Angels

By the end of the day, Ahsch had three angels, though it was only vague yet intimidating threats from Avery that kept him from making two more 8,000-Mana angels. Instead, about four and a half hours after maximizing the first, he had a 6,000-Mana angel. After Dorin soothed away the splitting headache he got from that investment and waiting another few hours, he made a second, was chastised by his wife, and everyone settled in to discuss their next steps.

The nine-ish hours from the Dominant Mage's first angel to the final weren't idle. After deciding to name her Aena, the group investigated the angel's capabilities in action. Right away, she informed her creator that the overcharge had provided her with an increased chance of inheriting his Boons, resulting in her gaining Sexual Learning in addition to her original two. The testing that followed ranged from testing her strength, durability, and speed, to having her use spells, and setting her tasks ranging from simple to complex, all aimed at trying to figure out what an angel was able to do. For all her apparent knowledge, Aena functioned largely like a construct, having little in the way of a personality.

The results of the testing were met with mixed reactions. Aena was overall an average of 16 in all of her physical and magical 'stats,' lending her great strength, reflexes, and durability, making her a solidly Tier Two being in general. Comparatively, she obeyed instructions in a straightforward, automatic way, fulfilling the letter of the commands and, when they came from Ahsch, the spirit of them as well. However, even after he ordered her to obey the other three to the best of her ability and understanding, it became apparent that her understanding was quite lacking when vague instructions were given. Somehow, being made of Ahsch's Mana gave the angel an innate understanding of his will. This bled over when he heard the commands of his girls, knowing what they were intending, but when he was out of the room, Aena made somewhat simple mistakes, such as bringing Ariin an actual jar of coffee grounds in response to 'bring me some coffee,' rather than preparing a serving a cup of it like she had for Mahat only a few minutes earlier.

Suffice to say, simple, clear commands from those Ahsch designated were fine, but anything more complicated would have to come from the angel's creator.

The second angel - who shared Aena's purple-pink colorings, but was extremely dark of skin and had a somewhat more angular face - wasn't the expected Magnitude of 12, but reported that she was closer to 14. Together, the two angels extrapolated that there were intensely diminishing returns on overcharging Cleansing Light, and that even with more Thralls and significantly more Mana to draw upon, it was unlikely for Ahsch to create an angel with greater than 4/5 of his Magnitude. However, the initial bump from even just doubling the expected investiture would likely jump an angel from 1/5 to around 3/5 on its own.

Curious about their ability to be creative, Ahsch asked Aena to suggest a name for the new angel. A request the angel flatly refused, insisting that any name she could give to one of her Creator's creations would pale in comparison to what He could bestow. Even trying to outwit her robotic mind by asking for a name within certain parameters (namely, a female in Ahsch's service that would obey him and was mystical in nature) failed, likely due to Aena sensing her Creator's intent behind the question. Oddly, even with him gone, the girls got the same results when they directly and indirectly asked the older angel to name her new compatriot.

Giving up the game, Ahsch decided on Nyrin for his second angel, and Sifthi when the third came along - who again, shared her fellow angel's unusual coloring and leaned towards reddish skin, with a round face. The three angels seemed to naturally fall into a hierarchy based on their power, with Aena acting as their representative and the other two placing themselves as subordinate to her, yet equal to each other. Nyrin inherited Ritual Amp, Mystic Fluids, and Sexual Learning, while Sifthi only gained Ritual Amp and Sexual Learning. The probabilities that all three learned two of the four Boons they could inherit were... Ahsch actually wasn't sure, the chances invisible to him, and none of the angels were able to tell him. Still, it seemed odd that they all got Ritual Amp and Sexual Learning. Weird, even.

Regardless, as the group sat down to eat a much less lavish meal than the one they'd shared the night before with Kirasiel, they questioned what to do with the angels now that they had them. In general, the royal brat's suggestion was good. The gnosis that the angels seemed to instill in everyone who looked at them that they were, in fact, angels would make it difficult to doubt Ahsch's cult's legitimacy if they were involved. But that aside, what could they actually _do _with three angels?

"Regardless of the actual execution, two things will need to happen," Mahat pointed out. "First, we need literature. It doesn't need to be long or in-depth, since we're going with a new - or possibly distant - god as the public story, but some kind of official, cohesive teaching and background for Ahsch's god persona is a must. There's no point in presenting a new deity without having teachings to go along with it.

"The other is a location. I doubt the temples of any god with an organized religion would be willing to host a new, upstart religion, and if we're going for mass appeal, we can't just restrict ourselves to small covenants like, say... well, Phashak actually works as an example. Having a central location, a place that is known as a holy site for the religion will give the wider public some idea where to go to learn more."

"You'll also need permission," Avery added. "There's no state religion - we're not Nemvataten, after all - but the ruling family doesn't let just anyone start preaching new gospels to the commoners - with a powerful enough command of magic, a skilled person could convince a lot of people into believing they're a god, or at least the messenger for one."

"Okay, but how do we get permission?" Ahsch asked. "I'm not keen on the idea of revealing myself as a potential god to the ruling family."

"You won't need to," Avery reassured him, a smirk growing. "In fact, you won't really need to tell anyone new anything."

For the second time in three days, Kirasiel was a guest in the Odestag suites. Unlike the first time, she wasn't there for dinner, and didn't stay long. A simple meeting between the Head of House Celes and Ahsch's three angels was enough to secure informal permission to start his cult - and begin the formal process of gaining official permission. Apparently, the major royal families had the authority to decide which new religions were allowed to preach, though rescinding that permission was possible by a vote among those same families or by decree of the ruling family.Kirasiel was there long enough to be a brat, stare dumbly at the angels for a minute, then give her permission for the formation of Ahsch's cult, with the warning to keep his commandments sane and to keep the obviously insane parts of his background out of his teachings.

Clothing the angels had been a concern, especially after the sheer amount of Mana they were composed of burnt through the simple servants clothes they had tried to dress the trio in. However, in a rare moment of initiative, Aena had inquired if she and her fellow angels needed to be dressed, and, upon an affirmative response, requested that Ahsch simply envision proper garments.

The Dominant Mage was thankful that the brief flash of sheer silk and copious jewelry that went through his head was not replicated in reality, and that the simple baggy tunic and pants he instead focused on was what his angels adopted. 'Proper' garments for their future religious functions would come later, though the thought made Ahsch consider iconography. He knew Phashak's symbol was a dragon's eye within an open book, and could list off a half-dozen other divine icons without much difficulty, but any attempt to come up with something for himself made his thoughts dead-end. Similarly, many of the important details about what kind of god he would be - his expressed domains, his commandments, any rites or rituals - failed to come to him with anything approaching ease.

"Lean into the truth," Avery advised. "Especially for things that would empower you. I'm not recommending you encourage people to throw aside their free will and become your slaves, but some... well, 'rational' and moral way of leading people to potentially become Thralls might be useful, since you seem to have decided to make use of what you have."

"Sex," Ariin said simply. "Your 'weirdness' that even let you get to this point is largely based on sex. There's love and fertility and even a lust domains among the major gods, but I don't think any of them would be able to lean into it as much as you."

Mahat smiled at him. "Bonds. You had a plan when you were in-between lives. A 'build,' you called it. That of a puppeteer, a weaver, a strategist. Links and bonds, the threads that bind things and people together."

Ahsch nodded, thanks his girls for their advice, and went to his study to think. Half an hour later, there was a knock at the door, which unexpectedly was...

"Master Ahsch, I thought you would like some refreshments."

The hrafthi raised an eyebrow at Butler as the automata expertly offloaded a tray of cookies and a tea set onto Ahsch's desk before stepped back and clasping his hands behind his back, a hint of amusement in his robotic eyes. Ahsch briefly thought about the irony of a literal mechanical being that had more personality than the very flesh-and-blood-looking angels he had created.

"Butler," he greeted, squinting thoughtfully. "I assume you didn't come here just to gift me some treats."

"I may be her Lordship's personal servant, but you are now an Odestag, which makes you her family. I would be remiss to leave you to your brooding."

Ahsch opened his mouth to protest, then realized it was late and the lights were off in his office. "Did you come with advice then?"

Another twinkle from within the mechanical eyes, and Butler turned and walked to the window, looking out into the night. "Are you a religious man, Master Ahsch?"

"I wouldn't say so, no."

"May I ask why?"

The hrafthi thought about it, pouring himself a cup of tea and proceeding to swirl it around the cup. "I guess... none of the gods I've heard of really seemed... worth worshiping? That's not to say that they're not powerful beings - I _met _one and that was fucking terrifying - but... so many of them either seem apathetic towards mortals or hypocritical." He snorted as he lifted the cup for a drink. "Or self-righteous," he added.

"And despite that, none held any teachings that drew you in? That resonated with your own beliefs?"

Ahsch put the cup down, a finger idly tracing around the rim. "Not really. I mean, some had good lessons, but none of them really appealed to me in its entirety."

"Hmm." The automata turned, fixing Ahsch with his glowing eyes. "What would you worship?"

The hrafthi paused, frowning. "Honesty? Or..." He sighed, then laughed. "'Perfection,'" he said, shaking his head. "To my understanding, the gods are... fallible. People worship things that are greater than themselves, but gods are... well, immortal beings with the same flaws as any of us and infinitely more power."

"Then why worship at all?"

"Because... they embody ideals. They're paragons of a set of beliefs, greater within that context than pretty much anyone else could be."

"And what would you wish to be a paragon of? What idea would you embody?"

Ahsch gave the automata a keen look. You told Butler, didn't you?

"Master Avery has told me everything, Master Ahsch," Butler said, distracting the hrafthi from his wife's reply.

Ahsch blinked. "How did you..."

"Your Daydreamweave is a daydream, Master Ahsch. For you, that means that your gaze loses focus and tends to drift a few degrees up and to the right." The Dominant Mage would've sworn Butler's eyes were pinched in laughter if the servant had any flesh to bend and wrinkle. "It was a simple deduction from the course of this conversation what you were communicating."

Ahsch slouched back in his chair. "Okay, fair. Then I'll ask you: why are you asking?"

"Because you don't want to be worshiped for something you wouldn't wish to exemplify, Master Ahsch." With a bow, Butler backed away towards the door. "Have a good evening."