A different, deeper masculine sourceless voice.

"I am Korrado, the landscape-superbeing of the volcano forge, with my ambassador Rendon."

The acolytes bow deeply when their names are called.

"We greet you, ambassadors of the country of Voa."

All nine of these people definitely have names and they're all going to introduce themselves with those names because it's not even slightly hard for people to produce their own names that they've had their whole lives on demand even if there are nine of them. The one who is going to do most of the talking says her name is Berandi. "We are delighted to meet you," she says. "This is the first time any Amentan has had the privilege of meeting an alien of any kind. Welcome to Voa."

"It is the same for Us. I regret that the circumstances of our meeting were accidental rather than planned.

Normally, we would send our ambassadors to speak with countries in the case We wished to claim territory that they have already occupied. The circumstances of Our arrival were such that our ambassadors would not live for very long if We did not intervene to change the landscape. There was no one nearby, and no one to help them, and so We had assumed that the land was unclaimed by any mundane governments or landscape-superbeings.

Given that the country of Voa was not able to consider and accept this, it would be reasonable to ask Us to leave. This is possible – We are capable of reverting the land to its original state. Do you wish for Us to do so?"

"We are for the time being willing to host you and your ambassadors in this area," Berandi assures them. "We are glad that they weren't harmed by the cold. Would they like to try the food we brought now?"

"Yes, please."

Damianos will translate.

They have many minimally mixed foods - plain baked potatoes and apples and dried fish and boiled eggs and milk and canned beans and roasted chicken and nuts and blueberries.

Wonderful!

Sadly, she is going to refrain from eating it.

The both of them will examine all of the foods – it is going to take a third of an hour – but only Rendon will put things in his mouth and swallow, because it's Feliya that has the healing powers. If Rendon gets sick, she can fix him, but the reverse cannot happen. Damianos could instantiate an avatar, but they'd rather save Him the expense.

Despite Feliya not eating anything, she will take some of each food and bring them into the cave, then return.

That way, Damianos can try experimenting with the apples, nuts, and blueberries.

No immediate negative effects. That's good.

"Thank you for the food. My intuition is that Amentan food is compatible with us, but I will monitor myself for effects."

The apples and blueberries might grow but the nuts have been cooked.

Tragic! He's not prioritizing growing them, though He will if Rendon reacts badly to any of the food.

Meanwhile, the diplomats are here to talk to the landscape-superbeings. What kinds of things do landscape-superbeings want to have going on in their landscapes?

"It depends. Different landscape-superbeings have different values. For myself, I value beauty and abundance, and so would wish that any people who come to live in My territory value these things, and use the gifts of the earth that I have bestowed upon them to make themselves rich and happy, and build wonderful and glorious things. I care very much about art and architecture and artisanry.

Korrado cares about power and technology, and so would wish that any people who come to live in His territory value these things. He cares very much about engineering, invention, manufacturing, and weaponsmithing.

I would be very pleased to have Amentans who value the same things to live in my land, and so would Korrado. We are closely allied, and treat each Other's land as though it were Our own."

"So - it would delight you to have the area of the poles you've terraformed settled with cities devoted particularly to industries germane to those things?"

"Not exactly. I will now go on a tangent because you have little context on landscape-superbeings.

Landscape-superbeings do not eat, or excrete waste. Rather, We are sustained by attention – sapient entities thinking about Us. More specifically, [worship/prayer] directed-attention-or-praise-with-respect-to-particular-values and [offering] giving-of-items-with-respect-to-particular-values are the most nourishing. Basic attention is only minorly nourishing.

My values are beauty and abundance, and so I am sustained by people considering Me and My actions and My land with respect to these values. For example: an immigrant farmer is overjoyed at the bountiful harvest He has in My land, because I keep the weather calm and the soil fertile, and help with the harvest. He focuses his attention on the fact that I produced conditions conducive to this. This is values-directed-attention.

Another example: a mother gives birth to a baby that has a hideous facial deformity. She takes the baby to one of my [avatars] organic-manifestations, and I heal the baby of the deformity and leave it beautiful and adorable. She is very grateful and commissions a sculpture – this being something that I like, and this being something that advances the cause of beauty – and offers it up to Me. She gives me an item that is significant to her, and which relates to my values. This is values-significant-giving.

My ambassadors may demonstrate either if it would be helpful to you."

"- I think it would be extremely easy for you to arrange to get a great deal of attention in these forms with the powers you possess."

"That is good! Although terraforming is the central thing landscape-superbeings can do, We can also do other things, such as the aforementioned healing. Not all landscape-superbeings have that specific ability, however. For example, Korrado does not have it."

He wants to get a better idea of what Amenta wants from them. How to approach that obliquely...

"Child mortality is a big problem in My world, and I have set up various policies in My original territory to reduce it, such as having mothers about to give birth be near to one of My organic-manifestations to resolve issues with the mother or the baby in the perinatal period. Other landscape-superbeings do not do this, because they do not rule over the the people in their territory. Korrado and Myself do, however. We prefer a high-touch interaction strategy."

"So you would want settlements within your landscape to be - independently governed, not part of Voa? - Child mortality is very low in modern Amenta, only one in a thousand births ends in death before the child's first year, but many people would appreciate being cosmetically improved or to have agreeable weather."

"I am amazed that it is so low, and I commend Amenta for this achievement.

Yes, Korrado and Myself – you may consider us to be a single political entity because of our close alliance – greatly prefer to govern our own settlements, because We provide many services relevant to governing which are difficult for non-landscape-superbeings to do. However, We would want to have many advisors available, because this is our first time governing Amentans. Given that this land is part of Voa, I will most likely use Voan law and customs as a starting framework.

I am willing to discuss terms to formally purchase this land, and perhaps more polar land in future, from Voa."

"We'll need some time to figure out an appropriate price, as the value of polar land - and probably also lunar land and tropical land - is likely to skyrocket based on your presence and powers, most particularly if you're able to season the place as was earlier suggested."

"This is very upsetting to Me. Given that I am planning to improve the value of the land by terraforming it, and perhaps also seasoning it, I ought to be able to capture this value. I will only pay for the original price of the land before Our arrival. If the price is any higher, We will revert the land and leave to find another country with better prices."