holy place

[she_sells_seashells]

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.

Comments

[seewhathappens]

"I've talked it over with my advisors, but I'm going to save the public announcements until I actually have the territory and know more about what the expanded empire will look like."

[she_sells_seashells]

"Makes sense." She sits on the sand. "Do you have lots of advisors? What do they know that you don't?"

[seewhathappens]

"It's not necessarily a matter of knowing things I don't. But there are people whose perspectives I value. Sometimes I explain a problem to them and they suggest solutions I hadn't thought of; sometimes they notice a problem before I do."

[she_sells_seashells]

"Makes sense. How many are there? Do they usually also have governmental/priesthood positions or not?"

[seewhathappens]

"Some of them are also my acolytes, because making someone an acolyte requires a certain degree of trust, and if I don't trust my advisors they usually don't stay my advisors for very long. Governors and priests are usually too busy to do very much advising, but I do consult governors on matters relating to their provinces, and priests are often very helpful to talk to. Right now I have twelve full-time advisors and three acolytes who kept their advisory badges."

[she_sells_seashells]

Nod nod. "How many acolytes do you have altogether?"

[seewhathappens]

"Currently? Sixty-two. It takes a lot to keep my domain covered and still have plenty to do embassy rotations. I've been thinking of doubling my number of bird manifestations to cover the gaps if my population keeps increasing; I'll probably have to use mostly bird manifestations to distribute immunities in your world at first, until I find good acolyte candidates."

[she_sells_seashells]

"People might not want to trust unusual birds. They seem a little too similar to mutts."

[seewhathappens]

"I can use human manifestations too, but the birds travel more easily. I suppose that's less of a problem in your world... I also find it's convenient to separate the purposes of each form in the eyes of the public. People are encouraged to come up to my bird manifestations and touch them unless I specifically say not to; not so for the human ones."

[she_sells_seashells]

"If you leave the trains intact or get ahold of a plane, your human forms will be able to get around pretty well. You could maybe wear different things depending on whether you're willing to be interrupted? Since you can move objects around. You could potentially get people to trust the birds but it'd be uphill."

[seewhathappens]

"I intend to get people to trust the birds, but in the meantime human manifestations will do."

[she_sells_seashells]

"If you get rid of all the preexisting mutts that would probably help. Especially tracker-jackers, those give me the shivers just thinking about them."

[seewhathappens]

"I expect to do that."

[she_sells_seashells]

"Good. How fast are you spreading out?"

[seewhathappens]

"Right now I'm still heading down to a reasonable depth. About a mile below sea level seems like it should do. I should start spreading out from there within the next few days. I'll get faster as I cover more ground."

[she_sells_seashells]

"You spread out from the edges?"

[seewhathappens]

"Yes."

[she_sells_seashells]

"This is a peninsula, so if you can spread faster from some places instead of just a constant rate from everywhere you'll probably get more out of going along the coast until you're in a less watery area."

[seewhathappens]

"I can't gain extra speed in one place by slowing down in others, so I might as well go as fast as I can everywhere."

[she_sells_seashells]

"Okay. I wonder how krakens ought to be handled, since you're a land-based god. I assume the Capitol has some way to control and recall or kill them but it might not survive the takeover."

[seewhathappens]

"I'll think about it. If nothing else, after the takeover when everything's settled and I have more surplus power to spend, I can take the very wasteful route and claim several miles of ocean floor around the continent, then raise an island under any kraken I see. But I would prefer a more elegant solution."

[she_sells_seashells]

"Yeah. Maybe with high-tech Capitol-type boats we could just harpoon them all."

[seewhathappens]

"We'll see."

[she_sells_seashells]

She flops on her back into the sand. "Do you think you'll be ready in time for the reaping in a month and a half?"

[seewhathappens]

"I don't think so, unfortunately."