More worldbuilding about my story (Crimson Redux) - the Manifestations
So, remember how my world had three gods -Dysthymia, god of psychological aspects, Dysphoria, god of visceral existence, and Alexithymia, god of emotions and indulgences ?
Well, while the gods themselves are sequestered away in a border-reality (though they can be brought into our reality via the spilling of Host-blood and a very specific ritual), they can express themselves into our world in three ways - those being Hosts, Manifestations, and Artifacts
A Host occurs when a god decides to show itself through a human being, essentially creating a human to act as a pseudo-vessel of its will, like an extraneous limb. Generally, these Hosts tend to have their own free will, which may or may not clash with the god’s (though most of the gods don’t really have their own will, save for Dysthymia). These Hosts have authority over all powers of the gods, though they tend to specialise in singular aspects, if only because it is downright impossible for a human body to bear the full brunt of divinity
An Artifact occurs when a crack in reality appears, usually centered around an OOP, an Object of Power. These Artifacts generally tend to lack their own will (save for Dysthymia’s, which can express Dysthymia’s will through itself) and generally grant their wearer immense power, though with a catch. They can also be used to greatly amplify a Host’s strength, along with the strength of the divine bond
A Manifestation, which is what we’ll be focusing on today, is when a god presents itself in a manner deemed bestial or creature-like. More animal, less human. Generally, these beasts are linked only tangentially to their gods, and, with the exception of Paris, Dysthymia’s Manifestation, tend to be extremely obedient to the Hosts
The Manifestations include :
Circe, the Manifestation of Alexithymia : this Manifestation appears in large water bodies as a vast spider-crab-looking creature, with its back and eyes poking out of the surface of the water, even as its immense legs stretch all the way to the bed of whatever body of water it appears in. Notably, its back is disguised almost perfectly as a lush, rocky-looking island, its eyes acting as two glittering seashells on the island’s sandy “beach”.
It feeds by drawing power from Alexithymia’s Desire aspect, as once its victim is within a certain range, it can create an image of whatever they desire on its rocky, islandlike back, in an attempt to lure them in. Should they not fall for it, however, it also has the ability to, as a last resort, project these images directly into the victim’s mind
Then, when they start sailing closer to the island, whether it be out of curiosity or because they’ve fallen into Circe’s trap, its crab like head, set at the end of trunklike stalk, snaps out, swordblade mandibles closing around the victim’s vessel and swallowing them whole
Paris, the Manifestation of Dysthymia : This creature hides itself in forests, its seven stalklike necks the perfect girth to be disguised as tree trunks
Appearing as a strange creature with pale-silver, clammy skin, it has the abdomen of a giant spider, holding itself up on thirteen sharp-edged legs that are easily disguised as yet more tree trunks. However, instead of a thorax, from its end protrude seven stalklike necks, each one topped with a giant bald human head, eyes wide and white, mouths stretched into painful-looking rictus grins
It feeds by luring people into its forests, usually by producing an entrancing tune by rubbing the coarse skin of its necks against its abdomen. Once a - preferably human - victim has been lured close enough, one of its heads snaps out and devours it
Now comes the real twist. Drawing power from the Shapeshifter aspect of Dysthymia, the head that devoured the human can now detach from the main body and transform into a near-perfect replica of said human (it can’t be actually perfect, because, according to the rules of the world, only a human can transform into a perfect human). It now usually goes back to that person’s home and attempts to integrate itself into their family, eventually luring them all out to be eaten by Paris. Seven such forms can exist at one time
Scylla, the Manifestation of Dysphoria - This creatures dwells in oceans, its vast, serpentine form too big to be held by any lesser type of water body
It is described as so big it cannot be seen at once, its grey-blue scales blending perfectly in with the murky oceanwater it calls home. In addition to its vast coils, it also bears a hundred heads, twenty of them sprouting, traditionally, from the end of its undulating body, though the other eighty are scattered across its form, jutting erratically out from random parts of its vast coils. Its eyes are described as “larger in diameter than a small dinghy” and its teeth look like “forests of sharp, silver blades”. A constant storm of seawater pours from its black, forked tongues, even when it’s not in the sea
Notably, its powers are more brutish than its fellows. It’s connection to Dysphoria’s The Deep aspect grants it macrohydrokinesis, the ability to move, summon and shape vast quantities of water, in any form, up to and including cloud formations and glaciers
Comment if you wanna hear about the Hosts and the Artifacts !!
