Shrine-Keeper Pt 4: Turn 1 (Patreon)

Your new home had seen better days, you noted. A four story pagoda located at the end of the village, outward going on the Tusk, the furthest mortal-made building on the titanic ivory, its rice-paper walls had all sorts of tears, and the ferroplastic panels that formed its roof were cracked and, in places, outright missing.

Walking along the cobbled passway, you shivered as you passed under the TekTorii Gate that led to the building. It was a strange sensation, one that you had never wholly gotten used to: by passing through the structure, you had symbolically agreed to adhere to the rules of the Shrine, causing a strange tingling in your soul as order found itself (lightly) imposed on you, your spirit and form increasing in synchronization.

Most daemons didn’t notice, not until it was too late, and even many devils didn’t realize that these gates, created by a .ARC, a vast post-mortal god-computer, did more than just serve as decoration. It was only your familiarity with ShrineTek that made you aware, and even then you weren’t entirely sure about the method by which the TekTorii’s accomplished this feat beyond it being some advanced form of techno-sorcery.

Surrounding the path was a field of grass with flowers lined with two rows of stone lanterns on either side of the cobbles, each lantern connected via a length of braided rope that had begun to fray. Off to the left, you noted a boxy, rectangular building. You could smell the scent of Oracle Stone: the Litheochamber, you presumed. The lack of an accompanying scent meant it was probably unoiled: very not good. To the right were a series of buildings, likely the lesser shrines and other locations of importance, such as the dance hall and sacred ritual pool. You were going to assume they were also more or less in not superb condition.

“I’m noticing a pattern,” You dryly noted, causing Yaji’s ears to fold against their head in embarrassment.

“S-sorry master, it’s been a rough few months,” The Tekket said, apologizing for the state of the shrine, mouth curled in dissatisfaction, presumably with their own efforts. “Every since Master Kajyyn, er…had his fall,” The Tekket explained awkwardly, trying to figure out how to phrase ‘accidentally dived off the tusk and turned themselves into a flatcake’ in a professional manner, “I’m the only one whose been taking care of the place,” He finished.

“Mmm, it is a bit much for one person,” You agreed as the pair of you began ascending the pagoda steps: especially a person who was ultimately mostly untrained, you noted more privately. Major community shrines really needed a minimum of at least three talented keepers to function smoothly. Luckily for Yaji, you were worth at least seven.

Once you had ascended, Yaji would walk to the door to the shrine, pulling the sliding door open, allowing you to see the main shrines. The circular chamber held 12 individual TekShrines, creating a ring of sorts, a fairly common pattern with most major shrines. Upon each was some item symbolic of the spirits: on one, a flowering branch covered in pink blossoms. On another, a mirror formed from pure polished silver. A third yet contained an ancient blade, a long staff ending in an edged, bronze sword, long since having rusted to the point of being useless as a weapon. And so forth.

All hovering above the Shrine: anchors for the spirits and proxies used to give them offerings, even ones that lacked a physical presence to make offerings to, such as the Parliaments, spirits that consisted of living waveforms (generally) as opposed to the more solid state of matter most Vita occupied or the warp-plasm that formed the body of chaos-kin.

In the center was the Master Control Shrine for Pavva-Ganuk and, more crucially, the entirety of Gajaliath’s Back as a region: an onyx colored monolith covered in calligraphic runes, sigils of the Functionary and invocations thereof. On it floated a ring of biometal: one that glowed with a strange blue light, shaped like a ram-horned snake devouring its own tail.

“That’s Magg,” Yaji explained. Ah. The Guardian, or at least it’s body. Without the Keeper who Enshrined it and the supplications and rituals drying up, it likely returned to dormancy, not having enough power to maintain their manifestations. You noted with mild displeasure it’s Shrine lacked a WarpTek portal: most likely when the old master had died, the Central Bureaucracy had removed it, assuming the place had ever possessed one to begin with.

“A metal elemental, I presume?” You asked, raising an eyebrow. That explained why the Bureaucracy had assigned you, you supposed.

“Er, no, not really. Serpent spirit would probably describe them better,” Yaji noted, before giving a yawn. Hmm. Well, it wasn’t quite as in your wheelhouse, but still manageable. At any rate, you quietly noted that either Yaji was running on very little sleep or had narcolepsy. Either way, it might be time to wrap this up so he didn’t pass out on you.

You gave a theatrical yawn of your own: sleep was purely optional for you, but best provide an easy excuse. “Well, I’m rather tired. Why don’t you show me to the sleeping quarters, Yari?” You asked, causing Yaji to nod.

“S-second floor, hold on.” He clapped his hands, and from the ceiling descended a series of panels, hovering in the air and creating a staircase of sorts. The pair of you walked up, reaching the next story, a hallway of sorts dividing a series of paper-walled rooms. “Yours is at the end of the hall-way,” He explained. “U-unless you want a different one, I mean-” The apprentice stammered. “The third door on the right and second door on the left are b-both empty, they’re just not particularly large and I assumed you would prefer the master bedroom-”

“Excellent!” You chirped, cutting the nervous apprentice off: no sense in letting them catastrophize. “Well then, I shall retire for the evening: considering those bags under your eyes, you might do the same,” You said pointedly, causing Yaji to give a dry swallow, before the Tekket bowed.

“Yes master. Good night master.” Yaji said, before turning and retreating down the corridor a bit, to their own room. Giving a satisfied grin, you opened the door to your new quarters, taking a deep breath as you stepped within, taking in the ambiance. Sure, right now it was fairly sparse: just a bed roll, a few dressers, a mirror on the wall, and a small holo-terminal in the corner. But soon it would be a home worthy of a person of your stature.

…Now you just needed to figure out what the devil you were going to do for the next eight hours while Yaji slept. Most likely, another late night spent watching television.

Alright, welcome to turn 1 of Shrine Keeper Simulator. We’ve gone over your duties already: keep the peace, sustain the spirits, train Yaji, and enrich the village. You have 5 AP per turn to spend, plus an additional AP for Yaji. Each turn lasts a week, and you CAN double up on actions if you think it’s something that’ll require more time or effort. I want a plan format for this.

Please note that you don’t want to turtle. Like seriously, I cannot stress this enough: if you spend all your time working on the shrine without exploring, making contacts with the other inhabitants of the region, and actually finding problems to solve, you will get a bad evaluation once the ten turns are up.

Most likely accompanied by a lot of people dying because you missed a problem in the region until it finally went critical.

Good luck!

SUGGESTED ACTION LIST

[ ] Familiarize Yourself with the Shrine: So far you had only seen the main shrine. It might do to familiarize yourself with the rest of its facilities, including locating the resident motive spirit as well as learning the names of all major spirits that called it home.

[ ] Reconsecrate the Grounds: The grounds could probably use a reconsecration now that a new Keeper had arrived: the ritual should improve the general health of the spirits in its area of effect.

[ ] Awaken Magg: The serpent spirit needed to be re-awoken if it was to fulfill its duties as Guardian, most likely through music and sustained offerings.

[ ] Repair Central Pagoda: The amicability of a spirit was heavily influenced by the quality of its surroundings. With the central pagoda in disrepair, it stood to reason they’d be less than pleased.

[ ] Construct Dark Portal: Really, no portal? This wasn’t the 4200’s any more: you’d have to spend some time constructing it, but there was no excuse for your shrine to not have one installed.

[ ] Order Bulk Cursite: You had a colleague on Naklis who worked in cursite processing. They could, if you wish, send you large amounts of cursite, purified or unpurified, for whatever purpose you might have.

-[ ] Specify: Purified or Raw Cursite. Former option will result in a slightly smaller delivery due to relative scarceness.

[ ] Train: A teachers work was never done. You could either tutor Yaji or else pursue self-improvement of your own.

-[ ] Specify skill and intended recipient: note that possessing a tutor with high ranks in a skill as well as high Education and Mind stats improves the result.

[ ] Explore Location: Gajaliath had numerous locations of interest: the Village of Pavva-Ganuk, Cauldron Lake, Djerd. Each with its own spirits and shrines, all likely requiring tending.

-[ ] Specify location. I’m not gonna draw up an entire list: if you’ve seen it in text, you can visit.

[ ] Check on the Shrine-Herd: Ergh, you didn’t look forward to this. Herdbeasts couldn’t stand devilkind, and unfortunately handling animals was one skill you had never mastered because of this.

[ ] Write In