifically, it appeared near the closest Atlani settlement. The settlement consisted of a small number of houses made of mud, surrounded by larger, stronger buildings made of stone. The main buildings were storehouses, where stores of food, weapons, and supplies of all sorts were kept.
My phantom self studied the settlement for a few moments. There were plenty of Atlani there, and for a moment I considered beginning my war, or even taking any true hostile actions against them, but I opted not to do so just yet. I would have time in the days to come. For now I was content to take a single small step in my campaign against the foes of the Terrans.
I infected a handful of the Atlani with the dreadful disease known as "Demonic Infection", and also created praereptor demons to possess them. My shadowy children were invisible in the gloom of the night and obeyed me, their father and creator, hurling themselves into sleeping Atlani. For now they would be shadowy agents who would lurk within their hosts and instead of enacting some active, dreadful agenda, they would report back to me, through prayer.
I also quietly infected the wife of the settlement's shaman with a subtle parasitic spore. My parasitic spores were a power I used cautiously, as if I wasn't cautious with it it had a real chance to go berserk and as I had discovered during my three year period building my empire my spores were capable of dominating anyone they infected, even dragons and the usually incorporeal praereptor demons. That said I was quite fond of the spores, and in their upgraded capacity they were tremendously powerful weapons. I just needed to use them with caution and with precision.
The single spore that infected the shaman's wife easily took root in her and began to spread its nefarious influence throughout her sleeping mind unchallenged. But for now I commanded the spore to bide its time and stay silent within the man's wife. There was no need to tip our hand this early, especially since the Atlani were going to be naturally on guard in the days to come. The news of my arrival would spread quickly through their ranks, and they knew that I had mysterious abilities. My machinations needed to be subtle, for now.
I was also aware of another aspect of this world's odd balance of power. Spirits, true ones that had powers beyond Raiz's potent power as a druidess, roamed this world. There were several in this area, with one of the ones that possessed the highest raw stats being a creature that lived in the ocean off the coast of the colony of the Terrans. There were even elder elemental beings, immensely powerful elementals that lived around the world.
The spirits were all potent beings, so much so that some of them had followers who were akin to worshipers. Some of them even had half-spirit children. They were the true lords of this world. And they were surely destined to be the first of my true enemies, not the Atlani, or some other human civilization I could wipe out in a matter of seconds if I wanted to.
I wasn't out to annihilate the Atlani. I was out to recruit them, but only after thoroughly cowing them. And I had a plan concerning how to do that. One that would take time, which was something I had in abundance.
I willed my phantom copy away, causing the thing to cease existing. When it did I refocused on my own surroundings. I had tasks I would be wise to do right away.
I focused my mind on the colony "my people" had created. It was a fairly efficiently created and organized place with clearly defined and differentiated areas. I focused first on enhancing the resources that my people had already. With but a simple thought I instilled knowledge in the minds of my followers, knowledge concerning how to make the weapons and armor used by our rivals. The artisans who made our weapons were sleeping, but the knowledge flooded their dreams and made them dream of the war we were quietly waging, and of shedding Atlani blood.
I also created more and more food for our people to eat, causing fields to bloom overnight and ensuring that my people would be in for a pleasant surprise when they awoke. I was going to be a thorough protector of my people, and I was also going to create an abundance so immense that when our "enemies" join us there would be no difficulties.
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In the wake of the past three years, Althos had become many things. One of the things that had most become was a perpetual plotter. The deity quietly bolstered "his people" throughout the night, but that wasn't all he did.
Even while his physical form reached the colony and introduced himself to some of "his people", the Terrans, he was truthfully primarily elsewhere. The god had a mind that was endlessly curious, and also perpetually scheming. The deity quietly created portals in remote locations that connected different worlds, and even in some cases his divine realm, with the world of Ta Hendo.
Althos brought over bestial followers of his and introduced them to various parts of the world, with a special passion for introducing wild monstrosities to places near his current home. He brought over an entire pack of hyenoids, evolved hyenas that he met and defeated for the first time in Puerto Rico, and placed them in the valley of a mountain which was somewhat similar to where he first encountered them. They were the same pack that had members he had personally defeated in what felt like the ancient past.
The god bestowed them with new powers over their lesser kin, and he utilized his powers to send the native hyenas of the region to the hyenoids. And he took away their hunger, for now. As he did, he mentally smiled. Being a god of famine and gluttony, had a multitude of perks, with his ability to take away hunger being just one of them.
He also introduced wild drakes and other lesser dragons to another area not extremely far from the home of the Atlani. That said unless he blessed them the drakes and their kin were less intelligent than the hyenoids were. He planned to use them as a weapon, which wasn't entirely the case for the hyenoids.
The god now had the power to fully influence true dragons beyond driving them insane, with one such ability being the power to instill a plethora of emotions in them. He wasn't going to use those powers on true dragons just yet. That said, dragons, along with spirits, were two of the great hidden powers in this world, creatures with world-shaking power who for some reason seemingly lacked the power they should have had.
He knew that he'd need to consider how to approach them sometime soon. Dragons were powerful, and some even existed not terribly far from his current location. Sooner or later they'd react to him and when they did he'd need to be ready. He had a number of means to handle the dragons at his disposal, he wasn't afraid of them it was more than he needed to consider which dragons he would persuade to join him and by which means he would do so.
Althos was also a quiet god of secrets, knowledge, and abominations. He carefully chose castles and forts and launched horridly effective raids against them, utilizing some of his odder abilities. He fused his powers over abominations with powers over carnivores that he had earned as a consequence of him being a god of nature and an archfey and created terrible abominations such as wendigos, hunting horrors, and star vampires, to take down isolated border fortresses of kingdoms and empires other than his own.
In doing so he effectively created his own faction of powerful, oftentimes mindless abominations that he could use to terrorize kingdoms other than his own, and to send people screaming into his arms, where he could then easily arrange for the defeat of terrible monsters by his own warriors.
The deity was also responsible for invading the dreams of millions of influential people throughout the world. In each case he created personalized dreams that influenced the people in question and moved them towards his inscrutable goals. In some cases these goals were obvious, such as how an invasion of a satyr's dream by a dreamy demon might move her towards opening up a demonic portal of her own. In other cases, such as when he plagued someone with nightmares, the end goal was more enigmatic.
Nevertheless, Althos was careful, setting in motion many different plots all at once. He only acted directly in so many instances. For the most part he was subtle, but it was a god's subtlety, which felt markedly different than a mortal's did. Gods were forces of nature, and change. Their presence was hard to miss, unless it was a god specialized in hiding. Althos didn't want to go so far in one night, so he was cautious in many places and did things such as mess with dreams and create portals rather than act directly.
By the time the sun had risen the god was in the process of making powerful enemies, gaining powerful allies, and leaving the world a changed place. He was ambitious, he was speedy, and in the days to come the world of Ta Hendo would surely feel his influence.