Yup. They are certainly at the bottom of a mountain. A snowy one.

Not, if you're familiar with distinguishing mountains from one another, the same one.

Ugh. She has a splitting headache. She stands back up and shakes the snow off of her, and takes a few moments to bodyscan.

The headache does seem to be the only thing wrong with her. Praise Korrado. She places her hand on her temple and uses Damianos's power to heal herself. Indirectly. His power transforms touched entities to their ideals of beauty, and Feliya very much thinks that not being in pain and having no head injuries is very beautiful. It works!

She offers the same to Rendon.

He will accept. He looks restless.

"We're not in Korrado's domain anymore."

"What do you mean."

"What I said. Korrado has said as much." He gestures to the glass vial of holy rock, tied to a long steel cord around his neck.

"Um."

She'll hold up her own vial of holy earth.

"Are we really not in Korrado's domain anymore?"

"We are not. We don't seem to be in any other gods' domains either."

Okay. So they're not hallucinating.

They're not going to go down immediately. They're on a mountain, which means they'll have a good view of the surroundings. They'll try to move around the mountain, maintaining the same altitude, and try to see if they can find civilization or different biomes – a sharp discontinuity in biome is a sure sign of a divine territory border.

There are no sharp discontinuities unless you count that big frozen lake over there.

That does count as a sharp discontinuity! There used to be a lake god near Damianos's territory, before He and Korrado killed Him and took it over.

They will start walking towards it. They are used to walking for hours at a time, and Korrado has granted them both blessings for constitution and resistance to the mountain elements, which includes cold.

That's good, because it is cold, and also this will require walking for hours. And hours. It's a big lake and was visible from pretty far away.

They're tired by the end of it. When they reach the lake, Rendon will poke the ice with his walking stick to verify that it can hold a person, and then step over the threshold.

"No deity here."

Feliya sighs.

"No deity here either. And we must have walked...ten, fifteen miles? No terrain discontinuities. And no signs of civilization anywhere. Do you think we should claim territory?"

"I am not opposed."

"It seems like a good idea. You need to eat and drink, after all.

I can still feel the other parts of myself, but they're very far away. Unfathomably far away. I can barely feel them."

That reminds her of the fact that she is famished from all the walking.

She will resist the urge to rest and eat – another helpful blessing of Korrado's is resolve – and the two of them will turn around and go back to the base of the mountains. Walk walk walk.

There they will uncap their vials. Rendon will pour holy rock on the mountains, and Feliya, standing several meters away, will pour holy earth on the flat ground.

Korrado and Damianos will immediately start claiming territory.

Korrado has an easier time of it, the mountains already being, well, mountains. His domain is alpine volcano, and He just has to melt the inside of it. There is now a puddle of hot lava near the area the holy rock was poured.

It's a lot harder for Damianos, His domain being subtropical grassland. He doesn't have the energy to change the climate – which He realizes is polar – and grow plants and melt permafrost and various other tasks, at least, not yet. The both of Them will try to occupy an area several miles in diameter at first, and then consider what to do later.

He'll transition the area into tundra before trying to alter the temperature more.

Feliya will utter a quick prayer before taking out her pack and grabbing the food because she is STARVING. She didn't bring all that much food, but it should be enough for a day. Maybe two. She has nut cookies, salted peanuts, candy, and beef jerky.

After they finish eating, they will immediately go and pray again, continuously, trying to focus all their attention on Korrado and Damianos so that they can get more energy and attention with which to claim territory.

It's a lot easier to pray continuously with perfect focus when you know that if you don't, it's possible that your gods won't have enough resources to grow fruits and vegetables with which to feed you.

The two of Them have each claimed territory a mile in diameter now. Does anyone come to greet them?

Nope. There might be somebody on the way, but no one here yet.

So this place really is unclaimed. And uninhabited. Not that surprising in retrospect – the conditions are uninhabitable. In that case, they should think of the long term.

The two gods will change tack, and Korrado will start surrounding Damianos's newly claimed territory, aiming to surround it on all side by tall mountains to keep heat in, but forming rivers that outflow from the lake to prevent it from becoming a salt lake. He'll have Damianos raise His plains to be a somewhat higher than the surroundings to do that, but They can do that later. Korrado will focus on mountain formation for now, with Damianos on temperature regulation.

Their plan is to have something bordered on all sides by mountains, save for river outflows, with a humid subtropical climate – very similar to the Earth region of Srinagar, Kashmir. They probably won't have the energy to prevent the temperature from below freezing temperature during winter, which will sadden Damianos, but it will be much, much more hospitable than the original environment.

Near the lava, it's warm enough that it would no longer be unwise to sleep without protection. They're going to eat a little bit more of the food, and then brush away the remaining snow and lie down.

It's very uncomfortable, but they're very tired, so they fall asleep quickly, even though the sun is still in the sky. They might be far enough north or south that the sun doesn't set in winter. They don't even get disturbed by the volcanic eruptions happening near them, though part of that is the knowledge that Korrado and Damianos have control over Theirdomains – they do not fear stray chunks of lava hitting them.

Korrado will have his volcanoes erupt, to help with warming and making the mountain chain – He's trying to work with the existing mountain and make a slightly curved line – and also to render the soils of the valley more fertile.

Damianos works to keep the heat in, and also try and grow plants in the little patches. It doesn't work very well, because the other parts of Him are Very Far Away and He can't transport plants from His already existing territory to here the way He normally would. Instead, He digs down and gathers ancient seeds buried in the permafrost and tries to grow them.

He has no idea whether it will work. Or whether they'll produce fruits and vegetables that are edible. He hopes so.

Their aim is to enclose a roughly circular area about seventy thousand square miles in size, about the size of Oklahoma or Florida, though at the current rate it would take several years to achieve. They're splitting Their attention between preparing for the long term, while making sure that Their acolytes have the resources to Not Die.

The acolytes will not get much sleep. After the landscape starts changing it's only a couple of hours before airplanes are coming through.

"PEOPLE ARE COMING PEOPLE ARE COMING"

He has no idea what the flying thing is!!!

The moment the first airplane starts passing through Korrado's new volcanoes (or at this stage, lava-y hills), the rate of landscape change will slow almost to a halt. The two gods will redirect their attention towards tracking the airplanes and readying themselves to protect their acolytes.

What is it now...

He looks up. Ah.

Feliya startles awake and brushes snow off her cloak, picking up her walking stick.

What do the airplanes do?

They fly overhead in a coordinated pattern, and then they... turn around and leave, actually.

Okay...

"Are You close enough to reach them? Or are they too high?"

"I can do it if I stretch. Do you think it's a good idea?"

"They're looking at us. I think we should look at them. We'll pray and get You more energy."

"Very well."

Gods can sense everything in their territory. What they're gated on is attention. The airplane does count, since it's flying low enough.

What is inside the airplanes?

Feliya and Rendon will do another round of fervent praying. Probably they should give offerings too, but that may not be the best idea right now.

Inside each airplane is two people with hair in various shades of grey. They're not human, though they're close.

"Confirm visual description, over."

"Visual is of volcanic activity yielding excess mountains, elevated lake, unexpected rivers, and tentatively two persons on the ground. Over."

Huh. They have grey hair but none of them look old. Also, they have fearsome technology. He wants it.

Korrado will relay what they say to the acolytes.

"Welp, they've spotted us. I'm thinking about whether or not we should pre-empt contact. My intuition is that it's not divinely occupied but it's mundanely occupied."

"I agree. They don't seem to be actively hostile. Contacting them now lets us set the conversation on our own terms. But it might also startle them, especially if You are going to be speaking to them while they're inside their own vessel."

"I will continue monitoring them, but will not initiate contact. Meanwhile, the two of you should hide."

Korrado will shift the terrain to make a small, shallow cave for them to hide in. Really he should have done this earlier – it also provides them shelter. Oh well. At least now they will not be visible from the air.

The greys in the planes note the terrain shift.

The planes go away. More planes show up.

What are they talking about? Are they merely observing the terrain, or are they planning on doing something?

This one is going to drop a parachuter in a lavaless area.

He will alert the acolytes and Continue Observing.

The parachuter discards the parachute and starts tromping around, looking at things and pointing devices at them.

"We should figure out strategy. Both martial and diplomatic."

"We should. Alright. Here's what we know.

They are very technologically advanced. This place is divinely unclaimed but might be mundanely claimed. Korrado has said He didn't get any sort of god influence or trail from them. No blessings from other gods on any of them.

They might be one of those peoples that choose to live in godforsaken territories.

They're not...trying to contact the gods doing this. When it's very obviously gods doing this. That's informative but I don't know what of."

"Are the flying machines made of metal?"

"Yes."

"That's something, at least. Although I can't get them from this high up.

Martially...there's only the two of us. And we don't have any supplies. Even if we could fend them off, it's not sustainable, for us or for Them. If we needed shelter we could have Korrado make the cave deeper and close the entrance, and ventilate the bubble manually. But again, that's not sustainable."

"The question now is whether or not pre-empting communications would go better for us or not. Or, since they're godless, whether or not we should...pretend we aren't acolytes. Maybe they're against gods? Did it seem like they were?"

"They did not talk about gods at all."

"I don't know how to think about that. I don't know how to model that. Please tell us if anything else changes."

"I will."

The one on the ground isn't saying anything, just taking pictures and readings.

"Do you think having one of us go over and talk to them would be better, or having the gods talk?"

"If they're some sort of dystheist cult I would expect the former."

"You're right. How far away is the person right now?"

They're not specifically gunning for the cave and have actually gotten a little farther from it over time. Presently it's about a hundred yards.

Okay. They are going to pre-empt contact. Feliya and Rendon will tidy themselves up, to the extent that one can tidy themselves up in these conditions, and refill their vials with holy earth and holy rock. They are not going to reattach their vials to their necklaces, and instead keep them in the inside pockets of the cloaks. Rendon will make sure that his fur cloak hides his plate armor – he has metallokinesis, so the armor can sit very close to the skin, since it doesn't need to be donnable or doffable.

They will get directions and walk towards the person until they're about...fifty yards away. Damianos has made sure that there is no wind.

Do they react or notice?

Both Rendon and Feliya are wearing matching thick fur cloaks with hoods turned up, plus similarly thick and wide boots. Feliya has her hair tied up in a bun, and Rendon's is very short. Their hair won't be visible unless they put their hoods down.

Feliya is carrying a long walking stick – almost as tall as her – made of varnished wood with a steel end-piece in the shape of a sphere. Rendon has the same, except the main material is steel and the end-piece is wood, though they are of the same shape. They are otherwise unarmed.

Yep, they notice basically as soon as they come out from the cave. They take a picture of them. Several shots, actually, and a short video. They stop looking around at other things.

Feliya can see that they're...doing something with something and sort of pointing it at them. She has no idea what it is or what it's doing.

Normally, she would ask Damianos to do translation for her, but if their hypothesis is correct and they're anti-gods, then this would be Bad. She's not going to call out in Damiani, but she's going to start calling out "Hello" in several different languages spoken near Korrado and Damianos's original domains.

The person waves with a big arm gesture and says a few words that (if you're a god) are also hello in several different languages.

Their gods are still able to whisper to them translations, even though they're in pockets.

None of those "Hello"s are in any languages she knows. Alright. She'll ask Damianos to speak for her, and hope that hearing god-speech doesn't end up with the person attacking them.

This is Damianos's domain, which means he can speak in it! There will now be sourceless, distance-indeterminate speech spoken with a soft, masculine voice.

"Hello."

The voice is speaking in Voan and Tapap and Biyani and Middle Likanan and Oahkar and Anitami all at once. And many other languages besides. Despite this, it remains perfectly comprehensible.

The person is extremely startled. Fiddles with her device. "Base, recording audio now, over."

"Confirmed, over."

"I am Damianos, [god] super-large-distributed_intelligence-sapient-landscape_entity of the bountiful plains."

None of the Amentan languages have any word for 'god', so the translation will come out that way.

"Hello, Damianos. The planet you are on here is called Amenta."

"I see. I have come from very far away, very far away from Amenta. I arrived here unintentionally. We had thought that this area was unclaimed. Is it claimed?"

His accent is as if you took all of the casted accents and statistically averaged them to create the Most Average and Indistinguishable Amentan Accent. 

"This area is federal Voan land. It belongs to the country of Voa."

Ah. So it is indeed mundanely claimed.

"Does the territory of the country of Voa intersect with the territories of any other super-large-distributed_intelligence-sapient-landscape_entities?"

"No. There are not other landscape-superbeings on Amenta."

Wow. Okay. No gods on Amenta at all...that should have been obvious. He should have been tracking the nuances of his godspeech more – He does give out both felicity and language learning as blessings. How embarrassing.

"Please wait while I confer with my ally and [acolyte] ideologically-aligned-and-empowered-ambassador."

"Of course."

She's going to keep taking pictures though.

They continue to have no idea what she is doing.

Well then. How to approach this. She cannot even begin to model a world without gods...what does that look like. They can rule out them being dystheists.

If they have no idea what gods are, then the landscape suddenly changing is probably very distressing? They have flying machines but that doesn't mean they have machines that can move the earth the way gods can. Feliya will suggest Damianos explain that.

"In My world, there are landscape-superbeings, such as Myself. All such beings are attached to specific terrain types, such that any territory They claim is changed so. My terrain is subtropical plains. My ally Korrado's domain is alpine volcano. With His help, We are capable of transforming this frozen land.

Will this upset the country of Voa? If Our presence is undesired, We will revert the land to its original state and leave you in peace."

"I'm... not a diplomat. Would you like to talk to a diplomat? Will they be safe here? Is it safe to land a vehicle here?"

"We wish to speak to a person that has executive power in Voa. We guarantee that our ambassadors will not attack the Voan delegation or cause them to be harmed, and guarantee that the landscape will not suddenly shift in a way which so harms them. We do not guarantee their safety from attack from third parties, but We will tell you if We detect any third parties enter this area.

We are currently unable to warm the area sufficiently such that the delegation will be able to stay without insulating clothing. However, We will ensure that no other terrain hazards touch them.

We do not know what conditions your vehicles need to land. We may or may not be able to prepare terrain suitable for landing depending on the conditions."

"A large flat space, and a pass through the mountains would help."

"We will prepare a large flat space and create a mountain pass. Approximately how long will it take for the delegation to arrive?"

"The pass would ideally be to the south. They can be here in a few hours. Do landscape-superbeings sleep?"

He takes a moment to examine the geography. It seems like they can do a pass to the south-southeast.

"We will make a pass to the south-southeast of here. A few hours will work. No, We do not.

My ambassadors will need food soon. We are willing to trade for food – We have gold."

"How many ambassadors?"

Ugh. He realizes belatedly that He should have just asked to do short-term trade more generally – stating their needs too frankly exposes your BATNA and reduces bargaining power. Sigh. He has too little attention to go around right now.

"Two. My ambassador is Feliya," Feliya will bow, "and the ambassador of Korrado is Rendon," and now Rendon will bow.

"We have a very close alliance and you may treat Us as being a single political entity."

"The diplomatic team can bring food; we don't need any gold. Are you sure that Feliya and Rendon can eat Amentan food?"

He supposes that says something about their likelihood of operating in good faith.

"I am not. Please bring a variety of foodstuffs in both cooked and raw forms, preferably unmixed."

Hopefully they bring seeds so that he's spared from having to dig through the permafrost and find long buried and frozen seeds to grow.

Hm. He realizes that if they must have the ability to communicate over long distances even without gods – otherwise, how is the scout supposed to tell the others things without going back? But how? What is the mechanism of action?

Asking about that at this stage doesn't seem productive. He'll keep it in mind, though.

"How does your translation magic work?"

"Landscape-superbeings understand and speak [godspeech] landscape-superbeing-language. Landscape-superbeing-language relies on the intention to communicate. However, non-landscape-superbeings cannot understand landscape-superbeing-language, which causes them to hear it in their own languages instead. Likewise, landscape-superbeings can understand all non-landscape-superbeing languages because They receive what they are intending to communicate – not just the physical mundane speech."

"Wow - does that work on writing?"

The snow between the acolytes and her will suddenly have a big "Yes" written on it, in Voan script, angled to be facing her.

"Whoa!" She takes a picture of that too.

"I believe that the conversation between the diplomats and us will go more productively if you know more about our world, and We know more about Amenta. Do you wish to mutually exchange information? I propose we ask questions of each other in turns, with the unlimited ability to refuse and have a different question."

"Sure - I'm mostly here because I know how to parachute and take photographs, I wasn't expecting to be able to talk to you, but sure."

Damianos will permit the acolytes to ask questions if they want to, but He'll still be the one speaking.

"How are you capable of communicating with people very far away?"

"We have devices that use light-like waves to send and capture information."

Light-like waves...He's so fascinated! Sadly diplomacy must come before science. Korrado is Very Sad.

"Fascinating." It would be a reasonable to assume that Their original world doesn't have any analog to that, from the question, but He's still not going to explicitly say that.

"You may now ask a question of Us."

"What brings you to Amenta?"

"We do not know. Our acolytes were descending a mountain, when they fell. When they awoke, they were here. I and Korrado were brought here because all of our ambassadors and [priests] lesser-ambassadors carry pieces of Us with them everywhere they go. This enables us to always be in contact with them." 

It seems really awkward to say that but He's pretty sure it's not strategically relevant. And saying something awkward might endear Them to them, He thinks.

In the distance, Korrado is busy creating the mountain pass. He's going to have one of the rivers snake through it. It's rather slow going though. They're already burning through a lot of reserves. It may not be done in time for the Voan delegation, though the scout did say that it was preferred but not mandatory. The more important part will be creating the flat area, which is Damianos's job.

He'll keep his attention on the border and still the winds if any aircraft approach from the south. They will experience remarkably little turbulence and near-perfect flying conditions.

"Has anything like this happened to anyone you know of before? - oh, sorry, it's your turn."

Yep, he will refrain from answering that until later!

"The country of Voa claims this territory, but no one is living in this territory. Why claim it if no Voans will live in it?"

"It's too far north to have seasons. Amentans like seasons. But it can still be useful for stuff that shouldn't be near populated areas."

Huh, that's interesting. From his experience, lots of people dislike winter. And it gives a clue as to whether or not they would want them to leave.

"Nothing like the situation I described before has ever happened, at least, not to any of my ambassadors or lesser-ambassadors, who I keep track of. It is possible that this has happened to one of the people living in My original territory, but I would not have noticed, given that they would not be carrying any pieces of Me.

Suppose I cause this area to become temperate. Would Amentans then want to live here?"

"- well, temperate doesn't mean seasoned."

"By temperate, I mean a yearly cycle where there is a period with a long day and a short night and warm weather, and a period with a short day and a long night and cold weather, with conditions moving gradually between the two. In my original territory, I have it such that the cold period is not cold enough to freeze water, however, here, it is too close to the poles for me to do that, and the cold period would be cold enough to freeze water."

"...maybe it would work, if you can make the days and nights different lengths? How would you do that?"

"I cannot change the lengths of the days and nights. Is it important to Amentans that days and nights have a specific length?"

"That's what seasons are. I mean, they also do the temperature thing, but staying indoors all the time and warming it up or cooling it off in there doesn't work."

"If it's light, can't you block the sun?"

"No, that doesn't work either."

"Would it work if I induced stormy or overcast weather during the peak of summer, and induced bright aurorae and clear weather – so as not to obstruct the moons – during the peak of winter, thus causing the variation in light and dark periods to be less? 

Or, no, I can actually have Korrado induce temporally and spatially localized sulfuric acid clouds, as from a volcanic eruption, during summer, so as to block the sun. Will that work?"

"I... don't know? We could try it? It's really nice of you to offer."

"I am the landscape-superbeing of abundance and beauty. I wish for My followers to live in wealth, and experience the bounty and fullness of the earth.

Aside from seasons, what preferences do Amentans have for the environments in which they live?"

"Uh, we like... safe orderly stable societies?"

...that is not what He was trying to ask about, but He supposes He should have qualified 'environment' with 'physical and ecological'.

"I see. It is now your turn to ask a question."

"How many landscape-superbeings are there?"

"I don't know. My estimate is between fifty and two hundred.

How big is Voa, in land area?"

"About one million square miles. Do you have a way to communicate with the planet you came from?"

That is big.

"No.

How many Amentans live in Voa?"

"Almost a billion. What things are you and the biopeople going to need besides food?"

Wow. That's almost a thousand people per square mile. And it must be higher in the livable areas, since Voa has polar land that no Amentans live on.

"Just food.

How are you able to maintain that population density?" 

"Most of us live in tall tower cities. Oh, uh," she reaches under her hat to adjust an earpiece, "they want me to ask if there's any preferences for kinds of diplomats, they don't know what's significant in your culture."

Ah! Korrado was very proud when His followers were able to use metal to construct taller buildings. They must have ones even taller.

"We wish for diplomats who are knowledgeable about Amentan biology, as well as geography and ecology, or bring guides that can advise on these topics. The diplomats may be of any sex or age. They must be capable of withstanding, or render themselves capable of withstanding, the current cold weather. The diplomats must be literate and numerate, or bring guides that can advise on these topics.

Do you have preferences on how our ambassadors ought to present themselves?"

"They'll all have coats like mine, they'll be okay... almost everybody on Amenta is literate and numerate. Um, they say they will be happy to meet your ambassadors as they are."

That's wonderful! It speaks well of Amenta that everyone is literate and numerate.

"That is good.

What do Amentans eat?"

"Uh, lots of things, we eat plants and animals and mushrooms and eggs and dairy and... what things aren't those... honey, and... salt..."

Very similar to humans, then!

He realizes belatedly that this person may not be informed or prepared to go infodump about their world, and He kind of put her on the spot.

"I wish to prepare for the arrival of the ambassadors now. You have not asked a question yet, but how long will it be until they arrive? Approximately how many ambassadors will there be?"

"They say... three blues and six greens."

Damianos has to process the concepts of 'blue' and 'green'. He can get the intent and nuances off of them, but fitting them into His ontology takes time.

"I will prepare for nine people.

I do not require the time estimate to be precise."

"They think about five hours, to get everyone on the chopper and send it here."

"I see. Do you have other questions for me?

If you wish to sit, I can create a seat for you."

"That would be awesome, let me set this up for video..." She adjusts her camera. "I want to know so many things but it's hard to know how to ask them. I'm just a photographer who knows how to parachute. There aren't very many of those so they couldn't be very picky otherwise."

That does confirm His suspicion that asking too many questions of the person might distress them, because they're unprepared to be questioned. Still, He doesn't regret it, because the answers that she gives would be less prepared. That makes them informative.

"Landscape-superbeings are capable of detecting what people are intending to communicate. This is what makes Them panlingual. Even if you use many clumsy words, I will understand."

He was originally going to just make a stool, but he is Being Recorded. Well, He was being recorded this whole time, but it's More So now. In a way. He is totally going to spend an inordinate amount of attention into creating the chair.

He will create a stone chair with a full backrest and armrests, with vinelike carvings on the whole of it. It will slowly, over the course of a few minutes, rise out of the ground, displacing the earth in its path. The loose soil will then subtly reintegrate itself into the surrounding soil to flatten it out again. It's not padded, but the bottom and the backrest will be slightly contoured to fit the thighs and lower back. He has calibrated the height and width of the chair to fit her exactly.

"Is this chair suitable?"

"Wow that's a really nice chair, I feel so fancy - Oh, you know what I wanna know - I wanna know if you'd work on a moon, can we bring you to a moon? Or Katme?"

"Yes, and yes. If you bring a piece of Me on any land, I can terraform it. However, I have never tried to occupy any other planet save My original one and this one, and this may limit what I can do, even if I occupy the whole of it.

You have talked about blues and greens. What caste are you?"

"Green! They thought about sending a grey but somebody was like, let's at least try to get be-Chandian, and I was available."

Grey...it sounds very much like Korrado.

"I will dispense with the question turn-taking if you are amenable." It's not like the two of them were following it all that strictly anyway.

"Yeah, I'm sure the diplomats'll be more specific about what they wanna know."

"Is your name be-Chandian?

What other castes are there? Grey is soldiering and guarding. Which caste does artisanry? Which caste does farming?"

"That's purple. And there's yellows, and oranges."

"How much variation is there on Amenta with regards to caste structure?"

"Oh, countries differ about some stuff, but I don't know much about that."

"You implied that it is uncommon to find photographers that are also parachutists. Is parachuting casted work? Is the work you are doing currently in-caste for you?"

"Skydiving isn't really a job - skydiving instructor is but not just doing it for fun - but it's not a super common hobby and they needed someone with a lot of experience who could be sure not to land in the lava. Photography's green though!"

"I see. My ally, Korrado is busy preparing the mountains for the arrival of the diplomats. I will be doing the same, but here. Please do not enter the marked area as I will be modifying it to be flat and free of obstacles. During this time I will be focusing too much of My attention for Me to be able to talk to you, but if you say My name I will hear you."

Damianos will mark a square about a kilometer in length by cutting a line in the snow.

"- okay." She'll just record this eventuality, shall she.

She totally can! Damianos is now no longer focusing on showing off and will just do the thing that has the best savings in energy and attention, not focusing on speed.

The snow and rocks are removed from the square, starting from the center out, as though being pushed away by an invisible snowplow. That takes two hours. In the next hour, the cleared away snow and rock outside the square is smoothed out into the surrounding soil, and the part inside is also smoothed out, making it perfectly flat. 

In the last two hours, he will create an oval table, with two chairs on one side and nine on the other, in the same style as the one He did for the photographer, the whole setup placed between the cave and the square. On the outside of all four sides of the square, he will write "LAND HERE" in large Voan script.

The acolytes are going to Go to Sleep for the next five hours until they're woken up by the Korrado alarm when the planes fly over the mountains.

Korrado will have finished creating the mountain pass, but won't finish having the river pass through it, so the redirected river will just...abruptly stop some distance away from the pass. 

Wow. What the shit. Where is the water going.

Anyway. The plane and its escort jets land.

Rendon and Feliya will be alerted by the plane passing over the mountains, and will eat a little, pray, and get themselves ready for the diplomats. They will stand in the area between one edge of the landing zone and the table and chair that has been set up near the cave.

"Should we change our hair color to blue."

"...why?"

"Blue is the governance and diplomacy caste. Damianos says that they tell caste based on hair color."

"If it correctly signals our role, then I don't see why not. Though...we're from very far away, not even from the same planet, so I don't think they're expecting us to signal in ways that would fit neatly into their ontology."

"True. But it would be a friendly gesture, I think. Do you think they would interpret it that way?"

"If you want to change your hair color to blue because you think it's pretty, then go do that. I think...it would give away that we have minor shapeshifting. Or have access to quick acting blue hair dye on short notice. I suppose that isn't like, the biggest of things to give away. I think they would at least not treat it as a hostile or aggressive action."

"If I change my hair color will you match me."

"...yes, for a future favor. I should note that it's not like they can see our hair anyway, we're wearing cloaks with our hoods up."

"Deal! And no, they can still see actually, Damianos says it comes through even through their eyebrows and eyelashes. The person we were talking to had green eyebrows."

"Huh. So, is it innate, do you think? Castes, I mean. Are they hereditary? Can you swap castes?"

"I don't know. Anyway, I can see them flying above now, so blue hair and eyebrows here we go."

Feliya will activate Damianos's power and think about how it would be really beautiful for her to have lustrous, sky blue hair, the color of morning sky. She will also touch Rendon's face – that being the only skin on him that is exposed – so that he can have the power too.

Rendon will pick a saturated #0000FF blue.

Damianos will oblige!

Alright. What do the diplomats look like? What do they do?

The diplomats have blue hair (cornflower, navy, and bright peacock) and are followed by green adjuncts (spruce, pistachio, pear, emerald, olive, and hunter). The escort jets land farther away and greys emerge from them to stand guard. The photographer trots over to the plane the diplomats came in while they stride toward the provided table, smiling.

She is so envious that they get to have all these hair colors while people back on...they really need a name for their world...mostly have black. She's very happy that Damianos can change her hair color for her.

Rendon is a little put off by the smiling but he knows that's a thing other cultures do. He is not used to "smiling to signal friendliness".

Damianos tells Feliya that He will take point in negotiations, but she can speak up if she notices something. Rendon and Korrado will ready themselves in the case diplomacy turns to not diplomacy.

"I am Damianos, the landscape-superbeing of the bountiful plains, with my ambassador Feliya."

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."

"That's an understandable response and I'll make sure the economists know."

"We lack Amentan currency and cannot pay in it. However, we are willing to make commitments or sell landscape-superbeing services. I am not sure what Amentans, or Voans in particular, would find most valuable and so be most worth it for us to trade with."

"Ironically, one of the scarcest things in our society is in fact land. You might want to do something like auction the promise of parcels of terraformed land before buying the unimproved land from Voa. What services do you specialize in apart from those mentioned?"

"It is unlikely for Me to do this. In Our original territory, We have structured our taxation system such that We only have land taxes. Landscape-superbeings can assess the value of land more accurately than any mundane surveyor can. We do not have a system of land ownership so much as a system of land tenantship.

If land is scarce, then I may charge Amentan immigrants money to be able to live here, or accept a certain number of Voan immigrants in exchange for the land. My two ambassadors are the only people from my original territory that I have with me – all other people who live here must be Amentan.

I perform many services for My original territory, but many of them are unsellable, such as prevention of government corruption, or are largely irrelevant outside My territories, such as waste management.

It is possible that I can do land reclamation to increase land area in already seasoned areas, but this will require me to occupy territory that is not polar. 

Landscape-superbeings can confer [blessings] permanent-enhancements to people. All landscape-superbeings can offer six: I offer felicity, grace, ease of learning languages, ease of growing plants, and having plants be friendly to you. Korrado offers resistance to the mountain elements, productive impulse, constitution, resolve, needing less sleep, and improved bodily intuition. I can talk in more detail about any of them if they interest you. Our two ambassadors have all twelve. You may talk to them if you want to hear from someone that is embodied and not a landscape-superbeing.

My touch of beauty power can cause people to become their physical beauty ideal. This includes deaging, regeneration of lost limbs and organs, resolution of chronic or genetic illness, and sex change. In My original territory, I permitted citizens to access this power for free – but with scheduling – but auctioned timeslots to access this power to noncitizens."

"I'm curious how you handle waste management, what plants being "friendly" involves, and what 'productive impulse" means. The touch of beauty would net you a lot of money, though how quickly depends on how long it takes."

"It used to be that the Korrado's and My shared city's sewers discharged into the river it was built around, and this was the river that they also drew water from. This was a very bad system and caused a lot of disease outbreaks. We fixed it by organizing the construction of an aqueduct that drew water from upstream – the city was built at the base of Korrado's volcanoes – and by having the people place human and inorganic waste into select locations. The latter we implemented for all settlements in Our territory.

At regular intervals, We transport said waste into the middle of Korrado's volcanoes, whereupon it is incinerated. Landscape-superbeings are capable of teleporting nonsentient things within their domain, though not costlessly.

The friendly plants blessing means that you can walk through brambles without risking getting cut, that plants with stinging or irritating parts shift or move those parts away from you, that trees shade you with their leaves when you pass under them, that leaves and branches not whip against your face when you are walking through jungle, that edible fruits and vegetables make themselves more prominent to you, and poisonous ones less so. Those are examples of the effects of the blessing. I predict greys, purples, and certain greens would be most able to make use of this blessing.

The productive impulse is also called executive function. Broadly speaking, the blessing improves one's ability to do tasks, by improving one's ability to suppress distraction, bodily impulses and instincts, remember instructions and tasks, and also improving working memory and conscientiousness. I predict yellows and blues would be most able to make use of this blessing.

Sadly, I had to give up speed in order to gain scope. Whereas some other landscape-superbeings have powers that work instantly, mine does not. Removing a mole would take several seconds, whereas restoring a whole lost arm will take several hours. The greater the change that must be wrought, the longer it will take."

"Those powers are also likely to be very popular! Is the prolonged change parallelizable?"

"Yes. The power is touch-range. Multiple people can touch one of my organic-manifestations. They will be healed slower, but the total time it takes to heal all of them will be less than if they were treated sequentially rather than simultaneously. In My original territory, there is special furniture and frames constructed around my organic-manifestations so that people can remain in contact with them for prolonged periods. With the simultaneous touch paradigm, some people may need to be in contact for a whole day."

Yes, Damianos considers ugliness a disease that ought to be healed.

"Is interrupting the contact dangerous?"

"Typically not, though there are exceptions. For example, in regenerating a lost arm, interrupting contact would simply mean that only part of the arm is regenerated and not the whole of it, and it may not be functional. However, if someone has a disease or syndrome that affects the whole body, interrupting contact may be lethal."

"It sounds like it could still be very valuable managed appropriately. You have a lot to offer even if the land can't be seasoned. Are you willing to host test subjects who may or may not want to permanently emigrate and give up Voan citizenship in the even that we work out how to transfer territorial control?"

"Yes. I propose the following terms, on behalf of Myself and Korrado."

This agreement will stay in force for (five years) one Amentan year and one season, with renegotiation possible at any time with the consent of both parties, or termination possible at any time unilaterally.

During the period in which this agreement is in force...

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1. On the treatment of Voans in the New Territory...

1.1 Voa may have up to 27,139 Voan citizens live in the New Territory. These Voan citizens may be of any caste. Voa may choose which Voan citizens are permitted to go and live in the New Territory at its discretion.

    1.1.1 If any Voans living in the New Territory have children, these children will be counted towards the number.

1.2 Voan citizens living in the New Territory will not be barred from leaving the New Territory and returning to Voa. Voa may order any specific Voan citizen to leave the New Territory and return to Voa at any time.

1.3 The landscape-superbeings will have the option to veto any specific Voan from living in the New Territory at Their discretion, and to order any specific Voan to return to Voa at any time.

1.4 The Voans living in the New Territory do not need to give up Voan citizenship. The landscape-superbeings will not offer New Territory citizenship to any Amentan in the New Territory.

1.5 The Voans living in the New Territory will continue to be subject to Voan law. Voa may prosecute any Voans living in the New Territory in the same manner it would in Voa.

1.6 The landscape-superbeings will have the option to set tax policy in the New Territory at their discretion, which any Voans living in the New Territory will be subject to. Nonpayment will result in deportation to Voa.

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2. On the treatment of non-Voan Amentans in the New Territory...

2.1 The landscape-superbeings will not allow any non-Voans to live in the New Territory except with the agreement of Voa. Any such non-Voans given permission to do so will not count towards the maximum number of Voans permitted to live in the New Territory.

    2.1.2 A person is considered to be living in the New Territory if they stay for more than 30 consecutive days in a visit, or if they stay for more than 90 days total in a calendar season.

    2.1.3 The landscape-superbeings may allow visits by non-Voans freely for tourism, business, science, and diplomacy, so long as said visits do not cause them to meet the definition of living in the New Territory. Voa cannot bar the landscape-superbeings from granting this permission unless they are a citizen of a country that Voa is at war with. Voa may present evidence that a person ought to be barred for entry due to history of criminality or ill intent, but the landscape-superbeings will have the final say.

    2.1.4 During visits, non-Voan Amentans may engage in paid work freely under laws identical to the ones that Voans living in the New Territory are subject to.

    2.1.5 Any persons who go to or remain in the New Territory without permission will be deported.

2.3 Any non-Voans visiting the New Territory will be subject to Voan law, and may be prosecuted by Voa according to its laws. Voa is responsible for negotiating with the countries of citizenship of any non-Voans they choose to prosecute.

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3. On the treatment of the ambassadors of the landscape-superbeings, Feliya of Damianos and Rendon of Korrado, as well as Their organic-manifestations...

3.1 The ambassadors of the landscape-superbeings and Their organic-manifestations will have diplomatic immunity, and not be subject to Voan law. If Voa takes issue with the ambassadors or Their organic-manifestations, they must take this issue to the landscape-superbeings directly.

3.2 The ambassadors of the landscape-superbeings and Their organic-manifestations will be considered casteless and be permitted to engage in any form of paid work legal in Voa.

3.3 Voa must take responsibility for any Voans that harm, or attempt to harm, the ambassadors of the landscape-superbeings or Their organic-manifestations.

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4. On the foreign policy of the New Territory...

4.1 The landscape-superbeings and their ambassadors or organic-manifestations will not be prevented from opening communications with any Amentan countries, or citizens thereof, except those that Voa is at war with.

4.2 The landscape-superbeings will only make treaties with Amentan countries other than Voa with the permission of Voa if said treaty concerns the New Territory or Voa directly. Example: Another Amentan country wishes to have its people be permitted to immigrate to the New Territory and wishes to sign an immigration treaty.

    4.2.1 However, the landscape-superbeings will be permitted to make any treaty with any Amentan country Voa is not at war with without the permission of Voa if said treaty does not concern the New Territory or Voa directly. Example: Another Amentan country wishes to have the landscape-superbeings claim territory in its borders so that the land can be terraformed.

4.3 The landscape-superbeings will not claim territory, whether mundanely or with landscape-superbeing powers, outside of the New Territory, except for when They have been given explicit permission to do so by the owner of that territory.

4.4 The landscape-superbeings and Their ambassadors or organic-manifestations will not attack or declare war on any Amentans or Amentan countries, whether mundanely or with landscape-superbeings powers, except in the course of legal proceedings against actions any Amentans do in the New Territory.

4.5 In the event that the New Territory or the ambassadors of the landscape-superbeings or Their organic-manifestations are attacked, or if any Amentan country declares war on the New Territory, Voa will protect and negotiate for the New Territory or the ambassadors of the landscape-superbeings or Their organic-manifestations as though they were any other part of Voa or any other Voan citizen.

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5. On the selling of services and goods by the landscape-superbeings, their ambassadors, or organic-manifestations...

5.1 The landscape-superbeings and their ambassadors or organic-manifestations will not be prevented from selling any of their services or goods to any Amentan countries, or citizens thereof, except those Voa is at war with.

5.2 These services or goods include, but are not limited to:

    5.2.1 Claiming of land owned by a country such that it can be terraformed or seasoned.

    5.2.2 Damianos and His ambassador's touch-of-beauty power.

    5.2.3 Korrado and His ambassador's metallokinesis power, and any such artifacts that may be produced using it.

    5.2.4 Bestowal of permanent-enhancements.

    5.2.5 Language translation and interpretation.

    5.2.6 Media, art, and technological knowledge from the original world of the landscape-superbeings.

5.3 The landscape-superbeings and their ambassadors or organic-manifestations may set prices for their services and goods at their discretion.

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6. On the potential purchase of the New Territory by the landscape-superbeings from Voa...

6.1 The landscape-superbeings will receive the option to purchase the land from Voa at the latest price available before They arrived, with this option being available to be exercised at any time.

    6.1.1 The price of the land shall be the latest price available from before the landscape-superbeings arrived.

    6.1.2 The landscape-superbeings and Voa may agree to an alternate payment method not involving money with the consent of both parties.

    6.1.3 If this option is exercised, the New Territory shall become its own independent state, wholly separate from Voa.

    6.1.4 Any Voans living in the New Territory will have the option to receive New Territory citizenship and renounce their Voan citizenship, or keep their Voan citizenship and return to Voa. Any such Voans that choose to become New Territory citizens will no longer be subject to Voan law and will instead be subject to New Territory law.

        6.1.4.1 Voans living in the New Territory will have one month to decide, starting from the exercise of the option.

            6.1.4.1.1 During this time, Voa may no longer send any Voans to live in the New Territory.

            6.1.4.1.2 Voans living in the New Territory who choose to receive New Territory citizenship will lose their Voan citizenship and gain New Territory citizenship on the deadline. They will be subject to New Territory law at the passing of the deadline.

            6.1.4.1.3 Voans living in the New Territory who choose to retain their Voan citizenship will have until the deadline to settle their affairs and return to Voa, or be deported to Voa after the deadline has passed.

            6.1.4.1.4 Any Voans living in the New Territory who fail to make their choice before the deadline will be considered to have chosen to retain their Voan citizenship and will be deported to Voa.

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7. On the unilateral termination of this treaty...

7.1 Either party may decide to unilaterally terminate this treaty. The terminating party must give notice to the other party.

    7.1.1 A party shall be considered to have been given notice if the terminating party has given written communication to an ambassador of the other party. Said ambassador must have been present during the signing of this treaty.

    7.1.1 If this option is exercised, both parties must complete the following actions. 

        7.1.1.1 Starting from the notice being given, Voa will have one month to cause all of the Voans living in the New Territory to return to Voa. The landscape-superbeings will not impede this evacuation or cause the landscape to significantly shift in such a way that makes it harder for this evacuation to occur.

        7.1.1.2 Upon the return of all Voans living in the New Territory back to Voa, the landscape-superbeings will have one month to revert the land to its original state from before They arrived, and remove their claim over the New Territory.

        7.1.1.3 The Voans living in the New Territory must take all of their valuable possessions with them. During the process of reverting the land to its original state, all structures and items still in the New Territory will be demolished or destroyed.

---

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He chose 27,139, because that was the population of the combined territories of Damianos and Korrado tallied in the recent census.

These words will be written on thin stone slabs that will suddenly appear on the table – nine copies for the nine Voan diplomats present.

They look them over, and take photos of them all. "This is overall very reasonable. Is reverting the land necessary for removing the claim? Can there be some reasonable limits on diplomatic immunity - we're not going to make a fuss about misfiled paperwork, but there are some things we're answerable internationally for managing. You'd probably also need to become signatory to the same treaties for our neighbors to accept your presence as a new country."

"When we remove Our claim, the land will stay the same. That is to say, the lakes, rivers, mountains and plains will stay. However, the climate requires active management and requires that We have a claim to it. It takes energy to do this, and once We leave it, the climate will go back to being a polar climate quickly – my estimate is on the order of several months.

What are the things you are answerable internationally for managing? Preferably, I would have them be explicitly written into the treaty. Also, I would want to have ambassadors from other Amentan countries come here to testify to the things you are answerable for, as well as be witnesses if we do sign the treaty.

Thank you for telling me. I will keep that in mind, although I will not write that into the treaty, as the treaty only concerns Voa and Us. We will give notice to and sign treaties with the other Amentan countries if or when that becomes necessary."

"We're committed to maintaining international standards on population management, pollution containment, war crimes, and border control. I think selling land to a new political entity that wouldn't inherit those commitments and hasn't made them separately would itself violate our commitments."

"Please furnish Me with the standards for these things."

They can certainly do that. They have to allow observers from other countries to check up on them; they have to have these measures in place to deal with breaches if they occur due to rogue actors; they have to make efforts yea stringent to prevent people from escaping into their neighboring countries without a visa and accept back any expats who are discovered to have left illegitimately...

This is so upsetting!! People do not have free exit rights. He supposes if literally every habitable part of Amenta is claimed then you can't really have that. It is So Sad.

And nongreys can't fight or be in the military!!

"Why are nongreys forbidden from being in the military? Is it possible for nongreys to become grey?"

"It's impossible, and it's important to prevent escalation of warfare to encompass civilian castes."

Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.

What if We have all our people be greys and occupy the whole of Amenta? Can we do that?

Do We have to do that? Can we like, not? Anyway doing that at this stage would be a very bad idea.

I know, I didn't mean it seriously. I'm surprised you're not more upset about art being limited to one caste.

I am!! But like, it would not be productive to express this emotion. We don't have to do everything immediately.

Fine.

Korrado will not reply to the blue's answer.

"The pollution containment standards talk about red Amentans. What are reds?"

He has a pretty good idea of what reds actually are, from receiving the intended communication behind that word, but He wants to hear it in their words.

"They're a small caste devoted to handling pollution."

"Are reds upsetting to Amentans? Would Amentans prefer to live in a country without reds in it?"

"Well, of course, but at our present level of technology they're necessary."

"Landscape-superbeings have the capacity to teleport anything within Our territories to anywhere within Our territories, which is how We can do waste management. We are also capable of teleporting dead bodies as they are no longer sentient. This obviates two functions of reds.

Korrado's power permits the manipulation and reshaping of metal at a distance. If plumbing in Amenta is constructed with metal, then it is possible for His ambassadors and organic-manifestations to repair plumbing without needing to be in contact with it. This would obviate another function of reds."

"That would be great! Though we might want to hear from some experts on pollution to be sure that this wouldn't cause you to become polluted."

"We would like to hear from them too. My intuition is that We cannot.

Our ambassadors and organic-manifestations definitely can, given that they have bodies and can touch things. However, We Ourselves do not have bodies, and do not touch things physically when we move them.

This may be a good time for us to take a recess, so that you can look over the treaty terms more thoroughly, and for us to read the standards more thoroughly, and also for you to coordinate having other countries send ambassadors to Us to confirm the standards, and potentially witness the treaty signing, as well as to allow time for the pollution experts to come here to consult.

It is pleasing to Me to have My followers and those who reside in and visit My land to live in comfort and pleasure, and it seems that it would be very pleasing to Amentans to live in a pure and incorrupt land, untouched by pollution."

Isn't pollution a social construct.

Yes, but that doesn't make it not real. It's like...gender.

Must we care? Can we select the Voans who don't care about pollution?

I think all Voans care about pollution. Or 'all' for most intents and purposes. Also I think it would cause every country to go to war with us.

Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

I'm trying! I'm very sure that if we do finally buy the land off of Voa, we'll be in a much, much better spot to implement changes. Both for you and myself. I also hate the fact that not everyone can make money off of art!!

I appreciate that you are taking on the whole burden of diplomacy because thinking about it makes me want to sink this whole land into lava.

You're welcome.

"So landscape-superbeings aren't literally the physical land itself? That's good to know. I agree we should recess and confer."

"So We can be, but mostly not. If someone, now, took some soil from this place and brought it back to Voa, it would just be regular soil. 

However, I can choose to put a piece of Myself in this soil. Said soil will become (holy earth) embodied-earth. If one took this soil and brought it back to Voa, it would permit Me to communicate with them as though they were in my territory. If this soil was then poured onto Voan soil, it would permit Me to claim territory in it. The process of claiming territory discharges the embodied-earth, such that it would no longer contain a piece of Myself – the piece having expended itself to claim territory.

I only create embodied-earth when it is necessary. For example, when My ambassadors claimed this territory, they had to do this pouring – ambassadors of landscape-superbeings mark themselves so by carrying embodied-material with them in vials. Later, I created embodied-earth for them to refill their vials. I have not created embodied-earth since.

I would not want my embodied-earth to touch pollutants. However, it is less problematic for earth that simply happens to be in my territory to become polluted, because I can simply teleport it to be incinerated by lava.

In any case, it seems that it would be better to speak to experts about this. Do you have an estimate for how long it will take for the other countries' ambassadors and the pollution experts to arrive?"

It's not a lie, but only in the sense that gods can't represent the experience of creating holy earth and claiming territory accurately to mortals with mortal language.

"You'd prefer they arrive in person?"

"If your communications technology is sufficient to permit Us to communicate live with them here and now, then it is acceptable to talk remotely."

"It is! We noticed that your translation effect works fine over transmissions before. If remote will do, we can probably get some representatives of everyone you'd want to talk to pretty quickly. Where would you prefer to start? Even if you can have dozens of conversations at once we don't have that many devices with us, and conference calls may not scale well enough."

He's capable of having conversations simultaneously, but at His current state, it's a lot easier to only maintain one so that he can devote his whole attention to social modeling. It's not like He's talking to someone whose good faith He can already be assured of, like one of His priests.

"I would prefer to have conversations one at a time at this time. Given that we were already talking about pollution, and given that management of pollution is very important, I wish to talk to the pollution experts now."

They will send some emails to see who bites first.

In the meantime, Korrado will check in on His beloved acolyte. How's the food settling?

So far so good! He's very optimistic about the food.

Feliya is very glad because she is So Hungry and they only have a little of their own food left. If Rendon doesn't suffer any symptoms in the next several hours, then she will have some as well, since at that point, if it is poisonous, then it isn't a fast acting poison.

The diplomatic team has a theology researcher from the university of Shond on the line!

Wonderful. Has the theology researcher been given and read the transcript or recording of the conversation or should Damianos repeat what He has said?

"I've gotten a summary but not exact words."

In that case, Damianos will repeat, word-for-word, the relevant parts of the conversation regarding pollution and the mechanics of landscape-superbeings.

"I am interested in looking for a way that would allow Me and Korrado to replicate the function of reds using the powers available to Us without becoming polluted Ourselves."

"So you exert control over the landscapes, but do not identify with them? Losing part or all of the landscape you control wouldn't harm you?"

"It is complicated to say. I identify with the landscape in the sense that it would sadden me to give up territory that I have claimed. It is not harmful to Me to give it up in the same way that a non-landscape-superbeing would be harmed over losing a finger.

We are sustained by attention." He will give more word-for-word retellings of the conversation thus far relating to the relationship between gods and attention.

"It is difficult to explain accurately, because landscape-superbeings operate much differently from non-landscape-superbeings and so your languages lack many of the concepts that would be atomic to Us. However, I would describe the landscape more as...the area that we are able to reach. We can control things in our landscapes so that we can attract followers and garner the types of attention We desire. To give up land is to...refrain from going into a room, and thus no longer being able to affect things there. Or having one's arms and legs be bound and unable to move.

Landscape-superbeings require a minimum amount of attention to be able to survive, and to be forgotten means death. It is possible to create reserves – any wise landscape-superbeing does so – which can be drawn from in times where lots of action needs to be done, or to sustain one's self in a period where one receives less attention than is necessary to make the checkbook balance. Maintaining territory actually costs us energy, but typically the attention garnered by having the territory more than makes up for it.

To have no territory is a very precarious situation for a landscape-superbeing, but it is theoretically possible for one to survive indefinitely in this state if they have ambassadors and continue to have at least some people pay attention to them, and also take minimal actions to conserve energy."

"So would it be correct to think of your land as, not you, but the space in which you are free to move and act - which would also be problematic if it were polluted, except that you are mostly immaterial, apart from specific invested substances and bodies?"

"Yes, I would endorse this as accurate."

"Then I think it's correct that your land cannot become polluted in any way ordinary land cannot."

"In what ways can ordinary land be polluted, and in what ways can polluted ordinary land be cleaned? Would teleporting polluted soil, water, or objects in My territory into the inside of a volcano to be incinerated be sufficient to clean it?"

"Yes! Incineration is one of the simplest fully reliable ways of remediating pollution. It's very convenient that one of you is - volcanic."

"It is indeed very convenient."

"I am pleased to know that it is possible for Us to replicate the same scheme We have in Our original territory in Amenta.

The second thing We wish to talk to you about is the possibility of replacing red plumbers – Korrado's ambassadors and His organic-manifestations can manipulate and reshape metal at a distance. Would using this ability to repair metal sewage pipes cause the ambassador or organic-manifestation to become polluted, even though they do not touch the metal?

You mentioned that incineration can remediate pollution. Would melting metal that has become polluted clean it? Would heating it until it becomes red-hot – while not melting it – clean it?"

"Remotely manipulating the metal isn't a problem! Pollution is spread only by touch. And yes, metal heated to a sufficient temperature is thereafter clean."

"Thank you for your time. I would now like to speak to Berandi again."

And then, to her, "Is it possible to create a waste transport system composed entirely of metal? Ah, the caste that does construction is purple. While the maintenance of waste transport systems is red – is the construction of waste transport systems, before any waste has passed through them – purple?"

"That's purple, yes, and a civil engineer would certainly know more than me about whether an all-metal system is doable!"

"In that case, I would like to speak to a civil engineer. Or more precisely, Korrado will.

Given that there is lead time in communications, I would like to make opening gestures towards other countries now so that they are informed of Us and can give assurances that they will not oppose anything that we are doing here. Does this territory or Voa border any countries, and if so, which? I would like to contact them. Also, I would like to know which countries are global or regional powers so that they may be contacted as well."

"Voa has borders with many countries, most notably Tapa and Cene but also Tuviri, Ceredan, Antimeres, Senaet, Alavet, Ilyat, Celenta, and Av Valdin. We have fairly limited communications with Tuviri because they're extremely isolationist but they may well be interested enough in this to send someone. Voa and Tapa are the largest and most populous Amentan countries, followed by Tuviri, Cene, and Anitam in that order."

"Since it is possible for you to send audio, please transmit these messages to Tapa, Cene, Tuviri, Ceredan, Antimeres, Senaet, Alavet, Ilyat, Celenta, Av Valdin, and Anitam respectively. Starting now..."

I am Damianos, landscape-superbeing of the bountiful plains, speaking on behalf of Myself, and also that of my ally, Korrado, landscape-superbeing of the volcano forge. We greet you, country of Tapa.

Korrado and I arrived by accident on the polar territory of the country of Voa. We have the capacity to terraform land, and have begun to do so in said polar territory, and are now in talks with Voa to potentially create a polar colony governed by Us, among other things. We are sending this message to you to inform you of this, as well as to open communications with you so that We may talk with the representatives of your country directly.

Although we have landed on Voan territory, we also offer things which are location independent, such as the conferring of permanent-enhancements improving things such as, for example, constitution, grace, felicity, or ability to learn languages, as well as the healing of cosmetic defects, lost limbs and organs, and inborn diseases and syndromes, among other things.

We would be delighted to speak with you, and potentially trade with you. I, Damianos, care about prosperity and abundance, and wish for My followers to live in prosperity and abundance – it would please Us greatly to be able to share this with your country and its citizens.

Damianos will repeat the same message ten more times, swapping out the country but keeping everything else the same.

They just barely manage to catch the start of the message but they get it all down and can email it to the relevant ambassadors.

What else is on the agenda...population management.

"Amentan countries limit the number of children Amentans can have. Why is this so? Is it because of the shortage of livable land?"

"Yes. It'll help a lot if you turn out to be able to season the poles or the tropics, and it'll help much more than that if you can terraform Katme, but I don't think that would eliminate the need to have some population controls."

This is very upsetting – both the fact that the necessity of it exists, and the fact that it has to be enforced.

"The paper talked about several different population management schema. Which scheme does Voa practice, and why does it have that one?"

"Voa allows each couple two children, and awards third children to exceptional people. It's the practice we had before being conquered and we restored it when we regained our independence."

"How long do Amentans typically live, and how long do they remain fertile?"

"Forty and twenty years respectively."

That's a long time. He's lived longer than humans, but not as long as Amentans. He's young, for a god. Both Korrado and Himself are.

"In that case, given that I wish to permit Voans to be able to return to Voa at any time, it seems that it would be best to prohibit Voans living in the New Territory from having any children during the time the treaty is in force. Otherwise it is possible that a Voan couple may have two children in Voa, then come here and have another two children."

"...couldn't you just refer to Voan records to find out if they're allowed to have more children?"

Ah. That's true. He keeps forgetting that this is a society with instant long-distance communication and has state capacity. He's so used to countries that don't even do censuses.

"I can do this if Voa sends child information together with the settler applications."

"Of course!"

"Border control will be trivial for us. We are willing to have the usual systems of checkpoints, visa checks, and patrols on the border, for the sake of foreign observers, but We are able to sense anything in Our territories, provided We are paying attention, and We pay special attention to the border. In Our original territory, We only monitored people going in, but We can also monitor people going out with only a little additional cost. We are capable of sensing passage not just through land, but underground, on water, and through the air as well.

It is also trivial for me to commit not to use bioweapons or spread pollution as a military tactic, and would be fine with observers visiting to verify this.

I think that Our coming here was a freak occurrence and is not replicable. However, in the event that it actually is replicable, I should warn you that there exist landscape-superbeings that have rot and disease as their values and will attempt to spread these. They try to garner values-directed-attention and values-significant-giving by threatening to give diseases to people unless they give Them said attention or giving. In our original territory, We forbid giving values-directed-attention or values-significant-giving to such plague landscape-superbeings, with the penalty being capital punishment.

If any such plague landscape-superbeings instantiate on Amenta, We will commit to oppose Them and intervene against Their actions where We can."

"That sounds eminently reasonable! Can they be destroyed, or just weakened and confined?"

Well, given that He's a landscape-superbeing, He kind of doesn't want to say. He'll give a partial answer.

"Landscape-superbeings may only use their specific powers – such as My touch-of-beauty power or Korrado's metallokinesis, or a plague god's disease power – by empowering ambassadors or creating organic-manifestations, which are very costly. It is possible to kill said ambassadors or organic-manifestations, thus defanging the landscape-superbeing, or forcing them to expend lots of energy in empowering a new one or creating new organic-manifestations."

"Okay, that's good to know. The way to notice one appearing would just be noticing a change in terrain, like this one, right?"

"Yes, but it is not foolproof. Their ambassadors or organic-manfestations can leave Their territory and retain their powers, even if They Themselves cannot act outside Their territory. Further, if the natural biome matches the biome of the landscape-superbeing, the terrain will change only a little."

"Okay. We can propose to the international community that everyone be on the lookout for more landscape-superbeings in case some of them are evil."

"That sounds like a good idea. 

Is the engineer now available? If they are, Korrado would like to speak to them."

They get a civil engineer on the horn! He has curly lavender hair.

"I am Korrado, landscape-superbeing of the volcano forge. I greet you, engineer. I am interested in the possibility of creating an all-metal waste management system – metal being required, as I and My ambassadors and organic-manifestations have the power to manipulate and reshape metal at a distance."

"So, you can mostly make this work. Metal is more expensive than plastic and ceramic, but assuming that's not a problem, practically everything could be metal. That's a big 'assuming', though. Can you just make metal?"

"Yes, but it is very expensive for Me energetically. The more scalable option for me is to find ore and transport it to easily accessible locations to the surface, and turn it into higher grades of ore. Does Amenta have stainless steel? And if so, does it have mass manufacture of it?

I can provide heating trivially using volcanic heat, if you are able to fashion a system that makes use of it."

"We have stainless steel and mass manufacture, it's just pricier than plastic."

"Tell me more about plastic. We do not have this material in Our world.

My understanding is that Amentans value not having to live with reds enough that they would be willing to make a very large outlay of resources to cause this. Is my understanding correct? My understanding also is that Amentans value robust waste management enough that it would be a mistake to focus on minimizing cost overmuch."

He'll have Damianos figure out how to finance it if necessary.

"So, it's true that this would be incredibly valuable, but our current supply chain assumes certain frequently replaced parts will be plastic, and it's not obvious where the money would be coming from specifically even if in the abstract it'd be obviously worthwhile. Like, would this be Voan-government-funded? Are you going to buy the pipes? Are we getting grants from the Society for Hypersensitives and Allies? Is the project taking out a loan against future rents from people who want to live there? I can get you an estimate if you tell me how many people the system needs to serve, but the money still needs to come from somewhere."

Damianos will now start figuring out how to finance it.

"Our current proposal with Voa has us agreeing to host no more than 27,139 settlers. We would like to account for visitors as well, and want to account for being able to scale, so we want to have a system that can accommodate 35,000 people constructed with the possibility of future expansion. My understanding is that this is a small number of people by the standards of Amentan settlements.

Would you be able to give an order of magnitude estimation for the cost of the project? Please assume that construction costs are lower – We are capable of reshaping the land, which includes near-instant excavation, and Korrado can help with the moving of metal pipes."

"Oh, wow, okay, I thought you wanted, like, a lot of people. For a little town like that the cost differential won't be much on the scale of exciting projects anyone cares about at all. But that won't get you construction costs lower than standard, you're in the middle of nowhere and the workers will need to bring in absolutely everything they need that isn't specifically an earthmover. I guess you could do with fewer cranes if Korrado can also levitate girders into the air without knocking anybody off a scaffold?""