Pity domains don't have doorbells

[the_fires_deep]

Tisvetaia thinks it's a good thing that she doesn't get tired from walking. Or tired at all, really. She has enough trouble getting her bodies everywhere that they need to be, without the trouble of sleep and exhaustion and hunger and thirst becoming an issue. Mortals manage just fine, but that's more because they have no choice in the matter. They get tired, they need food, they need water, they need sleep. They can't tirelessly walk to the edges of the world.

Pity. You meet such interesting people.

Flying or running would be faster. She does, in fact, have several bird manifestations, flying at top speed everywhere they can reach. If it were a perfect world, she could aim for perfect efficiency, throw all of her energy into being birds, send them out in every direction she could manage. Lengthen the lives of every mortal she could touch, tell death to sit down and shut up, never have that issue that gods have where all of their peers want to kill them and all of their charges die far too soon. But it is not a perfect world, and doing that would probably get her killed. Worse, she suspects she'd become like some of her neighbors - so self absorbed in her chosen mission that she'd forget the important factor. Mortals. So, she is somewhat inefficient.

If a god practices, they can sound like a mortal. If a god practices, they can feign all of the little problems that come with being mortal. If a god practices, they can fool others into thinking they too are mortals. Another god could sense her in an instant, but mortals have no such ability. So, if she's careful, she can walk among towns and see what they're actually like. What problems they actually face, what sorts of solutions solve them, what their honest opinions are, what they want when they're not cowering before her and shoving a mountain of offerings at her.

This is usually how she spends time with this body, but sometimes she sends it off to do odd jobs.

In this case, the odd job is: go introduce yourself to one of your divine neighbors. She knows barely anything more than his name - Zenikiel. She dislikes knowing barely anything about her divine neighbors. It's time to go fix that.

Comments

[rockeye_stonetoe]

"We can make a quick circuit around the town at least. I was looking forward to demonstrating it, you know. Nobody but my acolytes seem to be interested in it thanks to how much work goes into keeping the thing from falling apart."

[the_fires_deep]

Snicker. "Aha, ulterior motive, I see. Well, then a quick circuit around the town sounds fun. How does it work?"

[rockeye_stonetoe]

"With enough effort, you can separate water into two things. One of the things you get is 'hydrogen,' a gas that is lighter than air. A balloon filled with hydrogen floats on air a lot like a boat will float on water. The biggest danger here is that hydrogen is very flammable, and very good at leaking through small holes. If the force holding the ship up goes away, or if a careless spark starts a fire..." He shrugs. "Goodbye ship."

[the_fires_deep]

Tisvetaia blinks.

"... It is possibly relevant for me to mention that I am a volcano goddess," she says, after a pause. "And that if my body is injured I bleed lava."

[rockeye_stonetoe]

"Ah. I had not realized that. I hadn't even considered the possibility, since your power seems to be preservation and not, for example, fire. Sorry to have you come see it and then not be allowed to board it, but I'll thank you to keep far away from my flying ship."

After a moment's pause, "I wonder if I could design one that uses helium? Helium is even harder to collect and not as good at staying up, but it isn't flammable at all."

[the_fires_deep]

"I will keep far far away from your flying ship," she agrees wholeheartedly. "I would rather not blow up your ship. Fire would make a terrible thing to focus on, so I did not."

She smiles a bit. "What do you need to do to collect helium?"

[rockeye_stonetoe]

"There is a small amount in the air around us, but there's no way to collect it. There are some pockets of helium deep underground, but I cannot make more of them, and the gas escapes as soon as you break through unless you're ready for and expecting it. I don't think I would be able to gather enough to make a flying ship, which is a pity."

[the_fires_deep]

"Hm. Hot air rises in comparison to colder air. Possibly not enough for a flying ship, but it's an idea."

[rockeye_stonetoe]

"I tried that as well, and while it does allow light crafts to fly, they cannot carry enough weight to be useful and they lack endurance. There are a few of those here and there, mostly used for amusement."

[the_fires_deep]

"Ah. And here I thought I was being clever."

[rockeye_stonetoe]

"Perhaps you were, I don't have a good sense of how clever other gods and goddesses usually are. I don't think you'll beat me on cleverness in craftsmanship and constructions, though. At least not about something I've been thinking about in one way or another since two years after I began."

[the_fires_deep]

Snicker. "Fair. I don't expect to outwit you in craftsmanship and constructions, but I find that it is often very useful to have different sorts of people give different advice and ideas."

[rockeye_stonetoe]

"I know. Which is why I said hello and had a polite conversation when you visited the edge of my domain, instead of simply warning you not to interfere. If I think of any problems you might have ideas about, I may decide to ask you. And you may ask me for advice if you have a problem that might be solved by building something clever."

"I have other things for this body to do, Tisvetaia, but you continue to be welcome in my domain under the same conditions as before." The manifestation begins to walk into the wilderness to the west.

[the_fires_deep]

"Thank you. I don't have any immediate problems that need to be solved by building something clever, but I suspect that there are things that could be streamlined. I'm just not sure what. I will let you know if I think of something. And feel free to ask me about whatever you like."

[rockeye_stonetoe]

A while later, "Tisvetaia, I have noticed a problem among some of the people living in my domain. More and more often, competitors in a craft will insult and interfere with each other rather than practicing healthy competition such as striving to produce higher quality goods than the other. Punishing the involved parties would, I suspect, not help. Do you have any insight on this?"

[the_fires_deep]

"Hmm," she muses. "Tough problem. I think a carrot will do better than a stick, here. Do you bestow blessings upon people that strive to create new and better things?"

[rockeye_stonetoe]

"Generally I only bless those who create a masterwork, a singular piece of very skilled craft, or who prove themselves in other ways."

[the_fires_deep]

"Mm. Then maybe work in a more subtle way. Imply that competitors that bad mouth their competition are trying to make up for a deficient in their product, maybe. Or - some sort of domain wide review system, with analyses from customers. This is somewhat more hands on than most gods would like, but you can be an excellent method of distribution for things that your mortals make."

[rockeye_stonetoe]

"Interesting. I believe I will begin by implying that crafters who insult and cheat tend to produce poor goods and must do something more impressive than usual for it to count as a blessing-earning masterwork. If that does not change this trend of behavior, I will make it known that I will answer prayers asking my opinion on particular crafters, which may encourage them to be more professional. But the second option is invasive enough - to me and to them - that it will be a second resort."

[the_fires_deep]

Tisvetaia nods. "Yes, that's fair. I hope the problem is soon solved."

[rockeye_stonetoe]

"As do I. Have you thought of any problems that might be solved with a tool, construction, or device?"

[the_fires_deep]

"Sometimes my followers have problems transporting injured from one place to another. We have stretchers, but the physical labor involved slows things down. I've had them create stretchers with wheels attached, but those are somewhat unwieldy to use. I am unsure of how to solve the problem, but I suspect it is in your area of expertise."

[rockeye_stonetoe]

"My first instinct is a vehicle of some kind, but I will have to think about the problem more."

[the_fires_deep]

"Certainly. Thank you."

[rockeye_stonetoe]

After a while, "I don't know if this will solve the problem of stretchers being unwieldy, but if you built a sort of mobile hospital... A horse-drawn wagon that contains within it a medic, stretchers, and whatever medicine and other things they need. It may improve the speed you get injured people any sort of medical attention, even if the first response they get is not as high-quality as it could be in a full hospital."

"I can provide plans for a wagon chassis that handles rough terrain relatively well and does not shock and shake its occupants quite as much as those in common use. If you suspended the stretchers from a sufficiently clever arrangement of ropes within the wagon, you could reduce the shaking to no more than it would be if they were manually carried on a stretcher."