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Pharazôn and Míriel's Isekai Honeymoon to Golarion
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It had not been long since Ar-Pharazôn had himself crowned King of Numenor.  But that had made little change in the great harbor-city of Umbar.

For generations, Umbar had been essentially the capital of the Numenorian viceroyalty in the northwest of Middle-Earth.  The Faithful might flock to Pelargir on Anduin, but the King's Men ruled from Umbar.  And so, when Tar-Palantir King of Numenor had declared himself Faithful and banned sorcery and reopened the road to the Hallow of Illuvatar on the Holy Mountain - Gimilkhad his brother had decamped to Umbar and ruled as viceroy from there while winking at all the decrees from the King.  After Gimilkhad had died, his son Pharazôn had done the same.  

And then, Pharazôn had declared himself King.

At that, Tar-Palantir had finally bestirred himself to do something about Umbar (both Pharazôn and Míriel agreed on that phrasing).  But now, Tar-Palantir was dead in battle, and his daughter Míriel had offered her hand in marriage to Ar-Pharazôn in exchange for peace and unity.

The two armies still faced each other on the coast of Middle-Earth somewhere between Pelargir and Umbar, and the news still had not reached the Isle of Numenor itself.  At some point, the new King and Queen would return to Armenelos in Numenor for their formal coronation and wedding, but - everyone was sure - the uneasy truce needed to set better first.


It wasn't yet two weeks after their betrothal that Tar-Míriel and Ar-Pharazôn were walking by the seashore.  Pharazôn had proposed it, for a place midway between their armies; Míriel had gladly accepted.  After all, it was usual to go courting before getting married.  And they did want to to know each other better.

After some talk about their armies, and about Pharazôn's previous visits to Numenor, they fell silent for a minute.  Míriel paused to listen to the waves thumping on the shore.  "Osse is beautiful today," she said.

Pharazôn grunted.  "And to think we thwarted his schemes, and the Music of the World, and all that.  No war, but peace.  We're reigning together."

Míriel shook her head.  "I don't think that way.  We don't know what the Music is.  It moves at its own tempo, regardless of what we might do.  And if the Valar are planning something - we don't know that either."

Pharazôn looked at her with surprise.  "Your father never would've said that."

"I'm not my father."

After a moment, Pharazôn gave one brief nod.  "Then let's see what the tempo is from here, as we rule."

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Does the Music perhaps contain a snake with a mirror where its head should be, lunging at them out of the sea-surf?

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Whether it does or not, Pharazôn steps forward, drawing his sword to kill this strange savage beast that dares menace him and his Queen -

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Míriel stands frozen, surprised almost as much by Pharazôn's response as the snake -

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Unfortunately, this is the sort of snake where hitting it with a sword does the opposite of making it go away!

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...

The snake is gone.

The rhythm of the sea-waves hasn't changed. But all their men have disappeared, the vegetation is subtly unfamiliar, and there are now buildings visible no more than a mile off. Which is perhaps good, because something seems to be warping their eyesight, as they cannot see more than a few miles away.

Also, the sun is setting (or rising) along one direction of the shore, instead of into the sea.

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Oooh, look everyone! We have visitors!

They'll be much more interesting with more power and some godsight on them, don't you think?

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...

They can be permitted to EXIST.

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The way they traveled here was really cool! And the woman's Good, but I don't think she's really a traveler at heart. The clericking vibes, they're just not there.

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She's not Lawful, either. I always have trouble with Neutral Good clerics, I'd rather stick to paladins.

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You're both silly.

She's Good. That means I vibe with her. End of story.

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This mortal is admirably committed to NOT DYING.

Doesn't seem to be very interested in BREEDING, but we can work on that later, after he STOPS DYING. At least he's been eating properly.

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Míriel and Pharazôn will abruptly discover they have some new mental... affordances, for lack of a better word, which comes with an instinctive association, though a different one for each of them. The warming caress of the Sun, and the inexplicable salience of... beetles?

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Míriel looks around, dumbfounded.  She glances up toward the Sun; even that feels strange somehow.

"What... was that?  ... Do you know?  Where we are?"

She doesn't think he does know anything; if Pharazôn had enough sorcery to do anything like this (if sorcery could do anything like this), things would've gone far differently long before now.  But she doesn't know what else to say.

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Pharazôn is also looking around in shock.

"... Somewhere in Middle-Earth, I assume?  Unless this is what Valinor is like?  Or I suppose the Dark Lands or Burnt Lands if we've gone that far?"

He throws up his hands and stares off down the shoreline, squinting his eyes at how things seem to disappear in the distance.  After a moment he notices a beetle crawling up his boot, but - strangely - he doesn't mind now.

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"This isn't Valinor.  No one would've brought us there."

She stares up at the sun again, and then adjusts her necklace with the Sun and Moon pendants to sit on top of her other necklace with the Star of Earendil.  It just feels right.  Which is a strange feeling - she can't remember the last time anything felt so right.

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"I didn't think so either.  Well, let's see where we are.  Someone should be down there.  Hopefully someone who knows a bit of Adûnaic."

He points to the village, which is fortunately before whatever magic is hiding whatever is far away from them, and offers Míriel his hand for the journey.

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Míriel takes it.  It would, after all, be fitting.  And they're working together now.

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The village is perhaps more of a small town, sitting on what may be a fairly well-traveled route. There are a few cobble-stoned streets, several dozen houses clustered closely together behind a palisade, and fields and farmhouses a bit farther off.

The people of the village, going about their business, speak an unfamiliar language.

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Mysteriously, as they walk, they can start to see things far ahead of them that were previously hidden by whatever strange magic was hiding things.

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Míriel feels hopeful when she sees the cobblestone streets.  Someone - some Numenorians, presumably - is improving this town.  There's trade.  Someone might even recognize one of them, or at least recognize her Star of Earendil necklace.

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Pharazôn agrees with Miriel about the streets, and mentions to her how his governors had been expanding their public works programs lately.

Once there're a lot of people around, he goes up to someone and calls a "Hello!" in Adûnaic.  If they don't recognize that, he'll try several other languages... but he'll leave it to Míriel to attempt Sindarin.

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Some people turn towards them curiously, but no-one seems to understand any of the languages he tries. Their rich clothing does seem to excite some commentary.

One of the locals gestures them uncertainly towards a central building, which seems to be of communal use. There are several outlines drawn inexpertly above and to the sides of the door: a person with wings (?), their arms outstretched with the Sun behind them; an upright sword, also paired with the sun, placed opposite the person; a bird with a long tail of many colors; a set of scales; a spiral with a bulbous end; a bow and arrow; a flower.

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Is that supposed to be... well, the person in the Sun is Arien, of course.  If they're trying to represent multiple Valar and Maiar, the bird might be Manwe or Yavanna... no, the flower is Yavanna.  The bulbous spiral looks like sea-snails so it's probably Ulmo or Osse.  The sword might be Tulkas or Orome?

She gestures to someone and asks those names, pointing to the symbols.

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They don't seem to recognize any of her names! But they can provide their own: the sun-person is Sarenrae, the sun-sword Iomedae, the bird Shelyn, the scales Abadar, the spiral Pharasma, the flower Milani, the bow is Erastil.

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Well, of course the Valar would have different names in different languages.  She hasn't heard this language before, so of course it makes sense she won't have heard those names.  Right?

She points up at the Sun in the sky and says "Sarenrae?"

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