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My alternates tend to take over the world. Advice available. Rates negotiable.
Shell Bell puts up her sign and nibbles her most recent charity meal. Not potatoes! It is not potatoes. Or fish or clams. It is rice and curry and a fruity yogurt drink. That nice person told Bar she could use his tab for four meals, and this is meal number two.
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she_sells_seashells
seewhathappens
"A god who can't maintain enough power to live will starve to death. I usually run at a vast surplus compared to that amount. I've been spending much more freely than usual, but nowhere near enough to make me concerned about starving. I'd still rather wait until my surplus is at the usual level before I do things that might have unknown consequences."
she_sells_seashells
"And do it right before a holiday. Maybe the anniversary of when you came up, next year."
seewhathappens
Time continues to pass.
The Panem priesthood becomes steadily more organized and stable. Temporary temples are replaced by permanent ones, appropriately decorated. Kirovalin begins to make administrative appointments: mayors for the towns, governors for the districts. He does not select a governor for Panem as a whole.
Industries recover, some more quickly than others. Food is abundant. Soon the only thing Kirovalin is regularly bringing in from Lianem is maple sugar. People begin to ask priests for blessings, and Kirovalin grants them.
They get used to calling him 'the Emperor' when they don't want his direct attention; they get used to calling him 'Kirovalin' when they do. He translates and adapts the laws of his empire and makes them known. A few daring individuals test his willingness to be criticized; he answers them thoughtfully and without violence.
Three months after his arrival, he finishes creating a preliminary batch of local manifestations. Some of them begin to travel the continent - wearing acolyte pendants, to start getting people used to those - and distribute disease immunities to citizens.
One of them heads for District Thirteen. Alone. He decided not to risk any mortal lives on this expedition, just in case.
The Panem priesthood becomes steadily more organized and stable. Temporary temples are replaced by permanent ones, appropriately decorated. Kirovalin begins to make administrative appointments: mayors for the towns, governors for the districts. He does not select a governor for Panem as a whole.
Industries recover, some more quickly than others. Food is abundant. Soon the only thing Kirovalin is regularly bringing in from Lianem is maple sugar. People begin to ask priests for blessings, and Kirovalin grants them.
They get used to calling him 'the Emperor' when they don't want his direct attention; they get used to calling him 'Kirovalin' when they do. He translates and adapts the laws of his empire and makes them known. A few daring individuals test his willingness to be criticized; he answers them thoughtfully and without violence.
Three months after his arrival, he finishes creating a preliminary batch of local manifestations. Some of them begin to travel the continent - wearing acolyte pendants, to start getting people used to those - and distribute disease immunities to citizens.
One of them heads for District Thirteen. Alone. He decided not to risk any mortal lives on this expedition, just in case.
Eventually, if he waits long enough, Tulip - again - comes up and over to say: "...Hi."
seewhathappens
"Hello," he says. "I'd like to make a diplomatic visit to District Thirteen."
"And you are?"
seewhathappens
He switches to the omnilingual voice.
"Kirovalin, god-Emperor of Liafnifair." (Irahali, Kirova, Lianu, Elianesket, Amvara, Ashalir, Kirovara, Acsaira, Irathak, Arliasne, Ipraselei, Niaverel... an empire with many names, apparently.)
"Kirovalin, god-Emperor of Liafnifair." (Irahali, Kirova, Lianu, Elianesket, Amvara, Ashalir, Kirovara, Acsaira, Irathak, Arliasne, Ipraselei, Niaverel... an empire with many names, apparently.)
"...If you'll wait here I can go ask President Coin to make room in her schedule."
Tulip scurries away.
She comes back twenty minutes later. "I have to ask you not to wander off by yourself away from me, use any unauthorized magical or divine influence or power, or linger if asked to leave. Is that all right?"
She comes back twenty minutes later. "I have to ask you not to wander off by yourself away from me, use any unauthorized magical or divine influence or power, or linger if asked to leave. Is that all right?"
"...Okay." She gulps, and then motions for him to follow and turns around to lead him to a door in the ground that leads to a ladder.
seewhathappens
He follows. He does not overtly use any magical or divine influence or power.
Down the ladder they go, and then there are a couple flights of stairs, and then there's an elevator, and then there's a long hallway, and then there start being people.
The people ignore them except for some brief curious glances at the unfamiliar face and his weird outfit. They have schedules printed on their arms and are all bustling hither and thither to obey them.
Tulip leads him to an office with a secretary, and introduces him to the secretary, and then they are ushered past into another office with a severe-looking woman whose door says PRESIDENT COIN.
The people ignore them except for some brief curious glances at the unfamiliar face and his weird outfit. They have schedules printed on their arms and are all bustling hither and thither to obey them.
Tulip leads him to an office with a secretary, and introduces him to the secretary, and then they are ushered past into another office with a severe-looking woman whose door says PRESIDENT COIN.
"Hello," says President Coin. "What brings you here today?"
seewhathappens
"Investigating opportunities to help your citizens," he says. "On my home planet I don't customarily bless foreigners, but I do establish embassies where, among other things, my acolytes and manifestations can distribute disease immunities to anyone who asks."
"And how does that work?"
seewhathappens
"I have the divine power to share immunities with a touch. When I touch someone, I collect copies of all the immunities they possess, and they gain all the immunities I have already collected. It's a very useful ability to have."
"That sounds harmless, but we have no way to guarantee your sincerity or check your track record with other nations on your original planet."
seewhathappens
"That's true," he says. "Ultimately the only sources of information you have about me are my word, and observation of my empire from the outside, since you have so far declined to send a delegation of your own."
"We're considering it, but we've been practicing isolationism for the better part of a century and are not prepared to adjust instantly."