World of Gods (IC)

[Ah-eh-ioh-uh]

Minerva patiently listened to the plague god speak, one of the likely few gods who could even follow, given her tendency to fiddle about with viruses and plagues herself. She wasn't exactly on board with this particular method of execution but she kept herself from interrupting him in his drawn out scientific diagnosis out of respect and courtesy. She was personally surprised nobody ELSE interrupted the plague doctor however as she suspected his medically informed language might not exactly be in common understanding amongst the pantheon, not every deity being inclined to take up the sciences as a hobby.

"I respectfully second the sentiment against these methods and suggest the pantheons investigate less apocalyptic alternatives" Minerva said, having respectfully stepped forward from her tucked away corner of the gathering, interrupting the water deity if only to curtail any argument about the state of Quarji's place of living.

"Not only are some of these concoctions rather unpleasant to certain moral sentiments,-" She began, her voice and demeanor having nothing but respectful and strictly professional input in its forthcoming.

"But if these methods aren't used with carefully monitored and calculated restraint, they won't simply solve the problem of human overpopulation but rather kill OFF the human population in its entirety" she said plainly, not seeing any use in hiding that she didn't exactly know the plague master's intentions when it came to these methods and therefore didn't trust that he wouldn't just go bat-dung crazy with these methods and wipe out all the humans in a week.

She and Quiraji didn't interact directly all that often. This wasn't unusual as she found the gods seemed content to just do their own thing most of the time and rarely spoke to one another. Therefore she wasn't entirely sure as to his nature or intentions. She wasn't sure whether he liked her or hated her or somewhere in between. She just hoped he knew enough about civilized thinking to keep things peaceful as she didn't like to think about the ramifications of fighting such a powerful being.

She only meant well and it was made known through her polite way of speaking. She of all people knew the perils of moral absolutes and was under no such illusions that she knew enough about Quarji to label him as "Evil" or maniacal in any way.

It was the vibes he gave off when he talked about the diseases. The sound of the words, the feeling behind them. Something in his eyes seemed to glow a little too brightly for her tastes when he spoke the word 'septic'. She too, was under the impression that he might just go overboard with the culling of human numbers.

[Jerno]

Carstol sat there it was apparent that Minerva knew what she was talking about so Carstol spoke up “ I don’t usually agree with anyone especially Minerva but she is right, we can’t kill of the entire human population, so there’s gotta be another way.” Gonz spoke up as well “ as the Deva of the sky and Earth I could just increase the number of natural catastrophes like earthquakes and Tornadoes should be of som use instead of using diseases, no offense Quiraji.”

[Jerno]

Carstol then once spoke up again “I could also make crops fail therefore receiving no Harvest at all and slowly killing of the human population, although humans are very committed when it comes to survival so having no Harvest may or may not affect them that much.”

[Endem]

Thaetol was horrified at all of the solutions, current human population allowed him for at least a small talk with the humans before death, but, if any of the solutions would be implied he would need to spend less than a second with any human, he already felt the amount of work he would need to do "Please, for our sake, have some mercy, do you know how much additional work any of those methods would get me, I wouldn't be done for another 1000 years, maybe we could further human advancement and make them colonize other planets"

[Houyhnhnm Cities]

My home is already a paradise as far as i am concerned. And i can assure you, i find the company perfectly adequate. I reply, a little irritated, to Juras. He and I had never seen eye to eye, his title as "protector of innocents" clashed a bit too much with the indiscriminate nature of Quraji's work. Diseases do not care for innocence or guilt, they reap everyone.

Then, he turned his attention to Minerva and Thaetol , two far more interesting gods as ar as Quiraji was concerned. He liked Minerva in a professional way, she was one of the few gods that appreciated research as much as he did and that would actuallly understand his words when he was talking about the finer points of microbiolgy and epidemiology. She was still a bit soft, sometimes more concerned with the researcher than with the research, but she was fine. Also, her practical objections were much more interesting than Juras' moral ones, so he felt compelled to answer. I understand you concerns, goddess of research. Allow me to put you at ease. . With a simple wave of his hand, a swarm of multicolored insects poured out of his ample sleeves, before swarming in a ordered pattern right in front of the gods. Than they hovered in place, forming a rather easy to read graph.

I have done some projections when i created this diseases. You know, the time it takes them to spread, expected victims, the usuals, and these graphs are the result. Now this and he indicated a bright, red line that rose like an hyperbole is the expected human population of the Earth if we do not introduce my diseases. As you can see, the population is expected to rise sharply, causing all sorts of problems. We all want to avoid that, i am sure. . Then, with another wave of his hand, electric blue flies were added to the swarm, forming a blue line that rose much more smoothly than the red one. This is the expected rise of Earth's population with my disease. The deaths would barely even register, i expect no more then... say, ten milion deaths at the most, over a period of five years. he pointed at a very small, almost invisible valley in the blue line.I have no intention of leading humanity to extinction Minerva, and i am sure that we can all agree that ten milion deaths would not put humanity future in jeopardy. The real effect of my diseases is on the fertility rate. The population growth will slow to a crawl, giving them enough time to actually implement a long term solution. Killing humans en masse, like Gonz is proposing, usually leads to a rebound effect, and the situation becomes even worse after a few years, not to mention it would not be kind to our hard-working psychopomp. But hitting them in the fertility rates will be an effetive strategy that should solve the problem for good.

I know, this is still more work for you in the short term Thaeotl, but in the long run it will save you a lot of trouble, i can promise you that. . Quiraji said in an apologetic tone. He liked Thaeotl a lot, since he was probably the most serious god and the one that best understood that their job came before mortal expectations and preyers. It was a real pity that a success for Quiraji would usually mean more work for him, so he always tried to be kind to the psycophomp when was not working, as a sort of an apology for all the trouble he had caused him.

[Jerno]

(Gonz) “ No No we wouldn’t want to burden Thaetol, but all humans have to die some sooner than others, what we could do is do all of them in a small scale, every two years we could do a catastrophe in a small scale in a certain location, with the locations changing every two years so the balance of human population would not tip the scale, on Allen year a disease, next two years a Tornado season restricted to either spring or summer and so on we could also take a part of the populace in equal numbers and also create a new planet like Thaetol also proposed.” “ I’m sure this would take care of this problem.”
Carstol like everyone else heard out Gonz and he seemed to like it. With a bit more planning this could be pulled of at least he hoped so.

[Endem]

Thaetol got that no matter what he would have a lot of work, first the ones already waiting that died during the meeting and then the ones other Gods decide to kill off "Only problem with killing humans is, that always the ones that are the strongest survive, it would be like, sorry Quiraji if this offends you, but, it's like when a human uses too much antibiotics and the only bacteria that survive are the ones immune to antibiotics and if many humans do it, only bacteria resistant to antibiotics are left from a species of bacteria"

[Quavv]

“The favorable option would be to advance Earth’s technology,” said Athanatos, “But it would need to be done quickly. Humanity will be overwhelmed by their own population in a century. Quarji’s method will be plan B. I’ll identify and appoint a god to develop and implement an Earth Advancement Initiative. Unless anyone feels compelled to take that on now?”

[Rykil]

Dhemtar, Archon of Fundamental Space

Dhemtar had been listening closely to what the others had been saying. Quiraji wanted to unleash great plagues to assault their reproduction, while that could possibly work diseases were always a wild card. Dhemtar trusted Quiraji whenever it came to releasing plagues, although the Black Death had certainly been one that worried him a bit. Meanwhile, Carstol had suggested possibly causing a mass famine, although who knew if it would cause a societal collapse or not. Gonz's solution was to enact mass disasters, which, in Dhemtar's mind, would be a very short term solution. He debated with himself on whether or not to possibly drop a meteor on top of the humans, causing a tremendous cloud of dust to bring about famines and dyings. Humanity likely didn't have the capabilities of actually shooting down these meteors, which would allow it's success. However, who knew what the rebound effect would enact. Even then, what of his own faithful on the planet? Would they lose faith or change in radical ways? He didn't like any of these options, he liked none of them at all.

But something in his mind clicked when Athanatos mentioned advancing human technology. Letting them possibly place colonies on the moon, Mars, and other celestial bodies. He had read human science fiction before, and was particularly intrigued by the possibilities that were made into reality, albeit fictional, in these stories. Some of them had included human overpopulation leading to colonization of other bodies, which was repeating itself here. Human overpopulation led to many issues, mainly including the fact that there simply weren't enough resources to go around. Food, metals, fuels, energy, all of them were being over-exploited in a highly inefficient manner. Enough babbling, it was time for action.

"Athanatos, I would place myself in the position of advancing humankind into the Great Beyond. As the Titan of Space and head of the Cosmic Pantheon, I would believe myself to be worthy of such an endeavor. Let any criticism come my way, I will receive it with open arms."

[Jerno]

Gonz knew in order to get mankind on Mars, the Moon or wherever they needed resources and a way to finance all of that so He would also be perfect for the job “ I Gonz, Deva of the sky and Earth will provide humankind with the resources and help them finance their expenses. They need TONS of Metal and other resources and I’m perfect to help out In that area.” Carstol also spoke out “ I could also give them the knowledge of Galactic Agriculture and Harvest it would be essential to the humans survival.”

[Endem]

Thaetol smiled as he heard that the colonization plan was chosen, no additional work for him, and he might even be able to visit new worlds, unfortunately, he himself would not be able to contribute if he could he would make sure to reap less those that were meant to be colonists, but, death doesn't choose, speaking of it, two of Juras followers needed to go, Thaetol moved near Juras and spoken to him "Juras, I need to ask you a favor I before asked Dhemtar, can you summon here two of your followers, brothers, Ulf and Thor, in previous life both vikings"

[Ah-eh-ioh-uh]

"I hope none of you are actually under the illusion that I will be propelling those tyrannical human nations into the space age" Minerva said with hands on her hips.

"I won't unleash those disgusting humans onto the cosmos with the way they're acting NOW" She said defiantly, a surprise as she is typically low key about everything.

"I will help these humans reach the stars have no doubt about that" she said with a stern voice that sad she meant business.

"But not before the defilers have been separated from the peaceful" she told them quite firmly.

"I hope the assembled aren't under any impression that I mean to deescalate my campaign against those barbaric human nations considering how they have trespassed against everything I stand for" she said with a stern gaze to the gathered deities before her.

(Another post coming that will explain what she's talking about)

[Ah-eh-ioh-uh]

(Sorry about the wall of text guys. Lot to say. Got carried away.)

Ah, yes Minerva's campaigns against misinformation and closed-mindedness. Most gods should have probably heard about it by now. Minerva has historically condemned and punished groups of people who were guilty of certain crimes that are anathema to what she believes in.

Over the centuries Minerva has witnessed human factions committing cultural genocide and engaging in politically based information fraudulence. When she deemed the crime terrible enough, Minerva would intercede in a wrath of vengeance and attack the problematic society from multiple angles. The Spanish Empire for instance destroyed countless cultural artifacts from native American factions such as the Aztecs and Incas. In defiling so many peices of history from the new world they also destroyed untold number of scientific discoveries that could have been of use to humanity.

Minerva's deeply ingrained ideals about preservation of knowledge found such destructive of an Empire to be intolerable and so she waged a holy water against the Spanish Empire for a time. Even the supposedly formidableness of the Spanish crown was no match for a deity and so the Empire partially through her own crusade, was abandoned and condemned to a scientific and cultural regression/dark age as a consequence of their crimes against knowledge.

The Spanish Empire became no more and the modern nation-state of Spain has since repented the offenses made and has been steadily taking steps towards being back in Minerva's favor. The German society was consigned to a similar fate after Minerva gained knowledge of the fraudulent scientific studies on eugenics that led to the now infamous eugenics war and it's multiple atrocities.

Most deities should have heard about this by now seeing as her campaigns of idealism currently take form on a rather large playing field. Minerva's religion and all of the organizations associated with it are at least in some stage of conflict with various big time nations states in the mortal world, ranging from peaceful campaigns against said atrocities to outright underground insurgencies/rebellions.

Minerva is currently on the road to a full scale holy war against The United States, China, Russia and North Korea, all at once, and that's just to name of the biggest offenders on the global stage. Those are the big guys she's focusing on right now as she already has quite a lot on her plate with that without bothering with the more recent offenders and the small fry.

[Democratic Republic of Eiria]

"That, actually, is a good cause, Minerva". Juras said. "If there's anyway I can help, I will". He turned to Thaetol. "The Norse Twins? That's too bad. I'll be right back". He dissolved into water, only to reappear in a minute with two identical men with long hair in purple tunics. "It's been nice to know you guys". He said, shaking their hands.

[Jerno]

“Yeah that is a good cause” said Carstol in mutual agreement both brothers agreed to help out Minerva with these human nations, “since these nations have caused a lot of trouble why don’t we raise up new superpowers on the planet as well so the current superpowers could stay in check.” Suggested Gonz.

[Rykil]

Dhemtar, Archon of Fundamental Space

"The United States, Russia, China, and other powerful nations each do their part in maintaining a relatively stable political climate. Minerva, launch a full scale holy war against them and do you realize what sort of cataclysmic changes you could bring down?! Knock down the US into a dark age like you did with Spain and Germany, not only are you ignoring the fact that NASA owes much of their good luck in science to my blessings, but the US has done a tremendous amount of effort to try and stabilize the global climate. It may have had it's moments here and there and may not be run by the best of people, but the US is a key nation in the political climate and retains one of the largest and most powerful military forces and economies on the entire planet. China is up there in the economic climate as well, trading with a tremendous amount of the world's nations and supplying a great deal of products and exports to them. It has a keyhole in the economic climate. Russia still has It's influence reaching far across the world even though It suffers from a shrinking economy and terrible sanctions. North Korea can go, however, just give to South Korea. I could keep going on and mentioning various powers on the global stage but I feel I have mentioned the most influential already. Minerva, Juras, and Carstol... I implore you to clean your eyes from the mud out of Quiraji's district and think forward into the long-term future of humanity. Have you ever considered what the rise of humankind into space might bring to their government and culture?"

"Let's look at the changes that could arise from space travel and colonization. Overpopulation on Earth would be no more due to the available space on the moon. Just think! Habitats on the moon powered by constant sunlight through the usage of solar panels, fusion reactors utilizing the high amounts of helium-3, hydroponics farms to feed them, and spaceports to jumpstart exploration to other worlds. Not only that, but the low gravity and lack of an atmosphere would be perfect for industrial complexes. Think of Mars, the Red Planet! Humanity could finally answer if there is life within the ice caps of Mars, which would help them broaden the search for life out there. The launching of spacecraft would allow them to mine tremendous amounts of metals from asteroids, shoot down threatening asteroids, and expand farther out into the solar system. To accommodate all of this their governments would have to change dramatically as they would need to manage three-dimensional space territories. The scale of the solar system would require them to create a governing system that would be better-suited to ruling over the Final Frontier."

"I beg you three to put your minds to it, space isn't going to only solve overpopulation and combat against pseudoscience and the scientific repressiveness we see today, it will dramatically alter humanity politically and culturally. We simply need to shape it forwards unto a positive route. Please, for the sake of my sanity and the well-being of humanity, do not launch a holy war against the world's superpowers..."

[Democratic Republic of Eiria]

"How about, instead of uprooting the old, we make something new? A new space agency, without influences from foreign powers or corruption. We're gods, for Pete's sake! We can find scientists, from all around the world. Without outside influence, their sole concern is humanity's progress. We can give them the resources, and knowledge, and then there you go! They will have little impact on political stability, and the space program would be controlled by hard-working men and women, not government managers". Juras Said, sipping his wine.

[Endem]

After Thaetol was done with the Norse twins he listened closely to what Gods said about making humans go into space "if I can say something, their space rockets are unreliable and dangerous I think the first thing humans need for efficient space travel is more reliable machines" he then made a comment of what Gonz suggested "While it may work, it would probably either create the first space war or space cold war" after that he states silent during what Dhemtar said, and finally made his own suggestion "also, I think the only way humans could seriously take on colonization and space travel is through getting virtually limitless supply of energy, and, as much little as I know of science, I heard only the Dyson sphere is capable of it, otherwise, humans will outgrow their solar system quickly"

[Democratic Republic of Eiria]

Juras mused over Thaetol's idea. "What about a reverse Dyson Sphere? Geothermal Energy? It would be much more feasible for their level of technology, and would require minimal tech Advancement and would produce a significant amount of energy. Would that be possible?".

[Houyhnhnm Cities]

Uff... I'll prepare the plagues anyway then. Just in case something goes wrong. Quiraji says, clearly unhappy that his idea was relegated to a plan B. However, if humans do really get to other planets, be warned. Earth is not the only planet where my children live. I've got some pretty interesting specimens frozen in the glaciers of mars, not to mention the Enceladion worms...But i must admit i was curious to see how humans would react to them. The meeting of biologies so different shall be quite the interesting event. At least something good shall come out of this plan Quraji concludes, a bit more satisfied.

[Jerno]

It should be Juras replied Gonz and “I think we should choose scientists not from the government so we don’t get entangled in the earths political affairs. We could also while were at it put man on the Moon and Mars at the same time effectively cutting down population on Earth, while giving them the Technology and means to get to and from each celestial body.” “And yes I don’t think we should start WW3 or a Cold War that would not be good and I also think giving some of N Korea to S Korea might also be a good idea, Were Gods we can effectively shape it into the positive route and help humankind colonize space.” Said Gonz.

[Quavv]

"A few of you can discuss this in a separate meeting later," said Athanatos, "We just needed to get a few gods to take that on. Now onto the next order of business. Some of you are aware of the "breach" we had in the barrier which shields us from the darkness Beyond Unera. It happened two years ago. Some of you may also be aware that Gaisa, the former goddess of Lightning, was killed by me and the angel legion on Earth one year ago. Much speculation has been going on since then and I intend to clear everything up. The breach and the killing of Gaisa are connected. Gaisa was responsible for the breach. Due to her being a clear enemy of Unera, I decided to kill her. We're not sure what her motives were, and I'm sorry it was kept under wraps, but it was the right choice."

[Endem]

"Ah yes, I remember that," said Thaetol "I'm not quite sure where Gods go after they die, too little of that actually happen for me to know" Thaetol commented and then added "but, what should we be discussing, I think it's a case closed" then Thaetol stopped talking

[Democratic Republic of Eiria]

Juras frowned. "Even though I did hear about that, the details I have not. And you are saying there are no details. How did she break in? Were there any signs of why? Was she carrying any important items? With all due respect, that doesn't really clear anything up. Please elaborate further". He finishes his second glass of wine.

[Houyhnhnm Cities]

I remember. That event was... unfortunate. What happened to the breach itseelf by the way? A wound like that could easily become infected if not treated.. Quiraji says with a bit of morbid curiosity. The realms beyond had had always piqued his interest, since not even the gods knew very well what dwelled in those dark places. It stimulated his curiosity.