[Clock - 03:02 | 03:02 AM]
[Calendar - 14/02/2003]
[Location - Croc Kingdom (Name Pending) - Old Gotham, Gotham City, New Jersey]
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Disclaimer: I'm going for a different lore from Atlantis! Well, a mythified version of it.
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Let me tell you a a tale, a relatively short tale when compared to the complete story...
A tale that was written down, not by men, but by Gods.
A long, long time ago. Before many of the widely known Gods and their Pantheons had been born from the human belief of their existance and the Faith energy they received from the mortals believing them (well, some already existed, but their existence was going to be hugely tied to the Faith of mortals and permanently change them in ways they would never know), there were other Gods. More specifically, there were mamy Gods that were worshipped by the Atlantians, they hadn't sunk into the seas yet (and thus they hadn't abandoned many of their gods yet and adopted the Greco-Roman Gods) and therefore they were still a kingdom of prideful, arrogant, and powerful people magically and technologically speaking.
The most important Gods were three-
Aka'pathu, God of Magic, Biology, and Technology. His religion preached that he was superior to the other two major gods, and thus, he was to be worshipped more than them.
Hakkor-Emeh, God of Gold, Riches, and Death. His religion preached that to enter the paradise that awaited Atlantians in death, they had to pay their weight in gold.
And at last, but certainly not least, Bethie-Ok'han. He was the God of Pride, Power, and Land. He was the one that was credited as the patron God of Atlantis.
One day, a mysterious man came to the capital of Atlantis and spoke to the Gods Aka'pathu, Hakkor-Emeh, and Bethie-Ok'han, saying: "The land will sink. Your continent will sink. Your kingdom will sink." But the gods laughed in his face and cursed him, they did not heed his warning. He thus went to the least worshipped God there, a minor deity of the sea that would one day be mercilessly absorbed and integrated by Poseidon. This deity's name has been lost, but their love for their worshippers has not- trusting the words of the stranger, the deity prepared. On the faithful day that Atlantis would sink, the three major gods invited the entire kingdom to a banquet, and while they partied, Chaos befell in their land. A man beast brought their downfall!
Their land sank, and only the followers of the deity that believed the words of the mysterious man survived, and from them Atlantis was reborn. The survivors swore then, to never again trust the beasts that take the form of men.
This was, of course, a very biased and mythified version of something that happened a long time ago. Why am I telling you this? Well, remember when I casually mentioned the fact that Atlantians had created Homo Beastialis, the Werecreature? The aristocrats and powerful of Atlantis wished to have someone to display their superiority upon, but they couldn't do so on their owm citizens! Therefore, they created a form of second class citizens for the only reason of being mocked and enslaved. Their hubris blinded them, and it brought their own downfall, which they blamed on the ones they oppressed. Such pathetic display of cowardice and lack of balls has survived to this very day alongside the Atlantian version of racism and fascism. Cool, right? As it turns out, Waylon is one of these Werecreatures.
In specific, he is a Werecrocodile.
His disease? Well, he had a disease that made ancient genes reactivate, and those genes were his dormant Werecrocodile genes. Gradually, he grew up to be one of the rarest result of magic and technology being used together. Which was also not surpring to him when Sobek, Ptah, Thoth, Khepri, Hathor, and Isis all seemed to ponder his request of making him their new champion. The Egyptians had Werecreatures amongst their ranks, people with the features of animals that were associated with their Gods, many of which were even taken as Demigods by the many gods of Egypt. And that's also how Waylon is one of Sobek's descendants. Sobek had taken a Werecrocodile as his Demigod daughter, and she lived to have a beautiful family... With the passage of time, her bloodline flowed and her Werecreature genes went dormant, until a boy developed a rare genetic disease that managed to reactive the lost genes of a Werecrocodile within himself.
Not a regular Werecrocodile either, but a descendant, a legacy of a Demigoddess, Daughter of Sobek.
It was owed to him by blood!
The only problem... "You see, kid, we would love to take him as our champion- I would especially love to take him as my child, but... well, we're weak." It wasn't shocking for him to hear that, Atlas was expecting such response after all! "Centuries, even millenia to some of us, without being worshipped!? That takes a toll! I can barely bless a crocodile with good health now! It saddens me every time one of them dies out of a sickness I could've healed..." Depressed, Sobek hanged his head down, looking at his own crocs with a croc sticker... He seems to like those croc shoes.
Atlas, however, was still a little disappointed... But an idea surged within his head, an idea he has been doing already, but why not increase his efforts? He has a plan that might help this entire situation: "Well, I know where to get you worshippers..." There was a small side of Atlas that wished for more magical beings on the Croc Kingdom. And, well, they have a farm for crocodiles! And Atlas? Atlas knows the [Awaken] spell. "But only tomorrow. I gotta go sleep... Sobek, tomorrow you're getting a new worshipper... And you guys? I'm going to get you worshippers too, even if it has to be only me." With a heavy headache incoming, Atlas bowed lightly to the Gods and Goddesses before fading into a small cloud of blue magic as he casted [Dimension Door] to teleport away.
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[Clock - 10:05 | 10:05 AM]
[Calendar - 15/02/2003]
[Location - Sobek's Crocodile Farm, Croc Kingdom - Old Gotham, Gotham City]
POV Change
Waylon Jones - King Croc
"Hello you two- well, three."
Waylon had been at the farm once more today- he had spent a lot of time yesterday by the farm, bonding with the various little crocodiles, Buck, and many of the Croc Kingdom citizens who were surprisingly happy about him being here! Some made some questions about going up and Waylon had to give them a somber answer that no, nobody was allowed up to the surface for now but a select few, and that it was done out of concern for their safety because of the things happening. It did sound like a cult, mostly because there were various gods they were worshipping, and also because they were a tight and close society that is governed by him.
He was sitting by the farm, holding a crocodile with several around him and on his body when he had the sudden thought: '...did I make a cult?' Buck was feeding the mama croc when Atlas appeared. This time, he didn't teleport in, he simply floated in- Waylon had another thought at that moment: 'I wonder why he doesn't make himself new legs- Maybe legs are hard to make?' Indeed, prosthetic legs might be a bit hard to make, and because Atlas is always busy, he has no time to make them. "Hey Atlas." Waylon casually greeted, ignoring the little look he got from Buck- everyone was giving him little looks ever since yesterday, and that was when he remembered that abandoned trains don't have great soundproofing, you know? A lot of people heard them fucking, and thankfully Atlas is none the wiser... right?
"Ah, there she is." With a smile on his lips, Atlas looked directly to his side- there, laying down and bathing in the weird artificial sun that was stuck to the cavern's ceiling, stood the one crocodile that was named Big Mama: "Hello Big Mama." He greeted the animal, and Waylon had to focus a little as a part of him interpreted the soft hissing, he was pretty sure the crocodile had just greeted Atlas back. "I've come here to make an announcement to you three- I realized that the Croc Kingdom doesn't need to limit itself, why have only human citizens? We live in a magical world, and thus, magical things can happen." He lifted his hand and there was this glow of deep orange light from his hand that shot out like an arrow into the skull of Big Mama- Buck made a confused and terrified noise for a moment -but it was all good. Waylon saw thise empty eyes slowly turn into more vivid, bright eyes, and soon enough he saw intelligence and a mind behind them. She cracked her body for a moment, moving it slowly as if feeling herself and her body.
"This-" The moment the crocodile spoke perfect English, Waylon's eyes widened for a moment and Buck full on gasped: "-is kinda weird... I thank you, Croc Whisperer, for granting me new life." She close her eyes for a moment and nodded her head: "...I also see now that this body, although mine and very loved, is kinda limiting. I see ways which this body would hamper me down." Her voice was a perfect soft woman's voice much to Waylon's confusion, but now he understood what Atlas was getting at! They don't need to limit themselves to humans alone when there's so many animals in Gotham that have been abandoned and have been abused. The can rescue them, they can bring them a good life here amongst them in this kingdom, and they can make them happy: "Ah, my children... I now understand why human Buck has been cooing after you, you're so adorable."
"I am glad you are happy, Big Mama... Or perhaps, another name is required?" Atlas seemed pensive for a moment, before a smile blossomed on his cute face- shut up, it's not ehat you think -as he said: "I have the perfect name for you. The first Awakened Crocodile of the Croc Kingdom should have a special name, no? Therefore, I name you Beauty of Sobek, Sobekneferu. You're also, on your own right, a the Queen and will one day be representing all Awakened crocodiles at the tables of our kingdom. Thank the God Sobek for this blessing, for you are one of his many children."
Waylon felt, at that moment, a tug- He was almost certain someone had just pulled something on his body. He even turned around to look everywhere, but there was nobody besides the three- four of them and various baby crocodiles! "Well, welcome to this crazy world, Sobekneferu was it? It sounds like a beautiful name." Waylon greeted his new citizen with open arms, even though he never expected to get one like this!
"Divine King." She greeted him back, making him pause for a second- Okay, that sounded like he was the leader of some sort of cult. "It is a honor to be in the presence of the Divine King of all Crocodiles." If she could bow, she would, but all she could do was lower her body and lie down, closing her eyes to represent someone bowing.
"...you can get up now." This is so weird- but hey, if Waylon couldn't adapt to new situations quickly, then he would be a bad king right?
"Well, my king-" Atlas spoke, bringing the attention back to him as he smiled, looking at him awkwardly not knowing exactly how to act around Sobekneferu: "-I have many things to do. I still have to complete Thoth's Learning Palace by installing internet on it, thankfully Lonnie will make sure our IP address is completely hidden and soour signal cannot be easily found. I still have to furnish Khepri's Healing Home, I still wanna experiment with a few spells, I have to make a few more buildings, I have to finish an artwork for the Halls of Ptah, I still need to finish those barrels to hold beer for the House of Hathor, I need to speak to the gods, establish some rules, some laws, some order and also prepare for a meeting..."
The more he spoke, the more Waylon wondered- How is he juggling so many things at the same time? Why was he taking so many responsibilities? When is he going to rest? And, the most important question: Why is he cute when he looks serious?
"...meeting?" Waylon seemed to catch the end of the long list of things Atlas wanted to do.
"Ah, right." Turning around, he looked at him a little awkwardly: "Ehm... Can you do me a favor? After I Awakened Sobekneferu, I realized I can do the same to plants, and that will surely get me on the good side of someone I want on our side."
"...Don't tell me-"
"...can you get me a meeting with Poison Ivy?"