Hopstopple, the Tree Tickler
The story of the second soul to ascend in Amaltheon is well known to all of the land, though mainly due to its absurdity. It is said that when Alithea revealed herself to the world, she also showed The First that souls could ascend to divinity, and this started a rush of others attempting to recreate her achievement with the magic she had granted them. Here enters Hopstopple, a gnomish man with a plan just crazy enough to work. Hopstopple saw that the gods could grant magic and the arcane could imbue one with the ability to cast spells, but he saw magic in the wilderness of the world, and wished to share this with his fellow inhabitants of Amaltheon. Unlike almost all others who ascended, there is a record of how Hopstopple received his divinity, and though it reads like a children's story, this is what is said about his ascension;
"Hopstopple began, stepped out of his house, and walked up to a treeAnd with that, Hopstopple gained his divinity and used his divine favour to create a realm from which he could imbue nature with all the magic and whimsy he thought it deserved, and the Lady obliged, granting him the domain of The Great Forest. It is said that Hopstopple made dogs run in their sleep, cats obsessed with beams of light, and certain birds steal jewellery, simply because he thought it would be funny. Although this strange god seems to have alien goals, many druids serve in his name, to protect the beauty and whimsy of nature that the one who grants them their power saw all those years ago.
He shook a hive, 'til its owner came out, a helpful little bee
A favour he asked of his new little friend: "Can you teach me how to fly?"
The bee nodded its head and flew round and round. "oh me? oh yes! oh my"
The two marched on to find new friends, and found a hole quite big
They knocked on its door, and out came a mole, who taught them how to dig
The three marched on, to the greatest of lakes, where waters fell so dim
They sank far down to find a fish to teach them how to swim
With all the skills and all these friends, Hop shouted to the sky
but there was no sound, no answer, no gods, for they seemed to be quite shy
He swam, and dug, and flew right up to find the one he sought
And when they met, a god he was, divinity was caught."
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