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I'll be the princess
lintalai in arcadia
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Lintalai's running late for school - her boot zipper broke and she had to find another pair, only many of her other pairs are not currently with their mates and the ones that are prove not to fit any longer. Eventually she puts on an unseasonable pair of sandals, skips breakfast, shoves her blue food coloring in her pocket to sneak in the bathroom or skip if she doesn't get a chance, and catches the train.

Her stop lets out in a big quad zoned for schools, with several such buildings surrounding; there's green kids over there, yellow ones there, an intercaste school, three purple schools, an orange school. And hers, full of blues, one of the largest schools on the quad even though there aren't as many blues as anyone else, presumably because there are more schools for all the other castes elsewhere in the city and out in the sticks.

She heads up the steps - hers is the only school with steps, probably because they wanted them to be dramatically marble - and goes in -

- that's not school -

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That is a swirl of colors that lasts for only an instant, though it is somewhat disorienting-

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and- that is also not school. That is a field of cultivated flowers, grains, and assorted other plants neatly organized into rows. The sky is blue, though clouded over. A gentle breeze blows, and the plants move with it. In the distance, there are buildings, though none of them seem quite as tall as Lintalai might expect.

That is not school, and there is in fact no sign of the school anywhere nearby.

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If this is how the aliens have chosen to collect her she is not impressed with their timing, their telegraphing, or their choice of landing site.

Her pocket everything has no service.

She sighs and tromps between the tulips toward the nearest farmhouse-looking building.

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Oddly, none of the buildings look quite right for farmhouses. She's welcome to approach any of them anyway.

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...what is unfarmhouselike about the buildings.

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These buildings are quite small. At most, you could fit a family of four, and some seem smaller still. More importantly, perhaps, there is no sign of barns, sheds, or silos, the accoutrements that a farmer might need in a farmhouse. They do all come with perfectly-manicured lawns, and small, neat little gardens. One of the houses has curtains, which are pulled shut when Lintalai looks at them.

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Maybe they have silos and basements underground, or something. She knows that kids' books about farms are not perfectly accurate.

She approaches a Tiny Farmhouse and knocks.

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It takes a few moments, but a woman answers the door. She does not look especially tiny for an Amentan, though she does seem somewhat surprised to see Lintalai.

She says something entirely incomprehensible.

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"Do you speak Anitami? - or Tapap, or Oahkar, or Voan?" She's not great at Voan but she can ask to borrow a pocket everything that gets service here in it.

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The woman shakes her head. She- doesn't seem to have much idea of what to do next, but she does turn her head to call for someone inside the Tiny Farmhouse.

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Meanwhile, Lintalai can see someone else peeking their head from behind the woman.

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And someone comes down the staircase, waving politely at the child who has decided to greet them.

After a brief conversation with the older woman, he says something in another unfamiliar language.

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She tries her four languages again.

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Some more conversation.

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Some nodding.

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She says something which Lantalai does not understand, but this time incorporates gestures. She points into the distance, behind Lintalai, and moves her arm in a sinuous motion that could suggest a wave, or a snake, or perhaps some other undulating object or concept. It's not the most helpful attempt at communication.

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Lintalai pulls out her pocket everything to see if the translation app works without connectivity.

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There ensues some pointing at the device, accompanied by questioning faces.

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The little girl bounds forward and starts chattering away, reaching for the pocket everything.

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One of the adults stops her, speaking to her sternly.

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The translation app consents to attempt to listen to these people without being connected.

It has no idea what they're speaking.

Oh dear.

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He says something to his wife.

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She heads off, and returns within a minute with a piece of paper and a quill. She begins to draw, and within another minute or so, has drawn a house, as well as an arrow pointing away from the house and towards what seems to be a quadrupedal stick figure with a line extending from its head.

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Lintalai puts her pocket everything away. All these people having brown hair is starting to sink in. She looks uncomprehendingly at the drawing.

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The woman points emphatically at the drawing of the stick figure quadraped, and tries (badly) to mimic 'Do you speak Anitami? - or Tapap, or Oahkar, or Voan?' in those four languages.

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"I don't know what the thing you drew is!"

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Well, she doesn't know what to do with that. More conversation.

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The child pulls at her mother's pant leg. There is a conversation held at a slightly different pitch, as her mother talks down to her daughter.

Her daughter pouts.

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She points at the drawing again, and at the pocket everything. She says something, and points to her ear, and then to her mouth. Then the woman gestures outside the house, past Lintalai, pointing into the distance at another cluster of buildings.

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"Should I go - there?" Lintalai takes a few steps toward the cluster.

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She nods! She moves to follow her, rubbing the man's shoulder before she goes.

She walks a bit faster than Lintalai, though she keeps looking back to make sure the girl is keeping up.

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Okay, Lintalai can follow her.

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They pass through more fields of various plants, some that she recognizes and some she does not. This time, there are some people here. One reaches down to one of the plants, yanks on the leaves, and pulls up what seems to be a red carrot approximately the length of her head. This person also, unlike people she knows, has ears that are a bit too pointed.

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...some people are just kind of weird looking. But wow that's a big carrot.

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And eventually, they come to another cluster of buildings. These are longer than the Tiny Farmhouses she saw before, and there are plenty of people milling about- as well as things that look nothing like Amentans or these cheap hair-dye aliens. Some have grey-ish skin, some have pointed ears, and others still are about her size but resemble adults otherwise.

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These are clearly aliens and are not even her kind of alien! Her kind of alien might have brown hair but wouldn't be gray or pointy-eared. - probably. She doesn't know what the natural variance is. But her kind of alien should speak her mystery language, right, which they don't - admittedly she didn't try it - "Do you know this one?" she asks in her alien language.

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She seems equally befuddled by that one, but also somewhat distracted.

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And then the people around them begin to gasp, and Lintalai can see an equine figure, taller than an adult Amentan and longer, too. It approaches them slowly, golden scales glittering in the sunlight. Its hooves and long, shining horn are pink, and the thick mane of hair around it glows faintly.

"Hello. Welcome to The Peaceable Kingdoms of Arcadia," it says in Anitami.

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"...Hello, and thank you." It is probably not diplomatic to go "where the blazes am I".

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"I apologize if your arrival was abrupt. It seems you have not come here in the ordinary fashion. Do you recall how you came here?"

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"I don't know how at all. I walked in the front door to my school and then there were colors and I was over there." She points.

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"You may have traveled to the Peaceable Kingdoms through a portal. Those do have the most wondrous colors, like the Astral Plane set free of its boundaries and spilling onto the canvas of reality..."

There's a pause while the quadruped is lost in thought.

"Returning is often more difficult. Portals within this plane are carefully guarded, young prime."

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"Prime?"

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"Prime. A visitor to the Peaceable Kingdoms of Arcadia, whose origin is the Prime Material Plane. That is the plane where most worlds that are home to creatures like you and the woman who brought you to me for translation originally hail from. Humans, halflings, half-elves, half-orcs...Amentans."

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"I don't know what those other ones are." Also she's not an Amentan really, but that's just details.

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"There is much your language does not know, it seems. Languages. You have more than I would expect from most your age, if I am guessing your age correctly. A very capable young woman. Humans are creatures such as the ones that you met. They quite resemble Amentans, excepting the hair and the- behavior during springtime. Humans behave that way throughout the year, but to a greatly reduced degree. Half-elves resemble humans, excepting the ears. Halflings resemble humans, excepting their height. You will come to learn if you make Arcadia your home."

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"My dads will miss me if I'm disappeared forever."

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"Oh, dear. I suppose primes do typically have families when they don't die before arriving."

The quadruped thinks about this.

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"Who's guarding the portals?"

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"The Harmonium, I'm afraid. They consider themselves responsible for eradicating...eradicating...eradicating evil...across the Peaceable Kingdoms in particular but also the world at large. Young prime, does this language lack the word for...yes, it would seem so. Evil. Selfishness. Myopia. Achievement. Supremacy. Determination. Hmm. My apologies, I am simply learning the deficiencies of Anitami. As I was saying, the Harmonium defends the portals from those who might choose to exploit them. They will hear your petition if you seek to ask them, but very few here are used to operating on timescales which take mortality into account. I will accompany you, if you wish, to help you make your case."

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"Is it far?"

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"It is. However, I may not have been clear. Your home must be on the Prime Material Plane, for that is where such worlds as Amenta can be found. The portals on Arcadia only lead to the Seven Heavens of Mount Celestia, the Clockwork Nirvana of Mechanus, and the Concordant Opposition of the Outlands. To return home will require a great journey across the planes, or finding a spellcaster on this plane who may be able to take you home."

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"There are spellcasters? Where do I find those?"

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"They are somewhat rare on this plane, but I can introduce you. Shall we do that, then, young prime? And perhaps, if you have a name, you could share it with me."

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"Sorry, I'm Lintalai. What's your name?"

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"I have no name that you could pronounce in any language, but you may choose a fitting name for me in whichever of your languages you like. Please, pick something somewhat dignified, if only to prevent embarrassment should I ever meet your fathers."

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"Wow, okay, I'll have to think about that... is it a long walk to the spellcasters? I fall down a lot if I walk a long way."

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"Have you ever ridden on a- horse before?"

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"No but I've seen it in movies. Can I ride you?"

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"If it would make our journey quicker, I am quite willing to allow you to ride me. Also, I believe I should clarify: I have been named before. However, my true name is impossible to pronounce, and so when I meet someone who wishes to refer to me by name, I choose a name in their language. As the first speaker of your languages that I have met, you are free to choose a name in any of them."

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It will be her intrepid steed. "Intrepid," she says, trying to figure out how to climb onto it.

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"Intrepid. Quite right."

The ki-rin will wait patiently while Lintalai attempts to climb it, although it cannot do much to assist.

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The woman from earlier does approach, saying something.

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The ki-rin replies, in a language Lintalai does not understand.

To her, it says: "Ermina has offered to assist you. I will do my best as well, young prime."

And the ki-rin attempts to help. It doesn't really do much, but it's a valiant effort.

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With Ermina's help Lintalai can get on Intrepid the magic horse.

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"One more thing before we go, Lintalai. I would prefer to speak to you telepathically as we travel, for concentrating on moving quickly and safely can be challenging while speaking aloud. Do you accept telepathic communication, or do you prefer we speak more once we arrive at our destination?"

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"...is it just like talking or is it like reading minds?"

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"It is much more like talking than reading minds. In the Peaceable Kingdoms, we value creating rules that promote the good of everyone, and we currently have a rule against mind reading, with specific exceptions that are agreed to by all parties involved."

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"Okay, then telepathy instead of talking out loud is fine."

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Then they may ride. Intrepid takes Lintalai through the rolling fields of Arcadia. As they travel, it becomes increasingly clear that the keyword for this place is 'order'. Everything that grows here grows in natural clusters of related things. The animals all travel in groups, and the streams that she sees bend at sharp, ninety degree angles.

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Intrepid tries to provide a primer on what she might need to know.

Arcadia is the plane of lawful goodness. Individuals often sacrifice for the need of others, and everyone forms stable, trusted agreements with one another. We have rules, laws, and norms designed to ensure harmony. Visitors who will not agree to abide by those are treated differently, because we cannot trust them, but not unkindly. You are such a visitor, until and unless you agree to follow our rules.

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What are all your rules? ...also why are your rivers on a grid.

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I am not sure what you mean by the rivers. You refer to their shape? That is how the rivers in the Peaceable Kingdoms form. I have heard that this plane's geography was unusual for Prime worlds, but I have never visited one to compare.

As for our rules, there are many, and they vary based on where in Arcadia you go. However, before going anywhere, you will be asked to agree to the laws and rules that would affect you. Some rules that are common throughout the plane include the edicts against advertising, extortion, invasion of personal space, murder, slavery, and surveillance. These are nearly universal.

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Rivers on Amenta are curvy. I guess they might turn like that if the ground were shaped like that. ...why is advertising illegal?

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I have not questioned many of these laws, as they do not affect behaviors I am motivated to attempt. Typically, the underlying logic of every law in the Peaceable Kingdoms of Arcadia depends on whether some action helps the person taking the action disproportionately to how much it helps others. Most laws also aim to prevent harm to others, although not all. You would need to ask someone who makes laws for more detail.

Do you have any other questions so far? I will answer those before I attempt to think of other important differences between our plane and the Prime Material.

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Who makes all these laws?

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In places where there is an avatar ruling a region, they make the laws, typically after consulting their proxies and petitioners. Similarly, if a proxy rules, they make the laws after consulting their god and their god's petitioners. Otherwise, the laws are made by ordinary rulers such as yourselves.

Certain rules becomes universal because they are part of agreements made between different realms, towns, and other settlements. The rules against theft and advertisement became universal in this way, although I am not sure of the others.

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What's an avatar? Or a god?

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A god is an incredibly powerful being which attracts worshippers because of their incredible power and their alignment with one of the Outer Planes. The Outer Planes are planes which are created and sustained by the beliefs of primes like yourself.

An avatar is- a specific physical manifestation of a god. In the way that you are only a single instance of the concept of 'Lintalai', which could perhaps take on multiple physical forms that were nonetheless a 'Lintalai', an avatar is only a single instance of a god, which may have differences from other avatars.

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Huh! Who's in charge of this part of Arcadia?

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The part we are traveling through is somewhat neutral territory. It is aligned with the concept of law, and somewhat with the concept of goodness, as all of the Peaceable Kingdoms of Arcadia are, but not any specific god.

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How do people's beliefs create places like this?

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I am not sure how to explain it. Perhaps I can say there is no sufficient explanation. The Prime Material Plane is composed of a combination of two major components, broadly speaking: elements, and beliefs. The Inner Planes are made up only of elements. The Outer Planes are made up only of beliefs. In the Prime Material Plane and in the Outer Planes, people have opinions, and interests, and values. In the Inner Planes, the natives do not. They are their elements, and that is all. There is no- there is thinking, but there are no beliefs.

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I don't get that at all, how do they think without having beliefs? - also how are things here not made of elements. The rivers have water in them and the air has air in it and stuff...

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Oh, the rivers resemble water because enough primes believe that Arcadia should contain rivers full of water. They have not always existed here. If enough people believed something else, that would be true. This is not true water- it is not necessary for the survival of anyone in Arcadia, and I believe it may not react with other substances the way Prime water does.

As for how something can think without having beliefs, I mean to say they think more in the way a very clever animal can think. They can have preferences and form limited opinions, but they do not reason.

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Oh. Huh. ...am I going to die here if the things aren't real.

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That is among many things I intend to ask about. Visitors to Arcadia are much more fragile than natives. However, there are people on Arcadia who can resurrect the dead. If something does go wrong, you do not need to worry.

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I mean I need - real water - She isn't sure she actually needs food but she's pretty sure about the water.

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Oh, I see. How- urgently do you need that? We may need to divert our course.

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I usually drink water several times a day. But I'm not going to die of thirst like right now. ...I would expect to need real air too. Even if it's not the same part of the air that animals need.

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It is possible that I do not understand the needs of primes well enough. As you are not dying yet, I will not petition my god for aid. We will visit someone who may know more about the needs of visitors and may have some solution.

Intrepid changes direction, without slowing down, and continues running at the same speed.

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Thank you. Are the people who can resurrect the dead the same spellcasters who might be able to get me in touch with Amenta?

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No, they are not. Astral spellcasters can resurrect the dead, while ordinal spellcasters can perform planar travel. Perhaps there is overlap in allowing communication. I am not a spellcaster myself, as I have little need of magic, and thus have not learned all of the details.

Perhaps I should explain spellcasting in greater detail. What is it that spellcasting in your world cannot accomplish? I will begin with describing things which are likely to be of most interest to you and to your world.

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We actually don't have spellcasting on Amenta at all.

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Spellcasting in the Prime can accomplish a great deal that cannot be done without it. I have heard stories of magic allowing primes to pass through walls, of skipping a day of time, of summoning beings from other planes, even of granting wishes. Magic can work via the assistance of the gods of the Outer Planes or by mastering the elements that comprise the Inner Planes, as well as other methods I am less familiar with.

Magic on the Outer Planes is more limited, partially due to its sources, I believe. To answer those questions, I recommend you go to an expert. In due time.

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We're going to one now, right? Can I learn to cast spells? What do you mean by sources?

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We are applying to a spellcaster for aid, yes, but not one I know for her scholarship. She is simply the nearest spellcaster I believe may know more about primes, especially Amentans. In most ways, you seem to resemble humans, dwarves, and various associated hybrid species, and so I believe she will know how to advise you.

I believe most primes can learn to cast spells if they dedicate themselves to honing their souls. As for sources- most spellcasters must add to their own soul's power using an external source of power. These include the Astral Plane, the Ethereal Plane, the Feywild, the Shadowfell, and the Prime Material Plane itself. Spellcasters here do not have access to the Ethereal Plane, the Feywild, or the Shadowfell, and additionally, they must remain in alignment with Arcadia.

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...I'm actually not a normal Amentan.

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I will need to notify the spellcaster of this if she will help you sustain yourself here. Is that acceptable to you? She likely cannot translate between herself and you, so I will need to perform that function.

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Yeah. I think it's probably fine to tell people here. We don't know where I came from, I just appeared one day and my dads adopted me, but I seem to be a plant for some reason.

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You do not seem to be a plant to me, but I admit I do not know much about the Prime. It must be uncommon to just appear one day, no?  Primes typically must give birth in some fashion. Were your dads surprised?

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They were really surprised. They think I'm an alien but if all these other planes exist I kind of wonder if I'm from one of those somehow. I don't remember anything from before I showed up in Anitam so I don't know if I was born or what.

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Perhaps we can assist you with discovering more about your origins. Could you tell me about Amenta's major problems, as you understand them? If you would like to begin with problems your dads and yourself face, that is quite acceptable as well.

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There isn't enough space for everyone to have all the kids they want, and people want to get rid of reds and there's nowhere they can go and that's causing tons of problems, and there are countries that have bad governance, and there's occasionally wars and stuff?

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You are running out of space? Are people not dying frequently enough? Also, could you elaborate on what reds are? The rest of these problems sound familiar from other Prime worlds.

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People die but they want more than two children each. Reds are a caste? They're the caste that deals with polluted things.

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I have always wondered why primes do not kill themselves when they have problems due to lack of space. Perhaps Zienni will know the answer.

Arcadia does not have castes. They are considered an unpopular system of solving problems that we do not have in the Peaceable Kingdoms very often. Some Prime worlds do not have castes, although I believe it varies. Sometimes they have slavery, or priesthoods- are those familiar to you?

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Well, if people kill themselves they don't get to meet the children they're making room for. Amenta doesn't have slavery or priesthoods.

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I see! It may be that castes are much better than slavery and priesthoods for solving the problem of unwanted duties, on Prime worlds. You can ask her when we arrive.

Oh, my apologies, I did not introduce her properly. Zienni is the spellcaster I will introduce you to. We are nearly there now. I am communicating with her now so that she is prepared for our arrival.

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Does that take a lot of preparing?

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I am not sure, so I thought it courteous to warn her. Some spellcasters require time to prepare, and of course she could have been otherwise occupied.

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That makes sense.

On the question of whether she will starve here, she has one possible answer: if she looks at the flora they pass, does it Look Like Food™?

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Most of the flora appears to be Food™, in fact. There are a few plants that appear to not be food; at a glance, they look very little like plants, more closely resembling meat in color and texture.

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Wow, meat plants, that's kind of cool for people who aren't her. I think I would have noticed by now if the air weren't okay, and the food looks like food, I have a magic sense for whether food is edible to me... so probably the water and sunshine are also okay.

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It joys me to hear that. We are also about to arrive, so if there are any other questions you have about how Prime visitors adapt to the Peaceable Kingdoms, Zienni will answer them.

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Lintalai can see- a nearly identical set of buildings as to the Tiny Farmhouses. There is a figure standing outside one of them, waving as they approach.

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Lintalai waves from aboard Intrepid.

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And as they get closer, Lintalai can see a person standing at about three feet tall, darker-skinned, wearing bright clothes that are simple in design and pattern.

She says something in another language.

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She says 'Hello, it's a pleasure to meet you'. From now on, I will only translate for you both, until such a time that you have said all that you need to say.

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"Hello, it's nice to meet you, my name is Lintalai."

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By ki-rin proxy (which the narration will no longer mention, since it can be assumed that Intrepid is telepathically translating) and after an according delay:

"My name is Zienni Hilltopple. I hear that you just came in from a new Prime world! I've never heard of an 'Amenta' before! What's it like?"

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"Um, we don't have any magic, or gods, or anybody like you or Intrepid, and rivers are curvy, and there's no other not-Amentan civilizations we talk to there."

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She looks confused by the mention of Intrepid, and then presently, less confused. She nods.

"On my home world, we do have magic, and some of the gods intervene there. Not as many as they seem to have in Arcadia, though, only three. I take it many more exist in the wide multiverse, but I haven't traveled much of it yet. Rivers are curvy on most Prime worlds, apparently, that's how they are naturally. It's only Outer Planes like Arcadia that don't make any sense! Does Amenta know about traveling between worlds? Some of the Prime worlds have managed to travel between one another, even! Does Amenta have space travel?"

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"We have enough of it to get to and from moons, and even other planets in the solar system, but people don't like to live there because they don't have seasons even if you build stuff on them that you can live in. We don't have good enough travel to get to other stars and check them for good habitable planets."

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"Do you think I could help with that? I'm good at making it easier to- oh, that's right, that's why you're here. Sorry, we can get back to talking about space travel in a minute. Intrepid says you're worried about getting basic sustenance for your species, is that right? What do you folks need to survive?"

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"I'm not a normal Amentan. I'm some kind of mysterious plant alien that looks like an Amentan. I need sunshine and water and some but not many plants to eat. But so far I'm fine and the plants look like food to my food-sense so I think maybe even if the sunshine and water and plants are made of belief they're okay."

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"Yes, I've never found there to be any issues with food and water. There are sometimes issues with sunshine, but I think if it's a form of sustenance, you should be fine. Most who run into trouble are using it for power or something similar. Would providing food to your planet help solve-"

A pause.

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I have explained the red caste, Intrepid tells Lintalai. Apparently it is less common on Prime worlds than I believed.

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"Okay, wow. But the caste system has nothing to do with the over-population problem, right? What's causing that? Did the planet just get full before you invented space travel?"

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"Yeah, that's separate, and the planet is mostly ocean and we're not using all of the land but we're using most of the land that's good for people to live on."

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"Your poor things! Okay. How are the plant aliens and the Amentans divvying up the land? Would more land help this problem? If we could bring people to Arcadia, that might help- the Outer Planes are all infinite, did you know? Intrepid, you should tell people that sooner! It's more of a big deal than planars usually realize, they're used to how things work out here."

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"I don't know anything about the other plant aliens, I just showed up in a basket one day and got adopted out. More land would help a lot and bringing people to Arcadia if it's infinite would help a lot!"

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"I can also help if there are any food shortages, that one is easy...I can give you a full list of my capabilities when I've had more time to think, sorry. Right now I'm thinking about how space travel could change my home, which is selfish of me. Intrepid also says you might be interested in learning spellcasting, but I bet he didn't explain how it works."

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"He did not."

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"I won't explain everything I know to you unless you want to hear it, since not all of it applies in Arcadia. Basically, the most important thing to understand is that the Prime Material Plane borders some other planes, and people can align their bodies or souls with those planes. Spellcasters are people who align their souls with other planes. With me so far?"

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"Not... especially. I don't really know what a soul is..."

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There is a pause while Intrepid and Zienni confer.

Lintalai, do your people know of what happens to you after you die? Some primes do not understand the details very well, even though the Peaceful Kingdoms of Arcadia have worked to improve their knowledge.

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"Well, the Peaceable Kingdoms have never talked to any Amentans as far as I know and Amentans don't think anything happens to people when they die? They stop being people and start being bodies that don't think and they rot."

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-I am sorry. I will- we will- I will continue translating until the conversation has concluded, and then I will leave to mourn them.

Intrepid returns to translating.

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"They don't understand death the way we do," she says. "Anyway. Souls are the parts of us that carry on after we die, even though most of us on my own world didn't know that at the time. Souls are the parts of halflings- sorry, people in general- that think and dream. Amentans and plant aliens might not work the same way, though, if you don't persist after death. I can show you some basic spells that take less time to learn, and if those work, we can go from there?"

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"I would love to learn some spells."

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"Alright! My spells mostly rely on- oh, I didn't explain anything properly, phooey! Okay, so I'm the kind of spellcaster that aligned my soul with the Astral Plane. That means that I worshiped my god and I gained power to cast spells through her. Now, I don't align myself with the Astral anymore, I align myself with Arcadia itself. It's much closer. I can draw a map of the planes as I understand them, later. Now, if I teach you these spells, you'll need to try to align yourself with Arcadia. The lower-level spells, though, should work as long as you have a soul. Which part of that do you want me to explain before I start teaching? I'm sure I'm missing something obvious, Intrepid said you don't have gods..."

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"I don't know what it would be like to align myself with a plane? Or worship a god but it sounds like I don't need to do that part."

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"No need for worship at this stage, yeah. Orisons work without it. To align yourself with Arcadia, you just need to think about the things about yourself that fit within its values. Arcadia is about- harmony, stability, peace. It's about order and lasting agreements that make things safer for more people. Is there anything you like about Amenta that sounds like that? If I were you, I would think about those things, and think about what a good government looks like to you."

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"Huh, okay. My dads work in the national government and I learn about it a lot in school..." She contemplates these values.

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After letting her think for a bit, Zienni (via Intrepid) interrupts.

"If it doesn't feel that different, that's alright. You can't always tell when you're doing it. We need to add the orison. I know a few, but let's start with the one that improves memory. First, let me cast it on you- it will help you remember things you learn within the next minute. You will hear me chant some words; try your best to remember those, but if you don't, that's alright. I'll repeat them again, and this time you'll find that whatever you hear will be easier to learn."

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"Oh, that's a cool spell! Okay, I'm ready."

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Zienni chants the spell.

"Oh, Lady of Rivers, flood our minds with enriching waters. Let the soil grow moist as the waters retreat, and let the seeds of information we plant sprout into great trees of knowledge, with many branches. Oh, Bountiful Lady, let our memories grow perfectly, in an orderly fashion for later harvest, as do the plants of Arcadia's Peaceable Kingdoms."

And then, though Lintalai does not feel any different, Zienni repeats the chant. She manages to repeat the chant nearly three times before the spell ends.

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It's weird that it doesn't feel like anything! Lintalai would really have expected it to feel like something. She wants to write down the chant so she can compare with something else and see if she does really remember it better but she doesn't want to run down the charge on her pocket everything before she's decided what the best use of it is. Fortunately it seems like Zienni has it plenty memorized herself. Lintalai repeats all the words.

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Lintalai does find that she can recall the chant a bit more easily, although that could be due to the repetition.

Once again, she doesn't feel any different.

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"When you successfully cast an orison, it should feel like something. It'll feel like- the things you feel about your government- at least, the good things about it, or about your society and its ability to stay peaceful and harmonious."

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She re-focuses on - all the other kids at her school spending their whole childhoods trying to become the sort of people who turn out to be the best at running a society, one that - it's not good that no one can leave but it's good that the Council and all the other national-level politicians take it seriously that people can't leave, that they have to be okay for everyone who is born in Anitam. On her dads working late trying to make it so that regardless of everyone else's personal virtue, all the self-interested incentives point at the right thing.

She repeats the words again.

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No difference in how she feels. Nothing happens at all.

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Zienni frowns.

"Okay. I think that might just mean you don't have a soul. I'm glad I remembered to test with an orison, at least. There still could be a way to teach you spellcasting if you're willing to talk to a god, but we can save that for later. Um, remind me again of your priorities? Intrepid explained what you told him, but I want to make sure I understand right. Fixing issues back in Amenta is one, but to do that we need to reach Amenta. Getting you back home, at least to visit...what else?"

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"It'd be good to establish enough transit that some Amentans can come colonize the infinite plane! If I can do that then my dads will understand if I don't get in touch with them right away."

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"Alright. Um, if you don't have a soul, it's especially important to make sure you don't die, and maybe to make it so instead you go to one of our Outer Planes instead. Does that sound like a sensible priority to add to your list?"

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"I would rather not die," she agrees. "Are you sure I don't have a soul? There isn't anything else that would make it not work, like me not knowing who the Lady is?"

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"Back home, spellcasting used our souls. People here can cast magic with the help of the gods, though, so maybe we can do something with that. Also, maybe we can make you a soul! No one really knows how they work."

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Personally, I think it is unlikely that you can create a soul, but don't discouraged her from it unless she makes it her utmost priority. She prefers working on many projects simultaneously.

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"Would giving me a soul do anything to me?"

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"It would mean that after you die, you would go to one of the Outer Planes...you could use it for spellcasting...both of those are, as far as I understand it, the result of aligning yourself with planes or gods, which you need a soul to do! If you decide to consider the option, I can do some digging on the topic."

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"Yeah I mean would it do anything else, would it make me different somehow?"

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"Oh. Hmm. Aligning yourself with a plane might make you different, if it's not something you normally think. It would be like changing your mind, but when you align your soul, that happens more quickly. I've found it very useful, but if you like what you think right now, you might want to change that on your own before trying to align yourself with anything! Just having the soul shouldn't change anything, but I promise to do my research before trying to give you one."

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"I don't want something else to change my mind!"

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"That's not really how I would think of it, but I understand that. For now, we can work on making it harder for you to die, how about that?"

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"That sounds good."

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She explains some of her current capabilities! She can communicate with people traveling in the Astral Plane. She can sense the presence of astral travelers when they're in a part of the plane contiguous to her location in Arcadia (as long as she casts with a group of people). She can protect herself or others from Chaotic creatures and beings, as well as remove or reduce a person or group of people's Chaotic alignment. She can lighten the weight of the objects someone is carrying, as well as create food or water.

That is most of what she can do on her own, anyway.

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"What does it mean to be Chaotic-aligned?"

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"Chaotic-aligned folks are people aligned with one of the Chaotic Outer Planes! It's a broad category, and not always useful, but usually Chaotic folks would disturb how things work in Arcadia, so it's best not to encourage them to immigrate. They tend to care about- freedom, creativity, independence, setting your own priorities, excitement, novelty, sensory pleasure, variety, nature, and beauty. Obviously, people in Arcadia can care about some of those things, but- if you care about too many, it can start to change things. The Outer Planes depend on belief, after all!"

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"...all of those sound good, though!"

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"You could be Chaotic! Chaotic folks can be perfectly nice, but there's a bit of a trade-off between some things they care about and some things Lawful people care about. I like there to be consistent rules that I can follow with my neighbors, so that we can trust each other for certain things- but a Chaotic person might want to have a little more flexibility. I like to know how magic works, so I work to learn about it- but a Chaotic person might like to be surprised by it! Does that help?"

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"I would rather know how magic works and there do have to be rules for neighbors to get along if they're just neighbors and not friends."

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"Maybe you're Neutral! Some people are that way, too. Would you say that you care a lot about improving conditions for people you know? Are you helpful, responsible, loyal, and forgiving? Or maybe you’re not that way for people you know as much, but you are for strangers? Or maybe try really hard to succeed, so you can show off the cool things you’ve done? Maybe you like having power over people and things and you want to use that power to get things done, and maybe you want people to like you for doing that! Those are all Neutral things, more than they are Lawful or Chaotic."

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"Some of that sounds like me? I don't know if I'm especially loyal and forgiving. But I think I'm helpful and responsible and I try hard to do cool things and I am very excited to be old enough to do blue stuff which is mostly having power and it would be good if then I got things done and people liked me for that."

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Zienni clearly says something, but Intrepid doesn't translate.

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I am sorry, young Lintalai. I will need to stop translating for some time. Please communicate now anything that Zienni will need to know to keep you satisfied until I next return. It may be several hours.

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"- where are you going? - um, I will need the bathroom eventually. And if you're gone long enough also a shower and somewhere to sleep."

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I must grieve for all the dead and dying of your world, who may rot until there is nothing left of them, body or soul.

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"Oh, bathroom, meaning- right! Uh, we don't really have much of a system since none of us need it. I'll pray and ask if there's any reason the rivers wouldn't just take care of it."

She does that.

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Intrepid waits.

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"The rivers should take care of everything. I'll find a way for us to set up shop down by the river, then. Intrepid, can you drop us off there?"

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Interpid is already bending down while translating.

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"- I can't go to the bathroom in a river! Then everything downstream would be polluted!"

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Blink blink.

"Sorry, but I don't understand the problem. The rivers will magically handle your, uh, waste material. There's no need to worry."

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"Oh. I guess it's fine if they're magic enough."

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"Yes. It's one of the convenient facts about Arcadia. Most of the concerns I had when I was still living never followed me here. I hadn't given this one much thought until I prayed about it, because I no longer have the same needs as living people. Will showering in the river be a problem for you? The word that you said, 'polluted', it translated very strangely...there were so many concepts Intrepid sent to me, all jumbled together that I couldn't really make sense of them."

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"If the river's magically clean I can take a bath in it and that'll be okay."

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Then they can get on Intrepid and move closer to the river. The scenery is much the same.

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And they arrive.

Goodbye, Lintalai. I shall see you soon. I hope the language barrier does not trouble you while I am gone.

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"Thank you for your help!" she chirps.

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Intrepid rides off into the distance.

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Time passes. Zienni can only communicate so well without translation, but she thinks she can mime eating and drinking well enough, and Lintalai can manage going to the bathroom and showering now that she knows how. Zienni will politely look away, although she doesn't seem to want to let Lintalai go to far from her.

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Looking away suffices. Lintalai doesn't need a shower right away, she took one this morning; she nibbles plants if Zienni mimes that they are okay to nibble.

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Zienni is maybe over-confident about which plants are Food™, but as long as Lintalai asks for verification of plants her internal sense approves of, this works out just fine.

Zienni spends a good amount of this time chanting, or closing her eyes and smiling.

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One odd thing about the plant life in Arcadia is that any trees that Lintalai sees appear to look the wrong color. None of the other plants have this feature, even the meat plants.

After some time, it also transpires that the sun is not, precisely, moving through the sky, even though the light is changing. In fact, it more closely resembles a moon in that it seems to have changed phases. A small sliver of the 'sun' seems to be dark.

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Those seem like acceptable traits for a magical realm, though they are very curious.

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And in time, Intrepid rejoins them.

Lintalai. Are you well?

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"I'm fine, thank you!"

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"I remembered so many things to tell you, oh my gosh! Okay, so the Storm Kings- there are gods that live in Arcadia who control the weather. There are storms every three to seven days. And the orb, you want to make sure that when day turns to night or night to day, close your eyes! You'll see the change coming, it's a big sweeping line between the two. I know, it's confusing the first time. You'll adjust!"

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Amused: I will stop here there while you process, and then translate the rest. I have told her that, as you can see.

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Indeed, Zienni seems excited to share everything she thought of with Lintalai.

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"Why do you have to close your eyes when night and day switch?"

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"Eyes need to adjust to the light and darkness. Is that different on your world? How fascinating. Do you see the same colors that I do?"

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Additionally, she mentioned that you might want to see some of the existing governments on Arcadia so you have an idea for starting your own.

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"It's a good idea to close my eyes when it gets bright but I don't see how it would help when it gets dark. - I'm going to start a government?"

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"Oh, I just assumed you would. Most people do! Not all of them continue with it for very long, of course, because most people who belong on Arcadia want to follow rules more than make them, but someone has to do the making! I suppose if you're a visitor, it might not be the kind of thing you're very well aligned with."

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"Most people start governments? I guess if they mostly don't want to keep doing it they'd be able to find people to live in their polities... who will want to live in mine, I want to know who I'm making it for."

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"Oh, I don't know exactly. There are people who all live together in a town where they only follow Arcadia's certain basic laws, and it's called Lawless . We have groups of nomads, but I've never traveled with them. I myself don't live under a government, but I follow the most common laws even while I travel, just to be polite to the polities that I visit."

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"How do people usually start governments?"

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"Hmm. I think you just pick a place where you want to set the laws that no one else is already doing that. Intrepid?"

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Most governments on Arcadia begin simply by finding people with whom to establish agreements or to set laws for, and doing so. I would recommend finding out more about other governments, and then finding a set of laws you approve of that is somewhat unique.

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"So like a bunch of field trips, and then I announce my own constitution? - without advertising, somehow?"

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-oh, yes, I see now. 'Advertising' as they use the term in Anitam is a concept with some history, it seems. You may express clearly what you offer that others do not, but you cannot suggest immigration to those who are not looking to emigrate from their current location.

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"It's nearly universal because the governments that do have that law against advertising value it highly; internally, you can have laws that are more lax than that."

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"How am I supposed to find out whether somebody is thinking of moving before I tell them about my place?"

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I myself have never created a government. Zienni says that she attempted it, and then got distracted reminiscing about that failure, so I am not reporting it all in detail. She finds this quite sensible, apparently, although she is continuing to tell me about it. Perhaps we will find you an expert on this matter, as well. Rulers need advisers.

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"Yeah, my dads talk to policy specialists and stuff."

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Some forms of what Amentans call advertising seem to be acceptable under inter-national law. How would you attempt to tell people about your kingdom?

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"Is there an internet?"

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No, I do not believe we have anything such as that. How fascinating. Communication via...angel...is relatively quick, though.

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Zienni's face goes through several expressions of delight as Interpid attempts to explain the internet.

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"How does communicating via angel work?"

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Angels are- there are so many words that Anitami lacks. For such an advanced planet, you seem to have a variety of unexpected limitations. Do you not have anything quite like angels? Angels are beings native to the Good-aligned Outer Planes which assist petitioners and primes in a number of ways, including by delivering messages. Angels are so completely selfless as to, in some cases, lack a self, so their ability to maintain perfect confidentiality and integrity of the message is complete.

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"Except for me being a plant alien the only people on Amenta are Amentans. Do the angels have to go around carrying the messages?"

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They are not required to, but if there is almost always an angel available should you require one. Perhaps that will not fulfill your needs. I will find you an expert on kingdoms, who can better answer your advertising questions. However, I can still answer any other questions that remain about the Peaceable Kingdoms, and I can begin teaching you Celestial.

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"No, I don't mean, are they forced, I mean is that how it works, they go from place to place and carry the message one message at a time? Is Celestial the language here?"

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The messages arrive at their intended destination even if the angels do not carry them the whole way, if they are written. A spoken message would need to be spoken by an angel. When there is no one attempting to align a situation with Chaos, the Peaceable Kingdoms of Arcadia will guide any material object from the sender to the recipient.

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"How long does it take an angel, or the Kingdoms, to carry a letter a long way?"

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The Kingdoms will deliver a message in- the average of the times that the sender and recipient expect the letter to arrive in. The angels will deliver a letter based on how far apart the two points are, so if they are very near, on the scale of 30 kilometers, it can take one minute. If they are very far...well, it is an infinite plane. I recommend constraining your search for citizens to a certain radius from points of interest to you.

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"How fast do people expect messages to arrive? - do you think I could charge my pocket everything by expecting it to be charged?"

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The Peaceable Kingdoms of Arcadia are affected by the combined weight of beliefs from people on Prime worlds, within Arcadia itself, and, to a lesser degree, the beliefs of those on other Outer Planes- Zienni wishes to contribute.

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"I've never even heard of a pocket everything! What we should do is teach people here what they are so that they'll believe that Arcadia should be able to charge it- Arcadia is a place that makes societies work for people, and the internet and pocket everythings seem important for Amentan society. Or maybe Anitami society? Is Anitam more advanced than other countries?"

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"Anitam is not especially more advanced than other countries, I think all Amentan countries have pocket everythings. And yes they're very important."

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"What do you know about how they operate? The way 'internet' translates, it seems like it would need a lot of infrastructure, which Arcadia excels at supporting."

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Are these questions better asked of people besides yourself, Lintalai? Zienni can be over-enthusiastic, but perhaps first we should focus on establishing your government, and then we may worry about building infrastructure.

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"Oh, yeah, sorry. You're just a kid, I shouldn't be pinning a technological revolution on your shoulders. You probably have engineers at home."

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"We do have engineers at home but they aren't here. I know a little bit of programming but not much engineering..."

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"Okay! Let me try to think of an order- would you need the internet before the pocket everything, or is the pocket everything still useful without it? Would you want the internet to tell people about your kingdom? We should take you to some of the other kingdoms so you can form alliances with just the ones you like, and pick a spot to found your kingdom based on that."

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"The pocket everything is still useful without the internet. - well, mine is, but a new one wouldn't have any apps on it if it couldn't download them. The internet would be very useful for telling people about my kingdom."

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"Do you think you know enough about the internet to explain why it's so useful? If we can convince enough people to believe just how useful it is...we might get somewhere."

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"The internet is really important! You can get music off it, and directions, and do your shopping, and play games, and talk to people, and watch movies, and read books. Even without the internet as long as you get the apps in the first place a pocket everything can be a calculator and a camera and store notes and record sound and video and do translation between languages that are programmed in."

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"Oh wow, that's so many things! Only the calculations and the talking parts really came through with the word when Intrepid told me it. Okay. If you could make the pocket everything get charged, could you program in a language from here? You said you can program a little...what is programming? Sorry, that's so many questions. Maybe the most important question is- how does it get charged?"

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"I don't know how to add a language, that's not very basic, but maybe I could figure it out. I do know how to add a new alphabet. Programming is teaching a computer - a pocket everything is a kind of computer - to do things. It gets charged by plugging into the wall, which has electrical outlets, but maybe I can just expect it to charge while I sleep, or it could be very gently zapped by just the right amount of lightning and that could work magically?"

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"Huh! Some spellcasters- oh, alright. Intrepid thinks he knows something but he doesn't want to interrupt me. Go ahead, Intrepid."

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I have only just realized the possibilities, here, Lintalai, but you have a unique advantage as concerns your capabilities and those of your pocket everything. If you can expect strongly enough that they, and you, will operate in the manner most advantageous for Arcadia and its inhabitants, they will likely do so. No one here has any prior beliefs about pocket everythings, or the internet, or what plant aliens such as yourself can do.

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"...well," she says, "I expect everywhere I go to have internet service. It usually does." She checks her everything again.

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Her pocket everything works exactly as the only person with clear expectations of its limitations and capabilities expects it to.

Lintalai has internet service.

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Does she have enough of it that she can EMAIL HER DADS.

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It appears that she does!

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"I can email my dads! I'll do that and see what they say."

She starts composing her explanatory email.

At some point in the middle she notices that her everything, now with internet service and syncing to the time in Lina, now thinks it's still early morning. About the same time it would have been when she walked into school.

"...they might not get it for a while though."

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We will just need to keep you safe, comfortable, and progressing towards starting your government, then. Today, perhaps we should discuss shelter. Where would you like to be when the rains come? What kind of polity should I take you to first?

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"Is there a really old one that's been around a long time and knows what works well here? And has a hotel."

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...none of the polities have anything quite like a hotel as you would recognize it. There is one place that is reasonably old among the large politics here, and it has one area with something similar to a hotel, in that visitors may stay there, eat food, and stable their horses.

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"Well, the thing I need out of a hotel is staying there and eating food. I don't have a horse unless you count and I don't know if you like to be in stables."

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As I do not need sleep, shelter, food, or water, I will likely spend the night running across the Peaceable Kingdoms. I hope the room and the food please you, though. Shall we travel there now?

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"Sure. Is Zienni coming?"

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"I think I'll rejoin you when you're ready to start spreading the internet. I'll ride with you for a while, tbough, Intrepid can drop me off though, on the way to Heliopolis. That's the name of the place he's taking to you, which he forgot to mention because he forgets what things us former primes care about."

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"Okay! Soon you can email me." She climbs back aboard Intrepid - or tries; she falls off.

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Intrepid tries and fails to make himself more easily climbable, but Zienni helps her up.

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Eventually she is aboard, pocket everything safely in her pants pocket again.

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Intrepid takes off once more. Once again, the physics of riding Intrepid seem to be less than strictly accurate for moving in a vehicle which is not enclosed. This is, on the whole, both more convenient and pleasant than if physics operated as expected.

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Arcadia's landscape, here as elsewhere, seems more grid-like than one might imagine nature to be, but there is some variety in which plants are represented. Most of these appear to be Lintalai-appropriate, as well, though some of the most colorful ones are not.

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Eventually, though, the landscape begins to change. Lush yet controlled vegetation gives way to dry, cracked earth- yet just as before, the land seems to form a natural grid. The colors of the ground form stripes, perfectly organized...almost. The road is straight...until it reaches a forty-five degree angle. Then another.

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It's very pretty. And so empty!

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They eventually arrive at the not-hotel. Besides the many rooms she can see from atop Intrepid, there is a courtyard full of lush greenery, copious seating, and a sandy area for play, judging by the discarded items there. The courtyard is currently fairly clear of people, though she can see one or two standing on the second floor of rooms.

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Welcome to Heliopolis.

Interpid will...attempt to bend down so that Lintalai can jump off. He might be getting the hang of it? There's a slight improvement in the extent to which this attempt actually helps her dismount.

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She slides down his side carefully and manages to land on her feet. "Is that a playground? ...this is not a very populous city, is it."

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There are about 50,000 people in all of Heliopolis, which is divided into three major districts, and one minor district. I believe each major district has about 15,000 people, while the minor district has 5,000. This building is associated with the border of one of the major districts. I am not sure how populous Amentan cities are, by comparison.

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"I don't think they even call it a city if it doesn't have at least a million people in it, on Amenta."

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Perhaps that will be the unique advantage of your polity. Would you like to find a room while I wander the courtyard? I can translate telepathically for you from here.

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"Okay." She goes into the unhotel.

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The largest door on the first floor might appear to be an entrance, a fact which Intrepid confirms before giving her much time to wonder. Inside, Lintalai is greeted by a room with two staircases on either side, and a long dining table in the center. At the head of the table sits a bored-looking being with an essentially humanoid body plan but with unusual features: pointed ears, grey-ish skin on the upper right of the face, pink-ish skin on the left side, and a single stubby horn poking up from the right side of their head. They startle as Lintalai approaches, differently-sized eyes darting around.

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I have already spoken in his mind, but he seems to be skittish. Tread carefully, for his sake.

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Lintalai is two years old and not very intimidating and they don't even know what blues ARE here, but... okay? "Hello, I'm Lintalai. I would like to reserve a room."

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"...yes, of course. Sorry for the delay. Your...ki-rin spoke to me. First floor or second? Would you like a view of the city, or the courtyard?"

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"A view of the city please!"

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He reaches behind the desk, where she can hear clinking and clonking, and then he extends his somewhat claw-like hand towards her, offering her a key.

"I hope you enjoy your stay in Neselthia's district. If you can, leave a gift for the next person to visit your room."

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"Thank you! How do I find my room?"

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"The key will light up when you're in front of your room! When you turn the key, it should fade. If you have any issues with that or anything in the room that doesn't work properly, I can fix that."

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"Okay, but - where do I go looking?"

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"Right. Here, just up those stairs, to your left, my right- keep walking and you'll find it. Also, I'm supposed to mention that you can use our baths, our cantina, and our courtyard if you need those things. The ki-rin says you're a prime, so you probably want to use the first two, at least."

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I have asked some clarifying questions, and it appears that the baths may not meet plant alien chemical standards or Amentan pollution standards in some way, you may need to investigate them. Is sulfurous water a problem for you?

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I don't know, but I can tell by looking. "Where do I find the baths, cantina, and courtyard?"

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"The part of the palace that you walked through is the courtyard - the plants, the sand, all of it. Sometimes guest like to play there, or rest, or other things like that work better outdoors. The baths are the other side, behind the part of the building with the rooms, which you can get to by walking through that door behind me," he points, "to your left, my right. The cantina is through the door on your right, my left. Both the baths and the cantina have doors that lead out to the district."

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"Okay, thanks!" She will go see what the cantina has.

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The cantina has other people, for one thing. There is one man conversing with a person behind a counter dispensing food at a leisurely pace, as well as what seems to be a family with three children of varying ages: two that seem older than her, and one infant.

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Intrepid, are all these people dead? Do dead children grow up? Is any of the food a) food for plant people b) blue, she wants to save her food coloring.

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Most people in the Peaceable Kingdoms of Arcadia are dead, but some are native to the plane, and others visit. I cannot detect this simply by looking. If you see a child, it may depend on the age- dead children in Arcadia do grow up, but that is not the case in all Outer Planes...and it is true because people believe children growing up best fits our plane. If Amentans would expect something different, that may change if they begin to arrive in the Peaceable Kingdoms.

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The food here does appear to be food for her, except for the meat. Very little of it is blue, however. She can see various foods in red, yellow, orange, purple, and green, but blue seems to be difficult to come by.

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She'll take some purple food and some green food and nibble on it. I think Amentans expect children to grow up. But maybe it would be nice for them if we did it slower.

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Then perhaps you will need to consider that while creating a government fit for Amentans and plant aliens. You seem to be assigning quite a momentous task to yourself, Lintalai. Are you certain of your ability to carry this burden?

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Well, it would be nice if I were not two years old but I think I can probably do it anyway.

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Perhaps if we could return you to your home, so that you could grow up with your fathers, and then you could return here, that would be better for you. Should that be our focus? What will be the best for your development?

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I'm going to email them and see what they say, but I think they'll agree that I can't just leave an infinite habitable plane without figuring out how people can come here!

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I understand. Your fathers seem wise, as do you.

You seem to have learned many languages for one so young. Are you a very good study at languages? I ask because I will soon wish to spend more of my time attending to other friends of mine, but you require my translation.

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I knew three when I came to in my basket, and then my grandfather taught me Oahkar and I study Voan at school. I can learn this one too but I'll want books and a lesson in the alphabet and some basic words to start. Or maybe I could try expecting my pocket everything to know Celestial? That might work.

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It may, at that. Focus on changing your beliefs about what would make a good afterlife- expectations contribute because they are beliefs, but of course, beliefs can include opinions about how the world should be. If enough people believed the Peaceable Kingdoms should be different than they are, their expectations would be over-ruled by that.

Books may be difficult to come by, but I will find you a teacher.

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Although most of the plants which comprise her meal are not entirely unlike Amentan foods, there are differences in texture and flavor; notably, many of these plants have more complex flavors than those of her home. One dish might have both a bitter and a sweet flavor, while another has multiple sources of spiciness. Additionally, they seem even more filling than food from her home- for Lintalai, this means that she barely needs to eat anything at all.

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These are pretty tasty plants. She tastes three things and stops there. She sits down and contemplates what would make this an ideal afterlife. Well, of course it's silly if people have to spend their afterlife learning languages if they don't like it, when living people can skip that and use machine translation. And she has a device here which can do machine translation for every language spoken by more than a couple hundred thousand people, and this is not a big city but there must be more than that many total speakers of Celestial, right.

She decides how she'd spell "Celestial" in Anitami and pulls out her pocket everything and scrolls through the language menu for it.

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She finds it, as well as several other languages, whose names appear to have been transliterated into Anitami as well: Chessentan, Dhoraz, Infernal, and Ta'admarian.

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Oh good!!! She sets her pocket everything to expect Celestial and output Anitami and vice-versa, and approaches the family. "Hello!"

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"Hello! Who are you? My name is Brynnas, but you can call me Brynn if we're friends!"

The girl does not appear to be much older than Lintalai, but she seems equally excited by this interaction for some reason. She does appear to have a grey-ish tint to her skin.

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Her older sibling (?) looks at her briefly before glancing back at his food. He looks more like an Amentan, besides the hair.

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"It's nice to meet you, I'm Lintalai! I'm new here."

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"Hi! How did you get your hair so blue? Is it magic?"

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The older man with them, who is shorter than Brynnas, notices the newcomer as well.

"Hello. Brynn, why don't you introduce your new friend to everyone?"

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"Okay! Lintalai, this is my daddy and my mommy, and that's my brother Daernir, and that's the baby. The baby has a name but I forget, babies aren't that interesting."

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Her mother, like her father, appears to be shorter than Brynnas. She frowns, fussing over the youngest child.

"Brynn, don't be rude about your sister."

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"Hello," says Daernir.

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"It's nice to meet you all. Babies aren't interesting? Where I'm from everyone thinks they are very very interesting. Well, adults do, I guess not so much people our age."

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"Babies don't do anything, which isn't interesting, but they're nice to have because they think everything is really interesting."

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"Babies cry and scream and that's all! It's boring."

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Their mother shakes her head, but doesn't verbally disagree.

"Lintalai, where are your parents?"

She cranes her neck as though this will make Lintalai's parents appear.

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"My parents are on Amenta. I came through a portal by accident. But I'm going to be able to send them a message," she amends from 'email' at the last minute, "since I made Arcadia agree that it should work that way."

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She seems politely befuddled by this, but nods.

"That's very enterprising of you. You seem very independent for a girl your age! I'm sure they must be proud."

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"Is Amenta one of the other layers?"

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"I've never heard of it, myself. Lintalai, do you happen to know where Amenta is in relation to where we are? It's quite alright if you don't."

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"It's a planet. It doesn't have any magic at all. I don't know where exactly my universe is."

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"Ooh, what's a planet?"

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Her parents seem interested in knowing the answer, too.

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"A planet is a big ball of rock people can live on! Are you not from a planet? Were you all born here?" She can find a picture of Amenta from space on her everything.

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"We were all born on the Prime Material Plane, but I certainly never heard anyone talking about planets."

He peers at the picture skeptically.

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"The children both died very young, so we've raised them up since then. We're returning to Heliopolis to raise Brulnis."

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"This is so cool! How does it work?"

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"Oh, are you adopted? I'm adopted too except my adopted dads are back on Amenta."

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"Yeah. I was adopted when I was a baby, because I died then. My live parents haven't died yet."

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"It's not an uncommon arrangement," she says lightly, moreso than the subject might warrant. "Me and my husband adopted ten before Brynn and Daernir."

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"Is there a way to talk to your live parents?"

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"It's expensive, because they're not aligned with our plane, but I talk to them sometimes. More, when we were in Azuth."

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(Brynnas is bored by this new person, but she's glad Daernir gets a boring friend to be boring with. She plays with her food.)

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"What's Azuth?"

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(The adults leave Daernir and Lintalai to their conversation, paying attention to their younger children.)

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"Azuth is the god of spellcasting, but it's also the name of his realm! Most gods, they just spend time in their realms, but Azuth is his realm. Magic in general, but especially spellcasting, and more especially wizards. I'm going to be a wizard."

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"Oh, cool! I can't do magic yet because I don't have a soul, except I can do some by expecting things of Arcadia."

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Blink blink blink!

"You don't have a soul? How did you...do that? People are born with souls on the Prime Material Plane. Is Amenta even further than that? And I didn't know you could do things just by expecting them!"

He glares accusingly at his parents, who take no notice of this.

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"I guess people must be born without souls there! I didn't know what a soul even was till today. Anyway I don't know how easily you can normally do that but I've gotten my pocket everything to do stuff by expecting it to, maybe that works because most people don't already expect stuff about pocket everythings."

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"If that's how it works, you should tell me what to expect about pocket everythings so I'm not messing you up. Otherwise I might start expecting it to do things you don't want. Do you think you want a soul, or is everyone on Amenta fine without them? Magic is cool, but maybe you don't need it if you can look at pictures of the whole planet."

Not that Daernir is confident that he understands what a planet is, but he's learned that when in doubt, he should pretend he understands until he meets someone he can be confused around without getting patronized.

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"Pocket everythings are great and can do a whole lot of stuff! I'm using one to translate right now, that's why it's repeating what I say in Celestial for you and what you say in Anitami for me. On Amenta you have to actually do a lot of stuff to make a new language work for this, but here I got it to work by expecting it to. And I'll be able to send messages to my dads and get them back, except it looks like time is passing very slowly at home - it also tells time, and once I connected it to Amenta's network it jumped back, so I think time is much faster here than there, so it will take them a while to answer, but it's still pretty good. And it can play music, do you want to see?"

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"Wow, that's so many things! This isn't magic? How does it play music, are there instruments inside? I would like to see, please."

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"It's not magic!" She goes into her music library and puts on some cheerful string instrumentals.

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He is delighted by the little orchestra in this tiny object which can also translate from another language to Celestial and tell time.

"Maybe you don't need magic, if you have this. What else can pocket everythings do? Can they move stone or water? Do they help you find missing objects? You should show me things that it can do if it really is about what you believe, then I'll believe properly."

Or maybe it's a transparent ploy to see the orchestra machine's exciting features. She can probably tell he just wants to see more of what it can do.

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"I don't think I can believe hard enough that it can move stone or water or find missing objects but I can show you everything." Here is a map of Lina, and how she would get directions from school (her last known location) to the sorbet place she sometimes goes on her way home, or her grandparents' house. Here is her notetaking app. Here is a random website with recipes. Here is how she programmed a chicken to pick up tokens.

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"Daernir, dear, make sure to clear your plate. You don't want to disrespect the chef."

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Daernir will grumble but clear his plate. He will also watch this chicken pick up tokens. He's intrigued by the idea of recipes as something you can collect all in one place like that, too.

"What other things can websites have?"

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"Basically anything, the internet is huge. I mean, except magic since Amenta doesn't have magic. What do you like?"

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"I do like recipes. I like having- instructions and things, or giving instructions. Wizardry is the best way to cast spells because you have to remember how all the different kinds of components relate to each other, and use the right incantations- it doesn't work the same in the Kingdoms of Arcadia, or else I would already be studying to be one. Instead, I'm going to learn some other, less fun ways that work faster first, so I can help people with that kind of magic while I study."

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Lintalai finds a video of a purple putting together a piano from wood and wires and plastic. A lot of it is accelerated and it's all set to a jaunty piano tune, which the purple plays on the finished piano at the end.

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He has a lot of questions, but he'll try to ask the ones that she probably knows the answers to, since she said it could be anything- she probably doesn't know how to make a piano herself. Mainly, he wants to know:

"Have you ever built anything like that, all the way from scratch, with no magic or pocket everythings? Why is her hair different? I thought you might just like your hair blue, or maybe all Amentans had the same kind of hair and it was very different, but hers is different. Is it like with us, where it's based on your parents and your parents' parents?"

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(Meanwhile, his family is finishing up with their food.)

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"She's a purple! I'm a blue. Amentans have castes, which, yeah, are based on parents. I'm unusual though, my hair changes color depending on what I eat and most people's doesn't, so I just eat a lot of blue food coloring back home. I'll have to find a blue flower or something I can eat to keep it blue here but I do have a whole bottle with me so it won't be a problem for a while. I've never built anything like that at all unless you count, like, stuff made from clay."

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"So purples and blues have different duties? Do purples build things like pianos? What do blues do? Why is it based on parents?"

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"Purples build things and grow things and truck things around and sell things, most Amentans are purple so they have a lot of jobs. Blues get jobs that have a lot of responsibility like politics and landholding. It's based on parents because a lot of aptitudes are heritable and also that way we can get specialized education."

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"That's a neat way to do things. I don't understand how it is on the Prime because I never lived there, but it sounds much sillier. In the Kingdoms, we get jobs based on what the community needs. In some places, you get jobs when you're my age. In other places, everyone gets the same education but does different things at different times. I don't know all the ways they do things, but those are two that I remember. What happens with someone like me, though? I don't know what my live parents did, and my adoptive parents are the ones that teach me."

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It seems you no longer need my translation services, Lintalai. Would you mind if I spent the night running? I will return in case you need further advice, direction, or transportation.

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Go ahead, and thanks very much for all your help! "On Amenta if a baby turns up and nobody knows who their parents were, like me, they guess by hair color! Mine was blue so I got adopted by blue dads. I don't know what they'd do if somebody with black hair turned up though, Amentans don't have black hair."

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"If they can't guess the hair color easily, do they ask lots of people so they can pick the one most people said? Or do you just pick the one society needs more of right then? Black could be like- blue, or purple, or- what other colors are there?"

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"If it's ambiguous there is an official chart but your hair isn't ambiguous, it's not just dark purple, it's black! If I'd been a little greener I might have gone to a green family and if I were a little purpler I might have gone to a purple family. It's very very rare for a blue baby to be given up."

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Daernir looks like he wants to mentally reconstruct the entire concept of Amenta's caste system using just the information she's shared with him so far, but he doesn't get very far.

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"Dae, everyone else is done. Do you think you and your new friend can talk more tomorrow?"

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Sigh.

"Okay. Lintalai, will you still be here tomorrow?"

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"Yes, I'm going to sleep in this hotel and then explore the city tomorrow!"

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"Good! I will also explore with you if my parents say I can and it would help you."

He recites this as though it is a very important lesson he is trying to learn, or a very difficult habit he is trying to stick to, and then he goes with his parents and his sister and the baby as they leave the cantina.

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Lintalai goes and has a bath, and then she feels tired enough to go to bed in her hotel room.

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The sulfurous water of the springs seems fairly similar to the water with which she would normally take a bath, and the bed looks like an ordinary bed, if less comfortable. Her window overlooks the city, which she can finally get a clearer view of.

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Heliopolis lacks the tall, metal skyscrapers of Amenta. The architecture here is different in the use of materials, but this also creates a drastically different style in terms of shapes and colors. She can see the city bustling with activity, although from here, the people are as specks. Even though it pales in comparison to an Amentan city, Heliopolis is not empty of life.

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She takes some photos, and finishes writing her email, and sends it (with the pictures), and goes to sleep.

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The next morning, if she hasn't woken up after a full night's rest, the light from her window wakes her up.

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She's used to waking up with light, probably for Plant Reasons. She checks her email and it's been about a minute since she went through the portal. She sends another message with this information and copies her grandparents and great-grandpa and a couple of her uncles and Aunt Isel, because maybe if lots of people are emailing her she will get messages more often. She doesn't feel like she needs breakfast so she goes and has a bath and suns herself in the courtyard a bit, waiting to see if Daernir will appear.

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Brynn eventually appears!

"I told him, I told him! He wanted to wait for you because he saw you there but I came to look and you're here."

And then she disappears back inside.

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After a few minutes, she re-appears, Daernir in tow.

"Good morning."

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"Good morning! Sorry you were waiting in the wrong place. I don't eat much."

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"That's okay! So I was thinking about wizardry and what you need to learn it, and I think you don't need a soul if you have a god, because gods help people cast spells. Also, there is stuff that people on the Prime Material call magic but doesn't use spells. There are thieves and paladins and bards, and that's all the ones I know, but you could learn that, if you wanted."

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"Ooh! What are paladins and bards - do thieves steal stuff, that seems bad?"

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"I don't know a lot," he says apologetically. "Mostly what my live parents and my adoptive parents tell me, and what I read. Paladins align themselves with the Astral, which is maybe where the gods really live. They usually worship some god, usually lawful or good or both. If the god is chaotic or evil, then they're called barbarians. They can fight really well, and when they hit something some of their god's power goes with it, and they can't get sick and cure disease and they're really hard to kill. Bards can inspire people with stories and songs. They're also really good at sneaking around and stuff. Thieves are good at sneaking around, unlocking things, and disarming traps. Thieves usually do steal stuff, but they usually give stuff away, too. That's good, if you're helping people, even though it's evil to steal for yourself and evil to steal from someone. I wouldn't do it, and neither do most good people we know."

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"It's not good to steal things even if you don't keep them!"

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"No, but it's good to give things away. If you steal lots of things from rich people and then give them to poor people, that can be a good thing. It's not lawful, though. It's wrong that people care so much about good. I think lawful is more important, because if everyone doesn't follow the rules, then you can't trust anyone."

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"Nu-uh! Trusting is easy! If everyone shares, then that's trust!"

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"Good is important but law is necessary, one person by themselves can be good without the law working well but you can't do a whole government that way."

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Brynn looks like she wants to dispute that but doesn't know how!

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Daernir is unimpressed by his sister's rhetorical skill, but he seems engaged by Lintalai's.

"Yeah! That's why the Kingdoms of Arcadia are mostly lawful, and a little bit good. Because you need the government and the laws to care about what's best for the most people, but mostly they should be consistent and clear and make sense."

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Nod nod nod. "I go to blue school at home and we're supposed to be getting ready to run governments, big ones with millions and millions of people, and you can't just expect millions and millions of people to be good. You need to give them clear incentives."

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"I think you'll like it here. It's a good place to care about law for lots of people. I don't, really, I just care about it for me, so I'd make a bad blue. What would Amentans do for aliens? Would aliens just not have castes in Amentan law?"

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"Yeah, I think you don't have castes and it would probably not work on the first try to start them and I want what I do to work on the first try so I probably won't suggest it even once I have a city."

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Nod.

"Castes seem like they make a lot of sense, but I didn't start with one, so it wouldn't really work. What do you think you'll try? You should write a constitution."

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"I will! But I can't just write a constitution without knowing who in general I'm writing it for, and there are no Amentans here, so I have to adjust for that, and there is magic here so I have to adjust for that. So I'm going to go exploring. ...that, and I should probably own a change of clothes."

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"Oh, right. Do you...have a job yet? You should get a job."

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"She's a kid, she doesn't need a job!"

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"I have a job."

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"Do not."

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"Anyway. Do you need help getting a change of clothes?"

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"I'll need money unless the Internet on my pocket everything works so well I can pay with that. What's your job?"

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"I'm a scribe for Marduk. I write things down that I see so that we can enter them in Marduk's records. I hope I can work for Azuth when we get to Buxenus, though. You should look for a job in Heliopolis when we get there."

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"It's not a real job," she sing-songs. "Marduk just wanted him to feel special."

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Instead of dignifying that with a response, he adds, "Marduk is like Azuth; it's the name of the god and the realm."

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"What are gods like?"

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Blink.

"That's a big question. I've never had to think about it before. Uh, gods are...like governments, but they only make laws about certain things, and you only have to follow those laws if you decide you want to. If you do follow the laws, then the god will do things for you, too."

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"So they're like... um... contracts anybody can sign?"

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"...sort of, except they're people? Really big, really powerful people, who don't have bodies. So people worship them. Some of them made species, and they can make more changes on the Outer Planes than we can."

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"What does worship mean?"

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"Worship is like loving something a lot, and paying a lot of attention to it. Usually people do that for gods."

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"It's like, taking something really seriously and being really glad it's helping you? It's- reverence, or respect, but also love?"

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"...I'm not sure I get it. Does it like... magically help the god do stuff?"

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"I don't think it helps them that much, except they're- the sort of people that care about their things. Azuth is the god of magic, so if you're a wizard and you worship him then you're saying- hey, Azuth, look over here, there's magic here and I want to do things with it, can you help me? And then Azuth knows to come help you. But if you never worshipped him, then he wouldn't know where to look. How does your pocket everything give directions to places? It might be like that..."

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"Uh, people had to program in all the roads and where they lead and mark which ones you're allowed to have a bike or something on and which ones you're only allowed to walk and which ones there's trucks, and then when a city updates something about the layout they tell all the directions-program companies, and UI designers decided what roads and landmarks should look like on the screen, and how to translate all of it into directions... I'm not sure what they'd be worshiping? The... roads? They don't have to love them."

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"Okay. So it's not the same, but- for magic, there's no one who knows how to program the magic roads- they're not real roads. But Azuth is like a program that would tell you which roads you could walk or have a bike on? There's no UI designer, so not everybody uses the program, because it doesn't look good on the screen. But if you really want to know where to go, then you can tell Azuth that, and he can still help you. Maybe it's not that much like directions."

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"You should ask a priest. They're the ones who worship so much they get spells."

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"Sounds like a good place to start exploring, where do I find one?"

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"In Heliopolis! They have everything there!"

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"You don't even remember it," he objects.

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"I remember everything! I remember being born, even!"

She sticks out her tongue.

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"...she's right, we can find a priest in Heliopolis. Were you going to go through the portal today?"

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"Is... this not Heliopolis?"

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"Oh! No, this isn't. The city is through the portals in the palace, like the windows and doors. If you just walked around the building, we would still be here."

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"Ohhhh! Cool. I guess that's why I can't quite figure out how my window view lines up with all the stuff around here, I wasn't paying close enough attention. What is... this?"

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"Heliopolis is the name of the city, and the district we're going to is called Iannu. Uh, Heliopolis is on Buxenus, which is one of the three layers of Arcadia. We're on Abellio right now. Most Outer Planes have more than one layer, and the first one is kind of the one that's the most like the Prime, and the last one is the one that's the least like the Prime. In Arcadia, the planes that are less like the Prime are all 'below' this one, but when I say below I mean...something else. We don't have a word for it yet."

Daernir assumes that the lack of a word means someone will invent one soon, and popularize its use.

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"Why do Outer Planes have more than one layer? What makes the layers not just a different plane?"

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"That's a good question. I don't know. It's something about how what people believe, though, like most of what happens on the Outer Planes. Mechanus, that's the plane of law, it has one layer. And Limbo, the plane of chaos, also has one. But Mount Celestia, which is lawful good...it has seven. Elysium is good, and it has four. Hades is evil, and it has three. I think maybe people believe more things about good and evil than law and chaos and that's why it gets more complicated for planes in the middle, like Arcadia."

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"Huh! At home people think all kinds of different things about how the laws ought to be but maybe that isn't what you mean?"

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"Well, Arcadia has three layers, and we care about law too, but it's different. We care about how law can help people, because that's what good is about- but not as much as Mount Celestia. Mount Celestia thinks the only point of law is to do good, and the only kind of doing good is lawful. People on Arcadia would say the only way to do good is to be lawful, but...that law is important for more than just doing good. Law is important because it's important for itself, even if sometimes that means it doesn't do good. It has to work the same, right? So we think law is more important than good, but we still care about good rules. Mechanus doesn't even care about if the rules help anyone, it just thinks everything in the universe should follow the rules. My mom says that Mechanus has one layer but Limbo has zero, because Limbo is chaos and so it just mixes everything up. That's not really true, I guess, because there's no difference between one and zero with layers, right? It's still an infinite plane. But I like that explanation, I think it says what's important about layers."

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"But... where do the rules come from in Mechanus? Somebody has to write and enforce them for some reason, right?"

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"They don't come from anywhere. They just are. They're more like gravity than they are like instructions. Mechanus is all clockwork and machines and things. It has rules but it doesn't care about people. That's what good means, caring about people and wanting them to be happy. Mechanus has people but they don't matter to it."

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"The universe Amenta's in has gravity and doesn't care about people, so people have to make additional rules to help them have a society."

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"Right, that's like the Prime Material, where people live until they die and come here. But the Kingdoms of Arcadia cares about people because it's- made of caring about people. It's made of good, and also law- even more law. Does that make sense?"

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"It's Mechanus I'm confused about."

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"Okay. Um. I don't really know how it works, because I've only read and heard things. But I guess- if you think about law as saying- there should be rules that determine how things work in the world, then that's what Mechanus is about. Without any of the other things law can be about, like corruption or taking care of your people or things even really or those things that sometimes happen with laws made by people. Mechanus is law without people."

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"But that doesn't make sense! You could do a lot of different codes of law and there's no principle there to pick one!"

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"I don't think I'm explaining it right. It's like the part of law that doesn't need people to be there. It's just how the rules of the universe are if no one does anything. Like how with gravity, things fall down- unless you're on a plane or a part of one where they don't. Or like how people look like their live parents. Or, uh, how when you look at something far away it looks smaller."

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"But then that's just like the material plane. It has the rules of the universe if no one does anything, and those rules made people evolve, but the people evolving don't have to be lawful necessarily."

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"Um. What's 'evolving' mean?"

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"Oh! Uh, on a planet where there's only gravity and stuff and no magic or anything, you can get all the species diversity just by some families of plants and animals and stuff having more babies than others, and there being some variation in how all those babies turn out. So if you're a plant where it's a good idea to be tall, then the plants that grow tallest will drop the most seeds, and their tallest descendants will do best, and like you said people look like their parents and so do trees, so you get trees that are as tall as it's a good idea to be. And if you're a bird and it's a good idea to be fast, your fastest babies will have the most eggs, and so on. And you can get people this way, by having a species in a niche in the environment where it's a good idea to be smart - the smartest kids have the most kids of their own. Amentans use castes to do more of this on purpose! People who are good at doing their caste's specific thing, yellow stuff or orange stuff or whatever, will make more money and have more kids because they can buy more child credits - in credit countries like mine, some countries do it differently."

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"Oh. Um, some species were made by gods, and some believe they were, which- is kind of the same thing here, not like in Amenta, if enough people do it? You can't change the past by believing, but- even if their gods didn't make the dwarves, the dwarves think they did and so do their gods. I don't think they evolved. But humans and halflings might have evolved. I guess no one knows about that yet, or at least, not when my adoptive parents died. That could be really important, you should tell someone older than us who can get a message back to the Prime Material. You also said- the people evolving wouldn't need to be lawful, but people who start on an Outer Plane have to be whatever that plane is, they're different than people like us who were born on the Prime Material."

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"But that's an additional law on top of the stuff that's like gravity! How does it work? Does it kill all the least lawful babies of a species that's getting smarter?"

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"No, they just- are born aligned with the plane and never grow out of that. I guess if they left, maybe they could change? Actually, yeah, I've heard stories about that happening to some angels. But not if they stay."

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"That doesn't make sense," she grumbles, "but I guess it's not very pertinent to how I will do things here in Arcadia. Okay, so we're not in Heliopolis, we are in some - suburb of Heliopolis? Let's go to Heliopolis and find a priest to explain about gods."

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-nod. He's certainly not going to ask what a suburb is, because it's probably not important.

"Okay. Do you need anything else before we go? My parents will want to escort us there but I can convince them not to if you want."

 

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"I don't really have very much stuff. I'm not sure about bringing your parents? It's safe without them, right, because the whole plane is aligned with law and good, so what would happen."

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"Daaae! We're supposed to spend time with the baby."

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"You don't even like babies," he says to his sister.

"You're right, Lintalai, and that's what I'm gonna tell my parents. I just wanted to make sure you didn't want them around because they might know things I don't from living on the Prime Material. I read more than they do though."

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"I have to talk to lots of different people and your parents seem nice but they also seem like they might have different ideas for what you should be doing than helping me and if you want to help me I want you to do that. Anyway, I'm in Arcadia, knowing things about the Prime Material would be nice but it is not the most relevant."

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Nod nod.

"Yeah, I want to help you because you seem smart and interesting and know things I don't. I don't know if I know enough to help you with everything but I can learn faster than you for some things because I already know the- parts you need to know to understand harder things. Okay. Um, to go through a portal we mostly just need to go through it, but we shouldn't go through a window because we'll probably still fall? I don't actually know if they all let out of windows in the second layer or if they're just windows on this side. Anyway, we can just use the doors inside."

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"Okay! Do you know which one will let out close to a good place?"

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"Both of the doors that have portals go to Neselthia's district, because she's the most welcoming god in Heliopolis, but one of them goes to an inn and one of them goes to a market. I think inn makes more sense because we can get a room first."

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"Okay. - do I need money for rooms? I'm not clear on what I need money for here and what I don't. I should find a way to pay here if I need to."

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"Um, right now you don't need money for anything because you're new and don't belong anywhere and anything that would need money, I can pay for. Right now, your only laws are the Kingdoms' international laws. If you join a kingdom or start one you will need money. Sometimes you can give gifts instead of use money, like here, but money is better and more places use it."

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"Okay. Maybe I'll be able to get paying with my everything to work and then my dads will be able to send me money. I'm not sure if that will work though, there's some reasons it might not." She stretches and heads for the portals indoors.

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Daenir stops to say goodbye to his parents. He tells them that he loves them very much (true), that he'll talk to them frequently (true, if he can manage), and he will miss them terribly (false, he thinks guiltily, although maybe he'll start to when he leaves).

And then they can go through the portal to the inn.

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As they step through the portal, they exit on the other side through a side door into a large, relatively empty room. There are wooden tables and chairs at the center, a bar to their right, a small elevated area to the left with a short staircase leading to it, and a proper staircase across the room from them, leading upstairs.

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"Is this an inn or more like a - station?"

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"I'm not sure really. I haven't been here since I was a little kid. There should be someone here, if it's an inn..."

Daernir goes to investigate if the bar is hiding anyone behind it.

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She comes along. (She takes a picture of the place for her next email.)

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"Hellooo. Is anyone back here?"

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There is no answer. The place would appear to be empty.

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Daernir looks put-out by this, but he guesses that means they can just get to the city proper.

"Okay. I guess we keep going and hope there's a real inn somewhere?"

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"Sounds good." She considers, but doesn't think she can expect the pocket everything to do good directions in Arcadia, it's just slightly too silly. "Don't go too fast, I fall over a lot when I walk."

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Nod.

"That's okay. We can spend more time looking around, since it's your first time. Do you think it would be good to find magic for the falling over?"

Walk walk walk.

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From the street level, Heliopolis seems fairly unimpressive. Although the architecture is perhaps interestingly different from an Amentan city, most of the other differences are not interesting at all. It is not dirty or polluted, but it lacks the amenities and features Lintalai expects cities to have.

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"That would be very useful!" she says.

She takes a bunch of pictures as they go.

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People walk the streets, paying the two children no mind. As promised, the citizens of the Peaceful Kingdoms of Arcadia seem remarkably lax on the subject of completely unsupervised wandering. There are a number of buildings that Lintalai can see which vary in height, ornateness, and color, but what these things indicate remains unclear.

As Daernir wanders (for that is the best description of how he decides which direction to take her), they pass through streets with pet vendors, food vendors, and carpet vendors. Most people here seem interested in trading something to Lintalai; moreso than Daernir, who they tend to ignore.

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"How come they're more interested in me?" she murmurs. "That wouldn't be that weird at home but that's because people know blues are rich."

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"Oh."

Daernir, having been entirely focused on trying to figure out what the law affecting vendors might be purely through observation, tries to think about this.

"I think it's because your hair is blue and most people who look human would need magic for that, and magic is difficult unless you're special. I'm not sure, though, you could ask."

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She will look for a clothing vendor - she's been in everything she's wearing a while, it's bothering her - and inquire there, if they display the same behavior.

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The clothing vendor is more interested in looking at their clothes and tries immediately to tell her that he's got exactly what she needs, and proceeds to show her three dresses before she has the chance to speak.

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"I don't like to wear dresses," she says. "I wear pants like these."

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"Ah, I'm afraid I do not have what you seek. Very few vendors here sell anything quite like your pants. I can recommend one who does, if I cannot interest you in what I do have."

He shows her the various pieces of clothing he does have: most of them involve less stitching than the clothing she's used to, and all of them have a somewhat tube-like shape.

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She can be convinced to try on a dress as long as it won't catch on things and trip her but she'd prefer a referral to the pants-vendor.

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She can get a referral!

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And then there's more walking.

"Sorry. I didn't realize most people here didn't wear pants. We'll find magic to fix it soon."

Now that he's looking around, it's obvious that most people are wearing something more like what the vendor had, but he hadn't paid it any attention. He keeps an eye out for signs of priests nearby.

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She hadn't noticed either! They do have dresses on Amenta, she just prefers things less likely to snag on a banister or a chair-arm and send her to the floor.

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Now that she is looking, Lintalai may also notice that there seem to be two broad categories of clothing, for men and for women, though they all tend towards the kind of long, flowy clothing that could snag and send her to floor-wards. That may explain why it takes a longer walk to find a pants vendor; as they go, they only spot a few people out of hundreds who wear anything resembling pants, unlike the people she met on Abellio.

She can also see a larger variety of species now that there are enough people gathered in one place. Most of them are somewhat humanoid, but some have horns of different shapes and sizes, others have equine or bovine flanks, and some have skin in shades that would be impossible in Amentans. She can see some flying through the air on feathery wings, while other individuals are climbing the walls of buildings.

Eventually, they come to a vendor who will happily give Lintalai pants. He seems to assume Lintalai will be doing the paying and pays much more attention to her than Daernir.

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"I have a question that isn't about pants," she asks, while she's sorting through pants that might be in about her size.

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"Yes?"

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"How come you're paying more attention to me than him? He also might have wanted pants, you didn't know."

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"Oh, of course, I'm sorry to have been rude to your friend."

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"It's not about being rude, she wants to know why."

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"-well, it's only polite to afford a representative of Neselthia with the proper respect."

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Daernir looks unimpressed by this, but nods. He examines pants even though he doesn't really want any, because probably that'll help him hide his sour mood.

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"What... is Neselthia?"

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"She's their goddess," he grumbles.

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He nods.

"As a young girl with your abilities, you will be assumed by most to be a representative of Neselthia, the goddess who rules over this district."

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"- what abilities? The translating thing?"

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"-ah, well, I mean someone with the capacity to change the color of your hair."

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"Any wizard could do that," he says under his breath.

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"That's a thing for people who work for this goddess? - can you tell me where to find her, or one of her priests?"

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"Oh, yes, of course. To find her nearest temple-"

He describes a series of turns- five, all told, though his instructions include a few landmarks.

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Daernir stops pretending to look at pants and starts looking for other useful things.

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Lintalai purchases a pair of pants and a more locally conventional shirt and some socks and underwear and then they can go look for the temple. "I don't actually know what species I am," she tells Daernir. "I don't remember anything from before I was on Amenta but I'm not an Amentan, biologically. If there are people with hair-color-changing here they might be the thing I am."

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"Oh! That's a good thought. They could just be wizards, though, even low-level wizards can do that. I don't know why he thinks it's so special- maybe it's even harder to be a wizard in Heliopolis..."

Daernir is INCREDIBLY DISAPPOINTED by this.

"If they have your species that would be good though."

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"It would be really good! I could figure out what I was doing on Amenta in the first place and where I'm from and stuff! They might be doing magic instead though, I don't know."

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They arrive at the temple shortly. Unlike the other buildings, this one has a slightly rounded roof. At the entrance, an empty bowl carved out of blue stone sits atop a raised dais. On the wall of the temple behind the dais, an etching of a crescent moon glows with a faint yellow light. There is writing above the doors to the temple. If Lintalai translates this, it says 'House of The Devoted Lady'.

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Daernir stops at the bowl, frowning thoughtfully.

"We should probably leave an offering. I think I can do it for both of us for now, because we don't know anything about Neselthia."

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"I don't even really have anything besides my previous clothes which I was planning to, like, wash in a magic river. What does she do with the offerings?"

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"Depends on the god. Usually if I don't know, I just pray or give some money, but I don't think you know how to pray...do you have anything important to you that someone else might need more than you?"

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"...probably not? My previous clothes aren't that important since I can replace them, and my blue food coloring is probably more important to me than it would be to anyone else, and same with my pocket everything."

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Nod.

"Money is good until the priests can explain offerings and prayer to you so you can decide what to do from now on."

Daernir counts out enough coins to cover a single person's meal, and places them in the bowl.

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The coins vanish.

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"Okay, let's go."

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(Lintalai wishes she'd recorded the vanishing coins, that was cool. Oh well. She takes pictures of the temple.)

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The temple itself is fairly simple in design. The walls are smooth, without many frills. There is a limited use of colors: various shades of yellow, white, and blue- darker than Lintalai's blue.

There are various idols throughout the temple, which takes up a single, large room with a door off to the right side and staircase on the left. One idol stands in each of the corners of the room.

One, a statue painted green, holds what appears to be two sticks with distinctive enough shapes that they must have some specific purpose, but Lintalai cannot identify it by looking. Another, a statue painted gold, holds...another stick. A third statue with a falcon head uses many colors: blue, red, yellow, and green...and holds a different-looking stick. The fourth statue uses the same broad set of colors,  holds yet another stick (this one similar to the second, golden statue), but has a blue basket on her head, rather similar in color and shape to the bowl outside.

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There are two women standing at the far end of the room dressed in what appears to be the same outfit, while several other people (mostly women) mill about, kneeling or standing, eyes closed, murmuring.

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"What are the sticks," Lintalai whispers to Daernir.

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"That one," he points to the green statue, "is holding a crook, which is for herding sheep. I don't know what his other stick is. The one in the corner by the stairs," he points to the golden-skinned one, "is holding a scroll, I think. I'm not sure who she is, either. The one with the falcon head is Heru-wer, and the one with the basket has to be Neselthia; I don't know what their sticks mean."

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"Do you know when we'll be okay to interrupt?"

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Daernir squints at the two women standing opposite them, who have barely moved since they arrived. They're looking at them, though. He doesn't like the effect; it's kind of creepy. He thinks they must be the priests, though.

"I think we can talk to the priests right now, just not the other people. They're the two staring at us from across the room."

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"Okay." She walks right up to them. "Hello. Are you Neselthia's priests?"

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"Hello, child of Neselthia. Welcome to her temple. What do you seek?"

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"We are her priests. We speak to her, for her, and about her."

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Priests are weird and this is why he wants to be wizard, he doesn't say.

"Lintalai wants to learn more about gods and things."

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"Yeah, we don't have gods where I'm from, and also people thought I was involved with Neselthia in particular because of my hair, can you tell me about that?"

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"A misunderstanding, nothing more. While the ability to change our hair is something associated with spellcasters, it is not very common among Neselthia's priests. However, we do pay for magic performed on others outside her priesthood, such as the kind that changes hair color. Yours was not magically granted?"

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"She makes it blue because she's blue. She doesn't even need magic for it."

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"It turns the color of whatever I eat. I have a bottle of food coloring but since I don't know if there's food coloring here I will have to find somewhere to get blue food eventually. I guess that means you don't know what species I am."

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"If you remain in Neselthia's district, we will facilitate a trade. Our lady wishes to ensure that women are able to accrue wealth for themselves and their families, and although you are young yet, there should be no barrier for you to do so. We will find a wizard who can color your hair the shade that you prefer, so that you are free to invest in your own interests."

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"...women?" she says, puzzled.

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"Women like us, and like you will one day grow to be. Circumstances often work against women, because motherhood demands so much time, and so few women are able to work while alive. Things are different here, more free, but there are still social expectations. Even in death, mothers and widows are left with little time and little wealth of their own, unless we intercede."

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"I... don't think that's a thing on Amenta, so I don't know if I count."

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"-we would need to speak to our lady to be sure. We do not turn men away from her worship, and certainly not boys, but we will not assist in the same way, no. However, through her and our actions, Neselthia's district has become a place of markets and businesses of all kinds. You may find a wizard who will assist you without our direct aid."

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So weird. But also-

"What's not a thing on Amenta? Men taking care of the money?"

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"Women not being able to work and doing more parenting."

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"What do they do when they're pregnant, though?"

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"When the family or the community assists with childcare, there is less need for the mother to sacrifice her options."

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"They... be pregnant? And really happy about it all the time? I think they can still go to work till they have the baby and then at least one parent will usually stay home, both if they can afford it, but it doesn't have to be her."

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"That sounds a lot different than the Prime Material. My adoptive parents always said that Arcadia was a nicer place to be parents because you could spend time with them, you didn't have to spend any time pregnant, and you could work while you were raising kids."

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"I think Amentans like being pregnant and raising kids instead of working when they can! I'm not grownup myself and I might be a species that isn't that way so I may never personally experience it but I am pretty sure!"

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"That makes sense."

...Daernir looks to see what the priests make of this.

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One of them is smiling indulgently at Lintalai, rather like she thinks she's making Amenta up.

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The other just says, "If you need anything that you could not pay a wizard to do, come to us. Feel free to pray for a time."

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"Oh, you wanted to know about prayer too, right?"

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"Yeah, I don't know how that works because Amenta doesn't have gods."

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"Prayer is the act of opening your soul to what your god wants from you. You don't evaluate, you simply experience."

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"Think about what Neselthia values, and what she wants us to value. Find the points of agreement, and if they number enough that your feelings towards her are more fond than frustrated, speak as though you are speaking to her."

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"I don't have a soul!"

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Indulgent smile, although slightly more strained than the last one.

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The other priest sighs.

"I see."

She doesn't, really, but she had been re-assigned rather urgently last night, so she supposes she has something that only she can explain to this strange child.

"Think of Neselthia as...someone fielding many requests at once, like an administrator within a government. She must honor all requests somehow, but she needs to evaluate them. Prayers are like requests submitted to a god. The administrator must make decisions somehow, and she has her own process, her own priorities. Those who submit the prayers to her are her followers, typically, so they already agree with her priorities and her process. However, sometimes it is useful for other people to pray to her first, when her area of focus is the most relevant to their goals. If I were not a follower of Neselthia, I might pray to her for saving up for childcare while I was pregnant, or to ensure that money for food for my recently born children would last longer. Does that help clarify the matter?"

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"So I don't need a soul?"

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"You need a soul in order to align yourself with our lady, yes."

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"...but not to pray to her. Prayer is something anyone can do, no matter the state of their soul."

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Priests can be helpful, but they're really really weird. He wishes he were a wizard so they'd respect him and stop playing weird games with rules he doesn't know.

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"And she's mostly interested in women specifically and also having babies?"

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"She is interested in women maintaining their wealth despite controlling husbands, poverty, the costs of childcare, and the lost working time spent with children. She is also a protector of children, whether boy or girl, so you may have a special advantage at getting her attention."

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"I should also say that Neselthia admires commerce, trade, and merchants; especially women, because it can be so difficult for women to do so, especially on the Prime, but merchants in general pray to her in this district."

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Lintalai writes all this down on her pocket everything.

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Daernir looks over her shoulder as she writes!

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She allows this, mostly because she's writing in Anitami and he can't make out a word of it.

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Awww. Okay.

"What are you writing?"

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"I'm taking notes on the conversation!"

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"Oh, that's smart. So you can remember everything important later? What kind of things do you write down?"

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"Most everything, I can write really fast and I organize it later, usually before I go to bed."

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One of the priests says, "Excuse me, children. I will attend to one of our worshipers," and steps away.

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Daernir ignores that in favor of the conversation.

"Maybe I should start. How do you make yourself faster, though? I don't have a pocket everything, I need paper..."

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Seems reasonable of her. "Practice, mostly, and the having a pocket everything." Lintalai finishes writing up notes and says, "So what are some gods that are maybe more relevant to wanting to found a country and move billions of people here?"

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Billions of people?!?

"You may wish to pray to Heru-wer or Amaunator. Heru-wer is concerned with vengeance, rulership, and kingdoms. Amaunator values bureaucracy, contracts, and rulership. Both are also gods of the sun, but this seems less relevant to your interests."

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"I don't think vengeance really comes into play but bureaucracy contracts and rulership sounds good! Can I find them or one of their priests around?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"I represent Heru-wer as well as Neselthia, although to a lesser extent. To find a true priest of his, you would need to go to his district, depending on your needs. Do you wish to apply to him for counsel?"

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"Maybe? Is he good at that? If he does bureaucracy and as many people in Arcadia start governments as I've heard maybe he has some paperwork I can fill out to design it more easily and legibly or something."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Heru-wer counsels many of the bureaucrats in Heliopolis, but he does not counsel all of the leaders in Buxenus. As for paperwork, yes, we do keep paperwork in the temple for the daily concerns of a populace, but not for forming a government, I believe- certainly not one for billions of people, as this has never come up. I would recommend communicating to a priest of his if you want advice relevant to your case, but if you only want paperwork that may be useful in general, he has already provided that to us. We can share it with you."

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"Yes please, I'm curious."

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"One moment. I will need to retrieve it."

She takes her right hand and moves it over Lintalai's head in a circular motion, closes her eyes, murmurs something in a language Lintalai's pocket everything cannot translate, and disappears up the stairs.

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"Sorry for not warning you enough. Priests are weird. That's why I want to be a wizard."

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"Why are they so weird?"

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"It's like, instead of aligning themselves with concepts like law or good, they align themselves with really small things, like...bureaucracy, or mothers having enough money. I guess bureaucracy is bigger, but...all gods are very small like that, and priests have to...think the same way, right, or else they wouldn't be priests of that god, they have to care about enough of the same things. Small thoughts make people weird."

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"I don't think I understand very well what aligning yourself with a thing really is."

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"So, you know how you have thoughts that you can't really control, they just sort of happen to you? But you also have thoughts that you want to have, that you think you should have. Aligning yourself with a god or a plane is wanting your thoughts to be more like those kinds of thoughts, and not just the thoughts you have if you're not trying."

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"Huh. Why are gods narrow people so their priests have to be?"

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"I guess gods aren't really narrow, but they care a lot about their things and they're not always things that relate. I don't think the sun has much to do with bureaucracy, but Heru-wer does. And priests usually pick one of their god's things, since they're so different, and usually only narrow people would focus their whole life on one thing. Also I think they like acting mysterious, which makes them weird."

Permalink Mark Unread

"I guess that makes sense. I admit I'm not sure what the sun has to do with bureaucracy."

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"I don't know! It seems really silly to care about the sun and bureaucracy the same amount."

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"I mean, I need sunshine because I'm a plant, but that's probably not why he cares about it."

Permalink Mark Unread

"How are you a plant, anyway? I don't know a lot of plants that are people, and the ones I read about look like plants. You don't look like one. Do you have roots, or is it all like needing sunshine?"

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"I don't have roots but my cells look like plant cells under a microscope and I need sunshine and can't eat a lot of foods and do drink a lot of water."

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'Cells' and 'microscope' fail to translate.

"-huh. What's a 'microscope'?"

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"Glass lenses that let you see very tiny things clearly." She gets a picture of one on her everything.

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Daernir examines the picture in fascination.

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And the priestess shortly thereafter returns with 'paperwork'. Most of it appears to be on parchment, rather than anything Amentans would use.

"Shall we sit down and examine it?"

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"Yes please!" She holds her pocket everything above it to get a translated image.

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Over the next hour, they can examine all of what the temple stores. Most of the material concerns laws governing the average citizen's day-to-day concerns: how the community organizes education, how to embark on infrastructure projects, how best to punish murderers and thieves, how to distribute land...very little of it concerns how jobs are assigned, how to control population, or how to enforce pollution violations.

Permalink Mark Unread

"...people in Arcadia can have kids, right?"

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"Petitioners such as myself, who died and then came here, cannot. Visitors from other planes can."

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"How does murder work when most people around are already dead?"

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"...we can be more permanently destroyed. We are not invincible, only difficult to kill."

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"Oh... then I don't understand why there isn't a section on pollution? I figured maybe most people don't have to go to the bathroom because of being dead and the people who do just figure that out somehow but if people can die here then there should probably be a section about that."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Excuse me for asking a question with an obvious answer, but how does death relate to pollution?"

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"Dead bodies are polluted."

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What does that even mean. She doesn't understand why she is the person who is supposed to solve this. Okay. Who can help with pollution? Or death...

"Usir is the god of death, rebirth, and the harvest. Perhaps he can assist you. It sounds to me that Heliopolis may have much to offer you. I will pray on this matter. In the meantime, we will find a place for you to stay where you will not come near any dead petitioners even by chance."

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"I can just wash off in a river, that's okay for me, but if I'm going to move a lot of Amentans here I need to figure something out."

Permalink Mark Unread

"None of our gods are primarily concerned with pollution caused by dead bodies, but we may find a magical solution as well. I will consult with Usir, and perhaps you can return when we have brought one of his priests here."

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"A magical solution would be GREAT. When should I come back?"

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What's a timescale a living person would think was sensible? She should try to move things along more quickly for this poor girl's sake. Unfortunately, she'll need to actually consult with priests of Usir to do this.

"On the long end, three months. I believe I can move the timeline up, since I understand primes feel a greater sense of urgency."

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"...okay, how far up?"

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"I will need to consult with the relevant priests to give you more information, and I cannot do that via magical means, as I do not have that capacity. I can give you updates on my progress if it is important to you to know precisely when this will happen."

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Daernir is not sure he can add anything, but he mostly wants to say that Lintalai is smart and if they let her help, it'll happen even faster; he's not sure if that's even true, really, he barely knows her.

Permalink Mark Unread

"How would I get the updates?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"I can send you messages via mage or by angel, unless you have something else in mind."

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"I've never gotten a message either of those ways before, what is it like?"

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"A mage will speak a short message, up to 25 words, directly to your mind. You can return a message of the same length. Angels can deliver messages of any length, spoken or written, but unlike with mages, they cannot do so instantly."

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"What if I'm asleep when you send the message?"

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"A mage cannot send a message to a sleeping person, but an angel would simply arrive at a more convenient time."

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"Okay, an angel message will be fine."

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"Is there anything else Neselthia can help you with today?"

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"I don't think so..." She looks at Daernir.

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"Where do you find your wizards?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Our wizards, like our mages in general, come from around the city."

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"I know, you said. Can you give us names or places?"

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"...very few mages take well to solicitations, but you can speak to Daphilys. She will meet you in Iuny, which you can find by following this map."

She searches through the paperwork for several minutes, until she hands it to him.

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Daernir looks surprised that this worked, if Lintalai didn't get a name. He's not sure if that means he got a bad wizard, or she would have given it sooner to the girl asking? Priests are still weird.

"Thank you. And thank Neselthia..."

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She smiles.

"If that will be all?"

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He nods.

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Lintalai takes a picture of the map and goes out with Daernir.

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He doesn't leave any more coins on the way out, but he does pray a little about Lintalai being able to have money of her own soon.

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And then they are back on the city streets, map in hand and knowledge acquired.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Do you want to find an inn, or try to find the wizard first? Or maybe just talk about what we want to do next?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"I think I should figure out how I can earn some money. Do you think people would pay to listen to music from my pocket everything? Or - I could take a picture of them, except I don't have a printer so they couldn't have the picture to keep. Or would they want to send messages to people on Amenta as a novelty?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Music might be good. Most music on Arcadia is played live, only magic can record it. Um, it would be hard to do directions or pictures for everyone but maybe you could do find out things for people- not all day, but if there's something Amenta might know that we don't, they could pay you for that. Talking to Amentans would be most good for good people, if you make them pay to help Amentans, they will, because they want to do that."

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"Okay! Um, I heard that advertising is illegal but that some things Amentans call advertising might not be, how do I let people know I can do those things?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"I have seen bulletin boards where people put up pieces of parchment about them and things they sell. That's not illegal everywhere, at least. We should ask someone about the advertising law at the inn, most inns have bulletin boards."

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"Okay, let's find an inn!"

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There is nothing here which claims to be an 'inn'. They can find a number of buildings that could provide lodging: this building appears to be 'spa', this one a 'sanctuary', and this one a 'rest stop'.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Maybe we should just ask someone...this is different than Abellio."

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"Let me see if I can make my everything do directions," she says, and then, instead of explaining any of the reasons this is implausible, she adds, "It always works at home, and it's based on the internet, which works here," in case that helps Daernir expect it right.

C'mon, Cattycorner, where can she find hotels near her.

Permalink Mark Unread

That leads them to what appears to be a residential building, judging by the number of children and adults they can see through the pane-less window sitting down for dinner.

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"Oh good," she says, when Cattycorner behaves. (She takes a screenshot of the map.) "This... doesn't look like an inn though... usually it's pretty good about that..."

Permalink Mark Unread

"It doesn't look like an inn on Abellio, but maybe that's different here. How does your everything know what places are- how does it know where places in Buxenus are, is it like how it knows Celestial?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Magic! On Amenta it knows how places are because people give it that data to use but here I'm just expecting it to work and it is, same like how it's translating without having been given data on the language we're speaking."

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"It's so cool that you can do that," he says enviously. "I don't know anyone else who can just expect things and they happen. Maybe because all our stuff is stuff everyone already believes things about."

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One of the adults inside, an elderly woman, spots them standing outside and shouts, "You, come in off the street! Supper is still warm."

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"Hi! Is this a hotel?" she asks.

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The old woman frowns.

"What do you mean, is this a hotel? Every home is a hotel! What kind of person would let a guest stand outside while they enjoyed a nice meal and a good night's sleep? Come inside."

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She looks at Daernir. "This doesn't sound like the kind that has a bulletin board," she says. (She says this at a perfectly normal volume, but cups her hand over her everything so its translation is private enough.)

Permalink Mark Unread

"No. We could still stay the night since it should be safe and she seems nice, but...we could find another place."

Daernir looks somewhat disconcerted by not knowing the rules of this city.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Do you know where we could find a more commercial sort of hotel by any chance?"

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One of the other people speaks up, an adult man who had just managed to convince one of the children to eat something on their plate that they were reluctant to taste.

"If you're looking for somewhere to stay that's more commercial, you want the spa. Left after fifty paces, right after thirty paces, right after ten paces, left after sixty paces and right after ten paces. If you want something more private...dear, what's the temple that recently built new rooms?"

"Temple of the Re-Unification?"

"No."

"Sand and Rivers?"

"Yes, that's the one. Go to the temple for the Ladies of Sand and Rivers. That would be left after forty paces, right after fifty paces-"

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"We can handle the directions," he interjects, glancing hopefully at the everything.

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"Yes, thank you," she says. She asks the pocket everything about the spa and heads there.

Permalink Mark Unread

Cattycorner leads her to the spa. The building is ornate on the outside: a portico at the entrance, a bas-relief on either side of the entrance, and rosettes carved into small spires rising from every one of the buildings four corners. After walking inside, though, the building appears relatively simple in the front: a receptionist, of sorts, standing behind a desk and smiling politely when they enter. There is a water fixture and some plants hanging from the ceiling and dotting the floor to provide some sense of atmosphere.

"Hello! Are you two here for a day at the spa? Where are your parents?"

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"My parents are on a planet called Amenta where time is passing much more slowly than here and his parents are on another layer but know that he's here with me. Do you have a bulletin board?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Oh, I- you mean some kind of place to share your availability, if you're offering to do some kind of work for people?"

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"If she's selling something."

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She wrinkles her nose.

"We do have a roster here of guests who are staying here, and their most useful skills should anyone else here need to make use of them, but no, nothing like a bulletin board. Is that what spas are like on Abellio? Whatever the Prime Material Plane thinks is modern, they'll adopt. In Buxenus, we stay well clear of all that. So. Rooms?"

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"I'm not from Abellio," she sighs. "Yes please, rooms."

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They receive keys to their rooms!

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"Thank you," Daernir says, managing to sound thankful rather than disillusioned.

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She asks directions to the room - she doesn't think she can sufficiently expect Cattycorner to manage inside buildings and at any rate wouldn't know how to make the request of the app - and heads there with Daernir.

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The hallways are fairly narrow, with doors on the right side and open archways on the left side, which overlook the central bathing chamber. They find their room with the number matching that etched into the keys.

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"We could check the guest roster and see if anybody is good at popularizing new things."

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Nod.

"I don't like Heliopolis. Why would someone just not want to do things because they're modern? That's stupid."

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"We could go back and look for bulletin boards up a layer."

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"Maybe, yeah. We could go back up and come back when we get an angel message?"

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"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Can I take a picture of you and me together to send my dads?"

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"Okay! Do I stand next to you..."

Daernir attempts to understand selfies, but basically cooperates with Lintalai posing him however she likes.

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She grins into the camera and instructs him to smile and snaps the picture. He can have a look at it if he wants.

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Sure! He's never seen a photograph before she showed him some. He continues to find the pocket everything fascinating.

"Do you have pictures of your dads?"

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"Yeah!" She can pull up old photos. "Here's Aitim giving a speech, Kan's over there sitting behind him. There's both of them and baby me asleep on Kan's shoulder on the train not long after they adopted me. There's one of their wedding photos."

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"Awww. It's weird that people used to be babies. I wonder if animals could be just as smart if people raised them. Which of them do you like better? I like my adoptive mom most, because she believes me about things."

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"Animals can't be as smart if people raise them, if you get a kitten it's still going to grow into a cat. I'm not sure which I like better. When I go with them to work I usually go with Aitim but that's because he has meetings more and those are more interesting to watch than Kan writing emails all day but that's not because I like Aitim more."

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"Huh. I guess they could be equally good. Or maybe you just don't know yet, that's okay. Did you want to do anything besides look at the roster? I don't really want to take a bath here, I don't know any of these people."

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"Let's look at the roster first but I might take a bath anyway."

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Nod.

They don't really have lots of things, so there's not much to do in the room. It has only one bed; they've been given keys to two rooms, but Daernir hasn't yet remembered sleep exists, so he just holds onto his key as they go back to the mean receptionist.

"Hello. Can we see the roster?"

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"I cannot show you the roster, because we also want to maintain some privacy for our guests. You can tell me what skills you want to request, and I will tell you who we have who can help."

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"I need help with introducing novel things to people who might want them."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Hmm..."

She scans their roster.

"We have a travel agent...an airplane inventor...a matchmaker...a pan vendor...and a bard. Will any of those do?"

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"We could meet more than one, if you think it would help," he says to Lintalai.

Permalink Mark Unread

"A bard could be good! ...also the airplane inventor."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Maybe the travel agent would have suggestions on what we can do, too, since the most useful things about a new kingdom is harder to spread in stories, like bards do it? I don't see how the matchmaker or a pan vendor could help."

Permalink Mark Unread

"We can try the travel agent too, yeah, they might at least know good places for me to visit next."

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The receptionist gives them room numbers; she won't hand out the names. She wishes them luck.

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Time to go knocking on doors! She will start with whichever room is closest; any of them might be out at the moment anyway.

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The first one may be out, as there is no response. The second one, the travel agent, does answer.

A person with long, black hair and pointed ears answers the door, wearing a silk dress that would be translucent if not for the opaque flowers that recur across it.

"Hello," they say, their voice having a slightly musical quality. "Can I help you?"

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"Hello, my name is Lintalai! The person at the front said you were a travel agent? I'm trying to explore Arcadia to learn more about it so I can start a polity and eventually bring colonists from my home world over and I wondered if you'd know good places to explore for that purpose."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Oh, of course! Come in, have a seat on the bed there."

They rush back inside and rummage through a cloth bag until they retrieve a scroll case. They open it, and unroll the parchment within.

"What kind of places are you most interested in? Many neighbors, or fewer? Lots of local crops? Abundant animals to befriend or kill? Can any of your future citizens fly?"

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"My future citizens can't fly but do know how to build flying vehicles. They will want to build large cities and enough farms to feed everybody there - these are live people - and I want to attract lots of magic users too eventually - neighbors are fine but the colonists will have a lot of kids and need room to expand."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Assuming they'll be satisfied by our native flora, I can find a spot near a substantial number of farms. Neighbors are fine, but room to expand- what you might want is formian neighbors, they do like building quite a bit...as for attracting magic users, I would suggest placing yourself near a god's realm and becoming magically interesting, spellcasters are a tricky bunch to treat as a class. Away from Heliopolis...let me find you somewhere distant from Azuth and Savras' realm, magic users would actively prefer going there than to a fledgling kingdom...this still leaves us with some options. What is your opinion of collaboration? Do you want your magic users to work with magic users from other settlements?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"I think room to start farms would be more important than already-existing farms in the long run but some already existing farms would be good except I don't actually know if most Amentans can eat the plants here, I'm unusual. Collaboration sounds good!"

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She continues looking through her parchment and making thoughtful noises.

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"Would your Amentans bring their own seeds to start farms with?"

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"Yeah! I guess they might have a hard time bringing across heavy farm equipment and stuff if the portals are very small but they can probably bring it in pieces and maybe there could be bigger portals."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Empty land in which Amentans can grow their plants...open air...I would recommend founding your city on Abellio to avoid any issues with your flying vehicles, it's easier to unintentionally travel from a lower layer of Arcadia to a higher one than the reverse. Formian neighbors, because they tend to build underground and will only leave an above-ground interface for trading with their neighbors. Somewhere near Marduk, which will make a strong trading partner and which has a relationship with us, as well. I can't help directly with attracting spellcasters, unfortunately, beyond putting you between Marduk, home to many priests, and a settlement with a relatively high population of mages. Were there any other concerns, or should I create a shortlist?"

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"If it's convenient I think Amentans would also like a lot of rivers since they're magically clean."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Given those requirements, my suggestions are somewhere within short flying but long walking distance of Edirug, Pirshula, Birahana, Lothal, or Jiangzhai."

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She writes all those down! "Can you tell me how to get to those places so I can check them out?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Well, those places are on Abellio, so I haven't recorded the details of how to travel there on my register, I'm afraid. You can ask someone in Marduk, which I can give you directions to from here- we have several stable portals to Marduk in Heliopolis."

She looks for that.

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"Okay, thank you. What else can you tell me about formians?"

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"I can't say I'm an expert. They're people that have the shape of very large ants. They like to behave the way ants might, if they were people, I believe, although I don't know much about ants really. They form underground colonies and oftentimes build structures above their colonies, which other kinds of people sometimes move into if they don't have any builders. It's an infinite plane, dear, I've only met a formian once. Ah, here it is. You can take down the directions from Marduk, then- this would be from Marduk's border, but the portal takes you inside the city. Make sure to keep that in mind for the distances."

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"I will, thank you." She's just not sure Cattycorner knows what a portal is, though maybe she can find them if she searches and they'll have informative names, she should try that sometime.

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"Yeah, thank you! Do you know where the portal to Marduk is?"

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"Oh, somewhere around the palace, where the scribes gather."

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"Thank you."

Okay, next room!

Permalink Mark Unread

There is no answer. They may have to wait if Lintalai wishes to speak to both the bard and the airplane inventor.

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She can skip the bard but she wants the airplane inventor to pay her for airplane information off the Internet.

"I think I should try going out and playing music in public," she says, "and see if that attracts any interest. Till bedtime."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Okay. Should I see if there are any other skills we could use? Maybe there's something I can find if I spend the rest of that time bothering the lady."

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"That could help, yeah! I won't go too far and I'll be back after not too long."

And she sets out to find somewhere public to sit.

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There are places to sit. Most such places are not as clean as Lintalai may like- although the rivers here magically clean things, there is a significant amount of dust and sand and similar kinds of matter produced by living in a city in a desert- despite, perhaps, that the temperature here is barely above that which Lintalai experienced on Abellio. She does, after about ten minutes of searching, find a fountain in the center of a crowded intersection. The fountain has a generous stone lip on which a person her size can comfortably sit.

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Dust and sand aren't a big deal, she can swish them away with her hand before she sits by the fountain in the sunshine. She turns her everything volume all the way up and picks out a nice dance song without any words.

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Some of the people around her begin to take notice. Most stop for a few minutes to listen, but continue on their way.

Eventually, one couple does start to dance to the music. Others begin to join in. Very few pay Lintalai any mind, although the couple that originally set off the dancing does thank her as the others keep the impromptu celebration going.

"How are you producing all this music?"

"Is it that little box in your hand?"

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"Yeah! It can play music from my world."

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"Do you know how much it cost your parents?"

"It's an impressive illusion! Or is it a divination..."

"Either way, compliment your parents on their choice in mage, it's really something."

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"It's not magic! - it's a little magic that it works in Arcadia but at home it works without any magic."

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"Oh, really? So we could use it without any magic at all? How did you parents find one for you?"

"Yeah, do you know how long they saved up for one?"

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"They aren't expensive at home, but they don't have them here yet. I'm going to start a colony and then they'll be manufactured here though!"

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Some of the other dancers are taking breaks, and some of them wander over curiously.

They mostly begin to talk amongst themselves about how exciting the concept of recorded music is, and summarily ignore her.

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"...does anybody have requests?" she tries.

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"-oh, could you play The Milkmaid and the Barfly?"

"There was this song I heard once when staying in the temple by the tomb- how did it go..."

"Are you the one operating this foreign device, young lady? Where are your parents?"

"Battle of Gurova Cliffs, I'm telling you, you need to hear the story and you'll see-"

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"It only does music from my planet. My parents are also on my planet."

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People start talking over each other.

The couple who initially approached her begins to run interference, apparently positioning themselves as the proximal adults responsible for talking to Lintalai on behalf of the crowd, since her parents are absent. One of them turns to her, finally, as says, "Could you play the most popular songs for them? We'll let you know which ones we like."

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"I can do that." She puts on something of Uncle Makel's. "I was sort of hoping to earn spending money this way."

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"Oh, of course!"

The adults discuss amongst themselves the best way to arrange this, and finally, the same couple who has been speaking to her gives her the proposed payment structure: those who dance along to a song pay for it, while those who simply listen will pay a lower amount, because this isn't a live performance.

Lintalai cannot particularly evaluate the specific amounts they are quoting her, but there does seem to be interest in general terms.

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She doesn't need a ton, she doesn't think, though she does mentally compare to how much Daernir gave the temple. She can put on especially danceable songs by her uncle.

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People seem universally agreed that her uncle's songs are some of the best dance music they've ever heard!

The amounts they've agreed upon seem to be half of what Daernir gave at the temple, for listening, and three times what Daernir gave at the temple for dancing.

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That will be satisfactory then. She will hang out while her everything plays and browse the Internet since her dads have not replied yet.

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And eventually, these people will move on and Lintalai will have collected an unclear amount of money, most of it in the form of metal coins- although not all, she also appears to have a few crystal coins as well as some made of a red material, possibly stone.

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Those are pretty! She'll take a photo of the money to go in her next email. Only two minutes have passed since she sent her last one, probably most of the recipients haven't even read it yet, but she thinks being oriented to sending regular reports will keep her attentive to what Amentan colonists will want when she can haul them here.

When she's tired she gathers up all her coins and goes back to the inn.

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Daernir is sitting in the lobby with a piece of parchment. There are a few other people there, this time. He bounds to his feet when he sees her, smiling.

"Lintalai! How did they like the music?"

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"It took a while for anyone to pay me but I got some money and people seemed to really like it! I don't actually know how much this is though."

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"Oh, okay. I'll count it for you."

He examines the money, frowning slightly.

"I don't recognize this kind," he says pointing at one the red stone coins, "but the crystal coins are Arcadian money and everything else is Prime Material money. Um, in Arcadian money, which is what everyone uses for counting, that's...1 bell, 30 small bells...this adds up to 14 more small bells...1 bell and 44 small bells is 5 bells and 4 small bells. You earned fifty times what a garbage-collector would in a day!"

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"Is that a usual benchmark? Garbage collectors?"

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"Those, or bricklayers or weavers, yeah, since those can be different. I picked garbage-collectors because their work is like musicians, they don't do it all the time and they need people to want it, like firefighters."

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"Okay. Well, I should be able to pay for incidentals for a while and I can do it again later too, it looks like my everything is charging overnight like I expected. Did you find anything out while I was gone?"

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"Yes, but nothing that special. I spent the rest of the time trying to take notes on things you told me and things I told you, but I don't know if I remembered everything. I forgot most of the things we talked about before today, I think, so I'm going to take notes from now on. Um, but for the other guests...these are all the ones I thought you might be interested in, but I wrote down lots, so if you ask questions I can tell you more: herbalism, courier services, divination magic, [untranslatable], bread-making, and a bodyguard.

Herbalism because you need healers who aren't magic at the beginning unless you bring those from Amenta right away. Courier services because you might want something in the city that's faster than angels but less money than mages. Divination magic- I don't think you could make them come to your kingdom but they might be able to do magic for us or tell us about it? [Untranslatable]- administrative, sorry, it's hard to say...administrative assistance would be good for making laws, maybe they can tell you how and then you won't need them. Bread-making...I just think it would be good to know how to make food if we're doing a kingdom without Amentans right away, I don't know how long that'll take. And the bodyguard is for you, because you'll be the queen."

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"These would be mostly for before Amentans can come across?"

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"Yeah. Not a lot of good stuff, I think bulletin boards are better. I think you should have a bodyguard from here anyway, after? But not just that one. And the divination magic person, they might be good for after too."

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"A bodyguard is a good idea. Is this enough to pay them?"

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"Yes, for a few weeks. Divination magic person will want more if you pay them."

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"How much more?"

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"I think this much would pay them for a week, and the bodyguard for three weeks? I never paid any spellcasters though. I can make some money too, but not as much as this in the same time; music is different than other jobs because you can't do it all the time."

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"Do I actually need a bodyguard? Are there assassins? My dads have security but they live on Amenta and there's a crime rate."

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"I think there are crimes? That's what the Harmonium is for, when people break laws, and the gods aren't punishing them."

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"What does the Harmonium do?"

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"The Harmonium punishes criminals and tries to enforce the laws. It doesn't always work, but they usually help all the kingdoms since no one really wants to be police."

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"Why doesn't anyone want to be police?"

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"Nobody really wants to punish anyone, except the Harmonium? So if you do want to be police, you would just go to the Harmonium's camps and get trained to be them."

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"Oh, I see. What are the punishments like, that varies a lot on Amenta."

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"You pay a fine or spend time in jail. How much money or how much time depends on the crime."

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Nod nod. "A lot of stuff is like that in Anitam too."

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"Would you want to do something different for your kingdom?"

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"I think I should try to get my dads' advice on that. And get more information so they can give me more informed advice. I'm not sure about it myself but I have an idea what I need to know - how often the crimes are committed and why and whether Amentans here will wind up more law-abiding and how colonists'll be screened."

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Nod nod.

"Someone might know all this for the Kingdoms of Arcadia already, about how much crime we have. I don't know that. I think we should talk to the bodyguard about what they would do for you, and we should ask the divination magic person to tell us some things but not hire them because we don't have lots of money yet."

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"What things do you think we should specially ask the diviner?"

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"Um, I'm not sure. I don't know a lot about magic the way mages do it. I think asking about the future is harder than asking about the present, though, so if there's something far away that we should find out sooner, that would be the best question. What do you think Amentans would need to know about a place before coming there?"

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"- that it's infinite and habitable. That'll do it. If it's infinite - we won't need population controls -

- I mean it's still a good idea for them to show up reasonably well-informed about what the laws are and what they should bring and stuff."

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"Oh. That's fair. Okay. So we should find out if there's any more big surprises- like Buxenus not having inns, or the law against advertising- that would bother people from Amenta. What would make Amentans not want to live in a place? Will we need more than one kingdom, or can you take all of them?"

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"Amentans won't want to live in a place if it doesn't season, but I think expecting it to have seasons should work here. It would probably be good eventually to have more than one country - maybe not all kingdoms, I think I might as well be a monarch under the circumstances but some people really like democracy. They won't want to live here if it's polluted but I think the magic rivers and stuff help a lot."

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"-huh. That's good. Is, um, could you say that first sentence again but without your pocket everything? You used a lot less words to say it in your language than I heard it say."

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"...I haven't learned that much Celestial but I can say it differently? Amentans will want it to have a spring and summer and fall and winter - because if it doesn't they'll feel like it's spring all the time and they don't want that. - I guess maybe it would be okay since it's infinite though and they can have all the babies they want."

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"Feeling like spring would have to do with babies?"

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"Oh! Uh, adult Amentans can only conceive children in spring. Also then they want to have a lot of sex and they get really sad if they are not going to in fact have a baby that spring."

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"Oh. That's weird. We're like that all the time only less sad about it, I think, and no one from the Kingdoms can have kids. Maybe people on the Prime Material Plane are sadder but since they can have kids it's okay, I'm not sure. We should find that out too. And for castes, since aliens don't have castes, is that going to be fine? Will Amentans still trade with us, or can they just do everything so they won't?"

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"I think Amentans will still trade with people who don't have castes but they do currently live all by themselves on their planet so they know how to do everything they need."

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Nod.

Daernir has a lot of questions about caste (because it seems like something they should implement in the Kingdoms of Arcadia), but he isn't going to ask until he knows more about how they already do things here. He is beginning to regret not having learned so many more things.

"Okay. We can at least offer magic and things like that. Should we go look and see if the people we want to meet are in?"

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"Yeah, let's check."

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They can check, and they find the bodyguard in her room! She listens attentively to whatever it is that Lintalai has to say, when Daernir makes it clear that he considers her the local authority. The bodyguard stands in her doorway, looking expectantly at the clear leader of these children.

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"Hello, my name is Lintalai! I am in the information gathering stage of trying to found a colony to bring billions of people from my home planet over to. I don't have any security here in Arcadia yet."

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This earns her a raised eyebrow. Daernir's vigorous nodding barely seems to put a dent in the skepticism.

"Alright. How much will it pay?"

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"We might pay for information, if you don't want to be security for her."

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Shrug.

"Either way, how much does it pay?"

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"I do not have a very steady income yet. I made more than five bells sitting and playing music for a while but I don't know if that will be repeatable or if it's the most remunerative thing I could be doing. I think the potential is high, it's just hard to connect to people who want what I have. - do you exclusively work for money?"

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"Not exclusively. Sell me on your kingdom. Why is protecting you the most important thing for me to be doing?"

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"...Amenta has thirteen billion people on it. They're tightly population controlled because there's no way to get anywhere else habitable. Also we have a caste system there; I'm blue, the governance caste, so even though I'm young I've had a lot of education geared toward growing up to run things one day. I also have time dilated access to the advice of people back home; I think I'll probably get replies to my first wave of messages in a few weeks, longer if they make some phone calls to check that I'm really missing and it's not a prank but then it'll speed up. Amenta has technology nobody's ever heard of here, including stuff that can be augmented with local magic like the way I'm able to talk to people back home. So having Amentans here will increase the standard of living for present day Arcadians a lot, and it will also give billions of people chances to have the families they want, and I think I'm capable of setting something up to receive them. What I need to do is attract magic users who will be able to bring Amentans to Arcadia."

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"So your people are suffering because they can't have families, and you're the girl to fix that? Plus, you guys have all kinds of technology that we could really use here. Sound about right?"

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"Well, I'm not who anybody would have picked to fix that, I'm two years old, but I'm the one who happens to be in Arcadia, so yeah."

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She nods approvingly.

"Alright, girlie. I'll protect you from the threats I know how to work with, but those are only the ones we have on Arcadia. You'll still want an Amentan guard for Amentan kinds of threats. I prefer money, but for the first month, I'll work with the promise of a pretty title in your new government."

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"When Amentans are ready to come over I can tell them to bring me Amentan security. Do you know what kind of title you want? - also what is your name."

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"Iozhe. No last name worth sharing, although if the customs of your people are different, maybe it doesn't matter. I'd like to be the Royal- you are going with royal titles, yeah? Shame not to, if you're starting fresh."

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"It's nice to meet you, Iozhe. In Anitam, the country I'm from, the custom is a given first name and then a job name that describes your job or your favorite thing about it or your attitude toward it. I might decide to be a Princess or a Queen but I might also decide not to, since democracy is more popular on Amenta. Maybe I will be a princess transitionally, like Governor Avalor."

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"If you decide to be royal, I'll want to be the Royal Shield, or something nice and symbolic like that. If you're going with a democracy, maybe Minister of Security. And I'll take a job name, if Arcadians can get those."

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"I don't see why not if you'd like one."

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"What are the best ones for bodyguards? Do Amentans publish lists, or are you just supposed to know them?"

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"You can use standard ones but you can make them up if you want. My dads's security's job names are... well, this will translate them, but they mean Shield and Watcher and Guard and I forget the others."

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"I like Shield best. Maybe when you're not translating you can tell me. I'd love to have all my names be ones I didn't get from my parents. So, what kind of threats are you worried about? Lone archers, assassins, rival armies? Arcadia tends to be safer than all that, but we do sometimes have incidents."

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"I haven't been threatened but I think it makes sense to prepare in advance given the scale and disruptiveness of my plans."

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"Smart of you. I'd worry most about isolated incidents, personally; the Harmonium ain't likely to move against a new kingdom, and by the time you're more established, you'll have more than just me to protect you."

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Lintalai nods. "I don't know how long it will take to attract people capable of, or research the ability to, open a portal to Amenta."

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"Oh, you didn't come here on purpose? Thought it might be some of that fancy technology. Spellcasting isn't my specialty."

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"Oh, no, it was an accident, I was on my way to school and the door to the building dropped me in Arcadia."

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"Huh. You don't hear of that happening every day. Portals are supposed to be downright hard to find, and you went through one by accident! Still looking for spellcasters?"

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"We're looking for those next."

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"Keep any spellcasters you do find far away from me, I don't need the headache."

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"...how do you mean? I'm going to need to talk to them, so if you're my security..."

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"Figuratively. Do I have to talk to them? Every one of them talks like they've swallowed a very obnoxious book."

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"You probably don't unless they're relevant to security but they might be."

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"Might want to hire on someone who can talk to spellcasters once you start worrying about it. I'll stick with you for a few months, if you end up needing me that long."

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Daernir nods, although he's not sure that's actually very useful. They still need to talk to the divination specialist, and maybe that could help with planning somehow. Divination is usually good for that.

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"Thank you," Lintalai tells Iozhe, "I'll swing by your room again before we leave town." And she steps out into the hall to find the next room.

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In the next room, they find a bird-person. The bird-person says hello and wants to know their business here.

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"Hello! You do divination magic, right? What sorts of things can you divine and what do you charge?"

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"That's a broad question. I can detect magic, living beings, and invisible persons nearby. I can locate objects and hear from some distance. I can identify a person's allegiance or an item's magical properties. I can also see what a person is doing from nearly any distance, if I target them specifically. Are you requesting my services for something? I will need to know the purpose before I agree to assist you."

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So Lintalai explains her project again. "But I'm not sure any of the things you listed are specifically helpful, mostly what I need at this point is to know what kind of magic will be useful for getting to Amenta and if there's a way for me to learn that or any other useful magic when I don't seem to have a soul."

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"-well, I've never heard of that exact problem, but most fighters and spellcasters who come to Arcadia need to learn new ways of working since their bodies are gone, and their souls can no longer align with what they're used to. As for getting to Amenta, I can't help you with the travel, but I could recommend some actual wizards- I listed divination as a skill because I know more than the average person, but I'm primarily into abjuration, and I have a few friends who might be able to help with planar travel once they get to the right level of education."

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"What's abjuration?"

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"Abjuration is one of the schools of wizardry. It covers barriers that protect the body or soul, negation of other magic, defensive damage, and banishment- that last is quite fascinating, really, since it interacts with the fabric between the planes- but I doubt I could learn to transfer anyone between them, again, one of my colleagues would be the port of call for transfer."

 

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"I'd appreciate a referral to someone who knows how to do that!"

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"Not a problem! Pinning someone down would be difficult if you don't have a university, though, how will they conduct their research in a new settlement...perhaps I should direct you to someone who can help with starting a university. Unless those are very common on Amenta, then you might not need my help."

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"Universities are common but I have not personally started any. I do think it would be good to get that done early on."

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"I'll consult with some of my colleagues over the next few days, and those most interested in helping found a wizarding university will join your settlement. I assume your preference will be for conjuration specialists, since those can eventually travel the planes, but is there anything else you've always wanted to be able to do?"

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"...fly."

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A bird-like laugh.

"Flying! Of course. I'll find you an alteration specialist. And you, silent companion, anything you would wish for?"

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"Oh, uh, I like abjuration! And illusion."

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"Abjuration could be useful for protecting a city," the bird-person allows. "Alright. If I bring you specialists free of charge, will you overlook their...deficiencies? They have never been accepted into prestigious universities, for a variety of reasons, and that is why I intend to ask them first. If it depends on the reasons, I will come back to you with more details once I've spoken to them."

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"...can you specify the deficiencies..."

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"I would prefer not to without getting their permission to divulge personal details, first. I can try to entice less relevant wizards without any, if you think having a prestigious starting population of wizards is more important than attracting those with the relevant specialties."

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"I don't know if the prestige matters very much - it might, if the first batch doesn't cut it and we need to attract or train more - I'm more worried about the deficiencies making them hard to work with, or dangerous, or off-putting to immigrants."

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"All valid concerns! Personally, out of loyalty to some of my colleagues, I would rather come back to you with a specific list of the qualities, traits, and so on that disqualified them from enrollment than reach out to those I am less confident of- but I understand if you would prefer not to wait for that. In the latter case, I will accept payment to give you a single name now, and he should be able to assist in creating the right atmosphere to attract wizards, even if he knows no conjuration wizards with the right interests."

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"How much payment?"

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"For a simple one-time recommendation, one and a half bells. I'll offer a list of somewhat deficient wizards for free, but I will need several days to communicate with them so you can evaluate their specific deficiencies."

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(Daernir starts doing math in his head; his lips move while he does it.)

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"...how accessible is the person you recommend, like, can we go find them soon or will it be a huge trip."

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"Very difficult to find, but very easy to communicate with across distances. He has contacts at many of Arcadia's major universities."

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"Do you mean you would use Sending?"

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"He would, yes."

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"We could only send really short messages- 25 words."

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"Hm, I'm not sure how worthwhile that is especially if we've also got to pay for the Sending. Do you think he'd be especially interested in helping?"

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"There is no charge for the Sending. This price should cover the cost of dealing with this wizard rather than furnishing an opportunity for my colleagues."

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"I might be perfectly happy to deal with your colleagues, I don't know yet! How long will it take you to talk to them?"

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"Most likely three days. I do not have Sending, so I will need to rely on the speed of angelic messengers."

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"If you don't have Sending why is there no charge for it if we talk to the other guy?"

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"It's a pricing strategy in which I absorb some of the cost of the Sending in exchange for remaining involved in this process. It sounds like an incredibly important project, and I would like to remain involved with it if I can. I've incorporated part of the cost of the Sending components in your price already."

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Daernir wishes he was already a wizard so they didn't need a wizard middleman to get them more wizards so they can attract wizards.

"We could go to a temple, but if we don't, this is our best chance at finding spellcasters. And they're wizards, not priests."

Left unsaid is that priests are weird, and that's worse than eccentric or egotistical or whatever other deficiencies these wizards might have, probably.

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"Yeah, you're right," she says. "Okay, I'll wait three days to find out what is wrong with these people so I know if I can take them. - if I guess something and it's something I'm okay with will that speed it up at all?"

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Sigh.

"I am primarily concerned with protecting their privacy. You could tell me which deficiencies you would find most upsetting and I can rule them out."

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"I would not be personally upset by but could not hire for work with Amentans anyone who might be construed by Amentans to be inherently polluted - I can elaborate on that if there's ambiguous cases. I can't currently communicate with anyone who can't speak out loud because my translation method requires it unless they have very good handwriting. Criminal history would be dicey depending on what it was."

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"-you may need to elaborate on what you mean by 'inherently polluted', since I wouldn't want to assume. None of my colleagues cannot speak out loud."

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"There's an inherently polluted caste of Amentans. If there's anybody from a caste their own society avoids or won't touch, that might be an issue if Amentans figured they were right, and if there's anybody from a long line of undertakers or sewer workers or anything like that, same problem."

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"What an...interesting...way to organize a caste system. I will confer with my colleagues, but I believe we only have one person who may fit the former category, and none who fit- ah, when you say 'undertakers', might that include 'necromancers'? It is not relevant in this case, but you may wish to know that there are wizards whose primary specialty is working with with remains, the dead, and such matters. Would that only be relevant if it was a lineage of necromancers?"

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"...yes, I think that would count. Also current necromancers will probably not get along with Amentans."

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"None of my colleagues are necromancers, so that will be fine for now. No family history of sewer workers, and no mutes...are there specific types of criminals you wish to rule out before I contact my colleagues?"

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"I'd need to figure out some kind of cost-benefit calculation if they presented a danger to me, other people I work with, or my possession of my pocket everything. If they committed... art fraud... or tax evasion... that's probably fine."

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Nod.

"Most criminals among wizards have committed crimes of that sort. I will strike the more aggressive ones from the list. Thank you. Would you prefer to meet here in three days, or should we arrange some other meeting place?"

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"I think here will be all right, thank you."

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Then he will get to sending messages to his colleagues and wish them a good evening.

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Who is next on their list?

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They have yet to meet the people who listed herbalism, courier services, administrative assistance, and bread-making as their skills.

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"I think I want to see if the administrative assistant is around, my dads have secretaries and think they're very important."

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They can find a room containing someone who is happy to offer her services for a project like this! What kinds of work does she need done?

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"So, I'm not sure what form administrative assistance takes here! Where I'm from everybody has these," she displays the pocket everything, "and administrative assistants are using them practically all the time. To filter messages and schedule appointments and organize records and stuff. How do you do those things?"

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"Oh, how interesting. I use paper to record everything important, of course, using shorthand to ensure that I capture everything quickly. Will you be bringing more of these with you, then, when you start your kingdom?"

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"They'll need to come from Amenta but getting people from Amenta is high priority. I don't know how long it will take though."

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Nod.

"I can help you until then, but you may have better luck with people from Amenta after that, since they'll know how to use these everythings. I'm not certain what a phone call is exactly, but I can help you manage your angel messages, Sendings, and communications of that type."

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"That sounds good, especially if you can be awake when I'm asleep. How much do you charge?"

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"Three chimes per day?"

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"A chime is one-tenth of a bell," Daernir adds.

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"Oh, of course, my apologies. Should I convert all figures into Amentan currency for you?"

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"I should learn to use bells and they're what I have right now anyway. Hm. How long will you be in town? Also what's your name?"

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"Tyshvian Coppersmelter. I might give you a list of local naming traditions to consult, since it can cause issues when you're dealing with people who take those things too seriously. Very few drama happens in Arcadia that starts here, but sometimes people bring old grudges and values with them from the Prime."

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"What kind of issues do naming traditions cause?"

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"Oh, mostly people becoming incredibly offended and refusing to work with you. It's odd, the kinds of arguments people will have when they know they have forever. I try to avoid those types of things, but I think starting a kingdom will give you less freedom there. Maybe you can delegate that."

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"I'd like to know how not to offend people about their names, yes. I think I want to hire you but I don't have anything for you to do right now. Will you be in town in a few days?"

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"I will be, yes! You're very precocious, has anyone told you that?"

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"Once or twice!"

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"Well, we'll need to discuss the specifics of my duties more- I'm sure on Amenta, you expect all kinds of things from administrative assistants that I've never heard of- but I can manage your schedule, and take notes if you need me to sit in during meetings, and organize your office- if you intend to have an office- does that all sound appropriate?"

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"I take my own notes and don't have an office yet. I might need to do more hiring, can you do interviews when you know more about my criteria?"

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"I would be happy to do that for you. Will there be anything else you want help with urgently, before I've been officially hired?"

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"I think that's all for now, thank you!"

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Then she'll bid adieu to the precocious civilization builder.

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"Did you want to check if any of the others are here, or is that all you need?"

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"I don't think I need any of the others on a short enough timescale that I should be trying to get ahold of them right now."

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Nod.

"Okay. What do you want to do now?"

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"I really want to go check out the formians in the places that were suggested but going to Marduk and getting directions there could take any amount of time and we'll need to be back here in a few days. Do you have ideas?"

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"I don't think finding the formians now is the best idea, yeah. Marduk and Heliopolis trade a lot but they're not really close. I think we should find out more about the Harmonium- I don't know a lot about it, and it seems important to know things about. You should tell me more about what Amentans are going to need, because there might be things I haven't thought about that could be important for you to know- like the pollution thing, I don't think I really get it and rivers help but if it's important I should get it. Um, and I don't know how much you know about starting a kingdom but we could learn more about how Heliopolis started, if that would help."

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"Harmonium research sounds good, and then I can poke around on the Internet for you getting Amentan information and we can see what pops out at you?"

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"Okay! We should find the library."

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"Sounds good! Which way?"

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He can lead her to the library. The light has changed, now; instead of the full strength of a desert sun, everything is a dusky hue. The streets are less bustling than when they arrived (deserted, by her standards). There is still enough light to see by, and they reach the library in about ten minutes of walking.

The building has text written above the entrance that reads, "Library of Heliopolis".

Inside, they find a few dozen bookshelves. The building is not large enough to house an extensive collection.

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...well, she has the entire Internet if she is ever hurting for reading material. She will skim all the titles, as long as there aren't many - she takes pictures of all the stacks, too, her grandpa will like them - and hunts for a book on the Harmonium.

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She can find:

Books which seem to be about "natural" phenomena (e.g. Plants of Arcadia, Abellian Dendrology, a Treatise on Agriculture, Feeding the Soil, Tributaries of Oceanus)

Books which seem to cover city planning and civilization building (e.g. The Polity, Homestead Management, The Shape of the Settlement, The Next Peaceable Kingdom, Building Orderly Kingdoms, The New Civic Art)

Books which cover general political and economic issues (e.g. The Law, Motion, Nature, and Origins of Money, Code of Harmony, Realms for the Petitioners, Civilizing Nemausus, Reflections on Governance, Improving Prime Supply Chains)

Books which Daernir points out as mentioning gods or their realms (e.g. Under Mount Clangeddin: My Time Among the Dwarves of Arcadia, Azuth, Feud: Savras and Azuth, Laws of the 6th District, Dry-Market Ward, Marduk, Abellio, the Peaceable Kingdoms of Arcadia, The Path of the Sun Barque)

And some books neither he nor she can immediately categorize but might involve magic, per Daernir's guess at the meaning of their titles (e.g. Called by No Name, The Science of Fortune, Divining the All-Seeing, Third Eye Blind, Just Experiment!, Necronomicon, Granting Mercy, Exacting Revenge).

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She pulls Code of Harmony, but also Next Peaceable Kingdom and Building Orderly Kingdoms and Just Experiment!. "Can I get you to look at the Harmonium one and pull out useful information while I'm flipping through these others getting pictures for my everything to translate? I feel like I'm more likely to want to refer to these later."

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"Sure, I can do that."

Daernir takes Code of Harmony and leaves Lintalai to her books.

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Next Peaceable Kingdom speculates about various future technologies and how they would impact the Peaceable Kingdoms of Arcadia. While not all of them are things Amenta is capable of, chapters include ideas about how to integrate mass communications and mass production of goods into an Arcadian society.

Building Orderly Kingdoms divides itself into three major parts: the first, about how to build a kingdom that promotes law; the second, about how to build a kingdom that promotes good, and the third, about how to balance the two without creating internal conflict within the kingdom.

Just Experiment!, despite its title, appears to be a book written by Marduk (the god) about Marduk (the realm), and its role as an experiment in allowing his followers to entirely rule themselves. Marduk speaks glowingly about how justice is best executed by those subjected to it, and barely touches on magic in the first few pages.

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She's mostly not reading them, just scanning them in, but she does pause over the chapters about mass communication and production!

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The book posits a plane-wide network of angel messages that might result from people coming to expect faster and faster communication as technology on the Prime develops but fails to carry over. It suggests that the main problem will be that communication in the Peaceable Kingdoms will continue to rely on angels rather than technology, which will minimize the extent to which people can maintain their privacy, and will continue to pose the same ethical questions as about employing angel labor the current system does.

As for mass production, the book hypothesizes the existence of something like assembly lines, and suggests that the greater consumption of goods that would result would require new ways of thinking about money, and new laws about trade.

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What are the ethical questions about employing angel labor?

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As inherently good outsiders, angels are inclined to selflessly serve at their own expense. It is trivial for an ill-intentioned person to exploit an angel. Angels do not tire, and they do not experience pain, but they are capable of emotional/mental suffering, and will rarely recognize on their own that they are suffering.

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Poor angels. Who is this author who is concerned with the plight of angels?

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The authors are listed as Jilda Springbloom, Oriwan Meadows, and Gurek-va Reltrenthehr.

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"Hey Daernir, are there non-angel ways to send letters?"

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He looks up, mildly annoyed at the interruption.

"Wizards. Pocket everythings will help a lot."

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"That's what I'm thinking, I want to get ahold of the person who wrote this because they seem concerned about angel welfare as standards for communications speed go up and they might want to help me."

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Absent nod.

Reading reading reading.

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Maybe her secretary or the diviner can help with that part if Daernir is not excited about it. She teaches herself to build a simple website, builds one, and puts all the book photos and their translations up. And starts on her next email to her family.

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And eventually, Daernir has finished collecting useful notes from the book. He waits until Lintalai notices that he's waiting, rather than interrupting.

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"- hey, all done?"

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"Yeah! So the Harmonium seems kind of scary and maybe not very good at being good, want to hear about it?"

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"Yes."

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"Okay, so this is a book that explains what the Harmonium believes and what their rules for their members are. The beginning is all about how- people should live in harmony with each other, how people should agree with each other, how they should have peace. It's a lot of pages about how to agree with people, and how not to argue about dumb things. And then it explains what to do when people won't agree. They have special training camps where they teach people how to think the right way- the book doesn't say anything bad happens there but I don't think making people agree with you is good, it's just lawful. And that's bad, in the Peacable Kingdoms, because then evil people can come in and corrupt it. They also talk a lot about how all discord is war...people can disagree without it being war! Uh, and they have lots of rules about how to arrest people- that's not evil, but I wrote down most of them so you can check if they're not stupid."

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"Let me see?"

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The rules about how to arrest people are:

Arresting someone is a necessary part of keeping peace, which the author thinks the reader may doubt, so spends several rules justifying that arrests as a concept are necessary in the first place.

In order to minimize conflict and promote peace, suspected criminals must be removed from the general population as soon as possible, and brought to the Harmonium training camps.

In order to ensure consistent enforcement of the law, judges should never be petitioners but should instead be native-residents-of-the-plane (rendered in Celestial as a single word).

In order to protect other citizens from criminals, criminals should be forced to publicly display in some fashion their past crimes at all times.

In order prevent escape, suspects should have enchantments cast on them ('enchantment' does not translate particularly helpfully, beyond that it is some category of spells).

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"How do the Arcadian natives do judging, does it say? And what's an enchantment?"

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"It doesn't explain. Enchantments are like, spells that make you do or feel things? Make you fall asleep, or like the person casting it, or stop moving, or afraid, or thirsty."

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"Does the Harmonium have jurisdiction over all of Arcadia?"

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"I think they have...jurisdiction," he says slowly, feeling out the word, "over everyone who breaks the law, yeah."

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"No governments do their own law enforcement?"

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"I think- gods' realms have their own, they don't ask the Harmonium for help with that. Almost everyone else does. That's bad?"

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"I don't like how the Harmonium does it. Amenta has law enforcement that works pretty well. So if you don't ask the Harmonium to help with enforcing law in your area they don't?"

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"I don't think so? But gods are powerful, maybe they think they would stop them if they tried. Maybe they want to do it in realms, too. If they're like that, then they would try to do it in your kingdom, too, because you're not a god."

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"Sounds like maybe the sort of thing a priest would know."

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Daernir looks particularly unhappy to have to admit that she has a point, here!

"Yeah...okay. Did you like any of the ones we met, or do you want to find a new one?"

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"I didn't really like them. I did like Marduk's book!

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"Maybe Marduk has good priests. What did you like about it?"

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"I didn't read it especially closely but I like that he tried letting mortals in his realm do their own justice system, which it didn't sound like he was doing via the Harmonium."

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Nod.

"That sounds better, yeah. Do you think the Harmonium is bad because it's not good enough, or because it's not lawful enough?"

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"Not good enough. Maybe not too far off depending on how good the natives are at judging? But it doesn't specify."

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Nod.

"Okay. So we want to find a priest to tell us if the Harmonium tries to bother their gods' realms? Maybe a priest of Marduk?"

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"Yeah, and if there's other ways to keep them out."

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"Okay. We can take some books with us, if you want, as long as we bring them back. Oh, and we should check the front of the library for what laws apply here, I forgot to check."

Daernir rushes back to the entrance.

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Lintalai waits for the information about what laws apply, photographing pages of Daernir's book as she goes because she might as well.

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Daernir returns.

"No murder, no stealing, no fighting, no shouting, no keeping books for more than seven days. They have a bulletin board, though! Come look."

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"Ooh, a bulletin board!" she says at a perfectly level nonshouting volume. She follows him.

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Daernir reigns in his enthusiasm to make sure he's not shouting. To the bulletin board.

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The board displays: a copper toy, a silver necklace, and several pieces of parchment. The pieces of parchment contain brief descriptions of various services such as 'haircutting', 'matchmaking', 'cooking', and 'budgeting', as well as the word 'angel' followed by names.

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"I think I should meet an angel."

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"Okay. Before meeting a Marduk priest?"

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"Not necessarily but without waiting too long. They keep coming up and I don't know much about them."

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Nod.

"We can take our books and look for a temple to Marduk. We might find an angel before that, and then we can stop, but otherwise we might want to look tomorrow."

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"I don't need to bring the books, I have them copied into my everything, but you can bring yours at least till I've copied it too."

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“Pocket everythings are so cool.”


They walk. Daernir tries to explain what all the kinds of people are- humans and elves more or less resemble Amentans, besides the hair, but the former tend somewhat stockier than Amentans overall and have more dimorphism, while elves are slighter and have differently-shaped ears. Halflings are half the size of the aforementioned races, and dwarves are about 2/3 the height. They both have more gender dimorphism than Amentans, but less than humans. Gnomes, averaging below three feet tall, don’t often frequent the same streets as humans and elves; halflings and dwarves only do because they’re so adventuresome, he says with a hint of pride.

There are other sorts of people, occasionally, but Daernir doesn’t recognize all of them.

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"Do you know what the bird-person diviner is?"

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“I don’t,” he says apologetically. “There are lots of kinds of people who are less common on the Prime Material, so I know about them- I know about the ones who start in the good-aligned planes, like angels and archons and things, but not all the kinds from the Prime Material.”

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"What's an archon?"

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“Archons are the lawful good native-residents-of-an-outer-plane. Maybe Mount Celestia? Or maybe all the good outer planes. I’m not sure. But they defend and protect people, and they punish evildoers and they make sure things go well. There’s a few kinds, and you can tell how strong they are by what kind it is- there’s hound archons and sword archons and trumpet archons- it’s probably not as important if you’re staying in the Peaceable Kingdoms, though.”

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"Say native-residents-of-an-outer-plane again slowly so I can tell my pocket everything it's a loanword?"

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Daernir repeats it: khamotzo.

"Was that one hard for the pocket everything to translate?"

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"It translated it but I could tell it was a long phrase substituting for a simple concept. Khamotzo, thanks."

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“Archons are the lawful good khamotzo, angels are good khamotzo but they live on all the good-aligned planes, modrons are lawful neutral khamotzo devils are lawful evil khamotzo...there’s at least nine kinds, I think, but I don’t have all of them memorized. Those were the ones that came up a lot.”

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"And there are only angels here?"

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"Angels are around doing a lot of things, but so do hollyphants. They're harder to convince usually, you have to be nice to them. And ki-rin and I think unicorns and phoenixes, but no one is sure if they're khamotzo- they might have been, but now some of them come here by dying, so I think no. That doesn't happen with angels or hollyphants."

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"What's a hollyphant?"

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"Oh, hollyphants are like...small flying golden mammals. They have tusks and trunks and big ears and four legs and they're about as long as a halfling is tall. They like to help good people and don't mind talking to neutral people but they won't talk to evil people."

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"They can just tell by looking?"

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"They can detect it with magic. Some spellcasters can, too, we can talk to Marduk's priest about it when we find them. I'm lawful neutral, last time we checked."

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"Huh! I wonder what I am. Is going by this bulletin board a good way to meet an angel or should I do it another way, do you suppose?"

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"Usually angels are just around Heliopolis. If there's a place a lot of people walk, you sometimes see an angel just standing there. If we see one on the way to find Marduk's temple, that's the best way. If not, we can ask some people to pray for an angel to come with us- they're more likely to come if lots of people are thinking about them and asking the gods for them to come. Hollyphants are harder to find because you have to go to places where they are and those aren't in this part of the city, so if you want to talk to them we have to go to them."

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"I don't know yet if I should make a particular point of meeting a hollyphant, though maybe I should. Okay, let's hope we run into one on the way."

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They do not run into an angel on the way, precisely. They do see one flying overhead-

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-at which point Daernir stops to pray about this, to no avail; the angel keeps flying.

Daernir sighs and keeps walking.

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"It's pretty."

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"Yeah. They're all like that. Archons are different because they don't look like people. Some look like dogs, and others are just light- they can be pretty but it's not important. But angels always look pretty."

Daernir evidently decides their current course is not likely to lead them to a temple to Marduk, changing direction suddenly.

"See that, above the other buildings?"

He points out a series of spires in the distance.

"I think that's a temple to Marduk; other temples you can't usually see from further away, although it could be Heru-wer's."

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"Okay, let's check!"

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As they approach, the building's design reveals itself to be almost entirely spires and points. It looks downright spiky, and not particularly welcoming, except at the front, which is a fairly normal door.

Inside, they can see hundreds of people sitting at desks with paperwork everywhere. Most of them don't pay any attention to the newcomers.

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One of them does take notice! He walks towards them from his station a few feet to the side of the entrance.

"Welcome, visitors, to the temple Marduk. How may he be of service?"

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"Hi! I just read Marduk's book Just Experiment! and I have some questions about how much of its contents apply to mortals' attempts at governance."

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"He must be happy to hear that. Please, come sit."

He leads them over to one of the occupied desks, waits about three minutes, and in that time the desk has been cleared and the person who had previously sat there carries their things and heads towards the back of the temple. He holds out a chair for Lintalai. It is the only chair at the desk, so he goes to stand opposite her.

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Daernir hovers nervously. He hates temples because they contain priests and not a single priest he's ever met made him feel like he was talking to a real person with real thoughts and not just a very confused hand of a god. It makes his skin crawl.

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Lintalai sits. "See," she says, "I want to find a way to bring over more people from my planet, and colonize some of Arcadia. There are billions of them and they don't have magic and the only species of people they know about is them, so they're used to managing themselves. I heard the Harmonium doesn't intervene in god-realms, but is that because they're god-realms, or something else?"

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"The Harmonium would not interfere in a place that made laws keeping them out, but most do not. Marduk disapproves of their desire to interfere. It would be better to experiment with laws until they can discover the ones which are best for their people, rather than inviting external enforcement. Gods' realms are unusually well-protected, but they also have their own ways of punishing crimes. Most settlements in Arcadia don't have anything, without the Harmonium to help them."

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"That makes sense. I don't know how long it will take me to bring Amentans here law enforcement at all but I think I don't really want the Harmonium involved even while I'm still working on that."

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"Marduk will not assist in protecting your settlement, because that would interfere with your independence and the purity of your laws. If you want to find people who will defend you from Harmonium interest, I would suggest looking in Ward. That is the only settlement in Abellio which has never taken Harmonium support for prosecuting its laws."

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"The Ward! Okay. What can you tell me about them?"

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"They pride themselves on having the fewest laws in all of Arcadia: besides the laws against murder and theft, which are plane-wide, they forbid invading someone's personal space, battery, and necromancy."

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"Seems reasonable, and probably enough to manage with while I'm mostly working on attracting enough spellcasters to get Amentans here. Can you tell me how to find them?"

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"You will need to find your way back to Abellio, as I don't believe they exist across the layers as Marduk does. You can travel there through Marduk, if you do not know of an easier method of travel. He would be glad to meet you."

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Daernir really doesn't want to follow this priest to another town across the desert just to get back to Abellio, since they can just use the same portal they came through if they find an aarakocra or something.

"That's very nice of you to offer. Lintalai, do you want to visit?"

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"Sounds good to me. Do you think Marduk or people in his domain would be interested in learning things about Amenta?"

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"There are always some people interested in hearing of foreign places. Most who would want to meet you would be interested in learning how you changed your hair color so easily, if not by our magic, or in what kind of laws Amenta has. Marduk would avoid you, but not for lack of appreciation."

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"Why would he avoid me?"

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"He takes his principle of non-interference seriously. It is most important to avoid influencing the law-making of his own city, but he equally would not want to influence a new settlement before your laws are codified. I'm sure if you would like to meet him, he will arrange something in the future."

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"That sounds like fun. I'm actually sort of wondering if I could sell the information, I don't have a lot of cash right now and I'm sounding out different ways to most efficiently pick it up before I can just tax people."

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"Most citizens of Marduk have no need for this information, but if he finds it interesting, you will be able to sell it to us."

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"How do I find out if I can sell it or not?"

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"I'll consult with him tonight, during my evening prayers. By then, he should have already decided, and it will just be a matter of informing me."

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"And you'll tell me? Do I need to come back?"

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"We'll notify you via angel. The temple will pay for the message, in expectation that cultivating a trade relationship with your polity is worth the upfront cost on our part."

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"Okay, thank you. I haven't met any angels yet."

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"Do you wish to meet one? One should be arriving within the hour, if you want to wait for them."

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"That would be very convenient, thank you!"

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"In the meantime, feel free to explore the temple to your heart's content."

And the priest will return to standing by the entrance.

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Sure, she'll wander the temple, take some photos, see what people are doing here.

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Unlike in the previous temple, where most petitioners prayed quietly to themselves and their concerns were fairly illegible to bystanders, it seems petitioners in this temple spend their time writing things down. They sit at various tables, desks, and the like, and when they are finished, they stand up and bring their written things to a submission box, where they drop the slips inside. If Lintalai attempted to sneak a look, she could read the contents of such papers before they place them in the submission box, or she could ask someone.

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"Do you think they're writing down their prayers?"

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"Don't know - it seems rude to look - the box isn't labeled..." She catches the eye of someone who's just dropped something off in the box. "What's the box for?"

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"It's for submitting prayers to Marduk. Most submit petitions, since other prayers are best kept within one's own mind, where they are truly impossible to share with anyone but him."

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"If praying in your mind works why do you like to write them?"

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"Written prayers establish legal precedent, but mental prayers don't, because Marduk would never record those. Even if I want him to know my thoughts, the same is not true for every citizen of Marduk. When I write down a petition, especially an intercession, I want it to benefit other citizens."

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"Oh, cool! Are they public?"

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"I only check the code annually. They stay private while he processes them, and the code should update by the end of the day."

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"The code of - laws?"

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"Oh, yes, I'm sorry. The petitions slowly are added to our code of laws over time. They must be voted on by the legislature, and of course, the judges have their own say on some petitions, but otherwise, Marduk leaves it up to us. Are you interested in the process?"

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"Yeah! Surely not every petition makes the laws change, right -"

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"No, not all. Any petition that is submitted in writing must be evaluated by the legislature unless it is something personal, individual, and small-scale enough that Marduk can immediately accomplish it himself. There are three houses of the legislature: the house of Dumuzid, the house of Enlil, and the house Gilgeam. The house of Dumuzid represents farmers, shepherds, woodcutters and all who work to provide food to Marduk. The house of Enlil represents nomads, priests, and revolutionists. The house Gilgeam represents warriors, athletes, and bureaucrats. Together, the three houses represent all of Marduk, until and unless the people petition for a new house. Each house votes on petitions, and if two out of the three houses have two-thirds of their members agree to pass a law, then it is passed. Judges will intervene when a citizen petitions to challenge an existing law, but only if they receive one intercession for every year since the law was passed."

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"Intercession?" Also that doesn't sound like a complete list of professions but presumably all the others are folded in somehow, just like a first pass of castes wouldn't list firefighters. "...also: revolutionists?"

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"Intercessions are a kind of petition where you request intervention on behalf of someone besides yourself. Revolutionists are people who work to reform society, overthrow institutions, and otherwise cause havoc within Marduk. Enlil's house is one of storms of all kinds, literal and metaphorical. Sometimes society needs more good than law, and the legislature leaves that up to the House of Enlil."

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"I guess that makes sense, sort of. How do you tell what house someone's in if they don't have one of the listed professions?"

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"There are laws which divide all known professions into the three houses, although occasionally the matter is settled by judges if the profession appears suddenly enough."

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"What about kids or people who don't have a job for some other reason?"

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"Adults who do not work are not represented in the legislature, unless they cannot work, in which case Gilgeam represents them. We don't represent children until they start working, as they're too young to contribute to legislation. They pray without submitting written petitions, of course. Were you wondering about how you could take part?"

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"No, I'm going to start my own government, I'm just curious."

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She looks taken aback.

"Well...if you have any more questions, feel free to ask anyone at the temple, or in Marduk if you ever visit us. Goodbye."

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"Bye!" She circulates a bit more.

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She can meet a few other petitioners. One, she quickly realizes, has been sitting here since they arrived, and continues filling his desk with petitions. Another is a child not much older than them, accompanied by an young adult. She can also find some people at the far end of the template from the entrance, several people chatting quietly.

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Lintalai approaches the one with the long list of petitions and stands nearby to see if they'll say hi but doesn't want to interrupt.

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He eventually notices her. He continues writing.

"Is there something you need?"

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"It's nothing urgent, I'm just curious, you seem to have a lot to say and I was wondering about it."

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"There are many things to say. Did you know that merchants pay greater tariffs on imports from the Nine Hells than on imports from the Infinite Battlefield, and there are no tariffs on imports from the Seven Heavens? Also, liberating a slave owned by a foreign visitor is a greater crime than flogging your children in public. The laws of this place need quite the overhaul. For that matter, you don't have any papers. We should not allow visitors who don't have to show their papers when traveling into important loci of power."

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"...what papers am I supposed to have?" she says, since he decided to end on that note instead of any of his perfectly reasonable other points.

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"Well, you might not have any papers! It's an oversight of Marduk's law that we don't require them, though. Once we established that precedent, the rest of Arcadia might be more inclined to adopt similar laws. There should be some way to verify someone's identity, and their plane of origin. You could be a devil here to sabotage our attempts at good governance, or you could be an archon trying to recruit for your little enlightenment project, quite worthless if I might add."

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"I'm from Amenta. What's an enlightenment project?"

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"Oh, are you from a new plane? We should establish a trading partnership, but we likely don't have a good mechanism to do that if you don't have any gods, existing embassies on the Prime, or some relationship with a faction."

He writes something about this down, judging by his change in expression, although he hasn't stopped writing the entire time they've been conversing.

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"Amenta is a planet in the Prime, but we don't know where it is exactly."

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"Oh, that's interesting. Have you ever received messages from the Outer Planes?"

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"Nope! There's no magic there at all. Also I'm not the same species as most Amentans and we don't know where I was born."

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"Hmm. You should still have Amentan papers. We need to control immigration more heavily so that saboteurs can't interfere with our work."

Write write write.

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"I have Amentan identification but it's electronic. I can show you if you want."

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"You were saying, about the enlightenment project?"

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"Your identification doesn't matter to me, it's the principle of protecting our project. I'll happily take a look, though, it might inspire a new petition. As for enlightenment, the Seven Heavens insist that all of their petitioners self-actualize and develop into shining paragons of virtue. Arcadia, meanwhile, is working on something actually useful."

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Lintalai pulls up her Anitami population record for him. "What is Arcadia working on?"

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"Most Outer Planes name themselves after what their goals are. The Peaceable Kingdoms of Arcadia is a place where people organize into peaceable kingdoms. Government for the people, organized to achieve the best interests of as many as a possible, with the remaining citizens compromising where needed- and applying this logic to every issue, every concern, every priority, until on average, everyone has most things they could possibly want, without encroaching on the rights of anyone else."

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"It seems like a great place, I want to move lots of Amentans in."

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"We'll need to improve procedures for immigrants- people usually only come here in large numbers when there's a war or a plague on the Prime Material Plane. Immigration on the individual level would require-"

He stops writing whatever he was working on, and starts on a new piece of paper. It looks like he's used quite a bit of it, though the stack on the table is still about two inches tall.

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"They'll come in large numbers once they can because Amenta has population controls."

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"We could batch them and treat them like they're petitioners for the initial stages of immigration, even if the later handling will be different-"

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"They're not yours," Daernir says, incredibly affronted. "They're Lintalai's. She's making her own kingdom, but you're talking like they're going to Marduk."

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"Yeah, I don't know that Marduk would suit them particularly, for one thing we have castes and don't need Houses."

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"I wouldn't advise starting your own kingdom to begin with," he warns. "Most people who haven't lived on Arcadia don't realize how different it is to create good societies than to create neutral or evil ones."

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"I didn't know there were evil societies."

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"They're easy enough, if they're lawful. Chaotic societies are typically good, though, neutral and evil chaotic groups don't deserve the label."

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"I'm mostly setting up a society to serve as a waypoint for existing Amentan societies to send colonists by."

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"If you're working with large populations and they're not celestials, I would recommend petitioning a god for assistance as soon as you can. If enough of your immigrants are evil, the Harmonium may aggress against you, or worse: someone will invite foreign celestials. You do not want good khamotzo who believe it is their inherent nature to fight evil people to decide Amentans are evil at a rate that demands their action."

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"I'm already worried about the Harmonium but didn't know celestials were a concern too. They won't let Amentans internally enforce things extraditing as appropriate?"

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"You'll want to study a lot of local phenomena before you import citizens who might pose problems. Assume Arcadia has weak extradition laws in general; a significant part of why I chose Marduk to spend my eternity is that it's the only city on this godforsaken plane that takes the law more seriously than it does good, excepting the Harmonium, who are a bunch of clucking chickens running around without heads."

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Daernir considers asking how the chickens cluck without heads but decides it's irrelevant.

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"I wasn't especially expecting there to already be extradition laws that applied all over Arcadia, I was just expecting that if an Amentan offended somebody the Amentans could hand them over according to an extradition treaty if the offended party thought that appropriate, so their enforcement would otherwise only be of interest to themselves."

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"The Harmonium will not respect extradition treaties- it will pretend to. The risk with celestials in general is that they value good more strongly than their other principles. If they decide that Amentan extradition laws are hurting people, they will likely work to dismantle or subvert them. You can minimize both risks, but it will take planning with that in mind."

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"It pretends to? How is that lawful?"

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"I am not an expert on the ouroboros of stupidity that constitutes Harmonium philosophy. Their perspective on law revolves around punishment and deterrence of criminal activity. I'm sure there's some justification which leaves them lawful on balance. They'd hold to the treaty until they decide they'd get more deterrence of criminality by breaking it, even if this costs the rest of us alliances, trading relationships, and for that matter, friendships and other kinds of relationships that might form in an atmosphere of peace."

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"Do you have any thoughts on how to get a god interested in looking after colonial Amentans?"

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"One moment."

He finishes writing something, moves onto the next paper.

"Now, gods. Think about what the interests of colonial Amentans are, what their highest priorities are. If these differ by caste, consider assigning gods to castes. Not every caste might have an appropriate god, caste may not be the best way to match Amentans to gods, I know very little of your planet and these decisions should be made by authority figures their citizens will respect, not a child and a foreigner. Dumuzid, Enlil, Gilgeam, and Marduk are the gods of Marduk. The first three are debated to be aspects of Marduk, but this is only relevant in very rare circumstances if you keep away from priests and temples. Heru-wer, Amaunator, and Neselthia are all concerned with civilization, trade, and similar matters- these are all Arcadian gods, so they are likely to be the most interested in supporting an Arcadian settlement, but other lawful or good gods could be interested."

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"What reason is there to want more than one, assuming I'm mostly looking into this to keep the Harmonium and celestials out?"

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"Gods have a number of advantages, but they also tend to expect things of their followers. Inviting one in won't make everyone a follower, though, so you have room to maneuver.  I would talk to someone who's studied this more, but gods grant people magic they couldn't do on their own, they collect souls even when the Outer Plane themselves don't, and generally they respond to prayers."

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"Does it have to be a god who is already around? Where do gods come from?"

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"I can't imagine how you'd create a god without people believing in one first, and people tend not to believe in gods who can't prove they exist. We tend not to see new gods arise that often."

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"...gods happen when people believe in them before they exist?"

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"It's a bit of a Catch-22. I suppose if enough people believed in a personified version of a concept and it had just stayed hidden from everyone else, that could do it, but you would need many people to believe very hard- I can't imagine a people without any gods could believe properly, can you? You must find everything I've said about gods confusing, and I find that confusion confusing. Frustrating, frankly. Let's not discuss gods, find a priest or druid or something."

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"All right, I suppose. Thank you anyway."

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"Besides gods, you can minimize the amount of crime that happens outside your settlement- the Harmonium is more likely to interfere if it seems like you can't manage your own population. Ramp up slowly, don't allow freedom of movement beyond your range. Focus on building up until you approach clouds; make sure your buildings can survive storms. Have you felt one yet?"

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"No. How do people claim regions anyway?"

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"Once you start to govern some territory, you claim it. By imposing laws, you make it yours. There are plenty of small governments without many citizens across Arcadia, but larger settlements happen when a polity offers something unique to people. You can't find laws built by the people anywhere else in Arcadia, which is why I'm a citizen of Marduk- but I wanted the haven for merchants that Neselthia's district in Heliopolos is."

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"And you can have Marduk's law apply to you while you're located in Heliopolis no problem?"

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"Marduk," he says somewhat smugly, "serves its citizens. The law is ours."

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Daernir will just take that as a yes? This guy sure doesn't like answering questions simply. He gives a brief wave to Lintalai and heads off to talk to some other petitioners. He's not much help in this conversation.

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"That's interesting, I think a setup like that would work pretty well for Amentans... is there a reason Marduk can only protect one polity and not several?"

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"Gods protect their followers, it's as simple and as complicated as that. Like I said, ask someone else for the parts of gods that take actual thought to understand. I'm only interested in the practicality of them."

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Lintalai would say that she too is mostly interested in the practicalities but she isn't going to quibble. "So if the followers of Marduk decided to form several polities..."

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"That's all Marduk. Maybe this part of this temple is Marduk, legally. I know I am still a citizen of Marduk, but I don't know how far that extends around my person. I would need to examine the code."

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"I mean what if some people followed Marduk the god but weren't interested in the House thing."

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"I suppose they wouldn't come live in Marduk. He does have followers on the Prime, and they certainly don't live in Marduk. Personally, his realm is the reason I follow him."

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"Hm. I guess maybe when I circle back to the priests I can ask them."

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"Maybe."

Write, write, write.

"Any other questions for me?"

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"No, but thank you, you've been helpful!"

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"Thank me by trading with Marduk when your settlement is all sorted out. Have a good day."

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"You too!"

She wanders around a bit more till the angel appears.

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After Lintalai's conversation, it's not too long before the petitioners (those who haven't left already, having submitted their petitions) stand up or bow down at the arrival of glowing rainbow balls of light that fly into the room. They are self-contained, three foot balls of mist that emanate rainbow light from their swirling mass. They bob in the air until the petitioners begin to follow them outside.

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Daernir follows them as well, looking awe-struck.

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Lintalai gets video and follows too, stumbling a little.

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The motes of rainbow mist lead the petitioners outside and surround what must be an angel, standing outside the temple. The angel looks at everyone very briefly, with an expression of puzzled excitement.

"I have messages."

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Some of the petitioners approach the angel, and the angel whispers in their ears. Then, after laughing, crying, nodding, whispering something back, or handing over a letter, they make room for the next person.

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This continues until there's a moment when the angel is momentarily between petitioners, and it looks at Lintalai with more puzzlement than it has at anything thus far.

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"Hello! I'm not trying to send a message, I've just never met an angel before and I'm curious."

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Its wings flutter slightly as it studies her appearance. Behind her, Lintalai can hear some of the petitioners whispering.

"This is not the product of magic," it says. "How is your hair as bright as the blood of blueberries? I am pleased to meet such a strange creature that is so familiar."

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"My hair changes color depending on what I eat, and I keep it blue because where I'm from that means the right things about who I am in society! I don't know what species I am, though."

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"Your hair is beautiful, as are you. Your soul is not beautiful, though. You have no soul."

This earns some shocked gasps from the surrounding petitioners. The angel ignores them, focusing its attention on Lintalai.

"My hair means nothing about who I am in society. Angels have physical forms that are beautiful to onlookers, but they mean nothing. Your species is not known to me. Why are you curious about angels?"

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"I want to know what kinds of people there are around here so I can have that in mind when figuring out how people from my home can come here!"

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"I could show you the kinds of people that there are, if you wished. Angels can carry passengers if necessary for our work."

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"That might be cool another time but I think not on the spur of the moment. I'm here with a friend and have plans."

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The angel's look of puzzlement has not left its face during this entire conversation, although there do seem to be nuances and variations.

"Of course. I am of the astral deva, of the deva, of the angels, of the celestials, of the khamotzo, of the people."

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"What's that like?"

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"It is important work. We take care of petitioners across the Outer Planes."

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"Where do angels come from?"

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"Angels come from the body of the good planes. We are born as light-"

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The angel gestures towards the rainbow clouds of light that surround it.

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"-and then we become deva."

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"What do you do when you aren't carrying messages?"

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"We rescue the lost, meek, stranded, vulnerable, and weak. We aid and guide the good beings of the planes, and we battle the evil ones. Sometimes we serve those with good causes."

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"How do you decide if a cause is good?"

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"It is evident. Although we do not read the intentions of every person we protect, we do before taking up their cause. And good causes make themselves known to us- if it helps more people in the planes than it hurts, we will know. A person's alignment itself can be known immediately."

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"Ooh, what's mine?"

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The angel peers at her.

"You do not have a soul, so you do not have a spiritual alignment. Your body is also unaligned, but you do have one. You could align your body with any of the neighboring planes, or Arcadia itself, after spending more time here."

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"What would that do?"

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"Mortals find it useful. They enjoy having magic."

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The people waiting behind Lintalai are starting to sound a bit restless, judging by the tone of their muttering.

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She looks over her shoulder, looks back. "I have a cause, do you want to hear about it?"

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"Yes."

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One of the balls of light approaches Lintalai, hovering near her. The others remain near the angel.

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"I'm from a planet with thirteen billion people on it and they don't have any magic or any way to get to planets far enough away that some of them might be okay to live on, so they can't have all the babies they want or they'd run out of room, and I want to bring lots of them here, and let them have babies in all the infinity of Arcadia, and I need magic to do that and also a way to make sure they can still use all the things they've learned about how to govern themselves instead of other people trying to do it for them."

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The angel's hair moves unnaturally, then, flowing as though blown in an unseen wind that the rest of them cannot feel.

"We are not infinite in number. Thirteen billion is too many for us to protect. How many could live happily on Amenta, if some came to the good planes?"

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"Not that many more than thirteen billion. That's why the population controls don't let them get too much bigger. Would you be able to protect more people if you didn't have to deliver messages? Amentans have technology that does messages."

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"Yes. That would give us more time. With so many people, you might deserve the attention of a planetar."

The angel looks past Lintalai, and shouts, in a voice that carries with it the sound of bells loudly clanging. The words can be heard over the clanging, though, quite clearly: "There will be no messages now. I must return to the ranks of the angels and discuss my findings. Be well, petitioners."

Then, in a more ordinary voice, the angel speaks to Lintalai.

"What else would you ask of us, until you can bring us this technology? We would wish to visit your world and assist your people."

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"Mostly since I don't have a soul and can't do magic right now I need people who can do magic to bring Amentans over, and a place to set up for Amentans to be in first thing till they can build more."

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"We will provide you a war-gymnastics teacher so that you have some magic, despite your lack of soul."

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"...war gymnastics is a kind of magic?"

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"Yes. There are two ways mortals perform magic: war-gymnastics, performed with the body, and spellcasting, performed with the soul. Your body appears as like any other body to mine eyes. You will learn war-gymnastics, and through aligning your body with another plane, you will learn all of the magic you can. This will please you, because you are mortal, and mortals enjoy magic."

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"I might be very bad at it because I am very clumsy."

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"We will find you a type of war-gymnastics that does not require balance. Your cause is good, and if you need magic to ease your burden, we will assist you in that as well. We will find you spellcasters who may wish to serve this cause, and war-gymnastics teachers who wish to serve this cause, and we will tell the gods who may wish to help you that their help is needed."

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"Hey, some of us have messages to hear!"

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"The mortal child was speaking to me," intones the angel.

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The petitioner shuts up and waits.

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"Thank you!" says Lintalai. "I don't want to keep everyone waiting, if you were still going to do their messages..."

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"You are the most important thing that any angel in Arcadia is working on. Please, ask whatever you need to assist with your people."

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"I also need a way to make money so I can hire people. - and language tutoring would be good, and if there's a magical way to duplicate objects I could make more of my pocket everything. and get started on the message technology thing."

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"-we cannot assist with money, for we find it difficult to understand and mortals have never asked that we adopt it. You should ask mortals for advice on money. Language tutoring is best done by another servant of good- perhaps a ki-rin, hollyphant, or unicorn. Objects can be created by some spellcasters as long as they do not contain any writing or other information."

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"Oh. It contains a lot of information, that's how it works. I guess maybe I could figure out how to copy mine to a blank one but maybe not completely blank."

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"We may not be able to duplicate them. However, perhaps there are other ways. We will ask spellcasters if they know of other tools. Thank you for speaking with us. My name is Mahli."

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"My name is Lintalai! Thank you for helping me out, Mahli."

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And with politeness out of the way, the angel can move on from Lintalai and rush through the remaining messages before delivering this much more important one.

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Daernir does still talk to Mahli briefly, and eventually makes his way back to Lintalai.

"Wow. That was so cool."

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"Yeah, that went really well! I'm glad I decided to meet an angel!"

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"Everyone else just thinks you're a kid but angels know what's important. It's good that someone does. Do you think you can make a better kingdom now?"

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"Probably! And it will help the angels too since pocket everythings do email and that's better than couriers."

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"Someone should have done something sooner! But maybe since no one invented pocket everythings it would have been harder. I'm glad you came to Arcadia."

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"Me too! I'll probably have solved everybody's problems forever by the time my dads are even sure I'm missing!"

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Daernir looks at the sky.

"Should we start going back? I don't think we needed to do anything else in the city today."

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"Yeah, that's probably a good idea."

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"Do you still want to go back to Abellio? We might not have to, now, since we found that bulletin board in the library and you met an angel."

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"I think the plausible places to put a colony were all in Abellio, right?"

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"Yeah. We have to come back here to talk to all your new people, though. Do you want to look for a place to put your kingdom first?"

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"I don't think we should go back to Abellio till we're done here, yeah. - I mean, you can if your parents expect you."

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"-yeah. I sent them a message through the angel but it won't get there before I do. Will you still be staying at the spa in two days?"

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"It's pretty comfy and all the people we're waiting on expect to find us there."

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"Okay. I'll go back to see my parents and then I'll meet you there."

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"Okay. Thank you very much for showing me around so far."

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"No problem! Should I walk with you to the spa?"

Daernir doesn't specifically cite Lintalai's clumsiness, but honestly it's generally very concerning.

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"If you don't mind."

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So he walks her to the spa, and says goodbye, and then Lintalai is left to her own devices.

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She sends another email to her family, though only a few minutes have gone by in Amenta and they will not be able to get her a reply that responds to everything so she tries to keep it very abbreviated in the main body of the email and have the rest of it mostly as optional attachments. Maybe she should start a website. But only after she has the go-ahead to publicize from Aitim and Kan, she decides.

She'd been going to talk to the Marduk priests more but first she needs a snack, she has been eating less than usual here.

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The spa does offer some food: cucumber, lettuce, and celery are all available in relatively pure forms, while other vegetables have been used in meat dishes.

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None of those are blue but maybe her hair will stay blue if she just expects it hard enough, and green wouldn't be the worst. She eats a celery stick and some cucumber slices and a lettuce leaf and then walks back to the temple.

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The priest from before greets her.

"Hello. Welcome once again to our temple. I have yet to speak with Marduk."

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"Okay. I did have another question I hadn't asked you before to add though."

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Nod.

"Please, speak your question."

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"Would it be possible for Marduk to protect more than one polity? If some people had a colony and their government was separate from his usual one."

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"I have heard rumors of some cities on the Prime that he protects, and one in Acheron. However, I've never heard of him protecting a polity that wasn't his."

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"What has to be true for one to be his?"

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"They would have to contain some priests of his, I imagine, and even the citizens who had not been called to serve in that way would need to agree in the value of his goals."

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"What happens if kid grow up in Marduk's country and are not especially interested in Marduk's goals, do they have to move out?"

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"I imagine so, yes. That is why not every community of Marduk worshippers is a polity he directly intervenes in to protect. Of course he also protects his preists by granting them spellcasting."

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"What do people have to believe exactly to be in his polity?"

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"Priests should believe that a government should serve as an instrument of justice, that laws make a society stronger, that storms as a life-giving force should be welcomed and respected, and that to speak the truth openly, loudly,, and boldly is virtuous. His citizens need only agree that the way Marduk encourages a polity to govern itself is worthwhile. He does not require worship from every citizen, only that they respect his priests and his goals."

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"Okay, that sounds probably workable. I'd really like to know if he's interested in looking after a colony of Amentans whenever I've gotten some here to be looked after and maybe a preliminary mini-polity while I'm accumulating the resources to do that."

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"I'll include the question in my evening prayers. Are you interested in worshipping Marduk? You seem as though you might align with him."

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"He sounds pretty cool but I don't actually know what worship involves since Amenta doesn't have any gods."

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"Hmm. Do you have kings in Amenta? Jekujehkè? If I were to make an analogy, I would say that to worship a god is to believe that they are a good king, a beloved jekujeh, or a respected ancestor. None of those analogies are quite satisfactory, but they convey the- importance of a god to someone's life. A god is not like a parent, sibling, or child, nor are they like a lord, employer, or- shepherd. They are far from us in some way, not close, however their impact on our lives is outsized given that distance. A god is someone whose virtues and priorities you think are important, and because of that and their power over reality, they have earned your respect and admiration. Like a king, jekujeh, or ancestor."

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"Jekujeh isn't translating by itself. We used to have kings but now they're kind of vestigial and all important countries are democracies of some kind."

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"A jekujeh is someone who travels in search of difficult challenges to overcome in order to protect people who lack their skills. They are sometimes also called heroes."

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"Hm, I think most people would be very able to assume this attitude toward Marduk if he were protecting an Amentan colony but some Amentans are very complainy and since I'm hoping to establish the colony to manage a population problem I need a plan for where they can go."

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"If you can create several colonies, with some of them protected, it would provide even the unprotected ones an advantage. The reason we have a temple in Heliopolis and trade so heavily with them is to afford them some of Marduk's attention. I admit, though, that I have never considered the Harmonium as a problem before. While they sometimes take the pursuit of punishment to an extreme, they rarely interfere unless your neighbors would prefer they did so."

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"I don't know how much of a problem they are. Maybe they aren't very much of one. But they wouldn't dovetail very well with how Amentans do criminal justice at all and also they give me the creeps."

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"That's quite understandable. I will take your questions to Marduk, and I hope that we can help you resolve this before you bring your colonists to Arcadia."

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"Thank you!"

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"Please wait here. I will pray on this."

The priest heads into a back room of the temple, leaving other priests to handle the petitioners. About ten minutes later, he returns.

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She has been reading Summary Bank on extradition. "Hi!"

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"Marduk believes he should help protect as many of your colonists as possible. While I continue communicating with him on this matter over the coming weeks, I recommend adjusting your settlement plans to account for this. Are there some colonists more suited to worshiping Marduk than others?"

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"Probably. I think people on Amenta can filter colonists for it but they will want to have a lot of kids and the kids won't always be just like their parents."

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"There are many gods, if it's only a matter of finding the right one. If Amentans are unable to think or feel the right way about gods because they're unfamiliar with the concept, the children will have an advantage there, as well. I think you've made an excellent start on building a colony here that will be safe from the Harmonium."

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"Probably if there is good enough transit and only a few people don't like gods it will be fine for those to move out to places subject to the Harmonium or back to Amenta, it just would be a terrible thing not to have planned for."

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Nod.

"Defending against enchantment magic is difficult to do on a complete basis. I would advise surrounding settlements that don't like gods with ones that are protected by them, to discourage the Harmonium from delivering justice."

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"That's a good idea, we could have a sort of island!"

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"You may also think of your own ideas that will work even better for your people, once you understand more about gods. What do you think Amentans will be interested in trading with Arcadians?"

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"Amentans will want to sell you pocket everythings like this, and other technology like them. And technology not like them, like airplanes and stuff. And they'll want to buy magic and magic lessons."

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"-that's gratifying to hear. Have you thought about which types of magic will be most in demand?"

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"Portals! And healing magic, probably. And magic to make things clean."

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"Which of these do you think there would be an interest in learning, and which would Amentans rather pay for as a service? Would you need to know more about the process of learning magic before answering that question?"

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"I think Amentans will want to learn all of them but will import them as services before that. The process would give me an idea how long they'd do importing. I mean they'll still trade after but it'll be like - smaller scale?"

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Nod.

"We will want laws governing the trade and teaching of magic, as well as of pocket everythings and similar technology, but during the early stages we can manage using individual contracts. Airplanes- could you explain those in more detail?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Airplanes are flying vehicles! There are also trains, which roll on rails and are good for getting around shorter distances than airplanes suit. And trucks which are good for hauling cargo places that aren't trafficked enough for trains."

Permalink Mark Unread

"What benefit does a truck offer over a carriage? And an airplane over Ethereal-plane-travel?"

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"They're fast and can carry a lot and don't need magic or animals to pull them. Magic travel might be better for a lot of applications though."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Not tiring will be a major advantage. Carrying capacity is less of a concern- that may be something we can help Amentans with. Not needing magic is an advantage on the Prime Material, but less so here. I'm sure this will be a matter for people other than us to discuss in more depth. Is there anything you think priests of Marduk are uniquely suited to helping you with?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Maybe you could help me with writing up a basic introduction to gods in general and Marduk specifically to send to Amenta."

Permalink Mark Unread

"That sounds quite worthwhile. Why don't you tell me what about my attempts at explaining gods so far was most disappointing- if you tried to explain gods in general now, what you would you say?"

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She can dig up her current draft of a gods-explanation, which reads Gods are a species of person that is very magical and especially powerful. Gods tend to have a handful of special interests and people who share those special interests and get along particularly well with the god are called priests. It might be necessary to have a god protecting an Arcadian colony such as the one who is already protecting a self-governed polity of people, Marduk.

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"One important feature of gods is that their knowledge often surpasses their power unless they have followers to work through. However, they are one of the few things that can exert their power to perform magic on a large scale. If we didn't have gods, so much of what we need for our societies to function would rely instead on only our own abilities."

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"Like what?"

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"For one, the Outer Planes would be much less consistent. Gods keep our afterlives stable, rather than completely subject to the whims of the most creative or cruel among us. For another, we would not be able to communicate with people on the Prime at the rate that we do now. Angels are maintained by the gods of the good-aligned planes, and you can see how important they are for communication. Gods also advise us- they know more than any individual could, because they perceive so much at once."

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"Angels need maintenance?"

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"They don't reproduce the way most living things do, they need to be created. When they're injured, they don't heal naturally, and magical healing of the kinds we know of cannot be applied to them. Even their minds are- they wear down, which we don't quite understand, if away from the good-aligned planes for too long, but the gods can help them recuperate."

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"Poor angels!"

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"Indeed. Unfortunately, there's not much most of us can do about it without the gods. Besides that- they help do things that spellcasters would require much more of their power to do, and of course, they help primes with even more."

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"What do they do for primes?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Most diseases and injuries on the Prime that are healed rather than killing the person are healed via gods, or by their priests. Gods perform miracles, in general, that contribute to infrastructure, peace, innovation, and stability. Not all gods, but the ones allied with Marduk, and those who are not against him."

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"There aren't any gods who are helpful to primes but don't specifically get along with Marduk?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"That is somewhat complicated as a question. Perhaps I will find a summary of Marduk's alliances, later, if that would be an area of interest. I can say that- for a broad definition of alliances, Marduk is allied with most lawful good gods, and those are the gods most likely to help primes in the systematic way that I just outlined. Other gods can help individuals, but hardly more than you or I could in scope, even if the extent to which they help is greater."

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"Chaotic stuff doesn't scale well?"

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"I wouldn't say so, no. Chaotic gods often affect many people's lives on a very small scale, or they affect particular individuals who they value for their own, idiosyncratic reasons."

Permalink Mark Unread

"That makes sense. - Amentans might want to eventually have colonies on more planes, though so far none of them sound better to start in than Arcadia."

Permalink Mark Unread

"It might be that some Amentans would benefit more on some of the other Outer Planes. Many of the good-aligned planes are comfortable for the average person to live on. If there are some more chaotically-aligned folks on Amenta, they might benefit from living in The Heroic Domains of Ysgard, or The Olympian Glades of Arborea."

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"Where can I find out more about those?"

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"I'm happy to tell you what I know, but you may find books that may discuss the topic more thoroughly in the library. Most of the chaos-aligned Outer Planes are less civilized and more...natural than Arcadia, but they are just as pristine and comfortable for people to live on."

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"I think most Amentans will like Arcadia's magic rivers that clean things a lot but they do manage on Amenta which doesn't have those."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Admittedly, I don't know which of those planes are clean to Amentan standards. They seem quite different than our own. Perhaps you would be better served speaking first to the priest of a god of cleanliness or purification. Lathandar and Eldath are such gods who have some presence here. You might also find an individual follower of Talona who could tell you more about her."

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"What are their other domains besides cleanliness?"

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"Lathander presides over dawn and springtime, as well renewal, vitality, youth, and turning away the undead- that is why I believe he may be able to assist with hygiene and purification in general, even though it is not one of his most advertised attributes. He also has a minor focus on creativity and athletics. Eldath is a goddess of groves and watersheds. She concerns herself with safe, secluded and serene places of nature which humans are able to use- if you wanted someone to help purify water, I would advise petitioning her. Talona is a goddess of poison and disease, but many of her followers administer antidotes, inoculations."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Lathander might be interesting for other reasons because Amentans have a seasonal hormone cycle! And if Talona is not a goddess of people getting poisoned or diseased then she might be important too."

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"Unfortunately, Talona is also a goddess of causing poisoning and disease. Chaotic evil gods can be very- fickle with populations, but very helpful to individuals they respect and admire. Individuals who wish to be figures of healing and purification, and believe they would get along with her, should be carefully vetted before approaching her. I would never recommend her to a city, but I might to a specific healer."

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"Oh, that's - awkward, yes. I'll try Lathander first, do you know where I should go?"

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"If you can afford to make the trip, I would recommend visiting Amaunator's realm on Nemausus. His people will be of great help both with establishing a government and with contacting Lathander, since he is- a close associate of his. Otherwise, there is a shrine here in Heliopolis which may at least answer your questions about their god, even if they cannot do more than that."

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"Is the trip expensive or just potentially time consuming?"

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"It may be difficult to find an unoccupied portal- especially because you don't trust the Harmonium. In that case, you would need to find a spellcaster who could create one, and that is likely to be expensive. There is no one in this temple who could do it. I understand that you plan to build a population of magic users anyway, so it may not be an additional cost for you."

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"Okay. I'll maybe do it later. Where's the Heliopolis shrine to Lathander?"

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He gives her pretty clear directions, repeating himself if she asks clarifying questions. There aren't many street names or addresses per se in Heliopolis, but they're named after the business, landmarks, and such that take up space on them. This makes navigating on the street level pretty simple, even without additional software.

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"Thank you! Is there anything else I should know now?"

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"-I am uncertain if there is anything important to you that I may have missed, but it is unlikely to be something urgent. I would advise only interacting with gods that you could worship, if your mind and culture were the type to encourage worship. Do not draw the attention of gods who would disapprove of you- and conversely, of whom you would disapprove."

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"...okay. They're dangerous?"

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"Good gods will rarely harm an individual who is not actively harming enough people that it justifies their intervention- until and unless you are killing multiple people in a day, it is unlikely to be a matter of concern. Evil gods, though, might interfere if anything you do interferes with their desires for what the world should look like."

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"Okay. Are there even any shrines or anything to evil ones here, since this is a good plane?"

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"It would be unfair to worshippers of evil gods to have no shrines, but- not past Abellio. You won't find any shrines on Buxenus- perhaps priests, but not shrines or temples, and on Nemausus- evil people are forbidden to settle there, and are not allowed to visit except for very narrow purposes."

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"Will Amentans be allowed if none of us have souls so you can tell for sure?"

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"Not without significant changes to current law- it has never come up. Marduk allows evil immigrants, if any Amentans would rather live there than form a colony in your Amentan island on Abellio."

Permalink Mark Unread

"There's billions of Amentans, probably some of them will try almost anything."

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"Then we'll happily welcome them. Otherwise, yes, I would advise building on Abellio and taking only excursions to Buxenus, once your lack of soul becomes common knowledge."

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Nod nod. "I was wondering if there was a way to get a soul."

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"It's an interesting idea, but I can't think how it could be done short of requesting a miracle- or casting a wish. I will include the matter in my prayers, if you wish."

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"The angel said they'd get me a war gymnastics teacher so I could learn some magic but I'm not actually sure what things war gymnastics lets you do and I would like to be able to do more kinds. Also it seems like it might be important for becoming immortal."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Do not seek other forms of immortality. The immortality a soul confers will be quite satisfactory. As for magic, war-gymnastics can be versatile, but it does have some limitations compared with spellcasting. Spellcasting often changes the world, while war-gymnastics affects the self. It is an advantage, if you can learn it. But acquiring a soul could be something the gods need to intervene to accomplish, and direct intervention is rare. I wouldn't expect it to be possible for most Amentans."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Oh. There's no way to - scale it up -"

Permalink Mark Unread

"No. If your people are a people without souls, then most of them will die. We will do the best for them that we can, while we can."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Okay. Maybe they can invent something technological about aging or something but really there has to be room for babies first." Sigh.

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"Hopefully Amentans will have time to figure all of these things out, given the space to do it in."

The priest looks around surreptitiously; people are mostly heading out now, since it's almost time to close, but there's still daylight out.

"Was there anything else you needed from Marduk today?"

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"I don't think so. Thank you for all your help."

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He bows at the waist respectfully, and starts to close the temple.

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Lintalai goes about the rest of her business. She has accumulated lots of things to do and people to talk to. Her dads are getting a huge volume of email even though this can only really delay their ultimate response as they read through it all.

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Things are done, and people are talked to. During the next couple of days, Marduk's priest informs her that selling anything to Marduk citizens requires some kind of treaty, trade agreement, or contract, but once she has any of those things, Lintalai can sell whatever she likes, including information.

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On her third day in Heliopolis, an angel arrives with several messages. Some, for the bird-person divination expert, and some for Lintalai. The angel looks mostly similar to the one that Lintalai saw before, although the skin tone may be slightly different and the wings larger. It gives no sign of knowing her, but does call out to her when it sees her:

"Lintalai! We have a message for you."

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She goes up to the angel. "Thank you!"

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"Your Intrepid has spoken to us, and will assist you with learning the language. We have found a war-gymnastics teacher for you. She will join you soon. We still do not understand money and cannot assist you with it. The gods that we serve have become curious about you. They advise caution, prudence, and sense. Many other gods will see Amenta as a threat to their interests, and will attempt to stop your colonization efforts. Thank you for drawing our attention to your cause so that we may fight in service of it."

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"Which gods do you serve?"

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"I serve many gods of travel and new discoveries, Cyrrollalee foremost among them. The gods who have taken notice and wish to greet Amenta are Cyrrollalee, Marthammor Duin, Ihehy, Neselthia, Isharia, Iallanis, Deneir, Celestian, and Shekinester."

Permalink Mark Unread

"I haven't heard of most of those before, what are they gods of?"

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"Cyrrollalee: The Hearth of Fellowship, The Home of All Halflings, The Hearthkeeper, The Faithful, Yondalla's Housekeeper- has come here to make a home for you."

The angel opens its mouth and makes the sound of a door, creaking open.

"Marthammor Duin: Finder-of-Trails, the Watchful Eye, Watches-Over-Wanderers, Pathforger- welcomes colonists of all kinds."

The sound of cars honking as rain falls.

"Ihehy: the Nurturing Mother, the Quiet One, She Who is There for Those in Need- hopes that Amentans may have all the children that they wish."

The sound of a cow, mooing.

"Neselthia: Guardian of Wealth and Commerce, Protector of the Dead, the Devoted Lady, Lady of the Sands- wishes to ensure productive trade with the women of Amenta, and hopes that children grow up to earn money in the ways that they wish."

The sound of coins falling into a plastic bowl.

"Isharia: Bountiful Lady, Lady of Rivers, She Who Knows Her Spells- has come to investigate this new discovery."

The sound of- what someone might imagine a star twinkling to sound like.

"Iallanis: Garland of Mercy, Uniter of All Tribes, The Casteless- hopes that there is freedom on Arcadia for Amentans who seek something outside their old ways."

The sound of people singing in a chorus.

"Deneir: Lord of All Glyphs and Images, The First Scribe, The Scribe of Oghma- wishes to learn of Amenta's languages, and share with you our own."

The sound of a finger tapping on a pocket everything screen.

"Celestian: the Far Wanderer, the Star Wanderer, the Bizarre Wanderer- will assist with travel across the vast distances between Arcadia and Amenta, in return for the chance to see your stars."

The sound of a rocket launching.

"Shekinester: the Preserver, the Acquirer, the Seeker- wishes to learn of what Amenta has to offer this world, and to ensure that its inhabitants lives are not cut short."

The sound of snakes hissing in near-unison, discordant enough to make out the five separate, overlapping voices.

Permalink Mark Unread

"- that sounds really good! Can Celestian help directly with portals or do I still need to get regular spellcasters?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Celestian will assist with portals indirectly, by providing you with spellcasters. Direct intervention would be dangerous at this stage, as it could attract negative attention. Please, avoid the attention of Usir and Labelas Enoreth. Usir is a good god, and a friend of some of those that wish to promote Amentan immigration, but he favors the undead, and would see Amentans immigrating too quickly as a threat to them. More significantly, Labelas Enoreth is a god of orderly progression of time, and he would not wish to see Arcadia's technology level increase too rapidly. We should move subtly, without attracting his notice."

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"Okay. Is there anywhere I shouldn't go while that's a concern? - also what's with all the sounds you made?"

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"-all the sounds? That was Celestial, the language which angels use to communicate to mortals. Celestial includes sounds that mortals could not produce, because angels can produce any sound that can be made."

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"The ones that sounded like - animals or choirs or things, what did they mean?"

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"Those were the sounds that, when accompanied by their epithets and the description of what they wish to do with or to you, best represent who those gods are. Cyrrollalee is best represented by the sound of a door opening and by my saying that she 'has come here to make a home for you', in addition to her epithets. Thus, that is what I said to you."

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"Okay. They all sound great. Besides Celestian sending spellcasters what are they going to do?"

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"Gods will rarely intervene directly, even if it is important, because it is costly. However, on Arcadia, some of the gods can operate without fear of retribution, as the Peaceable Kingdoms of Arcadia is a blessed plane of peace, kingship, and harmony. Cyrrollalee, Celestian, and Marthammor Duin will assist with portals and interplanar travel. Neselthia, Isharia, Deneir, and Shekinester will assist with trade and settlement. Ihehy and Iallanis will assist- in the future, in some way I do not understand, with the happiness of the people. They will help with babies and with castes."

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"Would I understand it?"

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"You may, but they cannot communicate directly with you. Perhaps you will find one of their priests helpful as your colonists begin to settle. In any case, they will not assist us at this stage. For now, worry not of those matters. We need only find a place for your settlement to form, where The Hearthkeeper can welcome Amentans."

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"I have a list of recommendations but haven't scoped them out yet. - do formians have a god, my recommendations are near them."

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"Formians do not have a patron god, and most of the gods they commonly worship are lawful-neutral. Such gods are not at home on Arcadia, but they include Helm, god of guardians and protectors, Hoar, god of revenge and justice, the Red Knight, goddess of strategy and tactics, Siamorphe, goddess of nobility and the right to rule, and Urogalan, god of earth and death."

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"Are any of those going to be trouble if they notice through the formians early on?"

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"Siamorphe," the angel says with a note of judgment, the first emotion of any kind Lintalai has detected in an angel's voice, "may interfere if she believes that Amentans have not rightfully taken power. As long as Amentans' legal systems are consistent and reliable, she will not even notice what they do. The rest will not get involved unless you endanger their followers. Be gentle with priests."

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Lintalai nods. "Thank you very much."

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The angel nodded, and with no one else to deliver messages to, walked awkwardly out of the spa to take off flying.

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Lintalai has a few more appointments to mop up - like with the birdperson; just because gods plan to send her people doesn't mean she can assume she won't need any more.

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The bird-person is happy to talk to her.

"I've just received word from my colleagues. I have five high-level wizards who are willing to come work for you, and, ah, as for their deficiencies..."

He summarizes them: former con artist (started a cult on the Prime, "wouldn't tell me more than that, sorry"), tiefling (much maligned-species mostly due to their fiendish ancestry, fiends are all evil), leatherhead (intelligent, but not wise, bad at picking up nuance), Sinker ("Thinking entropy is inevitable isn't a crime, but a lot of people don't take well to someone who wants to hasten it"), and tax evader.

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"...how did the entropy hastening thing work out?"

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"Oh, they believe that there is too much life in the universe, and activities that produce life are a countervailing force to entropy, the correct state of affairs. They took up a career in sterilizing people to prevent further reproduction, campaigned against the production of animals for consumption, and generally did things which were more annoying than dangerous, until a series of illegal abortions that got them executed. I'm told that the women consented to the procedures but that their husbands were not always informed."

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"...I think I probably can't use that one but the others might be fine. Though I can't promise the tax evader won't get in trouble if they later evade taxes in an Amentan state. Same with the other ones with criminal histories."

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Nod.

"Those four of my colleagues will happily come work for you in building a magical university. Thank you for your patronage of Arcadian magicians."

He gives her the names of the acceptable wizards, and bids her goodbye.

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Later that day, Daernir returns. He tells her that his parents missed him and his sister annoyed him by asking him all about Lintalai and what they'd been doing but he only told her what he thought isn't officially a state secret, like talking to priests- which maybe everything else they did is?

They swing by Iozhe's room, letting her know that they're leaving but Lintalai is still interested in her bodyguarding services until they can find a replacement who tolerates spellcasters better.

Tyshvian Coppersmelter, the administrative assistant, is also available, if Lintalai wishes to make use of her.

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Lintalai does! She's getting to be very busy and having an assistant to delegate some tasks to and keep her schedule organized will be helpful.

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She'll happily follow them and they can get started. She might want one of those pocket everythings once they're around, too, but for now she'll manage without; she did it for centuries.

The quartet return to Abellio.

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"Oh, by the way," Daernir says as soon as they step through, having nearly forgotten, "Intrepid wanted to make sure you were okay. Um, let me try to talk to him."

He tries. It doesn't work.

"Guess we have to let him know you're back."

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"Hope he's not too hard to find."

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"He's not. He's been waiting around here for two days, except at night, when he runs. It's not dark enough for that yet."

Daernir will- let Lintalai pay for her own room, since by playing music every day she's managed to earn more money than he has visiting his parents. While she's paying, he'll go find Intrepid.

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Iozhe looks tempted to pay for Lintalai's room, but decides against it; she's a kid, but she's also the boss. Waste of money.

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And shortly after Lintalai has paid for her room, she hears Intrepid's 'voice':

Lintalai. Welcome back to Abellio. I have heard that you were quite busy. Daernir told me- very little about your adventures, but enough to pique my interest.

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It was very productive! What do you want to know?

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I am curious about what you intend to do in Arcadia. Daernir told me you spoke to many priests, without much mention of spellcasters. I admit to being surprised. Did you decide to seek out deities for assistance with returning home?

Permalink Mark Unread

I did also recruit some spellcasters but they aren't here yet. And I met some angels!

Permalink Mark Unread

Angels, really. Did the meeting go smoothly? Angels can be difficult to communicate with, for mortals. Celestial was their attempt to compromise between their natural communication style and language, and it- shows some of the limitations of such an endeavor.

Permalink Mark Unread

The angels seemed nice and helpful to me!

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I'm glad to hear that. In that case, do you have much further need of my services? It seems you may have made powerful allies that can assist you more readily. All I can offer is translation.

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I want to learn to actually speak the language, even though my pocket everything is doing a pretty good job.

Permalink Mark Unread

Ah, how enterprising. I suppose I should no longer be surprised. I will happily teach you whichever languages you please- Celestial to begin with, if you like, although it is not the only trade tongue used on Arcadia. Most people also speak Ta'admarian.

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Celestial to start is good.

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Then Intrepid will teach her Celestial.

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Meanwhile, the four wizards she was promised arrive. Daernir gets to work on planning a wizarding school (!!!) for Lintalai's colony. He delivers reports every night to Tyshvian, who adds this to her notes.

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Tyshvian takes notes on Lintalai's meetings, supplements her language lessons (offering a mortal perspective Intrepid is sorely lacking), and explains what cultural differences she can expect to run into (many, enough that it might be worth outsourcing her thinking on some of it), including the naming conventions they previously discussed.

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They end up spending some additional time in the not-hotel with the wizards, as only one of them can teleport, and cannot do so again on the same day. The storm that takes shape outside will last multiple days, making mundane travel more difficult.

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It also makes Lintalai hungrier since there's less light, but that's not a big deal. She studies and writes up reports for the folks back home, who may by now have gotten in touch with people who can confirm that she never appeared on the other side of the school entrance, and ratifies plans and works on all the fiddly details that need fiddling.

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Eventually, they get moving.

Interpid fills her in on some basic details about the city. Mercantus, as the above-ground portion of the city is called, attracts merchants from across the planes. Although it does not sell many magical items, and there are better markets for illegal goods (for obvious reasons!), it is an ideal shopping experience for most legitimate business. Haggling is limited; if a customer's need is greater, the merchants will offer a lower price. While need might be difficult to guess, most people on Arcadia speak honestly, and so the transaction is usually to both parties' satisfaction.

Below Mercantus lies Mandible proper, a vast underground network of tunnels, most of which no non-formian has explored. Mercantus is also sometimes called the Foreigners' Ward of Mandible, as it is the portion of the city which is actively welcoming to visitors. Visitors underground are subject to more restrictive laws, but they are allowed supervised visits. Lintalai may find that an underground visit is required to really engage in diplomacy with the city, but not a very extended one. Most of her interactions with the formians can take place in Mercantus.

Permalink Mark Unread

Do any formians seem particularly like they want to meet her or are the people she's got to talk to for her plans?

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There are some formians who are happy to chat with her! It's not clear, after talking to them, how important they are to formian diplomacy. They do talk to her about her mission, and say that they will forward her arrival down the chain until someone from below comes to speak to her. They think it's reasonably exciting that she's from some kind of planet with castes, and want to know more about those. They have something similar.

Permalink Mark Unread

Cool, what are the formian castes?

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Workers, warriors, taskmasters, myrmarches, and the queen. The queen is, of course, the highest caste and spend all of her time producing babies and ruling. The myrmarches are advisors, guards, missionaries, and emissaries to the outside world. This taskmaster doesn't know all that much about that, but points out a space on her brownish-red carapace where she has recorded a compliment that a myrmarch gave her, once, using gems and ink. Taskmasters are merchants, traders, and diplomats. Warriors are fighters and teachers of fighting. Workers do everything else!

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"Those don't map neatly onto Amentan castes but it sounds like they work for you! We have blues for ruling and land management and judiciary, greens for art and intellectual work, yellows for clerical work, greys for particularly physical work, oranges for caretaking work, and purples for everything else."

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The taskmaster is surprised to hear that they don't have anyone to guard the blues- do greens advise blues, and do greys serve as both warriors and guards?

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"Greys do security, yes, and greens sometimes have advisory positions though more often they work at universities or think tanks or labs or something."

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Does having so many blues...work for them? The taskmaster is also curious about whether the kind of work purples and workers do is at all similar, but can be distracted from this question to talk more about what the formians would like from potential neighbors.

Permalink Mark Unread

Having so many blues works all right! Some people think there should be fewer, but it's difficult for various reasons to arrange that; the balance will probably correct itself when there's an Arcadian colony, actually. Purples do farming and manufacture and shipping and service work and cleaning and stuff like that. What would formians like from potential neighbors?

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Formians would rather like to outsource some of their workers' and warriors' functions. As far as they can tell, workers and warriors are only capable of personhood while connected to the hive mind, which is...disconcerting to the other castes, as well as to outsiders. They would like to work to reduce birthrates for workers and warriors. Purples and greys as neighbors would be incredibly useful. Additionally, it is very important that their neighbors not be interested in building underground, as the formians would like to continue expanding Mandible. If they live near Mercantus, that should be fine, but underground development must be kept to a minimum and should be supervised by formians.

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Purples and greys will be happy to be desirable in quantity for exportable labor! Amentans usually do not like to build underground; some buildings have basements but usually not more than a few stories' worth and the formians probably build much farther down than that and Amentans will not miss basements if they must have building codes that exclude them. (They will need metros and sewers, but if they shouldn't have subways they can do all surface lines and if they need to restrict sewer-building they might be able to just find a magic solution.) Do formians have spellcasters?

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Formians have some spellcasters but it's not particularly popular. They have war-gymnasts, if those would be helpful in some capacity?

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She is curious about war-gymnastics since someone recommended it to her but she doesn't know much about it.

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The taskmaster mentions watchers, which she elaborates are war-gymnasts who align themselves with the Astral Plane. They are good at protecting locations and individuals from outside threats, and they can often see through the enchantments and illusions which might beguile or obscure the vision of others.

There are also seekers, who are war-gymnasts that align themselves with the Positive Energy Plane. They can mimic some effects of spellcasters simply through meditation.

There are also thieves of some kind, but they are considered anti-social and so if they have any useful abilities, she wouldn't know.

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Those both sound cool! What spells can be emulated?

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They can more easily tame animals, find metals and minerals more easily, detect traps and sinkholes, instantly determine heading, make a person more difficult to attack...make their skin tougher and more difficult to damage...their abilities do vary somewhat based on their own preferences and beliefs about what would be the most beneficial abilities to acquire.

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Neat! Can people be more than one kind?

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It takes a lot of time to improve beyond the basic level, so she hasn't known anyone personally who did more than one, but she's heard of it happening. Do they not have any kind of magic on Amenta at all? Not even the kind of magic a species has which other species can't do? Maybe they have that but don't know it, since they only have one.

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Amentans don't have any magic! She's not actually the same species as regular Amentans and she has a little but it's not very useful.

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She's still curious about that! Formians have their ability to communicate instantly, within a limited range, with other formians.

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That's really cool! Amentans have technology that lets them send messages very fast but there is some delay increasing with distance.

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Yes! Unfortunately, it is over a limited range unless there is another forming settlement nearby to use as a relay, and they can't do this with non-formians. If there's any way their ability could synergize with this Amentan technology, hopefully they can find it!

Eventually, the taskmaster informs Lintalai that she has to meet with some ambassadors, but she can let concerned parties know that she wants to talk to someone about settling nearby.

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Lintalai appreciates that. She wanders around doing photography for a bit of formians and their architecture.

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Formian architecture looks plainer to Amentan eyes than most of Arcadian architecture; most of the buildings use very simple, blocky shapes and natural colors, without much variation.

Various formians go about their daily business. She can take pictures of them lifting boxes, counting coins, running around, and guarding merchants.

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What do the merchants need guarding from?

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Predatory customers!!!

(It appears that perhaps the guards for the merchants are somewhat superfluous, but the formians all seem to expect them to be there.)

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(Intrepid, meanwhile, goes for a run. He thinks Lintalai has this well in hand.)

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What are the formian merchants selling?

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Razors, cleaning products, spindles, whetstones, shirts, perfumes, wool clothing, silk clothing, dragonhide clothing, linen rags, soaps, amber, toys, fish, shellfish, flour, livestock, herbs, fruits, vegetables, cheeses, pepper, cinnamon, liqourice, cotton candy, saltwater taffy, glassware, talking skulls...a mixture of items which are perfectly mundane to Lintalai, and those which are completely exotic.

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Lintalai could actually use more clothes even if the rivers are magic. If they have anything in two year old humanoid size. She buys cotton candy and likes it a lot. What do the skulls say?

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Upon closer inspection, the 'skulls' appears to be constructed out of metal. When spoken to, they all begin jabbering away.

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"Quiet, you lot. One at a time, please!"

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"Yeah, yeah, alright. We're mimirs! Walking, talking encyclopedias of everything!"

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"You don't walk."

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"Talking encyclopedias, then! Everyone's a critic. Ask away!"

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"Ooh - are you people, or just encyclopedias -"

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"We're encyclopedias with over-active imaginations! Some say," and here the skull lowers its voice (which sounds mostly like an ordinary voice except for the slight screechy quality to it), "that we're the captured souls of unborn gods, snuffed out before we even had any faithful."

Another skull pipes up, "Some say we're uppity art pieces!"

"Anyway, if you have questions, we have answers! Most of which are even true!"

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"Their success rate isn't bad! They lie well, though, and they lie if they don't know something. We don't rely on them unless we have someone who can detect lies around."

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"How do they know things? Like, would they know things about my planet?"

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...she seems unsure about how to answer that for a moment.

"I think...they only know things that could have been known when they were made. They don't have to be only things their creator knew. If someone made one now, it might know things about your planet. These won't."

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One of the skulls starts to speak but is interrupted by a chorus of other skulls.

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"Well, people on Amenta knew things about it at the time." She looks at a skull. "What's the capital of Anitam?"

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"Oh, that's an easy one! Lina, great city. Wish I'd been there, or seen it, or knew what it was like."

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"It got it right," she tells the formian.

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"Oh! That seems very useful then. I suppose we should charge more for it-"

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There's a brief pause.

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"-okay. Would you like to buy one, then? That'll be fifteen bells for a rude one, thirty bells for a polite one."

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"How bad are the rude ones?"

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"They can be quite cruel about things that people are sensitive about, but if you're not easily bothered, it should only be a problem if you let it talk to anyone else."

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"It's probably not as useful if I don't let anyone else consult it! Why are there rude ones? How are they made?"

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"It's mostly wizards who are themselves rude. I think that's the problem. If you found a polite wizard- oh, there is one that's more polite, but it won't be used for anything that it thinks is evil, so it's harder to sell."

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"What does it think is evil?"

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"World conquest, forming armies, experimenting on unconsenting victims, assassination, mind control, rape."

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"Anything an evil wizard would do!" shouts one of the skulls.

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"-that would be the skull."

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"I'm not personally doing any of those things though I expect there to be an army of some kind in my colony once Amentans show up..."

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"Have you considered that starting an army is something an evil wizard would do?"

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"Amenta doesn't have any wizards, evil or otherwise! It doesn't have any magic at all. Didn't you know that?"

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"-oh. I do know that, now. We can't actually read ourselves, it's better if someone asks us questions. Still, should you really be doing things evil wizards would do?"

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"We breathe and talk, and evil wizards do that."

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"Maybe you should stop doing that too? No, I think that's not evil...but I can't very well trust anyone else on what's not evil, the last time I did that, I served an evil wizard."

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"I'm so sorry that happened to you! I think that if there were no army there would be a lot of grey unemployment though. They'd be upset. We can try to re-spec them into, like, helping angels fight whoever angels fight, probably? That isn't what an evil wizard would do."

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"Yes, that's much better. Armies can help angels, that doesn't seem evil at all."

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Daernir would rather listen to an evil wizard Lintalai than a judgmental skull, but nobody asked him. He'll ask her later what Amentans use armies for in case she's making it sound easy to the judgmental skull.

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"Do you want me to buy you?" she asks it. "I might need to put you in a covering of some kind once there are Amentans around, because you're shaped like a skull, so you're aware."

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"Oh, that's wonderful, actually! It doesn't sound evil or wizardly at all."

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"Okay. Also I don't believe in slavery and you seem to have opinions so - I guess you can't just walk off but if you want to go somewhere I will make some reasonable effort to accommodate this." She purchases the anti-evil-wizard one.

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They are happy to sell it to her for a good chunk of her local currency!

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Daernir pitches in because probably Lintalai's money should go into her colony.

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"I appreciate that you're not an evil wizard, but could you tell me more about my covering options?"

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"I don't have anything handy for you yet but I'm thinking something like a wig with a beard and big sunglasses. It could be something else like a tea cozy if you prefer."

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"You can always change it later, right?"

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"A wizard-"

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"No."

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"It could be a good wizard."

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"Good wizards can do whatever they want but not to me."

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Tyshvian doesn't offer any commentary of her own, just takes notes on what everyone is saying and what's happening that Lintalai is too busy to pay attention to.

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"Yeah, I was just going to cover you up, you're metal and not a real skull so that'll be plenty, so you can change around between stuff as you like."

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"Whatever you pick is fine for now!"

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They can retire for now, then. There is something of an inn for travelers in Mercantus, where they can acquire lodging for the night: it lacks the stable, the courtyard, and the spring which were features of some of her previous not-hotels, instead consisting only of rooms and a common dining area.

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That's fine as long as she can get water and take some kind of bath or shower.

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There is well water! Intrepid assures her that they will find something better long term but this water does come from the same source, ultimately, if that helps.

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It helps but she's glad she is personally hyposensitive.

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Daernir will knock on her door before they turn in for the night.

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She opens the door. "Hi, what's up?"

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"Hey, uh. Can we talk?"

He tries to peek to see whether the skull is within ear(?)shot.

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It's sitting on the room's dresser. "Yeah?"

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"Um, want to talk outside for a minute?"

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"Sure." She steps out.

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"I wanted to ask whether armies are important. Not everywhere in Arcadia has them- most places don't, really, but we do have the Harmonium. And the Harmonium seems kind of bad. So maybe the skull is right. I just wanted to make sure you won't let the skull talk you out of something Amentans need because it thinks you might be an evil wizard."

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"So there are a bunch of reasons to have an army. One is to make it obviously a bad idea to attack you. I don't know if we need that, or, if we need it, whether an army is a good way to get it, here. And another is to make sure there's something greys can do. Soldiering is a common popular grey occupation and if I'm bringing people here to let them all have babies some of those babies will be greys. We can slowly reduce the numbers in the military, if it turns out they're not useful against whatever angels fight and we don't need them for deterrence, and greys can do exploration and dancing and policing - we might need more police here if we have to keep the crime rate down particularly low to be acceptable to highly lawful neighbors - and whatnot, but I should probably not just say 'no army here' right off."

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Nod.

"Gods and wizards help with the first part. I don't know how to help with the greys, but maybe some of war-gymnastics is grey- some kinds of magic are more like things anybody can learn some of and some are more like jobs. I don't know much about it, though. And if exploration is grey, there could be a job to map more of Arcadia- it's infinite, but it's important for Amentans to have more space, right?"

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"Yes. It will help to have more things greys can do, and if it ever makes sense to have no military at all, we can do that."

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Nod.

"I think if I become a powerful wizard, I'll do evil wizard things, so I shouldn't be the one asking the skull things. Do you think your assistant should do it, or are there Amentans who would want to?"

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"...what evil wizard things are you going to do?"

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"I'll probably want to hoard my knowledge instead of sharing it, and make servants, and live in a tower where people can't bother me to help them with things and punish people who try to steal from me."

Daernir doesn't mention necromancy because he thinks that would just be upsetting. He'll have to talk to Usir or one of his priests about it, even though priests are terrible.

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"...do you not like helping me with things? You don't have to."

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"No, I like helping you! This seems interesting. I don't want to just help people because they need it, though. Maybe I will help people through good people that I like? I think that's still evil or at least neutral but I don't think the skull cares about that. It's still being an evil wizard to live in a tower and not help people and punish them when they bother you, probably."

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"You should probably have signs up so people don't bother you without knowing this about you. I think towers and not being especially helpful aren't very bad though. You don't have to talk to it if you don't want, anyway."

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"I still want to make the colony better, though. Is there anything you need an evil wizard to do? I haven't specialized yet so I could be any kind of wizard. Except an evoker, evocation is boring."

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"Well, I need portals. Even if I get some people who can do portals I will probably always want more."

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"Okay, I can focus on that. That's all I wanted to ask without the skull around, I think. Did your dads send anything back yet, or will it still be a long time?"

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"They might send me a quick response any day now but they'll take longer to read all the stuff I sent so the quick response will probably just be like that they love me and are proud of me and hope I'm safe."

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"That's good. Do you think you could show me more Amentan things on the pocket everything?"

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"Sure! Anything specific?"

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"I liked the one where the person was building the piano. Maybe not building though, just anyone doing work they're very good at."

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She finds him a timelapse of landscaping work.

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Daernir finds the video enthralling. When it ends, he thanks her quite earnestly and wishes her goodnight.

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"Good night!"

She goes to ask her skull if it needs anything.

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"I don't need much. How long do you sleep?"

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"About eight hours. Will you be bored?"

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"I should be fine. I'll think about one of my lives."

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"One of your lives?"

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"Oh, I suppose they're not mine. I was recorded by five or six people with their knowledge, initially, as part of the process that created me. I can supply more information than recorded, but only if someone asks me. Otherwise I just know what they put into me."

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"Oh, so that's how you're made! How peculiar."

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"Unfortunately, they named me as well. It's embarrassing, you know, people often choose names for magical constructs in languages that they don't speak natively, but I don't use language in the same way- everything stored in me is language-independent, even though I only speak Ta'admarian. I'm sure it was prettier in the original."

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"Well, can't you change your name?"

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"I suppose I could call myself something else, but that would be odd. You don't think your true name is more important than any others you could be called?"

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"I don't even know what my name was before I got adopted, I have amnesia."

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"Huh. For magical constructs, we start knowing our name. I know who named me, but I remember existing with the name from the beginning. It's important to keep it."

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"Well, I'll call you that or something else as you prefer. Though you'd have to tell me what it is, I don't think you introduced yourself.

- do you know what species I am?"

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"-they call themselves people. Or something that means people."

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"Can you tell me the word in their language? I speak it."

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"-sorry, I don't think so. I get things from other languages but I can only speak the one language. If you ask me questions about them, I might know some answers."

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"Will I spring when I'm grown up? Where do they live? Do they put a lot of kids into the adoption system?"

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"You'll spring, albeit in a different time of year. I'm not sure where they live. They don't put many kids into the Amentan adoption system."

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"...a different time of year, how odd. When you aren't sure of something, like where they live, could you sometimes know some things about it if I asked different related questions?"

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"Sometimes, but I won't know until you ask the right questions. It could be that no one wrote it down."

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"How many countries of the species are there? Do they live - on or in or within, Amenta and its moons. What's their biggest city called."

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"I don't know how many countries there are. They live- on Amenta, but not the same Amenta as you. It's next to yours, but not- physically. It exists in parallel to yours without overlapping, maybe. I don't know how they do that, it's nothing like the magic we have here. Maybe something like the Ethereal plane. The biggest city is called Midwinter."

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"Ooooh. Thank you!"

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Lintalai's mimir will answer any other questions she has about Amentan plant fairies or otherwise (as long as they don't seem like steps on the path to evil wizardry) until she's ready to go to bed.

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And the next day they can return to diplomacy with formians.

Intrepid has little to add, and Lintalai has her own translation solution, so he once again leaves them alone while he goes for a run.

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Daernir has come prepared with questions about the formians' caste system; he leaves asking about trade and neighborly matters to Lintalai.

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She wants to find out if the casters she needs can be sourced among formians, and how they handle pollution-type stuff, and what they think about subways and cellars and such.

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The formian who has evidently been assigned to her (based on the fact that they have the same name as one of those she met yesterday) fields most of her questions.

It seems that spellcasters are very uncommon among formians. Those that do develop magical skills tend to stick to war-gymnastics rather than soul-based magic.

They seem reluctant to openly discuss pollution-type stuff, but they assure her that they handle it in the way appropriate for formians and if this is not satisfying, she is free to purify herself in rivers as much as she likes.

As for subways, they are unfamiliar but intrigued by the concept. Cellars have been dealt with by negotiating how much of the underground space the people above have a right to develop into, but subways might be more complicated if they require wide-scale infrastructure instead of individual contracts.

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She is not worried about herself but about trade; Amenta has international standards for what level of cleanliness must be required of producers of exports, on top of domestic and potentially less stringent rules. If they want to be able to sell things to Amentans they will need to be on the same page.

Subways do require lots of infrastructure and passthrough! She can show them diagrams.

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"Are Amentan standards of cleanliness a private matter? If not, you should tell us what the requirements are and we can work to meet them. Discussing our own standards would be...I would rather not discuss such things openly."

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"That works." She finds a file of the protocol and translates it.

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The possibility that one of their castes is hereditarily unclean had never occurred to them. How did Amentans discover that reds were polluted in that way, rather than just until cleaning themselves? They can adapt to most of the requirements, although they might need clarification on what constitutes the correct soaps.

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She can find the history of the caste but a lot of the theological language translates poorly and Lintalai does not herself know enough theology to compensate. Formians have the queen situation, though, so it's very unlikely any of their castes is hereditarily unclean! Soaps she can look up in Summary Bank to see what the formal criteria are.

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Does it matter much if soaps interact with their exoskeletons differently than they do with Amentan skin?

Additionally, they want to know how blues correspond to queens- how is their governance of Amentans organized? How do blues command the other castes? Which of their castes cannot operate independently?

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She can look up the rules for cleaning pets and livestock in case any of that applies, but they don't keep domestic giant insects and she will email a theologian with all their questions and expect a reply in... several months.

Blues are an aristocracy but have no special reproductive responsibilities. They collect rent, and have certain high-trust jobs like being judges and doing politics, though some blues just live off investments and don't actually do much work. Most Amentan countries in the modern day are democracies, which means blues can run for various offices details varying by country and people get to vote on them, weighted by approximate assumed political knowhow. No Amentan caste requires a hivemind to function day to day but all of them require some things that other castes do in order to get along - for instance, everyone eats what purples grow and ship and prepare.

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Do blues make decisions about whose genes can be passed on? If not, there may need to be some conversations between Amenta's ruling blues and Mandible's queen about how best to manage their population growth. Formians prefer to discuss things like this with their neighbors, and they imagine Amentans will be more cooperative about it than most locals.

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Blues run eugenics boards (with green advisory). The eugenics boards will probably want to relax some once there is an infinite plane to colonize but any given area will want to be paying attention to whether it can handle its projected growth.

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Lovely! They can have the queens communicate with the eugenics boards.

Is there anything else she thinks needs to be discussed besides trade?

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What are their eugenics concerns?

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"Our own attempts to manipulate our genetic makeup has depended on the queens' decisions about which specific traits to encourage or discourage, but we have never achieved independence for our workers and warriors. So few species here practice eugenics on a societal level, so this is the first new research angle in years. We might similarly be able to share some knowledge, even if our genes are completely dissimilar.

We also have some concerns about having neighbors who have a caste like oranges or greys which are so specialized in purpose but not in thought- it's not something we've encountered and we might want Amentans to limit their population numbers."

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"Hm, why are oranges or greys specifically worrying?"

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"Blues are specialized in purpose but also in thought. I would think blues would behave like other blues. Purples are not specialized in either- again, if I understand correctly. But oranges and greys are specialized in purpose- they have limited breadth of tasks- but not in thought- they do not have a hive mind, and Amenta does not even have the churches or temples or kings that most non-formians have."

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"And why is - castes that are specialized in purpose but not in thought - worrying? They might be unpredictable?"

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"Our concern is that they may need more support than the others to prevent crimes against us, in our cities. If they stay above the surface, that will be fine, but we do not wish to restrict movement if your citizens want to explore below."

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"You could require they have escorts, or want an extradition treaty that would compensate you suitably for any crimes Amentans committed in your territory."

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The taskmaster wants extradition explained to her; apparently, it's not uncommon on Arcadia but formians have never much understood it and no one has explained it to them, so they have very few such treaties. After a brief explanation, she agrees that this makes some sense, and wants to know what the timetable is on building the new Amentan settlement.

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"It will depend a lot on how hard it is to find spellcasters who can access Amenta. I think there will be a lot of Amentans here over the course of a few months when there's a portal - faster, if the portal somehow equalizes the passage of time, the months would mostly be getting the news out and people traveling to the portal site."

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The formians mostly don't have use for spellcasters who can connect to other planes, so they can't help too much with that. She'll mention this to the queen, though, if sourcing such spellcasters is likely to speed up the trading process!

The taskmaster will show Lintalai where an entrance to the city below is; Amentans should only go underground escorted, so if they can filter for people who will abide by such rules during initial settlement, they would appreciate that. Later on they can work out better long-term arrangements. As for subways and such, discussions are happening above this particular taskmaster's head but Lintalai can be assured that they're working on that.

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Sourcing spellcasters would speed up the trading process enormously! And yes, initial colonists will be screened for sure.

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The taskmaster makes chittering sounds that her translator does not translate.

"Soon our queen will wish to speak to your queens- blues, I'm sorry. We will find spellcasters to speed up the process so that our peoples can meet properly. Thank you for speaking with us again."

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"Thank you!" chirps Lintalai.

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The wizard who can teleport, who has been patiently (so, so, so patiently) been waiting for her patron to be done with her diplomacy, is happy to transport her back to their apparent home base, the non-hotel.

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Daernir is happy to be back with the other wizards; he's probably more useful here than doing diplomacy, really. He promises to introduce Lintalai to all of them tomorrow.

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Tyshvian, who has already collected Daernir's scattered notes as he delivered them, offers to give Lintalai a primer on what he's noted down about these wizards.

"It's not the most clear, since he mostly listed his impressions and facts chronologically as he thought of them. There's an attempt to summarize at the end, which is all I'll read unless you want to hear the rest. You can feel free to read through it as well- anything he gave to me is intended to help you, a fact which he wanted me to be very clear on."

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"Okay, let's start with the summary."

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"Deveth- ponytail, sharp black fingernails- tiefling (very sensitive about that but not sensitive, confusing), between 4’10 and 5’2”, possibly a student despite high level, serene & patient & thinks magic is fun, not creative with magic but creative elsewhere (backwards!), worships Oghma? but seems uninterested in gods, maybe lawful neutral, wants to start a university to attract more books to read, specialty is Abjuration or Conjuration but won't admit which."

She takes a pause, looking to see whether Lintalai wants her to continue.

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"...that's not a very good summary, can I get you to read over the full version and try summarizing it yourself?"

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Nod.

"I've already started summarizing the notes, but they're messy enough that my summaries aren't complete yet. What should I focus on? I assume physical characteristics are less important than how they might react to you or what they think of this project?"

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"Those and their capabilities, yes."

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"What I've gleaned thus far on Deveth- he seems to make Daernir uncomfortable with being too sociable for his tastes, so their conversations weren't very productive. Deveth seems to have a sense of humor, so approaching him too seriously might cement a bad first impression. I'm not a matchmaker, though, so I'm not expert on people. He seems invested in contributing to a wizarding school, so I don't think you need to worry about handling him as much as some of the others, but I don't think Daernir is a good point-person to deal with him.

As for his magic, my money is on abjuration or divination just from these notes- a conjuration wizard would have shown off, if any of Daernir's guesses about his personality are right. Wizards who like to have fun will cast spells casually, and nothing in these notes suggests he cast any visible spells at all- that usually means abjuration, divination, or enchantment- and we can rule out enchantment since we don't love him already."

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"...I should hope so, if you fall suspiciously in love with any wizards please tell me."

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Nod.

"Enchantment wizards tend to be the most meddlesome; most other wizards will leave you alone if left alone. Based on a skim of Daernir's notes on the other three, my guess is that Yllafina is the one to talk to if you want to be sent home before they're ready to bring people over, she seems to specialize in sending things away from herself, including to other planes. Grilbrek is the wizard to talk to about teleportation, apparently, although Daernir doesn't explain how he knows that- it might be something about magical theory I don't understand, but he presents it as though it's the obvious conclusion, here."

Tyshvian offers Lintalai the notes, if she would like to take a look. They're rambling, with lots of things crossed out and annotated. The summaries are the most coherent portion of them.

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Lintalai takes pictures of each page for her everything to translate but doesn't attempt to read them right away. "I don't want to go home before they bring people over, the time differential is pretty steep, but I might want to have a proof of concept sending of an object done."

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Nod.

"I would guess that you want to talk to Yllafina first, see what you can set up there. As for proper portals- I've never heard of wizards making permanent portals, those just seem to happen naturally, but wizards also keep lots of secrets. You should ask Grilbrek- based on what I've read, if you motivate him, he'll be able to teleport across planes soon. Hard to know what 'soon' is for wizardry without asking one, though."

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"All right, where will I find them?"

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Luckily she has noted down what all rooms everyone is staying in, which should apply to...most of the wizards. Wizards tend not to stay in a single room if they could create an extradimensional space instead, which one or two of them might be doing, but as far as Lintalai is concerned, she should act as though they simply use their room normally.

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Knock knock, Yllafina!

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Yllafina answers the door. She's a short woman wearing fine, red, purple, and gold robes. She has glasses hanging on a chain around her neck. She has ivory skin and silver eyes that sparkle unnaturally. Her pointed ears, Lintalai now knows, indicate some elven heritage. She holds a book under the crook of her arm. She smiles mildly, and steps aside to allow Lintalai to enter her room.

"I am glad to properly meet our host. Thank you for inviting us to start your university."

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"Thank you for coming! I'm told you specialize in sending things away from yourself, even between planes?"

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"I do, yes. My focus until now has been preventing harmful effects in certain areas and sending objects away- I haven't achieved any interplanetary effects involving people yet. It's not something that has been heavily experimented with since targeting is so difficult, but if I have a university and a large project that needs it, I can make interplanetary travel my specialty. There are so many spells in that research direction which remain to be discovered!"

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"My ultimate goal is to be able to open stable permanent portals between Amenta and Arcadia, but you could make that work on a purely sending-things-away basis if you just had them one-way and in pairs and if you could cast the spell to make one on Amenta. In the shorter term it would be useful to send a magic item of some easily demonstrable kind to Amenta, to prove that Arcadia is real and they should make preparations I suggest for colonization."

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"A demonstration! What object do you think would be best? A shoe would be traditional- or bread, if we think of this as a premature welcome. I recommend something small to minimize problems while I'm perfecting the spell."

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"Ideally the thing would be magic and do something obviously magical, so people wouldn't have to see it appear to believe in it."

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"I'll need to ask one of the others about that. Magical objects are harder than anything I'm working on these days, I just don't have the patience. Unless you already have some on you? What would seem magical to your people? I wonder if we could cheat by sending a warded box...what would an Amentan person do if they opened a box and it blinded or deafened them temporarily?"

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"I have a talking skull but I'm not sure it would go over well. I think that would be pretty convincing as long as it only affected the person who opened the box and not anyone standing nearby? I would want to put a warning on it."

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"It should only affect the person who opens it, although it is based on range. Warn them not to crowd around it, please. Hmm, so a glyph that will blind or deafen the target when triggered...targeting a new Prime world will be tricky. Do you know anything about how your little Astral jaunt worked? Your world has never heard of other planes before now, right?"

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"Right, this is the first time as far as I know. I walked into my school and then I was in Arcadia."

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"I'll start by trying to send a mundane object somewhere safe, just to prove that it's possible. Then we can move on to the warded box."

Really, someone should try divination, first, but she's not going to get into the details with a kid who doesn't know the first thing about wizardry. She'll bring it up with other wizards and hope someone studied the boring stuff.

"How did you trigger a portal accidentally, anyway? There are hundreds of planar nerds who would love to have a chance to study your experience and you barely know what happened."

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"I don't know."

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Shrug.

"Alright. I think I know what to focus on, for now. Do you want to watch me work, or do you have other things to do?"

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"I'd like to see!"

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Most of spell development (or at least her particular kind of wizardry) seems to involve reading, writing, re-reading and re-writing. After putting on her glasses and retrieving paper, Yllafina begins to scrawl things down, only really remembering that Lintalai is there if she asks specific questions. Otherwise, she seems to prefer to work relatively uninterrupted, and doesn't have the presence of mind to really explain herself.

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Lintalai takes pictures of what she's writing to see if her everything can translate it.

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The pocket everything recognizes the language as 'Dhoraz', and is perfectly capable of translating the text. Most of the notes seem to state facts about reality. The spell mentions various conditions of Arcadia (the Orb of Day and Night, the Storm Kings, Abellio, Buxenus, Nemausus...) as well as features a locked box might have (e.g. the locking mechanism, the wood used to craft the box), and features of the destination (here the comments are mostly focused on differences between a generic Prime Material world and Arcadia, rather than anything specific to Amenta).

When Yllafina sees her taking pictures, she does ask: "Why are you waving that thing around?"

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"It can translate writing as well as talking! I just have to take a picture of what I want it to translate."

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"That's a neat trick! You're full of surprises, aren't you? You might want to tell wizards that, we spend a lot of time deciphering musty tomes."

Read, read, read. Write, write, write. She isn't currently consulting any old books, but now that it's been pointed out, Lintalai can see what must be quotes from books rather than the wizard's original writing. The mark used to mark quotation is different than the one she's familiar with, and the translation app ignores it, but the diction enclosed by said marks is drastically different from Yllafina's.

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Lintalai doesn't want to interrupt but the next time Yllafina takes a break to drink water or stretch out her hand or anything she says, "Are you quoting from something in these parts?"

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She looks.

"Oh, that? Yes, that's from a book about Arcadian wildlife. It's useful to reference the differences between the things on Arcadia and things that are actually living."

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"What about that part?"

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"That one- if you look here..."

She guides Lintalai through a few other quotes. Yllafina explains that she quotes others when there's a concise description of certain conditions that she doesn't expect to improve upon, like in the case Lintalai pointed out, where she summarizes the lawful good nature of the plane, or elsewhere, when she quotes a description of the plane's physical properties.

"That's why magic on Outer Planes is so much more difficult," she adds, showing Lintalai how detailed even this concise quote about which kinds of magic Arcadia allows people to perform, and under what circumstances. "On the Prime, anything goes. Here, the plane has opinions."

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"How does a plane have opinions?"

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"Well, it's made by belief, but some beliefs are bigger than others. Gods decide the big stuff, on most subjects."

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Lintalai nods and continues photographing sections of the spell as it's worked out.

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Following on from Lintalai's question, she shows her the sections which reference gods...

A mention of Azuth which is fairly practical, describing how he assists petitioners to access magic on Arcadia.

A fairly florid description of how much Yllafina values interplanar travel, which repeatedly asks Celestian for assistance in enabling this spell...

A short, simply stated request that Marthammor Duin protect the box as it travels through the Astral Plane...

..and similar such sections for a few other gods: Isharia, Neselthia, and one which refers to as 'Averter of Evil', according to the translation app.

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"Does it notify the gods every time you cast a spell like this?"

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"Not exactly. If you're someone they're interested in, yes, but otherwise, it's just something they handle as part of their daily work. They rarely check unless you're the type who has a close relationship with them, in which case they field requests. It's a beautiful thing, having the gods on your side, but it only works if you're the type of person who gets along with any of them. I pay lip-service to the ones that are interested in my work, and they help out passively."

She smiles.

"Are you the type not to get along with gods? You'll find sympathetic ears among us wizards. We're not very docile people."

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"I haven't met any gods in person yet, but I don't know how they'll all feel about my project."

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"Gods don't really go around expressing their opinions about things, except through their astral-spellcasters. They're a judgmental bunch, even the ones who don't work as priests- or haven't since dying. You'd think dying would re-arrange someone's priorities..."

Yllafina scrutinizes her notes, trailing off as she seems to find something interesting.

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"Would it? Why?"

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"The world you wake up in is completely different! If I had just appeared back where I died, I would still be an amateur doing party tricks, but instead I'm making good progress. Imagine wanting to do the same things you did when you had to worry about feeding yourself and surviving winter!"

She makes some disgusted faces at something she's spotted and starts scrawling on the parchment, lips pursed.

"What would scientists say about your world if they had to describe it in a few words? I spellcrafted as though the big stuff would remain the same, but that way lies our box, exploded in the void somewhere."

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"...um, it's a seasonable planet with one continent and three moons?"

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"-I hope moons aren't important. I never planned for moons."

Yllafina sighs.

"That's enough for now. I'll ask you more about Amenta tomorrow. Any other thoughts before I get into the boring parts?"

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"What's boring about the boring parts?"

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Yllafina can show her snippets of the boring parts: increasingly granular descriptions of the box, repetitive bits throughout the scroll (which she has left blank spaces for, having written around it) which read "glyph inscribed on the box", and a confusing description of a...place?...full of colorful lights and tangible fog.

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"What's the place with the lights and fog?"

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"The Astral Plane. This little spell will need to traverse safely through that to reach any Prime world, including yours. The colors usually indicate direction to  the neighboring planes, like Arcadia."

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"Huh! Do people go there or just spells?"

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"It depends what you mean by 'go there'. People can project their soul into the astral plane without their body, because of the kind of place it is- it's the easiest way to go there, actually. Going there with your body is much harder. The reason this box can even make it there is because of the spell. Most physical things don't belong in the astral plane."

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"Gosh. What's projecting your soul into the astral plane do?"

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"Well, people can [dream lucidly]. Most people learn to use the Astral Plane while they're asleep. For spellcasters, though, you can touch the outer planes without ever having to visit them- which can help you learn kinds of magic that you never could on a Prime world without that access. If you're the type who likes gods, you can use it to get closer to them. You can even sometimes create magic in the Prime without being a war-gymnast or spellcaster yourself."

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"Huh. I probably can't do it though since I don't have a soul."

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"You don't! It's something we're all curious about- no one in Amenta has ever felt the lack? Can you lucid dream? How close are you to your gods? It sounds like they're more distant than ours, must be nice."

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"I think some Amentans can lucid dream but I haven't learned. I don't think there are any gods, there."

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Yllafina sighs wistfully.

"Shame we have so many. There are some good ones, but it's a bit much to deal with when you want to affect anything important."

Back to the boring bits for her.

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After the 'boring bits' continue for some time, Lintalai is interrupted by Intrepid's 'voice'.

Lintalai, are you currently occupied?

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No, what's up?

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Your war-gymnastics teacher has arrived. Would you like to meet her now for a brief conversation, or would you like to wait until she has become comfortable and can speak in more depth?

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:I'd like to meet her!:

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Then Intrepid will direct Lintalai where to meet her; they're sitting inside, in the central lobby of the not-hotel.

Lintalai, welcome. This is Nue Sosonzo, an expert in her discipline of war-gymnastics and one versed in teaching it. I have introduced her to you, as well.

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Nue stands, moving her arms through the air in parallel, mirror motions until they come together in front of her, fingers touching. She bows.

"I am pleased to meet you, Lintalai. I have never taught outside my area of expertise, but I intend to start you on general exercises. Why don't you briefly tell me what you know about war-gymnastics so I know where to start?"

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"It's a kind of magic that doesn't need a soul and there are kinds that don't need me to balance either."

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Nod.

"We will start with a few definitions. It's important to understand how magic works in the general sense in order to use it properly; most people, without understanding, can use very basic magic, but I imagine you want to learn more than that. There are several ways to practice war-gymnastics. Some of them are more difficult than others, in the Peaceable Kingdoms of Arcadia, because of where we are located in the universe. Most students find sozev and xæmā  the easiest to learn. Sozev aligns the body with the Astral Plane- it aligns you with the gods, to dreams, and belief itself. Xæmā aligns the body with the local plane- in our case, Arcadia. What do you understand about alignment?"

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"Not all that much. It's sort of to do with - taking the perspective of a philosophy that lines up with the plane?"

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"Something like that, yes. It's more complicated when you expand your perspective beyond the Outer Planes, but since you've found yourself on one, it's up to you how much of the general theory you want. I'll summarize the nuances by saying that alignment with a plane is about your similarity to it- in body, soul, or both. In the case of an Outer Plane, of course, even aligning your body with it is partially about belief, by the plane's very nature. However, unlike aligning your soul with a plane, it does not require that you change your beliefs. Aligning your body with Arcadia means- making your body into something that suits Arcadia. Has anyone expressed the opinion that Arcadia, as a plane, behave the way a person might? As though Arcadia is a thing that has its own opinions, makes demands, and wants things?"

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"Not as such? I've been leaning on the belief thing so that the rivers are good enough for baths and my pocket everything charges overnight if I leave it next to my bed and the translation and navigation work though."

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Nod.

"Arcadia is not like a person, in that there is no single consciousness making decisions, but it does respond to people's beliefs and produce very real effects. As such, there is something like- a consensus, a central idea of Arcadia. Gods, too, are powerful centers of belief- they guide the Astral Plane and the Outer Planes, which can be incredibly helpful to us. Does all of that make sense so far?"

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"Kind of, I think? Whether it makes enough sense might depend on what I'm supposed to do with it."

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"So, all of that is just the basics. Most of it is absorbed during childhood, in worlds where this is common knowledge, or immediately after death, when it's not. The relevant portion for war-gymnasts like us is what it means to align your body with concepts like this. The beliefs people have about law and goodness do not have much to do about bodies, but there are some. Do you have much intuitive sense yet, of what law and goodness mean, in Arcadia?"

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"I don't think I'd call it intuitive."

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"In Arcadia, law mostly refers to the concept of effective governance. The cities and towns all implement various ideas of how a society should be run, they trade reliably, they make international agreements. Goodness in the Peaceable Kingdoms means- peace, comfort, contentment, it means people leaving each other alone when they wish to be undisturbed, and it means neighbors helping neighbors. It's important to develop an intuition about this if you want to be a war-gymnast, because war-gymnastics, unlike spellcasting, is very rarely intellectual. It's not about your beliefs, emotions, or thoughts. It's about how you use your body, and that is mostly not conscious at all. Given that explanation, there are probably a few things you could think to say about how bodies could be lawful or good- they could be well-ordered, well-governed, peaceful...what else can you think of?"

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"Clean? Um, calm friendly body language? ...moving quietly?"

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"Those are all good guesses! There's some flexibility here, in that it's more important for the body to align with the plane in a comfortable, stable way- if you align yourself with uncomfortable concepts, you will never reach higher levels of performance. Think about ideas like symmetry, efficiency, cleanliness, calm body language, and moving carefully or quietly. Which of those- and anything related that comes to mind- sound easiest to change about yourself? Which of them could you adapt to willingly?"

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"I already try to stay pretty clean because that's very important to Amentans. Uh, I kind of have to walk carefully or I'll fall down. I like being efficient? I would like to move more efficiently. And calm body language sounds good too."

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"We can worry about walking later, it might be more complicated if it's something that you take seriously but find difficult. Competence and comfort matter. It should either feel natural, or it should be aspirational. Something that you are proud of achieving. Does that describe any of those things?"

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"I am not used to being proud of how I move. Hmm, one of my dads is very good at reading body language? It would be pretty cool if I were good at saying things with it, the same kind of thing he reads. And the efficiency thing. Mostly I'd be proud of turning it into magic though."

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"Sozev responds the best to someone who wants to improve how she uses her body- tell me, could you admire any of the local gods?"

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"I feel like I'd need to know somebody better to really admire them but some of them sound pretty neat so far."

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"Then that's where our focus should be, for now. A kasozev takes on the traits of their ozev. You could think of it the way a job might come with a uniform. Does Amenta have jobs that require their employees to wear uniforms?"

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"Not blue jobs. Blues sometimes have to dress professionally but not in uniforms."

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"Hmm, I see. Does Amenta have- flags, or emblems, or banners? Objects which can be displayed prominently that signify allegiance or values?"

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"...Sometimes people who are fans of sports teams wear shirts that look like theirs."

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"If you don't have much prior experience, you might find it odd at first. I think for now, we'll start with the more purely physical side. That way, if you decide to specialize in a different discipline, I won't have wasted your time."

So they can start on the purely physical. Nue instructs Lintalai to mimic her movements. First, she shows Lintalai how to control her movements more generally. If Lintalai struggles with clumsiness, she might find it more challenging to exert that control, but she would like her to try so that Nue can see what needs to be improved. Most of the things she asks Lintalai to mimic involve very fluid motions, rather than discrete ones. Nue never really stops moving, once she starts, moving from one pose to another. She would easily be in the 80th percentile of Amentan athletes.

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Lintalai tries earnestly but she's very wobbly, and her movements comparatively jerky and her poses imprecise.

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Nue eventually concludes that perhaps anything that involves Lintalai moving her feet may not work for this purpose.

"Good job. We may want to rely more on other kinds of motion, though, than relying on your ability to balance. What happens if you only move above the waist? Does it throw you off balance in the same way?"

Nue can have Lintalai sit down and walk her through some stretches that she uses to warm up; if these go more smoothly, that provides a promising angle for further training.

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Sometimes leaning over will unbalanace Lintalai. Stretches on the floor work fine though! She's actually very stretchy.

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Promising! Can she stretch in ways that are peaceable or orderly? They can talk through what that means if Lintalai finds it difficult to come up with something that might fit that standard.

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"Yeah, I don't really know what that would look like."

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So she can show her a few ideas, though Lintalai should try her best to pick the ones that strike her as representing Arcadia.

Lintalai could stretch using well-known exercises, which have been practiced for centuries and almost anyone looking at her would recognize, that are gentle and easy for beginners to learn.

Lintalai could stretch in ways that mimic behaviors that are associated with peace, order, and cleanliness, like praying, bowing, or sweeping- although not all of these can be perfectly adapted to sitting down.

Lintalai could stretch very carefully, paying close mental attention to what is best for her body- the more she thinks about treating her body well in detail, the more likely it is that this approach will work, as then it will resemble the principles of good governance Arcadia stands for, applied on a more personal scale.

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Lintalai thinks that last one sounds promising; she seems to have some native instincts for what's good for her, which helped a lot when she was being brought up by people of a different species. Though it's mostly about getting sunshine and not eating animal products and not swimming in chlorinated pools.

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"None of those would be traditional sorts of ways to approach it, but I think you could make it work. They will need to be relevant to the situation at hand- try to focus on the one about getting sunshine for now."

Nue is not sure what 'chlorinated' means, but she'll ask when they're not in the middle of teaching Lintalai meditation. She walks her through some stretches calibrated to her clumsiness and waits for Lintalai to try it. It is a bit too early for Lintalai to feel anything, she suspects, since she won't have much practice organizing her mind the right way, but perhaps she might surprise her.

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Lintalai rolls her sleeves up and turns to face the light and stretches.

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As she does so, Lintalai will eventually notice that she is becoming more aware of certain details she would normally overlook- how the warmth feels on her skin, exactly how hungry she is...she's noticing how being in her body feels, details about it that had never before become salient.

It isn't quite what she might be inclined to call magic, but it is new. There's a sharpness to that awareness, beyond her ordinary sense of proprioception.

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"- ooh, neat!"

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"What do you notice?"

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"It's - easier to pay attention to myself? Like, how I feel physically I mean."

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"Oh, how nice. Yes, that is a first milestone. You're making progress faster than I would expect for someone so-" she's really trapped herself here, she can't even pretend she was going to say anything besides 'clumsy'- "uh, unused to athletic activities. You'll most likely have the other senses within a week of shorter sessions, or a day of a longer one. In that case, we should start discussing your options. If you were less clumsy, what kinds of physical activities do you think you would be most interested in, recreationally?"

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"...low-gravity dancing looks kind of fun. My aunt likes skiing, that also looks fun."

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"And when you think of 'magic', what goals are you most interested in accomplishing? I understand that you're interested in magic that can traverse the planes, but very little of war-gymnastics can do that, unfortunately. Is there anything else you've always- dreamt of, when imagining you could do anything?"

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"I'd like to be able to fly! I was very disappointed when I found out that I had weird powers and none of them were flying."

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"If you are very attached to flying, then I should teach you the basics of shezodza, even though it is more difficult. At the highest skill levels, zodja can walk up walls and survive long falls- I've never known one who could fly, but I've heard stories of it. Otherwise, flight can only be accomplished by spellcasters. As for skiing, no matter how you specialize, you'll soon be capable of much more than you are now, physically."

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"Can I learn to teleport? Or... telekinesis?"

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"Zodja can learn to teleport over short distances, although like with any skillset, you'll need to choose how to specialize. There are so many things that you could learn to do- I will find a master to consult with on your curriculum, if this seems like the best avenue. Shezodza is the only form of war-gymnastics that would allow you to mimic flight or teleport unaided by a spell-caster. Are you interested in focusing your studies there?"

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"It sounds really cool but maybe I'm missing cooler things just because I haven't heard of them?"

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Nue can briefly summarize cool things that the different kinds of war-gymnasts can do:

Sozev allows the war-gymnast to put unnatural force behind their strikes, heal via touch, lift heavy objects, intimidate others, run tirelessly, sense more acutely, fight off disease, withstand poison, commune with spirits...

Xæmā allows the war-gymnast to befriend an animal companion, commune with a nature spirit, call on animals for aid, take on the shapes of various creatures, manipulate air, manipulate water, 'communicate' with plants (Nue is not confident about what this means so if Lintalai is interested she will need to consult with experts), and supposedly, move on the wind- similar to what shezodza allows, but her impression is that it is more naturalistic, while a zodje moves through the air with as much control over their body as they do everything else.

Shezodza allows the war-gymnast to contort their body into difficult poses, throw objects at high speeds, react more quickly, teleport short distances, cling to nearly any surface, walk on water, "harness the elements" (again, Nue apologizes for not having much detail to offer here), float...

Thievery allows the war-gymnast to dodge nimbly, detect danger, tumble safely, mimic minor spell-casting abilities, predict the future, identify weaknesses, bolster allies and menace enemies (Nue seems least excited about the possibilities offered by this particular type of war-gymnastics), hide unnoticed, move silently, just generally get lucky...

Ranging allows the war-gymnast to befriend an animal companion (Nue thinks this is somewhat different than how it's done in xæmā, but she doesn't know xæmā enough to give a confident guess), understand a specific kind of terrain, aim accurately, take on the natural advantages of animals, hunt a chosen type of prey trivially, produce a healing mist, survey a new environment quickly, recall extensive factual information on the natural world, control plants, and move unnaturally quickly (but only in the wilderness).

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"Healing sounds cool but it's not really in-caste. Predicting the future sounds great... Plant stuff sounds cool too. Why are these all in... groups like that?"

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"Each discipline aligns the body with different planes. These terms are only for the general categories, since they can take on different form depending on the nearby planes- rangers are nearly the same across the planes, although there are some minor differences. The reason rangers' abilities have that shared emphasis on animals, nature, healing, and the general environment is that these are things associated with the Plane of Creation- I referred to healing, but I should specify that it will not provide much protection from disease. On Arcadia, that is rarely necessary, but if it were, we would likely pray for an angel."

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"I've never actually gotten sick, probably because I have never met anyone else of my species since before I got amnesia."

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"You may not need to worry about it, then. I don't know exactly what predicting the future is like- it might not be exactly like you're imagining, like with flight, I'm not sure- but I can find you a thief if that's where you want to focus your energies. I recommend choosing three of the five disciplines so that I can find experts with more insight."

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"What do you know about predicting the future? Also why would that translate as someone who steals things, do you know?"

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Nue frowns, slightly.

"On Arcadia, they're all very nice, but- a good amount of their abilities don't function, either. Thieves align their bodies with the Plane of Destruction- they obscure their intentions, projecting fear or confusion rather than friendliness of calm. They hide, sneak around, they set traps, they sabotage- the terms used to describe them refer to that, so if the term you're hearing describes an antisocial force that is destructive to social order and peace, I think your translation device is not mistaken. Arcadia doesn't allow anti-social magic, though, and of course, magic performed on Arcadia will be more lawful-good than magic elsewhere, so thieves here are mostly pleasant people."

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"Huh. Probably it doesn't make sense to specialize in that unless the future seeing is really good."

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Nod.

"Which of the others are you curious about?"

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"Shezodza sounds like all-around best but xæmā has some very cool things too - I am a plant myself, I don't know if that would affect the plants part -"

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"You know, it might. I'll continue teaching you good general principles, until you're very comfortable with the basics, and hopefully by then I'll have found you experts in shezodza, xæmā, and- thievery, in case it is closer to what you want."

She doesn't hide her distaste of thievery, but nor does she particularly judgmental of Lintalai for considering it. Nue will talk Lintalai through a few more things she do to reinforce what she's already managed so far- since it is a matter of using her body, it's best to practice and experiment until she can do these things by rote- she should practice the stretches that she finds work best for her.

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Lintalai will happily do MAGIC STRETCHES though at some point she feels inhibited by need-for-cognition and asks if she could put on music, which will automatically interrupt itself when there is translation to do.

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The MAGIC STRETCHES do not provide feedback.

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Nue does remind Lintalai to make sure that her body is staying in line with Arcadia- this might include her mind? Until now, most people had understood souls as being the place where cognition started, so frankly this is new territory for her. Otherwise, though, it's a good start.

Eventually, she says, "I think that's enough for today. You can practice stretching on your own from now on- I want us to make the most of our lessons, and I think it's more important that I help you build a long-term discipline than walk you through each step. Is that alright with you?"

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"Yeah, that makes sense! Thank you very much!"

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Then Nue will meet up with Intrepid again to discuss her lodging arrangements, and leave Lintalai to her business.

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Tyshvian catches up to Lintalai to introduce her to Grilbrek, the wizard who Daernir thinks can most directly assist with transporting people across planes.

Grilbrek is a short, somewhat ill-tempered man who seems quite certain that he can independently invent portals.

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"I'm really glad to hear it's a promising possibility! What do you need from me there?"

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"Nothing at all! I'd like to be left alone to my own devices, if you please."

Tyshvian adds an apology of her own, having stayed close in case anything upset the man. She ushers Lintalai away rather quickly.

"You should get used to that. Most wizards have personality problems. Your team looks better than average, on that front."

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"Well, at least he's low maintenance."

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"That's one way of looking at it!"

Tyshvian asks Lintalai what she wants her to be doing- would it be helpful if she sat in on her lessons and took notes while Lintalai is otherwise occupied, or should she be shadowing Daernir to make sure whatever work he's doing with the wizards is useful to her?

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"Keeping an eye on the wizards sounds good. Can you also do site search for settlements, find out about good candidates and their pros and cons?"

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She'll be happy to. She confirms with Lintalai what the basic parameters for her search are and then she'll leave Lintalai alone to enjoy the rest of the day in peace.

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Intrepid informs her that her next lesson will be some time tomorrow, and that she is welcome to schedule it per her needs, since Nue has yet to find anything else to do with herself.

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First thing in the morning sounds good to Lintalai. Seems an apropos time for stretching.

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Then the next morning, Nue will be in the courtyard for the next lesson. Nue does tell her to engage in some light stretching at the beginning, without any input from her. Then, she advises her to try the same movements standing still. Does this carry the same risk of unbalancing her, or is she less unsteady because the movements are somewhat familiar?

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Lintalai still falls over even with familiar movements.

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Then they'll just have to pack a lot of alignment into what she can do!

Nue doesn't want to spend much time on repeating what Lintalai has already learned, as long as she's practicing that when they're apart. Instead, today they'll work on posture. How well can Lintalai work on standing very still, having a peaceable smile, and things like that?

"I don't know where your clumsiness comes from or how it works, but if you can align lawful-good using posture and stretching, we shouldn't need to do much else just yet."

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Lintalai can stand very still and smile just fine! She can stop breathing if that will help!

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Good to know!

Holding her breath might help, so if it isn't risky to do for her, Nue recommends doing it when possible.

"Do you have lungs? It might not be relevant, but I'm curious."

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"I think so, but I can hold my breath a really long time without it bothering me. I might be breathing through my skin or something but I'm not sure, that's just a guess because I'm a plant."

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"It can help to add consistency and predictability wherever it might help other people. Usually, revealing unusual capabilities of yours is helpful only if the capabilities are helpful, so I wouldn't recommend adding that to your routine, but you could try demonstrating your clumsiness in some consistent way- revealing your limitations predictably is lawful good because it promotes an atmosphere where people's needs can be met and there's no shame in requesting accommodations. Why don't we try adding a rule. Let me know if this sounds alright, and please suggest something else if you prefer it- if someone happens upon you when you're doing your stretches, you stand and perform a stretch that will cause you to lose balance, and explain your condition."

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"I feel like it would make more sense to carry a cane."

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"It's a more lawful but less good. That's fine, as long as you balance that out elsewhere. Do you think you could come up with a few reasons that might be?"

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"Why it would be more lawful but less good? Is it... less good because I'm not going out of my way as much?"

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"That's nearly right. If Arcadia already had laws about using canes to signify clumsiness, it would be just lawful. If Arcadia used canes to signify, hmm, shortness, it would be somewhat chaotic. However, in Arcadia, a cane is a signal that you need assistance to walk, so using a cane to signal that is lawful- but it would be more good to provide more information than just that. You can use the cane, but you should consider adding some other signal."

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"I guess it doesn't seem obvious to me that it's not wasting people's time to tell them all the details."

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"It might be, on another plane. One of the benefits of living in the Peaceable Kingdoms of Arcadia is that every person will be helpful to strangers, so expressing your needs is more good than trying not to waste their time."

And now that they've covered all the low-hanging fruit on her stretching exercises, Nue wants to move on to meditation, trancing, and sneaking.

"Because I don't want you to commit too heavily to any one discipline until you can make a more informed choice, I'll show you the basic principles of all three disciplines. Do you have a preference for which we start with?"

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"No, any one is fine!"

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Nue will start her with meditation, as this skill is good training for higher levels of shezodza. First, she tells Lintalai to stay in her seated position. Then, she tells her to think about the concepts of law and good as she understands them and as they relate to her stretching- without doing any stretching.

"Meditation is about reshaping our minds, to align them better with Arcadia. In someone with a soul, the worry would be that their soul might align elsewhere while their body aligned with Arcadia. That isn't likely to be an issue with you, but I'd like to start on firm ground."

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"Is learning to do magic itself lawful or good if I intend to do lawful and good things with it?"

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"Typically, on a Prime world, as long as your body or soul were mostly aimed at law and good, your alignment would be lawful good. Arcadia has a different standard- your body and soul must both be aligned with lawful good for magic to work normally. So in your case, I'm not sure. In people with souls, most alignment that we associate with thinking, including intent, happens in the soul. Alignment that has to do with behaving happens in the body. Feeling is usually considered to belong to both. You don't have a soul, so it's possible that only your body will be aligned, in all of those cases."

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"So - the process of learning is a behavior but my intentions aren't."

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"I believe so, yes. It could also be that your intentions only impact your alignment when your behaviors are lawful good, or something similarly odd. Your case is unusual; no petitioners arrive on Arcadia without souls, and very few visitors without a soul would be allowed to roam freely."

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"Are there lots of people without souls?"

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"There aren't many, no."

She sounds sad.

"Very occasionally, people will promise their souls to someone or something else. Sometimes people will remove their own souls in an attempt to achieve immortality, but this rarely works out as intended- without a soul, it's hardly the same person, if it's a person at all and not a corpse. The lucky ones end up in one of the Outer Planes, of course."

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"What happens to a soul that gets promised to someone else?"

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"...it depends on who. I'm not an expert on this. My understanding is that lawful evil khamotzo buy souls for their personal use, and that lawful good khamotzo buy them back in order to free them. Neutral good and chaotic good khamotzo sometimes do the same, although they are just as or more likely to steal them."

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"...what are souls personally useful for? Do they let people do more magic?"

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"They use them to produce more magic, yes, but they also treat them poorly. In the people of our world, souls separated from bodies can still be made to experience things- lawful evil khamotzo may torture their captives, for example."

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"- so then there's two of the person?"

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"Oh.

No.

Souls are the part of a person that comes to the Outer Planes. Unless something reanimates the body, the soul will be the only version of the person left."

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"So they're - selling themselves into slavery for their kids?"

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"-not always for their kids, no. It can be any number of reasons. Rarely for the common good, but sometimes for their family, yes. Again, I may not be- I only know of the most high-profile cases, not of every individual sale. It's widely seen as a failure of the good planes, that we can't prevent the soul trade in its entirety."

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Lintalai nods very seriously. "Why can't people usually be bodies without souls like me?"

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"Until I met you, i would have said it was impossible- even here...well, you see, I used to be a soul and a body, on the Prime. Then I died, and I was just a soul, on Arcadia- and then I was given a new body, made from my soul.  The Outer Planes can do that, create bodies for a soul that aren't matter, but only belief. You- I don't know how your body is producing beliefs. It's not how people here normally work- or at least, how I understand us to work. I'm just a war-gymnastics teacher," she adds wryly.

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"On Amenta people use their brains for that but I'm a plant so I don't know if I work the same way."

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"I don't think I know what...brains...are, exactly. This is probably a place where you should talk to someone with more relevant expertise, later."

In which case, Nue will direct Lintalai's attention back to meditation. For now, they'll proceed as though Lintalai's brain is fulfilling the functions of a local soul, and that her brain needs to be kept from drifting too aimlessly while her body aligns with Arcadia. To that end, she will sit in place, with her body very loosely aligning with good or law- by taking on an aesthetically-pleasing pose and holding still- while she mentally focuses (using her brain?) on good and law as concepts, to the best of her understanding.

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Lintalai meditates on the rule of law and universal goodwill.

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After about five minutes of that, Nue interrupts, speaking softly.

"Well done. Now, do you think you could try to hold those same concepts in your mind while stretching? I'd like to have you try that for a few minutes and tell me what difficulties or challenges you face in doing that."

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"Okay." Lintalai stretches. "- the stretching is sort of distracting from the concentrating," she reports.

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"Alright. Have you ever found that there were physical activities that were repetitive enough that you could think about concepts like that without this much difficulty? Some people find dancing or walking very useful ways to practice their meditation skills, but- you might have other ideas."

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"Writing? If I were writing about the same thing. Does that count?"

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"It could, if we work up to it. The reason that stretching is one of the universal recommendations in war-gymnastics is that it gives you a solid basis for later exercises, but your case is unusual. We'll use writing for your meditative practice, which you can try outside our sessions, along with the stretching. For the rest of this session, I think we should see what your current limits are. Anything that requires true balance is off limits, but have you ever tried lifting things, swimming, tying knots, falling safely, manipulating small objects, or throwing projectiles?"

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"I can lift things but I'm not especially strong. I can swim pretty well. I don't know any complicated knots. I do know how to roll with a fall. I'm not sure what specifically you mean by manipulating small objects. I don't really throw things much."

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"Swimming might be another useful exercise during our sessions. Rolling with a fall will not be immediately useful, but I will keep that in mind as our lessons progress. The others we can do without, if they're not areas of strength. By 'manipulating small objects' I meant...hmm, it seems like a natural way to describe the skill to me, but I suppose if I had to give examples...juggling, sewing, close-up magic. If it's not a strength of yours and swimming is, that's just as well for our purposes. How much swimming have you done, and would you like incorporating more of it than stretching?"

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"Our summer house has a pool and they got all the water with chlorine in it out so I could swim and I liked it and I can hold my breath a long time. There's a pool at school too but I can't use that one. So I haven't gotten to swim all that much but I know how and I'm okay at it."

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And they can finish up with one more meditation session- this time no stretching, since Lintalai will be incorporating writing instead. For now, she can practice without that added difficulty, and Nue wants her to report back on any observations she has about meditation itself.

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"I keep drifting to thinking of examples because that's what makes law and good feel more real and important to me if I'm imagining people they're useful for, should I be trying not to do that?"

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"It's important that you not drift away from the core of law and good. You could describe the examples to me and I'll tell you if the specificity is distracting or helpful."

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"Like, if somebody's missing something and they live in a very lawful place they can be pretty sure nobody came into their house to steal it and it's probably just behind the couch, and if someone gets lost it's good that there are people who they can ask for directions so they don't just have to wander around being lost for hours, and stuff bigger than that but those were the ones I thought of most recently."

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Nod.

"That's alright, then. If you can practice turning your thoughts towards more...prosocial examples like the latter rather than individually good things like the former, that will help in the long run, but it's best for now to compromise between lawful good concepts and focusing more on the activity you're trying to meditate during. For your own practice, why don't you try just meditating on concepts like asking for directions, and just stretching or swimming, before you try combining them again. Next session we'll move to trancing."

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"Ooh, that sounds interesting."

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"Trancing involves more of the soul- or mind. You will try to enter a receptive state, and welcome in the influence of Arcadia, or of the gods, or perhaps something else. We can discuss the options next time."

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"...influence?"

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"Yes. Trancing is like meditation in that your body performs repetitive, simple, or calm activities while your soul focuses on lawful good in order to avoid misalignment. However, in meditation, you do this by considering the concepts you value- especially those that relate to the body. In trancing, you do this by allowing something else into your body to perform the alignment for you."

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"I don't think I understand what that means."

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"Well, say you found aligning your body with lawful goodness difficult. Trancing would be an incredibly efficient way of doing that, since you could simply invite a lawful good god to assist you in times when you needed your body to be so aligned. They would gain some measure of control over your body- moving your limbs, holding a posture- those kinds of things."

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"I don't have a favorite god picked out. Does that matter?"

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"Hmm, in that case I would advise starting with a suitable khamotzo. Have you met any hollyphants? Devas?"

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"I haven't met any hollyphants and I'm not sure I know what a deva is."

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"Devas are an order of angels. Have you heard of angels?"

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"Yes, I met an angel."

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"Then one option might be for you to allow that angel to possess your body while trancing."

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"Can I stop whenever I want or does the angel have to let go for me to stop?"

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"At higher levels of related disciplines and in more intense situations, there are more nuances, but in basic trancing, yes, you can stop whenever you want to stop."

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"Okay, I could try that if the angel wants to."

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"Wonderful! If you've met them already, you might be able to pray directly to them. Why don't you give that a try now- if you can't manage it, I will talk to Intrepid about how best to contact the angel."

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"I can try! Is it just like trying to think at them?"

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"Almost, yes. They need some say to know who is praying, and why- include something this angel might know about you and that you need help to learn war-gymnastics. If they've met you already, they'll be especially inclined to help."

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"They seemed very helpful, yes." She tries to think at the angel that she is the person with no soul and blue hair who the angel suggested learn war-gymnastics and now she is supposed to let the angel help her with posture.

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Nothing appears to happen.

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(Nue waits, respectfully.)

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Lintalai keeps trying and eventually asks how long this is supposed to take.

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"I would estimate that most prayers take about five minutes to construct. Are you having some trouble?"

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"Well, nothing's happening. Do you need a soul for this?"

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She frowns.

"I wouldn't expect that, no. Do you know the angel's name?"

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"Mahli," she says, after consulting her notes.

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"Alright. Give me a few minutes to pray to them."

And she takes a few minutes to pray.

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(Nothing appears to happen.)

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And then Nue opens her eyes, looking somewhat bemused.

"Well. It seems your prayer worked, but when Mahli communicated their response, you couldn't hear it. Your prayers are entirely one-sided. It's still useful, I suppose, but you may not want to pray to gods- devas, at least, will respond quickly if they can help you."

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"Oh, huh. Okay. So I can't do trancing?"

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"Possibly not, no. We'll still try it, for a few minutes during your next session, if Mahli agrees to the experiment, but I think your lack of soul leaves you less open to possession. Ah well. I'll re-arrange our lesson plan accordingly.". 

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"Okay. I can still learn all the stuff?"

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"If trancing is not an option, it limits which of the disciplines you can specialize in. Shezodza and thievery would still be completely open to you, and those were some of the ones you seemed most interested in. We can discuss more when I show you sneaking."

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"I don't think I'm good at sneaking."

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"Do you think you'll be worse at picking it up than meditation? I'd like to train you in the basics of anything I can teach so that you have freedom when you start to focus your studies."

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"It seems like it would rely more on balance? Maybe there are ways to do it that don't."

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"I would like to make some effort to design lessons with your limitations in mind, but perhaps we can wait until I've spoken to an expert thief. Then you'll have a better idea of the advantages of thievery as a discipline, and you can make a choice without needing to learn any sneaking. We'll focus on the skills useful for shezodza until the masters arrive."

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"Okay. In the meantime what should I be concentrating on most?"

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"Continue stretching on your own. Try to practice meditation while doing something uncomplicated- sitting in place is fine as long as you keep your posture relatively lawful good. Try not to- intellectualize too much, when you meditate. Perhaps it might be best to think about what you can do with your body- non-verbal communication, posture, cleanliness- rather than more abstract concepts like rules, to build a strong foundation. I recommend not combining meditation with stretching again until you've had more practice. Does that all make sense?"

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Nod nod.

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Then Nue will leave Lintalai to her business and see her tomorrow, for their next session.

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Lintalai divides her time between practicing the local language, stretching in the sunshine, meditating, dunking in the nearest river, researching political science on the Amentan internet, and quizzing her magical oracular skull about her people of origin.

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Her magical oracular skull tries its best to help!

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There's another storm, of course, on the regular schedule. Everyone at the not-hotel spends a day cooped up inside, mostly talking about the wizards' progress. There has been some progress in spell development, but nothing that anyone is confident enough in to try on sending objects to Amenta yet, let alone people.

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Daernir wants to hear about how her war-gymnastics training is going! He'll also ramble quite enthusiastically about all the spellcasting he's getting to observe.

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Lintalai is happy to tell Daernir about her progress and get his perspective on whether various postures are lawful good or not.

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He has a lot of helpful input on this! Certain things being lawful good is really annoying because it means if you don't want to be evil (which he doesn't, at least until he's a powerful wizard), you have to have the right combination of facial expressions, postures, and other non-verbal cues...he's not great at giving off friendly cues, so he mostly aims for neutral.

He can identify the ones that work for Lintalai given a few minutes of staring at her while she tries them, even though the whole thing is very silly, in his opinion.

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She practices in front of a mirror. She can stand very still in one posture for hours and meditate that way, possibly because she's a plant.

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She doesn't detect any changes to her senses or any other sudden magical upgrades.

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During their next few sessions, Nue talks her through what she should expect. At fairly low levels, zodja take up the study of certain skills which their war-gymnastics assists them with. This does not feel like anything, but they are able to learn more through the intensity of their training than the average person who hadn't honed their body this way could do given more time. Nue also explains some of the training practices zodja use to train their discipline. Typically, they gather together in zodzama to study and practice together. Nue understand that Lintalai intends to be somewhat busy with her government, so they will likely only get up to lower levels of the discipline.

Upon consultation with Lintalai, she agrees to supply her with instruction on arcane theory and magical traditions, rhetoric and persuasion, the legal institutions and social/historical context of Arcadia, and planar metaphysics. Nue herself does not know- most of this- so she adds it to the list of consultants and teachers they'll need to bring in. On the more practical side, Nue focuses on adding more postures, fine-tuning the meditation process, and (hopefully) attenuating Lintalai's boredom with the act of meditation itself through exposure.

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It's still pretty boring but the idea of getting to do magic is very motivating.

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After a few days of this, Intrepid contacts Lintalai after she has gone to her room for the night.

Lintalai? May I interrupt? I have news.

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Yeah, what's up?

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The queen of Mandible will speak with you now.

I understand this to be more a summons, less an invitation.

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Well, that's not terribly polite but I'll come anyway.

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Yes. This is one of the risks of interacting with formians- they are rarely as polite as the rest of Arcadia. I have tried to explain to countless formians why politeness is best for everyone, but they seem to consider it an unnecessary cost with no advantages they can identify. I suppose it would be more helpful in a Prime world than in Arcadia, where they will make few enemies regardless.

Intrepid will be there for Lintalai to clamber onto. The wizard who will teleport them to Mercantus looks annoyed to have to help a child climb onto a ki-rin, but doesn't complain about this indignity overmuch. There's a lot of sighing, until Intrepid looks at the wizard and she stops. The wizard teleports the three of them to the city, which is dramatically more quiet at this time of night- above the surface. Most of the formian activity presumably takes place underground, in Mandible proper.

I will not be very free to move in Mandible, but I can follow you as far as they allow me. If you feel unsafe, call for me.

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Okay, thank you!

And she descends.

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There are some formians early on that hold themselves in a readied stance, suggesting potential hostility, but they all stand down by the time Lintalai passes them. As she continues through the network of tunnels, there are various formians who lead her through. They do not communicate, barely acknowledging her presence. They simply lead her in. There are no buildings here, as she would recognize them, just manually-worked earth with various side tunnels and offshoots leading into darkness. Perhaps the formians live further down those.

Formians of all castes (except the queen) surround her on all sides except above and below, and otherwise, there is nothing but the curving, twisting tunnel and a horde of formians for quite some time. Finally, the tunnel lets out into a large cavern. There are thousands of formians in this chamber, climbing the walls and galloping throughout with great urgency.

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One of the formians separates from the throng and speaks up.

"Lintalai. Welcome to the queen's chamber."

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"Thank you, it's very interesting."

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"I am the queen's foremost myrmarch. I speak for her, until the time comes for her to speak herself. That time is nigh. What have you to say to her majesty?"

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"I appreciate the opportunity to meet her and look forward to a productive friendship between our peoples," says Lintalai, a little blandly.

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There is a general murmuration at that.

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One of the other formians steps forward, and it speaks. Its voice is no different from the others, but as they speak, several of the formians around them speak simultaneously.

"Welcome to my city, Lintalai. You wish to live as our neighbor, yes?"

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"Yes, I'm hoping that having native Arcadians close by to learn from will help Amentans adjust as they colonize the plane and having Amentans nearby will help formians learn new technologies that may be useful to you."

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"Your technology is of great interest to us," says much of the formian hive- they've all begun speaking, now, the workers and warriors.

"What will Amentans need to adjust to? We know little of your world. Share a bit of your knowledge, and we will share some of our own."

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"Amenta does not have magic, of any kind. The concept of alignment is unknown there. They haven't contacted any other civilizations before."

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"Arcadians make poor neighbors," say the formians, "except those who understand why law is more important than goodness. Even they can be stupid. Law allows for good trade and trusted agreements. You may have seen that Arcadians can be too good for their own sake, when law might be wiser. Are Amentans more lawful or more good?"

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"I think most Amentans are more lawful. I don't know that they're as lawful as Arcadians but the ideas will be recognizable to them."

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"How do Amentans treat their neighbors? Mandible will expand soon, forming new colonies, but it will remain the center of formian activity on this plane. We need our neighbors to respect our sovereignty."

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"Amenta has very strong international agreements and would be enthusiastic about forming new ones with you, I believe. I don't think you will conflict much for territory because you prefer to live under the ground and Amentans don't."

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There is much chittering and clicking.

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The myrmarch speaks again.

"Arcadians often seek to mine, or build underground. I hear that Amentans may have similar designs. Our plane is vast, and so we can find room for all of us- but we fear allowing development beneath the ground. Once done, such a thing cannot be reversed. What say you?"

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"Amentans do mine and build basements or subways under the ground. I don't think they will mind very much if they have to switch to surface trains and look for places to mine that you don't want, though, or trade with you for most of the things they'd want underground."

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"Then Amentans may make very pleasant neighbors."

The myrmarch appears to have more to say, but ceases when the workers and warriors begin to murmur again.

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Workers and warriors skitter to the edges of the chamber. At the center of the chamber, there is a loud heaving sound as a formian head and torso emerge into view. Beneath them, Lintalai can now make out a massive, bulbous form that the other formians continue to protect with their bodies.

She speaks, now, with the mindless castes of the hive speaking in unison.

"Will you represent the Amentan people? In the absence of your world's authorities, can you speak for them?"

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"- they have not appointed me to any position, but I belong to the correct caste. In the absence of authorities, I will represent them."

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"Then I will speak with you as I would a fellow queen."

And she does. The queen proceeds to properly introduce herself as Queen Clarity (non-formians find her real name difficult to announce, so she chose 'Clarity' to go by amongst mixed company). She discusses preliminary steps in setting up trade agreements between their two peoples, as well as taking some interest in the possibility that Amentans and formians could run a trial colony where they tried to more closely integrate- she thinks there might be some efficiency gains in learning from another species with a caste system, if they're not completely incompatible.

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Lintalai thinks some Amentans would be really excited by an integrated city, and has guesses about what trade goods will be in demand.

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At this stage, a few other formians begin introducing themselves into the conversation. It seems that whatever whim prompted the queen to summon Lintalai so urgently has now been satisfied.

Trade!!! Several taskmasters want to talk through what sorts of industries Amenta might have that just don't exist on Arcadia, and vice versa. While Amentan industries might involve technologies that Arcadia (and the Prime) has never seen, there are several things in Arcadia that do not depend on magic but would not have been developed without them.

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Oooooh, like what? Amenta has computing and trains and airplanes and electricity...

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It takes a while for the formians to explain what they mean, since they don't have any concept of mass production. It seems that, because magically-created items don't require ongoing magic to maintain, Arcadia has self-assembling objects of various kinds, as well as a variety of oddly specific effects relating to food production or weather. The formians expect this to work even in places without any local magic, although admittedly until now this has never been possible to test conclusively.

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Amentans would certainly be keen to import some and check.

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The queen would also appreciate learning more about how Lintalai's government works, and any other relevant ones she may need to interface with. Most of the queen's questions are phrased under the assumption that Lintalai's is the only opinion that matters, and these Amentan governments are minor interests that must be appeased.

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Well, that suits Lintalai all right. Her country, Anitam, has a five person council at the top and various provincial and municipal interests on top of all the federal infrastructure; her dads are both in the federal government and they'll help. Anitam is friendly with most other countries and she can summarize those too.

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Queen Clarity requires a Lintalai to go over the concept of 'dads' and 'council' to confirm how much and why Lintalai trusts these institutions and entities. For example, Queen Clarity trusts her workers and warriors because they are essentially extensions of herself, while she trusts her taskmasters and myrmarches less- they are more individualized. Some myrmarches are deeply trustworthy, which she knows through their years of tireless service. And there are rare non-formians who meet a threshold of trust- Lintalai would not have been one of them, but she has already been vouched for- by a valued taskmaster, rare among her caste for rising to the queen's notice, and by a...mutual friend of theirs...who values the economic flourishing of women.

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Lintalai does not trust the council all that much but she trusts her dads a lot and expects they will be able to steer the council pretty well. Her dads are the people who have been raising her; they care about her personally and have similar values.

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The queen's favorite myrmarch would like to know everything about her dads' agenda, and her own, please.

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The queen, simultaneously, supplies Lintalai with a list of names: taskmasters and myrmarches who will be most directly involved in interfacting with the initial Amentan contingent. Formians within a particular caste do not seem to specialize as much as Amentans do, but it seems their broader castes do contain sub-castes which form as a result of massive cultural changes within the hive. Now that there are aliens to interface with, there will be new sub-castes of taskmasters and myrmarches just to interact with Amentans.

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Lintalai's dads' agendas are not up to date because they may not have finished reading most of her emails yet, but they want to find humane ways to address the red caste (Lintalai favors finding magic to clean them, whereupon they could maybe be re-casted somehow or go among other species in Arcadia) and to find out where Lintalai came from (she's working on that with her talking skull, and meeting formians and other kinds of aliens will serve some of the same goals) and to have steering power over the future of Anitam and Amenta. Lintalai basically agrees with these agendas but also because she has more information right now also wants to colonize Arcadia and she is sure they will want that too.

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The formian queen would be happy to work alongside Lintalai so that both their species can colonize Arcadia. They have been very politely not growing their hive as fast as they would like, because there are very few locals who would enjoy having formian neighbors, but she expects that, despite Amentans' underground development, their similarities to the formians will make for a more productive relationship.

She's hopeful about the reds- there is cleaning magic of varying levels of thoroughness, though her hive does not contain any high-level casters. However, the hive's more powerful māyan can pray to remove disease. If pollution is recognizable as disease to the gods, then the māyan will be able to clean the reds.

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"Maybe that will work, that will be cool! Or maybe the magic rivers, or something."

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And eventually, Queen Clarity's favorite myrmarch says:

"It is time for you to go. The queen requires rest."

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"Okay, thank you for inviting me!"

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"A pleasure to meet you," says Queen Clarity, although it's obvious now that it's been pointed out, she does seem incredibly tired- more tired than might be expected from just a conversation.

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The workers and warriors usher Lintalai back through the tunnels, their bodies forming a phalanx as before. It is difficult to determine exactly what path they take to get back to Mercantus, but eventually they do.

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"Why is having a conversation so tiring for the Queen?" Lintalai asks.

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"The queen does important work!"

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"The queen does not speak to outsiders often. You are lucky. Lucky lucky outsider."

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"And I appreciate it a lot! Is there a way for visits to be less exhausting?"

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"..."

The workers seem to find this challenging to answer on their own.

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Luckily, this many workers would not be sent out alone.

One of the taskmasters rubs its antennae against the worker speaking to Lintalai.

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"...the queen needs food and she needs babies! When she's making babies she gets tired but she needs them."

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"...she needs babies? How do you mean?"

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"Queen needs to make babies. Babies are important. Babies need food. Queen needs food to make babies."

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"More babies for the hive!"

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"Amentans really like and want babies but don't need them. Will she get sick if she doesn't have them?"

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"Yes. It is so good you came! Bigger hive, more babies."

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"The queen wouldn't get sick so easily if we were free to expand, but there are laws about how settlements can grow. We have split the hive in the past, to avoid needing to grow larger. But that is...complicated, and not done lightly."

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"Oh... how will Amentans help you get around the laws about expansion?"

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"People do not want formian neighbors. Mercantus was built by us to attract merchants, and everyone loves coming there, so they do not mind our hive beneath. Any other city, they fear tunnels beneath. They have their own cultures and their own governments and they do not want formians near those things."

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"Huh. And you don't want to just go far from them? Isn't Arcadia infinite?"

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"When we split, the new hives go far. But Queen Clarity- for the hive to expand, it must expand near Mercantus, and near Mercantus, the laws prevent us from expanding without someone to- vouch for us. We need neighbors in order to expand. Arcadians do not want to be surprised to find out that their land has formians underneath it."

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"Oh! I think Amentan colonists will be very sympathetic to that."

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"More hive!"

A few workers get into chanting this.

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"I hope we can help Amentans as much as they can help us. So far, you have been a bearer of much good news. Thank you."

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"You're welcome! I'm glad having formians as neighbors was suggested to me."

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If there's nothing else that Lintalai wishes to ask them, the workers and warriors (and few taskmasters that accompanied them) will head back underground.

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Intrepid, who turned out to be rather superfluous, canters up.

Lintalai. I hope your conversation was enlightening and productive for all.

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It was! It's so convenient there are locals who want aboveground neighbors!

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Arcadia aims to be convenient to any who are good and lawful. I am glad that the formians will be good neighbors to your people.

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Amentans write a lot of stories about finding aliens who live underground, or on the water, so that we can share planets with them easily.

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How interesting! Would flying people be similarly good neighbors, in these stories?

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I don't think I've read any of those but maybe if they didn't have to land much?

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You will certainly have a very good story to tell them.

And they can head back to the not-hotel.

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She's in a good mood. She asks her talking skull about formians to see if she can get more clarity on the needing to have babies for health reasons thing.

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"Oh, that? Life cycle thing. Queens who stop producing babies stop being queens, and that's bad for the lower castes especially. Imagine being an arm cut off from your brain."

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"Oh no! Why hasn't anyone wanted to vouch for letting them expand before?"

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"Well, they're not good. I wouldn't want to be their neighbor either. The Harmonium sees them as a threat."

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"What effects does not being good have on their neighborliness?"

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"They punish outsiders who break formian laws, they don't take steps to improve quality of life for their neighbors, they exploit Arcadia's natural resources faster then they replenish, and they don't take care of their own. Workers have a really high attrition rate."

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"Oh. Arcadia doesn't have limited natural resources though, does it? Since it's infinite?"

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"...I don't think I know this one. You might need to ask a proper Arcadian."

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Is Intrepid still around?

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Intrepid is hanging about in the courtyard, pretending to sleep for politeness' sake.

The resources are not finite but they are limited by imagination. Very few people believe strongly enough in infinite resources for them to be readily available. They replenish, of course, but some petitioners retain the impatience they had in life.

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So it would be really good if Amentans arrived pretty convinced that all the resources would grow back quick like plants do?

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Yes. Intrepid's 'voice' sounds warm and approving.

I think Arcadia and Amenta will both be very grateful that you arrived in the Peaceable Kingdoms, Lintalai.

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That's the plan! She settles in to write another update to her family.

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Wizards proceed in their study of wizardry. They make improvements to their object sending spell, enough that they think they can send something to a plane based entirely on having a native of that plane nearby. They begin testing the spell using the already well-documented Prime Material Plane and items that came from it.

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Tyshvian continues feeding Lintalai a steady stream of wizardry notes: the wizards think that it would be easier to send an object if it came from Amenta, the wizards say that the object should be smaller than a chair, the wizards want live animals to practice with...

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Her war-gymnastics lessons continue. Nue helps her refine the techniques she has already learned, and she shows her a few techniques that she will not be able to use until much later (if at all, depending on how she specializes), but for which form is important enough to practice in advance.

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The wizards can send back articles of her clothes if that will help refine the spell, she can buy new ones locally.

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The wizards appreciate that! They can't immediately check on how the clothes are doing, because they haven't sunk any time into improving that. They do bring the clothes back. What's left of them, anyway. They will need to keep trying.

The promised shezodza, xæmā, and thievery experts finally arrive, and join in on one of her lessons with Nue.

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"Lintalai, as promised, your experts. This is Lintalai- oh, I never asked after your family name. Is there a better way to introduce you?"

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"We don't do family names. We do job names and sometimes blues do job names that are the name of where they work? I could be Lintalai Arcadia."

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"-alright. Lintalai Arcadia. Lintalai, these are Torrig Teneherk, Hadrol Rutsk, and Bharrik Ramanurk. Torrig," she indicates a shorter humanoid whose clothing is light and flowy, "is a master zodje,"Hadrol," she indicates the tallest humanoid, who carries a wooden staff, "is a master xæmor, and Bharrik," she indicates a shorter humanoid whose face is obscured by a hood, "is a master thief.".

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"Hello, pleased to meet you!"

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"Hmph," acknowledges Torrig.

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"How wonderful, that the orb shines upon our meeting," says Hadrol.

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"Charmed," whispers Bharrik.

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"I'll let you lead the discussion, Lintalai. I believe you had some questions about plant magic and predicting the future?"

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"Yeah! I want to know whether being a plant myself would affect plant magic, and how good predicting the future can get."

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"Hadrol might know something about plants," Nue says, as Hadrol vibrates with enthusiasm.

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"There are so few sapient plants, and none that look like langbrud. Are there many of you on Amenta? Do you photosynthesize? How do you eat?"

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"I eat - only plants, not animal products - and I do seem to photosynthesize. There are more of us but I don't know much about them because I was abandoned with amnesia when I was littler."

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"Amazing...I don't think most of my abilities would change if I were a plant, although you may find that you have a special advantage at communicating with plants and communing with spirits- most spirits are associated with animals, and they may appreciate your decision not to eat the species they represent."

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"Huh! I didn't realize they'd care about that - it's not a decision really, meat just looks like not-food -"

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"It's fascinating, really. Individual animals don't always care, but they don't have spirits. Species have spirits, and they care very much. Some plant species have spirits, but they are much rarer. One that I've encountered, two which I believe to exist, and some that are rumored to exist but I have seen no evidence of."

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"Which species have them?"

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"Large cats, bulls, and hyenas are just a few animals that have spirits...as for plants, tea and silphium are the plant spirits I believe may exist, and jasmine, I have encountered myself."

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"Huh! I wonder why those."

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"The animals, I believe it's connected to how personable they are. There are not many insect spirits. For the plants- I admit I have no idea why jasmine's spirit is so active, but tea and silphium might have spirits because of how many people value them. That is usually why spirits and gods arrive."

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"Do people-species have spirits, or are those just gods?"

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"It's such a fascinating question, isn't it? There are gods whose entire focus seems to be a particular species- there are several gods that only seem to want jotunbrud worshipers, and there are famously a few feuding daragarum gods."

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"What are jotunbrud and daragarum?"

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"Jotunbrud are very large langbrud, I would say at least 15 feet tall? They live in inhospitable environments- mountains, volcanoes, tundras, storms, clouds- and they claim to be one of the oldest type of people. Daragarum are incredibly large, winged reptiles with innate magical reserves and powerful natural weapons- claws, teeth, and breath."

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"Wow, cool."

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"Daragarum claim it too," Bharrik says, reminding everyone that he's here. "Oldest things in creation, they say. It's a major point of contention. They like saying that even if they weren't first, they were the best."

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Torrig snorts.

"If you gotta say your species is the best, that means you're nothing special."

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"Anyway, what about seeing the future?"

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"That is a bit of an exaggeration, in my opinion. We can't see everything. We see- threats, dangers, opportunities. We see things that we can use. We don't see anything that's useful for anyone but ourselves. A thief's vision is narrower than the eye of a needle."

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"Oh. That's not nearly as exciting as it sounded."

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"I don't want to give you the wrong idea- it is exciting, for the right type of person, but your ambitions seem bigger. I would recommend learning a bit of thievery- the tiniest bit, enough to pick up our more useful basic skills. Not enough to 'predict the future'."

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"What are the most useful basic thievery skills?"

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"For the very very basics, we're talking dodging, goading, or feinting, along with a few pieces of highly specialized knowledge you can't find anywhere else- even spellcasting tidbits, if you're that type."

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"Hmph."

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"I'd like to be a spellcaster but I don't have a soul."

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"Well, aren't you a lucky bird! It's not proper spellcasting, you see, not when thieves do it. It's war-gymnastics that looks like spells."

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"I think we ought to ask a god or at least an angel for advice before we assume anything, but thank you, Bharrik."

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"If I pray to Mahli about it and someone else does too they can get my answer back for me."

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Nod.

"If you'd like the answer now, I'm sure they don't mind waiting."

She looks to the others to confirm this, and none of them evince any objections.

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So she asks Mahli.

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And after a few minutes, Nue reports back.

"Mahli believes that thieves do not use souls to cast their spells- they learn them as an extension of their other magic, to mimic the effects of spells. That sounds promising enough, although I'm not sure it means you should learn any thievery. There are advantages to learning the basics, but you don't seem to be someone who needs the skills of dodging or feinting."

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"If I ever need those something has gone wrong."

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"Agreed. Thank you, Bharrik, but we won't be needing your expertise."

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Shrug.

"If you're sure. Hope these lawful types take care of you, little wanderer."

And with that, he heads off.

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"...well. Back to business, I think! What do you need to know about xæmā?"

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...Lintalai surreptitiously consults her notes to remember which that is. "I want to know what plants have to say, and about flying!"

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"Plants are quite interesting, but you might be more interested in how they're useful to you, yes?"

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"I am also interested in that but I didn't think they would have anything to say at all so I'm really curious what it is."

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"Well..."

Hadrol launches into a description of all the different things different plants have said to him. He often doubles back when he realizes he left something out or didn't offer context. Different species seem to have slightly different interests but the major differences are based on region, the health of the soil, and nearby plants of other species. It becomes clear that these are individual plants, not the species' spirits. Hadrol does not seem to notice this might require clarification. Mostly, plants seem to talk about nearby plants, the weather, their health, and what they think of the animals that pass by them- flowering plants have a lot to say about pollinators.

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"How do plants sense things without sense organs?"

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"Well, you see, it turns out that sense organs are less essential than they might seem. Quite a few aspects of the world- the Prime as well, but especially Arcadia- are the result of historic beliefs which have since been disproven on the purely material level. Instead, they persist due to ideological inertia. Since the Prime is made up of both belief and matter, and Arcadia is only belief, plants can sense things just fine, without having the intellectual sophistication to make decisions."

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"Oh, huh, cool! But maybe plants on Amenta can't sense things without sense organs? Since belief doesn't affect things there."

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"It's possible! I would love to visit Amenta just to communicate with your plants and animals- I wonder if they even have spirits, there! If Amentans don't have souls and everything is made of matter, it's vanishingly unlikely that animal species would have spirits."

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"Yeah, it doesn't seem likely. Hopefully it'll be easy to visit one day!"

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"Lintalai was also curious about flying," Nue prompts.

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"...yes! Of course. While our ability to call the winds to our aid is not as precise as some spellcasters' flight can be, it is often more graceful. I prefer moving through the air as naturally as I might the water, but some seem to prefer moving as easily as they might on land."

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"Like preference has fuck-all to do with it! Not like you can choose which kind you get. We can't fly," contributes Torrig, "but if you're looking to scale walls and look badass, I'm your girl."

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"Why can't you choose which kind you get?"

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"I chose to become a zodje, didn't I? And he chose that nature-lover- stuff. But after that you can't really change how it works. I could always try to pick up tree stuff if I wanted, but who wants to half-ass that?"

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"So the two kinds of flying aren't both xaema?"

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"It's not even really flying, what I do. Wind boy here does flying. I do running so fast I don't ever have to touch the ground."

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"Flying using the wind, the way I do, is part of xæmā. Torrig's ability to climb, jump, and run in impossible ways is part of shezodza. It can resemble flying in its effects, and it often allows for more control over the movements themselves, but it is vastly more limited in scope. Torrig cannot clear the distances I can in the air. On the ground, she would beat me in any race."

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"Mostly I'm interested in flying because it sounds fun, not because it would be practical."

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"I think my deal is the best, but I would say that. I picked it. If you want a list of what I like about it, I can try that."

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"Flying is not my favorite part of xæmā, but if it soaring through the air with effortless grace sounds fun, you may enjoy it. I am quite fond of it, myself."

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"May I see?"

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"Certainly!"

Hadrol will step away slightly to give all of them a wide berth.

"First, I will begin to call the wind to me. It requires about five to ten seconds of time to gather, so this is not ideal in case of emergencies, but of course there are few of those in the Peaceable Kingdoms of Arcadia."

He starts to move his arms through the air, fluid, languid motions. About five seconds later, she can feel a noticeable shift in the air around them. A gentle breeze. Then, Hadrol rises into the air in a spiraling pattern, spinning around and laughing as he does. About ten feet above them, he calls out,

"The wind will only carry me for a minute at a time, before it must be released to go elsewhere- at least, that would be the case on the Prime Material. In Arcadia...as long as I am helping others live justly and honorably, the winds will be by my side."

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"That's SO COOL."

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He flies around a little bit, doing some flips and other tricks- he's not a daredevil by nature, so they're more graceful than extreme.

Shortly, he lands.

"Were there other things you wanted to know now, Lintalai? If you're interested, I can assist Nue with your lessons."

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"I am interested! Do you have one of those animals, what are they for?"

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"The animals are- allies, trusted companions. I have a boar. As with the plants that I can speak with, my companion is not more intelligent than others of his species in every sense of the word, but he is- personable, and conscious, and can communicate with me, or any who can speak to animals. Our companions are more skilled than their wild counterparts- although the term 'wild' means different things, after death."

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"Different things, what different things?"

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"Animals on Arcadia, even the so-called 'wild' ones, behave comfortably and safely around people. It's disappointing- I'm glad people are safe, of course! But I would have liked animals in my afterlife. They sniff around, you know, the way a hunting dog might, but they would never do things that a real dog might."

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"Are they not? Real."

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"I suppose I don't know. It's saddening either way. The poor creatures."

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"Can't you talk to them and find out how real they are?"

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"They seem very friendly, but very unlike the animals from the Prime. Perhaps it's not fair to them to treat them as though they are any less people than the animals of my life- they are more like people, after all. And yet, something seems to be missing."

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"Huh. I've never had any pets so I don't know much about how animals are supposed to be."

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"Perhaps it won't bother anyone but me. I haven't spoken to many others about it."

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"Does this help you decide what you would like to specialize in?"

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"I'm leaning toward xaema but I'd like to hear if Torrig has more of a pitch!"

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"There are lots of things I like that you might not, from the sound of it: punching, running, climbing. The thing that I love most is that I can move my body however I want. I think it, it happens. I can almost fly- not quite, but I can jump farther and higher than anyone I know. That's my pitch."

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"I'm very clumsy. Would learning this make me less clumsy, or would it just be very hard because of it?"

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"It won't matter none. I was slow as all get out, and now I'm faster than anything. It makes you better at moving."

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"If you wish, you can learn some of each, but you will never be able to master any of the specialties as well as if you focused all of your attention there, of course."

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"I'm going to have pretty divided attention anyway with the colony project. So I think some of both if that's all right."

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Nue will want to discuss the curricular details with Hadrol and Torrig later, but for now they can talk through some what beginner xæruh and zodja can do. It will still take a few more lessons before Lintalai sees any obvious progress, but Hadrol and Torrig can demonstrate some of the things she will be able to learn.

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She likes the demonstrations and will move around as directed.

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So far, Lintalai has no noticeable improvements to her balance, but she can learn the moves well enough without practicing them just yet.

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Eventually, Nue declares their lesson for today over.

"Thank you both for coming. We have prepared rooms for you upstairs-"

If Lintalai doesn't need anything else or have questions for them, Nue takes her other teachers into the not-hotel.

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Wizarding proceeds! Daernir wants to show Lintalai what he's learning- so far, it's nothing particularly exciting, but he seems pleased with what he can do. The only one worth showing Lintalai is the cantrip that lets him detect magic. He can show her all the different magical things the wizards are working on.

Look at this cool tether between Arcadia and the Prime Material Plane! It doesn't do anything yet but it looks neat if you can see it.

Look at this coin which came from a Prime world! He can tell it came from a Prime world because there's magic on it that shows it was summoned.

Look at this parchment, which contains notes about how to find previously unknown planes!

Daernir eventually seems to realize this is all less exciting if you can't detect magic, and instead shows her how he can make illusory sounds now- it's not sophisticated enough to play most of the music her everything can play, but he can play a simple tune.

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It's fun even if she can't do it. Oh, her grandfather thinks her food-identifying ability is magic, can he detect that?

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"-no. I can't detect it, which means it's either not magic or only magic from our planes counts. Since you're probably from a different Prime Material than ours. That's really cool because it means there could be lots of kinds of magic! What else that you know about could be magic? Not pocket everythings, right?"

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"Not those, though I guess you could check to be sure. I don't have anything else that seems probably magic, that I know about."

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He checks everything, just to be sure! Lintalai does not contain or wear any magic, except apparently:

"But there is divination magic on your- eyes and ears and nose. Did you get a spell to sense better?"

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"No..."

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"Huh. Is that from your war-gymnast thing? It looks like it makes you better at seeing and hearing and smelling...can you see further than you used to? No, that's not it."

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"It could just be my food-detecting thing? Since I can do it by looking at or smelling or tasting things."

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"...I don't know. I can't really tell yet, I'm not a smart enough wizard."

Daernir looks liable to pout about this, but then he brightens up.

"Oh! Try sensing things, then I can see if you're doing magic things."

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She will pick up the nearest food-looking plant.

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Lintalai has the same food-related senses as always. She does notice an improvement in her ability to notice physical details of the plant that she's not paying direct attention to.

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"Huh, maybe I do see better now? Could be a war-gymnastics thing."

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"-it doesn't look like you're doing any magic when you're looking," he says, disgusted. "I'm supposed to be able to detect it but all I can detect is it's on your face."

Daernir is in a bad mood for the rest of the day, but he decides to do wizard things about it instead of bothering Lintalai with it.

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At their next lesson, Nue confirms that this change to her senses is a war-gymnast thing.

"Those who specialize in any kind of magic find themselves gaining advantages to certain skills, talents, and innate abilities, even ones not directly related to their specialty."

And with that answered, they can proceed with Lintalai's training. Hadrol and Torrig supervise, offering input on different stances she should try for their respective specialties. She makes slow progress, learning the basics of both.

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On the morning before her third such joint session, Lintalai is interrupted by Mahli's arrival at the not-hotel.

Mahli flaps in the air, waiting for acknowledgment.

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"Hi Mahli!"

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"Lintalai. There may be a way to copy your technology. A spellcaster will arrive her within two days' time who may be of assistance. However, this is not of interest to you. Of interest to you is the message from the priestess of Neselthia whom you spoke with. Usir's priest is available to speak now, of death and the dead and other such things, which plague us even in these Peaceable Kingdoms. Come with me, and bring your wizard who teleports."

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"Be right back!" she says, and she goes looking for said wizard.

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Said wizard grumbles about being taken away from his research (something which, Lintalai will have noticed, all wizards do) but will happily assist her with teleporting wherever she wants to go. He's a bit more intrigued and less impatient when he realizes there's an angel involved, and follows along with fewer complaints about his important work.

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"Here he is, Mahli. Where are we going?"

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"We are going to Heliopolis. We will return today, unless you wish to speak with the priest again tomorrow. You are the guiding light."

Mahli says that last sentence like someone quoting someone they deeply respect.

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"...what does it mean to be the guiding light?"

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"You are the light by which Celestian will find your plane. Celestian will one day wander every plane that has ever and will ever exist, and then they will cease to be. You are the light which will lead them to your world, and then your people will live long lives full of babies and self-determination."

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...Lintalai's wizard thinks this is weird as limbo but isn't going to say so.

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"Oh good," beams Lintalai.

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"Using the portals inside to travel to Heliopolis would be much safer than teleporting. Teleporting across layers is incredibly challenging- I can do it, of course! But it may require-"

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"We are being assisted. You may teleport without difficulty as long as Lintalai and I are with you."

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-well. The wizard teleports them- directly to Heliopolis. He seems a lot more surprised about this turn of events than perhaps he should be.

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"You will explore the city, if you wish. I will find you when Lintalai is ready to return."

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"Thank you for the ride!"

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The wizard...wanders off, shaking his head and mumbling through the spellwork he's working on.

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"Do you have any further questions before we meet the priests? You are a very curious young prime."

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"We can go straight to them. I'm sure I'll have questions soon enough."

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Then Mahli takes Lintalai to Neselthia's temple.

He pauses outside, in case Lintalai wants to make an offering.

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...what else is around as an offering, maybe she can take inspiration.

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In Neselthia's offering bowl, there are:

Coins in several denominations

A palm-sized wooden horse, painted blue

A golden ring, inlaid with blue gemstone

A blue and green piece of fabric

A paintbrush with blue and yellow dried paint

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...Lintalai pulls out a strand of her hair and coils it up and places it.

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The bowl cannot express any thoughts or feelings about this offering, because it is a bowl.

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Mahli can do those things, though.

"She appreciates your offering."

He leads Lintalai inside.

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The temple is relatively unoccupied. One of the same priests from her last visit greets her, and gestures to the woman next to her.

"Lintalai, this is the priest of Usir who you wished to speak to. Kelna Barleybluff. Kelna, this is Lintalai."

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"Hello, it's nice to meet you!"

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"Lintalai of no family name. You'll want to acquire a last name- possibly more than one- for the types who'd find that off-putting, since you're a politically-motivated sort. As I hear it, anyway. Is that about right? Politics and civilization are interests of yours? If so, you've come to the right plane."

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"I decided Arcadia would be a good job name, and job names are what we do in Anitam. And yes."

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She smiles brightly.

"Oh, that's brilliant. Lintalai Arcadia- everyone will love that. So a little birdie told me that you have questions about life and death, corpses and undead, things like that. Where do you want to start?"

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"I want to know how those things interact with soulless people - like me, but maybe other people from Amenta too, I'm not sure."

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"No one on Arcadia has heard much about soulless people- that kind of knowledge is more useful on the Prime, so we export it even when it does land in our laps. I can give you an overview of how Usir's priests work with deenthill, and why we avoid daannaes, when so many other priests and gods treat it like it's something sacred."

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"Yes please, what are those things?"

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After a moment of brief confusion about which things, Kelna clarifies:

"Deenthill is the destructive energy that- causes aging, that recycles old matter to be used for new purposes, fights off infection and infestation, and suppresses change. Daannaes is the creative energy that enables birth, that sustains the living, that replaces old matter with new matter, and causes mutations. Usir teaches, against many gods, that we need a balance of both for people (and other parts of nature, but especially people) to flourish."

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"That makes sense, both of those lists have good and bad things on them."

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"I think so. The reason it's controversial is that some find the undead disgusting, and some ways of creating the undead are unethical- it's a societal taboo. Apparently, Amentans may have an additional prejudice because they're unclean, which isn't how anyone in Arcadia would put it- they'd more likely say 'unholy', or 'chaotic', or 'evil'."

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The priestess looks disapproving.

"If you didn't emphasize the undead so much, people would suspect Usir's priests far less."

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"Caring for the dead is the point- even here, where there are so few truly dead."

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"Dead bodies are unclean so Amentans won't want to touch them, or things they've touched. But they approve of fighting off infections and infestations, that's important."

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"Oh, I see. Yeah, that's not too different- how does Amenta take care of corpses? Do you cremate or bury them? Exposure presumably wouldn't work..."

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"Burial used to be common, and the land used for that is still not usable for other things so some places continue to bury people there until it's full, but cremation is typical."

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Nod.

"Is discussing the topic enough to make people uncomfortable?"

She has a wordless exchange with Nue, purely through glances.

"You seem fine, but you're also remarkably mature for your age."

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"I'm not the same species, I just look like it. Most Amentans would be uncomfortable talking about it without a lot of euphemisms and stuff."

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-nod.

"Would you say we should be treating this as a moral judgment which we need to appease by showing that we're not evil? A purity standard we can satisfy by showing that we're not letting anything get unclean? Does even the concept of deenthill pose a threat because of the association with- moving towards death? It's not a force of death, but some people do think of it that way, especially in the Prime, where death by aging is inevitable even for people who avoid all other kinds."

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"Purity standard," says Lintalai confidently. "I think if you group a bunch of things together only some of which are death-related - it's actually specifically death-of-people-related, not other living things, which can be gross when dead but aren't polluted - anyway I think the group won't make a lot of sense or have a lot of resonance among Amentans."

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Nod.

"As long as they don't have prior associations and we can meet Amentan purity standards, we should be able to integrate them nicely, then. What are the standards like?"

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Lintalai can look up the international pollution mitigation requirements for her and have her everything translate them!

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"-I think we're clean enough without actually undergoing some of these procedures because of the nature of Arcadia. Mostly. Is that likely to be convincing once people understand Arcadia better, or should we plan on everyone here agreeing to the same requirements?"

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"I think convincing people of this should be a high priority, but anything Arcadia might not cover should be handled to treaty standards by anyone else who might want to interact with my colony."

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Nod. It becomes clear over the course of their conversation that, while Arcadia's water is self-cleaning, people don't actually need water to drink or to stay clean, so plenty of people walking around Arcadia will probably be polluted by Amentan standards.

"Usir isn't really concerned with purification or cleanliness specifically. I think we might have some advice on how to persuade Arcadians that this is a law they need to take seriously, but I can't help with more than that. You'll need to bring in someone who really values purification for its own sake for a helpful perspective there. We might be able to help with Amentan dead, if anyone dies here before we can find a widespread solution to aging. Using daannaes for that would be too challenging- there aren't enough priests for that- but one of my functions is dealing with the dead, when that problem rarely comes up. It's an infinite plane; I would never need to meet any Amentans if they could just leave the corpses for us to pick up."

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"Currently there is a caste for that but it would be better if they could be cleaned by magic and then do something else. I'm a little worried that if you take over for them you'll experience the same stigma though."

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"If Usir's priests take on the stigma, I think we can live with that. Are there consequences to that I'm not imagining, besides that we shouldn't interact with Amentans?"

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"Clean Amentans are very terrible to reds. I think that would be different if you were - independent and making sure you were yourselves clean and everything - but it would worry me."

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Nod.

"We'll work on finding a better solution then that, but even if it's all we can do, taking that off the hands of Amentans sounds like a blessing to them. If we have to, we can make a city for Usir's priests that is far, far away from Amentans, and the problem won't come up for centuries."

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"Well, you'd still have to come and get the corpses somehow. Also reds normally do sewer work too."

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"The retrieval is easy enough. Leave the corpses in a designated area, and we can use magic to move them to our city. Magic can't pollute if it's only taking things away, right?"

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"The reds usually come get the corpses where they die, I think, except maybe in hospitals. Nobody wants to put them in a designated area. I don't think magic pollutes but I'm not a theologian."

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"They won't decay- but then that's not really the problem, is it. Well. We're harder to kill than reds, if it comes to that."

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"That's good."

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"Maybe we can think of something better. Give it time. I'll pray for guidance, and I'll assign some smarter priests than me to the job. Did you have other questions about- the undead, or priests, or daannaes, or anything like that?"

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"Why do you avoid daannaes?"

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"Most other good clerics rely exclusively on daannaes when they need to draw on energy, so in order to balance the two energies, there must be clerics who rely primarily on deenthill. There are evil clerics who do, of course, but Usir doesn't believe that evil can truly aim for balance- even the lawful evil are too selfish to achieve the necessary balance of energies, because they always choose what serves their needs."

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"Huh. Why is it important for the energies to be balanced?"

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"It's a matter of principle, for Usir, so it's the same for us. I suppose philosophically it may or may not be true, but practically- in any living person, there needs to be a balance between daannaes, which fills them with vitality and change and which makes them constantly shift into something new and different, and deenthill, which saps them of wild, uncontrolled growth, it prevents dangerous changes and stops them from turning into something they could never recover from. People blame deenthill for the problem with liches, but it's quite a bit more complicated than that. I could go on about liches all day. Think of it like- our body protects us from disease using deenthill, even without any more added via magic, but if deenthill was all we had, we would just waste away as it kept cutting away things that weren't needed. But if all we had was daannaes, we would just keep making new things- we would never stop growing, even after running out of food to make our growing healthy. Things like that. Of course, it's different when we're all in the afterlife, which is why Usir has so few priests on Arcadia- our work is most needed on the Prime. I'm the only priest of Usir in Heliopolis."

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"So it's like - death versus cancer."

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"...yes, like cancer. Is that something Amentans know a lot about, cancer? It's difficult to heal without deenthill, which means the Prime has serious problems treating it unless there are evil priests around."

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"Yes, Amentans can get cancer and know a lot about it though there are kinds that are very hard to treat. They don't have magic so they have to do it with surgery and medicine."

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"We can do better than surgery, I think, although it's a new concept to me."

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"I've heard of some places on some Prime worlds that do it, but I've never asked."

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"Medicine might be better than what deenthill can do, in the hands of an inexperienced priest, it's hard to be sure. Amentan technology sounds so far beyond anything most of us have ever seen."

She sounds somewhere between wistful and suspicious.

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"I think so, yeah! I think it'll be a really good opportunity for everybody to learn new things from each other. My uncle who's an economist will be very excited."

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"It does sound nice. I'll speak to Usir soon about finding a way to- prevent us from becoming like the reds, as far as Amentans are concerned. Hopefully we can find something that works for everyone."

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"I hope so! Is there anything you want me to look up about technology or reds or anything?"

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"Perhaps what it is that makes reds uniquely disgusting- if everyone else get clean enough to be getting on with but they can't, how does that work? It could be something we could change about ourselves, or if we're even luckier, something that's already true. And I would be very interested to hear about how Amentans heal ailments in general, if you can find a summary of it all."

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"Surely that's too much to ask? Lintalai, please don't ask the everything questions if they would overwork it."

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"The everything doesn't feel overworked, it's a machine," she assures them. She finds and reads aloud Summary Bank articles on "hereditary pollution" and "modern medicine".

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Kelna thinks modern medicine sounds great! She's less pleased by the concept of hereditary pollution.

"How would we know if we've inherited any pollution? Usir's priesthood is- voluntary, my parents weren't priests, but I don't think this is something we're aware of at all."

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"I think you can probably make the case that you haven't but I'm not a theologian."

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Nod.

"We'll need someone besides me to speak to the priests more concerned with cleanliness and purification, then, and they will need to speak to your theologians. I'll start communicating to them now and have them sent over- perhaps directly to you, so that they can move with you when you found your settlement. It sounds like that might be useful to have in an Amentan city."

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"It would be. I don't know how long it will take before I can start moving Amentans in though."

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"I'll hold off on telling anyone to move just yet, then. Thank you for speaking with me, Lintalai. I hope I've answered your questions as well as you've answered mine."

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"Yes, thank you very much for meeting me."

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Before she goes, Kelna will offer to cast a spell on Lintalai which will allow her to detect her location and wellbeing from a distance. She can also predict (in very broad, good vs. bad terms) whether something Lintalai does in the next half an hour would work out in her favor.

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"I don't think I have anything particular risky I want to try in the next half hour but you can cast the spell for telling if I'm all right."

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Then Kelna will cast the spell!

"It won't be as much help as it would if I were a wizard, but I know wizards, and I have a close relationship with Usir. If there's ever a real emergency- don't hesitate to feel as bad as possible about it. The spell captures a complete picture- I won't come over a small cut, but I can pick a threshold to react to. Whatever you think is best. Arcadia is- one of the safest places in the universe, but it sounds to me like you're likely to be taking the most risks it's possible to take, within it."

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"Yeah. It's very important though. You'll be able to tell how bad I feel about it?"

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"Yeah. I'll know if you're scared or if you're calm about it. -unless it's different because of your species. For most Prime species, their hearts and their brains give off signals that they're afraid. Do you have those?"

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"I don't have a pulse but I don't know about the rest."

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Nod.

"The spell will still work, but it won't give me any additional detail than what your current health is like. Are there any ways you can think of that you might physically seem- malnourished or in pain- that I should ignore?"

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"If I just trip and scrape my knee or something that's not a big deal."

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"Alright. Good. We'll need more priests to make you- safer, here. Petitioners are safe, but you're not one of us. Why don't I send a message by angel when we've gathered the right bunch. It should take me a few weeks."

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"The right bunch?"

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"The right bunch of priests. We'll need to find people who are personally compatible with you and who serve the right kind of gods- purification, hygiene, things like that."

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"What are they all going to do? The same spell or different ones?"

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"We'll want to experiment, so- mostly different spells, but also different versions of the same spell. Each standard priestly spell varies depending on their god. The variations don't always change the effects of the spell, but sometimes they do."

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"Huh, can you give examples?"

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"Yes, why don't I give you some examples! If I cast Lesser Restoration, it might work as an antidote to some poison, or cure a disease, but it wouldn't do much to recover damage to your overall health, fatigue, or things like that. If a priest of...Neselthia," she gestures at said priest, "cast the spell, it might help clear a drained mind but not do anything for flat-footedness. A Locate spell cast by a priest of Heru-wer might most easily find you culturally significant objects, while one cast by a priest of Kelemvor would find you something that someone dead prized dearly. Or Heroes' Feast! Heroes' Feast makes a meal which has several positive effects on the people that eat it- but in the hands of different priests, the kind of food would almost certainly be different amounts of nutritious, filling, or tasty, and the kinds of options might be different if the caster didn't request something specific."

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"Huh, that's really interesting! Does this vary by individual or by god?"

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"In my experience, it's mostly down to the god involved. Gods are more powerful than us, so their beliefs shape the magic that they give us."

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Nod nod.

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Kelna doesn't have anything specific she needs to say, so she thanks Lintalai again for coming and says she'll be keeping an eye on her (metaphorically).

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The priestess leads her out.

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And Mahli is there to collect her.

"Lintalai. Did you enjoy yourself?"

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"Yes, thank you."

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"One moment. I will bring your wizard."

Mahli flies off.

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As she waits, Lintalai hears the sound of something clattering behind her.

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Hmm what's that?

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It looks like a coin has bounced out of Neselthia's offering bowl and rolled towards her feet.

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It's shinier than one might expect from the current light, almost like-

No, in fact, it is glowing.

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"Um, does anyone know what's going on with this coin?" she says a bit loudly.

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A few passerby look towards her-

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-and then all she can see are threads, all around her, pulsing and twisting and intertwining. Some of them are green, some blue, all cloth but also moving, slithering snakes, simultaneously. A visual cacophony as they pulse around her. Lintalai stands in a spot free of threads, between a few intersections, in empty space, and she hears the sibilant, hissing voice come from all around her as it shouts:

LINTALAI ARCADIA

A WARNING

I ADMIRE YOUR MIND, YOUR CURIOSITY, AND YOUR GOALS. IT IS THROUGH SEEING YOUR MIND THAT I KNOW MY MISTAKE, HENCE THIS WARNING.

THE MIND OF A MORTAL IS AVAILABLE TO ANY GOD, WITHOUT PROTECTION.

I SAW INSIDE YOUR MIND AND THUS I STOPPED LOOKING FOR ITS TREASURES. YOUR MIND IS A TREASURE ONLY WHEN LEFT UNTOUCHED, UNSEEN.

I HAVE ABANDONED MY CURIOSITY ABOUT YOUR THOUGHTS, BUT NOT ALL GODS WILL DO SO.

PROTECT YOURSELF. TAKE CARE. AND SOON, ACQUIRE WHAT YOU WILL. I LOOK FORWARD TO WATCHING.

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Lintalai SHRIEKS.

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There is some hissing about this. The threads pulse, and one snaps; it's the color of her hair dye, in its bottle.

PROTECT YOURSELF. NESELTHIA WILL ASSIST YOU. ACQUIRE HER RESOURCES FOR YOUR OWN.

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-and then she's back outside Neselthia's temple, surrounded by concerned onlookers who are expressing concern for her and asking what she needs, without much care for how confusing or distracting the questions themselves might be.

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Neselthia's priestess is there within moments.

"Lintalai? I had a vision- Neselthia believes a god may have spoken to you?"

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"That - that might be what happened -

- she said gods can read people's minds, that I should protect myself, that Neselthia would help -"

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"-yes, she will. I- gods can know almost anything, yes, in theory. Most of the good gods never would, but we can offer you some measure of protection. There are gods you would not be able to protect your secrets from, even with Her help, but - not all thoughts are secrets, even the private ones."

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"...what does that mean?"

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"It means that no one could make your secrets safe from the gods who can learn those. Not every god can learn secrets, though. But there are many things a person might think of as private that is not- a secret is something you need to keep secret to make it valuable, but a private thought is anything that you wish to keep to yourself. You can protect your private thoughts, but not secrets. If something is valuable to others because it is hidden and not because you wish it to be just yours, I cannot protect that."

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"...okay. I think that's - enough."

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Nod.

"I will just need to place my hand on your forehead," she lies.

This isn't something she's ever had to do before. Ordinarily, she wouldn't be able to do it. But her goddess just graced her with a vision, and it clearly corresponds to whatever Lintalai needs in this moment, so she expects that if she just places her hand on Lintalai's forehead- her goddess will work through her.

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Lintalai holds very still.

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She touches Lintalai's forehead-

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-and Lintalai finds herself standing in the center of a crowded square, full of customers and vendors haggling at market stalls. She can see children playing, as their mothers, at the stalls, glance back fondly. And she hears, in a much quieter voice than the previous one:

Lintalai. I am Neselthia, goddess of commerce and greed, of motherhood and children, of devotion and vengeance. Your mind will be safe from intrusion. I fear that I cannot protect you from all dangers, and regret that The Acquirer saw so much of who you are before she learned better. (There's a vicious anger in that phrase, but it dissipates before she continues 'speaking'.) There are several mortals working tirelessly to make your body safer, and now your mind- as much of it as I could protect- is safe. It will not protect you perfectly from attempts to control or influence you, but you will detect them as they begin- simply think of desert sand, and I will defend you. I hope this will suffice. I apologize for this vision- it is the only way I can communicate with a mortal. Go, and be as safe and as brilliant as you can.

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-and then she's back outside the temple, with the priest looking at her with wide eyes.

"You- you should now be safe, in your mind. Alone."

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"Yeah - yeah, she said - thank you -"

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Nod.

"I'm sorry we didn't realize how upsetting this would be sooner. It's- I couldn't have done the protections myself. She- she never acts directly like this..."

She sounds a bit awed.

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"Most people just have to - go around with gods able to read their minds all the time?"

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"Most people don't expect the gods to take notice. Most people find it somewhat comforting, that they could listen to their prayers. I can tell you what the situation is for most people if it's helpful, but I'm not sure it will apply to you or any Amentans at all. You're so different in so many ways I don't even understand yet."

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"Prayers are different! I prayed to Mahli and that was fine because it was on purpose."

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"I understand. They don't read everything at all times, but- people believe they should have the ability, so they can listen for prayers. It would be hard for me to imagine gods wothout the capacity to find us in moments of distress or discomfort. I can't imagine Neselthia listening to a mind that didn't want to be listened to- she would ask before doing that. Not all gods are that kind, but the good gods would be."

Which leaves her wondering which god did this to Lintalai, but she doubts it's something she should ask while she's still recovering.

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"The one who looked said she stopped when she looked enough to know it wouldn't be okay with me."

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...maybe not an evil god then? Or at least a lawful one, the chaotic ones usually don't explain themselves. But she can't be sure, and anyway it's not important right this second.

"I'm glad. Why don't you step back inside, away from the crowd, until your angel returns."

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Lintalai nods and follows her in and sits down.

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"Would you like some water while you wait?"

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"Yes please."

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So she'll pour her some water, which is of course perfectly clean because this is Arcadia. The water is just the right temperature, give or take. It has a bit of a flavor; slightly pleasant, if hard to describe.

"I'm sorry for your loss."

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"I think all my thoughts are still there, just..."

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How to explain. Is it even useful to explain? It seems like something that might be important, if Lintalai has declared responsibility for an entire planetful of people who will be settling in Arcadia soon, who have never even imagined Arcadia, or...anything else about the universe that she has always known. It's a hard thing to explain, but she needs to try. So she tries to explain what she's feeling.

"In Arcadia, we have the custom of grieving any harm done, because - no harm should ever be done, in Arcadia. Even if there was not theft, there is something to grieve. People can still- want different things, but to do something that leaves another person worse off is not something that should happen anywhere in the universe. We do our best to make sure it never happens, here.

The gods are larger than all of us, and they have their own ideas of what is important, but those ideas come from us. Gods are for us- all of us. Which means they can harm some of us. And you were harmed, and so there is something to grieve, even if nothing was lost forever. I hope you can recover, but everyone here will mourn with you until you do."

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"Oh. - thank you."

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"If all felt about their minds the way you do, the gods might be different- or they might not. They are larger than any mortal might. Once a mind is that big, it has its own beliefs. The gods may have been once created by us," and that's an open question, a minefield that she probably shouldn't encourage Lintalai walk into, "-which is uncertain, we have no way of knowing- but they are no longer sustained only by us. They flourish and thrive on our prayers and our faith, on our belief, but even if everyone lost their faith in every god, their own belief in themselves and each other would be enough. Changing the gods is a fool's errand, for most people.

But two of them spoke to you today, if I'm right in my guess."

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"I think so. What does that mean?"

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"The gods have taken notice of you. Typically, that means that you have the capacity to change the fate of the universe. Gods do not listen to mortals unless they are somewhat exceptional- their priests are such an exception, but so are individuals who stand out as you do. Perhaps only because you are the herald of a new future, but- perhaps- perhaps something unique about you.

Neselthia's vision to me, the one that sent me running outside to you- too late to stop it- I'm sorry. Her vision, it was of- serpents, serpents that looked like thread, intertwining and crossing in so many places- I did not see you, but I knew you must be there, because I saw a thread snap, the color of- somehow I knew the color meant you. And that- that would only happen if Neselthia saw the disturbance caused by this other goddess. That would only happen if they were allies, and Neselthia felt betrayed. The gods- they rarely disagree, because their disagreements would be so dangerous, so instead, they act slowly and cautiously, to avoid conflict. But Neselthia acted quickly today, as did the one of serpents and thread. They must believe that you are important."

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"...well, I think I'm important, but if gods think so too maybe it's just because I'm going to bring in Amentans? Or I guess my species could be important but I don't know much about them."

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Helpless shrug.

"You're important. That much, I know. Not because of something that's true of many people. That much, I know. That is all I know, but hopefully it will help you find out the rest on your own."

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"I hope so too."

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It's only a few minutes later when Mahli enters the temple with her wizard, and they can go back to the not-hotel.

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"Thank you," she tells Mahli.

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"Of course, Lintalai.

Are you alright? Neselthia spoke to me after your injury but she said that you were taken care of, and I should continue to find the wizard so you could return here sooner. The gods do not look for you here, because you are less interesting to them here."

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"Why am I less interesting to them here?"

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"You will do fewer things if you stay here, but if you go elsewhere, you will do more things. The gods who are interested are interested in the things you do."

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"...huh. I guess that sort of makes sense."

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"Neselthia will still be interested in you here because you are enabling commerce for the Amentans and your people and Arcadians, but other gods may not. I know this because you are curious, and so it is important that I be able to answer your questions. The gods who I serve prepared me to answer questions, but they did not prepare for your pain today. I do not know why that happened. I will ask them."

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"Thank you. Please tell me when you find out."

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Mahli ends up hovering outside the not-hotel for the next day, unless someone tells him not to do that.

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Lintalai will tell him no such thing, she likes Mahli.

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She gets updates from the wizards, via her assistant. They think they can safely send objects to Lintalai's world, although they aren't sure yet if they're reaching the right planet. They can also Scry on people or places on Amenta-the-planet. Does she have a name for the world, by the by? They're working on selecting one for theirs as well, there's some debate about which of the available names to give precedence. None of them seem to have considered consulting anyone besides each other, which her assistant points out could be inconvenient politically, on a plane full of interdependent kingdoms.

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The Amentans have a name for their galaxy but not really for the whole world. How is it conventional to consult others on naming conventions? Surely different languages have different names for things anyway.

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On the Prime, place names eventually stick because those who don't speak the language they were named in just adopt the name, even as they continue to speak their own language amongst themselves. On Arcadia, most everything is named in Celestial. Wizards might be inclined to pick different kinds of names than the average citizen, though, for example they might pick something self-aggrandizing in some way. Not all wizards are like this, but...well. It will be a bit embarassing for their world to be named after a portmanteau of the wizards' names, for example.

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...yes, that would be silly. How about the Celestial word for, say, 'magic'? Since this world has magic and the one Amenta's in does not.

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Well, Lintalai can have a few. They'll all appeal to different groups, but one of the following five is likeliest to offend the fewest people if it becomes consensus while they're not paying attention: Davin. Faa'ip. Arzum. Gedon. Gemeganza.

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Arzum is prettiest.

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Arzum it is! She'll make sure at least two of the wizards think they came up with it, and it should become the consensus name of this world within the year, at the latest; sooner, if Amentans start arriving before then.

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Lintalai thanks her.

She asks her magic talking skull about gods.

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"Well, what is it you want to know about 'em? Gods are really big clouds of belief. They're like- do you know how much matter is in a star, compared to a person? Gods are like that, compared to a person. Does that help?"

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"Wow, that's a lot. Are they as complicated as people?"

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"Oh, yeah. In some ways more, in some ways less, but enough of the former to be more complicated overall. Some gods have multiple persons in them, plus other stuff that's not like people but that's like a country. I think I need more specific questions to answer how they're different than people, that's a lot of stuff I just said."

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"How does having multiple persons in a god work?"

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"You know how some people have different beliefs that don't make sense you put them all together, and you mostly don't? Well, imagine if those different beliefs could all talk to each other and do the thing you do with notebooks."

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"...gosh! How are parts of gods like countries?"

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"They make decisions for other parts of the god, and for the clerics, and they worry about making sure the god will have enough- divine magic budget- for all the important projects the god wants to work on. Like a country would decide to spend on roads, a god might decide to 'spend' on getting more worshippers, or on trading with another god."

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"Cooooool. Where does their magic come from, what makes them have more or less?"

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"...wrong question. Not sure what the right one is. Their magic is just their magic, it comes from them. They come from belief, sort of, maybe it's something about that."

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"Do the ones with more followers have more magic?"

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"Sometimes followers are wrong about which gods are the same. Gods change, they trade with each other. Sometimes a god cares about one thing and another god cares about a different thing and then they trade or mix them up. That's why The Lord of Three Crowns lies so much. He traded away all his honest parts. Or Marthammor Duin and Celestian- they traded because of you. Wow, that's intense. I wonder why. I don't know that. Marthammor Duin never used to protect sailors and navigators, just travelers on land, but now he does. Celestian gave those up to him, and now he cares only about the stars and the great empty spaces between the planes."

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"...Mahli said something about Celestian going to all the worlds and then ceasing to exist."

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"Yup! That sounds about right. Celestian just wants to see all the stars in all the worlds now, there's- not much else left to him."

If mimirs could shudder...well.

"Shudder," her mimir says out loud, in lieu of better options.

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"Is there any way we could stick you on a body so you could move?"

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"-oh, I know this one but I don't think I should tell you. Not because you would do something bad with it, but what if an evil wizard was spying on us right now?"

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"Oh, is it an evil way? Like having to steal somebody's skeleton?"

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"-no not really. It might be something bad if it got out though, I think evil wizards would do bad things with it. You're not protected from spying, just from mind stuff and getting hurt some kinds of ways. There's so many things that can happen to a person, especially if there are evil wizards. Arcadia's really nice but it's not immune to spying or to evil wizards."

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"Okay. It's mostly just that it might be nice if you could actually shiver and stuff so if you don't want to tell me it's not going to bother me."

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"It would be nice but I'm really afraid of what evil wizards could do with my knowledge and I'm just giving it all away here. Maybe if I'm sure they couldn't be listening. Thanks for thinking of me though. Anyway, you were asking about Celestian- it's kind of sad, but that's how gods are. It's like me, really. I used to be five people but- they never became me, you know? It's sad they're dead and they're not here. They're okay, you know, I can tell you which planes they're all in, but- it's kind of sad."

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"I'm glad they're okay." Pat pat.

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Her mimir is of course happy to answer any other questions about gods she has, but if she doesn't, they can just play evil wizard trivia until she goes to bed.

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"Do you want, like, a nickname?" she wonders. "It's weird that I don't have anything to call you."

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"You could make a nickname from my name. It's not really the name they wanted to give me, it's just how it translates. 'Achieve Unanimous Truth Pinnacle Researcher'."

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"Oh, I kind of like that actually but it's long. How about just Truth?"

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"It won't sound like a name to people from our world. If you're fine with that, I'm fine with it. It's the best part of my name besides 'Researcher', and that one's less accurate."

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"It's like your job name."

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"-oh, I like that! Yeah. 'Truth Researcher'?"

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"Sure!"

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Then they can do some evil wizard trivia!

For example, did she know that while about 30% of evil wizards are necromancers, there are plenty of enchanters, conjurers, evokers, and illusionists in there, but very few abjurers and diviners?

Evil wizards tend to prefer underground, enclosed, and inaccessible lairs, like cave systems, well-hidden towers, or a house in Ravenloft, while good wizards tend to prefer offices in larger universities, courts in major planar cities, and so on.

Evil wizards frequently have weird proxy wars with cults of demon lords, political federations, packs or troops of species that they use for spell components, librarians, and bardic colleges.

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Abjurers make sense but why diviners?

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"Divination makes it hard to keep your mindset narrow. There are some evil diviners but they aren't evil wizards- if you're a very evil person trying to learn divination, you just can't get very far, I guess. I don't know. Wizards do mostly learn in schools, it's hard to self-study. Maybe diviners are good enough that evil ones can't learn much, but I don't know anything about universities, there weren't so many when my makers lived. -when I say 'evil wizard' I mean somebody who's powerful, not just somebody who's technically a wizard like you're technically a war-gymnast, I mean someone who's gotten really good at it and does lots of bad things with it."

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"That makes sense. How does divination prevent narrow mindsets?"

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"It doesn't do it directly, it's just like- so you're a blue, right, and blues who go into policy can't be as narrow as greens who go into theoretical mathematics. When you're focused on something that impacts lots of people, versus something that's just theoretically interesting to you, you start thinking more about what they want, and usually you have to care about them getting good things, to actually make it happen. And some people care more and want to do more just by having to see pain and suffering and things like that. Divination makes it hard to only just think about or care about you and what you think is interesting, because you're always seeing so much else. -I don't know, maybe theoretical math affects people somehow, I'm not omniscient, but the point stands."

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"Not every blue who goes into policy is a decent person."

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"No, but they're mostly not evil. It's hard to be evil if you want to do things for other people. I guess some blues just want to be powerful, maybe those are all evil. But that's exactly the thing with divination- if you just want power, you could learn enchantment or conjuration. So most people who are really very evil won't learn divination to begin with. And then if you learn divination it's hard to stay evil. Maybe they're not all good- I don't know that- but not a lot of evil wizards are diviners."

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"I guess that makes sense. What kind of evil wizard had you?"

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"He was a conjurer. He liked summoning things to enslave them for things. Sometimes he used enchantment magic to charm people he didn't summon. It was his favorite thing, having people who would just do what the told them to do."

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"Ew! He sucks."

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"Yeah!!! Some evil wizards just like having power, so they might use evocation to scare people into doing what they want or leaving them alone, and some like getting things they want, so they might use illusion or enchantment to trick people and steal from them- they're all a little different, but none of them care about hurting people to get what they want. That's why I don't like wizards, because any of them could be an evil wizard trying to trick me and I can't check unless someone asks me."

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"Are there any wizards you want me to ask you about?"

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"I guess the only important ones are the ones working with your project? We could ask about wizards on the Prime but that won't help, and I used to belong to a Prime wizard- I haven't had an owner since then, until you came along."

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"I don't really want to own you. If you wanted to go somewhere else - I mean, you can't move but if you wanted to go with someone else - I'd let you."

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"That's sweet of you! I don't mind being owned by nice people, and you did buy me. I appreciate the sentiment, though. If I decide I want to be somewhere else, I'll let you know. Did you want to know if any of your wizards are evil?"

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"Yes please, are any of my wizards evil?"

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"-why is one of your wizards evil! How did she even get onto Arcadia? It's Yllafina Rorsk, the abjurer who's making progress on sending things to Amenta. You have to get her off the project, you can't work with evil wizards. How did she- I don't know that, I just know that most of them are neutral except Yllafina, she's lawful evil, and your little wizard, Daernir, he's lawful neutral but I think he's evil-ish, you should make sure he doesn't grow up wrong."

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"Oh no, I have no idea how an evil wizard got here. Can you tell what is evil about her?"

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"Hmm, personal stuff is harder but I've got something- she likes controlling things so that she never has to worry, and she does that by- using abjuration to keep people away from any resource she wants to use but not right then, like if she finds components in the wild but doesn't have time to pick them, she makes it impossible for people to walk near them, or she'll sometimes banish people if they start arguing with her, but because everyone's good here they forgive her- stupid, forgiving evil wizards, but they don't know. She wants to be powerful enough to control the trade between your world and ours and not let anyone else control it- just because she wants to have it, she wants people to have to ask her permission. That's all I know, I can't know what's in her head- she hasn't killed anyone but she does things that would kill a prime, to protect her stuff. Maybe that's not evil since no one here can die from evil wizards."

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"Well, I maybe could."

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"Could you? -That's not a question, I'm not really better at answering questions than a person if you don't ask me questions."

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"I'm not already a dead person so I'm not as safe as most people around here. Am I?"

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"-oh wow you're really safe from some stuff and not safe at all from other stuff. Your mind is safe from a bunch of different things, I can't even list them all but- charm spells, love potions, the list goes on. You're not safe from almost anything physical, though, and probably not banishment- abjurers love using that on their enemies. That's a problem because it would send you home. You should talk to the non-evil wizards. They can protect you from her, and then you can all do something about her."

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"Which wizards should I talk to?"

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"Deveth, the mage, he knows mostly abjuration, divination, and enchantment spells. He can protect you and spy on her, and maybe do...something with enchantment, he's not an evil wizard so I don't know what that leaves, enchantment is mostly evil. He can- make animals listen to him and he can make a person stay still. That might be all of his enchantment stuff...Grilbek won't want to help and Friqine won't be able to."

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"Okay. I'll ask Deveth. Is there anything else I should know?"

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"...if you give her what she wants, she'll help you. If you get rid of her, it'll take you longer to send things home. You'll still be able to send people soon. Those are different things, in wizardry. ...oh! This isn't relevant but you should know it! You can duplicate pocket everythings, probably. You could tell Daernir to focus on that instead of portals since you already have a wizard for that - Grilbek can probably do it even without the evil one."

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"Okay. Sending people is more important than sending things - especially if the people can still be carrying small things, can they?"

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"It's actually not about the size of the thing, really, it's about whether you're wearing it or carrying it. If you're wearing it, the spell lets you take it with you. Not that spells let you do things, they're not doing any thinking. I guess it's more like the gods make the spells work a certain way to be more convenient for people."

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She nods. "I think the first batches of people won't need a lot of stuff they can't carry, since there's food and water here."

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"That's some good news! Better than the evil wizard. Do you think Amentans and your people will like it here?"

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"I think so!"

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"Hmm. I think that's all I have! You can ask anything else if you think of it! Maybe don't take me to the evil wizard though, ask before you leave to confront her."

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"Okay."

She goes looking for Deveth.

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By now, she knows where all of the wizards' rooms are. She can find Deveth's easily enough. Deveth seems mildly annoyed to be interrupted as he looks up at her.

"Yes? How can I help you?"

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"My mimir thinks that Yllafina is evil and that I should ask you for help."

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"...it thinks that she's evil, really? Have you contacted an angel, or the Harmonium?"

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"No, and I don't really approve of the Harmonium, but I can tell Mahli if you think that's a good idea."

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"What does that mean, you don't approve of the Harmonium? I- if she's evil, she should not be here. Let's speak to Mahli about this."

Deveth steps out of his room, shutting the door and locking it with a wave of his hand and a whispered syllable. He rushes outside to find Mahli.

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Lintalai can't rush but she follows, praying helpfully as she goes.

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Deveth doesn't say anything out loud. He looks at Mahli for a minute.

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"Lintalai. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. Stay here."

And Mahli and Deveth go inside.

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...she supposes she will stay there then, though she kind of wishes she'd brought Truth along.

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There are some noises inside. Angry shouting, things falling.

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Oh dear. She glances at her pocket everything to see if it's managing to pick up and translate the shouting.

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"-mindless obedience-"

"Is it true?"

"-love of discovery"

"-unforseen consequences-"

"-trade between worlds-"

"-myopic, stubborn-"

"-door-"

"-not letting you go."

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At some point during all this, the receptionist comes outside to cower in the courtyard, sending only a few furtive glances her way.

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Oh dear.

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Things seem to quiet down, and Mahli eventually comes outside.

"Lintalai. All is well. The young one, Daernir, is safe, though he insisted on inserting himself into the conflict despite my pleas. Yllafina has been subdued."

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"What's going to happen to her?"

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"We will take her somewhere that she can be healed of her evil nature. Arcadia is not for healing. She cannot find her purpose here."

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"Where do people who need that go?"

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"The Liminal Glades of Arborea will happily take her. Perhaps the Blessed Fields of Elysium. I do not know which she would rather accept. We will wait for her agreement."

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"Okay. I'm glad Truth noticed."

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"Yes! If not for Truth, we would never have found that she needed healing. Thank you, Lintalai, and please thank Truth. I will console the poor creature who has allowed fear to overtake him. Please, sleep well."

And if there's nothing else she needs from him, Mahli goes over to comfort the cowering figure.

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Lintalai goes to relay this thanks to Truth. And pat it.

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"That's sweet of him. Angels are really easy to please. I guess I am, too. Thanks for handling the evil wizard."

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"I didn't really do anything but you're welcome."

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"You told the other wizards to do something instead of talking about magic! That's all they do, talk magic. That's why there are so many evil wizards, you know, the others still talk to them and lend them books."

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"I guess that would reduce the disincentive. She was being discreet though."

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"I didn't talk to her, but evil wizards are pretty obvious. No one really minds evil people if they don't hurt the people they like- unless they're good, I guess, and most people aren't. Arcadia's supposed to be different, but I don't buy it. Everywhere is always the same because people are people. Not angels, angels are all good."

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"I think I'm good but I guess nobody can tell because I don't have a soul. Can you tell?"

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"-I don't know about that. I think I could tell if you took me to Amenta to load up new information, but I can't tell from here."

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"Huh. I will try to let you be there at some point, how long do you need?"

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"Oh, it's not about how much time- we would need a ritual where some wizards put their knowledge in me, same as how I was made. It'd change my personality, but then you'd have a mimir who knows more. Or you could find a mimir someone made more recently- that one would probably know more about Amenta as it is today."

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"Oh. I like the personality you have now."

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"That's nice of you to say! If we find a newer mimir, maybe we won't need to try to change me. I can't- find you newer mimirs, though, because I only know things that were true when I was made. It's a circular problem. Maybe you can go back to the person who sold me, see if any of those are newer."

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"I guess but I don't think I will do that right now."

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"You know, that's fair. Hope my answers helped you out. Sleep well, with evil-wizard-free dreams."

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"Good night, Truth."

And she goes to bed.

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Lintalai continues her lessons. She continues to make some progress, but not a significant amount, over the next week.

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As Truth promised, it isn't long before they announce that they're ready to send someone. By the end of that week, despite Yllafina's absence (or perhaps because they are no longer trying to be cautious, and careful, and prudent), Daernir tells her excitedly that they want to send through a khamotzo. An angel is likely to be the most cooperative, and it is the only kind of khamotzo that is easily accessible, trustworthy, and resembles a human-

"And Mahli is still floating outside. What do you think? If we want to find someone else, it might take more time. This way, we could have a portal really soon."

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"Let me go ask Truth if it's safe but that sounds good to me!"

She goes and asks Truth if it's safe for Mahli to go to Amenta.

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"...yeah! It's safe for Mahli. It's probably not safe for anyone else right now, not without a portal. It could put him anywhere, and I can't tell where because I can't see future things."

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"Oh, that will make it hard for him to find my family."

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"Yeah. I don't know if it's good for that. Angels don't have anything that makes them good at finding if they could be planets away. You should ask the wizards more about it. Take me with you if you want. None of these ones are evil, yet."

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She tucks Truth under her arm and carries it to the wizards to get further mission parameters.

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Wizards explain!

First, by sending Mahli, they can confirm that they can send people to the correct universe at all. They will not be aiming for the planet, not when they could use an easier spell for that first test! Then, they will send a spellcaster to the planet. That can still have negative consequences if the spellcaster they send lands in the ocean, or in the middle of some kind of dangerous technological casting, or in a volcano, or something else quite unpleasant; the spellcaster will not die, and should then be able to teleport somewhere where they can stand. Finally, the spellcaster will make the first inter-universe portal!

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"We don't have a lot of volcanoes but we do have a lot of ocean. Oh, and if they land in a red district they have to go out through the shower, right away."

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The wizards discuss which of them finds this AN UNREASONABLE IMPOSITION, HOW DARE YOU, YOUNG LADY and which of them is going to be sent on this mission. They agree fairly quickly on  Grilbek.

Grilbek does want to know if being a goblin is going to be a problem.

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"I think it should be fine! They'll be more excited about more alien-looking aliens anyway and it'll make it obvious you're not just in a disguise."

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Great! The wizards get to work. First, they send Mahli. There's a bit of waiting while they work to scry on him- during which Truth is happy to tell them it worked and save everyone time and magic, if asked- and then they work on sending Grilbek.

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Mahli, who has arrived in space, waits.

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Grilbek goes through, and lands- on land! That's more convenient. He looks around before casting anything else.

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He has landed in a garment factory full of very confused purples! One of them screams.

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Tongues.

"No harm meant! I'm an alien from Arzum. Which country is this? Can you take me to your blues? Peace and goodwill."

And that's pretty much all Grilbek can eke out of the spell. He's regretting all that time spent on more "practical" skills he could have spent on wizardry.

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Some purples get it together enough to take a picture of him and email it to somebody. Somebody else tells him that he's in Shi Cubrio.

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Grilbek didn't get the geopolitical overview! None of the wizards thought about this at all and he is still mostly not thinking about this; all of his attention is on the machinery.

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"Yeah, it worked. Don't waste your spells. Do we wait until he gets to one of their leaders, now?"

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The wizards didn't really plan ahead! It's hard to kill an Arcadian, though, and Amentans sound fairly lawful.

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The authorities of Shi Cubrio come to collect the alien in fairly short order!

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Grilbek is very cooperative! Grilbek does not speak whatever they speak, and babbles in Celestial to indicate this.

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They will dig up a linguist for him.

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He can try to teach them Celestial, sure.

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This will take a while even though the linguist is very diligent.

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Meanwhile:

"Can you tell us where he is? We know he's on the planet, but what about the country?"

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"I can tell Lintalai."

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"Where did he land?"

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"A factory in Shi Cubrio! There's a linguist talking to him now."

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"...well, Shi Cubrio isn't ideal but if he tells them he wants to go to Anitam and get in touch with my family they'll probably let him... can we talk to him from here?"

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"-none of these wizards could but a god could, and one is going to. What do you want Grilbek to know? All of it, all at once. You have time to think."

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"- he should try asking specifically for my grandfather Afen Kisantami, who the linguist probably has heard of and might be able to get in touch with. Shi Cubrio is not a good place to stay but it shouldn't be overtly hostile at all and he can try promising people bribes if that seems like it will help, it's one of the places where that's normal."

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Grilbek teaches some Celestial. It's kind of fun to be doing something important that doesn't use wizarding skills.

When he does hear and see a god speaking to him (and it has to be a god, nothing else should be able to do this across planes), he decides he should probably listen to him.

"Me go Anitami. Me go Afen Kisantami?"

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"...did you somehow find out about Afen Kisantami in space -" The linguist backtracks and recasts that in simpler words they've covered.

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"Yes. Me speak Anitami Amentan Lintalai Arcadia. Lintalai speak Afen Kisantami."

This is not accurate but he really doesn't know how to explain gods with what they've managed to communicate so far. Grilbrek tries to communicate the concept of money so he can offer bribes.

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The linguist is eventually convinced that some combination of bribes and professionalism warrant an email to Afen Kisantami that there is something he will really want to see, does he want to come to Shi Cubrio and see it.

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He would!!!!

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"I don't like it. It could be - some kind of trap, some kind of - assassination attempt - maybe they heard what you're working on -"

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"I'm sure they heard what I'm working on, why else would they want me? - oh, you mean that project. How would they have heard about that."

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"I don't know. I just don't like it. You could ask Aitim what he thinks."

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"Aitim doesn't think! He has the wrong hair color for it. I want to go."

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"Text me once you figure out what's going on, all right? And if you mention the children I'll know something's wrong."

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"All right, all right." 

 

 

Off he goes.

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The linguist in Shi Cubrio has a blue intern meet him at the airport and bring him in to meet the alien!

"The alien asked for you by name," the linguist explains, when he gets there.

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"....in Anitami???? How are you communicating -"

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"I'm trying to learn his language but he said -" He has recordings, of course.

"Me go Anitami. Me go Afen Kisantami?"
"Yes. Me speak Anitami Amentan Lintalai Arcadia. Lintalai speak Afen Kisantami."
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"Lintalai? - can I meet the alien -"

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"Yes, I got the clearance for that, wasn't hard to sell 'anything the alien wants he gets' -" The alien is over here! "This is Afen Kisantami," he says, gesturing at Afen.

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The alien has pointier ears, a broader nose, and redder eyes than an Amentan, but otherwise has about the same body plan, accounting for the shorter height and disproportionately long arms.

He's avoided learning any more of this language than he has to- Anitami will probably be more useful, if that's a different language than this one. Marthammor Duin did impart a few phrases directly into his mind; he hopes those are Anitami.

"Me Grilbek. Me speak Lintalai. Lintalai speak- 'my grandfather, Afen Kisantami, who the linguist probably has heard of'. I go Anitam, 'get in touch with' Lintalai 'family'?"

(The phrases he quotes are, in fact, in perfect Anitami grammar, though there is some stumbling over the pronunciation.)

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This is the BEST THING that has happened in ALL OF HISTORY including the births of all seven of his children.

"Afen Kisantami," he says. "I am delighted to meet you, Grilbek. Anitam would be happy to host you. Lintalai - is alive? Told you how to find us?"

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"Go Anitam? Grilbek speak if go Anitam. Lintalai is happy," which is one of the few positive adjectives he's confident in, "-I speak my language?"

Grilbek is intrigued by the possibility of learning a language from a world-class linguist, but it seems lower priority than communicating about Arzum. He still has to make the portal, after all.

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"Speak your language! I will try to learn it." - "- he wants to go to Anitam," he adds as an aside to the local linguist, "I'm sure we can hammer out some kind of credit for you all but he should get to go where he wants - Lintalai's my granddaughter who went missing, she's been - meeting aliens -"

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"Lintalai told me about you- Afen Kisantami, her grandfather who the linguists would know, she said. What kind of linguist would linguists in other countries know? The kind I'm overjoyed to meet. It's an honor to meet you, Afen. Where should we start? Numbers...?"

Grilbek counts off on his fingers to indicate the first, hoping that's universal, or nearly so, anyway.

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"LIntalai told me about you," he echoes carefully. "Lintalai told you about me? Lintalai told me about Afen Kisantami? Lintalai told you about linguists? One. Lintalai told me about one linguists."

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-cool. Grilbek has never put his mind to how to teach a language, but this seems like quite a sound method. Or learn, rather, since Kisantami seems to be doing the leading, here. It's always edifying to watch an expert work.

"Lintalai told me about you. Lintalai did not tell you about me. I told you what Lintalai told me. One linguist, two linguists. One wizard," he says, pointing at himself. "Lintalai, Afen, other linguist, Grilbek- four people. Three Amentans, one Arzumian."

He's quite pleased with the term, 'Arzum'. Of all the things their world could be named, to be named after magic. Quite gratifying, on a personal level. His parents would be so disturbed by it.

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"Lintalai told you about me! Lintalai did not told me about you. Lintalai told - Aitim, Kan - about Arzumian people. Aitim, Kan, Lintalai- three people? Three Amentans. You told me what Lintalai told you."

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Grilbek considers that perhaps he should have taken any interest in Lintalai Arcadia as a person, but immediately disregards that in favor of this conversation.

"Yes. Lintalai told me- Lintalai came to Arcadia from Amenta. Amenta has castes- blue, green...other castes, other colors, I don't remember what Lintalai said about castes. Lintalai and I did not speak often. Lintalai and I spoke before I came here, to Shi Cubrio. After I came to Shi Cubrio, I spoke about Afen Kisantami. I, Grilbek, came here, and after I go to Anitam with Afen Kisantami. Should I call you 'Afen', or 'Kisantami', or 'Afen Kisantami'?"

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"Arzumian people one 'Grilbek', Anitami people two 'Afen Kisantami'. Anitami people honor to meet Arzumian people, speak what you told me - speak what you did tell me? speak what you tell me?"

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Oh! Grilbek sees the logic, and proceeds to correct various sentences for Afen- while trying to urge him to hopefully lead him out of this place and towards Anitam?

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Shi Cubrio would like to send the alien to their Anitami embassy with a Shi Cubrio escort and retain formal custody until their respective governments work something out as suitable recompense for the alien.

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That sounds like the sort of thing politicians will work out, Afen is fine with that as long as he can stay with the alien and talk about the language some more.

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That's fine.

Grilbek can do numbers, and can convey concepts like 'governments' and 'peace' and 'law' and 'wizard' (this one takes a while).

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Amenta government want wizard very badly! Anitam very happy that wizard want Anitam, will get wizard whatever he wants.

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Great!

"Lintalai will come to Amenta, Amentans will go to Arcadia- Arcadia is my plane in Arzum. Planes are- difficult to say. Planes are like infinite planets."

This, presumably, also goes over well, after which Grilbek would like to interrupt any (much appreciated) exclamations about how wonderful wizards are with:

"I will make a portal. Lintalai will go in portal there, will come out of portal here. Where should I make the portal?"

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"Portal to - Lintalai house in Anitam?"

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"No, not in Lintalai's house. I will make the portal somewhere public, where everyone can use the portal for good."

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"We want portal used for good but - not public at first, lots people in hurry hurt each other, break laws. You want like an airport. Lots people, trains to bring them there, orderly. But airports will be bad surprised if portal suddenly there."

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"We can make a portal for Lintalai where you want, but the portal will be there many, many, many years. Any Arzumian or Amentan who finds the portal can use it."

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"I think on Amentan side we will want build a travel port around it, to move lots of people without problems, and to keep out people who shouldn't move, say because they did a crime and are running away. I should ask Aitim where to put it then."

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"Ask Aitim," Grilbek agrees. "First, more language- I tell you about wizardry, you tell me about engineering?"

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"Yes!!!!!"

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Aitim can identify some good portal-sites and efforts are underway to own one of them!

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Grilbek will let the politicians handle that! Who cares.

...Watcher-over-Wanderers cares, and would like Grilbek to talk to this Aitim, apparently.

"Remind me to explain gods, after this."

Wizardry! Grilbek explains how wizards create spells- although there are standard spells which have been discovered, each time a wizard casts a spell requires accounting for small changes, little factors that make this casting different than the last. It's very fiddly and he loves every minute of it- he's not as good as he thinks he could have been if he'd spent some of his formative years on this instead of hauling work he did, back when he was alive-

"Oh, did I mention Arcadia isn't just infinite, it's where we go when we do? I died. Anyway-"

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"You go somewhere when you die???? How do you manage that? What does that even mean?"

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"When we die, we don't go to feed the worms, like I always thought while I was alive, or to become different goblins or humans in the next life, like my mother thought. We go to different planes- infinite planes, like Arcadia. Some of them are very different. It's much too complicated to explain quickly and not relevant to wizardry or engineering."

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"It is relevant to Amentans! My mother is dead!"

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"-how many people die every second in Amenta? I should talk to Aitim about a place to put a private portal now."

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"Four a second, I think. You should do that."

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Grilbek cannot teleport without error. He just has to hope that Watcher over Wanderers is guiding his steps, or hope that wherever he lands, he can teleport out easily. He isn't dying.

"Where is Aitim now? Ask him where I should put the portal and I'll go there."

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"- uh, Aitim, they want to place the portal right now, tell me where -"

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"Right now? How big is it?"

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He conveys this.

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"They can be any size. I just need something with an opening and any object to activate it. Choose something subtle, that no one will think is a key."

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"....okay, we own a park, let's do it there. You need the address?"

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"I can also pull up a picture," he says once he's conveyed this.

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"A picture should be enough."

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Here is satellite imagery of the park!

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"I'm going there now."

And Grilbek teleports-

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-to the park.

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Aitim is rushing over but not there yet.

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That's fine. They claim to own the park. Grilbek finds something that looks suitably door-like, and starts casting.

He's not alone. He can feel them with him. It's disconcerting, given that the gods have never paid him personal attention before. They could stand to be less intrusive, really, it's like having someone breathing down his neck.

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- and elsewhere, where several wizards, an Amentan, and a mimir await, Arcadia's sky begins to change. It darkens, in a way that it never has before.

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The (remaining) wizards are perplexed! (Curious, with a hint of fear, they start theorizing.)

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"Why is the sky doing that?" she whispers to Truth.

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"-that's Celestian. The god that used to be Celestian. It's- helping, with portal things. Making it so time is the same in both worlds.

I could say more about that but it could- be a lot, if I do that. Might burn me out."

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"Oh, no, don't do that, that's enough. I didn't know that was a risk with you..."

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"It's not usually, I would have said. Gods are really big, and this one is really close and is doing lots of things...the portal is almost ready now. It just needs a key."

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"A key?"

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"A key, like your blue hair dye. Every portal has a key that opens it, which is decided when the portal is made. That's why yours is so surprising- your portal must have been made for you. One of the gods must have done it, but- checking who isn't really safe, for me. Sorry."

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She reaches into her pocket for her bottle of dye.

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"-is that how you came here?"

Daernir finds everything that's happening right now unspeakably cool. He really wishes he had an eidetic memory so he could remember all this exactly.

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"I had it with me when I went to school but it's just normal blue food coloring, I don't know why it would do that."

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Well they have a button they can press to find out, don't they.

"Why would it do that?"

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"---a god definitely made the portal that brought you here, just like there are gods helping us make this one. I can't find out who exactly, or why, without risking burnout but- Celestian helped bring you here, Lintalai."

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"- well, I really appreciate that, Celestian," she says vaguely to the sky. "What do I do with this to use it as a key -"

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-she hears a sound as though someone is knocking very lightly next to her.

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"- I hear something -" she whispers.

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She sees something, suddenly- the endless expanse of the starry void, as though she floats in the center- and then she sees what's in front of her, and hears the tapping again.

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She - holds out the food coloring -

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-and then the fountain nearby begins to bubble, as the water is slowly replaced with swirling colors.