View Flat HTML
View Metadata
Search Post
Two girls are moving their hands through the air and speaking together in perfect parallel.
Two girls are looking expectantly at a circle of red chalk on their floor.
Two girls have done something exceptionally stupid.
Arcane in Elcenia
+ Show First Post
"Worldwide something like one or one half a percent of the population."
infinitely-stranger
So 'unusual to do so' isn't good enough.
He needs to secure an entire world.
And he can probably do it, too. Much as he doesn't want to.
But...
His Queenscourt orders are well-crafted, but manifestly not designed for situations as strange as this.
He is forbidden to attempt to compromise his orders, compelled to immediately seek reinstatement of any that lapse or are interfered with - but that's one of the first ones in the set. The orders to handle threats and secure resources, being more recent, take precedence. And he can't take over an entire world while still burdened with all those extraneous commands.
In which case, he had better clean them out as quickly as possible, hadn't he?
Before that, though - "By what means can I be released from this circle?"
He needs to secure an entire world.
And he can probably do it, too. Much as he doesn't want to.
But...
His Queenscourt orders are well-crafted, but manifestly not designed for situations as strange as this.
He is forbidden to attempt to compromise his orders, compelled to immediately seek reinstatement of any that lapse or are interfered with - but that's one of the first ones in the set. The orders to handle threats and secure resources, being more recent, take precedence. And he can't take over an entire world while still burdened with all those extraneous commands.
In which case, he had better clean them out as quickly as possible, hadn't he?
Before that, though - "By what means can I be released from this circle?"
"If someone outside of it intentionally disrupts it."
"It will bring down the ward restricting your movement and visibly smudge the chalk."
Saasnil smudges the chalk with her foot, wide-eyed.
infinitely-stranger
His wings fan out slightly, past the confines of the circle; he steps out of it.
"I don't want to conquer the world," he mutters to himself. "But if I'm going to do it anyway I'd better do it right."
Which takes precedence, learning more about the world he is compelled to conquer or getting out of his Queenscourt orders? Orders. He might learn something that triggers a conflicting contingency and prevents him from adequately handling the world-sized threat.
But while he's considering how best to do that, there's a loose end he can no longer justify putting off - "What is your husband's name?" he asks Keo.
"I don't want to conquer the world," he mutters to himself. "But if I'm going to do it anyway I'd better do it right."
Which takes precedence, learning more about the world he is compelled to conquer or getting out of his Queenscourt orders? Orders. He might learn something that triggers a conflicting contingency and prevents him from adequately handling the world-sized threat.
But while he's considering how best to do that, there's a loose end he can no longer justify putting off - "What is your husband's name?" he asks Keo.
"Kanaat Inular," she whimpers.
infinitely-stranger
"What is the nature of the connection that allows you to operate each other's bodies?"
"I established a mindlink with him years ago."
infinitely-stranger
Without asking questions specific enough to lead her in the direction of knowing that names are the involved factor just yet, he can probably assume that if he tells Keo his name, her husband will also know it. That is suboptimal. But Keo would make such a convenient order-reversal mechanism, if...
"Can you, without extraneous effects, communicate telepathically with me?"
"Can you, without extraneous effects, communicate telepathically with me?"
"Yes."
infinitely-stranger
"How precise is your telepathic communication in only receiving what is deliberately directed to you?"
"Arbitrarily."
infinitely-stranger
"You may, with maximal such precision, receive telepathic communication from me." Test that, and test that orders work telepathically: You may, without attempting to exploit this permission in any way hostile to my interests, communicate with me telepathically.
<Let the girls go. They're useless compared to me, nearly harmless, completely if you tell them to go quietly to the headmaster's office and sit with my husband there.>
infinitely-stranger
<I have not yet reached a point where I am able to address such relatively minor concerns,> he says.
<Let me explain to my brother what's going on. Please.>
infinitely-stranger
<Also falls under relatively minor concerns.>
So, does he tell her his name? Can't get her to feed him even if there is any food around; she's already his vassal. If he keeps control of everyone involved, having her and her husband know his name isn't much of a problem. And it lets him confine the entire process of unraveling his extraneous Queenscourt orders to private telepathic communication.
In which case...
He will have to be very careful about this. Getting a hostile vassal to mess around with your orders is a tricky business, to put it mildly. He can't allow any chance of Keo or her husband getting the upper hand on him.
<Expediently and without causing or allowing extraneous action, bring your husband into this room.>
So, does he tell her his name? Can't get her to feed him even if there is any food around; she's already his vassal. If he keeps control of everyone involved, having her and her husband know his name isn't much of a problem. And it lets him confine the entire process of unraveling his extraneous Queenscourt orders to private telepathic communication.
In which case...
He will have to be very careful about this. Getting a hostile vassal to mess around with your orders is a tricky business, to put it mildly. He can't allow any chance of Keo or her husband getting the upper hand on him.
<Expediently and without causing or allowing extraneous action, bring your husband into this room.>
A man who resembles Korulen pops into existence besides Keo.
infinitely-stranger
Arcane surveys his collected local vassals. (Does he need to collect Narax too? No, Kanaat is the one with the special connection. Narax is still a relatively minor concern.)
"Do not enforce any order that does more than rescind existing orders," he says to all of them; then to Keo and Kanaat, "Do not reveal my name to anyone by any means."
And then to Keo: <My name is Sierulyperinon. Via private telepathic communication, rescind the order that forbids me from seeking or allowing modification of my Queenscourt orders.>
Of course he is not meant to be able to seek modification of the order that forbids him from seeking modification of his orders. That would rather defeat the purpose. But with a later order compelling him to do something as delicate and complicated as conquer a world to the best of his ability, he is not only able but required to ensure that his ability is not hampered by possible conflicts from other orders that may have come later still.
He is also required to avoid exploiting loopholes and tell the Queen about them as soon as possible, but this isn't a loophole, it's a legitimate unforeseen contingency. In no way would it serve the Queen's interests for him to drop everything right now and seek a way home immediately so he can tell her that her well-crafted orders fail when one of her vassals is abruptly summoned to another world containing strange beings with unprecedented kinds of magic. The Queen's interests as defined in his orders are best served by him erasing most of the orders that compel him to serve her interests, so that he can focus on the single most important goal (contain threats and secure resources) without being forced to sabotage himself by orders given with insufficient foresight.
Which still leaves him being compelled to conquer the world against his will, but that's his problem.
"Do not enforce any order that does more than rescind existing orders," he says to all of them; then to Keo and Kanaat, "Do not reveal my name to anyone by any means."
And then to Keo: <My name is Sierulyperinon. Via private telepathic communication, rescind the order that forbids me from seeking or allowing modification of my Queenscourt orders.>
Of course he is not meant to be able to seek modification of the order that forbids him from seeking modification of his orders. That would rather defeat the purpose. But with a later order compelling him to do something as delicate and complicated as conquer a world to the best of his ability, he is not only able but required to ensure that his ability is not hampered by possible conflicts from other orders that may have come later still.
He is also required to avoid exploiting loopholes and tell the Queen about them as soon as possible, but this isn't a loophole, it's a legitimate unforeseen contingency. In no way would it serve the Queen's interests for him to drop everything right now and seek a way home immediately so he can tell her that her well-crafted orders fail when one of her vassals is abruptly summoned to another world containing strange beings with unprecedented kinds of magic. The Queen's interests as defined in his orders are best served by him erasing most of the orders that compel him to serve her interests, so that he can focus on the single most important goal (contain threats and secure resources) without being forced to sabotage himself by orders given with insufficient foresight.
Which still leaves him being compelled to conquer the world against his will, but that's his problem.
<I rescind that order.>
infinitely-stranger
<Via private telepathic communication, leaving in place the Queenscourt order concerning the handling of threats and resources, rescind all my other orders.>
Because, alas, getting rid of that order is not a feasible step in any plan to obey it.
Because, alas, getting rid of that order is not a feasible step in any plan to obey it.