Updated 02/16/2017
From the Notes of Creele
(Monastic Exoteric, Second in Command of the North American Branch)
In the interest of my own sanity I have decided to compile a list (which will be ever-changing I imagine) of Jereth's Authorities and their myriad effects. Thus far his main Authorities have been derived from Deities comprising the Triglav, while even more unprecedented is that he has been given more than 1 Authority from both Veles and Perun, although Svarog only imparted one Authority. Thus far Jereth has acquired 9 Authorities.
From the God Veles:
World Tree Usurper: Based off of the legend when Veles offered a grieving widow passage with his flocks in order to heal, angering Perun, this Authority summons any trees, birds or amphibians nearby to attack Jereth's enemy. While the trees can be controlled according to his will, he cannot create them from nothing and must use the available flora to be effective.
This Authority cannot be activated unless someone other than himself is attacked and injured, additionally he must consider the attacked person to be an ally, friend or innocent bystander.
Incantation: "Lonely Widow wishing for release cry no more, the Earth will grant you passage and protection for you're journey, whether threat from God or Man be made apparent. World Tree Usurper!"
Serpent's Skin: Veles was considered to be a shapeshifter in many Slavic legends and he used this trait in order to avoid Perun's attacks which would have otherwise struck him down. Jereth considers this power to be very well suited for his work as an Esoteric, and is already planning to use it's powers of concealment and deception to it's fullest.
This is a viable strategy since apparently not even other Campione can tell if he is using this Authority or not. When Salvatore Doni, an incredibly instinctive and observant fighter, encountered Jereth using this Authority he didn't take notice of it's activation or it's effect.
The only restrictions this Authority seems to have is that the user must have a clear image of the appearance they wish to take (a walk in the park for any Monastic) and stay within 10 meters of at least 1 other Human being. We're not sure why 10 meters, perhaps something to do with the distance Sheep would maintain from their shepherd? Jereth's thoughts on the matter were, "Who cares why it works if we know how it works?"
Incantation: "Slither through the fields of lightning and thunder, deceive our foe and live to fight another day. Serpent's Skin!"
Weaving of Black Wool: The Authority Jereth considers to be the most valuable, and potentially overpowering, of Veles's repertoire. This power affords Jereth the ability to 'see' and 'weave' the very fabric of Magic itself. This sounds impressive, although largely useless against other Campione and Gods due to their naturally strong resistance against Magic, until you consider the possibilities.
Jereth has been experimenting continuously with this Authority, attempting to find out just what this strange ability is capable of. So far he hasn't found any discernible limits to what Black Wool can do given enough time.
He has successfully engraved spell effects onto armor and weapons (similar to how our body engravings automatically enhance our strength when Magic is pushed into them), begun creating several new pieces of Magic and proven that he can both alter or destroy Spells that have either been created or are being created.
Jereth is confident that given the time to do so he can create original spells that are capable of matching Authority level Magic, even if they aren't as efficient as the original powers themselves since they are fueled by Jereth's own Magic power rather than through some other effect.
An additional benefit to this Authority is that he's proven able to combine it with Forge of the Father and directly inscribe spells onto the works he's created. While already very powerful, Jereth is convinced that, given the opportunity to learn and experiment, he can create weaponry or armor on the level of ancient artifacts created by master craftsmen of millennia past. Ever since his tutelage under Swordsaint Raffaello he has passed this benchmark and has begun creating weaponry and armors far above the level of what he could achieve before.
This power requires no incantation although it has two strange drawbacks. The first is that whenever it's activated Jereth's eyes glow in strange, shifting patterns of color. Seeing as how this rather obviously telegraphs when he is using it he has taken to wearing special contact lenses during combat. The last wrinkle is that as of now he can only keep it activated for about 12 hours at a time before a rather…fitting price is paid. Once he de-activated the Authority during one of these hours long sessions his eyes were immediately assailed by a pain that he so eloquently described as, "Getting fucked in the eye-socket by a barb wire cock."
He's more careful to time his usage now.
Most recently Jereth created a truly terrifying piece of work that, while it doesn't have a name, really should have one. By taking Athena's power and combining it with Native American Koyukon rituals, specifically the ones that revived their God Dotson'Sa, he devised a method that would allow Athena to return to the mortal realm in less than a year with all of her powers fully intact. A completely absurd and ridiculously powerful act that showcases the true strength of this Authority.
Original Spells:
Levinsnakes Writhe: After observing and figuring out how Perun's lightning Authorities were directed using Magic and by extension Perun's Stones, Jereth created a spell that is far more devastating than any mere lightning strike. By slaving several bolts to predetermined pathways that he can alter on the fly a cage of lightning vaguely resembling a serpent can be freely manipulated to his will, the Spell proving powerful enough to blow apart a Heretic Beast's head with little difficulty.
Aphelion Strike: A bit of Magic that had been a long time in the making, Jereth had used his Mr. Armstrong alias to have the Chinese space program make an early warning system for the eventual orbital elevator project that watches for space debris that might impact on the construct. Additionally, he'd realized that by creating a magically induced attraction between 2 points, said 2 points being the entire planet and a piece of orbiting debris, the orbiters can be dragged into the planet at insane velocities. Since even a Campione's massive Magical reserves would never be able to move the entire planet itself, this Spell doesn't need to worry about accidental things such as altered planetary orbits.
This Spell has proven to be terrifyingly powerful, the first test destroyed a kilometers wide tract of the Italian countryside and the first real-live combat use completely destroyed Simurgh, a Heretic Beast that had been able to regenerate even a destroyed head.
From the God Perun:
Father of Storms: This Authority allows it's user to create a lightning storm wherever and whenever they wish, as well as alter it's ferocity. However, Jereth said that summoning a storm from almost nothing rapidly left him in borderline hypothermia, meaning that any fight should be ended quickly if such a method is used. What he instead discovered was that using an already existing storm has practically no consequences whatsoever. Even physically moving the weather formation from one location to another takes trivial amounts of effort.
While actually being able to summon the storm is impressive, Jereth's level of control over the actual lightning isn't as awe-inspiring. According to him trying to precisely hit targets with the lightning strikes is a hit-or-miss proposition at best (excuse the pun).
Incantation: Violent skies fly to my side and sound our clarion call, the founder of lightning and guardian of the one true root seeks your aide! Father of Storms!"
Perun's Stones: While we're unsure as to whether this can be considered an Authority, since it has effects and perks more akin to an avatar, it requires a chant nonetheless, so we'll just go ahead and call it it's own Authority.
Invoking this power arms Jereth with Perun's fulgurite axe and bow, along with all the powers they contain. Having these weapons active greatly increases a Campione's already substantial resistance against poisons and Magic, while other Lightning based attacks will be either useless or mitigated. Obviously we haven't been able to test how effective this Authority is at controlling other Campione's lightning Authorities.
Regardless there appears to be almost no cost to using this 'Authority' and should one of the weapons be broken, they can be re-made almost instantaneously. After all, fulgurite is easy to make when you have a lightning storm under your control.
Jereth mentioned that he found the electrical storm much easier to manipulate when using the Stones, able to use the weapons almost like a conducting stick to control the lightning strikes.
Using Perun's Bow, he's discovered that firing an arrow into the thunderstorm itself can allow the arrow to multiply itself by the dozens, if not hundreds, and fly down from the sky as improvised homing lightning strikes.
Incantation: "Guardian of the Olden Tree, raise your weapon against the watery depths and march against the shapeshifter of death. Perun's Stones!"
Golden Apples: By far the most immediately lethal of Jereth's available Authorities are the Golden Apples, Perun's quintessential ace in the hole. Initial testing by Jereth made it clear that while powerful, this Authority comes with a great deal of limiting factors. First of all is the necessary requirements for it to be activated. The enemy has to verbally state their intention to either hurt, defeat or kill Jereth or people he considers close to him. This requirement likely came about from Perun's role as a guardian against Veles, being unable to use his most destructive power unless forced to.
Any opponent with half a working brain and prior knowledge of this Authority's requirements can easily circumnavigate it, simply not stating their intent to do harm. Also Jereth has very shaky control over the actual Authority itself. He's unable to summon all three 'Apples' as of now, only managing one. He also has to keep the Authority physically contained in his hand, if he tries to have it orbit him, or even throw it, it rapidly dissipates with large scale destruction as a result.
But these requirements seem fair once you consider just how lethal this Authority really is. The Golden Apples are nothing more than ball lightning, but not just any old lightning. At the heart of the orb of electricity sits a micro-singularity, the power source keeping the ball from spreading outwards violently. Any opponent hit directly by this will find themselves burnt from the highly compressed lightning shell or torn to pieces once the singularity reaches their body, in fact it ripped straight through Svarog's armor and skin without the slightest bit of resistance, a terrifying display of lethality if you ask me.
A very telegraphed move, but very powerful.
Incantation: "He grabbed three golden apples And threw them high into the sky, three lightning bolts burst from the sky, the first struck at two young grooms, the second struck a horse in a stall, the third struck six hundred wedding guests, not an eyewitness left, not even to say how they died. Golden Apples!"
From the God Svarog:
Forge of the Father: Svarog was often associated with metalwork and was considered the Slavic approximation of Hephaestus, and this Authority certainly continues that comparison.
The requirements for using this Authority are quite simple. It needs to be used over an active volcano…and that's it.
The more complicated part is the actual effects the Authority has.
When used, a large ball of molten rock and metal is levitated above the lip of the volcano, the raw material that's used to create the metals that will be crafted into something usable.
Jereth described using it as if his body became the very flow of magma itself, his muscles and mind working in tandem to bring about whatever creation he can envision. So far he's created many different kind of melee weapons and various armor pieces, but is still working on creating more complicated things. There are also limits to what can be created using this Authority. Synthetic materials like plastics and composites are either impossible to create or Jereth simply hasn't found a method to do so yet, so unfortunately mass producing magically enhanced modern firearms and the like is off the table for now.
More's the pity.
Anyway, there are a few interesting perks to the actual weapons and armor or whatever created using this Authority. Jereth can summon whatever he's created with this Authority with zero incantation and almost zero Magic strength expended, initial estimates suggest he could summon thousands, if not tens of thousands of spear sized objects before his reserves start to become dangerously low. A slight downside to the summoning is that said tools appear in a blaze of fire and sparks, not exactly the most stealthy of methods.
Not that the Bat-Gwai cares, he friggin' loves eye-catching stuff like that.
Continuing with the conditions, there's one that could be considered extremely limiting by most, but not by us.
Namely being, whatever construct Jereth makes using this Authority can only be used by someone he considers 'worthy' of using it.
You can see the difficulty this might present.
When testing this out he gave a random civilian on the street a kitchen knife he'd made and asked them to cut a vegetable for him, citing some weird excuse about him being a street vendor. As soon as the civvy had made to start chopping, the knife disappeared in a flash of flame, requiring a rather hasty bout of hypnotism.
Not that this bothers us overmuch, in fact it could be downright beneficial. Jereth considers anyone who's trained by the Monasteries to be automatically worthy of his creations, having had first-hand experience of just how brutal our training can be, as well as the sacrifices we make over the course of our lives, however long or short they end up being.
He may not like every Monastic in existence, but he doesn't deny that they are, without a doubt, worthy of handling his creations.
Other than that things are rather straightforward. He can dispel the things created with a simple mental command, or leave them summoned and they'll automatically dispel themselves after 24 hours.
The only real downside is that the actual act of using the Authority, the creation process itself, is heavily taxing in terms of Magic power expended.
As of now Jereth estimates that he could run Forge of the Father for 8 hours maximum before bleeding himself completely dry, an impressive cost considering Campione's incredible reserves of Magic.
Incantation: "Place of the Sun, Creator of Metal and Fire, awaken from restful slumber and stoke the fires of the Great Blacksmith once more! Forge of the Father!"
From the Divine Beast Fenrir:
Gleipnir: Not the strongest or most versatile of the Bat-Gwai's Authorities, but perhaps that is to be expected from a being that was only slightly above the level of a Divine Beast. Using Gleipnir Jereth can summon up to 3 metal fetters that can be used to restrain or immobilize an opponent. The only catch is that physical contact must be made in order to apply the fetter, he can't just will it into existence on somebody. Some initial testing with this Authority revealed that a single fetter can easily restrain a normal Human, even talented Mages with Witch ancestry such as Elizaveta found themselves unable to break free of the trap, and Jereth believes that it can impair abilities to turn incorporeal and similar things like that. Additionally he can also combine the 3 separate fetters into 1 exceedingly strong trap, something that will likely be necessary against stronger targets or those that can Magically enhance their strength. Luo Hao's Buddha Avatars have proven themselves able to shatter the strongest fetter, although it took a few seconds and no small amount of effort for one to do so.
This is the first Authority Jereth has earned that let's him manifest an Avatar (Provided we ignore the pseudo Avatar that is Perun's Stones), said Avatar being the wolf Fenrir himself. This Avatar can be fed Magic power to allow him to grow in size, all the way to his original state that was roughly the size of a small yacht, standing 20 meters tall if it was to get up on it's hind legs. Fenrir is also exceedingly obedient and receptive to Jereth's commands, acting more like a normal house pet around him than it does a deified beast.
Leave it to the Bat-Gwai to do something as utterly idiotic as use a Divine Beast as a Companion Dog…
Recently he's discovered that Fenrir itself can apply a fetter to an opponent, freeing himself to pursue other actions while the Dire Wolf restrains his enemies.
Incantation: "Loose from Leyding, Strike out of Dromi, howl horribly, death of Odin. Gleipnir!"
From the Divine Beast Simurgh:
Primordial Seed: An Authority usurped from the Divine Beast Simurgh, Primordial Seed is a restoration type-Authority, one very much inline with Simurgh's tradition of being a symbol of resurrection and healing, or perhaps fertility would be a better word. By invoking the Authority growths from the tree Gaokerena can be brought into being, the roots flowering within moments and releasing pollen into the air. The Pollen can be directed by the user's will and the seeds are capable of miraculous healing feats.
Jereth and a few test subj-I mean, volunteers-took turns wounding themselves with even graver injuries, testing the limits of the Authority. It turns out that the Authority can heal almost any conceivable wound, and while poisons or brain related injuries have yet to be tested (those being rather dangerous subjects to fuck about with) It doesn't seem that far of a stretch to assume those could also be repaired.
Severed limbs, cut open arteries, broken and pulverized bones, damaged nerve endings, even replacing lost blood!
There is a rather unfortunate catch though.
Said catch being that the healing is massively painful, even by Monastic standards. The spores cause a bright flame to appear as it does it's work and Jereth described the process of re-growing an arm to be, 'the most massively fucking unadulterated tongue biting throat shredding dick slashing anal piercing pain he's ever experienced'.
And that was in just the few first seconds of growth after which he puked himself unconscious, something that greatly amused Tim and, while I'd never say it to his face, myself as well.
The Avatar gained through Primordial Seed isn't Simurgh herself, but Gaokerena. Which makes sense in a roundabout way, since the Authority uses parts of the tree it would only follow that the plant itself could be manifested. It can be summoned through its various sizes, the largest standing hundreds of meters tall, reminiscent of it's appearance when he first fought the Divine Beast itself. Perhaps most importantly, Gaokerena can be used in conjunction with World Tree Usurper to afford an incredible amount of control over the massive Avatar, allowing him to effortlessly direct a massive fuck-off world-tree with no difficulty whatsoever.
Scary stuff.
Incantation:"Witness of 3 worlds and their burning, cast yourself into the fire once more and breathe new life into the worthy! Primordial Seed!"
From the Dragon Kur:
Aspect of Kur: Given to him by the Godslaughterer, this Authority likely ties with Golden Apples in terms of sheer destructive power, albeit through different mediums. Invoking this Authority turns Jereth into a 60 meter tall humanoid Western Dragon, a deviation from the Godslaughterer's Naga form. He's kept most of the pluses, thankfully, with scales that easily match, if not surpass, some of his armors created using Forge of the Father in sheer durability. Along with his ability to fly and breathe fire, this makes for an incredibly hard to stop juggernaut of destruction.
All that power comes at a cost, however. Aspect of Kur is very heavy on Magic requirements, even more so than Golden Apples. Early estimates suggest that he wouldn't be able to fight any longer than 25 minutes if he activated the Authority at peak power, even less if he had to combine it with other Authorities such as Weaving of Black Wool.
Two interesting side notes, first is that Jereth has noticed odd side effects from the Authority in regards to his psyche, in much the same way Fenrir can affect some of his more bestial behaviors. He's found himself feeling a bit more possessive of people and things he considers his own, no doubt a holdover from Dragon's attitudes in the past. Even worse is the borderline obsession he's admitted to having when it comes to Goddesses, Kur's legend of having absconded with Ereshkigal for no other reason than 'just because' influencing him to a degree. Not so much that it dictates his actions, thankfully, but it's without a doubt a facet of life he'll now have to work with.
Ambriel and-provided she ever comes back-Athena are gonna have to get used to the idea of a Jereth with an Authority that compels him to 'possess' them...whatever the Hell that entails...
Second, the Godslaughterer mentioned that Aspect of Kur grew in in strength proportional to the Campiones level of power. If that holds true for the Bat-Gwai, then 60 meters is just the start of what he might eventually grow into.
Incantation: "Cast down from our nest in the World beneath, brought low by a warrior from across the Sea! Lessons are learned and fangs are honed, we rise up to reclaim our rightful throne! A heart that burns as bright as the sun, this Dragon vows to never lose to anyone! Aspect of Kur!"
From the God Fortuna Redux:
Emperor's Return: Earned after he completed the Goddesses' challenge, Emperor's Door allows for instantaneous teleportation from one area to another through the use of a small Runic formation that he can place at any desired formation. These 'waypoints' are invisible to the naked eye and extraordinarily hard to spot Magically, only an Authority like Weaving of Black Wool or an extremely talented Mage able to reliably spot them. An interesting effect that invoking Emperor's Return causes is the complete and utter nullification of concepts like inertia or momentum. During a test Jereth made a transfer while in free fall and found himself completely still at his target destination, no sudden shifts or stops affecting him. Ordinarily such a violent arresting of momentum would do bad things to squishy and fragile things like internal organs...but the Authority seems to casually spit in the face of physics, creating an interesting way to work around harmful landings by invoking the Authority and removing all momentum from his body.
No incantation is needed, somewhat strangely. Perhaps a connection between it and Weaving of Black Wool being somewhat unusual?
.
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I've had some time to reflect on the nature of the Bat-Gwai's Authorities and in doing so I believe I've sussed out his 'theme', or in what way Authorities adapt themselves to suit the Campione.
For instance, Salvatore's Authorities, contrary to what most of the Mage Associations believe, isn't 'sword' but 'simplicity'. Rippling Arm of Silver? Offense at it's most basic, cut the enemy, you win. Man of Steel? Defense at it's most basic, a singular, all encompassing body of almost impenetrable quality. Return to Medieval Style? Remove the distractions and complication of technologies to force one to rely on their own body. Divine Confusion? Eliminate the tricks and misdirection of an opponent and force them to confront you head on.
Or should I mention Alec's The Labryinth, which traps opponents in a maze, resembling his usual tactics of outmaneuvering and entrapping his enemies using his lies and intelligence?
Or Voban's Legion of Hungry Wolves, an Authority that allows him control over beasts that have a reputation for being solitary and predatory creatures unless forced to do otherwise?
I could go on, but I'd like to think my point has been made.
Jereth's theme is 'evolution' or 'progress'. At it's most simple, 'change' or 'chaos'.
The Authorities derived from Veles, control over nature and shapeshifting, as well as his mastery of Magic, all are powers of creation or deception, things any nascent society needs in order to thrive.
Perun's powers over storms and lightning. Storms reshape the landscape, flood the plains and start fires with errant lightning, all acts that, while destructive, always preclude a reemergence of new life. Not to mention his Golden Apples power that gives control over a Black Hole, one of the singularly most destructive forces known to Humans.
Svarog's power affords him the power to create in a quite literal sense, and not just any creation. Creation of tools that allow Humans to both kill and protect and any archaeological historian will tell you the ability to use tools is Humanities most defining factor compared to all other life on Earth.
Fenrir's abilities allow him to restrain and imprison, to affect punishment while he prepares for his next move. Much like how lawbreakers are treated, and a just law is the bedrock of any civilization.
And now Simurgh, who's powers over healing and restoration complete the image. No society can merely be destroyed, it has to be brought back and reconstructed afterwards.
Jereth is, at his most basic, a force. A force for change and all the bloodshed, carnage, lies, betrayal, love, oaths, binding and rebuilding that comes along with it.
Here's hoping we're ready.
Nothing too much that's different about this updated list, just some additional explanations and thoughts. I'll likely just be updating this chapter directly as needed in the future instead of constantly re-uploading it.