Chrysalis

Are there gods in Pangera? Scholarship in this area has been largely suppressed since the Church of the Path rose to predominance, their inquisitors have been most active in their pursuit of those willing to explore this scholastic line of inquiry. Despite their efforts though the centuries there has been a small but industrious cadre of truth-seekers who are keen to bring the light of wisdom to our own history.

Records do indeed suggest that there were numerous religions in the time before the Descent, when the system changed our very understanding of the world. In many lands and across many races there was a wide variety of ways in which people practiced faith based organisations. Whether those divinities were real or imagined is hard to determine now since only a smattering of writings from that time remain and no doubt these religious organisations where shattered during the Cataclysm and then purged by the surging Church of the Path.

There have been curious reports from those who have pressed deep into the World Below that they have at times felt the presence of an otherworldly spirit, a powerful feeling of reverence. Other writings which the church attempted to suppress have been unearthed detailing the experiences of those who claim to have actually met divine beings within the Dungeon, come face to face with them, even spoken to them.

Whether such tales can be taken seriously or not is difficult to say, at depths such as these where the mana saturation is at suffocating levels the mind has been known to play tricks. It can also be speculated that such creatures may well have been highly intelligent and powerful monsters. Though some would argue there is little difference between a supremely powerful monster and a god, that way lies the true heresy. Those mortals who fell into the worship of the beasts who ravaged this world during the Rending were exorcised from society at its conclusion and their monster worship most likely ended with them.

"The banned writings of Jivani the faithless" from the secret library of the Path

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Throughout the marshes and on the humps of land that rise up out of the murky waters there are Croca-Beasts at various stages of evolution almost everywhere, including a number of varieties I haven't seen before. Some of them are freakin' massive, hulking brutes of creatures that look like they seriously mean business.

eyes on this expanse. Holy moly! I feel like something has a knife at my neck, except that I don't have a neck! I can't see

will emerge and head immediately deeper into the expanse. The Crocs don't attack them, curiously the plants don't seem to either. It's as if this entire ecosystem of monsters is being suppressed by something, not obeying their own monstrous instincts to hunt and fight in the endless pursuit of prey. It can only be whatever is creating this oppressive aura. I personally don't feel any desire to rush into the expanse and high five the beast creating this pressure, quite the

and then sent out in huge packs to brutalise the surface and other creatures? For what purpose? For

if I were a giant Crocodile monster, centuries old and filled with an endless hunger

….

I mean…. Eat?

do better than this! Think! Think like

…..

Grrrr… GRAHHH!

…..

know what a stupid Croc thinks like?! I never had pet reptiles dammit! Let's just go with the mindless massacre scenario, they are sending out waves of murderous monsters

There.

the colony to exploit. If I can connect up the shortcut to this area then it'll be a relatively short trip for the workers to take advantage of the resources here. Only problem being that some huge murderous beast is sitting in there

that we can do in the meantime without rushing