Chương 97: The Human Race Ch. 3-95 – A License to Make Money (and the Gods of PoT!)

"Well, congratulations, Miss Traveler," the hyn businessman, Pogagee Walks-on-Grass, the feared silver-tongued negotiator and cunning manager of the Hall's finances, spoke up.

"It seems that our expectations of you were somewhat off-center." There were murmurs of agreement from around the table. I had definitely surprised everyone here.

"My original request of asking for a loan was contingent on my not remaining here, and effectively doing work out in the field while building my Gear. I am absolutely certain I would be able to pay such a loan back, but it seems there are reasons for me to remain here for a short period of time before I renew field activities, Treasurer," I replied easily.

"On that note, I expect to have a significant amount of income start accruing rather quickly, and I am wondering if the Hall might be able to send some extremely skilled Crafters and a few Infusers my way to work with me." There were more wry chuckles all around. All of them could tell that I was going to be making a lot of money very quickly, indeed, with all these changes.

"Do you have a proposal for the pricing of such new knowledge?" Inquisitor Torast spoke up.

"Surprisingly..." I trailed off, flicking up multiple copies of a pricing schema. There were more wry chuckles as I sent the pricing calculations wafting through the air with a flick of my wrist, spinning lazily to settle down precisely in front of each of the Councilors. I had definitely come prepared. I was offering them a chance to set themselves firmly at the heart of magical innovation.

"Five years or a hundred goldweight for a Valence I spell, whichever is last," Treasurer Pogagee mused, picking out that line.

"That nicely settles the issue of minimum payment, with no limit for a spell with high enough demand. I notice that you have a straight linear increase in pricing base, with modifiers?"

"The aim of Silver Magic is to promote constructive use of magic, not the widespread proliferation of Charms, aggressive battle magic, necromancy, Summoning, or the like. Also, spells like those have a niche following who are VERY aggressive about having the latest, best thing... or are areas that we want to shut down entirely."

"They will need to advance half a goldweight to make the Master Copy, and then receive half commission on any copies sold through the Churches, while being able to sell any personal copies they desire at full price. How do we track them if they can also sell the copies?" the hyn asked alertly.

"All copies converge back to the Master Copy. You can read the data with a simple Assay Cantrip. When it reaches the time or threshold, you can notify the maker and break the Master Copy."

"Requiring them to swear under Oath that any minor adjustments and improvements will be made available for only a nominal fee is impressive. You can... modify the Mastery Copy, and the Bonded copies will replicate the change?" he figured out.

"Yes. However, minor modifications can also simply be sold after the spell is made public by the creator, who can charge whatever they wish. A substantial modification that is not mere refinement is actually a completely new spell, and should normally jump Valences, or have other requirements."

"I am not a Caster. Is there a reason this Shards spell of yours is not a simple revision?" he inquired.

"The current common arcane Shards spell is, in essence, based on the Silver Magic Shards spell, if you go back to its source. However, Divine energy is not suitable for force magic, especially battle magic. If, for instance, you try to cast this version of Shards as a divine Silver Magic spell, it will fail." Moonsister Seleisa's lips parted in surprise.

"Arcane magic is extremely flexible and powerful, as well as adaptable. The revisions in the spell are not simple to understand, as both the Councilors will tell you. In effect, understanding each addition to the Shards and balancing them as a whole requires increased mental ability. Thus, understanding all three changes and being able to apply them to the spell as a whole requires a 14 rating of the appropriate Stat, +1 per, not the 11 which is the standard for a Valence I spell.

And even then, of course, successful comprehension is not guaranteed." Low Level Arcane Intellect Casters, those with Stats of 11-13, often super-specialized in certain schools, just so they could learn the magic of those schools. While they could try again after gaining a Level, if they couldn't understand it and couldn't advance, that was it, which could be very discouraging to a Caster if they couldn't memorize the Lightning Bolt they'd always dreamed of.

Sorcerers didn't have the problem, of course, feeling their way to certain spells... but the spells they learned weren't always what they wanted, either, since they tended to come out of inner desires rather than professed desires. Being told to get Mage Armor to protect yourself and ending up with Vanish because you'd rather run away invisibly from a fight, and similar things, happened to Sorcerers all the time.

There was a specific 'School' of training called the Triad system, where you restricted yourself to exactly three schools of magic in learning, optimizing your Matrix for those schools and simply eschewing the rest. It helped immensely in learning the spells you wanted from those schools, at cost of versatility. Talented (meaning the really smart) Wizards, Witches, Magi, Artificers, Binders, and Alchemists never needed to do such a thing, of course.

However, it also meant that Casters who favored certain kinds of spells often got dubbed 'Triad-users' of the appropriate type. The most famous Triad was the Tyrant's Triad, which was Charm, Necromancy, and Summoning, representing control of the living, the dead, and the supernatural. In terms of ability to leverage your power by controlling the powers of others, it was indeed extremely potent... and pretty much loathed all around.

This contrasted with the Adventurer's Triad of Evocation, Alteration, and Illusion, giving a potent combination of extreme versatility and offensive punch. The Merchant's Triad of Divination, Alteration, and Charm also had a bad rap, while the Warder's Triad of Abjuration/Wards, Divination, and Evocation had a good reputation for defensive strength, and the Soldier's Triad of Evocation, Summoning, and Abjuration was designed for a good mix of offense and defense.

The Scout's Triad of Divination, Alteration, and Illusion was designed for maximum stealth and ferreting out information... Needless to say, the Triads were very popular in the military, as they made for streamlining the training of soldier-Casters much easier. Truly talented Casters didn't need the focus, after all, but truly talented Casters didn't stay in the military, either. But in the end, they all wanted the best spells to use, and there were still Hard Limits on Levels gained.

Even someone with a 10 could figure out a Cantrip or two, but if you wanted to learn a real spell, you were either really smart, or you specialized. Because of this, Generalist Mages who didn't choose a school were either idiots or geniuses, with precious little in the middle. Specializing could mean learning ALL the spells of a specific school, Element, or Style, versus only some of them.

Casters weren't immune to being hired for specific purposes, and while being a master generalist Caster was indeed a fine and worthy goal for some... if you didn't have the right spells, you weren't going to get hired for anything.

Because of the importance of spells and proliferating them, the act of swapping spells and exchanging them, or gathering funds to purchase one and spreading the cost out over multiple Casters, was very encouraged by the Churches of Heaven, especially for common spells (and loathed by the Uruthimi and wagemages of Trose).

However, this did not repay researchers much at all, which meant that while research went on all the time, the spells that came out tended to be prized secrets closely held by small groups of people and not revealed to outsiders if possible. My method could potentially tap a huge waiting reserve of people wanting to be rewarded for their research!

"Now, before I start spreading this spell willy-nilly through the ranks of those affiliated with the Hall, I would ask for a couple weeks at least before you begin quietly selling to your own. I understand there is a sizable temple to Uruth to the south, and I'd like the opportunity to bleed them of a lot of money personally before you start taking over selling the spells, if that is not an issue?" There were some chuckles around the table, including from Master Polneibo.

"Oh, by all means. I will quietly tell my people to wait, and they can claim they also bought them from you. Just the looks on the faces of the Uruthimi when they learn you gave us distribution rights, and have taken over the dispensation system..." He paused, looking back down at the sheet.

"I confess to some confusion on why you've only tripled the value of a Valence III, instead of squaring it, as is required by magic item construction?"

"The demand on the consumer side is high, but the capability on the production side doesn't match up," I replied calmly.

"Are higher Valence spells more valuable to baseline Casters? They are pipe dreams to many of them, something they may not get to Cast until they are in their sixties or older, while high Level Casters have many, many demands upon their time. If such a spell is essential for their jobs, they will buy them... if not, they simply are a collectible, and such collectibles will sit and wait until they are actually needed.

"Thus, demand for non-key spells is actually lower as you advance in Level. Niche spells have niche uses. Sorcerers do well because they don't need to use such things, after all, and the number of Wizards who do need to use them is naturally small enough that only a few have a need for them."

"I expect that for this Shard spell you are very rapidly going to exceed the minimum pricing," Treasurer Pogagee laughed, and I just smiled in expectation...

I went down to the Sage's Dwelling, the Temple to Uruth that had been built as near to the University of Michigan as they could reasonably put it and still hold true to their lofty aspirations of teaching magic to all comers there without offending the school and other temples in the area, who also were in the business of recruiting and training Powered.

It really was a smaller place, as the major temple to Uruth was in Chicago, where Sylune didn't have nearly the influence, and which basically dominated the University of Chicago there, transforming it into one of the best places to get a magical education on the planet... if you had the money to pay and could put up with the intellectual snobbishness and looking down on non-Casters.

The Lector who received me had his thumb up his bum, especially after he heard I was offering to sell a spell, but he'd have to forward half a goldweight and give up some blood to see it. But I offered to return it all if he wasn't satisfied, and disgruntled, he couldn't turn me down.

I waited until he started salivating, and as delusions of wealth selling this to his fellows danced in his head, I crushed them by relating that his copy was Bloodbonded, it could not be copied or sold by anyone but me, I wasn't selling the rights to it to the temple, and was there anyone in range with half a goldweight who wanted to buy an improved Shards spell that this Lector could confirm was better, and that they couldn't read?

I Wrote out seven more of them that day, bringing my haul for the day to four goldweight, told them I'd be back tomorrow and could sell ten more of them, and walked on out.

"Ye've set up a shitstorm on the Uruthimi servers," Gregorigori advised me over the terminal I was watching and not touching, going through local news to get caught up on the situation in the Midwest here.

"They are salivating about the new spell, and naturally already trying to break the Bloodbonding and sell it to others." I smiled, imagining their faces when they failed and would have to buy the spell from me again. I wasn't going to hand it to them for free, of course. Their stories when they had to spend the money twice would cool down the eager heads ready to make money off my 'research'.

"And I've got the money coming in, I need to keep things moving." For now. My main Limits now were my own Ranks and Caster Level, and I was looking at a bare minimum of three months to get where I needed to go. I couldn't go get the boy until I was stronger. I couldn't get strong fast, like I wanted to. I was being forced sideways until I couldn't go sideways anymore, which was immensely annoying, all the channels being filled at the bottom before the next Level began.

But if other people could help me make my Gear, and I could establish a very solid financial foundation for what I needed to do next, that wouldn't be an issue at all. Making ten goldweight, $1. 5 million, a day. Sooooo much work to be doing... and I would be hard at it for at least the next two months. Once I made Four, however, things would move along nicely...

Trav's not going to be doing anything extraordinary for the next couple of months, except making a lot of money. Tomorrow's chapter returns to what Sama was doing during those years she was growing up, and just how she started getting on the bad side of certain parties... Also, there's been a few people requesting it, so here's a look at the major players of the Pantheon...

========================== The Gods of the Power of Ten As normal when I am referring to gods, I am talking about non-finite entities who actually embody one or more facets of the Profound Alignments. They are as much ideas given form as actual entities, and the idea of 'killing a god' is basically restricted to an avatar of such for finite beings, unless they have the power of a true Titan.

I do use the old system of demigods (who are finite), lesser gods (evolved demigods who have advanced to a multiworld stage and are approaching non-finite status), intermediate gods (fully non-finite and with broad concerns), greater gods (massively powerful entities that lead courts of lesser gods) and Overgods (who dominate Pantheons of Greater Gods). Comparing them to Earthly Pantheons, none of the mythological gods of Earth would be higher then a Lesser God, such as Zeus or Odin.

If you give those gods multi-worldly responsibilities (i. e. they exist on other worlds, like the Forgotten Realms of Toril), then the Pantheon heads like Zeus and Odin would be Intermediate Gods. They are simply too 'mortal' to advance further. The Christian/Muslim/Jewish God would be The Creator, and effectively does not answer prayers. The Overgods are to it what ants are to Overgods. Answering prayers is THEIR job. So appealing to God to save you gets nowhere.

In the Power of Ten, our mythological gods have no power here, nor naturally do the religions of the books. The powers of Mythos did/do exist, but the very low amount of magic in the world meant that they were restricted to the shadows, and almost never interacted with our reality, the extent of their influence being nightmares, bad dreams, and deals with the rare humans who could wield magic. The Aruan Pantheon didn't actually 'arrive', so much as the world came to their space with the coming of the Shroud.

The Aruan Pantheon represents a certain temporospatial area of Creation, and is also oriented towards humanoids. None of its deities are actually human or other mortal races, and anything accusing them of being 'human gods' is going to get sharply corrected at one point or another. They represent ideas and beliefs, not races. A god of a race is no higher than an Intermediate Deity in this power system. So, the gods of the Power of Ten! EMINENT means that the god is supreme in that category over all other gods.

================================ The Silver (Lawful Good) Harse, the Ivory King (Greater God): Good, Law, Justice (Eminent), Judgement, The Dead, Protection (Eminent) -King of the White Court -Judge of the Living and the Dead. Sends souls to their proper fates. -Represents the highest ideals of the Silver.

-Served by Archons Amana, the Mother (Intermediate God): Good, Law, Healing (Eminent), Mercy (Eminent), Compassion, Motherhood, Education, Peace (Eminent) -Queen of the White Court, Wife of Harse, and the only one who can override a Judgement of his. -Her Amazons are also dedicated healers like the rest of her clergy, and superb unarmed combatants. Mithar, the Silver Sun (Greater God): Good, Law, Strategy (Eminent), Paladins (Eminent), Mastery (Eminent), War, Destiny (Eminent).

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. -Has no temples or churches of His own, serves the other Gods of Good. -General of the Hosts of Heaven. -Is responsible for calling all Paladins to serve, whether they serve other Gods or Him directly. -Served by the King of Horses and King of Hounds. -Guardian of the Destiny of Heaven.

Scriba, the Minister (Lesser God): Good, Law, Ministers, Scribes, Bureaucrats, Rulership, Civilization, Literacy, Education, Managers, Planners, Knowledge, Government -Wars are won by mastering the small things. -The patron of honest civil workers and the Patron of ever-improving civilizations. -Extensive sponsor of monastic traditions and unarmed combat. -Mithar's logistician as well as Harse's Prime Minister.

Bulwark, The Steadfast Defender (Lesser God): Good, Law, Police, Defense (Eminent), Wards, Protection, Community -Patron of honest law enforcement, standing armies of defense, militias, and fortifications. -Mithar's primary subordinate. -Invoked by many common soldiers and honest laborers.

===================================== The Golden Court Aru, the Sun King (Overgod): Good (Eminent), Life (Eminent), Light/The Sun (Eminent), Creation (Eminent), Community (Eminent), Healing, Knowledge -King of the Heavens, first among Equals. -Not elitist, priests are very community oriented. -Eminence in Life means absolute dominion over resurrection magic. -Huge foe of the Undead -Served by Angels and Guardinals -Rules the day.

Sylune, the Silver Queen, the Queen of Stars (Greater Goddess): Good, Silver Magic (Eminent), Stars, Navigation, Mystery, the Moon (Eminent), Exploration, Travel -Commonly represented as a jet-skinned, silver haired elven woman of incredible beauty -Patron of all good spellcasters, sailors, explorers, and wanderers. -Good's strongest presence at night. -Mother of Tiirith by Mithar. -Her Amazons tend to be sailors or constant travelers keeping roads open. -This is Ealistraee's expy in Power of Ten.

Flora, the Harvest Queen (Intermediate God): Good, Agriculture (Eminent), Community, Weather, Homes, Plants -A mostly rural goddess, on very good terms with Amana -Naturally the patron of farmers and ranchers, small towns, and the like. -Her Amazons are community defenders. Aethra, the Wind Rider (Lesser Goddess): Good, Women Warriors, Hunting (Eminent), Riding, Horses, Rangers (Eminent), Air, Archery -Daughter of Mithar and Eryl, a patron of women warriors and Amazons.

-Patron of all Rangers, particularly in her aspect as Marshal of the Gods, hunting down wrong-doers. -Gets along much better with her father then her mother, which annoys Eryl to no end. -Rides the King of Unicorns (a ki-rin). Yes, she is a maiden. -Her Amazons tend to be roving Rangers, Marshals, and renowned huntresses, and the most iconic Amazons to many people.

Muse, the Artiste (Lesser Goddess): Good, the Arts (Eminent), Knowledge, Culture, Community -Patron of positive artwork and cultural development of all types, especially public libraries. -Many connections with other deities in and outside of Heaven. -Considered the primary Patron of elves who do not follow Sylune. -Primary contact with the Spring Court of the Fey.

========================= The Court of Roses, The Rainbow Court Nuava, the Rose Queen (Greater Goddess): Good, Chaos, Love (Eminent), Arts, Beauty (Eminent), Romance, Glamour, Charm/Enchantment, Liberty -Lover of Valus, who is her Champion. -Beloved by all, even those who also hate her. -Her love is without vanity or jealousy. -She has pined after Mithar, but he has avoided her charms. -Served by Faengels -Her Amazons are often fiery, passionate diplomats who get into leadership positions.

Tiirith, the Divine Bard (Intermediate God): Good, Chaos, Music/Bards (Eminent), Luck, Trickery, Charm, Travel, Liberty (Eminent), Swashbucklers -Commonly portrayed as Halvyr, Patron of all hybrid races -Son of Mithar and Sylune -Patron of traveling entertainers, and all Bards and Minstrels -Can enter even the greatest Dark Courts as a Bard with ease. -A massive foe of institutionalized slavery and racism, and Tyranny in general. -Always falling into and out of favor with various gods for his shenanigans.

Jestanna, the Rogue (Lesser God): Good, Chaos, Fortune (Eminent), Trickery, Charm, Thieves, Liberty -Tiirith's most frequent companion and fellow schemer in escapades grand and subtle. -Patron of the hyn and all smaller races, or, more precisely, their adventurers. -A divine thief of the highest caliber, but always for Good causes. -An exceptional foe of Tyranny, who has humiliated many diabolic beings to death, and has a knack for destroying the most careful of plans in totally annoying ways.

Valus, The Knight of Storms, the Ever-Questing, the Divine Champion (Intermediate God): Good, Chaos, Valor/Courage (Eminent), Strength (Eminent), Glory (Eminent), Hunting, Storms, Animal, War, Liberty -Once Mithar's Champion, now serves at the Court of Roses, and is Nuava's primary lover. There is no conflict between he and Mithar, they remain the best of friends... and indeed, his leaving may have been one of Mithar's strategems, as other gods are always trying to stir things up between them and failing somehow.

-The quintessential god who is always roving around beating up Evil and seriously antagonizing idiots. -Patron of idealists, rebels against Tyranny, lone fighters, and divine wrath. Favored deity of many adventurers in magical realms. -Spends a lot of time hunting down mighty beasts, monsters and Evil Champions who might threaten Creation. -His Church explicitly works with Harse's to punish evildoers who cannot be touched by the Law.

-His Champions have a knack for turning up exactly where they are not wanted at the best time to be putting a hurt on dastardly plans. -Patron of all CG Champions, and primary Patron of the Erhiar/Valkyrie. -Favored weapons are the axe and spear/lance. Favored Mount is the King of Bears.

=============================== The Sapphire Court (Lawful Neutral) – Nominally aligned, more rivals than partners Tempus Primus (Greater God) – Law (Eminent), Time/Fate (Eminent), Order -Tends to be fairly uncaring of mortal events, entirely concerned with the machinations of Chaos to undermine the order of reality. -Guardian of the Time stream, and a huge foe of Mythos entities from Outside Creation. -Served by Modrons.

Imprus, the God Emperor (Intermediate God) – Law, Rulership (Eminent), Community, Conquest, Civilization, Government, Kings, the Arts, Wealth, Protection -His Church believes it is his destiny to rule all creation, and in a strong theocratic state. -While not racist, believes in strict social order, and is always biased towards the more capable, i. e. Powered, over normal people. A favored deity of the wealthy and entitled families... if they have Powered.

-The barbaric Hordes of Hurn are his most constant divine foes. -Served by Lyans (a variant of LN templars who become increasingly Axiomatic beings). Zhi Hu the Master, the Enlightened (Lesser God): Law, Spiritual Arts (Eminent), Mastery, Discipline, the Arts, Wisdom -The idealized monastic martial artist, concerned with innermost enlightenment and harmony before all else. -Primary Patron of many monastic orders, and even monks of other gods respect him.

-A great foe of Chaotic champions and barbarians, and Valus irritates him to no end.

The Neutral Courts (True/False Neutral): Loosely Split between the Wild Court and the Court of Lores Eryl the Storm Queen (Greater Goddess): Storms/Air (Eminent), Women (Eminent), Hunting, War, Conquest -First and most vocal patron of Amazons, and all women warriors. Her Amazons are generally considered to be hungry for power and all too happy to fight with men. -Believes women should rule. -Happy to engage in constant conflicts with all ruler and war gods.

-Thoroughly annoyed by Amana and Nuava, but can do nothing against them. -Is very annoyed that her daughter Aethra takes after her father more than her, and believes she was manipulated by Mithar... except she is the one who went after him, of course! Sylvan, the King of the Green (Greater God): Nature (Eminent), Plants (Eminent), Animals (Eminent), the Elements, Weather -A foe of both civilization and chaos, spends a lot of time putting them up against one another.

Otherwise generally uncaring of things that do not affect the balance of nature. -Protector of world-spirits, and the primary force behind Druidism. -Neutral relationship with Eryl, gets along well with Flora, and distant but amicable relations with the Courts of Heaven, which at least respects natural balance.

-Backs natural/evolved strength over technology The Genie Suzerains (Lesser Gods) and Elemental Lords (Intermediate and Greater Gods): Element (Eminent) -Basically the most powerful forces of their respective Elements. The Good, Evil, Lawful, and Chaotic Elemental Lords are Intermediate Gods, while the Neutral Elemental Lord is the ruler of their Element and a Greater God. The Genie Suzerains are subordinated to one of the Elemental Lords.

Uruth, the Overmagus (Greater God): Magic (Eminent), Law, Chaos, Fate, Chance, Knowledge, Artifice, Alchemy -Based on Greyhawk/Oerth's Boccob, but his view of magic is broader, encompassing both artifice and alchemy. As a result, his church is far more involved in mercantile endeavors than simple studying of spells. -Annoyed that he is not Eminent in all magic and has to share influence with Sylune and Ruilvei. Equally annoyed that he is not Eminent in Knowledge.

-His Church is dominated by Wizards and Theurges, and constantly strives to be the foremost authority on magic and all related to it. They are also known to be rather uncaring of who they work for. -Oddly enough, his Church works frequently with Trose, as the God of Merchants loves being able to buy magical stuff and magical services from them, without annoying morality getting in the way. Trose is also Uruth's mouthpiece in many areas, and finds rare components and objects for him to study.

Mimir, the Wise (Intermediate God): Knowledge and Divination (Eminent), Prophecy/Omens (Eminent) -The Wisest of the Gods, reduced to only a ghostly head. The most accurate of prophets, and among the most reserved. His servants are mainly librarians and diviners. -Ongoing rivalry with Uruth, who desires his Eminence. Uskvar the Vengeful (Lesser God): Vengeance (Eminent), Doom, Curses, Strength Symbol: An incomplete triangle raised on an iron triangle.

Major Domains for Power of Ten: Strength, Destruction, Trickery ---Solely concerned with avenging wrongs done, without regards to means or rightness of cause. --Strained relationship with Harse, as he imposes vengeance, not justice, but will also go after those who Harse will not touch. --As dealing vengeance also creates more, this bothers Him not at all, nor does mutual vengeance on both sides of a conflict. He will happily back both sides in a play of vengeance, and victory goes to those who want it more.

Trose, the Lord of Coins (Intermediate God): Wealth (Eminent), Luck, Fate, Travel, Charm, Civilization, Law, Chaos, Craft. -Basically traded his way up to Intermediate God status, and has no plans on stopping. -A wheeler and a dealer willing to make trades with anyone, as long as he profits... and he's very, VERY good at making sure he profits, even with the darkest folk. -Works with anyone who'll work with him and profit him regularly. Uruth and Forj are the most common.

He considers Njord almost a vassal, but is annoyed that Sylune shares dominance over Travel with him. Njord, the Sea God (Lesser God): Water (Eminent), Storms, Seas, Fishermen, Sailors -On good terms with all the Elemental Gods of Water, but his interests are more for mortals who interact with the sea. -A Patron of many aquatic races. -A god of both the Wild and Lore Courts, since shipping makes him a god of civilized people, too.

-A Poseidon expy who is more reliable to work with, and whose interests extend to pure waters. Forj, the God of Makers (Lesser God): Crafting/Artifice (Eminent), Community -Favors dwarves and gnomes, who return his fond attention. He and Harse vie for favor among them. -Patron of technological advancement, and loves all the crafting trades. Tends to not really care to what use his creations are put to, however. -Nominally a servant of Uruth, but has less care for magical things then pure expression of skill.

Trose takes advantage of him. -Often works with Muse in crafting beautiful and elegant, yet functional items, particularly buildings. -While a Patron of Crafters, looks after the laborers who work for them as well, as focused labor is a skill of its own.

================ Chaos has no Court: Each deity does their own thing with precious little care for others Hurn, The Mighty (Greater God): Chaos (Eminent), War (Eminent), Conquest, Animal, Strength, Glory -More a force of existence than a coherent entity, constantly raging about and inciting battles between forces. -Extremely opposed to rulership or dominion that lasts more than a generation. Equally happy to conquer others, or to rise up against conquerors.

-War is a neutral force that oppresses all equally, and drives evolution.

Order is a neutral force that oppresses many for the benefit of the few, and stagnates evolution. -Even Hurn respects Amana's Eminence in Peace, for she does not use it to get rid of all war, and all warriors must rest and heal at times. -On Excellent terms with the Autumn Court of the Fey. Mhyst, the Hidden (Lesser Goddess): Chaos, Illusion (Eminent), Mystery (Eminent), Secrets, Deception, Trickery, Dreams -One of the gods of magic, and nominally obedient to Uruth... when he can find her.

-Less concerned with gaining power than playing games of power. After all, if you win, you're out in the open and your secrets are exposed! -On extremely good terms with both the Summer and Winter Courts of the Fey, and often serves as a neutral party between them. -Extremely good at finding out secrets, and dispensing them to create interesting events that muck up the plans of those too full of themselves.

Jynx, Lady Luck (Intermediate Goddess): Chaos, Luck (Eminent), Trickery (Eminent), Charm -The Trickster Goddess, and the biggest thorn in the side of Imprus and Huul, and they don't even know it. -A rival and companion of Tiirith and Jestanna, always trying to get the better of them... and usually doing so, if not as much as she would like. - Naturally the patron of gamblers and thrill-seekers who defy the odds, as well as con men and professional thieves.

======================= The Ruby Court of Hell: Lawful Evil Huul, the Tyrant (Greater God): Law, Evil, Conquest (Eminent), Tyranny (Eminent), Doom (Eminent), Rulership, Fire, Charm, Darkness, War, Strategy --Commander of the Ruby Court --Served by countless devils of all levels of power. Dwells on the Ninth Floor of Hell. --Continually engaged in war against the forces of the Abyss trying to take the Sin that empowers Hell, as well as other targets of opportunity.

Always looking to expand and set up new territories and sources of Sin he can tap for power. -Hell is the greatest sponsor of Warlock Pacts. -Considers Mithar his greatest foe, and the rest of Creation just pawns moving between the two of them.

Rue, Lady Pain, the Frost Maiden (Intermediate Goddess): Law, Evil, Dark Magic, Pain (Eminent), Ice (Eminent), Witchcraft, Doom, Curses, Charm -A goddess of magic and Patron of Magic, rival of Ruilvei -Huul's icy consort, his counterpart, and head of his 'diplomatic' efforts. -Ruler of the frozen Eighth Hell, guarding Nessus' doorstep.

Rath, the Dark Knight (Intermediate God): Law, Evil, Conquest, Death, Darkness, Doom, Destruction, Strength, Strategy -The Champion and General of Hell, Patron of Illriggers, both knight and assassin. -Loathes Valus to his core. Respects and is a bit afraid of the skill of Mithar. -Faultlessly loyal to Huul, and an inspiring and charismatic leader to his troops. Rides with the favor of The Tyrant. -Rides the King of Nightmares.

The Darkest Court (Neutral Evil): They obey Skulos because if they don't, he'll wipe them. Skulos, The Reaper (Greater God): Evil (Eminent), Death (Eminent), Darkness (Eminent), Decay, Destruction, Doom, Undeath (Eminent), Oblivion, Disease --Strongest of the Greater Gods, can counter Aru, his greatest rival. -Enjoys making mortals into the undead. Their spirits always come to him in the end. -Patron of all forms of natural death and ways of dying. -Served by Daemons exemplifying those ways of dying.

-The conflict between Hell and the Pits swirls around the Glooms. The daemons prey on both and harvest Sin from them in doing so, but on average work for Hell, as the forces of the Pits are simply too large to allow them to run rampant. Ruilvei, The Witch Queen (Intermediate Goddess): Evil, Dark Magic (Eminent), Witchcraft (Eminent), Darkness, Death, Doom, Curses (Eminent), Hags, Secrets, Mysteries. -The primary corruptor of the Hag Curse. Hates Sylune the most for countering all her power.

-Biggest sponsor of Witches, more than all other powers combined. -Would dearly love to be Eminent in both Secrets and Mystery, but Jynx and Shoul won't go along. Shoul, the Dark Moon (Intermediate God): Evil, Shadows (Eminent), Secrets (Eminent), Murder, Trickery, Charm, Theft, Darkness, the Dark Moon, Nightmares, Wealth -The god of assassins and thieves of all stripes, turning secrets and intrigue into power and wealth.

-Understands more of the game between Huul and Mithar than any other, and still dreads being caught up in Mithar's schemes... or being afflicted by the fallout from Huul's. -Might or might not be the lover of Jynx. Secrets... -Considers himself the most cunning of the gods, playing the Game against the two great strategists of the gods. Both Huul and Mithar are aware of this, and generally ignore or manipulate him as he tries his clever schemes, leaving him only wondering who was playing who.

-Love/Hate relationship with Sylune, but they really have different interests that don't overlap... and they might even be related... ======================= The Pits of Demonium (Chaotic Evil) Voyd, The Demon Queen (Greater Goddess): Chaos, Evil, Destruction (Eminent), Bad Luck (Eminent), Death, Doom, Darkness, War, Strength, Demonkind --More a force of nature then a being. Destroys all about her, and births new demonic entities that help lay waste to Creation endlessly. Valus hunts down and kills a lot of them.

-Venerated and feared by all demons. Loathed by the Qlippoth. Believed to be the first of Demonkind. -Like Skulos and Huul, an Endbringer who will destroy all in an apocalyptic battle in many realities. If Evil loses a world, the arrival of her Avatar is one way of setting the counter back to zero. -If there is a tarrasque, she is its mother. -The Succubi are understood to be her voices in Demonium, particularly the Lilithi priestesses.

Angar, the Deceiver (Lesser God): Chaos, Evil, Trickery, Charm, Lies, Deception (Eminent), Illusion, Secrets, Betrayal -The Greatest liar of the divine, untrusted yet valued for his words until his inevitable betrayal. Loves political games. Playing headgames with jRaztl now. Kachachak, the Winter King (Lesser God): Chaos, Evil, Winter (Eminent), Ice, Storms, Jotuns -A sinister elemental being of cold, contesting with the Winter Court of the Fey constantly.

Revered by frost Jotuns, Ice dragons, and creatures of cold and winter. Klaw, the Butcher (Lesser God): Chaos, Evil, Massacre (Eminent), War, Mutation, Strength -The only Warp God to advance in status, has thrown himself into the conflict with Hell to gain Sin and raise his Power. Followed eagerly by many demons. -Preferred followers are berserkers who revel in carnage. Demons work fine, too. -Enjoys creating new monsters by mutating them from others into more fearsome warbeasts.

The other Warp Gods (Lesser Godlings/Demon Princes): Chaos, Evil + Riggibuhl: Disease, Death. Striving for influence over oozes with at least four other demon lords. jRaztl: Trickery, Magic, Secrets. Engaged fully in the games of power for the fun of it, even dealing with the Qlippoth. Amourae: Lust, Charm. Vying for control of the succubi, but finding it hard going, as gender conflict in the Abyss is alive and well, and a hermaphrodite is loathed from both sides... plus Voyd could squash him like a grape.

Lust is also a VERY popular sphere of Sin for demon princes.

There are other demigods, demon princes, ur-daemon despots, and archdevils around, too, basically infinite in number given the scope of the Pantheon's duties, only a tiny fraction of which ever concern themselves with a specific mortal world at a time. The Qlippoth are considered creatures of Mythos, and allies of those Outside Creation.

The Aruan Heavens maintain cordial relationships with other Heavenly entities outside the Pantheon, seeing them not as rivals, but brothers and comrades in arms with a job to do, and so communication across Pantheons happens regularly, while respecting one another's boundaries. The Neutral and Evil aspects of the Pantheon are not nearly so respectful, and strive for more power and influence over mortal souls with other Pantheons at the drop of a hat.

Boundaries between Pantheons are entirely metaphysical in boundary, and a world in one dimension may be in the territory of a different Pantheon in another. There is no real way to stop such conflicts, so they are simply tolerated as another test of fitness to serve their respective Pantheons. Of course, divine conflicts can get very intense, indeed, and it is rare for an outsider to displace an existing member of the Pantheon without remarkable luck, or if that member receives no support.

Also note that Creation is vast, and the Aruan Pantheon does not know all the others that are out there. It knows of the areas it controls, and some borderlands, but those farther afield are only known by speaking with other gods who pass on tales of who and what and where. It is surprisingly easy to get beyond the areas of their influence, as it is suddenly falling into such an area.