#the entropy deity

[lokiinmediasideblog]

Revisiting Thermodynamics for a Chemistry tutoring gig, and I am plagued by Loki thoughts, as I deem Loki the Entropy Deity.

To reach equilibrium, a state were forward and backward reactions cease, is to die. Living systems depend on chemical reactions to live. Cells are locked in a constant fight against equilibrium by consuming energy and releasing what isn't stored or consumed as heat. And as such, the universe moves to state of increasing entropy.

I think that's how Loki is associated with Life and Death.

[somerobotvex]

some lil animated pfps for the artfight profiles of Prosperity and Entropy :]

mayhaps i shoulda spent that time updating Entropy's ref instead as it's not great rn but hey i have... *looks at calendar* ...four days...

[monstatron]

THE SAPPHIRE ROYAL, LORD XADIRITH ( character is she/her!! )

i finally completed this revamp of my cosmic dragon, xadirith! leaned more into the body horror aspect of her here, balanced out with her usual regality.

i've also reworked her lore, which you can read under the cut below! :3

L O R E tm

Lord Xadirith, the Sapphire Royalty, the Regal Mistress of Crystalline Galaxies, is one of the original high elder gods of the Monstarous Mythos. Though not truly a god, that is the closest to human perception that a spontaneous energy of thermodynamic entropy such as herself can become. Like the rest of the high elder gods, Xadirith was “born” at random, spawning from unpremeditated existence. More direct origins lie within being the manifestation of curiosity and emotional expansion. This is what ultimately led to Xadirith's role as the curator and peacekeeper of multiversal existence. Xadirith maintains a small portion of multiple entities needed to maintain a stable and peaceful multiverse. Her true form cannot be described, although if it did exist in a tangible form, it would resemble a glimmering nebula of universal size. Xadirith is often associated with the concept of regality and order, a benevolent energy that maintains balance in the grand scheme of multiversal existence.  From her very beginning, Xadirith only ever knew of her true purpose: to maintain peace. But to maintain the peace of what, she questioned? She was born far before anything truly tangible existed, so, for some time it was her job to be a peacemaker amongst her fellow gods as the multiverse began to expand from the same unpremeditated existence that created her and other wandering gods. Even then, she still did not fully understand her sense of being– who was she and why did peace matter to her? Was this truly what she was meant to be? Could she forge her own destiny and sense of being? This questioning had led to a battle with the god Astaroth, a greedy devourer who had not yet realized her role within the cosmos. Astaroth had stirred a quarrel with the star-creator, Axardyr, and their battle had shattered an entire universe. This had caused a disruption within the multiverse, setting loose harmful and chaotic entities such as the Ekanox into certain realities. Xadirith stood up to Astaroth, who fought wrathfully against her. Their battle lasted for ten thousand years to one second; a time-bending collision of colors never perceived by human eyes followed by the instantaneous death and birth of thousands of stars. Astaroth had been guided by Xadirith in the end, aiding her in finding a balance between consumption and creation.  As universes formed, Xadirith gained access to them and was cosmically tasked with ensuring that each and every universe was within unison of their own physical and metaphysical laws. It was... taxing, to say the least, but Xadirith had grown fond of the universes she visited. Now, Xadirith remains a benevolent and curious deity that takes enjoyment in living amongst mortals and understanding their ways of life. Xadirith is the most solitary of the high elder gods. She prefers to traverse the multiverse on her lonesome.

[monstersdownthepath]

Deity: The Sea of Teeth

(Pic source: Craig Spearing, though it doesn’t seem to be on his site anymore and exists only as reuploads)

Chaotic Evil God of Endless Hunger

Domains: Chaos, Death, Destruction, Evil, War Subdomains: Demon, Entropy, Catastrophe, Cannibalism, Blood Favored Weapons: Bite Symbol: Fangs surrounding bones, stars, and/or planets. Sacred Animals: All gluttonous animals. Sacred Colors: N/a

The Abyss is deeper than any being could possibly comprehend, stretching an unknowable distance into the chaos beyond what sane beings consider the relative safety of their reality. Whether it has an end or a bottom is a mystery none have yet solved, as the deeper one goes, the more they must grapple with the knowledge that the hundreds of layers occupied by the foulest sorts of demons are merely the surface level of the Abyss, the safest environs a mortal of this cosmos can exist in. To venture into the Abyss is taxing enough, but to delve deep into the Outer Rifts, where the primordial qlippoth and beasts even stranger roam, is something few can withstand for longer than fleeting moments. It is easy, though not entirely accurate, to compare the demon-occupied Abyss as something akin to the levels of the ocean where the sun still reaches. It is dangerous, laden with hazards and predators which may end the life of an explorer... But the Rifts? If one were still comparing the Abyss to the ocean, the Outer Rifts are depths where sunlight cannot reach, where the pressure is so intense that even steel buckles and crumbles, where the cold is so penetrating that nothing can defend against it, and where life as we know it simply cannot survive.

But like the ocean’s darkest depths, there is still life to be found, alien and strange. Predating even the eldest of the gods, the qlippoth crawl and slither and skitter in endless varieties and maddening shapes. From tiny insects to the great, demigod-level Qlippoth Primordials, qlippoth span across every branch of existence, forming grotesque and twisted mirrors to the biospheres found all over creation, all living and eating and dying and transforming. It is a great, eldritch ecosystem, where even worlds must feed.

And with the imprisonment of Rovagug, it has lost its apex predator.

Ask any zoologist what happens to any ecosystem in which an important predatory force is removed and you will receive a similar answer; the prey gorges itself until it starves, reproduces until there is no more room, and the cycle of life comes to an abrupt and terrible halt as the links in the chain give way one by one. In extreme cases, the entire environment is destroyed by the unbalance. While it’s true that the Abyss has no shortage of predatory creatures all willing and able to consume one another, none of them work on the scale that Rovagug did, devouring and destroying entire landscapes and worlds at once to keep the growth of the Abyss itself from becoming too dangerously rampant. 

But now that he is gone, the balance is upset, and the invasive species that is demonkind has done more harm than good as the natives of the Rifts experience an apocalyptic collapse. Unfortunately for the cosmos as a whole, from the deepest depths of the Outer Rifts a new apex predator has risen to fill the vacuum.

It has no name, but it has many titles; the Sea of Teeth is the most common one, but it is also known as “the Devouring God,” “the Black Well,” “Hadal,” “the Consuming Cascade,” “the Final Tide,” among others and their many variations. It is more location than creature, as though an entire layer of the Abyss has shuddered to terrible life and apocalyptic hunger, branching titanic tendrils throughout the rest of the plane to consume all which falls in its shadow. To those that know if its existence, it is hunger unimaginable, a ravenous force that depletes and destroys everything it crosses. It does not just settle for the twisted flora and fauna, but the very landscape itself is chewed apart, and when there is no matter left it drinks up the local quintessence until the fabric of the layer frays and collapses. It constantly sends tiny tendrils of its matter throughout the Abyss to hunt for new rich feeding grounds, the smallest and weakest of these ‘roots,’ pinpricks of its essence that emerge through tiny portals it gnaws in reality, take on the shape and strength of Shoggoths with the Savage Mythic Template. Because of the immense power of these tiny specks of the greater Sea, it rapidly overtakes any stretch of the Abyss which doesn’t contain any creature or force capable of combating its searching limbs, but any layer with such defenses enjoys some level of safety from the greater Sea. Slaying the roots causes the limb from which they grew to recoil slightly, slowing its spread into a particular layer and allowing them time to plan for the next incursion.

The irony of the Abyss finding itself besieged by a threat which spreads across multiple planar layers and which requires constant, combined efforts to fight back against is lost on many demons. And it is indeed demons which find themselves at the fore of the Sea’s attacks; the Sea is indiscriminate in its feeding frenzies, consuming all in its path with no regard for the qlippoth it technically shares kinship with (with the sole exception being the Iathavos, the only being which it ignores entirely), but much how like animals of Golarion will flee an impending natural disaster hours before it happens, qlippoth seem to possess an innate sense of when and where the Sea will strike, assuring only the injured, the slow, the ill, the foolish, and the foolhardy are actually devoured. Why and how they preternaturally know when it will arrive is a secret they have not shared, and likely never will. 

It is believed that no fewer than six entire Abyssal layers have already been entirely consumed in the short few centuries that the Sea has been known to mortal scholars (and perhaps many before anyone even realized it was there), several dozen are actively besieged by its reaching limbs, and hundreds more are being inspected by its roots. Any normal plane which hosted such a force would quickly be rendered lifeless and barren, but the sheer size and repulsive fecundity of the Abyss assures no such catastrophe will occur, and even if the “shallows” of the Abyss were to be depopulated entirely (an impossible task in and of itself, even for a god), the Sea would simply retreat into the deeper Rifts to continue its feast in unknowable lands until the shallows recovered and regrew, just as a roving predator does when prey is exhausted in one area.

... But this relieving truth has yet to be uncovered, and will likely not be known for several millennia. In the current times, a mere few centuries after its emergence, the Sea is spoken of by doomsayers and prophets as an existential threat of cosmic magnitude, threatening the entirety of existence as it’s known. There are many who believe that the Sea’s emergence is a sure sign that the Abyss will soon be destroyed, devoured utterly down to the last demon larvae, and demons as an entity in the universe will completely cease to exist. These same thinkers and madmen are divided on what, exactly, this would cause in the Great Beyond as a whole; some posit that the removal of the tumor that is the Abyss will usher in a profound universal transformation in which certain breeds of Evil can no longer exist, while others think the Abyss itself will transform into an entirely new Neutrally-aligned plane! The implications of this transformation is, itself, a topic of conjecture and debate. Planar scholars from all corners of creation have driven themselves to fevered frenzies trying to imagine what a universe without demonkind would look like, whether or not demonic power would simply emerge in a new form elsewhere... and whether or not an end to demons as they’re currently known warrants aiding the Sea of Teeth in some way.

Any mind pondering the possibilities of the Sea destroying the Abyss itself must, of course, answer the inevitable question of “what happens afterwards?” Perhaps it will consume itself or starve to death! Perhaps it will slink back into the Outer Rifts, finally satisfied that it has killed every last demon. Perhaps it will pupate into something worse... Or perhaps, once the Abyss has been consumed, the Sea will rush to fill the empty roots left behind which will connect it to a thousand new feeding grounds, swelling further to break down the shorelines of all creation and bring about the end of all things.

Whatever the truth is, the Great Beyond will have to wait and see. There IS one absolute truth that can be shared with whomever is reading this, though: Despite what doomsayers scream of what will happen were it to drink the Plane of Water, inhale the flames of Creation’s Forge, or invade the Ethereal Plane to consume the thoughts and dreams of mortals, the Sea of Teeth does not work towards such apocalyptic goals. It does not plan its assaults, it does not consider the consequences of its actions, and it does not dream of the endless banquet waiting for it just outside the walls of the Abyss.

It, in fact, does not think at all.

----- Obedience and Boons -----

Many cultists, madmen, studious Outsiders of every shape and description, and scholars of every species and alignment all ascribe different reasons and motivations to the Sea’s actions, whether it be divine rage against demons, a rampage to eventually free Rovagug and prove that he is truly the lesser evil when compared to the unseen powers in the deeper Rifts, the incarnate form of the Abyss’ predilection for predation and parisitism turned horribly self-destructive, the incarnation of hunger as a concept, or maybe even the herald of the end times... but the truth is truly right in front of them, described in the first section of this very article: The Sea of Teeth is a hungry beast which has found a stretch of uncontested land, and has begun to gorge itself on a population that has few true defenses against an invasive species.

Though it is indeed divine, it is still essentially a simple-minded predator driven entirely by instinct. It is a form of life which operates on a scale that a common mind struggles to envision, but it serves a function that is familiar, almost mundane, and its presence in the Great Beyond is unfortunate happenstance, not an apocalyptic omen. Any ‘meaning’ to its rampage or claims that it is acting towards some unfathomable goal are pure conjecture, the product of minds desperate to establish a pattern or see some divine truth where a mundane truth would suffice. A hungry wolf which devours a farmer’s sheep is not some punishment for his failure or some insatiable, sadistic beast torturing him because he cannot fight back... it’s a hungry animal, any mythologizing or anthropomorphizing is the fault of the farmer, not the wolf. 

This truth, however, is beyond most creatures in the cosmos, to whom the Sea is an incomprehensibly threatening force of annihilation. To them, it is whatever they want it to be, whatever they project, and often whatever they fear it is, as it has no desire (or even ability) to answer questions about itself. It has unintentionally gathered numerous cults in its name--doomsday and otherwise--all led by powerful figureheads who’ve achieved some divine contact with it... or at least contact with a figurehead which worships the Sea, in some bizarre and indirect form of faith. There exists a ritual one can use to connect to the Sea and gain some of its power at the cost of becoming perpetually ravenous, a ritual used by many to achieve positions of power in the budding cults of the Sea of Teeth, up to and including becoming divine fronts in and of themselves... which inadvertently makes them beacons for spells such as Commune attempting to reach the true Sea, further muddying the waters about its supposed goals and desires. Undoubtedly, one of the most famous of these figureheads is Chormilg, the Thousanth Tooth, a powerful Nyogoth Cleric/Exalted of the Sea of Teeth (CR 18/MR 6) which claims to have hatched from one of the Sea’s teeth after it broke itself against the heart of a forgotten deity, and thus is the literal mouth-piece of the god. Chormilg is the closest thing to a true leader that the disparate cults of the Devouring God have, and is currently the highest authority in the Sea’s faith, acting as the deity’s proxy, AND the reason many believe the Sea’s hunger to be primarily directed at demons, as Chormilg itself despises demonic life.  

The largest cult to the Sea is the one founded by Chormilg, known as the Salgurat, an Abyssal word translating to “Ebon Maws,” a cult devoted to capturing and consuming demons and their mortal fanatics, as well as making regular, organized sacrifices to the Sea of Teeth to empower it in the hopes of accelerating its growth through the Abyss. Some smaller cults grow from gatherings of heretics among the faiths of Thuskchoon, Jubilex, Cyth-V’sug, Zevgavizeb, and other great and ancient beasts of the Abyss, who believe their former deities to be the offspring of the Sea and have thus chosen to serve the “Progenitor Maw” or “Hunger’s Father” out of respect. Other cults have many reasons for their worship, such as Creation’s Eclipse, a cult of daemons and their maniacal mortal followers hellbent on finding ways to help the Sea enter Creation’s Forge and snuff it. Some of these smaller factions even have benevolent, though misguided, hopes for a universe without the Abyss, Whatever the case may be, any follower of the Sea are as varied as the morsels it consumes, coming from all over the universe.

The Obedience ritual to serve the Devouring God is a lesser form of the Shores of the Sea of Teeth occult ritual, and both of them have the same effect at different intensities: It convinces the Sea that the creature undertaking the ritual is actually a part of itself, and so it sends a tendril of its essence and a spark of its power into the creature, often physically mutating them. This offers the creature not only supernatural might, but some protection from the Sea’s appetite, with many audacious beings--Chormilg included--nesting within the god’s churning body, believing themselves favored by the horror due to their faith and devotion, unaware they’re doing the mystic equivalent of dabbing an ant colony’s scent upon themselves to avoid being torn apart by the swarm. The Sea has no loyalty to anything but its own stomachs, any power it offers given only through unintentional trickery or divine reflex, but it is nonetheless a power that any creature--regardless of alignment--can tap into, should they know how... and should they brave the consequences. 

As a true deity, the Sea of Teeth can grant Boons to any creature taking the Deific Obedience feat, but it does not possess a dedicated Prestige Class such as Feysworn or Diabolist. Boons are typically gained slowly, achieved at levels 12, 16, and 20, but by entering the Evangelist, Exalted, or Sentinel Prestige Classes as early as possible, they can be obtained at levels 8, 11, and 14 instead. While normally a deity as ambivalent as the Sea would grant only one set of Boons, the fanatic devotion of countless beings and the fear of infinitely more has created a potent psychic impression upon it, allowing it a full three.

Obedience: Spend at least 30 minutes meditating on the sensations of hunger while surrounded by circle of ritual objects made of materials harvested from creatures you’ve killed and consumed portions of. At the conclusion of this meditative period, eat anything you have available--preferably portions of creatures you’ve helped slay in the last 24 hours--until you’re full. Benefit: You become permanently afflicted by the Oracle’s Hunger curse the first time you perform the Obedience ritual, and the curse cannot be removed by mortal magic. For 24 hours after performing your Obedience, your total Hit Dice is treated as your Oracle level for the purpose of determining the intensity of your curse; failing to perform your Obedience causes your curse to weaken, treating only half your Hit Dice as your Oracle level for the purpose of the curse. If you are already an Oracle, for 24 hours after performing your Obedience, your Oracle level is treated as 4 higher for determining the intensity of your new Hunger curse.

------ EVANGELIST ------

Boon 1: The Preview (Sp): Gain Grease 3/day, Hold Person 2/day, or Spiked Pit 1/day.

Boon 2: Titanic Appetite (Ex): The gnawing hunger in your belly drives you to eat anything you can get your hands on, trusting your connection to your god to protect you from the consequences. You become immune to the effects of all ingested poisons and diseases, and cannot be sickened, nauseated, or cursed by items, food, or creatures you eat. You can digest and draw sustenance from any matter you can consume. Any bite attacks you have ignore the first 5 points of Hardness when damaging objects, widening your potential palate.

Boon 3: Crushed by the Depths (Sp): Once per day, you can focus the power of the Sea onto your foes, allowing it to reach across space and devour them utterly. You may use Implosion once per day as a spell-like ability, but you may target even incorporeal or gaseous creatures with it, and if the target succeeds the saving throw against the effect, they still take 10d6 points of damage. When you target a creature with this ability it possesses a unique visual effect: a phantasmal, protean mass envelops the target and crushes inwards. Any creature killed by this ability is entirely consumed; any nonmagical items they possessed are also destroyed, and magic items fall into their former space.

------ EXALTED ------

Boon 1: A Bite of Everything (Sp): Gain Adhesive Spittle 3/day, Allfood 2/day, or Dispel Magic 1/day.

Boon 2: Ravening Form (Ex/Sp): Your connection to the Sea of Teeth deepens and more of its essence flows into you. This connection twists your body in incomprehensible ways, granting you the constant benefits of 50% Fortification and the Compression universal monster ability. In addition, once per day as a standard action, you may undergo a horrifying but thankfully short-lived surge of vitality as tendrils of the Sea’s matter slither through your body to restore you, gaining the benefits of the Regeneration spell.

Boon 3: Whirlpool of Teeth (Sp): Once per day you may open a portal leading directly to the Sea of Teeth to send entire pieces of the world to your god, in effect casting Maw of Chaos as a spell-like ability. The spell is altered in the following ways: Each round at the start of your turn, all creatures and unattended objects within 40ft of the Maw are automatically pulled 10ft closer to the Maw before it makes its CMB check (potentially allowing it to pull a target twice in one round); this summoned Maw lasts an additional +3 rounds after you stop concentrating on it; and you are unaffected by any of the Maw’s effects, though you may not enter its space. 

------ SENTINEL ------

Boon 1: Soften the Meal (Sp): Gain Ray of Sickening 3/day, Blindness/Deafness 2/day, or Ray of Exhaustion 1/day.

Boon 2: Slavering Jaws (Ex): Your teeth sharpen to frightening and deadly points and your jaw can distend to repulsive and terrific effect. The bite attack gained from your Hunger curse becomes a primary natural attack which deals damage as if you were two size categories larger (2d6 for a Medium creature). The bite attack ignores 5 points of Hardness or Damage Reduction and is considered a magic weapon. Finally, due to the horror your mouth has become, you gain a profane bonus to Intimidate checks equal to your Strength modifier, and you may make an Intimidate check as a swift action against any creature within 30ft when you confirm a critical hit against another creature with your bite attack.

Boon 3: Hole in the Universe (Ex): Your stomach becomes an extradimensional space which partially intersects the Sea of Teeth. The bite gained from your Hunger curse gains the Grab and Swallow Whole abilities if they did not already have them, and you may attempt to swallow any creature of your size or smaller that you have grappled. Your extradimensional stomach may have any number of creatures or objects of any size swallowed at once. Creatures and unattended objects within your stomach take 6d6 bludgeoning and 6d6 Acid damage each round. Extradimensional spaces (such as Bags of Holding) cannot be opened while within you, but otherwise do not interact with you in a destructive way. If a swallowed creature deals enough damage to cut free, instead of creating a hole, the pain forces you to regurgitate all creatures and objects in your stomach at once; you are nauseated for 1d6 rounds and cannot use Swallow Whole for 1 minute after.

[hurgablurg]

for people who can't wrap their heads around gods having mortality and how it means they don't have any power at all, I'd like to point them to Runescape, which has had this as a plot point for a decade now.

Runescape's Gods are entirely mortal, but have unbelievable, unmatched magical power due to them subsuming or being irradiated by their use of Elder Artefacts, the world-creating tools of the Elder Gods, reincarnating farmers who grows worlds, sleep within them, and then devour them every few thousand years. The gods fight and quarrel and bicker and usurp each other and are usurped by mortals, too.

Marimbo, the goddess of parties, was a normal gorilla who ascended when she outdrank a previous party god who died from alcohol poisoning during their contest. Seren and Zaros are the direct children of an elder god, and are among the most powerful of the mortal deities, having total loyalty and adoration from their followers. "Sliske's Game" was a contest hosted by the wannabe-joker to see who could kill the most gods. Guthix ascended when he accidentally killed a marauding murder-god who had just annihilated Guthix's home planet and killed his daughter.

They regularly perform miracles, inspire faith in their followers, and depending on how Prayer works (it's either them or the collective power of the dead) use their power to bless people who ask for it (even those who rapidly flick it on and off to fight Jad), all while still being entirely mortal and completely killable.

How Exandria's gods would work is exactly like that - unmatched wizards of impossible power - except they would have the ability to be reborn, or at least go to an afterlife, which is more than the gods of Runescape get because when they die, their souls are gone, reduced to divine sludge that empowers the one who killed them. Even the invincible Elder gods may succumb to time, like what happened with MAH when her egg broke and she came out unfinished.

No one can outrun entropy. Not gods. Not Predathos. Not Exandria. Not Dungeons & Dragons tm.

[worldbuilding-tomfoolery]

This was SUPPOSED to be just a few jotted worldbuilding character notes. Oops

The god of destruction unsexy maintenance

You had your gods of creation and destruction. Basic stuff. At first, the wrecker was down with their role. It was cool and edgy and powerful to make big things come down. It was easier to destroy something than construct it, and that... dissatisfied them. In time, even the gifts and the edgy disciples couldn't shake this ick inside the god of destruction.

One day, the wrecker's prize paladin completed her greatest conquest: a holy war, waged across planes and up mountains to reach the maker's own fortress. Millions had been slain to blaze the path, and she still had Creation itself to reckon with.

The battle was long, and you cannot kill a god someone still believes in, but eventually the paladin won. She exhausted the maker and sequestered it deep inside the mountain. Then she sent up a prayer, dedicating her next action to her own god. She didn't know they had been watching the whole time.

Next, the paladin set out to unmake the maker's palace. A mere burn or wrecking ball wouldn't do. This was her -- her god's -- greatest achievement. To do it justice, the fort needed nothing less than disintegration, atom by atom.

The wrecker revealed themself for this. They made a show of casting about for their sibling, feigning disbelief it was gone. They put on their best Badass God voice and boomed approval. They sat in Creation's throne, shifted in it. Of course the thing wasn't comfortable. It wasn't one of their tailor made mounts, and they were in one of their most exciting moments.

They were. They were so excited. That must be the name of the worm that had grown in their belly, now writhing in their chest. It felt like that because they were the god of war and destruction! It must be good.

Two things happened at once. A breeze came through one of the breached walls, knocking down an intricately balanced tower. A spinner-bug crawled onto the wrecker's limb. As they raised another to crush the creature, a thought hit them with the breeze. This being would die on its own, given time. All things would. They did not need help to pass into the Void of All. Entropy would do its patient work.

They were no god of destruction. They had no domain. All they could be was a hastener of something that didn't need help. And for what?

The deity turned their raised limb out, toward the paladin. "Stop," they commanded. She had just begun her ruinous work: a few bodies of matter destroyed. "Your task is finished. I thank you, truly, for your service."

It was sincere. Though it would shame them in future, without such dramatic events, the god of wreckage and ruin would not have realized the truth of it. They would not have found what they really wanted.

They dismissed their paladin, adding her lost time and confusion to the tally of awful things for which they needed to atone. Once they were alone, they took stock of the rubble.

Not many patron saints of construction workers out there.

First, they set to restoring their sibling's home. Arguably, the god itself was of greater importance. But sequestration was the closest to death or sleep a god could get, and the wrecker had ruined so much of Crea's. They wanted to give it a nice place to come home to, at least. So they rebuilt the fortress, as best they could, atom by spinning atom.

Then they fetched their sibling. Creation, rightfully angry, nearly smote the other on the spot. The wrecker, now its ally, only laughed. "Please do. Your powers undermine what I was. I don't want to be what I was."

They explained to Crea their plans, and their new domain.

"Can a god even do that? Change domains?" it asked.

"Is someone going to stop me?" countered the once-wrecker.

Thus began the siblings' journey as partners in existence: it the creator, and they the one who would maintain those creations. It was often solitary and decidedly unsexy work. Not many mortals worshiped the guy who fixed your plumbing. That was okay. The worm was gone, and the work was good.

They would find tricks for encouraging self-maintenance; many of their tinkerings literally came to life. But for the most part, it was just constant, tedious, honest, satisfying work. That was the nature of fighting entropy. It was boring. It was the best work in the world.

Who wanted to be a war god when you could keep things beautiful, and functioning, and alive!

[jollmaster]

how does Blood magic work?

trivia: blood magic

• blood magic is a combination of entropy and creation magic on a more subtle level

• entropy magic is more inherent to Sheol and is aimed at decay and battle use; creation magic is inherent to Eden and is aimed at restoration and use in everyday life and healing

• like two sides of coin

• blood magic draws energy directly from oneself or other creatures, because blood is an energetically highly charged substance that many creatures have and that can be used for various purposes

• for example, to swear oath, to bind and captivate; blood can be boiled in the veins at a distance, can be thickened and liquefied, can be purified and defiled

• the world in asileverse from the very beginning was strongly connected to blood magic, even if not always directly: blood magic includes not only purely magical manipulations, but also unconscious ones, such as sacrifice in the name of deities

• and in fact, that's why drinking ichor completely protects you from destruction or decay, and drinking demon blood can both decompose you into atoms and give a strong defense

[celestial-encounters]

Hello? Who's there?

This is an ask blog for Celestial Encounters, an AU made by @sainteclectic that you can find extra information about here. Basically, HMS and all the other albums are deities, while Whole (Harmonia) is just some guy who works at a corner store. HMS (or Pathos, Logos, and Psyche) are the primary gods, and they created or formed the other gods as offshoots of themselves, representing aspects of their power or performing duties for them.

Asks are preferably directed at someone specific, but you can also just shout into the void and see who answers. blog rules and further information about the characters are below the cut, but here's the short list:

Pathos (he/she/they) is the god of the moon, emotions, and justice. Under her are Castor (CiD; he/him), the god and entropy and injustice, and Thalia (Fine I'm Fine; any), god of celebration and euphoria.

Logos (she/her) is the god of the sun, logic, and progress. Under her are Pollux (The Before; she/her), god of apathy and downward spirals, and Theseus (...you know; he/they), god of perseverance and change.

Psyche (it/they/rarely she) is the god of the stars, the soul, and the underworld. Under it are Charon (Handsome Devil; he/they/it), god of judgement and passing on, and Lethe (Forest for the Trees; he/it), god of mania and overgrowth.

Aaand Harmonia (he/she), a normal mortal who doesn't know what he's doing here either.

Rules

I honestly don't really have anything except for being generally respectful of the blog owner and not getting too rowdy. {suggestive stuff is fine, use your best judgement on that kind of thing} go wild go crazy

Longer bios

pathos is the god of the moon, emotion, and justice. she gives humans their feelings, compassion, and drive to do what they feel is just. he has a strong sense of justice himself, though that sense might seem intense and destructive at times. despite his seemingly righteous goals, he's often blinded by them and is reckless as a result. she's driven purely by emotions, being a conduit for the feelings of humanity, and often doesn't think things through. logos despises their perceived immaturity, believing her to be too rash and emotional to know what's best for mortals.

logos is the god of the sun, logic, and progress. she grants humanity reasoning skills and technological advancements. she enjoys seeing them develop, but she's grown to dislike mortals for all their flaws and failures. still, she's devoted to giving humanity a flawless future - but she doesn't take their feelings about that into account, only what's "objectively" best for them. she approaches things from a purely practical perspective, not caring much for the emotions of the mortals who will be affected. this constantly puts her at odds with pathos, who thinks her methods are ruthless and cruel.

psyche is the god of the stars, the soul, and the underworld. they represent the spark of life in all things, the driving force that makes them unique. in return for giving humanity their sentience, it sacrificed its own personal identity, instead becoming a vessel for the wayward and damned souls that stay trapped behind their mask. it's exhausted from its duties of managing living and dead souls, as well as keeping logos and pathos from destroying humanity with their constant bickering. they like to go and watch the humans when it gets stressed out. it makes them happy to see mortals living their lives, using the gift of free will they granted them.

harmonia is a normal human living in a semi modern setting. the setting is sort of mixed with a bit of fantasy, because they still know gods exist and worship them and all that, which basically just means there's temples to them instead of churches. he's a minimum wage worker, painfully average, depressed, and barely presentable. she doesn't interact with many people outside of coworkers and customers, and she's certainly never interacted with literal deities before... until now.

thalia is a god of celebration and euphoria, especially after hard times. she represents the kind of overjoyed catharsis you get when you're finally free from your problems. he's worshipped in dances and song, and though they're more of an underground worship god than mainstream one these days (and she prefers it that way), many celebrations like graduations or weddings still include a toast to thalia as part of their tradition.

theseus is an interesting case. he was a human who strived to attain godhood by replacing his body with animal parts, hoping to be inhuman enough to ascend to godhood. logos respected the grind but hubris is still a crime, so they should probably punish his soul post death. pathos got into a debate over the fact logos is the most hubris person ever, of course she'd say that, and psyche allowed him to be a minor god of persistence and change as a compromise. he's more like a patron saint than a god in his own right, people pray to him for minor things these days, like personal growth or doing good on a test.

castor is the god of entropy and injustice. despite this, he's not generally a misanthropic god. instead, he's the god you turn to when you need strength in the face of an uncaring universe. fighting an oppressive system, getting vengeance for your suffering, seeing the beauty in decay, that kind of thing. he's representative of pathos' domain in justice and the cruel world that requires it! the emotional motivation to do better is nothing without the logical understanding of how to do it, though.

his twin pollux is the misanthropic one, representing apathy and downward spirals. she's the embodiment of the kind of nothingness you feel while trapped in depression. despite this seeming like an emotional thing, it's instead symbolic for the pit you can fall into when you can't feel emotions healthily. so she serves under logos because, while logos represents progress, that doesn't mean anything without the emotional drive to move forward.

charon is a chthonic god, specifically of judgment and passage into the underworld! charon is under psyche, who's The god of the underworld {taking care of souls and all that}, and he's basically a collector of souls that try to escape them - think thanatos trying to take sisyphus, who refused to die naturally. but it often gets into trouble with psyche because it likes to "play with his food" before taking them to it. they appreciate a good game of cat and mouse, and they respect those particularly crafty mortals that successfully elude them. meanwhile psyche just wants him to do his fucking job.

lethe is a nature god, but in the same way early nature deities like pan also represented madness. he's a god of doomed journeys, mania, and overgrowth. he's the voice in your head that tells you to leave the well-trod path and lose yourself in the gnarled branches and twisted pathways. legend says you might enter his domain if you get lost in the woods, and if you do, you might never escape... used as a cautionary tale to keep kids from wandering off, but people also make offerings to it before going traveling or hiking as a way to avoid their journey ending poorly.

[y-rhywbeth2]

So I think it was implied that the Emperor can't reach you while you're on Avernus, but at the same time you clearly don't undergo rapid ceramorphosis, so presumably the Elder Brain's activation signals can't reach you either, and the tadpole won't activate without it.

...what I'm hearing is that we could've just fucking left Toril and it would solve all our problems. Drop by Sigil, buy some kind of infernal thingymabob or something from an Elemental Plane that will keep Karlach's engine in check (maybe the Negative Energy Plane, since all that heat will just meet pure entropy and dissipate into nothing). Then we can go somewhere else if we want! Plenty of other parts of the Prime that have sunlight and etc for a more familiar setting. Even Durge might get a break; Bhaal's a demipower with no known influence outside of Toril, and he can't leave without using regular mortal interplanar travel magics. It's dangerous, sure, but you have a chance of surviving. Maybe. Bringing the party temporarily to Avernus and being on a different plane would explain how Raphael can cut off the Urge when he doesn't have the power to interfere with a god that way.

The only one in serious trouble here is Gale, because Mystra's probably not going to keep risking the Weave if he's not going to help fix the threat... Although maybe other plane's metaphysics means that the orb is inert? Maybe Shar could cause problems for Shadowheart, depending on whether she has influence on other worlds, but we can avoid those.

Wyll and Lae'zel are also in trouble, but that's because they have things like family members and a conscience and/or a sense of duty, and tbh that's on them.

It's not like the Absolute is going to be that much of a threat: If they win the other gods will send their powerful servants at it until the Absolute goes down. At worst we lost Baldur's Gate. They can rebuild that.

The biggest problem is explained by whoever this is:

Because then the Dead Three get a power and relivancy boost to fix their temporal power and climb the divine ranks after being dead for a century (although, again, Bane really doesn't need one, he was a Greater Deity). Smartest person in Baldur's Gate, give them a medal.

And tbh that's not that big a deal, anyway. The Dead Three have been powerful before, and the world didn't end then, either.

[darkcacaocookieandfriends]

can we get some burning spice cookie headcannons???

Sure! Apologies for the late response. I had to catch up on some lore. That being said, I have some interesting thoughts. A lot of them are based on my personal thoughts on his element as this isn't the first god of destruction I've written, and others are based on the inspiration he's drawn from and how the culture surrounding that deity view his element, because I think it's worth noting and is important to the introspection I'm going to lend.

Entropy is very much something Burning Spice is founded on. In the grand scheme of things, it is needed to create the circle of destruction and creation. Without his element, a great imbalance is caused. However, no matter how much he destroys, he himself can never witness creation through destruction as destroying him destroys an intricate balance put into place. He is a force feared, yet needed and even essential. Destruction clears the path for something new, but in witnessing this he knows that he himself will never one of those things. Because he is doomed to a life of ending others. A life of crumbling all before him to dust, forced to carry the knowledge of all he does for eternity.

He, much like his element is ever-lasting, immortal as long as there is something that can be destroyed. In knowing this, he holds a type of envy towards those who are finite. Those who have the joy and wonder of experiencing life anew. Those who can live in ignorance of bliss, without the knowledge of all that has come to pass, without carrying everlasting malice built up in the wake of all he's come to know. Cookie born a new are lifted of all that corrupt. Cookies born anew are free from the chains of malice and hatred. They are allowed to have free spirits and granted new experiences - all that he can never rid himself of.

Destruction exists as long as there are things to destroy. When all has been destroyed and nothing else exists, only then will he lose purpose.

"I wonder...what will it take to destroy me?" I've seen people analyze this line and interpret it in different ways. I see it in a bit of a different light. I feel the element of destruction works in two ways ultimately - destruction consumes and will eventually consume him, or the other outcome of his own demise may be that he's destroyed until there is nothing left to destroy and his element becomes useless by partisan. Therefore, he would succumb to the thing he hates - boredom and stagnation.

I feel these are two outcomes he knows well. Destruction pushes towards change through creation, but when he succumbs to his own element or fizzles out from being obsolete, will he too finally get a chance of creation? Or will he simply fade away until one who succeeds him will take his place? * That being said, I feel Burning Spice has a sense of immortality as long as there is use for his element. He will exist to lay waste to what he sees as the world's imperfections and destroy them so that the world may be reshaped through creation. Stagnation produces the mundane, the droll and the peaceful. Things that cause the cycle to wane or die out, things that threaten the abolishment of his element and all that he is...and what purpose would he have, if not to destroy? If not to plunge the world into chaos?

That being said, destruction is needed for change and advancement. If cookies fall into peace, they stagnate and Earthbread never advances. His element is needed for the great progression of all things - no matter how hated and feared it is.

I feel this is why these things bore him.

I'm sure I'll expand on these things and they may be subject to change when more comes out about him but these are what I'm going to lend my portrayal to for now.

[monstatron]

THE HARBINGER OF THE APOCALYPSE

The Ekanox is a peternatural concept derived from unknown cosmic origin. The Ekanox’s existence is spontaneous. From whatever equilibrium it originated from, it was outcasted from that plane of existence. It is not a deity, organism, or creature. The only word that comes close to defining it is a metaphysical, peternatural cosmic birthed from cosmic entropy and spontaneous equilibrium.

The Ekanox had created the Pestilence as it’s mimicry of it’s observations of life on Earth, however, much like itself, it serves no real purpose. The Ekanox is constantly moving when it is awake from it's long hibernations. Due to being a physical entity, this leaves it vulnerable, meaning that it can be destroyed. There is no known way to destroy the Ekanox.

full ekanox design woohoo!! this is the… “concept” responsible for the flesh-apocalypse on earth.

it is not a deity, god, organism, or anything comprehensive, hence why i refer to it as a concept. which delivers a sense of irony considering that it is physical, but is simultaneously indestructible and incomprehensible. ouchie…….

[fictional-gods-tournament]

Prelims

Fandom: SCP Foundation Part 1/2

The two with the most votes will move to next round

Part 2/2

Characters' info under the cut

All-Death / Kshitigarbha (wiki)

Domains: Death of all things and the primordial darkness

Proganda:

He is the oldest and most powerful of his brethren, the supreme Elder God in the settings he's in. An all-encompasing being that will be the end of creation itself, while also protecting it

Black Moon / 🜛 (wiki)

Domain: Entropy

Proganda:

A circular void that resides outside the cosmos, an entity of entropy and obliteration that aims to end all life and matter, and if people were to suffer from it, that is a bonus reward

Greath Death / Yama (wiki)

Domain: Death of large quantities

Proganda:

He is the second oldest of the Brothers of Death, second to All-Death. He is the embodiment of mass death.

JALAKÅRA of the Impenetrable (wiki)

Domains: Corbenic afterlife, silence, labor, modesty, obedience, and bureaucracy

Proganda:

He is the patreon god of the Three Moon Initiative, took part in the creation of Corbenic, and is a giant spider with a human face who lives light years above in the heavens

Mekhane (wiki)

Domains: Intelligence, Logic and Technology

Proganda:

They are the patreon deity of the Broken Church,co-creator of humanity, and cosmic machine elder god of all that is intelligent and technological

Pangloss (wiki)

Domain:s Creation, Life, Light, Flame, and the Beginning

Proganda:

One of the few benevolent gods in the SCP mythos who shows a fatherly love towards his creations and humanity, creator of the universe

Queen Mab (wiki)

Domains: The Unseelie Court, and innumerable souls and names

Proganda:

One of the former supreme monarchs of the Fae race, a species with great magical and reality bending powers, as well as cosmic scaling. Now she leads The Factory and holds power over the identities of many beings across the cosmos. Represents all the bad sides of the Fae

Rakmou-leusan / Rakhi (wiki)

Domain: Guardian of The Universe

Proganda:

Central figure of the Ortothan religion, which spans across the universe. He is the sole survivor of 7 guardian deities meant to protect the universe from the Voruteut, beings of oblivion and chaos that destroyed the previous universe

[gallifreyinstituteforlearning]

What’s the Gallifreyan belief on other immortals? I don’t know if any of the Professors at the Institute have ever heard of The Mechanisms, a crew of immortal space pirates, one of whom. The Toy Soldier, is familiar with the Doctor enough to have attempted to give advice, and I’m curious what the general view / information to know about the crew in the Whoniverse. Plus, if you havent heard of them, now you have : D - D

How do Gallifreyans regard immortals?

Interesting question! To understand Gallifreyans' stance on immortality, we need to look at their complicated history with the Menti Celesti and how this might have shaped their view of other powerful beings.

💀 The Menti Celesti: Gallifrey’s Ancient Deities

Long ago, before Gallifreyans became the masters of time, they worshipped the Menti Celesti—god-like beings representing primal forces like Time, Death, Fate, and Life. These beings were actually Eternals, immensely powerful, but still another species. At that time, Gallifrey was ruled by the Pythia, a mystical leader chosen by the Menti Celesti.

When Rassilon came into power, Gallifrey underwent a dramatic shift. The Time Lords abandoned the worship of the Menti Celesti in favour of science and temporal manipulation. This led to the overthrow of the Pythia, but in her dying moments, she cursed the Gallifreyans with sterility—a devastating event that forced the society to rely on Looms for reproduction. The Curse of the Pythia left a lasting mark on Gallifreyan culture, no doubt creating a deep distrust of deities and external control.

Fast-forward to modern Gallifrey, and worship of the Menti Celesti has become controversial. Many Time Lords see them not as gods but as just another species that once manipulated a more primitive Gallifrey. Some may even feel that Gallifrey was betrayed—first by being used, then by being cursed when they rejected the old ways.

🧙‍♂️ Gallifreyans and Immortals: The Ongoing Debate

So how would Gallifreyans view The Mechanisms or The Toy Soldier? Based on their past with the Menti Celesti, many Gallifreyans might suspect them as nothing more than another group of immortals trying to hold power over lesser beings—something the Time Lords learned to resist.

Having said this, they would probably still be curious—how do these immortals maintain their status? How do they manipulate time, if at all? Would they pose a threat or be a valuable ally?

🏫 So …

Gallifreyans have a complex relationship with immortals, and it seems far to say that they're probably 'cautiously curious'. When it comes to new immortal groups like The Mechanisms, Time Lords would definitely be wary but still interested in what makes them tick.

Related:

📺|🧶👶What is looming and how does it exist alongside natural reproduction?: Overview of looming and its place alongside natural reproduction in Gallifreyan society.

💬|👥⏲️What are Gallifreyans’ thoughts on entropy?: How Gallifreyans see and fight the concept of entropy.

💬|⏰🕯️How does religion work on Gallifrey?: Overview of the history and perception of religion throughout Gallifrey's history.

Hope that helped! 😃

Any orange text is educated guesswork or theoretical. More content ... →📫Got a question? | 📚Complete list of Q+A and factoids →📢Announcements |🩻Biology |🗨️Language |🕰️Throwbacks |🤓Facts → Features: ⭐Guest Posts | 🍜Chomp Chomp with Myishu →🫀Gallifreyan Anatomy and Physiology Guide (pending) →⚕️Gallifreyan Emergency Medicine Guides →📝Source list (WIP) →📜Masterpost If you're finding your happy place in this part of the internet, feel free to buy a coffee to help keep our exhausted human conscious. She works full-time in medicine and is so very tired 😴

[revscarecrow]

I want to be an omnipotent deity not because I want to rule the universe with an iron first, but because I just want everything to be okay without personally needing to be witnessed or remembered. There are problems with reality that extend beyond what people to do each other, and there's just no fixing them. I had a dream where I was in that kind of position, and I woke from it in tears. I just want everything to be nice. Why is that too much to ask? Even if people were all nice, nature isn't.

The nature of the universe is entropy. Bridges crumble and things die. You can't change the fact that entropy happens but you can change how you react to it. In other words there are indeed a lot of problems but you and I aren't the only ones who notice this. You cannot fix everything nor should you try. While you work on the cure for cancer the bridges still break and flowers go unwatered. Trying will only burn you out. You can't solve all the worlds problems by yourself but it's OK. Because you and I aren't the only ones to notice. We aren't gods so we have to pick one or two things that are wrong and specialize to fix those things trusting and knowing that the others are who are feeling the same way with different things to fix. Kindness however is free. In short: I know this pain all too well but be kind and fix what you can knowing you aren't alone in this fight. Together we can be an unnoticed benevolent God of your dreams.

[leggerefiore]

Entropy

cw: giratina volo, pokehybrid au, volo centric, 3333 words,

pairing: Volo/Reader

summary: Volo escapes from his banishment and plans to forcibly usurp the powers of Arceus. Sadly, he finds himself played in a trap by the deity with a certain human sent to stop him and his own feelings.

-----

It was a lonely existence that he lived.

He lived in shadows, in a corrupted, distorted world that was unlike the one he could only observe from a distance.

Why was he banished here, unable to interact with others, you may ask? Well, the Renegade pokemon had perhaps made a certain creator deity a bit too mad with his violence. Still, Volo could not help but feel anger for his situation.

Cogita – Arceus – Whatever the damn deity wanted to call herself today, banished him to this world and prevented his reentry into the one he observed. Sure, he had foolishly attempted to stand against her and take her power as his own, but her own strength and that of Dialga and Palkia sent him here and left him. He felt his blood boil the longer he watched humanity through his empty glances.

Hisui, the land in which Arceus supposedly first made, had caught his attention for numerous reasons. It was where his first violent outburst had happened. The blond sighed.

Was this envy? Desperation? Did he want the deity that had created him and then refused to take responsibility for him to be forced to lay her eyes on him once more? He was lonely, he knew.

His long wings, shadowy and like tendrils, swished behind him as he moved. He wished to leave this place. It was both his home and his prison, but he was tired of being locked inside. Centuries of isolation could weigh heavily upon even an immortal being like himself.

His eyes landed upon the clans of Hisui, led by the two that had helped seal him. More rage bubbled up inside him. There had been enough of him waiting around.

An attack called forth from him, slashing the very fabric that tethered the space and time of where he was trapped and into the other world. Without hesitation, he stepped inside.

For a moment, there was nothing.

Then… there was everything. His body forcibly shifted in this world, wings fusing together into a singular entity and his ridges along his neck sealing into the pale flesh underneath. He gasped in a breath. Icy winds lashed around his as chilled water fell from the clouds. He tried to flap his wings, but he had not yet adjusted to his new form. The ground grew closer and closer…

And he crashed.

Volo laid on the muddy ground, eyes peering at the sky distantly. The portal slowly closed, leaving him where he was. He felt exhausted. Everything around him was too distant for him to gasp on to. His eyelids felt like lead as they slowly began to close.

Suddenly, however, a weight crawled onto him. He opened his eyes from the surprise to see a small pokemon had got onto his chest. The pokemon was egg-like and let out a small chirp, nuzzling into him. Confusion rushed through the dragon's mind. Carefully, he reached a hand out to touch the pokemon. It rubbed its cheek against his skin.

Volo felt completely awake.

A smile spread across his lips.

He had made it.

Arceus could no longer restrain him, and he would usurp her power for certain this time.

~

Time passed, Volo entirely managed to hide his features that gave away his true nature, both physically and psychologically. A merchant's guild had taken him in and employed him, much to his luck. He easily became a friendly face among the humans of the Galaxy Team and the clans. A travelling merchant who preferred to spend his time staring at ruins and artefacts rather than selling things.

He felt lucky.

His disguise had given him a perfect opportunity to go to the temple that lied at the peak of Mt. Coronet and begin his plan.

Once again, he unleashed his move and tore a rift in space and time above all of Hisui.

He watched as a poor sap was pulled through from some other place and time in the world. There was little reason for him to seek after the by-product of his destruction, however.

Over the coming days, he watched as the populace of Hisui became aware and frightened of the looming portal hovering above their lands. The person who had fallen through his portal had not a single a memory of what had happened to him before waking up in the frigid lands of the north most icelands. A certain pokemon of the lake had made sure of that.

He watched as speculations went wild, but not one dared to involve him. Volo escaped any suspicion of foul play by his friendly yet distant nature as a merchant.

Soon, the portal would force the clan leaders to act and try to stop the portal, lest it pull them in itself. Dialga and Palkia would fail, he knew. This trap of his design was impossible to stop otherwise.

That was what he thought, but then something he never could have expected came forth.

Arceus sought to spite him by bringing out a human to stand against him. Taken from out of space and time, falling through a portal similar to his own. He encountered them carefully, observing how they acted. They were nearly as confused and lost as the person he had accidentally brought through his own portal. He even challenged them to a battle to observe their capabilities there.

Needless to say, they easily beat his low level Togepi. He could feel their potential and pondered how to stop them before they became too much of an issue for him. There was something that he noted as they spoke to him, however. A twinkle of trust in their eyes toward them. He could not understand it himself, but any opportunity that bared itself to him would be exploited.

The legendary would set out to become your trusted ally. His friendly demeanour was obviously a welcome change to the harsh looks and suspicious glances of the Galaxy Team. He felt smug as he watched you head out to do your tasks, keeping an eye on you from a distance. Even scaring you once, much to your obvious distaste. You gave him a glare, but he offered you catching advice and an amicable grin.

It was only after you truly quelled a raging Noble, another side effect of his plan, that he realised that you would truly become a problem if he did not stop you. Volo felt frustrated Arceus would spite him with such an odd and cruel punishment. He felt even more mortified when you presented him a plate of Arceus.

… But Volo was no idiot. If his first plan failed, having a backup would never be a bad idea. You had a plate. A plate he knew very well could call out Arceus from her realm.

Poor you just had to be dragged into this by a cruel deity.

Volo's continued monitoring involved battles and attempts to dissuade you from your actions or helping you to the best of his abilities. It was most unfortunate that these involved your random bursts of bright smiles or blissfully ignorant words.

It was only after he found you utterly dejected after being banished from Jubilife when you had just helped everyone with their nobles that he realised something. A strange feeling had been beginning to bud within him for a quite a while. You were pitiful, truly. Brave and reliable, but pitiful. An outsider forced from your home by a deity to fulfil its job since it refused to play its game. When he called out to you, he watched as you turned to look at him, completely deflated. Even the clans had denied you assistance in your grave time of need, fearful of Team Galaxy.

He wanted to laugh at how pitiful the gods of time and space had proven themselves to be. Softly, he laid a hand on your shoulder and promised to take you somewhere for you to stay.

His campsite was certainly lacking, but it was not as though he could take you to his true home. Then you would be fully aware of how easily he was playing you. A pokemon from the team had appeared not long after you settled down. He shook his head at the action. If they truly cared for you, why would they have allowed your banishment? Volo understood your situation with ease. Which is why he decided to go with his second plan completely now. He was well aware of the plates you had collected through your journeys.

That is why he helped you mend the very disaster he had started. Gathering the power of the lake trio and using the red chain to stop Palkia and to stand beside her to stop the frenzied Dialga. He felt annoyed, watching from a distance, but amazed that you had the willpower to stand against the very people who wished ill-will upon you and stand alongside legendaries regarded as deities so easily.

Of course, he remained out of sight and away from them for good reason. One glance at him from either of those two would blow his entire cover completely away. Even disguised as a human, they would recognise him. He did not miss the glance back they would give back to his general area when he stood out too much.

Volo felt something when he watched Dialga embrace you after snapping him out of his frenzied state. Rage poured into his heart. Something about you made him want you all to himself, just as pitiful as you were during your stay in his camp. His plans were to keep you at his side after he stole Arceus's power for his own.

He would just have to convince you now, to help him with his next plan. After all, gathering the plates now on his own would be useless, as he only had a single one in his possession. Besides, he found himself oddly entranced with the idea of spending time with you.

Of course, you eagerly agreed, clearly happy to spend more time with him and wanting to know more about the mysteries of Hisui, too. Volo easily led you around the region, searching for the item required for his next plans. An unintended side effect of his plan unfortunately arose as he spent more and more time with you.

Hi chest tightened when you smiled at him, leaned against him during colder nights, hugged him after a difficult battle, or said such sweet words to him. There was no time to second guess himself at this point. He was too far into his plan to lure out Arceus once more to snatch you away and hide you in his dimension for all eternity, but, he supposed, if this plan failed, he would do just that.

Somewhere in the middle of his hunt with you, a familiar woman appeared before him and you while searching for information on the final plate he needed. Her grey eyes identical to his own, and an ancient, primordial energy swirled around her. He bit his tongue, knowing better to play her in her own domain. She just sighed and shook her head at you both. You tilted your head at her sudden appearance in the village.

“… Volo,” her voice was filled with heavy disappointment, “Have you learnt nothing?” Your gaze went between them curiously.

“Mistress Cogita, how rare to see you,” he forced a smile on his face to continue playing his part, “You know very well how deeply I love to learn about Hisuian legends and myths more than anyone.” As if he had not watched them develop over time from his prison as her unwanted child. She shook her head.

“You haven't then, I suppose,” her attention shifted to you, “He hasn't been too awful, has he?” You shook your head and turned to him with a sweet grin.

“I… I really like him, actually,” your voice was soft, “Doing all this with him has really made me see how much he loves his hobbies…” Cogita's eyebrow raised curiously.

“… I see,” she turned away from them both and gave one last look over her shoulder, “The Pixie Plate is in the Ancient Retreat. You know the place well, Volo.” With that, she walked out of the village and disappeared.

You looked at Volo curiously. He sighed and made up a story about her being his grandmother. They were distant, and that is why he never mentioned her before. You believed it easily. Assembly much easier than you would have believed her to be, the very being you were working towards summoning.

When he told you the story of Giratina, himself, as you walked to the remote location of the location given to you both by Cogita. Your brows pressed together as you listened to him carefully. In the end, he wondered what your opinion of the situation would be. You stopped dead in your tracks and hummed.

“If Giratina was unwanted, why would Arceus make it then?” you asked him curiously, “… You make it sound almost personal, actually. Do you sympathise with Giratina, Volo?” He froze, too. How astute were you? He supposed his bias was not hidden.

“I do,” he said plainly, “I believe Arceus should have taken more responsibility for its creation rather than banishing it. You should know all too well how cruel banishment is.” You were the stunned one this time. Your eyes went to the ground, but your hand grabbed his own.

“I do, Volo, I do know,” you told him, “But… I suppose I can understand why Kamado did, too… I don't know. Is Giratina still banished even after all this time?”

“… Yes,” he said simply, “I'm hoping it will make its appearance at the Temple of Sinnoh after we obtain all the plates.” You nodded but kept your hand locked with his. Stepping to his side, you leaned against him.

“Well, maybe after freeing Giratina from its banishment, it will understand why it happened,” you wondered aloud. Volo resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Still, the feeling of being so close to his goals, and you, made him elated.

~

The time came as Volo stood in his true form at the destroyed Temple of Sinnoh. Cold winds lashed at his skin as he stared intently at the sky where his portal once reigned. You were going to arrive soon. How would you react to this truth? Anger? Rage? Dare he even consider… Acceptance? Either way, you two were about to stand opposed. He could already tell that you would not support his urge to create his own, better world than this one.

As much as he had come to care and even… love you. He knew you could not support this, not as Arceus's chosen one. His brain had been a mess since that horrid portal spit you out and laid you before him.

“… Volo,” your voice was soft as he turned to face you. Your eyes were not wide but rather red and glossy. No words had to be said, you understood it all at a glance. “… You were behind it all, weren't you?” you decided to ask the question which held the weight of the world.

“Of course,” his eyes grew cold, but he would still try to have you see his side, “This world is cruel. Ruled by an apathetic deity who would rather banish a being she created rather than take responsibility for him. She is only intervening now as a means to preserve her power. I will create a new, better world.” His hand reached for the pokeball of the first being that had greeted him in this world. You shook your head and imitated his action.

The battle was intense. Volo had not shown you his true hand until now. Battling was something that came naturally to him, especially in a moment where everything lied upon his victory. You were no pushover, either, obviously experienced in your own way. Even after you defeated his last pokemon on his team, he refused to accept it.

If he…

If he lost, he would be banished again. Left in complete and utter isolation and only able to observe distantly.

He would lose you.

In his madness, Volo himself took to battle against you as Giratina, both of his forms employed. Still, even despite the harsh adversity of going against someone as physically strong as he was, you managed to rip victory from his hands.

He fell to his knees. Rage and terror brewing heavily with him. Sadness creeping in from the edges. You breathed heavily, watching him for any more unpredictable actions.

Nothing came.

A hand rested on his shoulder as light poured too brightly behind him.

“… Volo, that is enough,” Cogita's voice was harsh yet pitiful, “I do not hate nor do I consider you unwanted. I simply do not trust you to interact with humans and pokemon of this world without harming them.” You gasped at the sight of her, thoroughly different from the dark clothing she had worn in her human disguise.

You stood up tall.

“Please… Don't banish him alone,” you begged her, “Don't banish him at all… I'll watch him. So, please.”

She gave a curious glance at you and shook her head with a sigh. “Volo… You claim you love them, do you not? Why not protect the world they so love, then?” she questioned him. His head remained low.

You had been through so much pain, just as he had at the hand of Arceus. You were kindred spirits, but you had her favour while he did not.

“… Would you even allow me to come and go into this realm as I pleased,” he wondered? Cogita gazed down at him intensely.

“Of course, if you swear to quit causing problems,” she knelt down and softly brought a hand to comb through his hair, “I do care for you and want you to be happy despite what you believe me to be. Why do you think I even bothered to let you do all of this?” He froze from both her words and the unexpected affection.

You smiled down at him. He felt stuck. If he denied everything Cogita had said, he would be banished back into the Distortion World with no hope of ever escaping, and you would be let here alone. If he agreed, he did not know what to do.

“Fine,” he relented, “… Just don't expect me to be like those two.” Cogita laughed, unexpectedly.

“I never expected you to be like Palkia and Dialga in the first place,” she stood herself and him up. Her eyes, now glowing green, turned to you, “I will hold you to your words to watch him.” You nodded.

You walked over to carry him on your shoulder as you took him from her, his injuries from the battle still needing to be tended to. She watched you both with curious eyes.

Before she left, Cogita leaned into your ear and whispered that Volo was truly her favourite of the three before disappearing into the clouds above. You understood her feelings entirely as you watched the blond man barely keep himself on his feet.

“I love you, Volo,” you told him plainly as you headed back towards the nearest base camp, “I didn't want you to be alone again… I didn't want you to be banished from this world.”

He was silent for a moment after your confession. Closing his eyes, he soaked in the feelings that the words brought him.

“I love you, too,” he managed to get out.

Sadly, despite your love, he was still a wanted criminal in Hisui for the whole nearly destroying the world thing, so he had to return to his dimension for the most part. On the bright side, you could visit him and get away from the stresses of your Survey Corps duties.

[mrpickleface]

I don't expect to run into a lot of religious people or defenders of religion here in Tumblr, but I really have to vent.

Religion is so fucking stupid y'all. And the truth is that all religions from all cultures throughout human history have all been equally made up.

All of them, every single one, not one god, deity, or Messiah has been real. All fabricated by humans to make death and the entropy of existence more palatable.

Prayers have never done anything, there has never been a religious miracle that has ever occurred in human history.

God's have never existed, there is no such thing as a soul or an afterlife, of any description or permutation. No ghosts, no demons, no hell, no nothing, it's all bunk and it always has been.

Every human who has ever died is just dead, in the ground, no different than any other living creature on our planet throughout history.

That's all not to say that there hasn't been some good done by people in the name of different religions, there's been an incredible amount of charity and advocacy done by different people and groups.

But at what cost? All the wars, all the deaths, all the animosity and strife. All the anxiety about what you do or don't do leading to eternal damnation. The gift and graft of religious leaders to enrich themselves. The RAPES, Jesus Christ, the raping of children by fucking priest!!?! It's an almost incomprehensible mountain of human suffering for nothing, for something that's not real, totally fabricated.

And it's not even hard to disprove, religion across the board is logical swiss cheese, almost no religion holds up against even simple scrutiny (hello burning people at the stake).

Even the MOST devout religious person is 99% an atheist, because they DON'T believe in the validity of any other religion, past or present. They think they are on the only "correct" team, but they wouldn't argue for a second that everyone else has gotten it wrong and that all the other religions were false and made up... Like what??? That's fucking insane!!!!

TL;DR all religion is and has been made up, there haven't ever been any gods.