>>3773744
After you and Nike’ finish your meals the waitress brings a small tea kettle and a large dish with an assortment of various desserts so you decide to continue the conversation. The first thing that you ask her if she might have some time to train with you. She replies that it is a solid maybe, but she doesn’t know when she might have the time and asks you to come back to this discussion later.

Next you ask her about is the situation with you and precognition. After all, Vera was just across the table from you during the conference and she is the most potent precog user known to Nike’.

“I’m honestly not sure, but I can try to guess” She says. “I don’t think that Verdandi noticed anything. If she did, she would most likely tell Elspeth as soon as possible, but my servants informed me that she is just relaxing alone in one of the parks.

Ceno pantheon currently knows about at least one example of an ability that can negate precognition. If we take Apostate for example, she has a bubble of psi vacuum around her so precognition can’t work correctly for things in that bubble’s area. If you had something similar then you’d get found out much sooner, probably as soon as your pod opened.

However, if you somehow masked the entirety of your influence on the future it would still look weird since you’d look like you cause less disturbance than a mortal. This would be very noticeable as well to someone like Vera. So, I guess that you must have some kind of incorrect prediction timeline that is similar to someone less powerful than a Cup Bearer. Considering that you need to be a powerful precog user to even see the timelines, it would also explain why that ex- cultist couldn’t predict your appearance and even base intentions. Most likely Oisin just understood that whatever his power tells him about you is often wrong. Well, the other option is that Vera knows everything already and everyone here is completely wrong about her. Considering that I’ve been around her for at least 95 years, I tend to think it is most likely the former.”

>>3773746
The most reasonable follow-up question from you was, of course, about surveillance. If Nike’ can keep tabs on the other SGs, how can she be so sure no one has heard your dialogue? She explains that every table in this restaurant has a psi- circuit inside of it and she has been powering it the entire time. It completely blocks the sound from leaving the immediate area and it distorts the image enough to make lip reading impossible. Apparently, it is a part of some agreement for diplomatic areas between the pantheons. The worst thing that might come out of it is just a few rumors about you two being on a date or something. You feel relieved, even if somewhat embarrassed. Nika did hold her promise about your secret. You smile and thank Nike’ for everything she is doing for you and for keeping it a secret. Nika blushes slightly, smiles and replies with a small pause: “…You’re welcome”.

After you finish with the tea, Nike’ tells you that technically the longer you stay here the more is the risk that someone might find out about you, so she suggests to send you back. She has some time before she has to return to her work so she can accompany you if you want.

>Go back alone, you don’t want to take more of Nike’s time
>Sure, it would be nice for her to join you on your trip even if only for a few hours
>You’ll risk a little bit more, maybe you could visit…(Write-in)

>>3773747

>Sure, it would be nice for her to join you on your trip even if only for a few hours

Sure, we can use the trip to test some psi stuff and do some friendly training.
The last time she was mlre powerful than us and that forced us to grow a little.
I want to try grapling her, getting or hands on her to see if when she blinks we can force her to take us along, a new strategy

>>3773746
>Sure, it would be nice for her to join you on your trip even if only for a few hours
Maybe Nike can give us hints for our town to protect against signature seeking monsters.

>>3773747
>Sure, it would be nice for her to join you on your trip even if only for a few hours

>>3773748
Nike' would only accompany us while we are in Platania polis. I don't think that you'd have the chance to train with her. However, I will take note of this for the next time when she is available for sparring.

>>3773748
>3773748
>>3773749
>>3773750
Writing

>>3773761
Nika agrees to join you for a few hours until she has to return and once you leave the restaurant both of you get transported to her Oracle Shrine in Platania. Oracle herself seems very surprised by the arrival of her patron and bows to her, to which Nike’ responds with a smile and a nod. After that she enables her disguise, this time it looks like some lighter skinned monster huntress with short black hair, a few facial scars and the height similar to yours. This somewhat makes the conversation easier even if it keeps you wondering how many of these things she has.

As you walk out of her temple you end up asking her about the Ceilings. How should you protect yourself against them? She replies that this is a bit of a complicated subject and it would take some time to explain:

“Well, to start from the beginning, we suspect that the civilization before the Long Night was… underdeveloped socially in comparison to their technologies. While they managed to restore themselves to a state comparable, and in cases like psi- superior, to the technologies that were modern to us, their society was structured more like early colonial empires. Their nations were almost exclusively absolute monarchies and thus they lacked certain mechanisms that used to keep our own society safe. For example, if I remember correctly, Great Britain in our own history had a phase when they outlawed homelessness with a death penalty during early industrial revolution. Pre- Long Night nation- states had similar atrocities done relatively commonly. They gained access to technology too quickly and their societies could not adapt fast enough.

So eventually something very similar to the Great War happened. The world was separated into several alliance blocks that erupted into a global conflict due to some minor squabble between smaller member states. However, this time they had access to a wide variety of weapons of mass destruction and one of them were MAD monitors.

>>3773811
MAD monitor is a unique extension to Mutually Assured Destruction concept that was created at that time. Basically, it is a machine that would survive through the initial exchange and then watch over the enemy territory so that it can make sure that all enemies are destroyed thoroughly enough. Most of these machines had localized patrol routes and thus the majority of them can never get to our continent. Those that were here didn’t survive the contact with the first and second waves of Synthetic Gods and this is the main reason why the locals are starting to rebuild.

However, some of these MAD monitors still remain in orbit, in the skies and sometimes deep below the oceans still patrolling the world for signs of their enemies. We call those Ceilings because like a “glass ceiling” they completely halt any further progress.

There were many kinds of signatures that Ceilings could look for, however the majority of them was destroyed due to having these signatures themselves. There are no longer any ceilings that scan for population densities, intense heat signatures or large-scale psi discharges. There are, however, some that look for powerful radio emissions and atmospheric pollution. Thus, to protect yourself from running into them make sure that you don’t build radio emitters, radars or, you know, arrays of massive coal powerplants and you should technically be good.

Also keep in mind that some of the monsters use similar detection systems and they are still around so you might end up attracting something a bit weaker once your population grows or if you end up using massive amounts of psi energy in a single “spell”. We deal with the former all the time and it is basically the price you pay for having more than hunter- gatherer population densities.”

In any case, now that you are in the city, you may decide on the places you might want to visit:
>Grand Market: Time to go shopping!
>Hero University: Let’s take a look at what the finest huntsmen-in-training look like
>Temple of a specific deity: Polises have a major temple for each deity in the Pantheon District. Which one you’d like to see?
>Hall of Huntsmen: A kind of elite, large and better organized version of Hunter’s Inn. It manages monster hunters in the area, processes requests and distributes rewards and pensions.
>Docks: Platania sits on a large river that connects it both to the largest lake in the Cenophilan territory and the eastern coast. You’d like to hear some news of those territories…
>Nike’s recommendation: considering her specialization, it would most likely be Hall of Huntsmen or the University
>Other? The city is a big place. Maybe you’d like to see something else?

>>3773812

>Hall of Huntsmen: A kind of elite, large and better organized version of Hunter’s Inn. It manages monster hunters in the area, processes requests and distributes rewards and pensions.

Let's see the local problems

Ask her if her cups usually deal with these things too

>>3773824
Seconding.

>>3773812

>Hall of Huntsmen: A kind of elite, large and better organized version of Hunter’s Inn. It manages monster hunters in the area, processes requests and distributes rewards and pensions.

Can't have a goddess walking around the city in all her splendor, so the disguise is useful
Maybe we should get one for us when we talk with the other gods at another time

>>3773824
>>3773812
supportin

>>3773812
>Hall of Huntsmen: A kind of elite, large and better organized version of Hunter’s Inn. It manages monster hunters in the area, processes requests and distributes rewards and pensions.

>>3773824
>>3773837
>>3773841
>>3773844
>>3773848
Alright, writing

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>>3773855
You decided to take a look at the Hall of Huntsmen, the largest, most elite monster hunter facility that you can find in the polis. While you can find smaller Hunter Inns all over the city, this is the place where you go to deal with the toughest of monster problems. Placed at the very edge of the Pantheon District, the Hall of Huntsmen is a very impressive feat of architecture. You could compare it to a small palace in the size and extravagance.

The building is constructed around a large 80-meter-long Great Hall that gives the facility its name. One of the ends of the hall is separated into a large reception area that works on keeping track of the various threats while the rest of the hall is a sort of communal dining area. In the middle of that dining area four long tables are positioned in pairs of two and surrounded with chairs while the furthest corner has what seems to be a large fireplace that uses glow-quartz instead of actual fire. The fireplace has a large round shield with Nike’s seal attached above it. On one of the sides of the hall there is an open area with a long bar table that serves drinks while mirroring that the other side contains the canteen where hunters can get some actual food. The rest of the building is constructed on the sides of the hall and it includes secure storage for gear, individual and communal sleeping quarters and other necessary facilities designed to keep the place running. About two meters up the walls are decorated with various trophies donated by the monster hunters. However, the centerpiece of this all is a taxidermied body of a large six limbed reptile with vibrant golden scales that looks kind of like a classical European depiction of a dragon. It takes up basically the entire length of the dining area from the tip of the tail to its head.

Nike’ tells you a small story about the dragon in particular: “This is the Hall’s greatest trophy yet. Local hunters created a 300-man team and managed to beat up a creature that would pose a challenge to the lower Cup Bearers. They lost about a quarter but managed to take it down all on their own. I often send cups to deal with local monsters, but there are always more monsters than cups no matter how many you create, so this place is for the cases when local monster hunters can’t deal with the threat while I can’t send anyone to deal with it either”

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>>3773984
The hall is about half full of various kinds of hunters, most of which are easily recognized by their attire and excessive accessories. Monster hunting is a dangerous business and many take pride in their accomplishments. Many of the people present have at least some manner of trophies from chains with fangs of defeated creatures to parts of their gear being made out of them. If you are successful it can also make you very rich which allows you to do such things as getting yourself some custom-made high-quality armor and weapons. You honestly don’t look too out of place with your giant wolf pelt and golden yellow armor.

Notably some people here wear armor designs that are not very practical. You can see several women in anatomically shaped breastplates or even with keyholes in their armor while some guys might wear anything between basically fancy clothes up to armor with so much metal on it that it would make the entire suit impractical to even lift for a normal decently fit human. Nika notices your confusion and explains that this is mostly due to two factors: the danger of the profession and the fact that most people here have at least some powers left in them. You can’t expect to get far in monster hunting business if you lack some Bloodline Remnant in you.

Regarding the latter, a lot of more powerful creatures make certain types of armor superficial. Like with guns, you can’t physically wear fullplate thick enough to stop that. So, huntsmen who go for more dangerous prey might forgo the heavier armor and instead decide to wear less in attempt to gain advantages in mobility and endurance. In addition, in this community armor became a way of fashion statement. It tells huntsmen more about each other and helps with such things as judging if a person is skilled enough for a group mission. There is a limit though, being over- decorated is considered as too wanting for attention.

While looking around the place you end up noting a few teams of hunters that might pose some interest to you:
>Check up at the reception regarding local threats
>A group of hunters in similar uniform armor with a bronze shine to it. They look extra professional and you recognize the two of them from Liaison’s escort
>A lone huntsman in dark grey armor that is bristling with sharp edges. He is sitting alone and there is no one two chairs on both sides of him
>A varied group of hunters lead by some hyperactive woman in an armor that keeps most of her midriff open. She seems to possess some kind of a gauntlet with several large glowing semi- spherical gems
>A skinny but tall grey-haired elf huntsman that is obviously carrying a primitive wheellock musket of dwarven manufacturing with him
>Look for someone more interesting?
>Other?

>>3773987
>>A skinny but tall grey-haired elf huntsman that is obviously carrying a primitive wheellock musket of dwarven manufacturing with him
for one thing, we are too female heavy in the quest, but i also love that he is actually holding a musket and doesn't seemt to be decorated, so he is either starting out or rather experienced
*i just assume the latter

>>3773987

>Check up at the reception regarding local threats

>A varied group of hunters lead by some hyperactive woman in an armor that keeps most of her midriff open. She seems to possess some kind of a gauntlet with several large glowing semi- spherical gems
Those gems seem interesting

>A skinny but tall grey-haired elf huntsman that is obviously carrying a primitive wheellock musket of dwarven manufacturing with him
And fire wespons is my primary objective for our town, we should see how they make them

Ask if Nike knows any of them

>>3774008
He is pretty decorated, the gun is just fascinating considering that no one else in the room has actual firearms.

>>3774011
ok, that suggest he has some experience and the musket should make his fighting interesting, probably a sniper or similar

>>3773987

>A skinny but tall grey-haired elf huntsman that is obviously carrying a primitive wheellock musket of dwarven manufacturing with him

First to see how that wepons works and if we can produce it.

Then we can seek the gem girl and the local bounties

>>3774020
>>3774018
>>3774009
>>3774008
Alright, so a marksman elf, the girl with the gauntlet and the reception. Writing

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>>3774070
You decide to take a look at the reception first. You’d like to see what these people have to work with and maybe you could even deal with something yourself. So, you approach the task board. Essentially it is a large wooden board with various notes nailed onto it. Apparently, they update it daily or if something urgent comes up. It seems that the easiest tasks get filtered out by the various smaller hunter inns so whatever is left can be described as pretty hazardous for normal people.

Among the massive clutter of various tasks, the following options catch your eye:
1) Some rich medical worker is in need of restocking their supply of a plant that they call “Releaf”. Apart of being a pun-based name in both English and Ceno languages, it seems to be a type of rare herb with large emerald green leaves that look like plantago. Apparently, the leaves of this plant can be peeled and used as bandages and prevent sepsis as well as massively decrease inflammation and promote healing while the root contains a hollow organ that gets filled with some mild painkiller liquid. They store surprisingly well and are mostly used in surgery, but no one has managed to successfully cultivate them. They seem to grow WAY deep in the neutral zone’s forest far to the north- east from Farsalos and this area is known to be highly dangerous. The Hall has placed a warning about possible lethal monster encounters as well as dangerous plant life. It is not recommended to breathe in yellowish- green spores found in the area. This is the bounty type of request, the man in question will buy any quantity of the Releaf that you can bring. Payout is surprisingly good which tells you that it is either very rare or the area is very dangerous.

2) A young dracoling was found in the area to the south- east of Platania. These warm- blooded omnivorous reptilian creatures can be between the size of a housecat and a large dog and are highly dangerous to humans, but they are known to be able to bond with some people. No one knows how they choose the master beyond them having to be one of the most powerful mortal mages. One of the local scholar-magicians wishes this creature to be captured alive for their study. While having wings, the creature can’t maintain sustained flight for long. These beings are known to be territorial until bonded, after which they “understand commands before their master makes them”. A note below the request says “For Nike’s sake, whoever tries this, grab fire retardant gear”. The payout is substantial for a live capture and is massively reduced if the creature is wounded or killed.

>>3774245
3) A large mound to the south of the polis was recently revealed to be a hibernating giant monster of sorts. The being is known from local Ceno mythos as a legendary calamity of the region from before the Pantheon that obliterated local villages and towns. At the cost of countless mortal lives, it was forced to withdraw and no one has seen it before. This creature must be killed permanently. It is known to be some kind of giant worm- like insectoid with hundreds of legs capable of birthing countless hordes of smaller insectoid creatures in days. While it is not considered to be as dangerous as that golden dragon feat, The Hall estimates that it would need no less than a hundred of hunters along with dozens of siege engineers. The quest won’t start until the team is fully assembled. For reasons of safety. No one wants some fools waking the beast up before it is time to kill it. The request is placed by Platania government and it promises high payouts for all participants including generous pensions for the crippled and families of the deceased.

4) A group of hunters is asked to investigate a rumor regarding the geyser lake to the north of Istrio village. Apparently, locals reported seeing a “naked old hag”- like creature with red skin. The only survivor swears that it managed to hit him in the head with its giant claw from 60 meters away but he was lucky that it was a glancing hit and he could flee. The region has high amounts of hostile animals in the area and a team of rookie hunters completely disappeared there. The payout is relatively meager, but it is recommended to have a team of four people for reasons of safety. It is, surprisingly, the safest thing that you’ve found.

Other stuff is dealing with a wide menagerie of monsters that attack the territory that are too varied to properly categorize. A herd of six- legged creatures with mace- like tails, giant wolves, swarms of insects the size of a rat, giant trapdoor spiders that form lethal for mortals “minefields” (which is probably the most terrifying thing from the list), ancient burial ground filled with ravenous and surprisingly dangerous acidic blobs and so on and so forth. All of them recommend teams of at least 4 or 5 hunters, but some mention that a “skilled hunter” can complete them alone.

Would you like to take something before you head out to check up on the hunters themselves?
>Sure, you want to investigate some rare plants
>Tiny dragons should not be a problem
>When do they plan to storm that giant monster again?
>Ahaha, oh yeah, the geyser hag…
>Grab some random dime a dozen task
>Skip the tasks for now
>Other?

>>3774245
"releaf" nice to know the people either did not loose their sense of humor or became impervious to pun-ishment

>>3774253
"naked old hag" kek, that mission is gonna stay there for ages, oops
lets talk to the other hunters for now, either we can form a group with them for a task, or we can decide later

>>3774253
I liked the plantand the tiny dragon

The plant because is near our village and we can try to cultivate it and the dragon because I want a dragon pet not because I will deliver it.

Joke with Nike about the hag, but don't tell her the full story yet

>>3774264
or at all, not really a flattering tale, lets keep it quiet

>>3774253
>Skip the tasks for now

Can we memorize the info in the dragon task for us to go after it later?

>>3774278
Sure, we can do that

>>3774283
That works for me too so that we can go after it outside the official way and instead of delivering it I want to keep it!

And get the info on the plant, its near our house so we can try to investigate it too

>>3774307
>>3774278
>>3774269
>>3774264
>>3774262
Alright, keep notes and go straight for the hunters. Writing

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>>3774336
The first person you decide to approach is the grey-haired elf hunter with a gun. He is of a slim and tall build which gives him half of a head above your own height. He has long white hair tied up in a ponytail and while elves look almost exactly the same for most of their lives, his “troubled middle-aged man” expression suggests that he might be older than he looks and/or he has probably seen some shit. The elf is wearing an expensive set of what seems to be high quality linen clothes with leather jacket and boots. You notice that there seems to be hidden metal plates on the inside of the vest which is probably all the protection that he thinks he might need. He is of the same kind of elves as Haven and it is most likely that he is also some kind of lower noble. He has a large circular belt buckle with a stylized depiction of an eagle. In comparison, Haven has a similar piece of clothing with an icon of a barn owl which is the symbolic animal of the House Elim. Beyond that buckle he has a Dwarven Friend title stamp-ring and a small bracelet with a dozen or so large crocodile- like teeth. In comparison to everyone else around here he seems to be on the less decorated side.

His weapons include a type of single edged curved sword uniquely produced by the elves. Somewhat reminiscent of long thin sabers, these weapons are known to have superior durability and cutting powers to the majority of steel blades available on the surface rivalling only the spring steel blades of Holy Nation or Damascened Steel of Etheans. Some say that it is due to the local ore, while others think that the secret is in the innumerable folds found in the cross sections of the rare broken elven blades.

The other notable weapon that he wields is a dwarven wheellock firearm that you could compare to early muskets. Most dwarven firearms use matchlocks due to their simplicity. However, this weapon uses a different mechanism somewhat similar to how zippo lighters worked back in your days. A round disk is rotated quickly by a spring and grinds against a metal piece that produces the sparks. While more reliable, the mechanism of the wheellock is much more complicated. Historically, all of these systems were replaced by flintlock mechanisms as soon as mass manufacturing became available since they are both simpler and more reliable. The weapon itself is rifled and heavily engraved making it a whole generation more advanced than what you’ve seen yet.

Once you approach him, he doesn’t seem to be interested in dialogue, preferring the company of a large mug of watered-down wine instead. However, you decided to put on your own dwarven ring which piqued his interest. His name is Urien and he is from the House Guitomir. He agrees to share his story about the gun and the ring if you share yours.

>Agree to tell him, you can use some public interest towards your village
>You’d prefer to not babble about something as important

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>>3774540
Here is an example of a wheellock weapon if you're interested

>>3774540

>Agree to tell him, you can use some public interest towards your village

As long as he agrees to let us have a closer looj at the gun, we may copy the design later.

Introduce Nike too, to whatever name she is using

Also, don't tell him the location of the village or the dwarven settlement, just the story, people have not yet settled and the drow refugees have not arrived, its too soon to have curious outsiders looking around, specially with all that treasure still there, that can complicate things.

>>3774559
>>3774540
i agree with this

>>3774559
The design is well known to us, it is a classical wheellock. We can skip straight for flintlocks when we start making our own firearms.

>>3774559
+1

That bit about Haven reminded me of something, after we finish our talk with the dude ask Nike what she knows about where the elven gods have gone, our good friend is very worried about it, we won't tell her any sensitive information but we are curious ourselves if the ceno pantheon knows where they went

>>3774578
good memory, we don't have to tell haven if it is top secret, but having something to investigate or to give her hope wouldn't be too bad

>>3774583
>>3774578
>>3774565
>>3774564
>>3774559
Alright, writing. This would be the last post for today

>>3774636
You decide that you would tell Urien the story of how you and your friends managed to kill the creature that wiped out the dwarven Underhome. You leave out the part of the story that might suggest the location which seems to make it harder to believe, but the ring is the real deal, so Urien agrees to trust you and says that he’ll keep tabs on the news. He should find out about it soon if it really happened so recently. Amusingly, he did recognize Haven’s name. They met sometime during their trainings. He can’t say that he likes her family, but he can respect Haven’s drive to help them through the rough spot.

His story is a bit different. He is one of the younger children of the head of his House. Only the eldest child can inherit the control over the House unless the previous leader writes someone else’s name in their will. So, there was basically near to no chance for him to get his share. Luckily, he inherited the dominant remnant ability and he had the talent for hand- eye coordination. Unlike Haven, whose gift falls mostly into the area of enhanced vision, Urien has enhanced reflexes and agility which placed him above most of his swordsmanship class. In addition, quick reaction times allowed him to excel at the use of bows and crossbows at close range. So that’s basically how his career as a monster hunter began.

His House was deeply connected with the trading that goes on between Elves and the Dwarves. Apparently somewhere relatively close to Teryia (the elven capital) is a caved in section of the larger Labyrinth lava tubes creating something that looks like a web of canyons. Due to proximity to both the Elves and several major Dwarven settlements below, the zone itself was almost completely cleared out of monsters and it is the main commercial link between the two “races”. Due to that, he has started his career by escorting the trade caravans that moved through the region. He says that it was a relatively lucrative business for a fledgeling monster hunter.

Eventually, he was hired as an escort for a group of dwarven nobles who needed to move through a lava tube that connected the two large Underhomes in the area. This was a bit different, but nothing too risky considering the number of other mercenaries that would be present so Urien agreed. He was mistaken…

The caravan was ambushed by some kind of Labyrinth predator that periodically plunged through the ranks of the mercenaries carrying several away at the time. Sometimes it managed to squeeze them through the lava tubes that were too small and, in these cases, they died horrifying deaths as their mangled bodies grinded against the basalt walls. After over a quarter of the caravan was killed, he has managed to finally wing the creature with a pot shot from his crossbow. It ended up being some kind of small furry beast with only two muscular frontal legs, circular maw filled with razor sharp teeth and a long tail that it used to catch its prey.

>>3774840
In addition to that, this distraction was used by a local tribe of feral… Sposs-Niansi, roughly translated as “small people”, numerous but relatively weak and dumb inhabitants of the Labyrinth. While the caravan had to be turned back, Urien and the mercenaries managed to beat off the attack with some losses. In the end it turned out that one of the noble dwarves was a part of the royal blood travelling incognito and they recognized elf’s feat and granted him this title. The weapon itself was gained several years later when he managed to save a talented craftsdwarf when he was assisting in plugging the breach during one of the numerous monster raids, but it is a bit too long and he has to go meet someone soon. He mentions that he might pay a visit eventually if things turn out interesting enough and leaves. Oh well…

In any case, that reminds you to ask Nike’ about the elven pantheon. “I’ll probably disappoint you, but I have no idea where they went. Elspeth and I woke up decades after they were gone and we were only able to piece together some details. Apparently, it was a relatively big pantheon of 8, all of them were early awoken Synthetic Gods. They all lacked posthuman augments and four or five possessed bio sculpting. The pantheon itself didn’t get along that well. They were mostly bound by necessity. The Monitors and monsters were much more populous at the time and it was the best strategy to survive and protect their subjects.

Eventually some period of peace followed once the hot phases of the Long Night have passed and the pantheon was held in a shaky state of friendship where SGs were allowed to do their own projects as long as they didn’t interfere with each other’s interests. However, they have made some big discovery. We weren’t able to find out what that was apart of this being "extremely important", but it shattered the peaceful state of the pantheon. The sides somehow managed to agree to settle it outside of the inhabited territories which spared the elves of the unnecessary casualties, but at least three SGs outright died. Those that were left scattered on the spot and most of the traces end there. Some came back to the elves but it seems that their goals were mostly in lines of wrapping up and making their remaining stuff self- sufficient. They left soon after, presumably into the depth of the Labyrinth and we lost tracks of them.

>>3774853
There is only one currently known elven deity left alive, for the certain understanding of the word. The guy who calls himself Lott, the current god of death, harvest, medicine and a bunch of other stuff. Basically, he somehow managed to link himself to the elven afterlife facilities when he was killed and thus, he ends up basically stuck there. We still can’t replicate fully how their afterlives work since it currently defies our understanding and, unlike theirs, our stuff requires an active SG to maintain. It is a major pain to get to him and he doesn’t want to talk much at all, but, I mean, he’s still there. If you ever manage to get into elven underworld you can easily find him as the only guy who thinks that bald, tall and thin elves look great.

I know that these people knew of at least two other SGs. There is Aino, the creator of the underground elves, surprisingly no relation besides mutual acknowledgement of existence. She left a decade after the elven pantheon. There is also Tlaltecuhtli, that mental SG from the island jam packed with plant monsters. They basically only mention her as someone not to touch and she seems to have stayed in isolation for the entirety of the recorded history that we possess.

Honestly, there are a bunch of other elves, like Eira’s snow elves or those tanned elves from the desert region to the mid- west of the continent, but they don’t seem to have the connections with the elven pantheon. Sorry that I couldn’t be more helpful here.”

______________________________
And on this note we have to wrap up for today. I hope you liked it. It was fun to get back on track from this end. Next thread as usual on Saturday and hopefully this time I’ll not oversleep. As usual, feel free to discuss the events, propose new projects and ask questions. I am available all week for that.

>>3774861
Thanks Hivemind-Chan, another good one, even if I've been doing other things most of the day.

>>3774861
Thanks for running.

Thank Nike for the info

We could try to talk with that Lott guy if we have the chance, it seems they found out some secret in the Labyrith and went after it, and left their people at least self sufficient while doing so, it sounds important

>>3774861
thanks for running, already looking forward to next saturday
does the pantheon haven an estimate how many ceilings are around this continent atm?
and i am curious how they discovered them the first time, i assume there is quite the story behind that

>>3776097
Hello there, sorry for a late response, had IRL problems. The answer for your questions would be a bit complicated.

First of all, I'd like to make the terminology clear:

MAD monitor is an autonomous weapon designed to hunt organized survivors after the MAD exchange and thus they are equipped with various technosignature detectors. These are localized, more like advanced autonomous drones with area search.

Ceiling is a type of MAD monitor that has global reach. They are not always orbital but they are always very destructive. In comparison, a monitor could be just a monster that is made to find and hunt large groups of people. So, Ceilings can be anything from orbital satellites of death to high altitude bomber drones to some kaiju that rises from the oceans and rampages through cities Godzilla style.

So, to answer your question, Nike' has mentioned that there are less than 50 Ceilings left in the world at the moment. We also know that the ones that are left are mostly tracking radio waves and large quantities of industrial pollution. Considering that Ag literally has a millimeter radar in her head (which beams radio in every direction and collects the reflected signal) they are also not that sensitive or we'd get shot as soon as we got out of the pod.

Regarding MAD monitor, the number is not clear since a good chunk of monsters could technically fit the bill. However, more helpful statistic would be all the large-scale monsters. These were almost eradicated from territories where SGs operate. You can only find them in extremely deep wilderness. The majority of remaining large-scale monsters would exist inside of the supervolcano crater in the middle of the continent while you'd very rarely manage to find some wandering the unclaimed wilderness between civilizations or deeper in the Labyrinth.

About how pantheons could find out about Ceilings, we can only make educated guesses. Nike' would mention that they had access to the texts left over from the previous wave of synthetic gods like the elven pantheon since her and Elspeth explored the local area before assembling everyone and forming Cenophila. It is likely that an SG would have a better chance to survive an attack of a Ceiling. Considering that attempting to broadcast radio would be a no- brainer way to find other survivors, they'd have to eat one or two large scale attacks of all the monitors they triggered before making a series of remote tests to determine what causes them to react. After that it is just a question of cataloging the stuff. The other option is that the locals could have weird technology related taboos or oral tradition myths. Something like limits to how big you can build forges not to anger the gods. Considering that monsters are real, they might skip the "getting shot at" phase and go straight to experimental evidence. In any case, I don't think that the stories were that interesting.

>>3780816
thank you for the response and don't worry about the wait, i thought you might answer it next saturday so its not a problem

that is a very detailed explanation of the lore of this world and i fucking love that.
I might disagree about a tale of sudden monster attacks being interesting, but i can understand if you want to keep it more vague or mysterious, since it would fit with how the populations would make it legends and myths.

>>3781973
I mostly wanted to say that it would not be very creative or surprising. It would just be your resident SG beating up/getting beaten up by giant monsters or getting shot by something powerful from way outside the visual range one or two times, after which they would probably decide not to get shot at again unless they have to. The fight itself would be amusing, but I didn't feel like it would be that important in the grand scale of things. If they lost- they'd be dead and if they won we might see them sometime in the future, but we have no current way to know of how exactly those fights happened IC. We only know that Ceno guys had a headstart from the texts left by elven pantheon for future generations of SGs. The first ones were taken out manually through pantheon's combined effort and then their remains were turned into weapons that pantheon uses to shoot at Ceilings today.

>>3774861
I've finally came around to update the character list. I hope after next thread I'll manage to get around with the inventory and buildings. Next thread can potentially get delayed as last time, but further threads after that should come on time due to the start of September. See you tomorrow

>>3785571
Yeah, SGQ will be delayed, sorry. I just woke up and I feel awful

>>3786535
as far as i can tell that is pretty normal when waking up, see you later

>>3774861
New thread is up: >>3786716

>>3786722
Thread archived