Why are you special?

Wanda's easy to manage. Ish. She trusts me completely, and has pretty simple desires. As long as I never actually trick her, and make sure nothing I tell her ever leads her into a situation she hates… she'll keep doing everything I say.

I finally get what The Comforter meant about blessings being heavier or lighter: They cost when the exception is made. For me, that was when I leveled up: My blessing was about build changes and access; everything else was a result of getting those build choices. Still is, really: My material body still has that blessing, it's just that I'm paying for it now. Fred's blessing? It cost every time anything related to chance or uncertainty came up… which was any time Fred did anything at all, or nearly enough. Nobody else could manage such a blessing for long - except Dad, of course - and the old Life could only pull it off by cheating: She made sure 'her' souls were always in circulation, at the cost of everyone else.

I'm reversing that for now. I inherited her stores, don't have overly much to spend them on, and don't need it for my basic functions due to my build choices. I do use some of it… but not nearly as much as anyone else… although brother Death doesn't need much anymore either. So eventually I will need to deal myself back in, but it can wait a long, long time. And if I goof up… I'll just need to level the hard way for a little while.

And of course, everyone in my new family takes the time to introduce themselves. I have several dozen new names and faces to remember … although in some instances, calling what they have a 'face' is stretching terms quite far: The Comforter has voids for eyes, but he has a recognizable face. Space… yeah… she's a galaxy in miniature, hard to tell what direction she's facing, much less where her face is. She is quite beautiful, though.

Paul and Carter are easy to fix; I inherited Life’s clergy, have no reason to maintain the twisted blessing, and have a fair number of Elixirs of Sex Shifting to give… so I sent them some dreams on how to 'atone for their sins' and they are quite cheerfully systemically eradicating the various systems of oppression that the old Life set up to 'win' (and they have help from the rest of the clergy…) and that's still hard work.  Carter I 'paid' immediately: He is happy to have his "sword" back; Paula I'm making wait until after her son is weaned… which takes longer for half-elves; she has a while… assuming she doesn't get knocked up again… she seems to enjoy men.

Wendy declined my offer of an Elixir of Sex Shifting. She's free to reshape herself however she wants now - the Shapechange I gave her doesn't have any divine interference anymore - and apparently she doesn't care whether she's an innie or an outie by default when she can be whichever whenever anyway.

I can't turn back into a guy, for two reasons. First of course is my growing little bundle of joy… who is also a natural were… as am I, apparently. It's easy enough for me to control - I have some advantages there, like being able to let myself use the "control shape" skill untrained thanks to buffs - but he… or she, depending on their mood… will likely need to spend a lot of time in isolation so as not to spread the curse. I can suppress it easily enough - the Countermoon spell will lock a were in their base form - but if I do that while my little one is growing up? No control. It would be good for Oscar… but then he'll be back to the terms of his very rapey contract. So isolation with construct caretakers for him. Well, her, most of the time. He's still working on control.

And of course, I'll need to keep my little one mostly isolated as well: She'll be completely irresistible (and completely unresisting) to men while in female form… and she'll be infectious, and get locked into that shape via a pregnancy, which will happen on the first encounter if an escort doesn't stop it. So until he understands why he can't be a girl in public… well. It is what it is. And I'm sure "Auntie Wanda" will make my job harder.  But… well, actions have consequences, and I need to live with mine.

I find I largely enjoy pregnancy… but that's because I'm cheating: Morning sickness doesn't matter when there's no need to eat, my pain is turned off (which would normally be horrible long term, but I'm very difficult to scratch, am immune to infection, and heal very quickly), my new multibody nature mitigates mood swings, not needing sleep fixes sleep problems nicely, et cetera … but I still feel the glow of pregnancy, the little kicks as he moves, the growing expectation, and so on.

So I may have more children later, but I understand there are some serious risks that come with that for a deity… look what it did to the prior Life.  Still… I'm having the one anyway, even if I didn't get him entirely by choice. Death was right though: I did enjoy it, even though it was a false enjoyment because of mind control.

And my new family is very supportive. They're showing me the ropes of managing the flock, giving me tips on what sorts of messages to send, (as well as when), and how to keep eyes on folks who don't qualify for direct monitoring. Most of them were quite surprised to find they could in fact "talk" to priests individually in most cases.  And yes, the old Life had been encouraging minor training in everyone to get them feats that made them qualify. I am maintaining that practice, but I did share.

So all in all, I settle quite nicely into my new life as Life.

There's still work to do, of course. Paula, Carter, Wendy, and my priesthood I leave to handle most of the systemic cleanup of oppression.  But that environmental disaster of a city the old Life was sheltering… that needs to be dealt with carefully. I take Wanda, David, the buffed up Adamantine golems, and my actually valuable Dragonflesh construct… whom I eventually dub Oscar.  Why?

Wanda is a switch hitter: She has ninth level Arcane spells from the Sorcerer and Wizard list, combining the biggest benefits of both. She also has enough Base Attack Bonus to get a full set of attacks in… and I set her up for crit-fishing via her gear, as any crit enables her to also get a quick spell off. And her proportions make me feel warm inside, I need to keep an eye on her anyway, and she's utterly loyal.

Oscar is a powerhouse with Spheres at a "normal" caster level of forty-five (and can shift most of what he can do very rapidly; he's quite the flexible caster), and absolutely has the Spheres equivalent to 9th level arcane spells. Oh yes, and he's also a giant dragon-like golem when he wants to be, who hits very hard and is essentially immune to magic. Another switch hitter… and of course, he's a created servant, utterly loyal. Not very bright, but that’s fine.

And yes, Oscar is a he.

So's David, now. The Elixir of Sex Shifting works fine now that the old Life is gone. I also do restore him to dragon-hood: A great Wyrm Brine dragon is downright lethal in melee, as each hit comes with save-or-stun, and dragons get a lot of hits in. Plus ninth level spells off of the Sorcerer list that I can change up for him when he needs, as well as quite a few skill points to burn… and he's sworn to me.

The two Adamantine golems? I keep them around because I consider them disposable. They're good enough at melee and basically indestructible… but they're just captured toys that are good for walking face-first into traps which means I don't risk the actual people in the party. If I need them smaller, I can apply Reduce Person to make them merely Large, or an actual Polymorph spell to get them smaller still… but that last, of course, removes their magic immunity.

Wanda, Oscar, and David I keep attuned to my Mythic Ring, so my Soul Vault will revive them even if I'm incapacitated… I don't expect this to happen any time soon, but if someone does manage to get through the defenses on my body, I'm not going to be permitted to rescue them myself due to the interference rules… and I like having backup plans. After all: I remember dying three times. I don't want to stay dead, thank you. The Adamantine golems are mindless, and disposable.

And this is the party with which I approach the industrial city of Brasilia. I wonder why the old Life was sheltering this place? It won't do to simply wreck it, people actually live here.  But it's apparently an environmental disaster… let’s find out why before we try to fix it, eh?