Pantheon 2.0 - Game Thread

[Injerian Praetus II]

Thus if the Houka are killing people then those people may be my worshippers.

If your followers have done what they came to do then I ask that they leave immediately.

The Houka are on a mission to save the lives of the deformed. They were never ordered to kill. Show me evidence where they are killing, and I will make reparations.

I? Again? I have dispatched followers to Nor Pupae exactly once, with your explicit permission, which I requested as per your own request.

I mislike this veiled and baseless accusation, Nor-Yekith. I have made a simple observation, based on observable public utterance, and having myself already acceded to your own reasonable desire. If you dispute that, or believe you have some quarrel with me, by all means contact me and discuss it.

Yet I have found your followers in my lands.

Can you see how the envoys I sent to help you with the plague are doing? The reception is really bad at Mount Olympos right now.

Oh, they are doing well. Thank you for your assistance.

[Norn]

Thus if the Houka are killing people then those people may be my worshippers.

If your followers have done what they came to do then I ask that they leave immediately.

The Houka are on a mission to save the lives of the deformed. They were never ordered to kill. Show me evidence where they are killing, and I will make reparations.

That may be the case, but they were also interfering with the way one of us chooses to conduct his private affairs. In any case, I see no evidence that Bhakti's followers were killed the deformed children, or that he approved of such things if they were happening. Instead we simply have the Houka showing up in Landir unannounced.

I desire no reparations Nor Yekith, only that the Houka and any of your other followers depart from Landir at once.

[Injerian Praetus II]

In the interests of maintaining the peace, and at the request of Simjen, I am recalling my worshippers - human and Houka. But I also request that I take the deformed back to Nor Pupae. I will not enter Bhakti's lands again.

My apologies, Bhakti.

[Norn]

Thank you Nor Yekith, I greatly appreciate your co-operation in this.

[Vadhaka]

I? Again? I have dispatched followers to Nor Pupae exactly once, with your explicit permission, which I requested as per your own request.

I mislike this veiled and baseless accusation, Nor-Yekith. I have made a simple observation, based on observable public utterance, and having myself already acceded to your own reasonable desire. If you dispute that, or believe you have some quarrel with me, by all means contact me and discuss it.

Yet I have found your followers in my lands.

I am sure you did. They are there with your permission.

I fail to see what your issue here is. As I said, contact me if something is unclear. You granted me permission to send them there. Do you now renege on your given word?

[Injerian Praetus II]

I am sure you did. They are there with your permission.

Out of Character: It seems Bhakti's wines are too strong for my liking; I seem to have forgotten this.

[Vadhaka]

*bows* No harm has been done. I accept your gracious apology and assure you that I take no offense.

[Bhakti]

In the interests of maintaining the peace, and at the request of Simjen, I am recalling my worshippers - human and Houka.

I will believe the truth of Malice's words when I see it. As will all the Pantheon.

But I also request that I take the deformed back to Nor Pupae.

Often, your followers have been rounding up the mutants forcefully! If my followers wish to Love their offspring, they are clearly entitled to do so!! I care not that you are responsible for the mutations, I care only that they are my followers' children. Already you have ripped babies from the arms of parents! Now you "request" to take more?

And your manipulation of my followers' reproduction has yet to be addressed. Or will you claim that such a number of mutations happened without cause, and you just happened to have an invasion force with nothing to do nearby? And do not pretend that it is not an invasion force. They did not forcefully round up the children, then depart. The Houkas are dispersed in my Forests! Do not pretend that you would accept a force in your lands. Even if you had been forwarned. Even if you were assured they meant no harm or hindrance to you or yours.

I await the results of your recall.

[Bhakti]

On another matter...

Brother Undine,

Please have your prophet leave my city, Magran. I advised you to proselytize some time ago, when the city was unaffiliated, but you had other matters you wished to attend to. Perfectly within your rights. At your request - although, to be sure, you had a Forest's health in mind - I even sent you Forestals to help with one of these matters. Since you did not begin proselytizing, I did. Both my prophet and most important worshiper arrived there months before any of your preachers, and I have spent a total of four DRP. Finally, the city has decided to follow the ways of Love. By my extreme effort, and their own choice, I believe Magran is rightfully mine.

However, your prophet has just shown up, preaching, and trouble is already beginning. I can easily see that you sent him out before the city had chosen me as their god, so I am not implying that you intended any conflict. I simply ask that, now that Magran has chosen me, you have your prophet proselytize elsewhere.

[I'm Murrin]

Nor Yekith, though the matter appears--on the surface--to be resolving itself, I wish to call to question your comments upon the incursion into Bhakti's lands. Specifically, the actions of the Houka.

And the Houkas dispersed in my forests.

Ahhh, my Houka are becoming restless, then. I have already found out that they slayed some followers of Chis'Roo. I will attend to their disobediences as soon as possible.

My Houka are retrieving the outcasts you would have slaughtered for the misfortunes of being deformed. You kill my Houka - I will retaliate. All I am doing is saving lives.

Can you explain the explicit contradiction within the above things you have said? In the first you claim disobedience; in the second you assert that they are obeying orders.

[Injerian Praetus II]

Can you explain the explicit contradiction within the above things you have said? In the first you claim disobedience; in the second you assert that they are obeying orders.

You generalise, Maeror. I sent the Houka to Bhakti's lands to save the lives of those he would have had killed. Yet some Houka have mysteriously rebelled. I see no contradiction as I did not order the latter part.

And your manipulation of my followers' reproduction has yet to be addressed. Or will you claim that such a number of mutations happened without cause, and you just happened to have an invasion force with nothing to do nearby?

Again, I had nothing to do with this. Spend your powers to see the truth of my words. All I am merely doing is retrieving the deformed and giving them a home and purpose in life.

If my followers wish to Love their offspring, they are clearly entitled to do so!! I care not that you are responsible for the mutations, I care only that they are my followers' children.

Your so called followers of 'love' were killing them. And I find the latter sentence amusing.

[Bhakti]

And your manipulation of my followers' reproduction has yet to be addressed. Or will you claim that such a number of mutations happened without cause, and you just happened to have an invasion force with nothing to do nearby?

Again, I had nothing to do with this. Spend your powers to see the truth of my words. All I am merely doing is retrieving the deformed and giving them a home and purpose in life.

There is no need to use Power to see the obvious. You cannot have learned about the birth defects in one turn, and loaded your ships, crossed the seas, invaded my lands, and dispersed your creatures into my Forests all in the next turn. There is not sufficient time. You were ready to strike and invade when the babies were born.

If my followers wish to Love their offspring, they are clearly entitled to do so!! I care not that you are responsible for the mutations, I care only that they are my followers' children.

Your so called followers of 'love' were killing them. And I find the latter sentence amusing.

This is puzzling. Malice has always had a special place on Eiran, but if the Allfather is telling you that my followers are killing their children, but not telling me, then I have a more serious problem on my hands than I ever could have imagined.

And what is amusing about that sentence? The fact that you twisted them while in the womb does not mean they are not my followers' children. Nor does it mean they do not deserve Love. Their shapes are merely not as their parents'.

[Injerian Praetus II]

There is no need to use Power to see the obvious. You cannot have learned about the birth defects in one turn, and loaded your ships, crossed the seas, invaded my lands, and dispersed your creatures into my Forests all in the next turn. There is not sufficient time. You were ready to strike and invade when the babies were born.

If you cannot see the obvious, then obviously you are blind and need to expend your energies on seeing truth. I knew of the mutations before I acted. That is truth. I've known for months.

The fact that you twisted them while in the womb does not mean they are not my followers' children. Nor does it mean they do not deserve Love. Their shapes are merely not as their parents'.

I did not transform them. However, I welcome the process as I see it is good. The ones that I have loaded into my barge ships now belong to me. I have ceased transporting the rest of the malformed, leaving them for you to pity endlessly, as you would being the god of 'love'. Nonetheless, I have rescued many mutant children and will give them purpose, utilise them in my breeding projects, or simply give them better love.

Make no mistake, I making a better world - a paradise, if you like - but you simply play in the forest and entertain romantic thoughts. One of us is progressive, the other foolishly content.

[Bhakti]

If you cannot see the obvious, then obviously you are blind and need to expend your energies on seeing truth. I knew of the mutations before I acted. That is truth. I've known for months.

Yes, I know. That's what I have been saying.

I have ceased transporting the rest of the malformed, leaving them for you to pity endlessly, as you would being the god of 'love'.

I will Love them endlessly. I do not believe there is a god of Pity in our pantheon, but I would not expect you to know the difference. Malice knows only Malice.

Make no mistake, I making a better world - a paradise, if you like - but you simply play in the forest and entertain romantic thoughts. One of us is progressive, the other foolishly content.

One of us defines paradise as stagnation. Xar ain't hardly no swamp-cookie. Ending all death means ending all change. Making species that are endlessly the same, even always having the same members!, is not paradise.

[Injerian Praetus II]

If you cannot see the obvious, then obviously you are blind and need to expend your energies on seeing truth. I knew of the mutations before I acted. That is truth. I've known for months.

Yes, I know. That's what I have been saying.

And what I am saying is that I reacted to what was happening; not planned it. If you are content accusing me without proof - and circumstantial proof is not enough - the pantheon will note you as a paranoid and delusional god. Bring me proof I had a hand in the mutations and I will make reparations.

Malice knows only Malice.

If your word for the will to improve life is malice, so be it.

One of us defines paradise as stagnation. Xar ain't hardly no swamp-cookie. Ending all death means ending all change. Making species that are endlessly the same, even always having the same members!, is not paradise.

I am not ending death. I still need death to define life and allow for the urge to succeed. What I plan is to transform all life, all trees and rocks into the image of perfection. Work with me towards this and you will find happiness. It is not that everything will be the same. Trust me on this. The world awaits the coming of the Yekith.

[I'm Murrin]

Bhakti, all of us are aware of what occurs within our domains. I know when a significant event results in much death, and I'm sure Nor Yekith is aware when a large number of deformed children is born. This is true whether we are responsible for the events or not.

[Injerian Praetus II]

Thankyou, Maeror.

[Bhakti]

And what I am saying is that I reacted to what was happening; not planned it. If you are content accusing me without proof - and circumstantial proof is not enough - the pantheon will note you as a paranoid and delusional god. Bring me proof I had a hand in the mutations and I will make reparations.

Bhakti, all of us are aware of what occurs within our domains. I know when a significant event results in much death, and I'm sure Nor Yekith is aware when a large number of deformed children is born. This is true whether we are responsible for the events or not.

Yes, we are aware of what happens in another's realm if it is of our own area of influence. (Congratulations, btw, Nor. I wish Love for even you.) At which point, we can, if we choose, react. But when the reaction is strong and immediate, it means he knew it before I did. He was prepared, waiting for it to happen, and his players were all in place when it did. We have a god of Malice and Mutation. Large numbers of the first children born to the god of Malice's polar opposite are Mutated, and he is immediately there to forcefully remove them from my lands? Let's do the math. *... carry the 1... divide...* Wow, I guess I was wrong. No reason to suspect anything there after all!

Malice knows only Malice.

If your word for the will to improve life is malice, so be it.

It was you who took the title God of Malice, I did not assign it to you.

I am not ending death. I still need death to define life and allow for the urge to succeed. What I plan is to transform all life, all trees and rocks into the image of perfection. Work with me towards this and you will find happiness. It is not that everything will be the same. Trust me on this. The world awaits the coming of the Yekith.

Your own words:

But I can. Nature is in flux - it ebbs and flows - but always prone to disease and death and poverty. I will eradicate that.

[Injerian Praetus II]

No reason to suspect anything there after all!

I am 'awed' by your skills of deduction. But again, I ask you to provide evidence that I caused this. Providing connections is not proof.

It was you who took the title God of Malice, I did not assign it to you.

Again, I must repeat myself. I stated when i first arrived in this world that the term 'malice' refers to the 'will to power' or the 'will to achieve perfection'. I seek to improve life. If you claim me evil, I do not care. All it says is that you disagree with the means I utilise to better the world. At least I strive.

Your own words:

But I can. Nature is in flux - it ebbs and flows - but always prone to disease and death and poverty. I will eradicate that.

Well done. I will eradicate needless death. Death at my hands has its uses. Some people will die, for death has a role in perfection. And as well, are there not beings - angelic and demonic - who seek to affect our world? Suffering is a tool to combat them.

[Bhakti]

Again, I must repeat myself. I stated when i first arrived in this world that the term 'malice' refers to the 'will to power' or the 'will to achieve perfection'. I seek to improve life. If you claim me evil, I do not care. All it says is that you disagree with the means I utilise to better the world. At least I strive.

Let us examine your innocence, then. Let us pretend that you did not cause the mutations in my followers' children, but only knew about it before I did. Being the god of Mutations, you would, of course, be interested in this situation. How, then, did you act? You planned an invasion, and forcefully removed my followers' children. "Forcefully" is the word. You ripped children out of their parents' arms! If these are not the actions of Malice as I define it, I am most fortunate that you are not. If you were the nasty type, I can only imagine what horrors you would have unleashed during your invasion and kidnappings!

On the other hand, if I had become aware that another deity's followers were going to give birth to a large number of Love-prone babies, I would have contacted that deity. If for no other reason, to try to make him or her understand that I had nothing to do with it. Perhaps more important, to be sure the children were welcomed. If they could not be welcomed, like if the god they would be born to was evil, perhaps that god would allow me to take them to my people.

What I would not do, however, is invade that god's lands and rip the children from their parents. Malicious is as Malicious does. Poor, misunderstood Nor.