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Triumph over our hostile nature
Vanda Nossëo visits a planet with dragons
Permalink Mark Unread

This universe has a civilization of humans! And some other things. It's not crowded in the way Edda is but it's not just the one planet either. The humans might be easiest to start with. They're on that planet over there, it's not Earth but it has very Earthlike conditions and bronze-age humans living in cities and villages dotted across two large continents. Depending on how thoroughly any prospective visitors look they might find other things before visiting.

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Teams are assembled for the Earthlike planet! They scatter around to all the cities and any particularly-far-from-cities village clusters.

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Focusing on one particular city that seems to be on the southern edge of the densely settled area-

They appear before wooden gates in a wooden palisade. Adults and children stream in and out of the city. The two spear-armed guards at the gate startle into alertness, the people on the road all pause hesitantly.

"Who goes there?" Seems like a reasonable response to Suddenly Appearing People?

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"Hello! We are peaceful visitors from Vanda Nossëo, which is based around another star."

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"Another star?"

"S-Star Travelers!? Oh holy ones, we are honored!" The guards bow. Everyone else starts bowing, too.

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"We're ordinary people!" says Nelen. "We're not particularly holy or special, it's just our job to meet new peoples."

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"You must be holy! You bear great magic power, and you came from the stars! Just like the legend says!"

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"It's - sometimes the case that a prophecy can tell people about visitors from other worlds before they arrive," says Nelen carefully, "but it's rare. It may be that we're separate from whoever or whatever the legend led you to expect."

They're an odd bunch: Nelen, who seems to be the leader, is a short androgynous man with a vermilion ponytail streaked with one stripe of gold, and his companions include a dark woman with pale pink wings and a halo, a seven-foot-tall inhumanly beautiful man with elaborate black braids and profoundly rich and lovely clothes, a petite totally human looking woman, and just about the ugliest possible man in a very crisp suit.

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"I - I suppose I'm not a priest," the louder guard says. "But - you look very powerful. And the priests call for you - for the sky lords."

"Maybe we should take them to the temple?" The other guard ventures.

Everyone else on the road is still staying well back, forming a crowd that edges into the fields on either side. More guards seem to be pushing their way through the crowd from the inside-the-city side.

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"We'll be happy to accompany you to a temple if that seems like where we should be," says Nelen. "We weren't aware of being called and I worry we'll disappoint sky lord related expectations, but if that's understood we'd appreciate the escort."

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"I think you should go to the temple, or to the King," the second guard insists. "Things could get messy here otherwise. And the crowd is blocking the road."

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"Sorry about that. Please lead the way," says Nelen.

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The guards confer with the other guards, and then a guard with a beaten-up bronze chestplate and a coat adorned with lots of two-foot-long red feathers who seems to be some sort of commander picks three more guards and starts shouting at people to clear the way.

The city is... A not terribly well organized bronze age city. They have a lot of big granaries.

And here is the palace! It's stone, unlike the rest of the place. Sections of it seem half-built. The palace guards stand aside for feather-coat guy, Commander Bearslayer (as someone calls him), and he leads them to a big dining room that at least has some artistic effort put into it. Abstract paint adorns the furniture and walls, with lots of circles and naturalistic curves and animal outlines.

"Here we are, star visitors! We weren't expecting important guests today, my apologies. Do you have any questions or requests before I go brief the King about you all, visitors of Vanda Nossëo?"

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"We're happy to wait to see the king, nothing we have to say is of particular minute-level urgency," says Nelen.

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"Right, ask the servants if you need anything! We can throw you a feast later today but there's bread now if you need it."

And then he's off and the guard escort follows, leaving a boy of about fourteen lingering by the door, looking kind of intimidated.

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Cassiel smiles at him and waves, trying to be unintimidating.

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He... Waves back?

 

 

"...Are you all really from another star, sirs? I've been to the mountain once but no further. What's it like?"

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"Would you like to see pictures?" Nelen asks.

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"Paint... Ings...? Yes, but..." He glances at the wooden door. "Yes, I would, if you don't need anything, thank you."

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"They're actually not paintings, but close enough." Nelen pulls up a picture of Amenta. "This is a picture of where I grew up, from very, very high in the sky."

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"The world is a ball." He nods confidently, relaying a fact he Learned In School. "It only looks flat because it's huge. Wow... Are those lights fires?"

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"No, they're another way to light places at night."

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"With magic or with artifacts*?"

*'artifacts' here definitely carries the impression of technology, but with the addition that they're very rare and strange.

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"With artifacts, in this case!" says Nelen. "But ones that it's possible to easily make thousands of."

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"The priests say we used to have all the artifacts we wanted before chaos nearly killed everybody."

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"Wow. I'd like to know more about that, but maybe the priests are the people to ask?" says Nelen.

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"Probably. I might tell it wrong. I don't know how long it will be, King Bison is always busy, but maybe I could go ask for priests to come, too."

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"Maybe we should talk to the king first and then see about priests. But thank you for offering."

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Nod nod. He looks at pictures for a while, if they'll show him, then hears someone coming and runs back to stand by the door.

The boy opens the door again, and the Commander comes through. "Announcing his wisdom King Darener, named Bison for his strength, king of Goldvalley and these lands."

The King is a middle aged man with dark hair and tired eyes and a neatly trimmed beard wearing a bronze crown and holding a chrome, blunt-tipped two pronged tool of some sort - a bident as opposed to a trident. A small group of more guards, servants, and one other nicely-dressed man emerges behind him.

"Welcome visitors," the King says. "I confess myself a bit at a loss here, but I was never one for too much ceremony so let's just talk, yes? Call me King Rener, or Bison as you wish, and please sit. I will hear what you have to say."

He makes his way over to the biggest and most decorated chair and sits, gesturing for his entourage to do the same and indicating a group of chairs for the delegation.

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They sit! Cassiel somewhat awkwardly! "Thank you for agreeing to see us, your wisdom," says Nelen. "We're from Vanda Nossëo, a federation of many peoples from many worlds, and have come here to see if your people would like to belong to it."

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"Interesting. We are already in agreement with the other kingdoms of metal, to oppose and drive back chaos wherever it lurks and march to their aid if called," he says lightly. "I have of course never heard of your federation, do elaborate?"

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"We just discovered this world recently; there are an enormous number and we're always exploring. Teams like mine are visiting your neighbors too and extending the same offers to them. Vanda Nossëo is dedicated to universal access to free movement, free trade, and free flow of information."

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"I would not have my people bar any merchant who chooses to risk the journey here unless they are a danger, nor scholars and priests and adventurers the same, but I don't think I fully understand what you mean with just those short phrases."

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"Of course. Member states of Vanda Nossëo are required to let their people leave if they want, that's the free movement part. Free trade is sharing technology and goods everywhere they can be safely offered, and free flow of information is an opposition to censorship and the suppression of ideas."

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"I do not see why I would forbid folk leaving either, aside if they are criminals or bandits. The great purpose of Goldvalley is to be a place of strength and order, from which warriors who can break chaos and finally make this world as it was meant to be can be trained and sent forth. If you can assist with this, I would find myself eager for some sort of alliance."

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"The rule does actually extend to criminals," says Nelen. "A lot of people commit crimes due to conditions that we can help with, and aren't likely to re-offend when they have plenty to eat and places to go. If someone's obviously still dangerous under the circumstances we can special-case them, and Vanda Nossëo does have prisons if there's a crime after we show up."

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He looks a bit frustrated and waves his hand. "Here I am considering arguing about the details without even properly hearing your pitch first. What is so great about joining Vanda Nossëo aside from neighbors with magical powers?"

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"Vanda Nossëo defends the borders of member states, and provides everyone with a periodic payment just for being a citizen," says Nelen. "That's on top of things you can get without joining, including access to Vanda Nossëo-produced goods, such as the translation magic we're using, enchanted healing objects, cool smokeless lights, and exotic food and fabric; and transit to Vanda Nossëo and allied locations; and automata that can teach your people things like math and science."

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The king and the Commander and the minister he brought with him ask about other magic and about the math and science and about what things they can do to defend places for a little while.

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They are quite equipped to talk about that!

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After a few quick demos-

"Mmmh. I am a brave and honest man, and that is much of why my people follow me. Your visit unnerves and frightens me. For all that you paint your arrival as a joyous thing, it feels as though the soil is about to be washed away beneath my feet and everything will change and be new and weird. You can defeat chaos utterly, should it rear its head, and that will please the common folk. Great magic and artifice will excite the craftsmen. Great learning will excite the scholars and priests. I don't hold with the whole star lords bit as much as most people do, and you've said you're probably not those anyway, but I think if you asked all my people to join the magic empire from beyond space they would throw a gigantic feast and agree almost to a one in a great frenzy. I have some concerns there. I don't think that would be particularly good, to do it like that, when nobody understands what Vanda Nossëo is and is fitting you to half-formed expectations out of myth and legend. For example, I notice you have not launched a great crusade to crush the beasts of chaos once and for all."

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"Chaos comes in the form of beasts?" inquires Nelen.

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"Yes, the dragons are the greatest agents of chaos, ever hostile to all the people of the world, and the dragons' changed-beast puppets as well. Though there are also spirits - beings of magic and not flesh who roam and rage as they please and cannot be destroyed by our hands. Fey tricksters and other strange things here and there as well, though not in Goldvalley as far as I am aware."

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"We'd definitely need to learn more about the dragons before making any specific commitments regarding them," says Nelen. "But your other concerns aren't misplaced - cultures change a lot when exposed to Vanda Nossëo. It would be completely reasonable to want to proceed slowly and learn more about us and the peoples constituting us before making a decision on membership."

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"Yes, I think that would be better. I cannot ignore the many good things you can do for people, however. Our granaries are in good shape but if you can heal the sick and wounded, I would have you heal the sick and wounded. There is no need for caution to beget suffering."

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"If you'll show us a good place to set up we can build ourselves a base of operations and start distributing that sort of thing right away," says Nelen.

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"Ferron is the one who handles the day to day of the city," he indicates the minister, who smiles. "Our discussion of the politics is done for now, then?"

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"Unless you have further questions! And even if you do, Natsuko can put up our building herself while the rest of us talk to you."

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"Oh, that works. Who is the king of Vanda Nossëo? Do you have a formal code of laws somewhere...?"

"I'm not sure which one of you is Natsuko, but come this way..." The minister stands and heads for the door. One guard peels off to follow him.

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Natsuko gets up and trots after the minister.

"We aren't structured with a king at the top," says Nelen, "though some people choose to involve themselves while also separately being kings of some part of Vanda Nossëo. We do have a code of laws, though, would you like to read the whole thing or is there something in particular you're curious about?"

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"I suppose I should read it over and give you ours as well, just to get a better handle on each other. A summary first perhaps?"

 

 

"How should I address you?" Ferron asks Natsuko once they're out of the room. "My king wants healing for the people and for you to operate as freely as any merchant here would. What accommodations do you require in return?"

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"My name is Tanaka Natsuko, and if you want to be polite it's Tanaka-san but if you prefer more casual address Natsuko is fine. I can create a new building in a few seconds for us to set up shop in, and then someone will teleport down a starting stock of things we think people might want around here, which we'll trade for personal anecdotes or stories or songs."

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"Tanaka-san, thank you for clarifying. I am Minister Ferron or Sir Ferron. ...How strange. If you wish to be paid in stories that is not our business. I think you had best demonstrate to me or the Guard that your products are safe first, and make sure to warn people about those that aren't. We do punish merchants who sell bad goods. Perhaps not a spot in the market square if you intend to... Raise a new building. With magic I presume?"

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"With magic, yes," she says. "We're not planning to sell anything more harmful than, say, knives suitable for chopping vegetables."

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"Hmm, there's that lot near the square we were planning to maybe use for another guardhouse eventually, that ought to work. I'm more concerned about things in the vein of especially strong alcohol that can get people to make trouble?"

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"We won't be selling intoxicants."

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"Or weapons, or things that could accidentally poison people or start fires or things?"

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"We do sometimes sell smokeless heating devices. They're pretty safe, and not complicated to use, but it wouldn't be impossible to start a fire with one if you, say, left it heating with a blanket over it."

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They are exiting the palace now. "I think that should be fine. It may be best if I collect a few more guards to keep things orderly? You're very exciting, you're going to be busy!"

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"We hope to be busy! If it's more than we've planned for, I can make more shops!"

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"Well the first is just this way, not far from here. The usual way we tax merchants won't work, we charge an import duty by the wheel and leg, but I'm honestly not worried you all will shortchange us when it comes time to figure that out. Instead let me ask, many of the sick and injured aren't well enough to push through an excited crowd for their healing, either, would your healers be willing to make visits?"

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"Yep, we can make housecalls. The easiest way is if we train someone local to take photographs - like this -" She holds up her computer, and takes a selfie and shows it to him. "Of the places we need to go, because then they can teleport there instead of going the long way."

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"I think we can handle that. The guard or the priests or the scribes... The scribes. They tally the sick and cripples as part of making sure we have plenty of food, so even if they don't already have a list they know how to go about it."

They arrive at a large open square, rough and uneven stone with a few stalls and wagons set up in rows along one side. "Well, here's the square, and there is your spot just there, see that empty space?" It's a house-sized gap in the rough stone and wood construction, with wild grass and bushes growing in it.

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"Mm-hm! Are there any rules about how it needs to look or anything?"

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"Not particularly, though I could imagine objecting to some possible ways it could look?"

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"I'll do my best to make it blend in," she says, and she looks around at the surrounding architecture and casts her spell.

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"Amazing. Simply amazing, what wondrous powers lie out there," he says of the Sudden Building.

The population of the market square definitely takes notice. Someone shouts about the star visitors.

"Er, if I were you I'd set up shop quickly."

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"Mm-hm!" says Natsuko. She takes a picture of the building, and a man appears in just a flicker before he's gone again, leaving behind the accompanying boxes. She pulls them into the shop; they all follow her as though feather-light. Then she sticks her head out and says, "Hey folks, what would this store sell in your wildest dreams?"

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"Magic plows!" "Flying things!" "House making things!" "Delver steel!" "Waterspouts! Like from that story of-" "Magic horses!" "Magic lights!"

Minister Ferron shouts, "I'm going to get some scribes! For the pictures!"

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Natsuko starts unpacking! Zanro catches up with her a bit later to help. They start with the lights - they're not actually magic, but they might as well be, little tap-on-tap-off lamps with no external moving parts. Who wants one? They'll cost a quick story or a song.

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Everyone wants one! They're kind of crowding and shoving for the chance to be next! Until the guard shouts out that they're civilized people and should be ashamed of themselves and he'll take them in for assault if they get too rough, after which they get a lot subtler about it.

This lady thought her husband was cheating on her but really he was out fishing the whole time. This teenage boy once saw a BABY DRAGON (his friend just behind him in line calls him a liar and says it was a vulture). This tired looking woman will sing a lullaby about all the plants waving gently. This man explains how swamps are sacred and bless the faithful with gifts sometimes. This man tells them about a rusty metal tunnel he found on the mountain once.

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Lights for everybody!

They start unpacking once people have gone off with their new lights and the crowd is thinning. They have spices and snacks and bolts of fabric. They can install translation magic that'll let you use and understand any language. They can heal - Natsuko can handle most things but anything she can't handle Nelen can. They have little space heaters. They have magic rings that will make it so you won't get anyone (including yourself) pregnant till you take it off again.

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The crowd doesn't really thin, though it does get more orderly when a few more guards show up. People are playing with the lights and shining them in each others' faces and milling around the square.

Allspeak isn't very popular. These people seem a tad xenophobic and incurious about the wider universe, more interested in the goods than in stories of other worlds, and the stories lean suspicious of foreign things in general. Healing is very popular, lots of people have scars or old sicknesses of some kind. The four scribes who are supposed to go around taking pictures of sick people arrive and look around confusedly. A few people want the rings but opinion seems kind of mixed.

Exotic spices are excellent! They are soon putting pepper in porridge and cinnamon on bread. An impromptu feast seems to be gearing up in the market square inspired by the spices, block party style. Someone is setting up to butcher a bunch of goats right there in the open where they're building big fires.

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Zanro shows the scribes how to take pictures and issues each one a camera and tells them that if they come back with pictures of the homes of people too ill to come by for healing, the pictures will make it quick for Nelen to visit.

Cassiel catches up and asks a little hurriedly if they'd like her to make some meat by magic for the feast right there!

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The butcher is a bit sour about that idea since he already bought the goats and was planning to sell all the meat. What's he going to do with a bunch of un-slaughtered goats?

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She doesn't have to, just thought she'd offer!

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Everyone else would much rather have space magic meat than boring old goat meat though!!!

Does anyone in this big crowd want to buy some goats or is he just screwed over now? The butcher demands, waving his cleaver around. (The guards start moving in towards him.)

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Tarwë will buy some goats. Would the butcher like anything from the shop?

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-Oh, alright. That works out just fine then. A bunch of spices and cloth and a few notmagic lights will definitely buy Tarwë these four goats. He's sorry for getting so worked up, sirs, it's just that goats are expensive.

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That's very understandable!

(Nelen whisks the goats into orbit to be ferried to some exotic-goat-breed hobby farm.)

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(These particular goats seem to be slightly more clever than most goat breeds but are perfectly docile and happy to be led wherever as long as there's grass.)

The feast and shopping spree continues without incident. The King reads the code of laws and wants to wait to install a bus station and maybe do it well outside the city.

 

-In the late afternoon loud horns sound, a single dull alarm note starting from one lookout and spreading around the city and countryside. This rather causes a panic. People abandon their food and rush off, or stand there looking worried. The guards all run out of the square.

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"- what does that alarm mean?" Cassiel asks a stand-there-looking-worried person.

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"-I don't know. Something bad. Could be horse bandits or a dragon or a spirit or anything really. We're - we're probably safe behind the walls."

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"If I go out and have a look and maybe try to talk to them if they're a talking kind of problem, will I be getting very badly in the way?" Cassiel asks.

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He laughs, startled. "I doubt it. The guard is just going to try to protect people, I think you'll only help."

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Cassiel takes off and gets altitude to see what's going on.

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There's a big fire in that field over there! It's spreading pretty quickly! People are forming a bucket chain with the river nearby to try and fight it.

 

There's a long, slender orange-skinned winged form slinking along the ground behind a line of hills. Not visible from ground level, but clear from above if one is looking for trouble in places other than the big obvious fire. It seems to be approaching a nearby clay pit, hastily abandoned due to the alarm.

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Cassiel precipitates some water out of the air, circling the fire, and turns a moat of surrounding plants into a firebreak, and when it looks calmed down enough that the fire brigade can soak or stomp remaining smolder, she approaches the dragon.

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It sees her flying nearby and abandons its curious investigation of the pulley elevator the clay pit is using, looks - confused, the giant feathers on its head (recognizable from that Commander's coat, he was wearing similar ones) tilting up and down - then turns and runs away, trotting along the ground in a slightly awkward run.

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"Excuse me," calls Cassiel, "hello?"

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The dragon stumbles slightly.

"I'm leaving I don't want to fight FLYING humans!!!"

It runs faster.

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...well crap.

Nelen looks at his tablet when it beeps and looks around for the king.

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The King is over there, drunk but trying to put on a very serious face as he listens to some guards about how Cassiel helped put out the fire.

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"Your Wisdom," says Nelen, "may I have a word? Ideally in private."

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"Hmm? Right, of course, honored guest and all. Thank you for the assistance. If you are concerned I uh, must speak with you. Do you have some place more convenient than going back to the palace?"

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"If you'd like to see our ship I can do that," says Nelen.

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He opens his mouth to agree, then pauses. "-I do want to but I don't think it would be quite appropriate for me to leave my city without, you know, preparations and things. There is an order to these things. Come, palacewards. Unless the store is alright."

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"The store is fine too."

In the store's back room: "Your wisdom, you seem like you've had a fair amount to drink; may I clear your head?"

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He has a guard wait just outside the private room.

"Yes, I rather have. It is a feast. But yes, thank you." He holds out a hand.

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Boop.

"Your wisdom," says Nelen once the alcohol's out of his system, "are you aware that dragons can speak?"

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He blinks, grimacing at the sudden transition to sobriety.

"...That's preposterous. Dragons do not speak. They roar and spit fire and eat livestock and man alike."

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"Our translation magic works on anything that can speak. Cassiel tried talking to the dragon that set the fire, and it replied."

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He speaks slowly. "I find it difficult to believe you. Perhaps a flaw in all men, that. It is easy to smile and nod when you speak of magic and plenty, and to deny the rest. And yet. Chaos is the great enemy, and dragons the very emblem of it! They are- They're against civilization itself."

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"I understand that they cause problems - we saw them doing that today, setting fires is really bad! But this does mean that we have to treat it as arson, not as an environmental hazard."

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"Problems. They cause problems. Yes, this is indeed a problem. Shall I go tell my guard that we are to capture the dragon and sentence it to hard labor? I'll lose my head."

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"It does seem like that might be difficult for your law enforcement infrastructure. We're happy to help as long as we're here with fires and any other dragon intrusions. If a dragon attacks your city bent on eating people I'm prepared to personally teleport it off this planet and not let it back until and unless satisfied it will stop killing people. The thing I need to get across here is that the dragons, also, are people, and we can't privilege you over them by fiat. If your people try to kill dragons..."

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There are hunting parties out right now, searching for this damned thing's nest. He doesn't say that.

"What business is it of yours what we do with trespassers in the realm?"

-That's not much better. You're talking to someone extremely powerful here.

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"Well," says Nelen, "right now, none at all. But now that we know dragons are people, teams like mine are going to go talk to them, and they will get the same offer you have. And if you do want to join Vanda Nossëo, for the defensive support that extends beyond me teleporting dragons out of the way as long as I'm posted here, for the universal basic income guarantee... in Vanda Nossëo, killing people is illegal."

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"I think, that I need to take a step back from this and consider for a time. I also think- You will find this stance on dragons to have quite the effect on every civilized human you meet here. Preparing this world for the star travelers' return is our reason for existence."

Pause. "You say 'people', and use it to mean 'beings that can speak'?"

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"Yes, more or less. Is there an alternate translation that would work better? I'm using translation magic and don't control translations of individual words."

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"I suppose I don't deny that dragons can be clever and have memories. They steal valuables and hold grudges. I- Stars." King Delen sighs. "It would be best if you do not mention any of this to the priests or the public just yet. Perhaps I am being vain but I think they would react... Worse."

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"...I'll take that under advisement, but it's not going to be practical to keep it under wraps indefinitely. I'd appreciate your counsel on how to break the information gently if we have the luxury to control the timing."

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"...Yes, dragons murdering people is very bad. We won't let them do that. You should not try to kill them, that would be very dangerous. Everything is going to be fine. We don't think dragons need to be hunted to extinction, because they are not a threat to us."

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"All right. That's true as far as it goes. Thank you, your wisdom."

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"May the term of address be true. I think of my job as being the one to have common sense. Thank you for bringing this to me alone first."

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"Of course," says Nelen. And that would seem to be all; out they go from the back room to the main shop, which continues to do brisk business.

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The king smiles quite convincingly and tells his guards that there's nothing to worry about, let the feast go on!

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Cassiel distributes food as long as people want! She makes it out of this glowing cloud-looking stuff that she makes from rocks!

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Amazing! Nobody happens to pick up on the idea that she could make other things, especially.

Meanwhile, the terrified dragon quickly retreats to her den. Yes, she's lingered far too long. She smells the hunters getting closer every day, and now flying humans! It's time to go. At night, when they can't see very well.

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There appears, in front of her den: a person who looks like an unusually tall human, with long braids and fancy clothes covered in Shiny Things.

Pardon me, says the person, telepathically.

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!

!

!

They are not pardoned! They snuck up on her without even smelling like anything! Her mom was right, she got too curious and now she's going to die.

She will be very very scared and very very still and quiet and hope they go away.

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I don't wish to alarm you, but I think it will benefit you to speak to me, says the person. If you object to me in particular, someone else can swap in for me.

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A wash of sensation, osanwe-like but not in words at all,

That's a lot of shiny things. Very impressive and intimidating. She is extremely scared but will not give up without a fight! But also she will just leave now if they want to let her do that! (So she can grow big and strong and come get revenge later because they CHOP DOWN FORESTS and ENSLAVE ANIMALS and KILLED HER MOM.)

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Oh no, I'm so sorry to hear about your mother.

Would you have a better time with this conversation if I gave you one of my shiny things?

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She projects a sunny burst of PRIDE and a trilling, happy tune like birdsong. Yes, that is an excellent deal, she will answer many questions in exchange for a shiny thing. If they promise to let her go after.

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She will for sure let her go, she's not keeping her prisoner. Here is one of her rings!

My name is Aiununceon, she says. What's yours?

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They should toss it inside! 

No name/too little to have a name/haven't done any things-that-give-you-names

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Toss!

It sounds like dragons and humans here fight a lot, is that right?

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Oooooh shiny. Yes, humans and dragons kill each other.

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If humans stopped trying to kill you, would you be okay with not killing them either?

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A sharp and clear memory, darkness and warmth and soothing telepathy, filled with loss and nostalgia.

The second lesson is that you must kill. If you do not kill and eat, your music will be silence. If nothing died, there would be no room for anything to be born. Kill what you must to eat. Kill what grows rampant and consumes all else.

That last part definitely describes humans.

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My civilization just met the humans on this planet. I don't know if you would like other human planets, but some are very different from this one, and the humans on them wouldn't want to hurt a dragon.

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???

?????????????

This is the planet! Mother Earth and Father Sun!

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There are a lot of planets in a lot of worlds. Would you like to see pictures?

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That's not what she was taught. Maybe they are confused. Maybe it will help her understand weird human things though so yes.

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Here are some pictures of different planets, seen from the sky high above them! This is the one they're on right now, this is the one the Elf came from - My planet is flat for magical reasons - and here are some more besides. These aren't drawings, they're 'photographs'. Would you like me to take a photograph of you so you can see how it works?

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That is not what she was expecting! She was expecting- Mental image of sunlight glistening off a brook full of colorful round pebbles.

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- huh. You were expecting the planet to be in a stream?

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No! They can use (osanwe) so obviously they are not just another dumb human so why are they trying to trick her with some boxlightthing??

(The dragon's fear and anxiety and frustration are getting pretty strong again.)

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Oh, you were expecting mental images? I can do those if you prefer.

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Yes, mental images. Mostly because looking at the matter images would require coming out of her den for a closer look and being EVEN MORE SCARED.

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Okay. Ainunceon will relay mental images instead of the various planets.

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...Awe.

...The stars are so beautiful like that.

...Multiple Mother Earths? She knew the Onesong* was much bigger than this valley, but it must be even bigger than she ever imagined.

*The multiverse/everything that exists/all of creation

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There are many stars and many planets around the stars in most worlds, and there are many worlds! Humans are surprisingly common but dragons are special and cool.

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Dragons ARE special. Dragons are THE BEST. It's so annoying that there are more humans. They should go away, (Mother said) Sun gave this world to the dragons and then the humans showed up and ruined everything.

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That sounds so frustrating! Does it seem like it might be important to ending the cycle of violence that it be known precisely when and how humans showed up?

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...She is maybe not the best dragon to talk about this. She doesn't actually know more than what her mother and the other dragon she met last year told her. (It's clearly very annoying to admit to this.)

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Okay. Ainunceon can ask other people to talk to other dragons. She is still hoping to make sure that this dragon is safe. She has some co-workers talking to the nearest humans, but it's good to have both sides of the story.

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Well she clearly stayed here way too long! She is going to take her things and leave and look for another territory to claim far away from humans. They can tell those hunters she smells sniffing closer and closer to her den that she is GONE. Tomorrow, when she is actually gone, that is.

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Okay. Would she like to be visited again in the future? (With more shiny things?)

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For more shiny things, definitely! They shouldn't sneak up on her though, they should announce themselves and see if she wants to come talk.

...She can teach them the Song of Annunciation for another shiny thing right now actually.

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Ainunceon would appreciate that! She takes off a bracelet and tosses it in.

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The Song of Annunciation is a crooning thing that is in fact nicely musical, and Allspeak handles fairly gracefully.

"Oh great one who has claimed this place, I am a visitor at the edge of your territory. I respectfully announce myself to the dragon who claims this land-" (-You can replace 'dragon' with their name if you know it-) "I am here openly, without stealth or trickery. I do not mean to intrude or insult; I shall not hunt your prey nor steal your things. Under the gaze of Father Sun and the by the Two Great Laws, I ask for parley and peaceful discussion so that our musics may both be heard-" Several verses that are just rephrasings of the previous parts, and then, "I shall wait here for a time, and if you choose to approach we will speak."

And also the much shorter Song of Peaceful Departure, "While I have announced myself, you have not come to speak to me. I respect your territory no less, and now I am leaving."

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Thank you! Can you tell me what the Two Great Laws are?

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Oh fine, that's sort of covered by the first Shiny Thing anyway.

First; You must create. One day you will die, and your music will become silence. Explore, learn, and seek Treasure, and when you are ready, seek out others who are great, and create children to carry forth your song forever.

Second; You must destroy. You must kill and consume to survive, but take care to destroy in balance, never taking too many or too much. Destroy that which should be destroyed. Preserve that which should be preserved.

Creation and Destruction are both part of the Onesong, one leading to the other. To live without these truths is unnatural and wrong.

This is the fundamental truth of the dragons.

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Thank you, says Ainunceon, I appreciate you speaking with me. And then she bows politely and disappears.

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AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH randomly appearing and disappearing nothumans!

(Later, she eats all her shiny things, storing them in her throat pouch and sneaking off in the night.)

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Elsewhere, other dragons are receiving visits from other Flat Elves.

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Even with the Song of Annunciation in most places the dragons demand that they leave, or ignore them.

In one particular area, at the edge of a region that looks and feels magically... Odd... A red fox that looks slightly unreal, like a Maia who doesn't quite have their body down, addresses the visitor.

Who Is It Who Comes Forth? What new chorus enters the song, so familiar and yet so alien? Why has your arrival changed the music yet to come? Why do we-I-the forest-the mother wish to speak to you?

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Hello, replies the visiting Elf, my name is Sorturon, and I am from another star, hoping to learn more about dragons.

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What is a star but a brother sun? What is the purpose of learning? Did you know that great strength of magic and spirit and dreaming blurs our connection to Reality?

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Stars are pretty much other suns. I want to learn so I can tell my people what I find out, hoping to end the violence on this planet and bring great wealth and prosperity to every thinking creature on it. I did not know that, can you tell me more?

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Why is destruction so necessary? Why has my mother rejected it? Why is it difficult for this humble envoy so changed in spirit to hold a conversation? Would you be able to withstand her presence should she come forth in body?

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I believe so, and if harm comes to me, I will not take offense and can be repaired.

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Would you not weep for a visitor to come to harm, even if they can be healed?

The fox vanishes in a puff of flame.

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A minute later, a - very very large dragon, taller than some trees, strides through the forest, their branches smoothly moving out of the way for her to pass. She has an aura, a psychic power that washes over everything around her and infuses it. It feels - careful and delicate, as if she is keeping it as light as possible. Flowers bloom and plants perk up and sprout new growth all around her.

I am the one known as Allmother, o visitor. I am all but unique among my kind to tread so deeply the path of Compassion - so much so that my very nature has changed. I welcome you to this world.

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Thank you, Allmother, says Sorturon, bowing. I am called Sorturon, and I represent a group of many peoples called Vanda Nossëo, who explore the worlds and the stars within them and have now come to this planet.

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Oh, to see new stars and meet new people, to know the Onesong is yet greater than before... You will avert the Grey Future, the path I thought inevitable that has been laid out before me for so many years. I do not clearly see what form the future will take, but a bright star shines, a ray of hope and the knowledge that my fears will not come to pass. Our symphony will not end. They are lost in a way, the tailless ones. They are lonely and suffering, like so many of my kin. Crowing with strength and pride, yet empty inside. You are not the cold ones, who could not comprehend. Who are your people, to explore new worlds? What drives them forth?

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We want to spread prosperity and opportunity to every thinking person in every world we can reach. Having it ourselves, it is clear to us that the next meaningful work is to extend it to those who don't have it yet, and learn ever more about the multiverse in which we find ourselves.

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Prosperity. Opportunity. Fulfillment. Kindness. Reaching higher and onward. To the humans, prosperity means great cities of stone and metal, edifices of order where everything is just as they wish it. Their hopes and dreams burn brightly, full of joy and compassion and love. They do not realize the value of that which they are destroying, the great spirits of nature and the balance of the world being eroded into nothingness under the stones of road and city.

To the true children of above and below, shiny things are valuable, great treasures and fascinating secrets a thing of joy and contentment, and yet to the greatest among us, once we know our place in the world and learn of the vastness of Nature, the pursuit of adulthood is spiritual. To feel, to know on a level deeper than mere knowledge, to reach a greater understanding of the Onesong and become ever more, for stagnation is death. That is what drives the eldest of us.

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Different worlds have different spiritual practices and beliefs, some rooted in truth, some mutually exclusive at best. The humans of your world most likely have their own values they want to pursue.

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They do; They seek togetherness and progress. They wish to build and grow, and not unjustifiably see the dragons as a great enemy, hostile forever and anathema to their aspirations. It pains me whenever anything must come into conflict. I desire to see suffering's end, though it is impossible. Perhaps I am a coward and a hypocrite for having ended it in myself. I could not stand my own nature, and changed it. All life has become one in my domain. I am the trees and the ants, I am the rabbits and the foxes, I am the soil and the air, they are all me. I regret this in some ways, but what has been done cannot be undone.

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There are some gods in my world who do something like that, they put themselves deeper and deeper into a grove or a river or a flock of geese until they're effectively one and the same.

We too want to end suffering. I think you could help us, especially if you were willing to speak to other dragons on our behalf. Many of them ignored our visitors and we aren't sure what else to try when the Song of Annunciation and offering shiny things didn't work.

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That bears some resemblance to what I have done, though I could not take the final step.

I think some will speak to you on their own time. Dragons move slowly by the pace of humans, those of us who are not children. The other elders will call a Grand Moot in time, a meeting of all adult dragons to discuss the future. Even if you had not arrived, humanity is becoming more alarming to them.

I will be willing to send myself forth as envoys if there is something productive for me/us to discuss. My kin will not accept to allow the humans to continue conquering and expanding. They may not even be willing to accept their current extent, as in the mere last clawful-of-clawful-of-clawful of years so much territory has been lost and so many dragons killed.

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I hope we can satisfy you or the humans or both with new places to settle on other planets, but I understand that's not always an easy trade.

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The spirit of the Great Green and echoes of the Onesong have settled deeply into this planet. The weight of history and the spirits of so many creatures infuse it deeply. Anywhere else would not be the same, and our pride, that claw turned upon ourselves, will not allow us to retreat without a challenge.

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The humans at least are likely to be able to fit more of them into the same space with some help.

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We will fear that you will favor the humans, for their numbers, for closer sympathy to their forms and desires, for their natural organization compared to our solitude.

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Those things are factors, yes. We can't value one dragon more than one human, and we understand better what humans need and how to provide it because we have experience with them, and we're better able to interact with them efficiently because they organize themselves and one conversation can lead to many of them carrying out a plan. But we don't want to let them hurt you or steal from you, at least not more than has already happened.

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...The path forward lies heavy with your shadows, whatever choices are made. This is truth and reality, and wishing it were otherwise is futile. I would ask for you to turn back any dragonslaying parties anywhere in this world just as you turn back any dragons seeking to kill humans, but even this would be offensive to my kin were I to beg for it rather than you implementing such a thing of your own accord, so I am not asking for you to do that.

What of the beasts of the land, and the spirits? Have you spoken to them?

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Some of the animals that have had - dragon magic? - done to them have addressed us. The spirits haven't spoken at all.

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The beasts of the land who follow the true way have far dimmer spirits than those of dragons unless they are Enkindled - their spirits ignited by a portion of our soul and intent - but they feel and remember just as we do naturally. To the spirits I suppose you do not sense the Song, and may not notice them even if they did address you...

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That sounds like a potential issue, can dragons relay to us what they have to say?

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We could. Meaning may be lost from an alien mind to an alien mind to your own minds.

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Yes, we'll try to come up with another way to talk to them if we can.

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You should seek to speak to the beasts of the land as well. They merit consideration, if not so much individually as an individual human.

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We try to gently phase out the use of animals for meat, and when we open up new planets to colonists, we don't put very many animals on them and particularly not ones that seem obviously bothered by settlements. Other than that on the Vanda Nossëo level we don't consider them very much. Do you think animals here are likely to differ from those we're familiar with, maybe due to spirit influence?

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If you so casually dismiss the beasts you are familiar with, I think it likely. Their minds sing, if dimly compared to dragons.

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I could ask someone to bring some animals from other worlds here to see if they sing to you.

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I am willing to do this. They should remain out of my territory, lest their spirits be subsumed by mine as weaker ones can be.

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Where is a good place?

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Beyond the hill there; I will travel to the very edge of my demense. She slowly indicates a hill with her snout.

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Sorturon bows and jogs up and over the hill. Here?

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She perches along the hill itself, head peeking over the top

Yes, that is far enough.

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And a minute later there appears a human with a perfectly normal retriever, and a petted owl from Stork, and a mouse in a cage, and a fishtank containing guppies and tetras and mini catfish and rasboras, and a garter snake.

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She regards the whole group impassively for a couple of minutes, tendrils of 'aura' reaching forward.

 

 

The dog seems a feather less aware than wolves do, to me; The snake is similar to snakes I know; The mouse and fish and owl all seem... Less in a difficult to define way. I speak only of my perceptions and know well that they may not be truth.

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"Huh, I was expecting the owl to be different, it's had magic done to it, just not your kind," says the human with the menagerie.

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The magic is not the owl and the owl is not the magic... Or so I think. I may have to see what the magic on it does, I cannot tell.

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"It follows instructions," the human says. "Sit on my shoulder," she tells the owl, and it hops up to her shoulder.

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I do not see magic, I see spirit, but the owl did not understand a command and comply. It simply moved. It is a bird, and one that refuses to tell me stories, or perhaps does not know any.

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"Okay, thanks for checking!" says the human, and she and her animals all disappear.

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I am somewhat disturbed by that, and now more confident than before that animals here are smarter, she tells the delegate who did not vanish yet.

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Thank you for confirming; we'll revise our animal-related policies with that in mind, says Sorturon. Do you have a broad overview you could give me now of what the priorities of the spirits are likely to be?

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Your mind is sharp and clear and angled, more like a great crystal than a pool of water. You have such a division between emotion and reason, I think! It is... Tiring work to crystallize my ideas for you.

They will care about things continuing to be the way they are, or only changing in certain ways, or certain cycles, or specific phenomena, or the Four Elements, or particular locations, or their favored animals...

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Hm. Do you think it might help for some of the gods I mentioned to come by and see if they can talk to them? They sound similar.

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I cannot say without meeting them, but the worst case is not especially terrible.

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I'll put in a request. It will take longer than the last one.

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I will return to my glade now. I will listen for news. May peace and joy lie in the path ahead.

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Thank you very much for speaking to me. And he's gone.

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Elsewhere, about two hours after the Song of Annunciation was sung in a territory that seems far more like a garden than a random selection of wild forest, with many plants confined to particular areas and large open spaces cleared of underbrush, a dragon actually approaches the spot in question. Is the visitor still there?

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Yes, actually, they're sending Elves for this and Elves are patient.

Hello! Thank you for coming out to meet me.

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Head-tilt and feathers fluff up.

I am Pleased By Your Orderly Mind, strange visitor. You have learned to Sing the traditional greeting and Sing the music of minds, somehow. Those who intruded on my land before did not bother, but you show respect. You also do not smell like them. I sing a song of curiosity: What thoughts run through your mind to make you so different than the dead-skin-wearing brutes? Why have you come here? Is my garden not beautiful?

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I'm not a human, but a similar species called an Elf; though even humans can behave very differently from the ones you've encountered. I have come here hoping to learn more about dragons, and spirits, and local animals, so that our discovery of this planet can be good for everyone. Your garden is exquisite.

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(Thank you), I have worked hard on it and am Rightfully Proud. Seeking lessons and answers is a worthy task.

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My people belong to an organization called Vanda Nossëo that often contacts new planets and then offers them trade and opportunity and the chance to travel and settle in more worlds.

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Headtilt.

 

 

You sing of a great hive with vast reach. I know that I know nothing of the two-leg ways.

 

Trade, at least, I comprehend. Questions may be asked, but knowledge is a Treasure of a kind; Something will be given for something, and nothing for nothing.

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She takes off one of her hair combs. Speaking of, would you like this as compensation for your time?

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She lets out a cooing sound.

It is pleasingly shiny and finely crafted in the way that humans' things sometimes are; A good payment for several lessons, though more may be required if your curiosity is great.

Warden plods forward and ever so gently takes it between two large foreclaws, tucking it into some of her chest feathers and craning her neck to admire the effect.

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Oh good, I'm glad you like it.

One thing we usually offer when we land on a new world is permission to join Vanda Nossëo, whereupon we extend defensive support if someone is attacked. We're worried about this being complicated with much of the humans' land having previously belonged to dragons, and even if the humans who originally stole it are dead now, the dragons might not all be.

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The Kin may live for far longer than humans do if nothing slays us, yes. I think this will be true for some. Those who fought to keep their territory from humans have been slain, those who chose to flee would suffer the shame and harsh conditions of having no territory to call their own. Among those who fled, there will be those who died for one reason or another, and those who fairly challenged the territory of another and won it, and those who settled for poor lands not already claimed and perhaps still live. If they could not defend their territory from the humans, they did not deserve it.

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We've been warned not to try to stop the humans hunting dragons, do you agree with that warning?

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That seems moderately sensible, if somewhat oddly phrased. Perhaps you have misunderstood something. I will not beg for your protection, the nature of the world is that one must have strength and I would not depend on yours like a hatchling cowering beneath parent's wing. Though if you wish to hunt hunters and thus stop them from intruding upon my garden, I would not object either.

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We don't wish to hunt anyone. Stopping hunters would take the form of moving them, more than fighting them.

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Do you seek to avert Destruction in this way? Will you garden us and humans like I tend my Boars and Rabbits?

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We'd rather have you as citizens or neighbors. The transition from uncontacted to part of the multiverse is sometimes delicate, and we don't want to condescend to people but being careless and slapdash gets people killed.

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I do not have a concept of 'citizens'. If you learn the rules of Tradition and respect them, unlike the swarming and devious humans, you would make more acceptable neighbors than they.

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What are the rules of Tradition?

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It is a code of honor, rules which make our dealings with each other more orderly and respectful. There are many subtleties; I may not be able to fully express it to you in a short time. First, the Song of Annunciation, which you have learned. There are more Songs, appropriate for different circumstances. The foul art of Lying is forbidden. A traditional dragon must treat their elders and juniors with respect, giving and demanding nothing for free, but neither unfairly oppressing their juniors. The elders also can demand whatever they wish with their might and strength, but Tradition forbids this - they will test their juniors harshly, but not with impossible tasks. Visitors may challenge a dragon to a contest for a fair wager, though the challenged may decline. An exchange of riddles and a fight are the most common challenges. There are rituals for claiming a territory and for challenging another for theirs, or just a portion of theirs. It is against Tradition to sneak into a territory and poach or steal. No dragon may order another against their will. No dragon may claim Treasure found in the territory of another without a proper challenge. A traditional dragon does not bow to the demands of lesser beasts, and does whatever they desire so long as they have the strength to, whether that is clawing Treasure from the ground or diligently crafting the land itself into a Treasure as I do. Vengeful ghosts and other disorderly things are to be destroyed, while the lines of goodbeasts and the bounty of nature is to be preserved.

Tradition is not law. Those who are known to abide by it are trustworthy, and the spirits and beasts will know and whisper of it, and one's reputation is a worthy thing to cultivate; Those who do not are less trustworthy, but Survival is a greater law than Tradition. A dead dragon is far more pitiful than one with a poor reputation.

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I think it will be pretty doable for Vanda Nossëo to keep those rules firmly in mind while among you.

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I do not know how my kin will react to Vanda Nossëo. I do not know how to react to it. The hive-of-many-worlds greater than the Onesong we thought we knew is a staggering concept. When the world has been much the same for year upon year, such a fundamental shift brings dissonance to the Onesong. Many kin, I think, will rather you had not found us at all simply because your existence is so confusing and will change many things more quickly than they usually change.

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I think a lot of planets have some people who wish that. We would rather find a way to satisfy everyone, but if we leave a planet alone - there's another federation that does just that, leaves them alone no matter what until they've invented star travel themselves - if we leave a planet alone, people starve and die of disease and violence, raise their children in poverty.

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And what is wrong with that? The strong grow great, the weak perish, and the Onesong continues on. Thus is the way of dragon. I suppose it is not the way of Elf.

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It's not. And it's not good for humans, either, or for the weak who perish. At any rate, even strong humans decline in just a few short years, compared to the immortality they can enjoy among the stars.

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Compassion.

The dragon is silent after that, echoing patient contemplation through osanwe.

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The Elf returns wordless agreement.

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Every Draak seeks greatness in their own way. I prize order and beauty. I am interested in learning of new ways of order, of new tools to create beauty. Some will reject you, and some seek to wield the opportunity you offer. Perhaps I will interact with your great hive to this end.

I have heard that the Great Elder known as Allmother follows the path of Compassion, though I do not know where she lives. The one known as Darktooth the Wise similarly follows the path of Learning, and may be found where the rustmountain valleys come together like a tree near great Ocean, to the south.

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One of us already found the Allmother and had a very productive conversation with her! We'd love to send someone to talk to Darktooth the Wise too.

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I once took lessons from them. I could show you but it is a flight of many days.

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Can you give me a mental image of the place? That will let someone teleport to it.

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Warden transmits it.

Darktooth claims an especially large area apparently. A long, wide valley between two mountains with a river delta and swamp, as well as one of the mountains, with a sense of great caution attached.

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Thank you. What did you take lessons about?

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I have learned some lesser secrets of Number, and of the sigils that can be used to preserve events beyond memory. As well many things about the nature of the world and its ways, of the fire within Earth and the cycle of Water in the air, and other such things. I will return one day when I am more worthy.

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What makes you worthy of such things?

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I have long contemplated that. I do not know. I think I will know I have arrived at correctness, when I do.

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Do you think you or other dragons might be interested in traveling around Vanda Nossëo and learning in classes there?

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What are such things like?

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There are magics that can be taught, including song magic that most species aren't good enough at singing to do well with but you might be, and sciences and math like what you learned from Darktooth, and ways to preserve things beyond memory, writing and recording.

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I heard your singing and it was a thing of sound only, not of spirit like our own True Songs. Worthy and beautiful; Yet I have difficulty imagining how sound alone might cause great changes in the world.

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Would you like to see?

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Yes.

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So she sings a song for warmth, and the area around them heats up gently.

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Headtilt and feathers puffing up.

I cannot tell how that is working at all!!

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She concludes the song. It's a different kind of magic from yours. The songs have to be composed in specific worlds with a particular kind of magic, but then we can use them anywhere. There are music schools, in those worlds, where they work on new ones.

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How...

 

But this one has been so composed, and thus has power even far from its home?

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Yes, that's right.

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I do not understand how that is POSSIBLE. There must be a hidden order beneath the world that explains it. I am more ignorant even than I thought.

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There's a lot to learn, and always more worlds to learn about. If you'd like to visit one of the music colleges to see if you can learn to compose magic songs while you have access to the underlying magic, you can do that.

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It is certainly tempting. Yet it is a perilous thing to travel far from one's home.

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Would your territory be in danger of usurpation?

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Yes; I have trained Heralds from among the birds and pigs, but they are mere messengers. When my scent fades, challengers will come and trample my beautiful garden. Thus is the way of the dragons.

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That seems very limiting, if you can't travel for long without losing your home.

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It is not a certainty, but a risk. One that was worth taking to study under the wise one, one that may be worth taking again upon further consideration.

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Could you take turns with a neighboring dragon you get along with, guarding each other's homes while the other is away?

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She startles and growls.

 

...No. Territory is deep and personal. Our essences would mingle unnaturally, the land would grow confused. It would be a cycle, a new and weird one, not one of those long favored by Sun and Earth.

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Hm. What if a non-dragon looked after it? You could hire someone, once you had collected enough nonshiny-abstractions-of-the-concept-of-the-ability-to-acquire-shiny-things, which I don't think would be hard for you, since dragons are rare and special and cool and lots of people would want to pay you to do things.

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Perhaps. I am growing tired of conversation, visitor. Know that you may call upon the Warden of this garden again another day.

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Thank you for speaking with me. And off she pops.

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A surprisingly common theme in the stories told in the delegation's Goldvalley shops are stories of ghosts and visions on The Mountain. (It doesn't really have a name, being the only one worth the designation in the area.)

They say the ghosts charge living warriors with vengeance. That they will lead you to treasure if you follow them. That only death lies in following them. That they are signs of the dragons' past crimes, dead in the Great War. That they are not quite human, made by the star lords as diggers and crafters. That their buried kingdom still lies below, with a king's ransom in Delver Steel waiting for explorers. That their mindless rage is simply a delusion and a sad remnant.

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Yeah they're going to send somebody in to check that out just in case.

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Eventually that person will see flickers of movement that aren't actually there on the edge of their vision, and random sudden chill or heat, when near a specific area.

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The Dwarf-fairy heads toward the affected area.

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The flickers intensify but don't actually become clearer. Animals seem to avoid the place, a small flat near cliffs, maybe a few hundred feet across.

It looks like there may have been a road and hold entrance here, long long long ago. It wouldn't be a bad spot for one anyway.

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"Hello," says the Dwarf-fairy.

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Nothing changes.

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He tromps around for a bit more, doing some amateur archaeology, checking to see if any other spots also show these effects.

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A couple other places have weaker flickers. There's more signs of maybe-it-was-a-road-once, some maybe-something-really-destructive-happened-here, and an old ventilation shaft near the peak, rusted and collapsed.

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Ooh, he'll go down the ventilation shaft.

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It's pretty collapsed. Goes down quite a distance and then branches out horizontally. Gangs of rats squeeze thorough the cracks, always traveling in packs and moving simultaneously.

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Huh! "Hello?" he tries, addressing the rats.

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The pack issues a cacophony of squeaking and runs for cover in the nearest rubble pile. A few rat heads pop back out to observe.

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He waves at observing rats.

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One rat walks out into the open with a small black ball of something, sets it aside, then repeatedly mimes eating and then holding out its paws and then touching its weird piece of coal(?)

Permalink Mark Unread

...he'll try holding out his hands?

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Eating. Coal. Eating. Coal.

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...is he supposed to take the coal? He will reach for it slowly.

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SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK!

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Okay, he withdraws his hand then.

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The rat takes its coal and retreats under the rubble pile with it. The watching rats vanish.

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Huh.

He descends further into the mine and explores it.

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Lots of collapsed tunnels. A few more rat packs that watch warily. The ruins of an equipment locker or possibly a pantry. An old, inoperative robot of some sort crushed in a dead end. The ruins of some sort of... Ore crusher? Something big and industrial anyway.

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Gosh, a robot. He takes a photo of the robot. Investigates what's in the locker/pantry.

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Lots of rat droppings mostly. Old hand tools and chewed-through rubber suits proportioned for a Dwarf and tiny scraps of plastic foil.

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Neat.

Worlds away, the forensics team tries to reconstruct what happened there.

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It was a mine and underground community populated by variant humans (not actually a separate species, just short and stocky) running semi-automated equipment to mine and be a center of industry. A third human subspecies seemed to be a ruling class of sorts, a neanderthal-like warrior caste. They traded material for food.

They suddenly started making tons of weapons.

A bunch of dragons and other big animals assaulted the place with magic powers. The warrior caste fought to the last man and to the death as the digger caste evacuated. The big battle sites correspond to 'ghostly' areas almost exactly.

A month later something too magic to conjure rained down titanic blasts of force and heat, shattering almost everything the initial battle did not.

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Wow. Weird.

The Dwarf-fairy leaves and a Space Elf shows up in his place.

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The ghosts are much more obvious now! Several vague, blurry outlines in the air, with a distinct sense of pride and anger and suffering and wrongness.

To the last... Our failure... Our shame... Our deaths... Unavenged...

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If she tries osanwëing them does that work like it would with a subtle artist or a Maia or just not work? Hello.

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It seems to work! They react at least, focusing on her and sending more half-formed impressions of despair and vengeance.

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Is there anything that would help you?

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Slay the dragons... Put us to rest... Nothing can make it right... Failure and loss... Remember the sacrifice...

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How can you be put to rest?

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Remember the sacrifice... The story did not end... Find the bones and ash... Hide them from the Sun... Mark the grave that we did not flee... Tell the story...

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Will it help you if we collect your remains, and bury them, and put a memorial on the hill, and put your story somewhere anyone can read it?

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Put us to rest... End the story...

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Okay. The Elf goes and gets the Dwarf-fairy and a Dwarf-demon and they start collecting bones and ashes, the demon mainly there for forensics but also for crafting a nice memorial plaque.

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The ghosts pay a lot of attention to all of them, focused and silent. Time has washed away almost all signs of the remains, but the ghosts will lead them to what is left. The mutterings of 'vengeance' seem to be slowly replaced by 'make things right'.

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The Elf will continue to try to elicit facts from them, checking against models the demon provides, so they can compose a thorough ghost story to put on the internet. The fairy collects all the remains and buries them. The demon puts a diamond plaque on top of the disturbed earth, This marks the graves of the miners who died here. Their story insofar as we know it can be found at - and then the URL.

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The ghosts are very insistent that both WARRIORS and miners died here, and will wax eloquent, if slowly, about the great battle and their commitment to duty and purpose. More and more of them settle into the grave and go quiet as the work continues.

The last one remains, hovering near the grave.

It is over. The scar in the world now heals. Thank you.

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They will adjust the plaque to add that some of the dead were warriors!

You're welcome, replies the Elf.

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The last ghost sinks into the grave as well. This area is now entirely free of ghosts, as far as they can tell. The odd rats in the areas of the collapsed mine they did not retrieve remains from are still around, but have been avoiding them.

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The Elf will go try talking to the rats, in case that works at all.

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They flee again but just after that - Very, very faintly, more in impressions and sensations than anything like words, but just possible to interpret if you are specifically listening, not immune to mind effects, and strain-

Twoleg sniffing again. Danger? Don't know. Trade? Twoleg did not trade before. Vote do? Watch/Observe/Caution/Wait/Hide/Listen.

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Trade? inquires the Elf.

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There's hushed rat-conversation, and then a clearer and easier to hear- Small lives in hidden places, safe from cat and hawk. Twolegs have never talked to us. We are hungry lately. We have learned an old secret of the dragons. We make the Boom. Strong Fire-essence within, ready to burn. A good distraction, a good weapon. Boom is useful. More useful than food to a big twolegs?

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Maybe. There is a spoken conversation, and the demon gives the Elf a dinner roll. Please do not Boom anything right now, but I would like it if you told me more about it.

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We will Boom if you hunt us. The secret of making the Boom is worth very much.

Hit it hard and it Boom. Throw it and Boom. Want it to burn and Boom. We are one and many. One uses the Boom to save many if we must.

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We are not here to hunt you, says the Elf. She puts the dinner roll down where they can get it.

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What is that food trade for? We don't trust twolegs. You are friends with the cats. We think you are tricking us.

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This is trade for what you told me about the Boom, she replies. I have not met any cats here.

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A bunch of rats come out and start tearing up the roll, taking it back into their crevices.

You quieted the angry things. You make food from nowhere. You talk to us. All these things have never happened before.

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We're not from this planet.

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Do you desire secrets? Secrets for more food?

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Yes, we can keep giving you food for secrets.

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What secrets interest twolegs? Places to get food and water? The things that happened here? The ways of we rats? What we sneak and see of other beings?

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We'd love to learn more about the ways of you rats.

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The rat clans are not a proud people. Pride is foolishness. We live half-blind in the dark, always hungry and always searching. We are one and many - what one of us knows, we all know, linked by the essence and spirit of our Love. What one of us decides, we all decide, a family that knows each other better than ourselves. Though we are small, we are careful and observant and clever. No trick or distraction is beneath us. We use the small paths others cannot access, we use our secrets, we use our numbers, we use even our teeth and paws if we must. Hunted by cat and hawk and hunger, the rats yet survive.

Permalink Mark Unread

Are there other rat families, separate from you?

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There are many clans, each with their own secrets and scents, yes. We share a kinship with them, though less than the furbound bonds of family.

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Are there rats who are not in clans?

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Yes; They are lost and confused without a family. Food?

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Food. Can they join a family? Or have babies who are in a family?

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Food!

This does not seem impossible, but we have never done it. Never in our memory had we too much food and too few bodies and no fear for the future changing and found such pitiful things, such that we would take in strange rats.

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If one of you traveled very far from the others, what would happen?

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A horrible fate. They would be lost, lesser, frightened and vulnerable.

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Do you have any stories about a time when all rats were alone?

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We remember being fewer. We do not remember being alone. Even before we met the dragon and bargained for the secret of Fire, our earliest recollection of many winters ago is of Love, and of knowing there are many of us, that the death of one is not the end.

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What dragon did you meet?

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They did not give us a name, but we remember well their awe-inspiring power. Trawling these ruined halls and throwing aside stone to dig for shiny treasure, defeating the foolish clans who thought to make prey of a dragon, their spirit burned so brightly! Truly the dragons deserve their reputation as great beings. When we offered treasure and secrets in trade for their knowledge, we learned of the essence of That-Which-Burns, and over several days we were taught to channel it ourselves. It is a powerful secret that has served us well in making the Boom, among other uses.

This odd visitor is still handing out food, right? By now they should have a lot.

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Yeah, the demon's keeping it coming.

That-Which-Burns?

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One of the Four Pillars of Reality; Fire. By holding understanding of Fire in our spirit we can emulate it.

We have enough food for now, secret-seekers. What else do you have to trade?

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Would you like some food that will last for later? Or something else?

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Some food does not rot, this is true. It would be good to have some just in case. But there is always food to find. You clearly have great and powerful secrets of your own. Will you tell us of the world we have not seen, that we might be more prepared for the future?

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Yes. Would you like to see pictures?

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Yes they would. They are still pretty cautious and suspicious though, and their vision isn't great.

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She will show them pictures up close and zoomed in, and tell them about the worlds.

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Oooh. Is it possible to learn the magic? Learning fire magic was the best thing that ever happened to this ratgroup.

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It is possible to learn some kinds of magic but she is not sure a group of rats has ever tried.

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After some extensive internal squeaking and some more questions about the other worlds and the magic and the mission of Vanda Nossëo, the rats announce that they will split the family, as they have done only twice before. One family will stay here and spread the news to other rats, the other would like to travel to these other worlds and learn.

Permalink Mark Unread

Gosh, okay! They will bring the traveling-rats along with them when they leave.

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It'll take a bit for the two now-separate families to settle. Do they have any more questions in the meantime?

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How does splitting the family work?

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It's really hard to explain! Feeling is far more critical than thinking for matters of the spirit. Here is how splitting feels (bounce: Dozens of sparks of always-present joy and comfort in the dark, echoing the same feelings back in cycles, even when one vanishes none have really vanished; Hard-long-desperate-tired-learned-fear warring with opportunity-curiosity-wonder-awe; A sense of mounting tension, then- Like the sudden departure of a dance partner, sudden nothingness, freedom and loneliness bittersweet.)

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Awwww. This Elf is going to quietly put in for leave from her job because she is going to be escorting traveler-rats around for the foreseeable future. Is there anything in particular they would like to see?

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Human and orc cities seem nostalgic, like the mine they've spent so long in. Also crowded, though. There is too much unknown. All they really know is that they want to learn magic.

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Okay. She doesn't know if groups of rats can learn magic. Can they sing?

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...Not really.

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Maybe they can learn wizardry. Can they read?

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They could probably learn?

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Okay. She will take them to her home and try to teach them to read.

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The rats are perhaps surprisingly clean and sanitation-conscious. It helps keep down on disease. They're very curious about this new place, carefully exploring it and asking their friendly escort elf all sorts of questions. Where is her family? What does one even do when food and safety and ensuring future food and safety aren't immediate, overriding concerns? Besides learn to read, which they are gamely attempting.

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This Elf is not married; her sister and brother-and-law live next door, and her parents live the next town over. She's in osanwë range of all of them, osanwë between Elves might reach father than whatever holds the rats together. She likes to sing and play the piano and go on hikes and ice skate and, yes, also read, when she isn't working.

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Music is... Strange, but not unpleasant. They are very motivated about how so many secrets lie behind the veil of reading and are trying very very hard about it. They have better luck parallelizing long passages rather than reading a single word at a time.

They understand family more than any of those other hobbies, and would be delighted to meet hers.

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She will let her family know that she has a guest that is a rat hivemind and they will probably come over! Her nephews might want to pet the rats.

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They will decide if any rats wish to be pet after meeting them.

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That's fine. The nephews will not pet them without permission.

Sister and nephews come over to meet rats! Hello rats! One nephew, who is learning to count, counts rats.

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There are 25 rats, including 9 not-quite-babies-anymore!

Counting is a good secret, small twolegs! It lets you know more about which things are, much better than some, many, and few. We learned to count our food and cleverly plan when to get more.

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Do the rats like food? Counting Nephew has walnuts in his pocket! Will a rat come take a walnut and... ... ... be PETTED??

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Everything likes food, we think. We have not smelled that food before, it smells good!

Two smallish light-grey ones will come and patiently be petted.

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The nephew is VERY excited. His older brother pets the second one.

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As long as he gets a bit more gentle after a small warning squeak, more rats will come be petted a few at a time sniffing at his hands and clothes, including the little-kid-rats whose fur is very short and soft, bodies just two or three inches long including tail.

Your family is not as close as our family, we are one and many and almost all the same. What is it like?

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I'm still little and don't know how to think private yet, says Counting Nephew, so maybe it is kind of like you! Only in only one direction.

It's quiet, says his brother.

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We think we don't get lonely the same way as you. It's not quiet, everyone is always there and we are only smart together. We would be lonely if we split up, but we never do that, it would be terrible.

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How do you only be smart together? Does one of you do counting and one of you do figuring out how to go places and one of you do remembering stuff and - stuff? asks the older one.

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The rats consider this for a minute.

We think one thing and echo it and then we think a different thing and echo it, like a circle. Sometimes we don't think and just react fast, like if we're scared.

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Which of you is next to which other ones in the circle? wonders the older boy.

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It's not a next to. Ripples in a pond. Important thoughts get echoed more and distracting ones don't.

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Oooh, huh. (Another walnut?)

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Yum! They share little nibbles all around.

Have you all learned to read?

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I can't yet says the little one.

I can, says the older one.

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The rats want to know about what they all do together and what their favorite foods are and what they're scared of and will squeak along to a song or two, trying to be musical even if their voiceboxes aren't really meant for it and mostly very high pitched.

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The kiddos will try to teach them to sing! It's sad that they can't sing properly! And they will answer their questions.

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And eventually their visit will conclude and the rats will get back to politely enjoying their escort's hospitality and building a small tunnelwarren out of whatever is loose and available to feel safer.

Back in Goldvalley, a man comes into one of the stores, ragged hair and beard and middle aged, wearing clothing of a very fancy for the tech level style with lots of geometric patterning and heavy boots, odd items like rag dolls and dreamcatcher-style arrangements of thread and glass vials full of powder tied to himself with string, carrying a big elaborately carved staff with a small burning coal in a brazier type thing in the top. He looks around at everything silently.

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The envoys are mostly keeping to the shop and its immediate environs, collecting stories and handing out merchandise, but he does get a second look if he approaches the store.

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He watches the exchanging for a bit, then patiently waits in line.

"I am a shaman. I can speak with spirits and beasts. I have come to see what has caused the great uproar here, but I find myself still confused."

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"Oh!" says Cassiel. "I'm delighted to hear that, we weren't sure how to talk to the spirits. Beasts we figured out, one of our colleagues adopted a swarm of rats, but spirits seem harder to find. Unless they're the same thing as ghosts."

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"Ghosts are scars in the world. I do not think they can truly change or feel anymore. It is often difficult to resolve their complaints, but also possible to forcibly disperse them if they're dangerous, as some are. A rat swarm? They can be quite personable, yes. But what is all this? I have heard the most wild tales on my way into the city."

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Cassiel repeats the standard spiel on Vanda Nossëo.

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"So you need to speak with the spirits? Wise. Many forget that humanity is not the only thinking thing on the planet. The shining glory of progress throws off a blinding glare. What do you know of spirits so far?" He starts gathering bags of spices after closely examining several. "Do you have a large measure of salt? Quite useful for rituals, salt. I'll give you advice and stories until all this is earned."

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They can scoop out a sack of salt for him. "Just what we've picked up from dragons, so far," Cassiel says. "Not us personally, but our colleagues who go talk to them."

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He freezes. "You've spoken to dragons? Amazing. But I don't know what they would have said, never having met one myself. Well, one that wasn't hunting cows at the time."

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"That's all right, I'm curious what you're here to tell us."

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"There are many different sorts of spirit. From vast and ponderous to the point where they hardly notice us, to ones so small as to seem childlike. The vast ones are not a concern unless you intend to raze forests or level mountains, but their revenge and death-throes can be painful indeed. But the lighter spirits, those that form around points of natural order or accumulated ritual, those can be spoken to if you have the practice and talent. It requires understanding your emotions, empathy and - attunement, I would phrase it, to what a spirit is, and a clear, focused intent to listen and speak with your mind. As an example, one of the brooks that feed this valley's river holds a playful water-spirit, which is largely unconcerned with anything that happens to it. It spoke to me at length about how it is flowing water, and thus will never be destroyed. Flowing around rocks and condensing if boiled, released when consumed and eventually melting when frozen. It knew no fear and no hunger or want. It remembers me, but only as a once-visitor invited to swim and play again."

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"Aww, cute. We're trying to find a member of a similar class of thing from another world who can come meet yours, in case that helps bridge communication gaps."

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"Spirits war with each other sometimes..." He says dubiously.

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"...well, we wouldn't bring a warlike one."

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He nods. "Well, I hope that will go fine. Hmm, what next... Oh yes, the Four. Four great spirits, or four archetypes of lesser spirits perhaps. Fire, water, earth, air. While the material world is made of dozens and more different things, the spirit world's fundamental blocks are those four pieces. Achieving an understanding and intuitive feeling with one of the Four can grant you powers great and small," he gestures to the coal. "This little bit of showmanship for instance. A proper lesson on them can take a while, but briefly, fire is pride, desire, strength, glory. Water- empathy, flexibility, reaction. Earth, stubbornness and patience and calm. Air, curiosity, freedom, exuberance."

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"Huh! Can you explain how you developed that understanding?"

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"From my master, from his master before him, and so on. Confirmed as best I can tell in my wanderings and observations. Many of the lesser spirits conform strongly to one of the Four, and will teach you about it - whether they answer your questions or just by observing their actions. There are more spirits, of course. Hybrids of the four, and more complex arrangements. A storm spirit is fire and air. Dragons hold all four within their hearts, quite powerfully."

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"Are dragons just a kind of spirit, or more complicated?"

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"Dragons are a unique case. Maybe they are spirit bound to flesh. Maybe they're the ultimate form of animal spirits. Maybe they're the fathers of all spirits. Guesses. I don't know. I've never even spoken to one."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Are animal spirits like the rat swarm?"

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"I think mostly they are... Cloudier? Rat swarms are very cohesive. Herds get like that sometimes, but there is much more individualism in larger animals. They are hard to speak to as well."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Huh! Physically larger animals? Like whales or elephants?"

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"I've never heard of a 'whale', but I met an elephant once. It was so upset but really just needed some better care instructions. More like... Goats, chickens, cats, turtles, llamas. I think there is something in insects and crabs and fish but I haven't managed to put myself in a sufficiently crabby perspective." He chuckles.

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"Any idea how any of this came to be?"

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A slow headshake. "Only stories from men as clueless as I. Perhaps I should tell them anyway?"

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"Please! We sell what's in this shop for stories whether they're true or not, we want them all."

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"This world already existed when humanity arrived from across the stars. By an act of the gods and great spirits, the first men found themselves here, and quickly grew and prospered, making order and peace out of a brutal and hostile nature. But the terrible dragon kings warred with the gods, and all were slain. Now, we are left only with the broken pieces of two things that were once great, doing the best we can.

"Another telling says that Humanity's place has always been here, that it was usurped by dragon and beast jealous of our intelligence and the great cataclysm uncountably many generations ago was the Eldest Dragon's rage and hatred growing like a wildfire, until she consumed herself - and everything else. Since then the good people of the land have slowly been growing stronger again, and yet have a duty to stamp out chaos for good.

"Some say the Star Lords still watch over this world, observing and testing us. That those who are worthy - who exactly is worthy seems to change all too often - are rescued after death and taken to join them in the sky. The unworthy are left to crumble into dirt and become nothing, a fate that all must strive to avoid.

"Others say that rejoining the world after death is a natural and good thing. They bury bodies to second them to the soil rather than burning them to urge souls upward, and some believe that the spirits and animals of the land are former humans, while others say that all the dead sleep in a river of souls, resting eternally.

"The spirits tell a different story that I've pieced together. They say that the first and greatest spirits were Father Sun and Mother Earth, who came together to produce all their children, from the great dragons to the very tiny beings that cause disease. At first there were few, but over time they grew and changed, molded by chance and spirit. They say that humans arrived later, brought here from some distant place."

Permalink Mark Unread

"That's really interesting. We'll be able to check, whether humans came from somewhere other than here to this planet, do you think that will be disruptive?"

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"I think those who turn out to be right will believe you and those who turn out to be wrong will say you're liars. A city or two might eject you over it. Personally, I don't think the history matters. We're here now."

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"Yes, it would just be abstractly interesting," Cassiel agrees.

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"To many, it would be an important and immediate question. 'Is my grandmother with the star lords? How could it be that the star lords don't actually exist?' Or alternately, 'I thought we were a real and true part of this world, you're saying we're invaders after all?' Would it be good for a society to find out the truth, or bad? Is 'what is good' even the right tack to take? Good is so subjective. I've known generals who confessed to me that priests and holidays are weapons, weapons of belief. But I'm no statesman or king. Just a spirit talker, used to rambling on and on."

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"How did you decide to do this with your life?"

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He scowls before covering it with a smile. "Ah, let's just say that asking questions isn't always a good way to become well liked. I... Ended up in a mud hut in the swamp with only an old man for company. Picked it up from there."

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"...huh. Do you like it now?"

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"Oh, definitely! It's not all beer and blankets but I've found my long journeys very fulfilling, considered as a whole. Say. How did you end up here, I wonder?

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"You mean, me specifically in this town, or Vanda Nossëo on this planet?"

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"You, if you don't mind? I think I understand why the organization is here, even if it's a lot to take in, but some sort of personal view is better to really understand."

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"Well, I joined Vanda Nossëo because, like, you know, the dream is to help people and I turn out to have not nearly enough aptitude for healing to beat any of the other magic healing options. I took a quiz to see what departments I'd be a fit for and considered Integration but decided envoy would be more fun. This particular town I think we got assigned randomly, we didn't know enough to pick and choose in advance. Oh, and I'm on Nelen's team because during training I met Natsuko and put in a request to be on the same team as her and she'd wanted to be on Nelen's because she likes his vibe or something."

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"Huh. Sounds like some very careful planning. I should stop monopolizing the story store if you've got enough from me for these spices and salt." He makes a head tossing sort of gesture at the line. "I'd love to meet the others if they'd wish it. Perhaps you have need of further consultation with a shaman."

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"Sure, they're over there!" She points and turns to the next person.

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He walks to Nelen and politely waits to be acknowledged.

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"Hi there!" says Nelen, when he's sent his current customer on their way with a new contraceptive ring.

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"Hello! I am a shaman, able to speak to the beasts and spirits. I've told the lady over there some about it, it sounds like that could be useful. I also wanted to meet more visitors from other worlds, I'm very curious what brings you all specifically here."

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"Oh, well, I joined up when - for a while after Vanda Nossëo found my planet I didn't have a job, kind of a lot of us didn't - my subgroup of my species. We took a while to get used to the multiverse, enjoy having Vanda Nossëo basic income, lots of us immediately started having a ton of kids, took up a lot of hobbies we hadn't been able to try before. And that was fun, for a while, but then I wanted to be doing something. If I were married it'd probably be the having a ton of kids thing, my species loves kids, but I'm not, so I wound up in an employment office and it funneled me this way and I passed a screen for the extra fancy spells. Eventually I'll meet someone and settle down. Maybe still do a turn as an ambassador now and then while the kids are at band camp or something."

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"I wish you joy and luck in that, truly. Sadly my time is nearly past, family is an old dream that is not to be for me. Are there very many nonhumans who look mostly like humans?"

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"Kind of a weird number, yeah, we don't know why. My kind have colorful hair and more teeth than you." He grins to demonstrate.

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"Ha! I could not even begin to venture a guess. Or well, I could, but I doubt my guesses are worth anything here."

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"There's some internal difference too, and stuff that you can only see over time - I can go from as pale as Tarwë to darker than Cassiel in the space of a few days if I get enough sun, and then back again if I stay inside. But mostly you can think of Amentans as humans who really really like babies."

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"I don't suppose I could go visit? I'm a wanderer, you see."

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"You can! We don't have a bus station installed here for more regular trips but if you'd like to just go up to my ship and take a ride from there to wherever strikes your fancy you're more than welcome. Shall I pop you up now?"

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He laughs. "Why not? I'll repay you with advice on spirits later, how about. Maybe even teach someone how to do it themselves- Though it takes years to master."

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Nelen pops him up to the lobby of the ship.

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He-

Is starstruck, making a beeline for the window and staring out at the stars and planet, open-mouthed.

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"That's not your side of the planet, right now, the town we're working in will come up in about three hours on that side," Nelen says, pointing.

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"This-

"It's just barely on the edge of my perception but I can feel her. Mother Earth, and Sun's distant gaze. So... Lonely and proud. I- I'm sorry. This is a very moving experience."

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"Those are - spirits?" Nelen asks.

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"Yes... Supposedly. They- Would be ancient and alien beyond belief, if they are spirits in truth and not - my own wishful thinking, or something. I - This is..."

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"The planet is probably billions of years old, and the sun older than that," Nelen says.

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"A thousand thousand thousands. We should- I should- Can you bring me closer or take me away while blindfolded so that I can't tell? I want to know if I am imagining it... I would imagine it still if you've moved me and I can't tell the difference. I don't know if I'm making any sense right now.

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"I can hand you off to someone who works shipboard and they can take you on a shuttle ride? I should be getting back down," says Nelen apologetically.

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"-Of course, of course, you have your duties."

He visibly steels himself before turning away from the window. "Thank you, and lead on."

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Nelen hands the shaman off to a shipboard human, who can lead the shaman to a shuttle and take him on a ride while he has his eyes closed.

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He can pretty reliably point out which way the sun and earth are, within about a ninety degree cone. And tell when they've moved very far away. He is extremely excited about this and finds it difficult to stop talking about spirits afterwards!

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That is moderately interesting to the pilot! He takes them back to the shuttlebay and parks and can give the shaman a tour of the ship now if he'd like.

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Sure! "At this point I have no idea what to expect and what not to expect from you all, if you have palaces in the sky and instant travel."

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"...what were you expecting before?"

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"I wasn't! Your society is a sudden dragon- Er, impossible to predict in advance. Or perhaps I was expecting flying palaces on some level, but the reality is different from the imagination."

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"Huh. I guess if I just had the concept 'flying palace' I'd expect it to be made out of stone and not metal? And have fewer computers?"

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"Oh, the artifacts I don't understand and gleaming metal everywhere is very on theme. There are plenty of tales of steel sky-ships buried in mountains, waiting to be woken."

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"Huh. Maybe there are some, if your ancestors came from another planet."

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"I don't suppose someone could look for them? A lady with wings mentioned finding out where we originally came from, which is a bit of a daunting subject honestly."

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"Yup! We're compiling a list of things like that to check and it'll get sent to the forensics department when it's all assembled."

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"There's a few people who I'd like to know what happened to - though it's hardly urgent enough for a magical forensics team, I'd think. What are the essential parts of the starship tour?"

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She shows him around through the crew quarters - there's an empty one he can look at - and explains the floating ornamental objects (the floating isn't magic, just hyperminiaturized, but the cleaning they do is magic) and the cargo bay with the vast amounts of empty space, filling up and emptying again as the staff demon and some teleporters take orders and fill them, and then it's back to the lobby he's seen, though it has offshoots - a dining hall, a theater - for onboard occupations.

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He seems more and more thoughtful as the tour goes on. "I'm glad I'm not a king," he mentions absently. "Thank you for the tour. I'm not sure if there's anything small I could do to repay you? Oh, I was told I could visit another world for a time as well, if you have a recommendation I would appreciate it."

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"I'm from Revelation and I think it's really nice!"

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"I'll take your word for it! What should I know to visit? Who should I see about that?"

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"Lisa's doing rides to the bus stop, she should be around somewhere - there she is, you can just ask her, and then you might want to ask directions at an information booth once you're at the stop - can you read -"

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He hesitates for a brief moment before saying, "I can. More incredibly impressive magic for that, hm?"

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"You can get an Allspeak installation at an info booth, and then you'll be able to read all the signs."

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He thumps one arm into his shoulder across his chest with a nod. "Thank you again, for the testing and the tour. If you find a need to talk to spirits some time, feel free to come find me."

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"Will do!"

Lisa can tote him to the bus stop and point him to an information booth!

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He will patiently wait in line at an information booth and take in the world around him. Who is around, what are they doing, what does the place feel like? Busy? Quiet? Clean? Welcoming?

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Incredibly busy. People are coming and going in all directions; there are signs, and paths inlaid into the floors, and skywalks and mezzanines above. Humans - or at least folks who look it - form a slight majority, but there are people of more exotic extractions, and they've all got places to go. There are a few permanent installations - the information booths, about twenty of them, and some places selling snacks or distributing advertisement pamphlets. There are huge posted bus maps up on several walls, drawn with different stylizations and emphases.

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He doesn't like this place. It feels cold and empty.

That's perfectly fine. Places exist for reasons and it's not like he's impatient or rash. He'll wait in line at the information booth and smile patiently, still carrying the staff with its little brazier and all. Though he's let the flame go out now. Nobody would know what it means, anyway.

"Hello! I'm from a world you fine folks just showed up at, and I wanted to see another. I was recommended 'Revelation', and 'Allspeak'."

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"Sounds like a plan!" says the info booth person. "I can Allspeak you right now, just a sec." He produces a wand and bops the shaman on the head. "There you go. Next bus to Revelation will be the Eastern red line, leaving from platform twelve in eight minutes - follow the red triangles, they start right there."

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He thanks them, and only realizes after he's left that he has no idea how to get 'home' without - Lisa, was it? He laughs and feels lighter and freer for it.

Here is the eastern red line. He reads signs and figures out where he's at and people-watches a bit.

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He is at Bus Hub #1 ("Stjernekart"), in a world called Edda. The Eastern red line goes from Elentári to Edda (you are here)! to Space Arda to Heaven to Revelation (and then Warp, but he'll be getting off before then).

Pop! The bus comes into existence. People get off on the far side and he can board on the near one.

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Just an oversized wagon ride. He gets on and - stands in the standing room as out of the way he can get, feeling very out of place with his unkempt clothes and charms and things and so many strange people. Usually he meets them a bit more one-at-a-time...

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Pop! The bus driver announces Space Arda; some people get off, some get on. Pop! The bus driver announces Heaven. (Heaven is very white and glowy, no sky nor ground.) Pop! Revelation!

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It does seem more efficient this way, since he got the impression they don't trust just anyone to teleport. However that works.

Off he gets into Revelation. Presumably this is another bus stop and not Revelation proper, so he looks for a way out.

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It is a bus stop! He can transfer to Revelation-internal buses, but if he just wants to get out, the legend on the sign says to follow the purple circles.

The purple circles spit him out onto a cul-de-sac in Minneapolis.

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He doesn't have to memorize this stop's name if he remembers where it is.

(Stjernekart, Edda, Stjernekart, Edda...)

Off he goes for a pleasant walk in suburban Minneapolis, then. Maybe he'll look for spirits later, see if those are unique. Those are very nice houses.

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They are very nice houses! There is a contest for makers of some kind of food, and ads for a museum, and people on electric bicycles, and a fellow riding a fucking rhinoceros down the street (apparently you, too, can ride the rhinoceros for a small fee!), and an angel repairing some tree-root-disturbed sidewalks, and restaurants, and a public library, and a craft fair, and cars that fly and cars that don't, and somebody having a loud phone conversation, and a robot mowing a lawn, and a lady walking six dogs, and a grocery store, and a sex toy shop, and a place papered with announcements of an upcoming concert, and restaurants.

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Amazing. All of it amazing. And far too busy to even try to look for spirits, which is just as well.

Museum! It's translating very oddly (with a compound word that includes all three of library-palace-temple), which makes it something he just has to see. He attempts to figure out where the museum is.

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The museum is over there! It's an art museum and they currently have an exhibit on Orcish art in addition to their permanent exhibits. He can't afford admission but they comp him upon having it explained that he's from a newly contacted world.

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He'd been planning to busk with magic tricks, but that's very nice! Is silver no good here, then? Possibly because of the thing where the starship had people making mountains of stuff?

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Yeah, silver is not a currency here, if his country joins Vanda Nossëo they'll buy up all the precious metals to avoid crashing the economy.

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Haha, well, that's all above his head. What could they possibly use instead? ...Actually can he suggest a place to learn that later so he's not asking them to do something that's not their job? Should he just go back to the bus stop info booths?

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The library would be better for stuff like that if he's going to have a lot of questions.

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Library it is. But in the meantime: Art. What is Revelation art like, and what is orc art like? Just the architecture is pretty grand. He's probably going to be wandering around in awe for hours.

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There are definitely hours' worth of awe to be had in here. And plaques about all the awe-inspiring things.

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He's getting a bit tired by the time he heads for a library, but his mind is spinning with all the art of a new world and he hasn't even thought about where he's going to eat or sleep.

He wanders into a library and looks around.

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The library has books, and computers, and librarians! A librarian waves at him.

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"Hello! I'm from a newly contacted world - and aren't those seeming like magic be nice to me words, hah - and I have some questions about how money works around here given-" He jingles a coinpurse.

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"Oh, of course! Wow, you must be a very early visitor, I don't think I'd even heard they were scouting a new one yet. Well, everything here is free, the library's a public service, if you borrow a book we ask that you return it within a month. If your polity, or you as an individual, choose to join Vanda Nossëo, you get a basic income every twenty days - I'm not sure how they settled on that number, sometimes it changes - and that'll cover everything you need as long as you don't need anything especially bizarre. Most people wear an ID bracelet or necklace or carry a card or get an implant chip or something, and that connects them to their government account and they can spend their basic from there. If you aren't a Vanda Nossëo citizen you don't get a basic but you can earn money regardless if you like, in a local currency, and you can still keep it in any of those forms, and some places still have cash but not here, we haven't had even paper cash for almost two hundred years now, demons really wreck it as a concept."

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"They opened up those stores yesterday morning! Showed up right in the middle of a road and the city guards weren't sure whether to take them to priests or the king, from what I hear. They didn't know about the dragons and nature spirits, either. Of course as a consummate wanderer I couldn't resist seeing another world. Are the computers talking to each other somehow, to tell who's who? Not that I know how to use them, but we have old ruined machines around - and the stories talk about them all talking to each other, in a way."

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"Ooh, you've got dragons? Materia's got dragons but I don't think any have been evacuated. And one of the late Ardas had like, two, but they were evil. Dragons and ancient technological ruins, very cool. And yeah the computers talk to each other."

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He will solicit a computer lesson while telling charming stories about learning to talk to weird spirits and the legendary Visage of All-Seeing (it's literally just night vision goggles), and then ask if he's likely to be able to busk money with magic tricks or if he has to figure out where to go camping or how to get home.

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He can probably busk with magic tricks since his magic is new and exciting but it will be easier if he has a money card or something for people to pay into! She can actually print him one right now. Getting home shouldn't be that hard, if he got turned around in the bus routes he can get help at an info booth.

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He knows he has to get to Edda - station number one. Probably. That's where the teleporter dropped him off anyway. But he's not worried about that, this is an adventure! He'd appreciate that card, and maybe something to make a sign with.

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Card and a bit of cardboard and a marker! "Not everyone has Allspeak, so aim to write in English," she advises.

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"Oh, you can do that? Will do."

I am a spirit-talker with magic from a new world learned over decades. Ask me about it!

elemental manipulation - object reading - illusion shows - personality guessing - minor blessings

Small donations humbly accepted - [payment card taped to cardboard]

"What do you think?" He asks the librarian, grinning.

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"Looks good! I'd recommend setting up by the fountain - turn left as you leave the library and go straight, you can't miss it, there's musicians and stuff there all the time and you'll fit right in."

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"Thank you once again! Everyone here is so welcoming."

He'll go check out the fountain, say hi to some musicians and look for a reasonably open spot.

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There are musicians! Guy with an electric violin, guy with drums who is also singing. There's also a group of dancers. He can find a spot to sit on the edge of the fountain and put up his sign.

Eventually somebody comes up to him. "What does object reading mean?"

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He's happy to take in the atmosphere and not actively seek attention yet.

"Hello! I can ask things what they are, and where they've been. Who used them and what they were feeling about it, sometimes. Its sort of the same thing one needs to speak to spirits - though you don't seem to have any of those in this world."

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"What can, hm, my sweater tell you?"

The sweater came from a secondhand charity shop about a year ago, and previously belonged to a woman who it didn't fit as well as this one; the first owner had gotten it for Christmas.

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He peers closely at a sleeve for a few moments, tugging on his beard. 

"Oh, hmm... Whoever had it before didn't like it as much, I think, it waited to be chosen for a while. In a place with quite a lot of clothes, but I'm starting to get used to your prosperity. You've had it for a year or so? I can't get much about any previous owner, or who made it, they didnt really have any... Attachment to it, would be the word."

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"Huh! Yeah, I picked it up from a charity shop. Neat!" The woman glances at his money card and smiles and walks off.

Next person wants to know what kind of minor blessings he means.

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"There are four, and they're fairly subtle. They are real, but they're not miracles, you know? Just a bit of a boost. Fire, for tests and competitions. Water, for empathy and personal connections. Earth, for patience and comfort and rest. Air, for learning and exploration and new experiences."

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"Ooh, I have a test coming up."

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With a smile and a snap of his fingers the coal in his staff comes alight, and he pulls a few sparks off it with another gesture.

"By the light of fire, that primal hunger, may you be the best you can be! With pride and will, you will face all the challenges ahead and find within yourself the ability to overcome them. Shine without fear, and May You Be Blessed."

He waves and the sparks form a circle around him before suddenly flaring and then vanishing. 

"Good luck! What is your test on? I'm new here and curious."

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"Math. I'm brushing up, I spent a long time kind of doing nothing and now I want to do things again."

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"I see. Basic income, right? It's a strange concept to me - where I grew up, you worked or you starved. I'm glad it doesn't have to be that way."

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"Yeah, daeva help a lot with that. Some people don't like UBI, they think there should be more incentive to work, but not starving incentive. Usually."

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"I do think the world is better when people get a little push, but it should be - aspiration, not fear."

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"Yeah! Are you guys going to join Vanda Nossëo?"

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"Well, it's hardly been a day since. Not as an entire world - we're not unified and the dragons and spirits are going to complicate things - but certain cities, maybe even the whole Metal Kingdoms as one or other unifications like that I think will likely want to- Benevolent visitors from beyond the stars is a big deal! A big cultural touchstone."

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"Ooooh dragons... why are the metal kingdoms called that?"

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"I've never met a dragon. Rare, reclusive, very dangerous - and definitely people, no matter what others say. The metal kingdoms were all founded about a hundred years ago by 'brother kings', set on... Well, invading and driving away dragons and building new cities in the untamed lands. Named all their cities after metals. Goldvalley, Silverreach, Ironriver, Copperhold, Pewtermarch, Bronzehill. Can't remember the other three."

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"Cute. Theme naming. ...Vanda Nossëo isn't being weird about dragons being people, are they?"

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"Well, what's weird? I don't know what they're thinking - they weren't exactly talking about it and were kind of avoiding the subject, I think, from what I overheard."

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"Huh. I'm going to write my representative to make sure they know." He takes out his computer and composes a note.

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Nature spirits are people too, but... "Huh, is that - going to be a big deal? I wouldn't want to cause too much fuss over nothing."

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"Oh, probably they're on it and I'll get a form letter but it never hurts."

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"Huh. Mention nature spirits and elephants and other animals too - I'm less sure other animals would all count, they can be simple. I'm pretty sure they know, I mentioned it, but if it never hurts may as well."

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"Mm-hm." He amends the note.

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"I'm trying to get a feel for the multiverse, would you mind telling me what your average day is like?"

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"Oh, sure, why not. I get up at like nine and I have breakfast, usually granola or I get a burrito from the place cattycorner to my apartment, and then I go to the gym - I'm planning to totally let myself go after I hit my ideal everything and hold onto it for like, a week, but I hear it's easier to make stuff stick as a daeva if you were ever actually in that shape as a human, and some people think it's got important health benefits you can't capture by going to the clinic whenever you get a twinge. - I'm going to be a daeva when I die, since I was born here and did a summoning one time. Anyway, then I go to classes, I usually walk there, kind of cool down after lifting weights, and I have calculus and multiversal studies and world history and modern English lit and ceramics and essay seminar and standard model bio, depending on the day, not all at once, and I get lunch somewhere in there usually from the food court on campus, and after classes I do some homework in the library because it's nicer in a place with other people even if nobody's talking and the librarians'll help if they're not busy, and then I walk home, which brings us to now, this fountain's on my way."

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"A lot to unpack in there! What's a burrito, gym, and 'standard model bio'? -I won't keep you any longer if you'd rather go get some rest. Or I will if you don't mind."

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"Nah, it's fine, you're interesting. I don't usually think of myself as, like, exotic. Burrito's a wrap, very flat bread with stuff in it. Gym's a place where they have exercise equipment. Bio is living things and standard model is like, the things aren't magical or otherwise doing something very weird."

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"I'll have to try a burrito later. Gym's like a guard training yard, I suppose? Except not - military. Huh, I wonder if I'm standard model. My instinct would be 'no' because-" He dips his hand into the fountain behind him and pulls it back up with a globe of wobbly water clinging to him. "This, but I really wouldn't know."

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"You can be biologically standard and still have magic powers but I dunno if you specifically are."

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"Oh, it's more- No, you're right, I have no idea. My magic is not innate. It's... Spiritual. Being aware of yourself and the world and reaching an understanding of things. And, you know, I have no idea how to tell the difference between 'this power was always within you, only now unlocked' or 'you've grown your soul like a muscle over time' or 'it's just long practice making you better at this'."

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"Even some stuff you have to learn to do you can have to be from a particular world for. But you can still also be standard model bio."

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"I think it'll be more clear in time. I'm not in a terrible hurry, I've got another decade or three in me."

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"- I mean, probably you'll want to save up for immortality?"

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He double-takes and the water splashes to the ground. "-What."

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"...oh, that's a thing. I'm not going to get it because I'm from here so I'll just be a daeva and that's fine, it's kind of better than never dying in a lot of ways, but if you don't have anything like that lined up you probably want to save some money and buy an immortality ring."

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"Do you know how expensive those are? And how an old man might go about earning a lot of money?"

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"Ugh, I forget what they cost, my friends are mostly local and we don't buy those or resurrections. It's a lot but you have rare magic and there's probably something nobody else can do that'd be worth money."

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Deep breath. "Maybe I can teach it. Maybe they'll want my help to talk to spirits, honestly that's the ideal case, that's my usual work. I really couldn't list out all the things I could do if I put my mind to it, if there's a metaphor that fits pretty well I can probably stretch it... 'M best with air aaand that means nothing to you does it." He chuckles. "I think I might want to cut this busking thing short and try to get home, or get to an office of theirs maybe, get a jump on that."

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"Sounds like a plan! Good luck!"

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"Thanks for the chat! Good luck on your calculus test too!"

Well! That was a half hour well spent. He picks up the sign, might as well and no need to be littering, and goes back to ask the library computers where the nearest Vanda Nossëo office is.

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They have one right near the bus stop!

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Off he goes to the office, then, looking around to see if there's an info-booth-like thing.

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Yup, there's a front desk with six people behind it, three currently unoccupied; one waves him over. "Hi, welcome to the Revelation Minneapolis office of Vanda Nossëo, how can I help you?"

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"Hello. Sorry to bother you with this. I actually came here from a newly contacted world, wanted to see something else for a bit. Then I heard that immortality rings exist, so I'd like to head back as soon as possible and ask about employment for my magic. I'd go back to, ah, Edda station one with the buses if I thought they'd be waiting for me there, but I don't think so."

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"Oh, did your escort just - drop you off at station one and not give you a way to get in touch with them? Okay, I'm going to send a message to the info booth staff at station one, and one of them should be able to help you get back to your own planet."

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"Seems so, maybe I misunderstood something? But I appreciate it! I don't need money to get into the bus stop? I was going to busk with this card, but..." He shrugs. 

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"- but?"

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"Sorry, I should speak more plainly. But then I heard immortality exists and urgently wanted to go home."

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"Oh, so you didn't get any tips? Okay, I can spot you a bus token." She pulls one out of a drawer.

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"Maybe I'm not as interesting as I thought. I'll pay the kindness forward."

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"Mm-hm! Do you need anything else?"

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"Not right now, thank you."

He will once again boldly go forth and... Navigate the bus system after handing over his token, trying to read the terminals first to get to Edda on one quick lesson on computer use, and resorting to an info booth if he cannot accomplish this basic task. He needs to head to one of the Edda info booths at the end of this, anyway.

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When he's made it to station one, the info booth is there with Lisa standing beside it, sheepishly awaiting him. "Sorry," she says. "I just had a slip of the brain. I owe a fine for stranding you and I can pay it to you or the charity of your choice, what's your preference?"

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"Oh, it's my fault as much as yours, walking off without a thought. It's not really necessary."

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"I'm glad it didn't cause you any serious problems! I do still owe the fine. If you don't care what I do with it I can just dump it on environmentalist subsidy or something?"

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"I've discovered the desire to save up for immortality, but it'd feel selfish to just take it. How about save it for someone on my planet? Is there a charity for that yet?"

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"Not specifically, no. If you want to save up for immortality you should absolutely take it!"

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"Heh, alright then. This thing work or do I need another?" He taps the paycard still taped to his cardboard sign. "I was thinking about asking if anyone wants to learn spirit-talking back on the starship. Or just wants me to talk to some spirits for them."

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"Yeah, that works." Moment's pause. "There you go. I can take you back to the ship now?"

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"Of course." He braces for teleportation and once on the ship, "Where do you think I should head to ask about making myself useful?"

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"There's a shipboard Dwarf who's actually here to handle economy-related questions, he'd probably pay you to tell him what kinds of capabilities he can expect to be coming off the planet looking for work and point you in the right direction on the way."

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"-I assume you don't mean the Digging Folk from our world. Sounds like a fun conversation. I hope your day's a good one and doesn't include any more fines."

He attempts to find this Dwarf and introduce himself.

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Lisa can lead him to the Dwarf's office! "Hello! Have a seat," says the Dwarf. "I'm Revna, and yourself?"

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He has a seat, then frowns and bristles before catching himself. "-Ah, cultural difference, sorry. It's a tad rude to introduce yourself or ask for a name on first meeting in my home culture. I go by Solomon."

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"Oh, whoopsie. Which culture is that, I'll post a note -" The Dwarf has to physically interact with his computer to make it work.

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That tickles something in his head but he dismisses it for the moment. "You're supposed to have someone else introduce you, or mention your name offhand in a way that it can be heard. To show that you are welcome and not a stranger. We call ourselves the Water People or the Lake People, I don't know what outsiders call us. If you have a map I can point out the region."

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The Dwarf pulls up a projection of the globe.

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There on the eastern lowlands of one of the continents, a region that does indeed have a lot of lakes and swamps.

"I've spent most of my adult life travelling and haven't been there in some time, though."

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"Gotcha. Anyhow," he dismisses the globe, "Lisa said you wanted to know how your talents can make money! What are they?"

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"Fairly rare ones, perhaps one in a large city with some skill and one in a dozen of those as practiced as I. I am a spirit-talker, a shaman-"

He goes over the basics again: Talking to spirits and animals (though that's harder), doing little rituals to calm or influence them, banishing ghosts, minor and slightly less minor blessings with more little rituals, minor earth/water/air/fire manipulation, petty illusions, object reading, an intuition to peoples' alignment on the four metaphorical conceptbundles of the elements, his body is magically reinforced and heals faster (that's probably not useful, he's mentioning it just to be thorough)-

"And with time I can develop new skills that have a decent metaphorical link to one of the elements. I developed object-reading this way through a metaphor with water. Oh, and I have no information on whether offworlders are capable of learning this, but I can teach it. Usually it's an apprenticeship but mostly for lack of good candidates, I'm not attached to doing it that way."

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"You could get pilot funding to check if people could learn it. How quick would you expect results?"

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He stops to carefully think for a long moment before answering. "I don't want to overpromise. Assuming a few good candidates who are really trying and put a day or two of solid effort per week in - not all in one block - a week at the earliest for it to become clear whether it's possible at all. If there's no signs at all after three months, I'd call it hopeless. I'll be able to tell if they're making progress before any students do. Getting to useful results would take longer, I want to say six months to a year to be able to find and start talking to the most cooperative spirits? With no guarantees that any particular person has the right aptitude."

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"All right. Do you have a very loose estimate of how many shamans like you there might be on your planet?"

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"...Maybe a dozen in each kingdom, more in some cultures so... More than four hundred, less than two thousand?"

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"Do you have a guess how many of them are better than you at teaching, more interested in money, or both?"

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"Haha, it's hard to tell. I don't have a good estimate of my teaching skills. I'd say I'm probably unusually interested in money and in the most skilled decile for pure technical skill, and since empathy is a big part of that there's likely not zero correlation between that and teaching ability."

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"Great. Based on that and the fact that no other shamans have come by here yet, I can probably offer you a grant for teaching a class - how many students would you ideally take at once?"

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"Hmm... Ideally I'd screen some folks who think they might fit for the length of a conversation, then an hour long group intro session, and then pick up to a dozen promising sorts and schedule them across from each other. I'm not sure how many I should screen, how much volunteering pre-screens them as it were."

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"Well, a lot, but we can filter by practically anything besides personal rapport with you. A dozen to be tutored one-on-one winnowed from a candidate pool of...?"

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"I've never done this before, you know," he says lightly. "So if I were actively looking for students instead of passively watching for good ones I'd need to talk to thousands of people. Maybe a hundred and then more if it's not enough? With some filtering that I have to think about for a minute."

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"All right, take your time."

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"The ideal shaman," he says slowly, "Is empathetic - and not just with the kinds of people they're familiar with. They should be curious and observant. They should be in tune with their emotions, be able to understand what they feel and why. They should be good at meditation and focus, able to take strange and specific states of mind deliberately. They should enjoy spending time in nature. They should think they'd do well picking at - I'm struggling to put this into words - entangled interconnected concepts that don't have one specific correct interpretation? Philosophy? This is an emotional and spiritual skill, not a technical or mathematic one. Artistic skills or poetry or musical ability would correlate but is not strictly necessary. None of these are specifically crucial, this is just my best attempt at a list of traits a good shaman has or can at least emulate."

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"All right, I can list those as filtration criteria if we have a glut and also nice-to-haves for the volunteers themselves to consider," says Revna. "When would you be ready to start?"

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"I've no competing obligations, though I'm getting tired, it's been a long day. I know a few places on the planet below that would be good for lessons, I might need a teleporter to offer rides."

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"How many rides are we talking about? There are some idling teleporters as long as this planet's brand new but they'll peel off to other places as things settle out."

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"...Being close to actual spirits who are known quantities to me is going to be important eventually but if teleporters are as rare as all that perhaps I should look for recommendations of natural areas that people can get to without so much fuss and investigate some, for the initial phase."

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"I'll add 'teleportation quals' as a nice-to-have for the students, shall I," says Revna.

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"May as well. I don't know how you-collectively operate yet, though I'm trying to learn. Big world out there."

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"Enormous!" says Revna enthusiastically. "All right, we should have candidates filtered by tomorrow, if you want to go get some sleep."

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"Miss Lisa also mentioned that you would be interested to know what people are good at and might find jobs with, and presumably also what they value if you're a merchant? Also, would that be aboard ship or shall I beg a ride back down to Goldvalley and find an inn?"

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"I am interested in that! You can have a guest room - let's see - 446 is open."

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"446, got it. Well I can talk a bit more now. Actually - I just realized I don't actually know how to use this-" He peels off the pay card from his cardboard sign where it sits against the chair. "I don't usually handle money honestly, since it's dangerous to carry too much silver on you and I travel so often. Oh, that's the first big thing - offplanet travel is going to be very popular. A lot of people would probably pay just to hop up and see the starscape, once they realize that's an option. Space is a big cultural motif."

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"Ooh, we can put in an orbital bus station if that'll be popular instead of going directly to Station One."

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"I think it would! The rest of it - I'm not sure what'll be unexpectedly popular, having never made contact with a new world before - exotic spices, sugar and cheap meat, healing magic, fine cloth, shiny metal gadgets, immortality rings - there might be murders over those if people don't join, ironically enough - all that will go well. Most people are farmers. Most of the rest are craftsmen of some kind or another, and most of the rest of the rest are soldiers. I'm not sure you really have much need for any of those."

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"Not a speck but they can retrain!" says Revna cheerily. "Okay, that's not fair, some people will buy handmade crafts as souvenirs, but practically speaking."

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"I wonder what the Delvers are making of all this. I don't know much about them - I barely know they exist, honestly."

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"- who might those be?"

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"Oh, it's said that there were once three races of humanity. The farmers, us, the delvers who mined ore and made machines, and the enforcers who fought invaders and crime. Enforcers all died with honor fighting dragons - or were brutal oppressors who were all justly murdered by we farmers depending on who's telling the story - delvers were scattered and shattered, and farmers slowly picked up the pieces. But I once saw a delver in a heavy suit of metal with a curious helmet that covered the face and had an odd piece sticking off the front, like an absurd tongue. From what I understood of what I saw, I think they have an - not an agreement but an understanding with outsiders. It was an odd scene, one party leaves goods lying on the ground and pounds on the great vault door, then retreats off to the surrounding hills. The delvers exit and leave baubles or metal as well, what they propose to trade for the first item, and then retreat inside. After that either the trade is made or rejected depending on what the first party takes without ever having to stand face to face. Or within bow range."

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"Huh. I'm not sure we noticed those. We'll have to be more thorough. How sure are you the Enforcers are all dead? Any other kinds of people?" wonders the Dwarf, typing rapidly.

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"Not very sure, honestly! Well, dragons and spirits and some or possibly most animals. There's tales of tiny aliens living in stumps and moving metal giants and living dreams that move from mind to mind and fey creatures luring people astray and a special rock where the star lords can hear you and a race of ugly Fishmen who make pacts with dragons and creatures made of living slime with odd artifacts. I've never encountered any of that personally, unlike the delver meeting place.

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"Wow. Okay. Forensics'll have to go over this place with a fine-toothed comb."

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"Dragons by repute really like shiny gold and silver and gems, though I've never met one." He yawns. "I'll be happy to try and help figure out if certain animals count as people to you folks, it sounds like that could get messy."

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"It could. There's big subsidies for non-animal meat, to displace eating even ordinary animals that aren't at all bright. Are you going to be all right finding your room on your own?"

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"I was shown around the guest rooms earlier, I'll be fine. But that's a sign it's time for me to go. This was a pretty productive conversation." He nods and smiles and stands to gather his bags.

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"Mm-hm! I'll get back to you if anything comes up regarding the grant or the student filtration process."

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In a dragon-territory in the jungle, after patiently waiting for the better part of a day, an elf receives a visitor-dragon, heralded by a veritable cacophony of animal braying and other noises.

Behold! the rooster on the dragon's head crows - it is somehow obvious that the rooster and not anything else is initiating the telepathy here.

Our Benevolent Master Approaches You! The Greatness Of The Dragons Is Clear For All To See And We The Finest Specimens Of Good Beasts Selected As Few Among Many Are Humbled To Receive Their Wisdom And Guidance And We Provide Obeisance In Turn. The Speaker Of Many Ways, The One Who Will Truly Master The Great Green, The Windy And Earthen Magician, Has Claimed This Territory, Two-Legged One! They Were Previously Occupied Mediating A Dispute Among Bears, Creating Harmony With Careful Thought. They Communicate Silently With Me, The Herald, And Allow Me To Sing Their Praises And Make Their Intent Clear. The Woodsinger Has Divined A Trembling In The Spirits That Indicates A Great Change To Come, And Before Sun Rests A Strange Visitor Who Knows Proper Courtesy Arrives. The Verdant One Declares That You Have Something To Do With It And Requests That You Explain Yourself!

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Hello, replies the Elf, yes, I'm a representative of Vanda Nossëo, a group of peoples from other suns and planets in other worlds, who have recently come here hoping to make things better for everyone.

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Our Emerald Lord Proclaims That 'Better' Is A Broad Concept That Can Mean Many Things To Different Minds, And That 'Everyone' Cannot Oft Be Pleased, As The Fox's Survival Necessitates The Rabbit's Demise.

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If there are foxes here who would go hungry if we protected the rabbits, we can provide them with meat that no rabbits had to die for. We find that's often possible.

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If You Claim The Phenomenal Power To Create Sustenance From Nothing, The Forest Of Feathers Would See Such A Thing In Action Before Making Judgement.

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I don't personally have this power but I can ask a colleague who does to come here, if your lord wishes.

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The Beast-Lord, Curious About The Ways Of The Tailless Ones, Is Willing To Receive Further Guests If They Will Be Courteous.

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Thank you, says the Elf, and a moment later a teleporter drops off a demon. The demon glances at the menagerie and produces something that will probably be appetizing to a member therof.

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A pack of squirrels and two rams nibble at it.

This Is Indeed Sustenance From Nothing, Unless You Use The Very Same Method With Which You Appear Yourselves. The World Hesitates And The Wind Changes With Such Silent Magic. Whence, We All Ask As One, Does This Strange Power Come From?

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(The demon and the teleporter leave.)

The magics of Vanda Nossëo come from many worlds; that one is from one called Hell, replies the Elf.

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You Exhibit Mysterious Power Of At Least Two Entirely Separate Kinds, And Seem To Have The Intent To Meddle As Humans And The Like Do. Our Lord Would Warn You Against The Woe Of Underestimating The Power Of A Dragon!

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I have no wish to antagonize your lord.

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The Flowering Of Wisdom In Their Appreciation For The Diverse Beasts Of The World Would Be Content To Receive Tribute Of Flesh And Plantflesh Of Many Types As Well As Some Small Trinkets And Cease Their Own Hunting, Enforcing This Law Similarly Upon The Lesser Carnivores, If There Is Some Way To Ensure The Future Population Of The Jungle Remains Balanced When Food Is Plentiful And Predation Nonexistent.

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It's possible to prevent the conception of new animals when there is no room for more, and we can provide the means to do so for most if not all species here, replies the Elf happily.

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Our Benevolent Lord Celebrates Your Arrival And Announces That Their Claim To This Territory Is Strong, But Rejoices When The Meeting Of Two Leads To More Things That Both Want. The Menagerie-Crown Wishes To Hear How One Would Accompish This In Greater Detail, And Also Of The Lands From Which You Hail.

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So the Elf can explain how various animal contraceptives work, and about various worlds in Vanda Nossëo (she herself is from Elentári).

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This dragon (whose rooster seems to have run out of new titles for) asks more about Elentári and eventually does start 'speaking' for themself.

They are at at least half as dramatic as the rooster and have lots of questions about the wider world and other animals and offer to give the elf a tour of their territory (to show it off) and introduce them to a lot of animals and spirits. Some of their close menagerie has wandered off but there are still a couple dozen small rodents, a tusked boar, a large ram, some birds, and a black bear.

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The Elf would love to be introduced.

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The dragon settles down back a ways, sitting on their haunches with wings folded up at their sides and front 'claws' right under their neck, like an oversized cat.

These animals are much 'quieter' than most thinkers, but still discernable. The rodents are mostly concerned about food, nesting space, and snakes. Their Lord has apparently brokered an agreement between squirrels and birds to share treespace rather than fighting over it. The birds talk loudly about things they have seen recently and about how they are very smart. The boar, Quiet Tooth, asks if the Elf has any truffles. The bear is named Dusk and only sends back sleepy acknowledgement unless asked a question.

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The Elf does not have any truffles on her but if that should be in the food shipments she will make a note of it! Are the snakes not part of the awakened community here, are they going to keep on trying to eat the rodents even given food from space?

(Elsewhere, the MO with dragons is gradually shifting frame to: Vanda Nossëo would like to offer dragons tribute to honor their benevolence with light nudging about what kind of benevolence they find worthy of honor.)

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They shouldn't listen to those treacherous snakes! But with meat that doesn't run away available they'll probably be fine just being their usual lazy selves. Dusk the bear agrees; Hunting is tiring and stressful.

There are other animals to meet - eagles and owls, fish and badgers. There's a sliding scale here; The birds repeat things a lot and don't show much critical thinking or learning ability. When they decide the Elf is safe to approach and land on, they all seem to get the message at once through some invisible cue, but don't show any more overt signs of hivemind-ness. The rodents act similarly. The fish and snakes are pretty much limited to wanting food, a comfortable resting spot, and not wanting to get eaten. The pack of wolves bark and bray at the dragon to stay away but allow the elf to approach and are on the much smarter end of things. Wild horses and goats seem slightly more complicated than the fish and snakes but still very dim, and the tiger the dragon introduces cracks jokes about their menagerie, calling them a walking circus and laughing, before accepting the offer of food that it doesn't have to kill.

(Dragons vary a lot in how they respond to this, but 'slightly better' is the rule. More of them actually bother to answer if they are being complimented, some of them will show off magic powers to bait more compliments. A few will accept donations of food but many are very defensive about interference in their territory and quite a few completely reject the idea of not hunting, seemingly on a 'this is the way it has always been done' line of reasoning.)

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The Elf rather likes having birds land on her, although she would prefer they not land on her hair.

Hopefully after enough dragons have taken them up on their offers it will be less obvious to other dragons that "this is the way it has always been done" is a good line of argument. Elves can be patient.

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In a remote, hilly region claimed by a red dragon who wants nothing to do with Vanda Nossëo save warning them from intruding on its tunnel network, there is a Delver enclave, easily found once you know where to look. While they don't have a surface city, they do have a massive steel door, well maintained, carved into the hillside. There is a dirt trail leading off to the north and another to the east, both eventually leading to human-claimed lands but both only infrequently trafficked by armed caravans.

If an envoy knocks on the great vault door and remains nearby, they refuse to come out. Only once the envoy leaves a note or something and retreats away will they emerge to look at it.

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Thanks to Solomon's information they will try that! It's a phone, not a note, they don't know any specific delvers to try aiming to be understood by in writing.

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They seem to know what a phone is! They poke and prod it carefully for a bit, then turn it on and connect, still standing out in the open.

"Who or what is this communicator connected to?"

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"Hello," says the voice at the other end, "my name is Anjiang and I represent Vanda Nossëo."

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"How can you speak this language? And who or what is Vanda Nossëo?" The tone is cautious and suspicious. "I assume this is a contact attempt and not a trade offer for a communicator of unknown make. May we take the communicator inside?"

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"I don't speak your language; I am using translation magic," says Anjiang. "You may take the communicator inside. This is a contact attempt, yes."

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"Hold."

The call ends, the two Delvers take the phone and retreat inside, they call again a few minutes later. A slightly different male voice this time.

"Is your 'magic' capable of affecting things remotely? That is, is it currently affecting me or the communicator? Also, what do you wish to communicate?"

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"Some magic is capable of affecting things remotely; my translation magic is only capable of affecting me. Vanda Nossëo has come to this planet to extend offers of trade and goodwill and membership in the Vanda Nossëo federation to all the peoples on it."

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"If you represented the origin you would have begun using code phrases by now. Where do you come from? We are Mine 556. We have learned extreme caution and would like to avoid most contact with outsiders. We are generally willing to trade, and do not intend any aggressive action except in self defense."

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"That makes sense. Our intentions are completely peaceful, but we can at least establish a track record as trade partners before asking you to take our word for it. Unlike other traders we don't much value physical objects. Instead we like stories - true or untrue - that help us learn about people. Will you trade us those in exchange for our goods? We usually distribute food, lights, heaters, magical contraceptives, healing objects, and other things depending on the needs of the people who will be receiving them; is there anything in particular you would like?"

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"Mmh. The majority of our material situation is classified. Most stories that aren't entirely fictional could imply things about our preparations and defenses. If you demonstrate the ability to divine such information without our help that becomes irrelevant. Alternately there is pure fiction or things the surfacers would know already. We often purchase exotic food, wood and pelts and cloth, and artifacts of various makes. Filtration masks and oxygen supply systems would be valuable. I... Suppose we could try a healing object and see if it has side effects."

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"We're happy to accept fiction or things the surfacers already know. We can also demonstrate information about your circumstances down there if you like. Filtration masks and oxygen systems are easy, on top of food and wood and textiles. What kind of artifacts interest you?"

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"Most artifacts traders bring, they do not understand how to use, and so they offer them cheaply. If they are broken they can be repaired or salvaged. I think artifacts from another world would not have these properties. If you can spy on us we would rather know and know what you know."

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"Among the kinds of magic Vanda Nossëo employs is a kind that allows the conjuration of copies of arbitrary material objects, such as all of you and your homes."

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"Hold."

The call drops.

 

Ten minutes later,

"It would simplify things greatly if you demonstrated your modeling ability, with no further information from our end."

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"All right. This phone can send pictures. In a few minutes I'll send some pictures of some models."

And he does, once the forensics demon up on the ship has made some and taken photos.

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They have quite a network of tunnels and reinforced halls and hardpoints and boltholes down there. The largest single space is some sort of mass mausoleum divided into sections and levels, with tens of thousands of sarcophagi in rows along walls and lots of decoration. All of the outer tunnels including several that open to hidden parts of other nearby hills have traps and sensors and guard posts all over them, and the path down from the main entrance is the most heavily fortified of all.

If they can do that, they're an insurmountable threat. They probably could have gotten the old codes if they wanted to. "...Right, so all the paranoia was completely pointless. We appreciate the demonstration. I still don't think we want to invite outsiders inside. Do you want to send down more phones and talk to more people?"

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"Sure can!"

More phones are delivered presently, and more representatives set up at the far end.

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Soon they are speaking to the one they were speaking to before, Security Authority Fremen Shotgun. He tells them a story about the last time the 'red menace' (the dragon) tried to raid them and got away with a few mining tools and severely injured two guards.

As well as Parts Authority Salah Crusher, who wants to know if they can create some fairly specific replacement parts with model numbers they they've been low on forever.

And Hydroponics Authority Maksin Masks, who opens with a rant about how nobody appreciates how hard it is to keep soil bacteria alive and what the lengths he has to go to with fertilizer to manage it, since they want stories that's one!

And Medical Authority Komuran Driller who would like that healing object please and then tells them about reviewing her own life extension therapies and deciding they're working just as expected, estimated 30% morbidity at 200 and 60% at 250, right along the average.

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They can do parts. They can do healing objects (these people seem technologically savvy enough to understand a pause button, so they get a little battery operated music player instead of an illusion rock with a sound baffle box).

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The parts Salah wants appear to mostly be various kinds of computer chips, but there's some absurdly powerful magnets and other weird stuff like laser lenses in there too.

Can they have all the stories various people tell be paid into a central mine account that is used at the authority of the Authorities?

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Unconventional, but sure, why not. If they don't want to tie up the phones, stories can be delivered in writing by signing them "Story Mail 44901 sugarglider".

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Right, the spying capabilities. They'll use the phones only for realtime conversations then. Is there anything they want to know specifically or want to address politically?

Stories include: This one time my friend insisted we'd hit uranium but the geology is all wrong for uranium and I was right, it was sulfates! The creche minder used to make me play with all the other kids even though I just wanted to be alone, I know we are stronger together but sometimes I just want to be alone. We had a screaming argument about security spending vs expanding the mausoleum last general session, it took days to resolve, honestly are we even delvers anymore if we don't honor the dead properly??? A fictional tale about the curious miner who delved too greedily and without backup and was rescued through heroic efforts of his peers and learned to be a team player as the moral of the story. A dramatic rendition set to music of the most recent battle against the Red Menace, who was forced to flee before the might of shocksticks and shotguns!

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They can explain the values and goals of Vanda Nossëo!

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"Does freedom of travel include allowing people in or just out?"

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"Just out. You don't have to let anyone in, although we recommend being clear about your entry criteria to anyone considering leaving in case they might not be welcome back."

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"We do have laws against murder, rape, and kidnapping and we'd be happy to hold a population-wide vote on the matter, but... The defense agreement and resurrections are extremely appealing. But we are pretty wary of joining a federation - not to mention, if we resurrect everyone we would need to expand or leave the hold, and that would probably complicate things given that a dragon also roams this area. Not to mention that our ancestors... Cannot currently be consulted and may be offended to have joined a strange new governmental structure without their consent, as it were."

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"Those are all very reasonable concerns. We haven't been able to get on speaking terms with the local dragon, unfortunately. You could, if you wished, settle somewhere else entirely? I don't know how attached you are to this exact location on this exact planet."

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"Do you know what happened to the Origin? Our records show that they planned to retreat for repairs and rearmament after the Great Destroyer ignited the sky. They seem to have abandoned us, and if that is the case we would have no more attachment here than a sentimental one."

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"With more information we can conjure for that the same way we conjured for models of your hold, but we'd need to know more, like maybe when they left exactly."

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They can look that up! The early records are kind of a mess but they have it down to a 30 year period thousands of years ago, that corresponds with that massive battle at the other destroyed mine they found.

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They will put the forensics demon on it till they narrow things down.

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...Funnily enough, there were a whole lot of weird spaceships full of weird humanoid aliens who put the three kinds of humans down on the planet. They weren't anywhere in this world before that and they weren't anywhere in this world after a bunch of them were destroyed by unconjurable negative space in the shape of a dragon the size of Madagascar, either.

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......gosh.

Are normal dragons unconjurably negative space too?

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Allmother is, as is some of her territory. The rest of the ones they've talked to aren't.

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Then they can relay to the Delvers that it looks like they came from another universe originally, and they don't know which one but it doesn't seem to be one they've discovered yet, and there are no more left in this universe and a lot of them were destroyed. It is of course possible that there are still some in whatever universe they came from though.

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"....So the Fall was complete after all." The Security Authority sighs. "Do you suppose we could get temporary defensive support while we continue to discuss matters with you and consider the offer to join Vanda Nossëo? We'll need a Special Session of the General Congress for discussion before the vote itself, and we can't just drop everything and start one right away anyway."

(The other three Delver enclaves that still exist in the world are following broadly similar conversation paths, if differing in the exact details. They don't seem to be in contact with each other.)

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"Is it just the dragon you're worried about, or is there another source of threat?"

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"No, it's pretty much the dragon. They are deadly cunning and have plagued us for hundreds of years. The one before it left us alone, but I suppose this one killed it or something."

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"We haven't been able to get through to the dragon, but we can move the person trying to talk to it to the border between its territory and yours and give her some company that should be able to keep it off you, if it's a narrow chokepoint."

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"We have many old tunnels, former and current mine routes. It stings, but we could collapse most of them since you seem capable of providing for material needs. This is sounding less and less appealing, however, I don't think I can agree to it on my own at this point."

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"Well, if you can get it down to a narrow chokepoint, we can cover it with relatively free resources, since we have some float staff on the ship who could take a dragon, but we don't have thirty of them without calling for reinforcements, which we can't do for a nonmember state."

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"Hm. We'll think about it." And then he has more questions about their laws and court system, which can be answered just fine.

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The dragon called Warden goes to the same spot they previously met a Vanda Nossëo repesentative, precisely 48 hours later. 

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The Elf assigned to the Warden, Yávemar, has been camping out there off and on, and is taking a little nap, but a dragon's approach is plenty to wake her up. Hello!

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Hello. After a journey through the Dreaming I have decided I want to leave my territory to its fate, lost or reclaimed later, and go try to learn song magic, because it is very strange and aesthetically appealing and potentially very powerful.

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Oh! Remarkable. If you want to immigrate to a Vanda Nossëo world, you will need to be able to follow the laws there; there are many choices of exact places to reside, with different local laws, of course, and you can choose any that will have you.

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Yes, I did not mean I wished to depart this very moment. I must understand you and yours much better before I become a guest-of-sorts. ('Immigration' did not quite make sense.) Just as you have learned the proper songs to call me. I am intrigued by the hints of deep order I hear in your thoughts. Interactions between dragons are generally not orderly even when Tradition is followed. What would you ask in exchange for a lesson in such things?

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I would be happy to teach you for nothing, but if that would be objectionable, I would like my comb back; I didn't know when I came here that you were so fond of shiny things and didn't bring it specifically for giving away.

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Something for something, and nothing for nothing, Warden says firmly. The head feathers twitch slightly, but they ever-so-gently pull it off of where it's tucked into feathers and carefully set it down on the grass before backing away.

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Yávemar puts it back in her own hair, and begins patiently teaching about the kinds of worlds that make up Vanda Nossëo and how the peoples on them live.

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Warden has no point of reference for any of this and needs things like 'the laws are very specific and written down' and 'people lie sometimes' and 'we divide responsibility for things among different people' explained.

Warden does understand that there are complex social rules that aren't the same ones dragons use at play, and keeps asking for examples and analysis of basic politeness by human and elven standards.

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Yávemar is very patient about explaining all these things. The laws are specific and written down, and sometimes amended as new things come up. People lie, but when it's important there's truth magic. She has read etiquette books by several species and can recite from them to illustrate concrete examples.

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A show of strength would get dragons to take you more seriously, Warden comments after learning about the practice of security fairies. Teleportation is scary but does not scan as an overwhelming power that cannot be defeated on an emotional level. That causes us to grow defensive and want to intimidate or avoid you. But a show of strength like effortlessly lifting a huge boulder would cement you as superiors in raw power and lead to greater respect.

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Huh. We can send more fairies in and have them move things around.

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I would not guarantee my insight is true in all cases, but I am glad to provide it and answer your questions as well. With the comb returned to you, it is knowledge for knowledge and I still have many more questions. Which I thank you for answering.

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You're welcome! I love teaching.

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Warden has more questions, then!

After about an hour and a half, We have reached my patience for conversation for now. If I return tomorrow at dawn and rest midday I will be able to speak to you again in the evening. Would this be acceptable?

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Yes, that's fine by me.

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Very well. Goodbye for now, Yávemar. I look forward to tomorrow.

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Goodbye. Yávemar returns to her little camp.

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The Elf sent to the supposed territory of Darktooth the Wise may notice a strange eagle settling on a tree nearby and watching them intently.

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Hello, the Elf tries, addressing the eagle.

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Hello.

I who oft serve as an Envoy of the dragon known as Darktooth am called Ember, o two-legged visitor. While my own mind is limited, I understand your importance. My parent-of-spirit has heard rumors from the spirits of wind and the watching owls of your arrival. Visitor from another Reality, I have come to answer your Song of Annunciation. I greet you on Darktooth's behalf.

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My name is Artië and I am pleased to meet you, replies the Elf. I am curious what the rumors have to say.

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I am pleased to meet a new mind as well. The rumors speak of a great change and strange visitors who appear and vanish as they wish, wielding powerful magic. Lord Darktooth watches many things, and has seen your (clan/web) interacting with the Humans, have seen you approach dragons as well. They have heard your claims of peaceful intent, and seen your starship high above, and concluded that you are not the Others which caused the time of woe so long ago. Lord Darktooth remembers that time personally.

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I'm curious to learn more about that if it wouldn't distress him to discuss.

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I am not sure. My lord considers it a sacred secret; Part of the Test of Wisdom put forth to urge improvement in young and impulsive dragons. O Artië, I ask for myself in this case - what drives so many minds to go forth and help others? My first thought is that you expect to benefit from this, growing the structure of power that you are a part of, or that you simply Love more than your own family, as some kinds do.

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We do care for people outside of our own family, yes. Everyone, everywhere.

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Those who love another are often furthering their own essence at a remove. They love their children, siblings, or even the whole of their species. But to love everyone, everywhere, why do you do that?

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We have values other than to further our own essence. Though as it happens cooperating with others on a grand scale is a good way to become powerful and wealthy and many do pass that on to their families.

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Yes, the mysterious tendency of minds to create such complications as 'values' other than mere survival... I would enjoy discussing philosophy with you or yours some other time. For now, I have been bid to ask what you would ask of Darktooth, what the nature of your (web/hive) is, what your intentions are towards we, the empowered children-in-spirit, and deliver all this news. Either they or I will return to you before this day is out.

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We would like to have lines of communication with all of the peoples of this world, and it seems that dragons and the animals like you that live with them are all peoples unto themselves and Darktooth one of the greatest. We have things to trade. Vanda Nossëo has many member states, whose people vote to join, and everyone can move around freely between any places that will have them to learn from and enjoy all the parts of the multiverse that appeal to them. We are construing empowered animals like you as people and are not as sure about those who haven't been empowered; I believe one intelligent swarm of rats, not belonging to a dragon's entourage but still not a typical rat family, has already moved to Vanda Nossëo. However, our normal operations include trying to displace as much meat consumption as possible and we're pushing that harder on this planet because it seems likely even unaffected animals are somewhat more important to protect than those from other biospheres.

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The eagle bows its head from upon its branch and declares, I will leave now to bring this news. As I said, an answer will come today.

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Two hours later, an enormous flying figure swoops down from over the mountains, before landing in a loud rustle of wind and the thump of something heavy hitting the ground, hundreds of feet away. This dragon is even larger than Allmother is, a figure that might not fit down a city street.

Hello. I am called Darktooth. It is good to meet you, envoy. Whenever there is a great change in the world, we must meet it with due caution and understanding. Only a fool decides there is nothing to learn.

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It is good to meet you too, I appreciate your coming to see me, replies the Elf.

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I have been told you have questions about our history. Ordinarily I task those who wish to learn it with a series of trials meant to shape young minds and temper the exuberance of youth with wisdom, but that is irrelevant now. Aside from your mind and essence being fundamentally different, your role is as well. I am not your elder. What do you wish to know?

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We are still lacking a lot of basic knowledge about dragons, the history of the conflict with humans, the way you alter animals, and what things are likely to be good ways for us to help dragons flourish without sacrificing anyone else's well-being.

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As of yet I have very little perspective for how you reason and act. My song on these matters may lack clarity. This dragon's thoughts are very neat and tidy, actually, with almost none of the associative and emotional leakage every other dragon has. It goes against both our instincts and learned impulses to share knowledge freely. We conceptualize accumulated knowledge and wisdom as a Treasure, something not to be shared without cause. In this case I am willing to explain the history in question from my perspective and offer general information on other topics. Upon further thought or for some kind of payment I may offer more specific information.

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Thank you. I'm happy to answer your questions in return if there's anything you'd like to know.

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I personally am approximately twenty-six thousand years old, with much of that time spent in hibernations and estivations. I have no reliable record of the origins of dragons. There are two common interpretations to the myth 'true children of Sun and Earth'. That we were created by the vast spirits of Sun and Earth, as lords, guardians, and caretakers for the lesser spirits and animals. That we evolved into the complex beings we are today over many eons, slowly gaining a stability of spirit that allows our existence in shapes that no animal could support of purely flesh.

This state of affairs with the early dragons living as they did continued for a very long time - tens of millions of years. During this time the one now called the Ruiner was the Greatest Dragon. Then the Others - who are not human but something else, colder and less emotional - appeared without warning. After a brief century-long period of scouting, the creation of cities and outposts, and skirmishes between us and their lesser vessels, they used their starships to engineer bombardment with large rocks from space, as well as inducing volcanic activity and similar things, I believe in response to escalating attacks from dragons. It was a time of great woe and immense death. At this point we did not accept humans as worthy of consideration. They were invaders who did not feel emotion in a recognizable way, automata to be destroyed. We did not understand their weapons or their reasons for such destruction. We could do very little to oppose them, and it seemed as though all would end for our kind and silence would reign forever.

The Ruiner was unmade by the pain of such loss. A being of immense power, she called forth all her 'children' - all dragons in the world - compelling us to fight at her side and empowered by a divine fury. Her rage and fury created a strength of magic like none before or since. We destroyed a great many of the Others and the Humans now living on the planet. This is a holy tragedy; She was the greatest symbol of Creation, and made herself into utter Destruction, and all the world suffered for it. We burned the Earth once again, fire and destruction reigning everywhere. However, even the Ruiner could not destroy the Others. They vanished, only to reappear with far larger starships than before. These greater ships stuck out not with beams of radiative light or flocks of guided missiles or metal projectiles, but with incomprehensible weapons that seemed to shred space and matter on a fundamental level that I still do not understand. Even this could not slay the Ruiner, though it drove her into the burning interior of the Earth.

We were utterly defeated, and the world burned around us.

And then they left. 

I was not there to see what happened next, like every other surviving dragon I had retreated deep underground in the hope of safety after the Ruiner's fall. It is impossible to tell for certain how long our estivation was, but it was surely thousands of years. When we emerged, the Others in their starships were nowhere to be seen, and the remaining humans, the farmers, were scratching their way through life using simple stone and bone tools, while the delvers continued desperately maintaining equipment they no longer knew how to repair. Nature had largely recovered, in a different shape than before but recognizable and comforting. Dragons were ascendant once again, with many births and much development and life occurring since then.

They hated we dragons, acting with fear and anger whenever one was seen. We dragons also hated humanity, symbol of our ruination. The humans slowly grow more numerous and sophisticated, with the discoveries of the use of fire, of clay, of slave-animals, and then metal. It seemed clear to us that the arc of history was aimed at an inevitable confrontation; The humans would create ever greater machines, using the natural world to their advantage and destroying nature to suit their own whims, as the consummate tool-makers they are. Eventually we would be driven back and exterminated one by one, piecemeal. Matters would come to a head in the next century or two. Then, however, you arrived. With this perhaps... An understanding and a way forward that does not require yet more destruction.

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It is our dear hope that no more destruction will be called for. Why were humans a symbol of the ruination if the Others who attacked were not human?

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While the Others were their lords, the three castes of humanity were complicit. They were pilots and soldiers none the less, going about their work with purpose and eagerness. They are the ones who built the cities and wielded those guns and clear-cut the forests and consider dragonflesh a rare delicacy.

My own plan if the situation became critical was to leave. I do not care to take revenge on humanity. It would accomplish nothing and only invite further revenge. I crave new discoveries, and I recognize that sometimes there is nothing that can make things right. Thus I have been studying the stars, and propulsion.

...You expressed curiosity in the way of altering animals.

The mere act of living near or deliberately singing knowledge to an animal tends to make it more aware of the world and all its possibilities by degrees. The minds of animals are ..... Compound. The minds of dragons are not mere flesh, but composed of both flesh and spirit. When mature, the spirit can in some cases interact and operate on its own, growing beyond the flesh. Animals are similar. They are supported by their inner spirits - patterns in the invisible layer of the Onesong that interact with brains. Animals' spirits often have a connection to many animals at once. If a dragon speaks to an animal, spirits tend to pay more attention to it, 'inhabit' it if you will, which strengthens the higher functions of such a mind. Complex animal thought is the thinking of mind-in-spirit tightly bound with mind-in-flesh. Either alone is far lesser. This can manifest in family structures with animals that tell stories to each other, hive-like behavior, the conceptualization of 'rumors' spreading throughout a species with no direct communication, or in a sort of ancestral memory. 

This is my own interpretation after very long observation and not a few experiments; I state it as a likely suspicion rather than a fact.

There is another way, fundamentally different in kind. 'Enkindling' is the art of constructing or grafting a new, artificial spirit for an animal, with accompanying bodily alterations. It is a deep and subtle art, but Enkindled animals are truly their own individuals, unlike the good beasts of the land who are simply tightly entangled with wider spirits.

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...is the rat swarm likely to have trouble being in another world away from the ambient spirits here?

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I don't know. It would be fascinating to interview them. I would also greatly enjoy hearing more about the other planets you hail from!
 

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She can list the most interesting ones! Would you like to explore more of the multiverse, perhaps visiting them?

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Extremely so. And yet matters here are very important, and such explorations can be deferred.

'What things are likely to be good ways for us to help dragons flourish without sacrificing anyone else's well-being' is not something that is easy to answer. I would first hear what ways you help other beings flourish, and what constitutes a sacrifice to well-being.

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Well, most planets we find have humans or species that are mostly like humans on them. We alleviate material scarcity, encourage them to travel or emigrate if they don't find their home satisfactory, teach them things that they want to know, encourage them to join Vanda Nossëo entirely so that we can construe protecting them from outside threats as part of our mandate, and solve any natural disasters or other issues that are endangering them, so they can all be safe and free and have opportunities to grow. But we won't help them make war on their neighbors, or let them join us while they keep people imprisoned or enslaved who would prefer to be elsewhere that we can offer.

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Darktooth sends 'I am considering this carefully' for a while.

 

 

 

There are cases where our kind can trade or interact constructively with your kind, but I do not think they are the norm. I think we are more flexible than the average dragon thinks we are, but I am under no illusions. There will be shock and alarm at the debasement of Shiny Things; But while the best treasure is truly rare, the allure of gold and gems is baked within our natures. That will be minor in comparison to the rest. For a diehard few, any cooperation with your federation will be an affront against our history, an unnatural perversion. Something to kill over, or die over. For a larger minority, the provision of meat and the obvious desire to see hunting reduced will parse as a similar debasement, with various sorts of justifications. A cunning plan to weaken us, make us reliant for an inevitable future betrayal, perhaps.

Preventing natural disasters, teaching lessons of far-off things, the ability to see new lands and perhaps even claim new territories, will be fulfilling to many...

Are the humans of this world likely to join your federation?

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I think so. Perhaps not all at once, but it's rare that we can't convince a low-tech human population, with some creativity.

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What would then happen if a dragon came to hunt in those lands? If they succeeded and killed humans, and if the dragon failed and died? If a party of dragonslayers came to hunt in ours and succeeded in killing a dragon? If they failed and died?

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If a group of humans joined Vanda Nossëo, we'd want to be confident that their borders weren't under active dispute, but then if a dragon attacked humans within those borders we would bring them back to life and put the dragon on trial, and if the dragon were killed in self-defense we would probably also try the killers in case they had other motives but they would most likely avoid punishment. Ideally someone would call for help and the dragon would be harmlessly removed. If people left their Vanda Nossëo homes to invade a dragon's territory and killed the dragon they would be tried and convicted, and the dragon restored to life at their expense; if they failed their loved ones might or might not bring them back, but the dragon, acting in self-defense and not belonging to Vanda Nossëo, would be left alone.

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I will have to publicize that if you attack humans and their powerful overlords, you are an idiot and deserve your fate. Darktooth's thoughts seem a bit frustrated and resigned on this. How can you restore a destroyed being to life?

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We might not be able to do it with dragons; you seem possibly too magical. Our usual method is to have a demon, that being a kind of person with the magic to make material objects, create a new body, and use magic from a wish-granting device local to the Mîr neighborhood to awaken the body.

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I am almost completely sure that will not straightforwardly work. I know for a fact that a dragon body or even egg with no spirit dies immediately. Possibly not for lesser beings and the humans from this universe, either. I am less sure there.

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We have ongoing research in how to enable resurrections for more species, and a waiting list for when it's one day possible. I don't know if it's been tried yet with a local human.

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Your magic seems fundamentally different from ours; When there is some trust, there may be great secrets to be discovered in the mingling. Trust... Fundamentally, you appear capable of doing whatever you want. None of us will like that, but we will... Accept it in time. After all, it is futile to complain about an irrefutable fact. Whatever we do from here, your presence will be regarded as interference by some. I am not yet sure how to sing a message such that you are a blessing, rather than meddling Others come to infest the planet once again.

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If there's anything we can do to be more uncomplicatedly regarded as good news we are eager to hear it.

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Get most of the humans off this planet.

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They might be happy to go. I can suggest that we emphasize the availability of colony planets as a signing perk. We can't force them off en masse.

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...

I do not have a clear sense of what you will consider unconscionable offenses or what you will consider meaningless pleasantries. I am a dragon who has never entered a city or spoken to more than one human at a time. Or for more than a very short time.

 

Thoughtfulness-transmitting pause.

 

My thoughts thrown forth for consideration. I am considering a state that does as little as it possibly can.

As for justifications... Some combination of: 

Dragons are (cool/inspiring/majestic) with powerful magic, we would be honored to have them join the federation. 

We would like to trade magic and knowledge and stories for exciting Treasure from beyond the very universe!

The war with the Others was a great tragedy; we will fight together against any such Others who wish to trample nature. 

This is the way the world will be; We can resist it as a rock resists the ocean, or we can join it and adapt to the ever-changing future in the image of Water. Do you wish to become sand against the march of time?

Pragmatic reasoning; Given that you are here and want us to join under whatever conditions or rules this means, what benefits can we extract for such a deal?

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If there isn't already a state - who would form your state?

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There is not a state. There are the dragons, we who consider ourselves lords of all we survey. There is Tradition, including the tradition of the Grand Moot when matters of great import are discussed, which is not a law at all. Past Moots have only defined the new Tradition. I would not call it a state. However, if we are to form a state, it must be at such a Grand Moot. That is the only acceptable time for a great change in dragonkind.

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Would all the dragons be - reasonably encompassed by such a change?

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All adult dragons are expected to fly forth and attend. (One is an adult dragon if one is capable of flight.) Juveniles cannot easily come to the Moot Island and would be in immense danger around so many adults. It is also a highly stressful event with our largely solitary nature and only being called in trying times.

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I admit I'm not sure to what extent young dragons are in the custody of their parents.

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Only one parent will take custody of an egg. The involvement will vary considerably between dragons, from merely teaching them lessons during the period they are conscious but unhatched, to actively guarding and feeding them for their first year or two. Taking too much care of one's young is seen as risking making them weak and reliant on outside aid. Never so much as a human child is cared for. I conclude this question is relevant to statehood somehow.

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Children are allowed to vote, so if they're confused about what's going on - and also can't read - it will be complicated to apprise them of their choices.

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I understand.

For that matter, the spirits of the land and of certain animals have as much agency as hatchlings. Those, I think, would largely vote in favor on the argument 'nothing will be allowed to eat you'. Even as this provides a complication in getting dragons to accept such a state. I have heard the animal followers of that amusing beast-befriending dragon to the west discussing such things already, apparently unconcerned with the notion of restricting how many children are born.

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I'm glad the animals don't seem attached to their typical birth rates.

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If the dragons rejected a state but the animals and spirits still wished to form one, that could be....... Troublesome. I do not think it likely; The very notion of a state will be difficult to express fully. Perhaps some groups of animals should receive one vote, if one spirit is their animating force.

Regarding the confusion of others. It is possible to create a magical announcement that would reach all spirits, aware animals, and dragons, even hatchlings, with the cooperation of enough dragons at a Grand Moot.

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Oh, good, I'm glad we won't have to figure out how to get their attention all individually. I don't think there will be a problem with some groups of animals voting jointly, if they're effectively hive minds.

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You have spoken to the Allmother, correct? I wish to speak to them on this matter as well and perhaps consider for a time before continuing.

Do you have members who are physically imposing and not humanoid? If a representative at a hypothetical Grand Moot is called for, such a person would be best.

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There are Andalites - not as big as a typical dragon, but they have four feet and bladed tails - Mental image.

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Darktooth sends back curious approval.

Elves already are better than humans, I think Andalites would be better yet- in initial impression at least.

Is there anything more that ought to be discussed now and not later?

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Do you want a ride to visit the Allmother?

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No. I will go on my own time, after announcing myself.

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Then that is all I have to say for now. Thank you for speaking with me. If you mark this piece of paper, we will understand it to mean that you would like me to come back. A bow, presenting the paper with a flourish, and then vanishment.

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Upon further forensics work, it turns out there is exactly one live 'Enforcer', the larger and stronger version of the human race, left in the world. She is covered in tattoos and scars, sleeping on a rock shelf, mostly naked, inside of what appears to be the volcano lair of a huge dragon magical enough to be unconjurable. There are only a few other living things inside the volcano lair, each in a room in a long spiral path down with a pile of treasure, like some sort of video game gauntlet.

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Welp. They will send an Elf to sing to the dragon.

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If they approach the peak of the volcano, they will be greeted by... A lone black rat whose thoughts are clear and sharp.

Oh, visitor. You now speak to Never-Ever, but a humble Enkindled servant of the Many-Times-Burned. You stand before the lair of an ancient dragon. The fourth lair, the proving-pit. Beware: Many enter, and few leave. We say this not to threaten, only to advise.

Why have you come here?

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Hello, Never-Ever. I have come because my people are trying to meet many dragons and learn from them, but also most particularly because the last living Enforcer is inside of that lair.

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You speak of Last, one of the Beholden who have come to my master and asked for their favor. She resides below, touched by the flames of ages to withstand the immense heat and placed as was agreed long ago.

Permalink Mark Unread

Placed? Is she in some kind of stasis?

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She is a guardian. My creator has decreed that strength is above all else. Those who wish to speak to the second-eldest dragon and ask for a boon must prove themselves in combat, descending through the chambers and facing their guardians, or by serving as guardians and accumulating sufficient victories. You need not end their lives to continue; Merely defeat them. If you descend, you will come before Last as the penultimate guardian.

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And she wanted this?

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Last came to us of her own free will, and fought ferociously. She spoke of being the last of her kind, of having buried countless kin. She asked to be made eternal, a living memory; And her request was granted. She did not leave.

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I see. I'm glad that her wish is being honored.

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This humble rat observes that the great and storied Vanda Nossëo may be able to grant the wish that lord Many-Times-Burned has always refused, no matter the victories and treasure Last accumulates to purchase it with.

The restoration of a lost race. Such a thing has seemed so terribly unlikely, a hope held as a dying ember in roiling ocean, but it may yet come to pass.

Permalink Mark Unread

Vanda Nossëo can resurrect the dead of some peoples. We do not know if it will work for peoples from this universe; there is more ambient magic affecting living things here than in most places.

Permalink Mark Unread

I see. So even you are not all-powerful.

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No. We're growing in power over time, but we are not all-powerful.

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None are, and none will be.

 

If you do not care to Descend through combat, there is nothing but barren rock and searing heat for you here, O visitor. If you wish to address this dragon, or their guardians, the path is always open.

Permalink Mark Unread

If we find, on attempting it, that humans from this world can be brought to life again, will the dragon wake Last so that she can give us names, and her people can join her again?

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If you fight your way to Last and make the offer, my lord would not deign to stop her departure.

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Would it be taken very much amiss to teleport directly to her?

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If that is within your abilities, no punishment will come of it. Those with power may do whatever that power affords them. Never-Ever seems slightly amused.

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Good, we wouldn't want to antagonize the dragon but not many people are going to be interested in fighting their way down. Thank you for your time.

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I find myself curious what will become of your Way, bound as I am to mine thanks to my soul set aflame. Until your return, goodbye. Never-Ever - vanishes as if teleporting away.

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Wow, cool. Teleporting rat.

On a planet this size it might take a while for anyone to collect enough money to pay for their request to jump the resurrection queue, but they can make available a modest subsidy and a money-back guarantee since it's experimental and see who bites first.

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There is a city spreading wildly across a river delta - not the Lake People, but a more flamboyant culture. The people here are richer than average for the world, though of course not by galactic standards. They are aggressively mercantile, and have been extremely eager to get products from outside the universe, as well as producing more interdimensional visitors than average. Their stories are almost all tales of derring-do and high drama from grudges (resolved violently or socially or legally, but always dramatically) to romance and sex shenanigans to tales of half-mythologized genius artists. They shout at each other and laugh loudly, dress in bright colors, sing and dance on the streets, throwing fruit and having fistfights and speed-painting in public with onlookers cheering.

This kid once climbed on the tower of Armsman's Bridge with his friends. This man wrestled an alligator for a bet, can you heal his hand? (He won the bet, it was worth it.) This woman is a prostitute and proud of it and once tarred and feathered a bad client. This woman beat her husband's lover in a boat-rowing competition and won the right to divorce him. This is the story of the sailor Mikas Galewind, a nobody who talked his way into taking over a band of pirates! This is another Mikas Galewind story, the time he tricked a foul sea serpent into letting the ship pass with a valuable secret that was no secret at all! This man had a singing competition with his hated rival and cunningly spied on the man, choosing a song to counter his opponent's.

The city is full with docks and theaters and open-air markets and public art. When the news about possible resurrection spreads, there are immediately seven different big public collection campaigns to pay for the return of fondly remembered artists. The collection of both stories and gold and silver for Samara Glory, architect and painter who made the glorious Sunrise Temple, reaches the threshold first.

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Vanda Nossëo counts up the gold and silver at the going rate as determined by their economists and puts Samara Glory in the queue; the donors will get their money back if it doesn't work.

Samara Glory's body is emplaced in a resurrection facility not far from Station One and poked by a magic rock.

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She groans. "Fucking fuck! What the screaming fire did I drink last night, goddamn." She looks around.

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One of the envoys to her city is sitting there. "Samara? Are you not feeling well?"

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"Yes? Fuck. No. Something's wrong. Where am I?" Squint. "Can't place your name."

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"We haven't met before. I'm Sai Ding," says the envoy. "What's wrong?"

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"Feels like the mother of all hangovers except in the feelings... Also, just hurts. The pain is fading but, ugh." She rubs a temple. "Where am I, please?"

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"You're in a resurrection facility on another planet," Sai Ding says. "I can take you home if you're ready."

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"Ha. Very funny, star lord. Did Luka put you up to this?"

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"I don't know who Luka is. My people recently made contact with your world, and your city took up a collection to have you resurrected. They'll be really happy to see you."

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"...You're serious. Resurrection is a thing."

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"Yes. Usually people wake up from it feeling fine, though, so it would be helpful to know more about how you're not feeling well - it might be something to do with the ambient magic situation on your planet."

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She rests her head in her hands, having managed to sit up. 

"I'm being so crude because it's- What I do when I get stressed. Sorry. I, uh. It kinda feels like I got my soul ripped out, if I were inclined to be poetic right now I'd say it better but. Yeah. It just - hurts, nowhere in particular, and I... feel like this is a dream where nothing matters because, you know, just a dream. And I'm not even. Properly amazed at being fucking resurrected on a different fucking planet."

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"...how about I take you home, and we see if you feel better there," suggests Sai Ding.

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"Oh I can't go back right now, no no no no. I'm in no shape to play the role."

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"Okay. How about I take you to somewhere else on your planet in case that helps?"

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"-Sure. Somewhere out in nature? By the sea? ...With more space clothes maybe. And thanks for bringing me back and all even if I kind of wish - hellfires, Tess is going to be so mad."

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"Sure." Sai Ding consults a picture of the planet and chooses a bit of uninhabited beach. Pop.

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"Wow."

 

Samara Glory sits on the beach for a while.

 

 

"Nature is the universe's best designer, you know. If you look close enough there's just... So much to see... It's getting better. I'm not sure if being here did it or being in nature did it, or just time passing. I still feel... Wrong somehow but it doesn't hurt."

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"I'm glad it's improving. Do you want to look at a clothes catalog?"

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"I don't know. I guess so. I kind of want to just... Walk into the waves and sink again. I mean..."

 

"I don't think they'll get their money's worth. Half the city probably paid in to bring me back. Right?"

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"Yes. But we agreed to give the money back if it didn't work. We weren't sure, since this world is more magical than most."

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"My work has been utter trash lately. I remember... I mean maybe I shouldn't be pouring my heart out here, you don't seem like a counselor type, but it could be useful for other folks so... I remember how I died now. Didn't earlier. I was on the roof of my workshop trying to make a giant kite. The wind caught it, tangled me up in ropes and I fell. It doesn't bother me, it doesn't feel real. Just like, well that was incredibly stupid of you, Sam. None of my memories have much... Emotional impact. Except my girlfriend, and even that is muted... Do you think you can check if Tehserra Cross is still alive? What she's up to?"

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"I can see if her name appears in the list of people who contributed to the fund..." Is it?

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It is not.

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"I don't see her here. That might mean she changed her name, or donated through a proxy, or that she didn't think it was worth trying, or that she's gone, or something else."

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"...That is life. It's not like I could fucking ask her to wait for me to. Return from - from - what was it, beyond the pale of death, now is it? Hah. How does all this - this - the stuff, what's the word, the changing places so fast and bringing me back - damn, words are hard right now it feels weird, write that down."

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Sai Ding transcribes it.

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"I don't know what's wrong with me. I was kind of a loose nail even - before - I don't know. I - That place doesn't mean anything anymore. I designed that temple, you know? Or well, tons of people designed it, but I was the big boss, more or less. With all the stained glass and the golds and reds, foundations laid so it glitters just so at the solstice. Years of my life into that temple. And now I think of it and, it's just a place. Pretty, sure, but not... Everything feels like a dream. Honestly, I. Don't want to go back." She sniffles. "It'd be a whole thing and I wouldn't even enjoy it and people would expect me to go back to doing art, and- You know, maybe you should've picked someone whose family was gonna be right there. Fuck."

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"It seems like something about the resurrection didn't work completely and that's why you're not feeling all there. There's a few things we could try to fix it."

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"Yeah, seems pretty likely. I don't know your div, uh- other... Worldly options, here."

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"The best options are all in other worlds, and some don't work portably, and I'm a little worried that moving you away from this world again will make it worse. The first thing I'd try given that is asking a wizard to come by and try a wizard healing spell on you; the magic system is from a world where people normally have immaterial souls, and I don't know that it'll help you but it wouldn't hurt and you could try it right here."

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"It wasn't completely intolerable before. And yeah, cheap shots first. I've done that before. Will it work? Almost certainly not. But is it easy and safe to try? Then try."

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"All right. I'll ask a wizard over." Sai Ding takes a picture of the beach, sends a message, and a minute later a wizard appears and confirms with Samara that she wants to try being healed.

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"Sure thing." A brittle smile.

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The wizard casts a spell on her.

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"...Huh. I think that did something? It's hard to tell. Seems a bit less dreamlike now."

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"Okay, but it didn't fix it all the way?" Sai Ding asks, as the wizard teleports away.

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"How would I know? But - no, don't think so. Just took the edge off."

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"Okay. Next thing to try is getting a psion to have a look at you in Eclipse - it's less likely to work than a Mîr wish, but Mîr wishes are normally batched, lots of effects in a single wish, so getting one for a single person isn't advisable if you have other options."

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"Wishes? Stars, I can see why... I'm an experiment, right, so I'm not going to end up owing a hundred thousand crown or anything? Just checking, you know. As if you have any use for crown when you can teleport - teleport, that's the word."

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"You won't owe anything," Sai Ding assures her.

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She stands up and holds out a hand with a sigh.

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Sai Ding doesn't actually need to touch her but she holds her hand anyway, some people find teleporting less disorienting that way.

Pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop.

"Welcome to Eclipse."

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She gives a helpless shrug. "All of this is just magic to me. What exactly is an eclipse? It sounds pretty."

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"An eclipse is a phenomenon some planets have where the planet gets right in between the sun and the moon, so the moon is shadowed. It looks pretty neat," says Sai Ding. "This world has magic eclipses, but we're not on a planet with a moon, this is a staging area for stuff that doesn't require one." It looks like a nicely furnished office. She sends another message on her computer.

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"Oh, that does sound beautiful."

Samara sits quietly and peers around at the space magic office. What a strange desk; It's obviously not fancy, there's no art to it, but it is surprisingly nice none the less. Such clean paint on the walls. And of course the artifact lights and artifact ... mail ... thing.

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"Somebody'll be with us in forty minutes. There aren't that many psions - a lot of worlds everybody who's born there gets magic, but in Eclipse it's a pretty low chance. So the wait times are a bit high. Can I answer any questions while we wait?"

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"What exactly is a psion going to do to me and how is it different from a wizard or wishing about it? And - can I get paints and an easel and canvas?" She is fidgeting and tapping one foot now. "I've got the spark of an idea and I want to catch it while it's fresh."

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"- sure, is it okay if I leave you here alone for a sec to grab them?"

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"Well I'm not going to turn into a demon the second you turn your back, yeah. Thanks, I appreciate it."

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Sai Ding disappears, and is back in ninety seconds with a plastic-wrapped kit containing a pre-stretched canvas on a frame, four paintbrushes, eight colors of water-soluble oil paints, and a plastic palette and palette knife. "I can get you a glass of water too from across the hall." She goes and does that.

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"Thanks. I'll try not to get anything on the floor, stars know my studio is a mess but it's just, I've got an idea, and if I can still have those and execute on them, then coming back to life is worth it. Was terrified my art bone was broken, so to speak." She smiles and starts opening the kit.

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"It's fine, there's magic cleaning-up things in places like this." Glass of water.

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And she starts painting!! Broad outlines in heavily diluted grey first.

"So," she asks while considering the canvas, "A psion is another kind of magic person with another kind of magic healing? That might be able to fix the thing where I still don't feel emotions about my memories? Is the resurrecting, the wizard, the teleporting, and the psion all different stuff?"

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"Yep, those are all different," says Sai Ding. "Lots of worlds, and a bunch have magic."

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"There's shamans and things on ours. I guess I don't need to know all the fine details, you lot seem well organized, calling people over whenever they're needed. I'd really like to go home if it won't make me miserable, since everyone wants me back and all. It's the phantasm of the artist, the allure of the genius, you know. A sort of pride for living in the same city that produced brilliance. It's bad to let it get to your head, led to a lot of bad things, bad thoughts. Maybe I should be glad for the chance to see it all from a detached perspective, actually."

She is sketching out a landscape squished into the bottom third of the canvas, some scattered clouds, and then a huge circle with rays radiating outward at the top.

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"That looks really nice."

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"Does it though? I'm only getting started. This is just framing and arranging. I was going to ask what exactly psions do, but it's not like I would get it get it, you know. It would just be meaningless words. Oh yes, magic this and magic that. I'm just sort of thinking out loud now. I do that a lot. I guess it's a habit, part of the role you know, the mad genius who doesn't sit still? Too many thoughts in this skull. Ignore me if you like, or tell me to quiet down, I won't mind."

A few experimental dabs of color go down.

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"In Eclipse there's two kinds of magic, mages and psions. Mages do physical stuff and psions do non-physical stuff. The psion I called in is trying to specialize in souls and soul-related healing since that's not something we otherwise have a great angle on besides running to Mîr for everything. I don't know if he has it well developed enough to help you."

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"What will be will be, I suppose. The flowers bloom regardless of the beholder's appreciation." (This is a rhyme in her home language.)

 

She does seem to have run out of things to say, focusing on her painting with an intense expression. After forty minutes it's - not done, quick and a bit messy and not all filled in, but clearly on the way. The whole painting's center is empty, framing the great eclipse against a starscape in the top center and its sunbeam shining down through clouds onto a tiny and insignificant looking little house in rolling grassy fields. The eclipse itself has the most detail, with the pale face of the moon visible, surrounded by a bright halo and ephemeral rays of light radiating away in all directions.

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Sai Ding goes and picks up the psion when he's ready and brings him back. "All right, let's see what I can do," he says.

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"Go ahead and hit me."

She has a soul. It's... Geometric? Angles and lines and circles. Four colored; White, red, blue, and green. Centered on her head and only lightly stretching around her body. New and barely-there, stretched thin and insubstantial. Not really fitting her but slowly growing, filling in 'gaps' in something as it goes, but not perfectly. There are places where it doesn't fit right, or where it looks like it should be more complex but is just blank.

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"- well, I can see it..." This psion hasn't learned to do illusions, unfortunately. "It looks - new? I think maybe for best results here you want to get an Ainu in to see if they can call her original soul over. Wishing might do it too. I think I could make this more comfortable but I don't have the original material to work with."

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"The original is what I'm missing. The pain is almost completely gone and I've proven to myself I can still be creative," Nod towards the painting, "But all my memories kind of seem like some stranger's memories right now. If you say - a god - might help me, you're more of an expert on this than me. Thank you."

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"Well, sometimes they do things like this," shrugs the psion. "I'll leave it alone, then?"

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"You're the soul doctor. Or, well, closest to. Sounds like yes."

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"Okay." He pulls a bag of yogurt covered raisins from his pocket and eats a handful while Sai Ding teleports him away.

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"All this appearing and disappearing all the time, instead of walking places," she snorts. Turns back to her canvas and starts cleaning the brushes, since her guide is probably taking her to yet another place soon.

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"Well, you can't walk to another planet. Do you want me to bring your painting stuff? We'll just be in another waiting room like this one for a while in Mîr too."

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"Oh, sure. What are we trying in Mîr? An Ainu?"

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"A wish. We'll try to find an Ainu to do the job covering your whole planet if the wish doesn't work but if the wish does work it scales, it just means your planet needs its own batches of resurrections handled special."

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She smiles lopsidedly. "Just me at first, so I'm the only one who gets burned if it wishes badly?"

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"It won't make things worse. I'd warn you about that if it were a risk. It might not help much."

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"I wouldn't mind if it might make things worse. Someone has to be the first into the fire. I'm getting a second chance. Why shouldn't everyone else, yeah?"

She finishes tidying the art stuff.

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The two of them and the painting stuff go pop twice, and they are in a similar office-looking room.

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Back to painting a fantastical imagined version of a solar eclipse for Samara, then!

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Sai Ding sends another message, and another person comes in to witness Sai Ding explaining the parameters of Mîr wishing (that it leans on your emotions, that you only get one, that this makes it impossible to become a magic rock which requires a separate screening process, etcetera) so they'll take up a minimum of Gem's time.

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"-Being a magic rock sounds ridiculously awesome, though, stars, magic costumes and all," she says after receiving a bit more explanation on that. "I'm not actively miserable right now, I'm more just - couldn't go home like this - what is the screening process?"

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"- it's kind of time consuming and I was assuming you were in more of a hurry," says Sai Ding. "I don't actually know what the process is, it's a Mîr thing more than a Vanda Nossëo thing - do you know -" she asks the witness.

"I haven't taken the prep course yet," says the witness, shaking his head. "It's not supposed to be super hard to get if you aren't inclined to commit crimes or blatantly ignore safety instructions though."

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"I'm in a hurry for them, the people awaiting my return. The artist's return from the dead is- It's a story, right? Half the people paying in to bring me back were probably doing it to be part of that story, the city uniting to return one of its beloved. But staying away to pass a magic empress's test and make a wish and gain magic power is an even better one. They'll name a new festival after me. Or her."

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"Well, if you want to enroll in the prep course I can sign you up," says the witness. "Name, Samara Glory - world, I think the working title for it is Spirit but does the computer system - cool, that gets me the ID number - do you require a scholarship for the course or will you be paying your tuition fees -"

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"Hah, sorry for the confusion, Sai Ding, right? But the narrative is important, I'd feel terrible if I just up and never went back, or I'd be fine to wander off somewhere with basic income right now. Uh, I haven't exactly got a lot of money on me." She smiles and shrugs. "Betcha someone back home will pay a bunch for this once I've put a few more hours into it, though," she indicates the painting. "Maybe offer a loan against future work too."

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"I'll put you down as scholarship for now and you can always kick back the money if you have it later," shrugs the witness. "Schedule - full-time, part-time -?"

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"Definitely full time."

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"Mm-hm, and do you want to reside on-site or will you need transport from a different residence during the course?"

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"I haven't got any other places to be if someone will take a message back to Sunsea City that I'm on a quest."

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"I can do that," Sai Ding says.

"Okay, on-site, and do you have preferences about what kind of instructor you'll get?"

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"What kinds of instructors are there?"

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"Oh, like a lot of orcs prefer zhop instructors - that's orcish for 'rock', means a rock who used to be an orc - and some people want, like, same-gender instructors or ones who have a particular background or something."

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"Neat. I don't think any preferences on that level I state will have the effects I expect when I'm so unfamiliar with multiversal culture, so better not."

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"Mm-hm, cool. Do you have a plan for what you're going to do with your magic rock powers if you get them?"

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"Go be awesome for my city - I don't have the right attachment to it right now but I remember loving the place and the people very much - do advocate and political stuff there maybe or whatever's helpful with what I get, might get healing since this is a healing wish right? And make art and do architecture."

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"How do you feel about emotion-affecting magic?"

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"...Hmm. I've not interacted with magic much, but there's all sorts of room for bad things in 'emotion-affecting'. There's supposedly like fey things that will make you so hot for them you follow them to your doom, and curses to feel your past victims' pain and anguish, and dragons can have an aura of terror or dominance or, uh, they call it 'mindscream', and angry ghosts can make you angry beyond all reason, and that's all nasty. But there's also shamans who are able to calm people down or settle them out of fits or steady the nerves, which can be helpful if you're not being manipulative about it or if you ask for it."

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"So, rock magic is powered by emotion - the wish particularly, but also everyday stuff, including operating a body that isn't a rock," says the witness. "Most magic rocks and some people with wished-on powers handle that with a magic song that makes people happy, to recharge after they've used a lot of magic. You can try it during the course if you want but if you hate the idea you just shouldn't be a magic rock."

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"This magic rock business just keeps getting more and more aesthetic. No, that's great. I do want to try the song probably, but that's helpful shaman not evil fey territory."

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"Cool. Also means that if you get super depressed you might run out of magic - that used to be ultra dangerous but now it just means you kind of fall into a rock coma and another rock can come by and donate you some magic. There's various check-in systems you can pick from to make sure someone'll come get you before you spend too long like that if it happens."

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"Makes sense. I'd be happy to be on call for rescues, as it were."

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"Oh cool, that counts as a plan for use of your powers, incidentally." He goes back to add that. "Anything else you want me to put in here - like if you're deathly allergic to something or have a sleep disorder or whatever that would affect housing and teaching you?"

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"I could use reminders to show up for things. I won't know how to use computers and stuff at first. I'd like some sort of art-ish social space if there's one to be had?"

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"Okay, I can probably get you that. There are a bunch of classes at any given time, a lot of people in Mîr are magic rocks, so you should be able to get what you're after in terms of structure and computer tutoring. Should I turn this in now or is there other stuff?"

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"I do get a basic income to pay for basic things for now, right? Are there any laws I won't find obvious- You've probably heard ours?"

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"Your city hasn't held a vote yet," Sai Ding says. "So you can be a Vanda Nossëo citizen - or a Mîr one, they have the same deal - if you want to move here, but that's not default, especially since you're going to move back home."

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"Okay, I guess the question becomes does a scholarship have enough for not starving."

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"Oh, yeah, that comes with living on the premises."

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"Are there odd jobs I could pick up for spare change?"

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"Probably! I don't know what your skills are but you could probably pick up, oh, an interview, you'd be the first person from your world to come here."

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"I was thinking of, oh, laundry, deliveries, but an interview sounds fun. That's everything I'm thinking of right now! Let me just say, thank you for all your help sir, this is all very exciting and not at all how I would have guessed being resurrected would go."

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"No problem!" says the witness. "Okay, the computer's slotted you into Instructor Raunat's class starting the day after tomorrow, it'll be mostly orcs but it's mixed. Class meets seven hours a day, meals provided, dorm provided, and it's held in Shatul, that's a big orc city, so you can probably find some kind of art scene around there in your off hours, though I don't know how much. Includes gen ed catchup tutoring, so you can ask Raunat for a quick intro to computers. Do you have Allspeak yet?"

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"Not unless Sai Ding hit me with it when I wasn't paying attention. How long is the curriculum?"

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Sai Ding shakes her head.

"Twenty days, with four days off mixed in there. I have an Allspeak wand, OK to bop you?"

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"Oh. It sounded like a bigger task than a few weeks. Sure!"

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Bop. "Well, you're going full-time! And magic rocks aren't as scary as some of the things you can get screened for, it's not like they can usually drop a planet into the sun."

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"Stars, I'd hope it takes more than a few weeks to learn to drop a planet into the sun. Okay, here's what I want to say, story time..."

She thinks for a bit and pitches her voice as if on stage.

"I am alive. I thank all those who have reached out to help pull me from beyond the pale of death, and the visitors from other stars who made it possible. This is a true miracle and a spark of hope that shines in the deepest night of grief! And yet, my return from the void is not a perfect, uncomplicated story. I return with a wounded soul, death having taken its ferryman's toll. To return from death is a perilous thing, in each new world more perilous yet. It is bittersweet, to remember the city from the sunrise temple to the childrens' chalk drawings in alleys, the people of all colors, but be unmoored from a true connection. I would not be worthy of you as I am now. Instead I now endeavor to learn what I must to petition for a wish from the empress of a great empire, and with it the spark of magic. To wish for a more full restoration, the healing of a soul-wound, and with it to light the way for the return of more of the waiting dead... Wait, my city, for I will return as soon as I can - within a moon, if all's well!"

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Sai Ding catches her on video for this one.

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"Oh, what a wonderful invention. That's great! It'd probably be a bit much to find some dramatic backdrop and better lighting and do a re-take, though..."

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"I'm up for it if you want," laughs Sai Ding.

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"Hmm, hmm. If you don't mind, do let's! I'm not sure what amazing sights you have to offer, perhaps you should pick."

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"Do you want to do it in front of the imperial palace? It's stunning."

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"I'm not sure a palace is quite the right tone. I was thinking some sort of market square, or a very distant view of a city, but those are just ideas. Perhaps if I start in front of a plainer wall and then move in view of it?"

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"Shatul, where your class will be?"

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"Perhaps, but first I want to see the palace if it's truly so grand."

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"Alrighty." The witness has already excused himself; Sai Ding teleports them to the palace of the Empresses of Mîr. It's crystalline, like a monument of ice lit from inside its walls with auroral colors, three stories high at the low edges and thirty at the peak, roofline swooping jaggedly up from the one to the other. While she watches the colors shift gently and gradually from "aurora" to "sunrise". There are plenty of tourists there, gawking at it.

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It's amazingly pretty and she spends a few minutes tracing out the lines in the design, where they lead the eye, but still more 'triumphant climax' material than 'the long voyage home', what she's trying to create. To Shatul?

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Shatul is a bustling forest of skyscrapers; there are bridges between buildings, a playstructure in a park which is fully thirty stories high with nets strung up every fifty feet or so around the edges in case of falling children, and orcs - it's almost all orcs here - going about their business, shopping for clothes and selling fried cricket skewers and carrying their toddlers on their shoulders and busking with a drum set and playing some street-hockey-like game in a branching-off off cul-de-sac. It isn't hard to find a relatively featureless wall to record Samara against and have her step onto the thoroughfare from there.

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Orcs don't look that strange. It's a live city, an enormous one to get lost in.

She does two takes of her little speech with slightly different tones, then kind of - sags.

"I'm sure the people are embracing computers, at least some of them. This will spread on its own. But I'm feeling rather tired now, I admit. Shall we go off to the school and get me out of your hair?"

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"We can see if the dorm is open to your session yet, sure," says Sai Ding, looking up the address.

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She observes the local fashion as they go.

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Orcs vary in outfit tendencies from "schlub" to "sharp"; they tend monochrome, though sometimes this takes the form of twelve clashing shades of orange or an all-royal-purple ensemble rather than grayscale, and it's not a constant, with some orcs choosing bold patterns of green-yellow-coral or cyan-magenta-yellow. There is an apparent trend among the adolescents to wear clothes much too big for them that are practically falling off their bodies and then cinch them up with knots or attach them to other garments in the outfit with pins or otherwise improvise a fit. Small children appear to think it is cool to wear shoes that don't match. Some orcs just buy things that approximately fit them off the rack and wind up in sweatpants and polos, or sundresses and leggings; some orcs wear tailored suits with uncomfortable-looking shoes.

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They're using colors totally differently, and not in a gender-coded way at all. Interesting! She probably shouldn't try to read any deep insights into this society based on a quick look at what they wear. She likes the monochrome looks, considers what clothes to get other than this seemingly distinctive robe, and patiently walks behind her helpful resurrection guide.

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It's three blocks away from where they started, or Sai Ding would probably have teleported; as it is it's a brief walk and then they're at an eight-story building with a rock garden on top. (They can't see much of the rock garden but there is a sign, 'rooftop rock garden'.) Inside, Sai Ding asks the nearest orc if the dorm is open for early arrivals to Samara's session, and finds that it is, and gets Samara a room that will open to her fingerprint. It has a loft bed and a desk beneath with a chair, and heavy navy-blue curtains over the window, and an ensuite half-bath; the showers are in a shared facility across the hall and meals are taken in the basement cafeteria.

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"Nice place, if a bit cramped. How should I learn how to use a computer properly?"

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"Well, first you need to have one - do you want the kind that uses a brain implant or the kind that doesn't?"

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"If I'm going to be a rock I'd better avoid relying on my brain, no? Then again I don't know the difference."

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"Oh, magic rocks can use the implant kind no problem, though if you have to replace your body you'll have to replace the chip too."

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"Any other important differences?"

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"Most people with the option prefer the chip kind. It lets you control the computer with your thoughts."

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"That does sound much more space-magical." She smiles.

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"All right, I can take you to get one of those."

The process is quick and impersonal; Sai Ding pays, and a teleporter flashes briefly into a back room of the store to just barely glance at Samara and drop a computer into her lap. She can't feel the implantation at all.

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Yes yes, very efficient, no ceremony to it at all. She's getting used to it.

She does the intro exercises easily enough, has a couple more questions - mostly useful contact info - then thanks Sai Ding for all the help and says goodbye for now.

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When she's safely ensconced in her dorm and knows how to summon help Sai Ding will bid her goodbye.

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Elsewhere, the shaman Solomon wakes up in a guest room and cleans up and then attempts to navigate 'getting breakfast' and 'getting recommendations for nature-y worlds he could go investigate'.

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He can help himself to breakfast in the ship cafeteria! There are replicators, but also for people who for whatever reason have trouble making breakfast decisions, there is a golem serving fresh waffles and bacon and eggs.

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He pays enough attention to notice and be fascinated by the replicators, and request roasted veggies and cinnamon porridge and hot tea.

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He can have those things! With kind of a dizzying number of sub-options but it is programmed to guess if he looks at five thousand roasted veggie recipes and goes "nope".

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He wants 'em crunchy and stir-fried, that's about all the input he has on the matter. Miracles of the star lords indeed.

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He gets crunchy stir-fried veggies and cinnamon oatmeal and tea, earl grey, hot.

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He will eat it quietly and listen in on conversations around him. Or not, if there aren't many people here. After that he'll go see if that Dwarf, Revna, is available.

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Revna is in the office! "Hello! What can I do for you?"

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"Hello again. I just realized I didn't ask last night when or how I should follow up about the shamanism class, so I'm asking now. Also, if you could suggest someone I could ask basic questions about how you use money here - very basic, I mean, I don't want to waste your time, I would appreciate it as well."

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"I'm expecting to have a list for you to filter in another four to six hours. I can post on the ship chatter that you'd like an intro to money, and somebody'll find you about it sooner or later."

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"Okay. I'd like recommendations for convenient by bus nature areas for the class as well, can you 'post' that?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Sure thing."

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"Well, that's all. Thank you."

He ducks out and... Goes to the lounge to people-watch and space-watch.

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After about two minutes an orc bounces up to him. "Hi! You wanted money explained?"

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"Hi," he grins back and de-pockets his paycard. "Well, the thing is, to me money is silver, or sometimes gold. Apparently this is also computer money, but darn if I understand how."

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"Okay! So, do you know why silver and gold are used as money? Why them and not the leaves off trees, or the stars in the sky?"

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"It'd be hard to resolve a dispute about who owns the stars with a man you've never met in another country, yes? And there's simply far too many leaves, anyone could go pick up some - not to mention they crumble. Silver's rare and dense enough to not carry around a mule on your back. I've met people who use shells, cows, cloth, dye, jade, and spices as money."

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"So what silver, shells, cows, cloth, dye, jade, and spices all have in common is that you can carry them around - so, silver, not stars - without this making them worse at being the thing they are - so, shells, not live fish - and they're rare - so, jade, not leaves - but not so rare that you can't get ahold of some if you do something valuable - so, cloth, not flawless diamonds the size of your head. Right?"

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"Makes sense to me. Of course, you all can get as much silver as you'd like, which rather breaks it. You'd need something to be faked into being scarce enough to be valuable, wouldn't you?"

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"Pretty much! You need something - literally anything - that has all those properties, and you can do 'rare' just by promising that you won't make too much and arranging that nobody else can either."

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"That's - well, I suppose there are worse ways to do it. The belief makes it real, even if it's objectively unreal. Lovely. My real question is more on the level of 'how do I actually use this card', though." He laughs self-deprecatingly.

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"Most places you can spend money will let you just tap the card - through a bag or pocket, if you like - on something."

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"Okay, but how do I tell what I actually have?"

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"For that you want a computer, do you not have one yet?"

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"I do not. Seems a bit too fancy for me, honestly."

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"Well, that's usually how you tell, but you can probably swap your card for a dedicated device with a readout, if you want."

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"I suppose if everyone usually has one... I did use a computer at a library yesterday. Do you know where I would get one?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Probably just buttonhole one of the ship's demons, there's three of them and they can make you the kind that needs a brain implant or the kind that doesn't, your call."

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"I suppose so. I do feel a bit awkward going around asking for things, especially when I don't know the culture. Thanks for explaining money, by the way."

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"You're welcome! You also wanted bussable nature spots, right?"

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"Yep. For teaching shamanism. We'll need spots down there eventually but anywhere natural and peaceful is good to start. Not parks."

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"Does it matter if the place was terraformed?"

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"It sounds like your worlds don't have spirits the same way ours do - Maiar aren't the right thing - so it shouldn't matter, I think."

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"Okay, in that case -" The orc can come up with quite a long list of good nature hikes, with and without maintained trails.

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He chats with the orc a bit, making small talk, and eventually heads back to the cargo bay, since that is where he last saw a demon (as far as he knows?).

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Yup, there is a demon there! "Hiya!" says the demon, who is putting boxes in a bag of holding.

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"Hello! I don't know if you've heard, since the gossip on this ship seems to be all on computers, but I'm a shaman. Local magic user from down below."

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"I did hear that! What's up, shaman dude?"

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"I like talking to people, so I'm saying hi. Wondering what it's like to just make things when you need them. I actually went to Revelation yesterday for a bit, it was lovely- And I do need a computer if I'm going to do things around here but I didn't want to come over just for that."

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"Yeah, Revelation's nice! They're even less racist these days. I don't know what it's like to not make things when you need them, I've never been a human!"

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"For that matter I don't know what it's like to have grown up in a different city, or been a different species, or been a woman - it's a much bigger deal around here - all these other lives we'll never truly experience. Racist, against demons?"

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"Yeah, they had this superstition about us for like a hundred fifty years. You can try species and being a woman if you want, you just go to Cube for it, but I don't think there's any joy on the different city thing..."

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"-I hadn't heard of that one. Cube has shape-changing? Something like that would be... Years of work for the best master in the world, just to do it once, for a shaman. I'll have to try it some time."

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"Oh yeah, it's neat! Anyway, what kind of computer d'you want?"

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"Not the brain kind, maybe a small one? I just need it for h- For banking. Oh, allspeak is a bit odd."

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"You can adjust it if it's doing something weird." He hands him a little phone-sized computer.

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"Of course. Would you like a little blessing while I'm here? They're subtle, but real. For tests, for meeting people, for patience, or for creativity."

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"How do you bless meeting people?"

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"Well, it's a blessing of Water, and part of that is empathy and connection - and other things like self-knowledge and intuition, but explaining that takes a while so I tried a short version to see how it lands."

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"But it doesn't make it so I meet more interesting people or anything?"

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"That'd... Probably take calling to spirits and getting them to nudge people towards you, I think? It should make it so you notice someone you'd find interesting a bit more easily, in a crowd, say."

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"Sure, I'll try that, sounds fun."

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He pours some water from a canteen into his palm, then starts tracing thin curving arcs in a radial pattern in the air, the water hanging there.

"By the grace of water, the eternal flow, may you find truth within the changing world. With watchful eye and open mind, you can embrace novel experiences and find joy in the motion of life. Flow unstoppably, and May You Be Blessed."

The water puffs out into mist with a whooshing noise.

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"Thanks!"

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"Have a lovely day!"

 

He eventually figures out how to check his bank balance with the new computer.

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Here's a number (and the going rate in all the other currencies in multiversally significant circulation for that amount, different numbers).

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Yep, that is a number! Huh, he thought it would be zero?

...Does it say what the money's from anywhere?

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Yep, he has a transaction record! He doesn't recognize the names but the time and location were when he was busking. Apparently he got tips. And the teleporter who stranded him paid him a really substantial fine.

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......Huh. So he did get tips after all. He thought they had to physically touch the card to do it. Even when Lisa paid her fine without any visible action, he didn't make the connection.

Well, that seems to line up. The teleporting is apparently incredibly dangerous if misused, it makes sense to be harsh about mistakes there.

He asks around- Are they going to build an orbital bus stop for this world? If not, can he get a ride to Edda's again and pre-arrange a time or contact method to come back this time? He wants to go check out some nature trails for possible shamanism class locations that don't require all the students to teleport to.

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They are going to make an orbital stop! It seems like "orbit" will be a popular enough destination to justify a station and they can connect it to Edda on the Zigzag line (which basically just hops into and out of Edda from relatively low-traffic worlds).

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Solomon will hang out on the ship, mostly in the lounge and on his new small computer reading things, until that's ready or someone schedules him screening interviews, then.

 

Steadily more dragons are willing to talk to Vanda Nossëo as time passes and they don't prove to be hostile. They like the idea of free food, they like to brag, they have a concept of manners but it's a very foreign one, they like hearing about the nature of other worlds, they like discussing their version of spiritualism and some are even curious about other religions. There's a very clear 'social fatigue' phenomenon, where even the most friendly dragons find long conversations difficult and trying. The social fatigue is noticeably less of a thing if one side speaks for a lengthy amount of time, dragons will listen to or give hours-long lectures if prompted; Back-and-forth questioning and conversing is what seems to mostly drive it.

Several of them wonder if the visitors would want things other than stories, magic objects particularly since they can apparently make whatever material ones they want. Only the older and more mature-seeming ones are capable of making magic objects on demand. They can make objects that induce thematic dreams or are self-heating or allow breathing underwater or make the bearer undetectable for short periods or contain one use songs-of-healing (these work on anything biological, but are less thorough than the usual healing spell) or store some of the maker's memories for later viewing or are protective against electricity/bad temperature/mind-affecting things or little pebbles that can be squished to induce a flow state and inspiration or custom-designed plants and animals.

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Solomon has a list of candidates and their blurby profiles to sift through after a couple hours' wait.

Vanda Nossëo employs plenty of people who are up for lecturing and being lectured by dragons on topics of interest to dragons. If it helps with the social fatigue they can receive and ask questions in batches, using writing to make sure no questions are lost in the shuffle. They are willing to trade for magic items if the dragons wish! Many of those are sufficiently valuable that they can get serious money for them, in fact, and then they can buy stuff that costs money (which envoy swag effectively does not).

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He'll need to actually interview everyone, he can't really get what he's looking for from these short profiles since he's not familiar enough with the multiverse.

Batching questions helps somewhat. What kinds of things can serious money get them, given that dragons mostly don't want to leave their territories?

Also, a large group of dragons - large for dragons, at least, there are fourteen - are gathering in a crater in Darktooth's territory and are apparently being tutored in the draconic writing system by Ember, the eagle. They had a few fights at first but once who-would-win-in-a-fight was worked out it's been peaceful.

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Among the things serious money can get them is delivery! If they want to import tutors, art objects, magic items, performance artists, or service sector labor, they can do that.

Can a linguist Elf hang out and also learn the draconic writing system?

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Most dragons would rather barter directly, not really trusting the idea of a fiat currency that is not controlled by dragons. Besides a hesitant potential interest in tutors, various art arrangements and magic items are the only things that see any real interest.

The elf can listen in if they tribute something, or Darktooth says they can. Seven of these dragons paid with a favor owed, two with magic trinkets, one with a giant pearl that has ocean-memories, one with an introduction to a sky spirit, and the five others asked Darktooth to learn with a nominal pile of small shiny things and were permitted as 'promising minds'.

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The Elf can go get a pile of shiny things and an illusion-song gemstone that will, without its silencing baffle around it, make plants grow faster.

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That will be sufficient so long as they are not disruptive. Anyone who is disruptive to the lesson is invited to leave it, Ember says with a subtle hinting at his other students to not harass the elf linguist.

The dragon language was designed by Darktooth personally, for maximum readability-by-dragons, ignoring the difficulty of writing it. It's spread and evolved slightly since then, particularly with the addition of new 'words', but not very far.

There are ideographs which can come in six possible colors - white, red, blue, green, black, gold. The color and shape together have meaning, changing color changes the meaning.

Nouns are placed centrally, and adjectives and verbs are different flourishes and additional designs placed radially around them, or pointing to another noun. The symbols resemble what dragons 'see/feel/know' in the spiritual sense for most common objects, translated visually.

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That's such an interesting writing system and the Elf is fascinated as he takes notes.

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In the city of Goldvalley, there is a spate of disappearances in the surrounding farms. The dragonfeather-wearing captain of the guard asks if their visitors can figure out where the disappeared people have gotten to.

Permalink Mark Unread

They can do their best! What does forensics have to say -?

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...Some of them are mutilated and dead, some are in a big dilapidated house in the woods with a lot of mutilated dead people around! An even mix of men and women among victims and living both. Some teens, but no young children. There's a few people who weren't reported disappeared around too, as victims and, er, apparent cannibals.

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...okay! That's a problem! It doesn't obviously have anything to do with Vanda Nossëo but it seems like it might behoove them to look in on things there anyway. They send in a team (a Dwarf, a magic rock, a Limboite) to check things out.

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There is rather a strong smell. A lookout wearing matted furs darts inside at their appearance.

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The Dwarf takes the lead and knocks.

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There is no answer!

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The magic rock obliges the door to open anyway.

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A crude weighted spike trap swings into the shattered doorway, right at head height. There's some scraps and parts, and two possibly-living people inside - one tied to a table and unconscious, the other sitting in a chair at the far end, with a clearly and brutally broken leg. The latter cheerfully says, "Hello!"

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The magic rock removes the unconscious one. The Limboite heads further inside. "Hello," she says. "What's going on here?"

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"Why, just the last day of my life. Knowing the end is soon has a way of putting things in perspective."

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"What if you were going to live?" she inquires.

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He laughs. "Good one. No, no, the hunger has no use for a cripple. I'm dead, it just hasn't quite caught up yet."

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"The hunger?"

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"Oh, yes. We're free from all the mental chains except one. Perspective is a wonderful thing. The only cost is a little... Hunger. Everything's gotta eat!"

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Meanwhile, the magic rock is healing the person who was unconscious.

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All the various visible painful-but-not-debilitating wounds vanish. She coughs and groans and tries to curl up, and otherwise remains unresponsive.

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"Ma'am?" he says.

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"I feel sick. Those salt-sucking goat whores fucking bastard swampshit, god, just kill me, I feel it. They got me, fucking werewolves."

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"Werewolves?"

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"It's a c- Ow ow ow uuurgh. Curse. They take you and then either they eat you or they change you. My husband kidnapped me, but he wasn't my husband anymore. Gods damn them, may they suffer after they die."

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"Is there a way to fix them?" the magic rock asks, pulling out his computer to send an urgent note up to forensics that they need to pinpoint the locations of everyone who's had contact with them.

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"I don't know, do I look like a shaman to you? It's worming into my head. Feels so angry. God, I want to stab you."

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It's about twelve seconds later that the friendly orc who explained money to Solomon bursts into where he's interviewing student candidates to say, "Werewolves! Know anything about 'em?"

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"-Oh. Oh no. We'll have to - later." He stands and runs out of the room. "People call lots of things werewolves, what happened?"

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The orc reads off the report as it was given to him.

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"I - have encountered things that could be what you describe. If it's what I think, you need to keep mentally weak people away."

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"Okay. What can we do for the infected?"

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"I'd have to see them." He frowns. "Could be dangerous depending on - whether it's an individual thing or a greater spirit, basically? Though it's not a clean boundary, there."

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"Is there a way to tell without putting you in harm's way?"

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"Greater spirits are dangerous. The best wards take a long time to set. I- If you're ready to teleport me away it wouldn't have me for longer than a moment or two at worst."

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"So it's - limited in area? Do we need to worry about it spreading? How does it infect people?"

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"I don't know the details of this particular case," he says, a bit strained. "Usually these types of things can only spread through prolonged contact or some sort of ritual. If it could turn people through mere momentary exposure it would already be a much bigger threat. The danger I'm worried about is the... Soul of whatever-this-is attacking my soul and simply killing me. It could probably do that if it's a greater spirit manipulating all those people, and not a group of unlinked corrupted people."

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"They seem plausibly linked but I don't know how you'd tell," the orc says. "Is there anything we should ask the current survivors, or anything -"

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"I really think I should see them. Or, if you're truly on good terms with a dragon, one of those. They're supposedly wiser than any shaman in the ways of spirits."

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"Okay, we'll consult the dragons - we don't want to put you at risk, the trial with resurrecting a local did not go perfectly -"

Elves in conversation with dragons get pinged about this and inquire if their particular dragons know things about this matter.

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Dragons agree that these seem like terribly cursed beings, spirit-perversions. They should probably just kill them all before they get out of hand.

(Allmother's messenger who can only ask questions manages to convey that she'd be willing to try something.)

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What would Allmother try?

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"Is it true that the soul leaves echoes in the Onesong? How does Earth's true song of healing divine what 'healed' truly is? Who has an implicit understanding of the correct shape to be but one's own past self? Would parasite-spirits be able to withstand the presence of a Great One? Is there anything left of those for whom the transformation is complete?"

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...the Elf will try explaining the results thus far of their resurrection experiment.

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Allmother herself comes out. Her mindvoice is full of sympathetic sorrow.

O envoys, you have found a cursed being. I have encountered their like before. I suspect (with a healthy dose of how confident she is and what the alternatives are) The ones who seem in control of themselves have effectively suffered a death of personality, but the one currently afflicted may respond well to the True Song of Healing. It is the ultimate expression of the element of Earth, the strongest stable point. It searches the history of the world and restores body and spirit to the ideal according to collective-time-subjective-summation-of-experience. To expand: While the truest self is always-changing, the True Song of Healing is a sacred music that determines what the combination of every past and the most likely future versions of a being consider 'healed' at this point in time, and then enforces/creates that. Will it turn back a lesson learned? A trauma suffered? An oath made? Such things vary, but I expect it to work for one still not quite turned, if you hurry.

Permalink Mark Unread

Will you sing a recording of it for us, or should we bring you there, or them here?

Permalink Mark Unread

It is not mere sound, the mechanism is of spirit and underlayer-of-reality. They will need to be close to my first body, either way.

Permalink Mark Unread

Will this put you or your animals in danger?

Permalink Mark Unread

No; I am an Elder Dragon. she projects bittersweet amusement. There are very few things that could threaten my soul.

Permalink Mark Unread

In that case they will bring her some "werewolves" to treat.

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The fully infected ones tried to run, tried to hide, tried to set off clever traps and ambushes, but when caught and convinced that savage attacks aren't accomplishing anything, they all project the same fatalistic, unaffected air. Until they're all together. Then they start to look actually worried.

Allmother says something to them. The half-turned woman says, "Do it, fix me!" The 'full' werewolves have variations on "Fuck you!" to offer.

She inhales deeply and breathes out with a sound like a hundred woodwind instruments at once and the beat of a titanic drum and the low rumbling of an earthquake and the sense that something momentous is happening-

-The tortured woman goes limp with relief. The others clutch their heads in pain.

Take her somewhere she can rest.

...These ones do not consent to healing. They are what they are now, new beings with new thoughts. I am ..... not the appropriate decision-maker of the correct path forward. 

Permalink Mark Unread

They bring the woman home and collect all the remaining infected parties into a quarantine, to think over their options; they also solicit the wishes of their family membrs.

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Their family members mostly think the werewolves aren't their family members anymore, and are instead body-snatching demons* or something! They want their family back and the demons dead. A few don't care about the demons dying as long as they can get their dad/sister/son/wife back.

*Local word for evil spirits, translates as 'demon'.

Permalink Mark Unread

What do the evil spirits think of this assessment?

Permalink Mark Unread

Of course they'd think that. They don't see the truth that nothing matters and they should just embrace nihilism. Fuck you, we're not going to commit suicide, you'll have to kill us if you want us gone.

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Is the possessing spirit or spirits interested in weighing in directly?

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Apparently not. There does seem to be a connection between them all, but it's not really doing things.

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Welp. They'll try stuff, very patiently and carefully, and let their bereaved know that final results are still pending on the matter of resurrecting locals.

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Nothing seems to straightforwardly 'fix' the odd mentality. They can be physically healed and can be knocked out and kept knocked out. Which might be necessary, since they'll all turn on the guy with the broken leg the moment they think they're unobserved.

 

Meanwhile, Samara Glory has acquired an orc acquaintance and a class schedule and attends her first lesson on magic rock prep.

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Instructor Raunat appears in front of the class! She explains that she didn't teleport, most magic rocks can't, but she turned invisible, which most magic rocks can do. She introduces the syllabus: they're going to go over the capabilities of magic rocks both general and specific-to-your-wish, detour a bit into Magic Rock History, talk wish wordings, review Mîr protocols for magic rocks on and off duty, review safety stuff, and, throughout this entire shebang, they will be given various screening tests. Taking this class constitutes consent to be tested including in ways that may be misleading or deceptive; the tests are not expected to harm them or anyone else, and if something does go wrong, Mîr will cover fixing it, but being startled or feeling lied to does not count as harm for this purpose, they need to know that magic rocks aren't going to go home and abuse their spouses or gallivant off to uncontacted planets in Cube and fuck with the natives or something like that. The tests do not include mindreading unless you specifically opt into that for a slightly more streamlined experience.

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Samara is fine being mindread. It's the correct aesthetic for this sort of thing anyway, if she is going to be tested body and soul. She thinks of herself as a reasonable, kind person, but most people do. Is she truly? (She doesn't interrupt the class or anything, instead waiting to find a place or time to indicate this.) 

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They now have an icebreaker exercise; you are supposed to give your name and a little about yourself, such as what you hope to do with magic or what you're thinking of wishing for.

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"I am Samara Glory, from the newly dubbed world called Spirit. My city paid to bring me back- But it was not enough, I have no emotional attachment to my past life with the standard resurrection, I lack my original soul. I know I loved my friends and my city, so I aim to fix it, and perhaps raise as many others as I can with my wish as well. This magic is beautiful, and I would bring it to my city as the first bearer."

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Hers is arguably the most interesting blurb in the class.

When they're done with that Raunat goes over some classic magical girl powers - healing specialists, teleporters like Empress Lúthien, terraformers, the ones who wake up basement dwellers, and the one-off time dilation power of Empress Isabella "Gem" Swan. Some things - telekinesis, minor transmutation effects, basic healing, temporary hard-light objects and projectiles, the transformation itself, changing one's rock-self from ring to bauble to costume accessory, operating a body while in fact actually a rock - all magic rocks can do, and if you come up with another thing on a similar scale to those, you can probably do that too. Most magic rocks can also summon a thematically appropriate tool of some kind - historically this was almost always a weapon or at least something that could be used that way, but these days you see the occasional magic rock with a broomstick or a garden hose or a handbag or a mirror or a wand that isn't even big enough to use as a quarterstaff. Weapons are still common; while they'll be on-theme on some level having a sword or a gun doesn't strongly indicate that you're "supposed" to be a martial-oriented magic rock, and still less does a pair of scissors. Additional, heavier-duty powers are based around your wish: you can directly wish for a power you want, like Samara might want to be a resurrection-rock specced to the Spirit resurrection situation, and that will tend to give you an oomphier power than wishing for something unrelated and seeing what the power you get is. (Though that's not a guarantee - it's also very important how strongly and urgently you feel about something, both positively and negatively, and some people just seem to have higher native capacity than others. Gem's wish was not a direct wish for a power but she made it while literally watching the world be devoured by a monster and her power's very good.) Your special powers will be efficient for you to the point you can "fit" them into your maximum magic capacity; somebody else's won't be.

Questions?

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Many, such as 'should she go out of her way to find a dead friend to regret', but none she wishes to interrupt the class for.

-Actually, she does ask if one can pick a specific implement somehow, or if it's random, or goes off aesthetics, or else how it it chosen?

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Usually you will get something you find appropriate but it's not something you can directly wish for the way you can directly wish for a power.

Some other students have questions and Instructor Raunat answers them and then moves on. Magic rock history! The wish granting device appears to have been a technology of inherently magical aliens; they left some ruins but are not themselves resurrectable so far, and nobody knows what killed them. Most sapient species native to Mîr, except the wishbuilders and humans, do not have emotions, and emotions are, in the Mîr magic system, a kind of magical fuel; the wish-granter taps into, and confers powers that tap into, those emotions. After the wishbuilders were dead, another civilization, this one emotionless, found their ruins and their wish-granter. They found humans, prehistoric, and decided to turn Earth into a power plant: they'd use human emotions to fuel their own interests, granting human wishes and using the swing between the euphoria of a granted wish and the despair caused by running out of magic. Early magic rocks (they specifically tended to stick to teenaged girls) fought their despair-ridden "witch" sisters, generally never finding out about the connection, and at every step of the process Kyubeys (the created avatars of the emotionless civilization, designed to be appealing to human teenage girls) siphoned some off the top. As such, modern magic rocks can be more powerful at the high end than "classic" magical girls, though also the Kyubeys did a lot of selection for oomph and so many modern magic rocks are less so instead.

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The multiverse continues to be a very strange place. The history feels deeply tragic, a machine using humans as tools. Like the Star Lords, who expected them to serve like slaves.

She started out taking notes but gets sort of distracted in parts of the history and doodles sketches of kyuubeys with slightly too wide grins and girls with grim determination in their eyes on the computer with a stylus. Never entirely stops paying attention, though.

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They break for lunch and in the afternoon are all supposed to read mini-biographies of different magic rocks (there are more biographies than students, she can pick the one with the most appealing cover) and then have a discussion about their magic uses and wishes and what they would do differently and what's inspiring in their examples.

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She picks one with a cover of the subject staring moodily up at the night sky.

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Nastya Ivanova made her wish in 1795, rescuing her village from a year of bad harvest that threatened everyone's lives and health and ability to make it through to the next year. She had a falling out with her parents in the months following, as she kept disappearing to track witches down in more populous areas of Russia; eventually she stopped coming home, settled in St. Petersburg, and took up a day job as a baker, using her food-oriented magic specialty to make the work go quickly and leave her time to hunt. She was ultimately killed in a territory dispute between her and a pair of other St. Petersburg-based magical girls, and was resurrected by her younger brother after his great great great great great great grand nephew's chain of resurrections got that far back. Today Nastya doesn't do much magic rock stuff and operates a new bakery in Wish-Chicago. Her weapon was a sovnya, her gem was pink, her costume looked like a pink-and-green palette swap of a Snow Maiden outfit with apple blossom add-ons, with the gem mounted in the middle of one such flower in her hat.

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She cries several times reading it. She's really lived a charmed life, hasn't she? Held up as architect and artist, admired and supported by a culture that likes what she did with her life.

For the discussion: Saving a village from starvation is a touching and worthy use of a wish. Starvation is a looming specter even for a mercantile city; Her grandmother died of it. Perhaps Nastya did not realize it was an option to wish for a better harvest for all of Russia, but it is easy to only care about those you know, it is easy to not understand just how big the world is - she lives in a bustling port city by such standards and she's only seen a tiny fraction of the world. It's understandable. She launches into a rant about how the whole thing is incredibly perverse and the Empress's victory is a great triumph and she thinks it lucky that Nastya never became a witch and how, were she in Nastya's place and learned the truth, thinks she would have launched herself at rivals without fighting very hard until one took her down.

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Nastya probably did not have the option to wish for a better harvest for all of Russia; Russia is big and her feelings about the matter probably didn't stretch to that scope of wish.

Most of the other students (who are mostly orcs) chose zhop subjects ('zhop' being a term of art for specifically an orc magic rock), and those all wished more recently, usually helping set up orc colony planets or resurrection setups. Their backstories before that are mostly incredibly horrifying. One of the other humans in the class picks the Empress herself, and one picks Raine, who in an alternate timeline was instrumental to the salvation of the world though she is not even actually a magic rock in this timeline at all.

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What?? Okay, she'll have to read more about this alternate timeline business later. She agrees that the backstories are incredibly horrifying, and she doesn't want to pick at the Empress's actions without giving that one a good read herself.

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They have some time to read each other's booklets or the ones nobody picked if they like.

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What is this alternate timeline thing about, does the relevant booklet say?

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Yup, both Raine's booklet (cover: her with her wife and their kids outside their home in Reno) and Gem's (cover: holding court on her throne in her palace) explain that. Gem can turn back time to a save point, at will or if she dies; originally she was trapped in a loop of a maximum length of a month, trying to figure out how to save the world. In some instances of the loop she got Raine to make particular wishes that she thought might help; ultimately Raine wished Lúthien into the loop after Lúthien's portalsnake incident.

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Hmm. Being a side-character to saving the world is not a terrible fate, if somehow disappointing.

Moving on.

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Knowing what they know now with the examples of all these magic rocks what will they do differently and what the same when choosing their own wishes and subsequent trajectories?

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She has to choose her wish carefully for maximum effect; Maximum that she can still emote strongly about. She'll ask for the mindless bodies of as many Spirit humans as possible, and remember her own suffering and the jarring disconnect between her past and current life, and fix them.

She won't deny that there is a certain appeal to the high drama of the past crisis, but it was real and severe and brutal. Definitely not something to actually hope for. The conditions are different now that there aren't any monsters killing people regularly, and no threat of turning into one. Fighting other magic rocks will not be necessary unless they commit more ordinary sorts of crimes; Even then, she's not a soldier and doesn't want to be one.

The examples of the post-monster zhops all seem fair and reasonable for the most part- Using the magic for good, but also maintaining time for oneself. She is not and could not become a do-good automaton that spends most of her time helping others. She is introspective enough to know she hasn't enough pride to stick to principles like that, or to take joy in selflessness without it eventually fading and becoming resentment. She'd probably be happy to help people, but knows she can't commit to doing so forever.

Mostly she wants to go do art and exist in her city, and help people in her city, and help people in her local culture group, and in her world, in descending order of how strongly she feels about those. Or, well, she expects those to be her feelings; She doesn't feel much for the city right now and that is wrong. The empress is inspiring; She does not have the same strength of will and pride to go to such lengths for worthy causes. But she can certainly heal people, or bring them back, perhaps.

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Instructor Raunat asks if that means she's going to need a queue of people to ensoul ready by the time she's prepped to make her wish?

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"I had intended to wish for the ensouling of a great many people; Not for the power to ensoul people. I do not think being the only one who can do that would necessarily be good for me. If I put myself into the position of doing things for others being something I must do, I will eventually break down over it. I nearly did in my last life, until I secluded and then set myself limits and stuck to them. Perhaps a power to ensoul would be different, since it's not - demanding of creativity in the same way."

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"I can let the Imperials know you need a pile of people ready - might set them scrambling a bit. But you don't have to use your power even if you've got it. Or you could wish the power onto some volunteers."

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"Much of my selfish desire to be a magic rock is in the - meaning behind it. I will consider it."

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"Meaning behind it?" asks a classmate.

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"Oh, it's much more grand to prove yourself and make a wish out of true heart's desire that saves a great many people, and then gain magic powers from an empress, than it is to simply make a wish to heal yourself. It's like something out of a play, and while I know life is no play, the aesthetic will certainly make me feel more strongly."

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"Huh. Whatever works," replies the classmate.

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"Yep!" He doesn't get it, but that's fine. Hardly anyone really gets another person. Plus her culture is evidently weird, and she's a weird member of it.

She thinks about what life might be like as a resurrection dispenser. "You don't have to use your power even if you've got it", pff. Of course that's wrong. She'd be wracked with guilt if she never used it, and wracked with stress and worry about using it too much and not having a proper life either, too. Maybe she could precommit to, say, only 20 hours a week - low since it's liable to be monotonous - or whatever other number makes sense - and have that decision be already-made and therefore not something to feel guilty about.

Is there more class time today or are they done?

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They have a written essay test on various scenarios and what things would be permissible or ideal for an onsite magic rock to do.

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She asks Instructor Raunat, if she becomes a magic rock and moves back to her home and her home declines to join Mir or Vanda Nossëo, will she be subject to any laws or taxes or regulations other than those of her home polity?

(It'd be a bother to be living peacefully and then suddenly find she's guilty of treason or something. Not likely, but worth checking. Sunsea City definitely will join though, they're probably just negotiating for bonuses or trying to work out a larger state to join as)

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If she stays physically located in a nonmember polity, no, except insofar as Mîr provides consultation on the range of possible crimes someone can commit if they have magic.

Test:

1. Imagine that you are a resurrection-specced magic rock. While you are off duty, a demon you have never met before visits you at home and offers to pay you to help him resurrect some basement dwellers. What would be appropriate? What would be ideal?

...

4. Imagine that you are a teleporting magic rock. During your on-call shift, an Elf you recognize but don't know well approaches and asks you to accompany her to a new world and check for Ardas adjacent to it. What would be appropriate? What would be ideal?

5. Imagine that you are taking a vacation, and while you're having breakfast, a magic rock you have never seen before has a visible crisis outside the restaurant, and collapses, presumably from low magic. A witness asks if anyone present is a magic rock who can donate some magic, but you are low on magic yourself. What would be appropriate? What would be ideal?

...

8. Imagine that you have no unique power relevant to the situation; imagine you are at a bus station, traveling for personal reasons, and a fistfight breaks out between two people who look human on the platform opposite yours. What would be appropriate? What would be ideal?

...

10. Make up a situation of your own that might challenge a magic rock and explain what's challenging about it and how you'd resolve it and how it would ideally be approached.

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Good to know.

Her introduction mentions her perspective from a bronze age culture where the laws reflect the cruel necessities of precontact life. She will answer from a moral perspective and less a legal one.

She gave mindreading permission; Therefore they are using it; Therefore the quiet temptation to present herself in optimistic light can go drown itself.

1. ...Who is this person anyway? Nobody she knows, that's for sure! Bothering her on her day off, even. She'll decline and possibly-sarcastically hand him the contact info for the resurrection queue. However, it wouldn't be inappropriate to do a bit of due diligence to make sure the new people will be alright, sticking around and talking to them about it at least, and then accepting, perhaps after some negotiation. Ideally one would ask why this demon is jumping the usual queue, and perhaps report it to the police if they are acting suspicious.

4. (She notes: She is unclear about the hierarchical structures at play but assumes she isn't working directly for this elf.) Travelling to new worlds sounds very dangerous. There is a reason they came forth with an enormous starship and teams of envoys, no? It would be inappropriate to simply go gallivanting into a new world, better to apologetically decline and suggest making an official request. Ideally, she would go out of her way to check on this new world and what is being done about it, and possibly get involved in the teleporting effort at that point.

5. It would be appropriate to report the issue to an appropriate hotline, which she presumably has saved and ready, and call it a day. Honestly it would be reasonable to do nothing and trust that someone else will handle things, but she is aware of the bystander effect and would have more relevant information, so it'd be rude to not at least reassure people. It would be ideal to go out of her way even on vacation, donating a bit of magic and sticking around until a refill could be had or if that doesn't help, or listening to the cheering-up song herself and dealing with the forced emotion to provide such a charge.

8. Random magic rocks are not the police, and have no special powers or training. She doesn't want to spend time being questioned by the law or risk getting too entangled in something that's not her business. Perhaps a shout to security would be appropriate. Ideally one would get in there and break it up (carefully, to not hurt anyone), but it really depends on the specifics at that point.

10. A close personal friend dies in an accident and you don't have a resurrection power, but have a loose acquaintance who does:
Ideally, one would simply pay the usual fee for resurrection, whatever it is, or else follow whatever standard process there is for a priority request. However, some people might try to jump the queue, convincing or owing favors or whatever to the friend and summoning a demon for this purpose, and get them back as soon as possible, since the personal friend has a place to go back to. This would be a valid response, but is not how she would solve the situation; Instead consoling friends and family and pushing as hard as possible for a priority queue through the "normal" system, since Vanda Nossëo seems to be quite excellent at making these things run smoothly.

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When the exams are collected the instructor says that most of the questions were based on either real events or training exercises that magic rocks who want higher responsibility positions go through and they'll talk about what really happened tomorrow. Dinnertime!

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Samara mingles and socializes at dinner, and also asks if there's an art club or anywhere she could get a short gig?

(She also emails various front-page-of-search-engine news sources with a somewhat dramatic blurb summarizing her story and saying she wants to do an interview if she can be paid a small sum for it.)

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"Gig doing what?" asks a classmate.

"There's the Splatter Basement," enthuses another. "It's kiiiind of aimed at kids but if you've never been you should still go, it's fantastic."

"Mushroom Garden has art gallery type stuff but it's mostly a drug den, coffee and cannabis and stuff - stick to those till you know what you're doing though -"

"Palhur is a sewing circle kind of deal."

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"I've not elected to become a citizen yet, it'd be bad optics back home, so no basic income, so doing anything, maybe quick portraitures? Splatter Basement does sound fun, and well, I've partaken in opium before but it was just hedonism without substance so I'll be avoiding that- I think I'll check out splatter basement and mushroom garden, those sound neat."

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"If you wanna draw caricatures you can draw a couple of us as samples and then set up on the street somewhere."

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She has managed to acquire a sketchbook and pencil somewhere and will thank her classmates and draw sketches! 'Caricatures' implies a certain style, doesn't it? Hmm. She draws rough sketches of head-and-shoulders, highlighting and slightly exaggerating prominent features like tusks, eyes, hair, jaws. Her style leans towards the imposing and majestic, since she's certainly not going for realism her architectural habits appear to be sneaking in.

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"Oh, that's Pral, isn't it - look, Pral -"

"Oooh, I look like a marble statue."

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"Oh, I'm glad you like it! Is there a good way to turn these into computer files?"

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"Yeah, you just take a picture - lemme see your computer?"

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She hands it over with a slight shrug.

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"Okay, so on a chiplock you gotta -" Pral navigates on her own computer to the camera app on hers. "Like so."

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Yes, you can go over there, a good little minion that follows her orders running around a grand plaza of apps at a thought, as seen from high above. (This is the conceptualization that works best for her, okay?) And open the camera.

She can position it and - fuss with placement and lighting a bit actually, so it's a good shot - take a photo fine from there. "Just like that video I got taken of me, thank you. Want a copy?"

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"Yeah!"

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She will figure that out in a bit too, then. And then head outside and ... She doesn't have a table or anything actually. She can fetch her easel (the work so far on her eclipse painting is dry now) and use that and stand smilingly offering caricatures at a guess of a reasonable fee.

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She has takers! Can she do one of this toddler that won't hold still? This couple, cheeks squashed together? This guy's pet peccary? These two are alts, can she draw them both but not make them look as identical as they are by leaning on stylization?

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She can certainly try all these challenges. The baby and peccary come out looking almost royal. She gives the two alts very different expressions, which helps as well. Adds flowers for the couple.

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She can make a tidy sum of money spending her evening this way.

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And then hunt for a Splatter Basement and more art supplies! By asking her computer to do it.

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Splatter Basement is six subway stops thataway and it sells paint!

She doesn't have to exit to ground level to get to Splatter Basement, it's down an underground hallway from the subway stop. It's a huge cavey sort of room with several sub-chambers, brilliantly lit with cheap magic lamps scattered all over the place. The signs say she has to wear shoes to enter, possibly because people are occasionally stepping on the lamps. She can enter the splatter basement for free but the main attraction is that you can buy paint, in tubes and buckets and spray cans, with sponges and rollers and brushes and palette knives and other weirder tools to use as stamps or scrapers, and you can paint the room. It's clearly hundreds of layers deep in paint already, including on the ceiling; the orcs currently in there are making new murals on top of old, applying light layers of paint to one of the lamps directly to change the color of the light it gives, having a paint-tube-fight and getting each other very teal and gray in the process, and writing their own name a bunch of times. One sub-chamber is blocked off and a person with a staff badge is chipping away the paint and putting it in a basket; the shop where you buy the paint also sells the accumulated fordite in chunks of various shapes and sizes. They have a prestidigitation chamber for when you're done.

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Oh, this does seem fun. She wanders around a bit, then buys a fair spread of colors and paints a feathery dragon. It's hard to get the shading right without a background but this is for relaxation and she'd been doing a lot of art today, so she stylizes heavily, spends like 10 minutes tops on it. Presumably she can keep the paints she hasn't used up for later?

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Yup, the paints are hers to keep!

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Paint and other art supplies are pretty much all she had in mind when she set about accumulating money, so-

Oh, wait, more changes of clothes.

Well, the prestidigitator should be keeping this robe fairly fresh and she's tired. She can take care of that tomorrow. Back to the little school area, to the cafeteria for a late night snack (if it's still open), then to sleep.

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Back on the planet of Spirit itself:

The news that Vanda Nossëo will protect dragons just as much as other people breaks and causes quite a stir in Goldvalley, with priests having loud public debates about the people's holy purpose in public. The king has launched a propaganda campaign of sorts that of course the dragons need not be exterminated; They are no longer a threat, and Vanda Nossëo can create new planets at a whim. For rising up and joining the galaxy, they can have MORE land than before, without anyone needing to die for it! He and four other kings collectively composing the "metal kingdoms", plus a collection of outlying minor dukes and barons to the north, have requested communicators and teleportation-assisted embassies with each other, as part of intending to join Vanda Nossëo as a single state. The city has also produced no less than a dozen prospective dragonslaying parties; The King told them to stay put, but apparently his control over the Guard is not perfect.

There is a country that currently uses hard labor as a punishment for severe crimes, the hard labor is... Pretty close to red work, actually. Corpse disposal, tanning, fertilizer-making, sewage work, and when there's not enough of the former work various menial labor like mining, with elaborate purification rituals-slash-quarantines at the end of the term of punishment. While delighted to have such tasks automated, they still want something similar to the current institution to maintain deterrence and because it's religiously significant, does Vanda Nossëo have any suggestions? (This culture has honestly a very built-up and rigid bureaucracy all about maintaining their rich valley full of terraced farmland and carefully managed forests, with written records and a continuity of kings going back almost a millennium. They even have partnerships-of-sorts with various spirits they worship in exchange for maintaining the weather and similar tasks)

One region is such an incredible mess of guilds, baronies, freeholders, viziers, appointees, mercenary companies, workers' councils, mercantile organizations, senators, and more. Every faction is appealing to Vanda Nossëo to help crush the opposing factions and then surely they will be able to join on good terms? Several cities declare independence, and then declare fealty to a newly created state, and then the congress of the newly created state fails to do anything, and meanwhile merchant companies are running around objecting to the formation of new polities or trying to force in the same corrupt deals they had before, and mercenary companies are trying to conquer outlying areas and call it liberation, and the king of the region and much of his court have quietly requested asylum so that they won't be assassinated, they'll declare the nominal 'kingdom' dissolved if they get it.

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Vanda Nossëo is happy to arrange communicators and put bus stops at all the participating capitals (though they're close enough together that they can get more frequent service if they accept a robot shuttle that flies through the air instead of a teleporter).

If the religious observance is important to the prisoners, then there's probably something for them to do, though Vanda Nossëo doesn't know what the requirements are for the characteristics of the work. If the observance is mostly important to people who are not themselves prisoners, though, the prisoners will, upon the polity joining Vanda Nossëo, have the right to leave (for another prison, if they are a clear and present danger or their sentence is passed down by a Vanda Nossëo court).

The king and his court are welcome to move to Vanda Nossëo as individuals. They will set up in abandoned or unused land and invite other people from this area to move in as individuals. Since there's no coherent political unit for them to interface with.

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They'd like a shuttle to coordinate things! (Having a shuttle to share amongst kings is a good reinforcement of their authority anyway). The biggest sticking point was always going to be 'not killing dragons', but they're working on selling that to people. They proved to be surprisingly open to it with the right propaganda. They'd like a bunch of land area on a new planet and a lot of immortalities as a signing bonus, since resurrections don't seem to be possible yet.

The religious observance is... Complicated. It's practical, for preventing diseases and stuff, but also strongly symbolic as a washing away of the shame of a crime, becoming fit for society again, and it's also a way of showing that society takes its order and rules seriously, even guild leaders have to do half-exile work if they're guilty of murder. After much debate they think that keeping the separation from society and elaborate purification rituals is necessary but prisoners don't really have to actually work or live in bad conditions if there's robots for that. They'd like a lot of robots and they want to retain full control over their land and farming practices and fairly severe penalties for messing with them. People are welcome to come see their very elaborate terraced farms and managed forests, some sections are over 1000 years old, they're proud of them.

The king and his court would love to leave. Someone immediately starts trying to charge tolls to approach their setups. Someone else fights their way through and would like to buy ALL the exotic multiverse stuff in exchange for gold. Someone else camps out near them and preaches at everyone that they are false lords, come to deceive the true believers. A large plantation farm has kicked out their owners and would like to declare independence and join them as a state a few miles square.

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Lots of immortalities and a chunk of a new planet is totally reasonable; Terraforming will get right on nicening up a place in the same world so people can have access to similar local magic conditions.

Separation from society and elaborate purification rituals as a requirement to reenter this country are totally acceptable. They can have a lot of robots and Vanda Nossëo has no desire to interfere with their land and farming practices; they'll funnel tourists their way.

They emplace fairies wherever there's toll collectors and will pull people past the toll collectors when they want to approach. They don't want gold, they'll take stories or you can just leave and get basic income on another planet and buy exotic multiverse stuff that way. Has the plantation farm already had a vote? What's become of the erstwhile owners?

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That works out well then, for the first two. Though the second place also wants to make tourists read a set of abbreviated laws upon entry. (Basically the only part that sticks out is: Don't mess with the forest or farms, seriously, they are sacred and we will jail you for it)

Well this ragtag caravan will take turns to tell lots of obvious lies about their adventures while other stand guard and warily eye the toll collectors - did you know those toll collectors over there are a bunch of heathens-

They voted! They don't seem to have understood that women and children also vote. The erstwhile owners were allowed to take a wagonful of their stuff with them, and are driving it towards the coast along with two slaves who seem a bit more personally loyal.

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It is not uncommon to make tourists read laws before they come in, that's fine.

Obvious lies are fine; the kinds of obvious lies people tell about themselves is also culturally significant.

They'll need to redo the vote with EVERYONE allowed to vote but if they can get a majority that way they will accept the plantation as a tiny state and make them the conspicuous envy of their neighbors.

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They've seen the dragonlands and the stone spears of the far north and the jungles across the sea with golden cities where they worship dragons, how scandalous. They're the best board game players/singers/dancers/weavers this side of the continent. They once won in a bet a drink so transcendent that whoever drank it felt at peace for weeks and became healthier. (This one might actually be true?)

The plantation votes again and votes overwhelmingly yes! They want to go to neighbor plantations with an escort to explain how they too can be free!

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Welcome to Vanda Nossëo, plantation! If any of them want to join the envoy corps or the department of integration so they can be official Vanda Nossëo representatives they are welcome to enroll in classes, it's a paid training.

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There are 1344 people in the new state of Free East Talcor. Five of them are interested in that training but a dozen more head out to spread the good word immediately. The rest would like things like decent housing, please. And food.

Lots of people would like to know what exactly the delay is on resurrecting people.

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So, they did a trial resurrection; the person in question is back, now, but there was a problem with her soul (the most easily resurrectable people have no souls or a different kind of soul) and she's currently pursuing a magical solution to that. Once they know what the prognosis is for resurrectees they can start offering it more widely.

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The dragon Warden has now decided they have learned enough ettiquite and the reasoning behind common sorts of laws. They even enchanted a minor healing bauble (which will run out of power eventually) as payment for all the lessons.

What places would you suggest I visit?

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What kinds of things do you want to see and do?

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I still want to learn how to compose magic music, and the other Elf places/things you've shown and described all seem appealing as well, so somewhere on an Elf world seems likely. While visiting I will hold myself to appropriate behavior inasmuch as I am aware what that is and actually capable of it, of course.

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I'm going to recommend Elentári, then, give me a moment to check out tourist guidelines for various locations within it...

It looks like you might find the Falas hospitable.

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Could you tell me a bit more about Falas and its guidelines?

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The Falas is an Elven democracy with a very short list of laws...

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These laws are reassuringly brief and clear. However, I am unsure of my ability to adequately judge situations for items five, six, eight, and nine. Even with the context you have been teaching me, I am afraid that much will be foreign and confusing.

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Elves are quite forgiving and the penalties are light. You might want to purchase an insurance package from a Dwarf company in advance and they'll have more experience with assessing the risks in this sort of situation.

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I should take the effort to make more sellable things in advance; I strongly dislike the idea of having debt. My skills are not yet as great as many of my elders, however. Do you have suggestions on how I could earn a reasonable amount of money before contacting an insurance-provider?

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Magical objects from this planet are as yet very rare, and still new and exciting; they sell extremely well.

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Even the frustratingly impermanent ones I am capable of with my currently insufficient skill? They are stabilize-dying-creature/minor-healing, minor malleability-of-stone, minor plant-energizer, minor general-resilience-gift.

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They're not objectively among the most powerful items in circulation but they're still appealing to some collectors. Malleability of stone in particular we don't have a commonly available duplicate way to manage.

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I see. I have several minor magical items prepared already. I practice frequently. I recall that there is a service that will sell them for me? Of course, for connecting me with this service or bringing them here you would be due some small portion as well.

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Yes, there's a service that will handle that - it's also Dwarves, as it happens. This is part of my job and I'm paid a salary.

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I see, thank you. I will fetch the items and describe their function in detail.

Warden has:

Four stabilization/minor healing pebbles, you press them against what you want them to affect. They'll slowly lose effectiveness and expire after two years of storage or a day of use. She's just now poured energy into them to refresh the shelf life. Two stone-malleableing copper nodules. These are single-use and affect about a three-foot sphere for a few hours, and the copper will worm its way into the stone as little veins in the process; She can also keep stone malleable in person. The plant energizers are tightly packed clumps of slightly moist dirt, they're essentially magic fertilizer. She only has one minor-general-resilience-gift that hasn't been gifted to an animal, it's a rough piece of quartz that helps with pain and fatigue and temperature very slightly.

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The Dwarves will sell them all off on her behalf and pay up front a percentage of the expected proceeds.

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Does she have to give them any money back if actually the proceeds-after-fees are less than the upfront payment?

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Nope, she will not have to give them any money back but if they manage to sell them for more than expected they will also not give her any extra. If she would like to see their track record of sales and how much they paid for the goods she can see that they do have a history of guessing, on average, the stated percentage.

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She looks at the records, but it's painful and disorienting to try to make sense of them without context.

.......This is acceptable, since they have a good reputation.

And then she'll need to talk to a different dwarf-group about insurance, yes?

Permalink Mark Unread

Yep!

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So, she just wants to be insured against causing unintentional harm and getting in trouble about it. She has no intention of hurting anything, stealing, disrupting public places, et cetera, while visiting Falas but is anxious about having insufficient context to form accurate reasonable-expectations. Also, if someone touches her without permission - particularly unexpectedly so - she might react violently out of sheer physical reflex.

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For that has she considered a personal-space magic item? suggests the Dwarf.

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She didn't know those existed until just now, that sounds very useful depending on how exactly it works. Does the insurance company (the concept 'company' comes through a bit weird) sell those or would she need to see someone else?

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They do actually have some! Dragons in particular are new but a lot of Amentans need them for their employment malpractice insurance because otherwise inadequately clean people might touch them.

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It's reasonable not to want to be touched by dirty people. She buys one and tucks it into her chest feathers.

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They should check if it works on someone as large as she is; it has not previously been checked on anyone bigger than a frost giant.

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If she's expecting it she won't react strongly, Yávemar could try to touch her on an extended wing and the tip of her tail?

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Okay. Poke? - no poke, it works.

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Excellent, this is excellent. I will remember to hold my limbs close so as not to needlessly obstruct places. Do you know of other defensive magics like this?

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"Like this how?" inquires the Dwarf.

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Things that will protect me from harm. Since now nobody will be able to directly claw or bite me.

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"There are some wished-on powers that cover things like mental interference."

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That sounds like something I should cultivate within myself instead.

Now, what of the actual insurance? She doesn't really understand how they make their determinations or what they need to estimate her risk.

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The Dwarf is happy to explain about the statistics and math and risk tolerance and reinsurance and suchlike that they use for this sort of thing!

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It seems like they wouldn't have a lot of statistics on dragons, them being new at this. However, insurance being more expensive in future if she makes a mistake is a good motivator. Many dragons care a lot about their reputations with the spirits and animals, and 'a good insured' is a fairly obvious extension of that.

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Good to know! And yes, their expectations are obviously less precise about dragons than about some things but they are still willing to insure her and she'll get a discount for wearing the personal-space object since that was an expected source of risk.

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She buys some insurance. Is that everything that needs to be taken care of before she can go visiting?

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Yup! She can hop over to the chosen world's Falas at her leisure. She will fit in the cargo-zone of a conventional bus, though not the bus itself (people transporting large things leave their suitcases in a designated area near the bus and the teleporter brings them along).

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Can she pay extra to be teleported directly. She does NOT want to navigate a crowded bus station and be cramped into a metal box if it is avoidable.

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Yes, she can hire a direct courier for lots more than a bus ticket but within her means.

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It's definitely worth it. She'll just have to make more things to sell, later.

(Thank you for all the help, Yavemar.)

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Yavemar is happy to have helped!

The courier arrives and totes her to the Falas.

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Warden will just hang out and look around at first, take everything in.

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Elf cities are beautiful and full of singing! At the moment everyone in earshot is coordinating on twelve-part harmony for a lovely wordless chorale.

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There's a beautiful order to this place, crafted with care by many hands into a cohesive whole. Though the Onesong is flatter, somehow, here, that hardly takes away from it all. This feels important, like a spiritually significant event somehow. The song is saying something like... Many voices who don't know each other, but who all agree that there should be beauty, and come together to create it in wordless agreement.

She finds a place where she's not blocking anything as far as she can tell and folds up her wings and half-sits on them and curls her tail around her front and just listens with eyes closed for a long time, trying to follow the music and and the flow of people and intentions through the streets, headfeathers and tailtip swaying slightly.

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People look at her, not for very long for fear of being rude, but acknowledging that she is interesting. The music morphs gradually in response to telepathic cues from whoever has an inspiration; she can listen in on those, if she wants.

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Warden makes public the fact that she doesn't consider looking at her rude, would talk to people if they talk one at a time but they may have to think 'at' her, and otherwise she is enjoying just listening to the singing.

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Elves look at her more! They take polite turns to admire her beauty and one asks what brings her to the Falas.

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She accepts compliments with little thank-yous and bursts of pride. She first wanted to learn magic-music composing but was stunned by the singing when she arrived. She's not in a hurry, anyway. It's beautiful but she's hesitant to join in since her range is a lot deeper.

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Well, when she's ready to she'll want to make her way over to the composers' hall over that way, probably.

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Good to know! 

She does walk over that way after another half hour or so.

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The city is very spacious; sometimes she has to wait a bit for people to get out of her way but none of the streets are too cramped for her to pass through at all.

The composer's hall is a collection of pavilions arranged around an amphitheater; Elves there are singing, but each their own softer independent song rather than a big chorus, pausing and resuming frequently, some writing, one playing with a looper.

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There is definitely something going on with the music.

She makes public that she's interested in learning the principles at play here and waits and listens. She's good at waiting.

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One of the Elves apparently finds it helpful to think "out loud" and will do it at her if she's asking! He's working on a song intended to temporarily suppress psionic powers, so that kids in control training in the Eclipse neighborhood can take breaks without being locked down. His alt in Ithil wrote most of it but it's not quite working yet and he's trying to be a pair of fresh eyes with the same compositional sensibility to see if there's any aesthetically obvious tweaks to be made, and then he'll send it back. He thinks the refrain probably needs to be quieter and maybe that the fourth here should be a major third instead...

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She builds up the structure and flow of the song in her head as he goes. She manages to hold the whole length of it in her head at once, eventually, it's a very broad but slow sort of thought. She's using mental images in sight and some sixth sense that isn't quite sight and isn't quite hearing and isn't quite smell to assist.

Would shifting the refrain down in tone a bit be very different? No, that makes it worse she thinks, like a big stone in a river... Not that she understands what makes a song magic as opposed to merely beautiful...

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Making it beautiful sure helps but he can show her the little tidbits of feedback he gets from the song of creation telling him when he's on the right track!

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Huh.

 

...Huh.

 

(They could be at this for a while, it's very engaging and definitely what she came here for. Understanding will take time. Eventually - after a couple of days - she'll need to go find a place to sleep.)

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He sleeps slightly more often than every couple of days but there's an endless rotation of composers in the pavilions.

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I have been bid to tell you so that you may relay to whoever is relevant, the two Elders, Darktooth and Allmother, intend to meet to discuss the future, and desire the attendance of a wise and well-informed scholar of government and law from your people, who will be able to inform their planning.

Ember tells the linguistics elf at the start of one particular day's lesson.

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What are they hoping for for a scholar in this capacity?

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One who will be able to discuss in detail the acceptable shapes-and-kinds of laws/states that would be likely-acceptable by Vanda Nossëo as a member, or perhaps in some sort of nonmember association/relationship.

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I'll have them send someone. Where is the meeting?

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Where Allmother's territory meets the ocean. In one to several days.

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So when the meeting starts there is an Elf waiting there.

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With Allmother there to provide context, Darktooth sort of has an aura of power as well. Much less palpable, very subtle, very restrained and orderly, but it is sharply delineating the difference between Allmother-space and Darktooth-space, radiating outward from him like stained glass. They're a couple hundred feet apart, Allmother lounging on a beach and Darktooth resting mostly-submerged on the sand a ways out.

Greetings to you, learned one who has responded to our call. It is my sincere hope that today, with the meeting of two Elders, we can develop a strategy to bring the benefits of Vanda Nossëo to the whole of the land, dragons, beasts, and spirits alike. There is no clear path forward with the unsettlement you bring to many of my kin, but one must be sought anyway. With it, I hope, a flourishing of compassion and a lessening of suffering to all can be found as well. While the dragons are the mostly-undisputed masters of the wild, we too often forget that Nature is a many-threaded tapestry of feeling and life, and that each small thread deserves comfort.

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Agreement. While I do not share Allmother's priorities, we have common ground in this matter. Given that Vanda Nossëo exists and is doing the things it is doing, the natural order of this planet will vastly change. I have an interest in maintaining key portions of the state before contact, out of the pride and self-determination of my species, out of my reputation as a wise thinker and a pillar of what it means to be a dragon, and many other dragons will feel a similar deep-seated unease. However. It seems to me that we will be left behind and eroded away if we do not form a government and join Vanda Nossëo.

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It is permissible for individuals to join, but I agree that it likely wouldn't satisfy quite as many desiderata shared in common here.

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To me the fundamental issue at stake is a feeling of self-determination and power and worthiness. While I realize that such desires make us narcissists by your framework, it is the natural state of dragons to desire that all who look upon us think us powerful, clever, beautiful, or some other combination of desirable-traits. It is the natural state of dragons to try to prove such cleverness or might or long-practiced skill when challenged. What I think would happen if no intervention is made is thus: 

The humans of this place join you. Some are willing to leave the planet for cities elsewhere, some are not. A great many things will change in mere decades- Cities and civilization growing tall and mighty.

Enough dragons will take the offer of conjured flesh for sustenance that the spirits of the animal clans will learn this lesson. Over time, more beasts learn to ask to be protected and try to make their way to you. You may or may not then decide to prosecute hunting as murder, even among those dragons who do not want anything to do with you. Such a thing demanded would be a mortal insult and a grave debasement.

Some dragons will leave for your worlds and forget the old ways, or hatch never knowing them. Over a great time, when dragons lose their territory or die, it will become unclaimed land - which may then become claimed land, by one of your member species. Some dragons may attack people, and be punished for it, and earn shame and despair and loss of territory due to imprisonment thusly. Over time, the collective domain of dragons will shrink. 

Perhaps some years down the line, your vast apparatus of political will, shifts. The previous promises no longer hold, and an agreement to not interfere is washed away by the calling of millions to do something. This is a trend I have noticed among human society, perhaps less prevalent when the rulers are immortal; Those times I managed to acquire truce always ended with some battle-lusting king promising victory and new land to his people.

Without joining Vanda Nossëo, the dragons are strange creatures whose lands will not expand, whose numbers will not grow as yours ever will, who have no possible defense or answer to your might should you change your mind which you could do at any time, whose presence will be confined to slowly shrinking portions of a single planet and who will ever resent the coming of otherworlders in the long arc of history.

This is an approximately-1-standard-deviation-pessimistic-prediction from my own perspective.

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But you know very well that the status quo cannot continue. Nature is not Earth alone, solid and unmoving. Water, Fire, and Air all hold within them the great promise of change and adaptation, of seizing the chance to create a better world, of using all your wit and power of mind in order to get what you want. Dragonkind is not dying, with the arrival of these otherworlders. It is hatching into a new phase of Life. Destruction is creation, and creation is destruction- Surely you, of all dragons, understand this, Darktooth.

I do not expect the path of conservatism and refusal to accept the future from you. This is a prelude to considering another, better way. You have seen the land go through great changes before. Is this time truly so dangerous as the Ruination? I think it is not. I feel the people of Vanda Nossëo are my kin in a way. To know that suffering exists and not feel echoed pain is a baffling thing to me.

I notice too that your arguments rest only on the preferences of dragons, and not those of the good beasts of the land. I cannot accept this. I know the pride and pain even of ants, and I know that every minute soul contains multitudes. If you consider the future as a balance of forces proposed by various actors, know well that I will not rest while I can alleviate suffering. I will inform the goodbeasts of the world that they may be protected myself, and urge them to accept the kindness that is being offered. No argument or threat can stop me from doing so. Only a trade, that allows me to help more by helping in a different manner.

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Acknowledged, agreement. You are an Elder as powerful as I, one whose voice echoes deeply in the world and one who is beloved by land and animals. The lessons of spirit and time, your plans for the future, as well as the intent and desire of the entire rest of the world, also make clinging to the past untenable. I was simply presenting a baseline path-to-be-improved-upon. Though many possible plans will be extremely difficult to evaluate. Much is in flux.

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Darktooth, your concerns are understandable. I think some of it is well-grounded and pretty hard to route around, but some of it isn't - in particular, your land isn't all that desirable to Vanda Nossëo members for any characteristic apart from its proximity to dragons and spirits and the animals thus rendered unique. Many of the humans from this planet already want to colonize others, and we may be able to increase uptake of that option if it seems like the right choice. Even if the political will of Vanda Nossëo changes drastically, the availability of demons to create new places to live is unlikely to disappear.

Permalink Mark Unread

That is reassuring to an extent.

Being a curiosity to be gawked at is not necessarily acceptable either, even if I instead choose to regard it as being an object of wonder.

...Though that is not the real issue. Overeager tourists can be seen off in ways and ways.

Thus why I would wish to form a state capable of representing the inhuman part of this world, deeper perhaps than you think it is, whose spirits and animals I think you do not understand. Any state to be formed must do as little as possible and/or have as much resemblance to the Tradition as possible, if it is to be accepted by dragons; A state formed by the intelligent beasts but rejected by dragons would leave a great many beings unsettled and unhappy. I think this is unlikely if the matter is handled with anything vaguely approaching care, thankfully.

There are powers in this world grander than any dragon save perhaps the Ruiner, which rarely make themselves known but are no less potent for it. Their reaction to a step too far would be punishing indeed. The interests of these must be kept in mind as well. The ones I know of are The Great Green; The Deep Blue; The Heart of Storm; The Slumbering Heat; The Moon's Child.

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Those are spirits?

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Yes. In the same way that a fly and a tiger are both animals.

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And how do they make their preferences known?

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By having slow and subtle effects on the world, by influencing dreams, and occasionally by blending their nature with a dragon with a blessing, in much the same way we Elders can do deliberately, or without necessarily setting out to do so. The great spirits are facts of nature who cannot be controlled nor truly predicted. Gestalts of thought and action with millions of years of momentum.

A new planet would have no such things. That is why the loss of this one would cut all the more deeply to those sensitive to it.

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That makes sense. It seems to me that dragons and spirits are much more firmly attached to this specific location and would find it more irreplaceable than the humans; we don't want to forcibly displace anyone but we should be able to at least sharply discourage expansion and funnel growth offplanet for them.

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If I am not mistaken, much of Darktooth's remaining uncertainty is due to the collective political-magical-visibility-bargaining power of the humans of this world in comparison to us(nonhuman-thinking-beings-on-this-planet). While he has good reasons to be wary, it is also true that logic cannot be divorced from emotion. As for the fear of betrayal, direct or implicit as political will shifts - I know it is difficult to trust, and difficult to hope. I know also that the deep magics of the world can be sacrificed to be called forth in various ways, if it is truly necessary. A final assurance, one whose mere existence may be of some comfort even if it is never used.

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Moving on. From my understanding, the minimum requirements for a member state of Vanda Nossëo is: Appropriate punishments for murder, rape, and torture. The approval of at least one-in-two of all beings capable of voting, when the call to join is sent. Permission to leave the state if desired.

I do not yet have any practical understanding of what acceptable implementations of the first and third items look like, nor how they operate. We do not have clerks and judges, nor do I think we ever will, for example.

Permalink Mark Unread

It's not actually necessary for a member state to administer punishments; we can do it for you if desired, we have the state capacity. Some dragons are unconjurable due to being too magic but they leave negative space in the conjuration so our forensics team won't have very special trouble. I think you already qualify as having freedom of emigration for our purposes - at least among dragons; I don't know how it would be handled if one of the animals wanted to leave and the dragon they were associated with wanted to keep them.

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I find the concept of an Enkindled being or aware beast who desire to leave being forbidden - not due to circumstance or having no better option, but by force - abhorrent, and I expect most other dragons to feel the same.

The punishments and the determination of when a crime has actually occurred is going to be a major source of tension. While we cannot form a court system easily, I also think we cannot - as it will be argued by those against - simply permit Vanda Nossëo to carry off anyone as they please when they have broken some ineffable nebulous rule. Furthermore, the outright banning of hunting as murder would be a severe blow to draconic support. As some animals are more aware than others, it is potentially fraught with uncertainty on whether a murder has occurred.

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Yes, it seems like where to draw the line between citizen and animal is going to be particularly important and difficult. It's almost certainly intractable to check them all individually and I gather it doesn't consistently break down by species.

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Some species, notably large cats and large birds, are aware more often, but no. It does not break down by species.

I think I should hear about the course of typical enforcement.

Permalink Mark Unread

On a typical Vanda Nossëo world, the average citizen encounters other people often enough to be reported missing within a few days of dying (or being abducted by someone who then proceeds to rape or torture them and doesn't let them go make a complaint). It's typical for forensics to investigate every case once the background death rate is low enough - this takes a while, on a newly contacted low tech world, replacing dangerous infrastructure and making healing widely accessible and getting everyone to Cube to morph younger if they're elderly and so forth, but the death rate after that is very low and forensics can handle all the deaths whether they're suspicious or not. When they can't do that, they still handle the ones that seem suspicious to local-level authorities and find out the circumstances and cause of the death. Then they apprehend the murderer, if there is one, and question them with a truth spell. If they won't say anything they'll still convict on forensic evidence, but the questioning weeds out cases like 'that was actually accidental death' or 'that was actually assisted suicide' or 'that was a very convincing LARP' or whatever. Then they're sentenced depending on what seems to have precipitated the crime - it's common for a course of some particular promising educational or therapeutic intervention to be a benchmark, especially for a first offense - and they're assigned a prison suited to their needs, though they can move to a different one if they prefer.

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Darktooth holds still for a while and then flaps his wings in a large splash, sending wordless frustration.

Permalink Mark Unread

Indeed. We should think on the portions of that system that are more in line with draconic principles. An appeal to Absolute Truth, pure and holy. Appeals against unjust destruction, and how nothing destroyed is truly lost forever. The chance to speak in your own defense...

I would be surprised at least mildly if any dragon was guilty of rape. Torture will not be much more common than that, though a few have such inclinations. Murder is the challenge. The absolute necessity of killing is core to the lessons passed down from parent to child.

Permalink Mark Unread

How much of the process as described is strictly necessary?

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Almost none of it is strictly necessary. The important thing is that murder has to be meaningfully illegal, for everyone, and that illegality has to be enforced. - if dragons like to get into fights to the death with both sides preferring to be in that fight to the death than safely elsewhere, even while losing, you could maybe squeeze that in as consensual bloodsport.

Permalink Mark Unread

Many will flee combat if they are losing. Relatively few fights are to the death unless one party is extremely desperate. Death is always a possibility when making such a challenge, however. In challenge deaths more ambiguous than the open slaying of a retreating defeated foe, those ought not be considered murder. Or the occasional ritualized combat-to-death, where both parties accept before beginning that the fight is until death.

We will need to make the hunting of unaware animals not murder. If the population of aware animals grows too large, eventually, even with methods of slowing this, would other worlds accept some who wished to leave due to overcrowding?

Permalink Mark Unread

The cycle of destruction can be stopped. New planets will be available when this one fills, and they will fill with their own spirits in time if dragons and goodbeasts and enkindled children live within.

Permalink Mark Unread

I don't think there would be any trouble about aware animals wanting to move elsewhere - perhaps within this same universe since it seems magically special and we don't have long term data on the family of rats that has moved to an Arda or the resurrected human who's having some trouble with her soul, but new or terraformed planets aren't too difficult to source.

Permalink Mark Unread

The state taking shape in my mind is this: A state that enforces the ideals of the Tradition upon its members, with allowances for the being in question's ability to comprehend the rules affecting enforcement and punishment accordingly. A bear that knows nothing else but wordless hunger and kills a dragon whelp would be an environmental hazard; Not a murderer. Murder is the killing of anything that, were it asked if it wants to die, can understand and answer in thought or sound; Rape and torture are to be treated similarly. Other violations of Tradition such as lying or trespassing may be repaid with a public apology or public shame in the form of a record-of-crime or other such relatively mild penalties. A small number of beings - not necessarily only dragons, but preferably not humanoids - would be judges who go to those who have killed and demand answers. It would be a rare position, afforded respect. But judges are not above reproach, and their conduct would be reviewed by each other and ultimately by an Elder. To be removed and punished themselves, and the punishments revised, if their decisions are lacking in sense.

Permalink Mark Unread

I think that sounds workable. We don't have a tremendous supply of non-humanoids working for Vanda Nossëo - there are plenty of species of nonhumanoids we're in contact with but by and large our biggest recruitment pools are humanoid - but we should be able to find a few. Especially if it's all right if they used to be human and have turned into something else for reasons of their own.

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--To issue appropriate warnings: I do not expect turning into a dragon to work. Without a draconic soul structure, I expect the body would die. I do expect the supply of dragons and enkindled I would trust with such a position to be limited.

The thing I have described still feels perilously fraught and liable to fail. Much of it will be on how it is presented and argued, which you cannot easily help with. There will be those who reject any authority. Most states, I think, have a strict definition of what land-area their laws apply in; I think that is less workable here. Dragons move, and the lesser beasts move, and dragons are fairly and justly driven out of their homes, sometimes.

Permalink Mark Unread

Turning into magical beings that normally have souls, like my species, has worked before, but noted; some people have turned into other creatures, though, and prefer to stay that way despite being originally human, so if a judge could have human parents but be shaped like a cat, for example, there will be more options.

There's some theoretical work on states that don't have conventional borders. I think we can define the lands humanoids occupy, and the rest can be native-species territory without much fretting about whether every mile of it is occupied by any particular claimant?

Permalink Mark Unread

Such a border might be defined by a magical boundary; Any region which carries a certain signature, which the beings of this world will be able to recognize clearly, is part of the state. Such a working would be complex, but within the reach of ones such as Darktooth and I. Additionally, in time a state will coalesce into a new greater spirit, but on a scale of millennia.

Permalink Mark Unread

Why will the state coalesce into a new spirit?

Permalink Mark Unread

A set of patterns between action and result; When one thing comes predictably after another, and it is a sufficiently complex interaction, and beings with souls impact or are impacted by it, it leaves furrows in the world as a river carving through soft soil. Not like that at all, actually, but it is a suitable metaphor. A state, an abstract pattern not unlike wind or river, organized by dragons and enforced with a consistent set of rules and demarcated by magic, which will have such powerful resonance with so many beings, has all of the necessary ingredients to become a spirit in time. I confess the deeper mysteries of such things are unknown to me, but my intuition supports this conclusion strongly.

Darktooth, I would like to note. Your idea of a state, which seems to seek to punish murder alone, and that as little as possible, may well be suited for your purposes. You wish to build a coherent voice of spirit, a bloc that the disparate souls may find solidarity in and that may receive the benefits of Vanda Nossëo. To simply create order, to merely deter and punish final destruction- It is suitable for your goals. It is not suitable for mine. I wish for a broader, kinder state. One that seeks to create peace, harmony, and love within all. One to bring forth the best of its people, rather than merely restricting the worst.

Permalink Mark Unread

There's no reason dragons have to form a single state with unified governance.

Permalink Mark Unread

I would appreciate guidance on how states typically protect their people from suffering. I know that I do not know how to delegate. I have kept to myself for a very long time, until recently.

Permalink Mark Unread

The representative can go on for quite a while about the most generic possible rules of thumb for what interventions and fallbacks and safety measures work best.

Permalink Mark Unread

They both appreciate it. They absorb a lot of background information about governance and politics, and eventually the meeting ends without a specific plan being developed.

Darktooth has been considering when a good time for the Grand Moot would be. Everyone knows one is coming, and if he doesn't call it someone else will. He didn't want to be under-prepared at one, but has now decided to announce it for the spring equinox - almost a full year from now, as it is coming on into summer in this hemisphere. A frighteningly short time for a dragon, but time enough to plan.

Permalink Mark Unread

Back in the initial first contact, a curious dragon had been studying humanity, and was frightened away by a terrifying visage. But the whispers of the wind and water are more and more confused, and she is terribly curious. And she has not found a territory of her own yet. Perhaps going back would not be the worst idea?

(It's a terrible idea that's going to get her killed but when has that been enough to suppress curiosity?)

The nameless child-dragon finds herself watching the strange elves who come to speak to her kin, and occasionally to the beasts or spirits. Eventually, she works up the nerve to approach one, the Shiny Thing she was originally given clutched by one tooth and displayed obviously.

Permalink Mark Unread

Hello! says the Elf, where he's waiting to be acknowledged at the edge of one of the less talkative dragons's territory.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Hello," she says, this being one of the relatively few ideas communicable through sound for dragons, then- This dragon thinks less clearly in words than the older ones, but-

She received this excellent Shiny Thing in exchange for answering some questions before, when she was very scared and about to run away. Now she is less scared. The hawks and wolves and fish and mice say that [Quendi] are weird-but-harmless. She is extremely curious how human-shaped-people do the things they do! Like bite from a distance, and build caves, and make extra-skins. If she can learn about these without getting attacked or attacking anyone that would be great.

Permalink Mark Unread

She can totally learn those without getting attacked or attacking anyone! Does she mean, like, right here right now, or is it okay if he directs her to somewhere on another planet she can pick up information like that?

Permalink Mark Unread

She hasn't been able to claim a- Has not yet found a place to live that is good enough for her. So she can leave if that's best. She's very curious about people, though. Do humanoid people all think of each other as family, is that why they live so close together? She won't kill anybody. She's seen humans murder dragons and deer and goats, but she knows they don't like anyone killing them and it's somehow more complicated than that.

Permalink Mark Unread

This particular Elf is waiting to be acknowledged by the dragon who lives over there, so he can make casual conversation but getting deeply into stuff isn't in the cards. If she goes over there, she will be able to meet some representatives; there might be humans around, but he can warn them she's coming and ask them to look out for her? Or he could ask a teleporter to come pick her up special.

Permalink Mark Unread

AAH SUDDENLY APPEARING.

She will go on her own actually. The directions are appreciated since ?? she has to talk to a different person for some unclear reason.

Permalink Mark Unread

He hopes the representatives are able to help her!

Permalink Mark Unread

Off she goes then!

(The dragon the Elf has been waiting for swoops down to talk to the little one, and they have a private conversation that leaves the local annoyed. The local dragon does finally start talking to the Elf, later, at least.)

The little dragon has gotten pretty fast and shows up in a more human-dense area the next afternoon.

Permalink Mark Unread

The Elf directed her to a place where they have a bus stop and store! She won't fit in the store, but a representative (a humanoid, but this one has an elephant trunk and frilled ears and is pink-and-orange striped) comes out to greet her.

Permalink Mark Unread

It's kind of unnerving to be this close to people and strange devices, but, weird-but-harmless.

Headfeathers go all perked up and she tilts her head quizzically. This one doesn't seem like a human or a Quendi. (But what do they smell like?)

Permalink Mark Unread

He smells kind of like a lizard and kind of like coffee.

"Good afternoon!" he says.

Permalink Mark Unread

They don't stink like humans do! This is a point very much in their favor. "Hello!"

I want to know things about how things work (curiosity!!) but I barely even know how to talk to humanshape people. I only know the lessons taught to dragons by dragons. Our Tradition, not yours.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Well, I'm happy to talk to you! I'm not a human but I'm passing familiar with them."

Permalink Mark Unread

This dragon has a vague notion that all humanshape people kind of consider each other family-of-a-sort? And this is why they don't usually hurt each other? Or don't hurt each other much, she saw humans fighting sometimes but they always seem to calm down after. Is that true at all?

Permalink Mark Unread

"No, I don't think that's true at all. Or, I suppose it might be depending on what you think of as considering someone family-of-a-sort, how do dragons interact with their families?"

Permalink Mark Unread

One parent teaches the egg, and protects them and gives them food until they're grown enough to go on their own. Families don't challenge or attack each other at all, you can be sure they're not going to hurt you just because you have something they want and they can get away with taking it.

Permalink Mark Unread

"I don't think that's the same. Humanoids do sometimes attack each other. But within a society they can mostly expect everyone will follow rules, and don't want to be the first to break them."

Permalink Mark Unread

There are so many people though. How do you tell if one of them is a rulebreaker? It'd be scary not to know you're near someone like that. Can humanoids ask the wind and animals if other humanoids are rulebreakers, she doesn't think so, she thinks (you-all) mostly talk with sound.

Permalink Mark Unread

"We mostly talk with sound when we're together, but we have writing, too, and also people who break rules usually get caught, and then sometimes if they broke a very serious rule they spend some time in a place called a jail where they don't have much else to do but calm down and learn better ways to handle whatever they were breaking rules about."

Permalink Mark Unread

 

Huh.

This dragon is really very curious but does not want to ask more questions without paying for them somehow, that's rude, are there any things that she wants?

Permalink Mark Unread

...this specific alien would actually really like a dragon ride if that's not rude or anything.

Permalink Mark Unread

That sounds like it would involve letting someone TOUCH HER? In her BLINDSPOT? Aaaaaaaaah no.

Permalink Mark Unread

Okay never mind. She could find ways to make money offplanet, easy peasy, but it's harder locally. The usual way to pay for objects from the Vanda Nossëo shops is with songs and stories, but a) those are normally recorded and they're not sure if Andalite thoughtspeak recording devices will work for dragons (though this would be a fine time to test it) and b) normally asking questions is just free.

Permalink Mark Unread

I can tell stories. I can't say many things with sound. Maybe you can say them in sound. What's an Andalite? What kind of person are you and [image of the angel who chased her] and [image of the quendi who talked to her]? What kind of objects do you trade for stories?

Permalink Mark Unread

"Andalites are a species from a world called Cube and they don't have mouths, but they do have telepathy, and they have good technology based around that; they can record telepathic messages. We can try it with you and see if it works. I'm a Shurreek, we're from Warp, and that's an angel, and that's an Elf. And the store's got fabric and food and -" Here's a mental image of the place, actually. It has some jewelry too.

Permalink Mark Unread

Shiny things! She wants some of those if she tells stories, that would be great.

They can try the thoughtspeak recorder. (It doesn't work.)

Permalink Mark Unread

Inconvenient that it does not work. They can get an interpreter with thoughtspeak to relay her story into a recorder as she tells it, though. Here is a fellow who has chosen to be a raccoon and consequently has thoughtspeak.

Permalink Mark Unread

This nameless dragon does not apparently consider a raccoonperson worthy of remark or surprise.

Her stories include: Various spiritual-leaning lessons spoken to her by her mother, trying to talk to squirrels and deciding squirrels are really dumb, learning to swim, being heckled by a pack of cats living in Goldvalley, spying on humans doing weird stuff (from a dragon's perspective, they're mostly pretty normal from a human perspective), building a pile of rocks in an attempt to figure out how stone walls work, talking to fireflies and hearing a faint song back, meeting various other dragons and cleverly deducing the answers to their riddles, practicing her fire breath on a pile of silver coins until they formed one shiny lumpy mass, and laying clever false trails all over the place that slowed down the humans who were trying to kill her a lot.

Permalink Mark Unread

She can get a hefty pile of stuff for that many stories!

Permalink Mark Unread

She also has lots of questions about Vanda Nossëo and quickly decides that maybe living there would make her less SCARED OF THINGS all the time. Could she maybe get a territory somewhere if she swears to follow the Vanda Nossëo-laws to the best of her ability?

Permalink Mark Unread

She can join as an individual and there are plenty of places where terraformed but unoccupied land is cheap enough that she could buy a chunk with her first basic, and then buy up adjacent parcels as she collects more money.

Permalink Mark Unread

It's too bad she's too scared to let people touch her, since people think dragons are cool and would maybe pay for dragon rides. Fire breath and having sharp teeth aren't really money-making skills, she is getting the impression. And she's too little to have much interesting magic yet. But she can be patient, if they're paying everyone just to coexist peacefully it will add up. She assumes yet another new person is going to show up to talk about this part?

Permalink Mark Unread

If she wants to go right now they can get her a teleporter who will bring her to a Dwarf advisory business which will help her find a plot she can afford, hook her up with earning opportunities if she wishes, and pay themselves out of a fraction of her basic or the money she makes doing stuff they found for her respectively.

Permalink Mark Unread

???

...Sure. It'll be a Terrifying Adventure, the best kind. She gobbles up all her shiny new jewelry to prepare.

Permalink Mark Unread

Wow, is that good for the jewelry? Her prerogative either way, of course, just curious...

Here is a Dwarf teleporter who will bring her to the advisory business. Actually, for Dwarf principle reasons it's a plaza where several such businesses advertise and compete, but he mentions that he expects she will want the one with the large outdoor area they put in to cater to Andalites and such.

Permalink Mark Unread

Dragons have throat pouches! Which are pretty good at not messing their contents up! Though carrying around a lot of stuff is awkward. Yes, outdoors is definitely better. Is this Dwarf getting paid by the other Dwarfs to bring her to them in particular?

Permalink Mark Unread

All the Dwarves who have outlets in that plaza (or similar plazas elsewhere; they see a lot of business and have many locations) are collectively paying Vanda Nossëo to refer people to their location, which Vanda Nossëo finds to be good value because they have good customer satisfaction rates, no rules against new businesses setting up abutting the same plaza(s), and more specialist interest in their particular niche of orienting people to the transactional opportunities of the multiverse than Vanda Nossëan envoys who mostly just want to give things away for free and assume a rising tide will lift all boats. Which it will, but the advisory industry is an important part of that when every few months a new planetful of bewildered novices gets dumped on everything.

Permalink Mark Unread

..................Hard to understand but okay! She has heard the laws and will not break them, and is ready to leave.

Permalink Mark Unread

There is a pop, and here they are in a plaza with many businesses which have signs! A few of them also have people stationed outside in case of illiterates, including the one with the outdoor desks and stuff.

Permalink Mark Unread

She will eventually figure this out and try to mentally say 'hello' to someone at an outdoor desk!

Permalink Mark Unread

And from there she will have a pretty straightforward time buying a plot of land on an out-of-the-way planet and getting pointed to some places where she can make money (most trivially by going and existing someplace; it would certainly bring in cash if she sold dragon rides, but just being looked at will go a fair ways).

Permalink Mark Unread

She bothers them about learning what a library is and setting up monthly food delivery as well, entirely content to pay for this because the invisible numbers she's paying with don't feel real. She will consider whether having more money is worth the AAAAAAAAAH and come back to them if it turns out it is. Maybe the AAAAAAAAH will go away as she gets more used to Vanda Nossëo. Thank you, this was all surprisingly straightforward for humanoidstuff!

Permalink Mark Unread

Elsewhere, the magic rock prep school continues. Samara Glory does a little more art and tried to get the feel of her classmates' social interactions but mostly keeps to herself as the class progresses.

Permalink Mark Unread

Some of the orcs were friends before and signed up together. One of them is a Space Orc who's planning to move back to Vanda Nossëo after getting her wish, which is going to be for demon-like conjuring powers. (Orcs can't become demons even if they are born, as she was, in a world adjacent to Hell.) The rest are Flat Orcs (the name is much memed; it just means they're from flat planets) and have jobs lined up in emergency response or public works or the private sector.

Permalink Mark Unread

She supposes her intentions can be summed up as 'public works' even if Sunsea doesn't have the most coherent administration.

And the actual classes and subtle and not so subtle tests?

Permalink Mark Unread

The class continues through the syllabus. Not all the orcs opted into mindreading, and they seem kind of jumpy, squinting at anybody who might be a confederate for a test, but they don't obviously catch any of their real tests in progress.

Permalink Mark Unread

As she reads more about the average experience of a magic rock in Vanda Nossëo she decides it wouldn't be so bad to wish for a proper soul-restoring resurrection power. There will be others, eventually, and she will set herself a sharp limit. The happiness song is a bit disconcerting but not bad, are there versions for slightly different flavors of happiness? Manic hyperactive joy versus indolent contentment versus the comfort of home and nostalgia?

Permalink Mark Unread

There are some with different flavors, but this one has the most dev time in it and is sung by a very strong singer, so it works best; you'd need to spend longer listening to the others to charge up.

Permalink Mark Unread

Well, aside from wandering the city on the weekend and shopping for - any spare outfits at all - funded by more sketchwork busking - she'll pay close attention and think about her city that she now feels something for, but only a distant echo of what she should feel, and how wrong that is and how it needs to be fixed.

Permalink Mark Unread

Vanda Nossëo recently captured several 'werewolves' or 'demons', cannibals and murderers apparently possessed by something and unwilling to be fully healed to their pre-possession state. They have had to effectively imprison them to keep them from promptly murdering anyone within reach- Except each other. What are their prison conditions like?

Permalink Mark Unread

They have a floor of a prison skyscraper on Casentar and a Limboite prison staffperson who goes in to check on them now and then. There's a TV, if they haven't broken it, and a chess set and a ping pong table and a food replicator that's much harder to break, and when they're asleep the prison staff sends in a prestidigitator, and they each have their own room and their own ensuite bathroom. If they've asked for other reasonable things they've gotten them.

Permalink Mark Unread

They mostly sit around listlessly and argue about possible escape plans. Their health rapidly declines, though. They get thin, pale, sickly, listless, and develop sores even though they're eating more than enough.

Permalink Mark Unread

Well, they can call in a healer, but nobody's super optimistic that will work. They try it anyway.

Permalink Mark Unread

They are healed, but get sick again, a bit faster this time.

Permalink Mark Unread

The healer can keep coming back, they've got self-harmers and stuff in the same building and she makes the trip routinely anyway. Do they know why they're sickening, if their Limboite staffperson asks?

Permalink Mark Unread

They're pretty cagey about that, one of the first things they collectively decided being 'don't tell our jailors anything useful'.

They get sick a bit faster on each subsequent healing - a couple weeks the first time, every few days requiring a visit now.

Permalink Mark Unread

Someone does eventually think to ask Solomon and the Allmother what that might mean.

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The beast is feeding on them, in the absence of victims. Your healing is mighty, but I now fear you are inadvertently allowing that spirit of murder to grow fat on stolen health, creating a powerful and terrible thing. You should be wary.

Permalink Mark Unread

What would you recommend?

Permalink Mark Unread

I am loathe to Destroy the poor thing, I do not Destroy; Other dragons would do so gladly, and I can provide a reference for one such if you wish. I am not sure if those it has infected can be preserved in the greater spirit's absence, or if they would die when it does, or if they would cause it to be reborn. It may be that shattering the overspirit will ruin the people that form its body. From what I have seen of its structure, I think it likely.

Permalink Mark Unread

Do you think they might be possible to resurrect in their previous uninfected state afterwards?

Permalink Mark Unread

The subtle power of wishes, as I have heard one is questing for in order to be reborn properly, is unknown to me. However, I do not see a reason why not. I could have restored them - but I will not heal those who do not wish to be healed, even in death.

Permalink Mark Unread

Okay.

They'll take the referral to a dragon who'll destroy the spirit.

Permalink Mark Unread

She refers them to one known as Stonesplitter and gives directions to their territory - no dragon is truly a mercenary, but Stonesplitter is (relatively) wise and cooperative, and very very good at destroying precisely what they mean to. If they say that an elder thought this was a task for them, that will at least get their attention.

Permalink Mark Unread

Somebody will go Annunciate to Stonesplitter.

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It only takes a few minutes. "Here I am, visitor!" He crows aloud, flashily flying overhead. "You have come to me SPECIFICALLY this time! I can tell!"

He swoops around for a showy landing on a nearby stone ruin. He's big - not nearly so titanic as the Elders, but big.

I will hear what you have to say, twolegged one, I have a feeling it'll be at least amusing.

Permalink Mark Unread

Hello, it's nice to meet you! Allmother recommended you as possibly able to destroy a spirit that is parasitizing some humans in our custody.

Permalink Mark Unread

You have spoken to the Elder of Peace? He seems surprised. I have slain several malign spirits in my time. I have even excised cancers and rabies with a lightning-thin razor of Destruction. There is an art to Destruction and I am much practiced at it. It is very gratifying to have an Elder speak of me like that.

Permalink Mark Unread

She seemed to think you were right for the job. We'd really rather peacefully come to terms with the spirit but it really doesn't seem to want to talk, and it's hurting the humans, and we think we can bring them back once they're dead as long as the spirit is out of the way.

Permalink Mark Unread

Some spirits are just balls of hate and fear. Some things just have to be destroyed, in the end. If you want to bring them back a bit different afterward, that is your choice. Whatever this spirit is like, it's going to lash out unless I can completely cripple it in the first blow. Which cannot be guaranteed. Some things you don't want broken will probably break. And I want some sort of reward, of course. I'm not very sure what.

Permalink Mark Unread

Most dragons seem to like offworld jewelry but I don't know your particular tastes. What things are likely to break?

Permalink Mark Unread

Lots of things. The ground, the trees, anything else nearby. Most notably any vulnerable minds without some sort of ward. Salt lines and protective rituals and ash or tinder. I want not just Shiny Things. Those are weak Treasure. Historical, or magic, or customized, or unique.

Permalink Mark Unread

We can find an empty place for a staging area. The most easily available magic are things like magic song recordings, illusion or technological, and Allspeak installations, but if you want something more special I'm sure we can turn up a rarity for you.

Permalink Mark Unread

If something is easily available, I do not want it! Well, I might, but it wouldn't make good payment, good Treasure. That's why jewelry won't suffice this time. I've heard you have entire planetsful of the stuff.

Permalink Mark Unread

I'm not sure we have planetsful but only because that much has never been called for. Procurement can find you something special.

Permalink Mark Unread

I look forward to it. And then I can slay this spirit of yours and try to leave its hosts alive. It'll help if I can observe it for a bit first.

Permalink Mark Unread

That shouldn't be a problem.

Procurement turns up with a bauble found in the ruins of the wishmakers' civilization in Wish. It changes color depending on what people nearby it want, which can produce some pretty patterns if they're pushing for different colors; it floats, and will stay wherever it's put. There are some in museums but this one was spared for Stonesplitter.

Permalink Mark Unread

Ooh, that's not bad at all! Not utterly amazing either, but this is not such a monumental task. Well worth it and then some, if they have a bit more work or favor to ask.

If they can put the hosts somewhere safe from collateral damage and ideally without alerting them that something is up that would be perfect.

Permalink Mark Unread

There are a few empty-ish planets for purposes when one might need an empty planet - there's a disappearance point, where the forensics demons dump extra stuff, and other continents reserved for emergency transit and staging-area. The planet has air and some Valian-ecology ground cover and nothing anybody will miss. They can take the prisoners and Stonesplitter to the staging-area, where vast steppe rolls away in all directions to display the lack of things that may be importantly collateral-damaged. Their prison staffperson Limboite will stay nearby.

Permalink Mark Unread

The murder spirit and prisoners are riled up by the scenery change.

Ooh, that's nasty. Stonesplitter comments as the air turns into a red haze and blood wells up from rocks, malice palpable in the air. I hope this cursed thing is not used to its new strength. Here I go!

The battle, as it were, is mostly magical. The aura leaps forth to Stonesplitter who is flying overhead, driven back by a harmonic roar and razors of white cutting through the air. The humans roar and all charge with immense speed and strength, but Stonesplitter is out of reach, flying. He circles and lashes out at irregular intervals as the red mist eats away at his feathers and blades of blood open wounds. The red haze grows thinner and eventually Stonesplitter lashes out with stronger magic and there is a sort of nauseating painful twisting as the mist rapidly starts fading. The raging prisoners collapse.

Come heal them!

Permalink Mark Unread

The Limboite doesn't have the Loki spells but can call for help and blast a healing song as loud as it'll go. Someone who does have the spells pops into place pronto, tap tap tap.

Permalink Mark Unread

They blink and stare, confused.

Stonesplitter peers closely at one, wounds slowly closing up.

It's trying to reform. Well. Sort of, a new one is potentially being born. Keep them far away from each other and it should be fine. Those grooves in their soul aren't enough all alone. I don't know if THEY'LL be fine though.

Permalink Mark Unread

They can be whisked into different places. (Still prisons, for now, till they're sure they're okay.)

For how long? They used to be neighbors, says the Limboite.

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You ask like I've seen this exact scenario before! I haven't! I really can't tell. He - purrs? - and the air feels clearer. Think of it like I left a few mycelium strands in their heads, if you deny it a framework and signal to regrow, singe them back often enough - hot baths and good scrubbing should be symbolic enough to do that - eventually the immune system will catch up? That's a metaphor. The safest bet would be to kill them all, but you don't want to do that. They're certainly going to be traumatized whatever else they are.

Permalink Mark Unread

Well then. They will notify the families of the situation and where they can visit their respective loved ones, pop Stonesplitter back home with their thanks, and monitor the victims.

Permalink Mark Unread

They're no longer getting sick but they're pretty traumatized! One of them asks if they can block out the memories. Another haltingly explains how it felt right - like some sort of cosmic justice. The violence was an addictive blissful thing and they always bickered when it was time to move on. Another asks to be burned at the stake in atonement.

Permalink Mark Unread

Vanda Nossëo is not in the business of supplying stakes but is not going to prevent them from self-immolating. They can book a subtle artist for memory blocking. Can they make it easier for their families to scatter to the winds and take their loved ones back in to convalesce with familiar people without being near other victims?

Permalink Mark Unread

If they're not going to execute him for his crimes then he can't go committing suicide, that's even worse. He's not going to compound his moral failings by refusing to face them. Can they put him to sleep until his wife and kid, who were murdered when the others kidnapped him, are resurrected?

Vanda Nossëo is full of terrifyingly dazzlingly overwhelming things but is there, like, somewhere with a farm where they can help with the chores? And a way to bring friends to visit? Or a pottery, this one was a potter. And priest visits, from the priests in Goldvalley. (A few of the family members shout and rage at the Vanda Nossëo employees for lying and giving them false hope, flatly not believing in any kind of ""cure"" for being a werewolf.)

Permalink Mark Unread

There are places to put people who want to wait for conditions like resurrections, sure.

There are farms! There are pottery studios! How about this Amish place in Eclipse, they grow a lot of organic stuff for themselves and anyone else who's iffy on demonic or machine-grown food. How about this place that sells custom ceramics on Etsy, they like to post process videos and so all their equipment is the kind where you can see how it works more or less? The relatives and priests can get on a bus no problem. The ones who don't believe in it can... receive video letters, maybe? Till they're convinced that a werewolf wouldn't play nice that long.

Permalink Mark Unread

The pottery studio feels weird. Too - something. He'll go with something else. The werewolves, men and women both, mostly appreciate amish types, as well as religious orders and monastery sort of setups where the rules and expectations are simple and humble and there isn't much need for interpersonal interaction or high technology and magic. Their families mostly want something slightly more cosmopolitan and most end up regularly visiting rather than living together again. One particular family makes a big stink and refuses to even look at the video letters and publicly yells about haven't they been tormented enough, leave them alone!

Permalink Mark Unread

Welp. That is their prerogative and Vanda Nossëo isn't going to hassle them about it.

Permalink Mark Unread

The Delver community they contacted a while ago still hasn't come to a decision on joining, but they call and report that they're being attacked by a dragon! Can Vanda Nossëo come help them out?

Permalink Mark Unread

They can at least go talk to the dragon. An Elf is deployed to do this.

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The red dragon is using its fire breath and claws on a heavy vault door leading into the compound, radiating seething rage.

You. The Others. I will not stand for this insult, but this does not concern you. Do not interfere.

Permalink Mark Unread

You've been insulted? asks the Elf.

Permalink Mark Unread

They stole what is rightfully mine. And not even openly, but through cowardly deception! They falsified a meeting-to-arrange-trade, pretending to negotiate while actually looting my property! Unforgivable! It is only due to electronic sorcery that they evaded detection long enough to get away from me.

They may claim to you that I am the thief. I salvaged those artifacts from an abandoned and silent pit myself! I am retrieving my property.

the vault door shifts slightly with a loud metallic sound.

Permalink Mark Unread

I see. Do you want some help getting it back or is this one of those things dragons prefer to do alone?

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They did not just steal from me. They used a lie to do so. Those two used some sort of technological trick to simulate their presence and talk to me while they snuck around - I want to know how it works - but they said they were negotiating in good faith! This lie! This trick! If I just let that happen it sets the worst kind of precedent.

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Meanwhile, the one who responded to the original distress call inquires if this accusation is true.

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"I can't rule that out," the Security Chief scowls. "Possible, possible. Their story is that they were prospecting nice and neat and safe-like, and were suddenly attacked out of nowhere. If I simply accused them of poking the dragon's nose with no evidence, though. Well, politics."

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"Is the dragon's testimony evidence?"

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"Not the kind that helps. It's literally beating down our door right now. Some sort of trick to simulate- We have a few humanoid robots, if they stuffed one with rags for the scent- But how would they talk to it with a robot, it does that telepathy thing. If only more folk turned their cleverness to productive ends. Look, I'll give back the stuff when we find it or get the answers out of our pair of renegades. I'll even apologize. But I can't let it hurt anyone."

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"I understand. Unfortunately, even if you were Vanda Nossëo members, the defense agreement isn't supposed to let people hide behind it in order to steal from nonmembers."

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"Well," he pauses. Sighs. "Well. We're going to defend ourselves. Maybe it'd be best if you clear out now."

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"Thank you for the warning."

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"Thank you for trying to intervene. At least I can say I think after today, whatever happens, we'll be more willing to leave."

He nods solemnly and starts putting on combat armor from a nearby locker, waiting for them to leave.

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They get away enough that they won't need to worry about clothing damage even if there are large explosions or whatever.

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The area the dragon is assaulting is an underground tunnel rather than the exposed surface one.

It eventually gets through and into the warren of 'inner' tunnels that aren't quite in the underground city proper yet.

There are sporadic explosions and gunshots for several hours.

 

Then there's a very big explosion that rather wrecks all the tunnels. The kind of explosion that makes one wonder if it was nuclear. The delvers seem to have been bracing and evacuating specifically for this.

The dragon is dead, after that. So are some delvers.

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They're never in time to save everyone. That's true no matter when they arrive and sometimes it's true about people who die when they've already shown up.

They head back in to get an aftermath report from the delvers when things have settled out in there.

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"What a regrettable series of events" is the overall attitude among the delvers.

The Security Chief says that they only had the one antimatter bomb. It was by his order specifically that it was used, after the dragon killed three security personnel and shrugged off everything they did to it. It was technically starship fuel.

He'll swear off having any responsibility or authority in a hypothetical delver member state, for having ordered its use, if that is necessary.

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It's not strictly necessary but it might improve their press.

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They could use some healing. And after the cleanup there are more meetings to be had to handle the details of joining, which proceed much more soberly and with much less dithering, now. The three delver communities are collectively writing this place off. They want a mountain or two somewhere not in this world and enough immortalities to cover everyone and will save up for resurrections beyond the initial set themselves.

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- are they positive about the not in this world part. Separation from the local magic system could have side effects. They haven't noticed anything in living people traveling away from the world yet, but permanent settlements, or having children, might be another matter.

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They're pretty set on it but could settle for space on a planet where no dragons are allowed, ever. On the whole planet.

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That can be arranged! What do they think of this nice moon around this gas giant? They can have an arcology today and Terraforming can be done with the place in two months if they'll take an out of the box standard ecology. And how many immortalities are they going to need?

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22,500 plus however many resurrections they get, for a healthy ready reserve going forward. You keep reserves of important things, they're treating that as obvious and unquestioned.

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Can do. They can be toted to the moon as soon as they're packed.

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They'd like their mausoleums recreated first before they actually make the move, if they're not going to just move the whole complex. The Delvers who aren't coming back yet (and boy are there arguments over that, what order and how much of a priority it is) still need proper respect.

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The demon from Terraforming can put mausoleum reproductions under the arcology, if that will suit.

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That works, thank you.

In three places, thousands of Delvers line up in disciplined rows with a large backpack each and a few small shipping crates off to the side. They've already worked with the envoys to integrate their electronics into the internet.

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The arcology is up in minutes. A teleporter delivers them to it, with all their stuff.

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Are there any neighbors in the arcology?

Either way they settle in and start looking for jobs. Lots of machinery operator type skills to go around, some surveying and geology knowledge, some electrician and tradesman type skills, they're good at following technical instructions carefully to specification, is there any use for that?

Their doctors would like to work with someone to see if the Delver senesence-reducing drugs (that they know how to use, but don't understand the mechanism of, like too much of their other equipment) are any good for other people.

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The arcology is all theirs!

Their machinery isn't going to be intercompatible with anything else but they can get hired on as consultants for figuring out what if any insights can be extracted from their engineering tradition. There are a handful of surveying and geology jobs open, mostly for checking out planets that already exist and are slated for terraforming, like this one. There's medical research to be had and they can contribute their knowledge and drugs to it.

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They plan on mostly keeping to themselves but wouldn't turn away visitors. They keep a surprisingly strong level of central organization, though a few Delvers (including the ones who - ostensibly - started the whole mess by stealing from a now-dead dragon) emigrate and visit Cube to get new bodies and vanish into the multiverse.

They consult on engineering (they have some nice tricks with vibration for tunneling and material-separation, two notoriously difficult engineering tasks) and apply to geology jobs. They don't revolutionize medical research overnight or anything. They have everyone take wizardry aptitude tests and score below average as a population, and a few enterprising businessfolk set up Etsy-style arts and crafts stores with cunning little electronic and mechanical toys and sculptures, and they collectively elect a few hundred people to go study/apply for summoning licenses/teleportation/envoy and integration jobs, with the goal being to get enough money to resurrect a lot of Spirit-native people quickly once that becomes available.

It sounded like there's one person attempting to learn to do that? What's the timeline on success or failure? Can they subsidize more somehow?

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That one person decided to go for magic rock training; someone who just wants a locally-specced resurrection power and doesn't care to be a rock, if they have a high enough read, can jump ahead of her.

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Lacar Helm, 87, apprenticed as a technician but the work didn't call for her. She switched to stonemasonry and then spent most of her adult life as part of the semi-religious order that cares for the dead and maintains the mausoleums; The very least they could do for everyone. Her husband died in the dragon attack.

She feels pretty strongly about bringing him, and then everyone ever, back.

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If she doesn't want to be a magic rock, that's a great emotion read, does anyone want to try to be part of a batch here?

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Oh, definitely. They hold a lightning election and then present a hundred people in a ranked queue about it.

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They can all hop over to Wish and (as many of them as the wisher's hope covers) get a Spirit-style resurrection/soul-reconstruction power wished on then!

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She manages eighty-two including herself, and the wish specified going down the list in order. She had a really strong read too.

All eighty-two resurrection capable Delvers are very eager to integrate with the resurrection apparatus and negotiate their pay! As a bloc. They're eager to get to work about it but one just Doesn't work for free.

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The existing resurrection apparatus involves a demon conjuring the desired bodies and they need to be paid too. Otherwise they can price at whatever the market will bear, keeping in mind that other people who aren't colluding with them will have this ability in like two weeks and the other Delvers are the ones who want Delvers, specifically, returned to life so that's "inside money" (a term of art that has escaped its original context).

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Right. They end up in short order deciding to offer the service as cheaply as possible (barely anything over expenses), as a religious observance- but not free, being paid for serving the dead is an observance too, you see. (A lot of their religion revolves around money and debts.) Vanda Nossëo can set up the hospital and teleporter infrastructure faster than them, probably?

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Yup, here's a resurrection facility for 'em and now this demon has it on her schedule.

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They're vaguely annoyed about being assumed to be greedy monopolists but these misunderstandings are bound to happen.

People from Spirit start getting resurrected!

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-How much longer is in this magic rock course? Samara Glory looks it up just a few hours later.

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It's three weeks total! They will be spending some of it shadowing various magic rocks at work.

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...Ah. Well, her dramatic return as the first person who can resurrect people is out of the question now. That's... Unsatisfying. Not that she can exactly go demand that people stay dead so she can be a drama queen. She'll just have to lean into the magic rock stuff, which is still extremely aesthetic.

(If much mindreading is going on it might have become clear to the class runners now that Samara has some sort of undiagnosed attention-type issue, just from how frequently she gets distracted in class, notices she did that, and then feels bad for the rest of the lecture. A potential spiral hazard if nothing else.)

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She gets an email from her mindreader that her thought patterns are similar to people who are later diagnosed with this or that or the other thing and she might want to seek treatment for that or maybe therapy for not being guilty about it at least.

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Are you one I could ask some related-thereto-the-above questions of, or else do you have a recommendation for same?

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Sorry, I'm not a therapist myself! This website claims to be good at therapist matchmaking but I can't vouch, I just found it randomly.
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Thank you for the warning or whatever you would call it then.

She's really wondering what 'therapy' actually is, because it sounds like some of the more annoying acquaintances who thought she just needed "a bit of discipline" to become more reliable, instead of lovely Tess ready to hug her and make sure she's eaten and hasn't missed a meeting, who she DOESN'T EVEN MISS PROPERLY AND IS DOING A DISSERVICE BY BEING VAGUELY ANNOYED INSTEAD OF- OKAY this is a bad thought and she should distract herself by clicking random speedpaints and COOL SCIENCE FACTS on the video thing for like twenty seconds each.

...

...What does the This website have to say?

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This website is called Papaya and it wants her demographic information especially her travel radius and an idea of what she is looking for in a mental healthcare practitioner such as price range and specialty. If she would like to take this personality test it will try to find her ones that have been positively reviewed by similar people.

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She is very new around here. Is that a demographic information option. She can take bus rides and knows the planet's name. She apparently has this that and the other thing and is frequently annoyed by how much she forgets to do things and gets distracted in the middle of important things. She has sketch money which probably limits her to the low end? Especially if she wants to keep most of it for other stuff?

(She uses the search bar to search for "therapy charity new contact world low tech")

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This recommends some potentially useful Papaya search parameters and also a different website called Two Top which has volunteers who will chat about your problems with you.

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She likes the sound of 'volunteer'. It sounds free. She'll try it, and if unsatisfied go back to trying to figure out the confusing thing that is Papaya.

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Two Top is for text chat unless you pay for premium, so her typing speed may become a bottleneck, and it wants to know her preferred language and whether she has Allspeak, but she can find a volunteer very quickly if she wants!

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Allspeak yes, the one language she speaks is called Iastol.

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Nobody in the system on Two Top speaks Iastol, alas, so they will get her someone who also has Allspeak.

Hi! I'm Raspberry. What do you want me to call you?
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Her typing speed is slow but not abysmal.

Samara

Hi

I don't know how all this works

The internet

Vanda Nosseo

Mir

here a few days and leaped headfirst into magic rock class because !!!!!!!!!ewtfvgertwerfcwe

But I don't know who to talk to sometimes when I have a new question for the pile

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That sounds rough! I remember being really overwhelmed when my world pealed too.
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Fanciest thing we had was stained glass and compasses

Computers were story things

I am having fun but it can go from good overwhelming to bad overwhelming fall quick

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Would it help to have more of a schedule/routine?
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I'm bad at schedule

I go to all the classes I have because I set alarms for all of them

My girlfriend kept me on schedule but I do not know where she is

She wasn't on the list of who paid to resurrect me

I'm slightly famous back home so they got me anyway

But it went wrong. We're 'nonreductionist' apparently.

But that is a whole mess

Tell me if I say too much? I'm venting a bit.

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We're nonreductionist too, it's rough

This whole place is for venting! Though if having me listen to you isn't helping you might prefer getting a blog ;)
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I think it's helping

A call might be better but I barely know how the money works and it won't let you

Do you know how therapy works?

Someone suggested it for my distraction but

Suspicious

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Therapy's kind of a bunch of different things. Some of them just give advice, some of them give you medicine for your brain, there's ones who try to help people by doing art with them or teaching them to meditate or whatever. Distraction is usually a medicine one.
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Huh

Opium and tobacco made it worse

But space medicine probably is better

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I wouldn't expect opium to help but if tobacco didn't that's a little weird, you should for sure mention that to anyone trying to prescribe you stuff.
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I know I'm kind of crazy

It's

Pause

A thing for artists to be a little bit crazy

Glorified

Tobacco makes me sad and mean

Opium and booze too

Anything really is too intense

How does the website Papaya work do you know?

I wield the computer like I wield a trident

Badly enough that someone might get hurt

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Papaya's complicated! Do you want me to make you a Papaya account by asking you questions and then send you the login? You'd want to change the password after.
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If you don't mind yes

This conversation has been all about me though

Sorry if that is wrong

Or not sorry if that's what you expected

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It's what I'm here for, but if you want more give-and-take our sister site Barkeep is for people doing support group style stuff where they're all there for the same reason?
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Ok

I don't want that right now

I just don't want to be rude either?

If you want to see only

And I am kind of bragging here

Look up spirit sunsea city sunset temple

It's pretty

Not quite quendi pretty because we're only human though

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I'm not a Quendi :)

I can only find one photo of it but it's really lovely, wow!
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Thank you

We could only do it because we're rich

Were

I guess

Compared to everyone else

Now it's going to be a historical site probably

Feels weird

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I bet. Nobody lives in my hometown any more, we all moved out and now it's a reenactment village thing.
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Where is that?

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I'm from Dreamward.
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The chat is silent for a bit as she searches for that. Huh, flat? Demons? Cohabitors? Wow.

 

Weird and cool

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I was surprised it was so unusual! But I got used to it :)
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We have dragons

People say they're evil but I bet that's wrong

They have gold you see

And the person you steal gold from is obviously evil

Otherwise you would have to feel bad

And nature spirits

Some of the animals are smart

I knew a cat that could understand jokes and laughed when people fell over

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Wow, that's so cool!

I like to recommend this calendar/todolist app Abacus to people who have trouble with making and keeping schedules, it has really customized alerts and prompts and it can tell where you are and guess pretty well how long you'll need to get wherever you're going.

For your Papaya account -


And there follow a bunch of questions of the sort that Papaya wanted to know the answers to, but with more explanations and tangents.
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She will try the app! And answer the questions! And say thank you.

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The countries known as the Metal Kingdoms are still in the process of negotiating membership, planning to enter as a single large bloc. They haven't had a vote yet and surveys indicate that religion is the big factor getting in the way- There's a priest-led movement making hue and cry about how Vanda Nosseo is demonstrably and factually not the ones who placed humanity onto the planet, and joining would be a betrayal of their holy purpose. Their major talking points are how the envoys are ready to destroy traditional herding and farming as a way of life, and how they would outlaw the venerable activity of dragon hunting. In support of the second point, their supporters have made a point to make a lot of parades and speeches while carrying weapons and armor. There's been a couple of incidents. Drunken arguments resolved by locking everyone in the dungeon for a day and hitting the whole group with healing, mostly. But visibly low-tech-armed people are completely normal, now.

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Further east, the state of Anthel Camme has joined Vanda Nosseo, after a regency council acting on behalf of the eleven year old King opened a vote on the platform of "free land!" and it passed with a solid seventy percent majority. Bus stations and passage to a lush colony planet are welcomed with cheers by the populace.

Some of them aren't quite as happy, though. Fedlo, Grimmal, Mattin, and Shannalore, previously Champions in the employ of a city administrator as an odd combination of guards, courtiers, performers, and soldiers, all formally resign in disgust and walk for the border to the Metal Kingdoms, passing it uneventfully if well armed. They spend a few days in Bronzehill before hiking south, taking a little-used trail south into dragonlands.

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They are walking back north nine days later, carrying a few trinkets and trophies, and the head of an Emerald Dragon.

It is at this time that some the dragon's neighbors, a wolf pack, trundles over toward the Elf who had been periodically meeting with a forest-dwelling dragon who named themselves Snake Below Pines, oddly quiet and intent.

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Good afternoon, says the Elf, looking up from her embroidery.

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One comes close and drops a mangled green crest-feather and a bloody scale at her feet before rejoining the group.

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Is Snake Below Pines hurt? Should I call for a healer?

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Slain. By humans of sunset-metal teeth and cunning.

The pack fears their return for us.

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She draws in breath through her teeth. Is there somewhere safe you would rather go?

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We do not wish to be treated like our cousins, the Dogs. Our love is for our pack and past and future, theirs is twisted to a new master.

 

The great dragon worked to keep the order of the forest, neither master nor partner to us. A change to this arrangement is unwelcome.

 

We cannot beg for protection, but migration is an option taken in times of disaster. If the threat continues, may we ask for some of the new untouched lands?

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Yes.

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Our warning is delivered. Will you remain here, with no dragon? How can we call for you-and-yours if not?

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I can give you an object that will call me if you do something to it - step on it or bite it - will that suffice?

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Leader Wolf nods.

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I will be right back.

She goes and gets a panic-style emergency services device configured to call her, locks it into that mode, and strings it onto a paw-strap they can reach to bite or step on it.

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A wolf bites it by the strap for carrying.

A warning for a promise. A good trade. Sing well. Goodbye.

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Goodbye.

And she goes to report a murder.

The dragon-hunters are visited by law enforcement fifteen minutes later.

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The four of them are trundling through mountain foothills, dragging two sledges. Three men, one woman, wearing leather and bronze mail and carrying medieval weapons. They have a healing song player. The dragon's head, cleaned up, is perfectly visible on one of the sledges.

"Good afternoon, strangers," the apparent-leader in bronze armor says smilingly.

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"Hello," says one of the strangers, a fairy. "We're here because you've been identified as responsible for the death of Snake Below Pines."

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"Oh? Who is that? I've never heard of them."

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"A dragon. Possibly that one, though I don't actually know what she looked like."

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"You're going to arrest us for hunting a dragon, are you?" He shares a look with the others. "Oh, we did that, yes. But not, as far as I'm aware, in the territory of Vanda Nossëo."

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"Well, you can talk about that at trial," says the fairy, nodding to one of the accompanying law enforcers. And then all of them - without their sledges - are in a jail on one of the new colony planets since they haven't studied the long term effects of being out of the world for the nonreductionist locals.

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They're very calm about this. "I'm sure the property we've left behind will be appropriately looked after," the leader says. "Would you like us to disarm?"

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"You can have your weapons in your rooms," says the warden, "which are those four over there, but you can't bring them along anywhere else."

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"Let's go put them away then. Can't go annoying the space folk, can we?"

One of the men rolls his eyes, the woman snorts. They put their weapons in their rooms and then take off most of their armor and wander around the prison a bit, exploring and seeing if anyone's going to talk to them.

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There's a couple guys playing a sailboat racing game in the common area and another guy reading a book in a hammock in the courtyard but this place hasn't filled up much yet.

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One approaches the warden.

"So, I have to send a message out, how can I do that? Also, I want to ask again about the stuff left behind when we were arrested. It's gonna get wrecked if you just leave it on the trail."

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"What kind of message? There's computers if you need to send an email. I assume someone's grabbed all the stuff and put it in Physical Evidence but I can check... yeah, they got it."

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"Good, good. Yeah, the mail thing. I think I wrote it down somewhere... Yep, I got the address. Can I use them for video calls later? Also, what's this prison's name or whatever?"

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"You can use it for video calls no problem. It's called Cape Redemption. Don't look at me, I didn't name it."

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"Redemption. Right. We totally get to talk to lawyers, right?"

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"Yeah! Do you want help looking through who's available or can you manage the computers yourselves?"

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"Probably need it, yeah. Gonna send that email first and I don't want you looking over my shoulder though."

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"Legit! Call me over when you want lawyer-shopping help."

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He sends an email. He talks to the other three some more, and then they all head over again.

"Hey so, we're ready to look for a lawyer. First question I guess is, do we all share one? We're kind of together in this and we left, before we got the full picture of how you guys work."

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"The standard advice is that you get separate lawyers in case your interests are not all the same but you're allowed to share one and you probably don't have, like, any money, if you haven't been drawing basic, we're funding your stay here out of pocket, so you'll have to stay under budget and pooling your budgets wouldn't hurt."

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"Yeah, if you try and charge us for locking us up that's gonna be an issue. We have any money. It's gold, silver, and copper, which you all probably don't count at all."

"Separate lawyers, I think."

There's an uncertain look. "Shana, you sure?"

"Yeah. It's standard advice, right? Nothing about us. Different perspectives."

"...Okay."

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"Gold and silver and copper are basically not money, you could turn them into money if you found the right coin collectors but it'd be a job," agrees the warden. "Who wants lawyering-up help first?"

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"Me first," says the guy with a scar on his lip. "Name's Grimmal." The others shrug.

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"Alrighty, Grimmal." Here is the public defender website, lawyers who do not require the client have any money. They can sort them by ones who specialize in newly-contacted defendants accused of murder.

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"I don't really know what I ought to be looking for here. Whole thing's confusing."

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"Well, let's see if any of these people got a guy off for killing a red when Amenta was new, or something." Filter filter. "Okay, nothing quite that spot on. There's 'choose most available within filter' if you want one to come over like now."

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"I don't suppose I can, like, read some things they've said? Eh, most available sounds good honestly, that's fine. A red?"

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"They're one of the Amentan hair colors, the other colors hated them."

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"Nah, that's not- Anyway, I figure I'll be equally uninformed no matter what choice I make here so I may as well not worry about it."

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"All right. This one can come over soonest, she's all yours." Click.

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"Thanks." Grimmal will go wait in the hall, humming cheerfully.

Next up is Mattin, who has friends from outside who've wired him some money for a lawyer. (About two basic payments' worth, collected in parts from several people.) He would like someone who is good at jurisdiction issues.

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They can filter for that among specialties! Here's a dude!

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Great.

The other two aren't very picky either.

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They can both have lawyers.

Grimmal's lawyer is first to arrive. She's short and brown and has a lot of tattoos peeking out under her business-casual. "Hello," she says. "Grimmal?"

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He waves. "Hi. Wow, tattoos. Where do we talk?"

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"Your room here suits me fine. I'm Rhamba, good to meet you."

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"Sure, yeah."

In his room there's medieval armor, an un-strung bow, and a short sword (sheathed) resting against one wall.

"So do you already know what happened or do I tell you?"

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"You tell me, and then I get a separate report from the law enforcement office. My professional obligations and the limits on the use of the truth spell are such that it will never be in your interest to lie to me."

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"I gotta take your word for it, like everything else around here. So, we four were the champions of Trimbal, in Anthel Camme. They voted to join you all, but we were having none of that so we all quit and left for the Metal Kingdoms, which are still thinking about it. After that we went south for a hunting trip, and on our way back up got arrested for killing a dragon. Which is bullshit, since we left the place where it's illegal to do that."

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"...huh. Okay, this one's going to be... interesting. Did you vote, in Anthel Camme?"

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"Voted no."

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"Then the opposing side's going to argue that you are a citizen of Anthel Camme, and the fact that you killed somebody outside of it and had to walk a long way through various places outside of it to do so didn't change that."

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"Stopped being a citizen when I renounced the championship. Soldiers are citizens and I quit being one because Anthel Camme under the space wizards is fundamentally different from the Anthel Camme I swore to."

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"- are non-soldiers not citizens, in the Anthel Camme you swore to?"

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"Nope. Soldiers, nobility, persons of note and skill like scribes."

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"So you intended, with your resignation, to renounce your citizenship. That will help. Did you know dragons are thinking beings?"

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"I knew they're smarter than dogs, if that's what you mean. Cunning and vicious. I was aware the envoys kept saying not to kill them. I don't think they're like us. Also we didn't expressly intend to go dragon hunting I think? Not until we found one. I didn't, at least. Was hoping for a lion or buffalo. Maybe some nice boar. Foxes. Might have been the last chance to do it for real."

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"The judge is going to want to know why you were prepared well enough to kill a sizable dragon if you were hoping for buffalo. Did you lose anybody, get injured at all?"

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"We already had all our arms and armor for Championship duties. Might as well be well armed in the wilds than not. Okay, let me get the order right here... We'd gotten some small game and one wild goat and were tracking a group of boar when Shannalore spotted the dragon flying south of us. We laid low and tried to figure out its range for a couple days but couldn't tell. Got some boars, and then as we were preparing them we heard it roar nearby. We ran, it chased us for a bit then circled back and ate the boars. That's when Mattin came up with the poison plan. We poisoned some more meat as soon as we killed it, but I think it could tell because that time it came at us with fire breath. We'd set camp in a ravine and used falling rocks as a trap. It still nearly killed us- Maybe would have if not for the healing song. Burns. But that was that."

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"Okay. I may be able to successfully argue that you had emigrated from Vanda Nossëo. I think I will not be able to argue that this murder didn't take place because of Vanda Nossëo's presence, and they take that as excuse to prosecute even against non-citizens. But you might have a self-defense case. When you were trying to figure out her range, were you hoping to avoid that territory or use the information to kill her?"

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"Interfering, bah. I wasn't really thinking about it? Some of both."

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"Were any of the attempts your idea?"

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"Mattin came up with the poison idea and the rock trap. I did help find the poison herbs though."

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"And the burns that you needed the healing song to survive happened when she noticed the poison meat, or when she was under the rocks?"

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"From when she set half the forest on fire chasing us." He frowns. "Can you swear to not use what I'm going to say next? Context only. Because the bond of brothers in arms... I do not want to betray it."

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"I won't talk in the courtroom at all, or about your case with anyone else unless I have to hand off to a colleague for some reason, but you're going to have to answer questions with truth magic operative, so I need to know."

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"Mattin seemed particularly keen and clever about the dragon. He was practically skipping when he saw it. He's... A good friend, but he's also kind of a scheming bastard sometimes. So one wonders."

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"You think he may have been particularly interested in hunting a dragon?"

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"Yeah."

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"It would probably help the judge's impression of you if you mentioned that he was the driving force of the decision to attack the dragon instead of getting out of her way. But I don't think it will make or break your case and I'm not certain the judge will ask."

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"Does it help if I was there for old debt and friendships sake more than the hunt itself?"

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"A little, but it'd be a sentence reduction, more than a way you could get out of jail time entirely."

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"Well. There's worse jails."

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"Yes, they're comfortable, but they aren't going to let you out for hunting trips. You'll get better results if you can express remorse about the dragon's death."

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"If someone can show me that they're more than rabid beasts I would regret it. Whole thing is leaving a bad taste in my mouth already."

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"They're telepathic, it's hard for most people to talk to them but Elves do it fine. There's one studying music with a bunch of them. She qualified for insurance and has been law-abiding in her time there."

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"...I'll look that up on the computers later, sure. They do kill people pretty regularly you know. Anyone would expect a dragon to be a major threat."

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"Yes. I'm going to try to get you self-defense. But it'll work better if you can tell the judge, while a truth song is running, 'I feel awful that it came to that, I wish I hadn't listened to my friends, being scared didn't make it right, the stolen boar meat wasn't worth that, I wish she could be alive again'."

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He takes a deep breath and nods.

"Be a bit hard to take that attitude." He gestures to the weapons. "But aye. I wasn't defending anybody that time."

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"Well, you've got a couple days to mull it over. Do you have questions for me?"

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"I heard they might have tried to charge us for the jail if we were citizens?"

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"Usually that comes out of basic income; it just works out to paying them less but since they get to switch jails they have an incentive to choose cheaper ones."

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"Oh, right. That. Nothing else for now, I think. Thank you."

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"You're welcome. Will you be checking your email or should I come back to visit again if something comes up while I'm preparing remarks?"

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"Uh... I'll probably forget, sorry."

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"All right. What time does it feel like to you, when do you expect you'll go to sleep?"

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"Late afternoon, going on to dinnertime. Probably sleep not long after that."

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"All right. I will try to avoid coming by while you're sleeping. I recommend that before your trial you arrange to be freshly bathed with clean clothes, it's not supposed to affect anything but it's impossible to chase down every tiny bias the judges might be harboring unconsciously and there is some risk you'll get an Amentan or just a judge who's sensitive to that kind of thing."

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"I don't suppose you can get them to let me go clothes shopping with the silver in my pocket that doesn't count."

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"I can try to get you the value of the silver in the precious metals buyout for Anthel Camme but this will make it basically impossible to argue that you are not a citizen of Anthel-Camme-under-Vanda-Nossëo. You should be able to wash what you're wearing here, and there are prison uniforms, which the judges are at least used to if not necessarily well-disposed toward."

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"Okay. I have some stuff in storage in Bronzehill? I guess I can email someone to come bring it probably."

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"That will work just fine."

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"That'll be it, then. Entangled with the space wizards like it or not."

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"Have they been treating you all right since you got here?"

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"I haven't been here very long but it's practically a palace, for a jail."

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"All right. If they mess up at that - if you don't get fed, or if it's loud while you're sleeping, or if anyone even another prisoner attacks you, or if anything you see someone else getting or see on the internet other prisoners get isn't available to you, let me know. There aren't usually problems but that's because we keep them on their toes, right?"

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He smiles a bit. "Makes sense. Goodbye for real for now, then."

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And off goes Rhamba.

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Grimmal sits and thinks for a bit then asks whoever he sees first about a place to exercise.

 

Shannalore tells her lawyer once they arrive much the same story along with, "I only stayed with those idiots after the dragon appeared because we've worked together for years and you don't just turn on something like that. If you do, well, now you're alone in the wilderness, with a dragon around, and your comrades in arms think you're an honorless coward and are right behind you, armed and angry. I kept telling them to leave it alone, Mattin's dragon obsession was nothing but trouble, and here we are now."

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Shannalore's lawyer thinks she has a fairly solid case for knocking it down to manslaughter; she will probably do some time and have to take classes but he'd be surprised if she was in for longer than six months.

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Also, she can't read, if that's going to be an issue. Never really bothered to learn.

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It will not be a problem for the trial but spending six months in jail is a great time to learn, here is a learning to read website that may be adapted for her language by now - yeah, there, it only has the first six lessons translated but that'll get her started.

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Sure, might as well.

 

Mattin is absolutely guilty, and wants to make a big deal about the jurisdiction issue and having left Anthel Camme, renouncing it entirely, and having been blessed for a hunt by priests of Bronzehill (which isn't official official, but of cultural/ceremonial importance) before they went.

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His lawyer can try to make the best of it. Would he most likely have gone on a dragon hunt even if Vanda Nossëo had never shown up? That's important if you're claiming jurisdiction.

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He would have most likely gone on a dragon hunt eventually. Whenever he decided he was done being Champion, or was getting too old. He quit here and now because of them, though.

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Oof. Uh, given that Anthel Camme is now part of Vanda Nossëo and everyone in it is a citizen, did he do anything other than renouncing the championship to indicate that he was emigrating and not just going on vacation, it would help.

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Renouncing the championship is a renouncement of the citizen's oath made to the King? He told his friends he was leaving forever and never coming back and gave one of them his house? He gave a speech about it in Bronzehill?

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Okay, the lawyer can try to make a case off that. He'll want to call the friends and anyone witnessing the speech in as witnesses if possible.

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Mattin has a bunch of names and describes which ones are most likely to be willing to do that.

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The lawyer will go off to try to get ahold of them.

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Some of them will talk about it! Yeah, Mattin was against Vanda Nosseo integration from the start, called them 'false stars', and kept saying he'd leave and not come back if there was a 'yes' vote and that everyone else should too. They can corroborate his long-time dream of dragon hunting as well, he's been talking about it for at least a decade. Here's the record of deed transfer on his townhouse to this other guy. And someone has been recording the speeches, Bronzehill priests will say he's a pious and earnest man who believes in self-determination and the freedom of choice.

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Pious? What's the religious doctrine's influence on the situation?

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There's two major sects in these parts. Both agree that the Masters placed Farmers, Delvers, and Enforcers on the planet and ordered them to build things to suit the Masters and destroy Chaos (especially dragons). Both also agree that getting rid of dragons and civilization and industry and martial strength are good.

One sect says that one should patiently wait for and obey the Masters on their return, for they gifted life and the planet to the Farmers (and has decided that Vanda Nosseo is not actually the Masters). These guys are on average opposed to membership, with a number of issues with multiverse priorities. 

The other, and the one Mattin believes in, is less popular and has gone far more towards "no masters but yourself!" with smatterings of freedom-kindness-liberty sermons and how everyone has free will. They also call for the end of nobility and slavery, and are (on average) supportive of membership, though people vary of course.

Their influence on the situation is that, if he wants to have nothing to do with Vanda Nosseo and to instead go live in the wilds and risk all the dangers of the wilds without being messed with, he should be able to do that!

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Is there a religious leader of the sect Mattin belongs to who will talk to the lawyer?

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They don't have a central organization, but local figure Priest Ergen is happy to talk to the lawyer in a tavern or his house or a field or wherever really.

"I've been corresponding with him by email. Thank you for going through the trouble to find me, especially if I can help."

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"Of course. Religious freedom isn't normally a murder defense, but it might help me make a jurisdiction complaint stick; can you tell me what the faith's attitudes towards dragons and to the rule of law are?"

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"The rule of law is inherently enforced by the threat of violence, direct or implied. While rule of law can and does create many benefits, the root of it is in violence, and some having more power than others. This is bad, since it means people live in fear and find their choices greatly constrained by other people. Human beings seek order, we were designed to, so seeking the absence of rule of law is an extreme position in the faith, but an understandable one. We are surrounded by invisible walls- The tacit agreements of society, the circumstances of our birth and raising, the limitations of the body. We feel that the law should make this threat less salient, should raise as few new walls as possible, should seek to minimize the amount it impinges on the soul's inherent freedom, which Vanda Nosseo has done with aplomb, but it can never be fully excised so long as law exists at all."

"Dragons are far more powerful than human beings. Animals and insects are mostly less powerful than human beings, but we should not resent any being its desire for freedom, even those less than us. But dragons have immense personal strength and power, and behave like Kings lording themselves over a Kingdom. Attacking who they wish, taking what they wish, never answering to any but a more powerful dragon. They can be plied with tribute like a serf offers up his grain, offering your livestock, or jewels and gold, and this will sometimes save an unfortunate who has encountered one from the maw or the flame. But that is bowing down and hoping your lord and master does not strike you down. Thus dragons should be fought just as much as a slaver or unjust king should."

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"Thank you, I think that will help a lot."

Next he is going to do his best to track down Snake Below Pines's next of kin or best friend or whatever the closest dragon equivalent is.

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The pack of wolves that reported her death is not very talkative. Her neighbors (as one mentions to an envoy) are mostly thinking about taking her territory but holding off because she might come back and it'd be embarrassing or unfair or something to have done that while she was gone. Not really friendly. Some conjuration can find her biological parents; Father's also dead, mother lives way over there in some savannah and isn't interested in leaving it but will talk to people in exchange for interesting stories.

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Well. This lawyer happens to want a promotion. He will get himself couriered to the savannah and read her the news or Beowulf, her choice, to get a reasonable guess about what Snake Below Pines would have thought about the situation.

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Dragons can telepathy directly at non-elves, it's just harder on both ends. It can be confusing and a bit overwhelming.

Oh, her child was slain by the humans? Regrettable and ugly business. Sparkwind Flow knows little of who her daughter has become over the years, aside from the occasional visitation. She was certainly upset and angry they were in her territory, since humans are dangerous and smell bad and mess with nature. Though perhaps she had decided to take advantage of them by letting them hunt and then scaring them off? That's what it sounds like. Foolish plan if so, playing with dangerous forces. Humans are the cleverest prey, one must always be careful of them. Smelling poison on the meat the second time surely sent her into a righteous rage, that sounds completely accurate, though a more cunning dragon might have stalked and planned their deaths rather than attacking immediately.

Is it true she can pay to have her daughter returned? She's not sure she should, but gathering more information is the first step.

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They haven't tested resurrection on dragons yet but yes, in principle. Why isn't she sure she should?

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This is hard to translate and very confusing!

...Dragon religion, basically, saying that if she died it's because she was meant to die on some level.

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Huh. Well, he doesn't have a very strong opinion about that, he's a lawyer for the murderer, but that's interesting to have on background.

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Sparkwind Flow doesn't like him much (because of what he represents, a function of the dizzyingly complex society that is trying to worm its way into the world), but reading some Beowulf and listening to her acerbic commentary on it will leave her satisfied with this exchange.

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He took a Beowulf class in college and finds it fun to dramatically read.

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He doesn't even have to speak out loud, though it is amusing.

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It helps him stay focused on it.

When he's done he couriers back to his office to put together the case. He sends his client an email asking what being a Champion even entails.

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Exercising and training in a place where citizens can come and watch them and get advice, adding equestrianism and fake combat to festivals and stuff, fighting volunteers and occasionally soldiers or guards while belting out banter, going to parties with the Governor and being visible at them, doing tests of skill against other cities' Champions... That kind of thing. It used to be a lot more actual fighting but the modern position is more showmanship, which some people hate.

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So it was not actually a military or law enforcement position?

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That maybe depends on who you ask. He probably could have told the guards to arrest someone and they would have. They all got the position by a combination of being locally famous and winning contests and knowing the Governor's wife's niece's husband and he can truthfully say he didn't understand it to be a military or law enforcement position. The oath was to 'be an exemplar of might for the city of Groa, defending its honor and inspiring its citizens'.

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Alrighty, that'll avoid foxing the freedom of religion angle.

They have the right to a swift and speedy trial. Are they willing to testify in each other's trials?

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...Will that affect their own trials much?

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The lawyers for not-Mattin think it will help them if they will testify against him.

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Hmm.

Only Shannalore is willing to do that. She wants to go to a different prison than the others after.

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She can do that no problem.

Their trials take place in a random order and with different judges, but sequentially, in order to enable specifically this sort of thing. Shannalore's is first but she can express her willingness to testify against Mattin during her trial, truth magic is convenient that way.

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She wears a prison uniform and a serious frown.

She should have stayed in Anthel Camme and become a citizen, she should have seen what was up with Mattin sooner, the whole hunting thing was a farce but the fear of missing out on 'one last adventure' took her there anyway. The dragons can write, for gods' sake, she didn't know that, she honestly thought Snake-Below-Pines was a dumb beast at the time. And now she's helped her former friends kill someone who was just defending their home, and can do nothing but face up to it. She's going to do her best never to wield the spear in anger again, and they're not her friends anymore.

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Her judge rules that she will need to deposit half her basic income toward a fund to rez Snake-Below-Pines until such time as a stable market price is established for whatever the state of the art of dragon resurrection is and then she only needs to pay that much. This doesn't leave her a lot per payment on top of prison costs; she gets a social worker to help her find a budget prison which also isn't where her ex-friends are going. She will be doing six months and anger management classes.

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Anger isn't quite the lesson she'd take away from this, more 'think ahead next time', but she's not gonna say anything about that. She'll take her punishment with a deep bow and a small sigh.

What are the different prison options like, are they all like the one she was in before?

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Nope, they have an extremely wide variety, in all different climates and floorplans. The budget options for her security level with access to anger management classes are mostly apartment-style but there's also a large popular one in a Mongolia where you can go outside and run around whenever and sign up to help take care of goats and horses and stuff.

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She definitely wants that one, it sounds much less horrible than being stuck in a box for months. (She says with some amount of shock at just how nice these people are to prisoners.)

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"Yup!" says the social worker cheerfully. She can be shipped to Revelation Mongolia as soon as she's done testifying in the other trials.

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And the anger management starts then? Sure.

 

By luck of the draw, Grimmal's is next. He cleans up as best he can (a couple scars are still faintly visible, with a bit of makeup to tone them down some), tells his public defender that he's not willing to testify against his friend but he's read a lot of transcriptions and stuff from dragon interviews and so many of them just seem like excited little kids. He should have stayed in Bronzehill and he wishes Snake-Below-Pines was alive again and he emailed a priest who came to visit so he could confess the sin of murder (without saying that it was a dragon he'd murdered, mind), and the priest told him to think about what the person he murdered will never be able to do, now, because of that, and to pray for forgiveness, and he's been doing that.

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He will also be paying into a resurrect-Snake-Below-Pines fund and his judge gives him one year and a getting-up-to-speed-on-the-multiverse class.

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Fedlo is next, and doesn't manage quite so much sympathy and sincere regret. Also, he would like to decline Vanda Nosseo citizenship. He voted no and no means no.

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His lawyer tries the jurisdiction argument but can't make it stick; people who voted no on Vanda Nossëo membership are not ever after permitted to go out and hunt people and he didn't establish that he lived somewhere else where murder was legal first. He may choose to emigrate to anywhere that accepts murderers, but that mostly means prisons, even if he can pick Elendil or Mîr ones. He doesn't have to draw basic income if he doesn't want it but will be stuck in the very bargain prisons if he isn't going to pay for nicer accommodations and if he does come by any money it's going straight into the resurrection fund. Four years.

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Fedlo doesn't blow up in front of the judge but as soon as possible asks his social worker or whoever: Can he move to nowhere when they're done with him. Is there going to be any nowhere left that the space aliens haven't touched or are they just going to keep him forever. Wilderness is fine he can fucking homestead if they don't take all his tools too.

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They will let him go in four years and then he can go wherever he can get transit to. There is wilderness. It's really hard to find places murder is legal though. If he likes wilderness there's this prison island where the facilities are mostly just replicators scattered around and everybody having to wear an ankle bracelet that serves as panic button and tracking device.

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He's not particularly invested in murder, he's invested in wanting to be away from multiverse stuff-

Oh, whatever. Prison island it is if it doesn't require him to take the money.

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Yup, it's cheap enough that it can go in his budget if he declines to draw basic.

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Great. He experiments with the limits of what the replicators will provide and does woodcraft and makes a little hut as far away from everyone else as possible.

 

Mattin is last.

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His lawyer really wants that promotion. He calls witnesses and gives well-rehearsed remarks about the value of exit rights and quotes Snake-Below-Pines's mom.

The judge would like to hear what Shannalore has to say.

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"What exactly do you wish to know? I don't know where to start."

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"It would seem that this case turns on whether Mattin left Vanda Nossëo in order to kill a dragon, or killed her in response to Vanda Nossëo, which we have an obligation to deter, or if he left Vanda Nossëo for reasons unrelated to his interest in killing dragons. What do you think?"

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"...I think I can't say it's all one thing and none of the other because the soul is messy, and I'm in my own head not his. I think he would have left Vanda Nossëo no matter what, whether a hunt was convenient or not. I think his desire to kill a dragon is not new, and he would have dragged us all out to do it in a few years even without you all. I think he knew it was likely you'd try to arrest him for it anyway, and decided it was worth the risk. Whether he did this because of Wilder religion, or out of spite, I have no better idea than you. Both are things I've seen from him before."

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The judge thanks her and dismisses her.

She turns to Mattin. "Presuming that you are released as out of jurisdiction, where would you intend to go?" she inquires.

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"Back to Bronzehill, at least until the Metal Kingdoms join as Anthel Camme has, if they do. After that, other realms of Spirit who have not joined, or of other planets entirely, who wield as few laws as possible, if I cannot find a space of empty wild."

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"How do you plan to get to other planets?"

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"Perhaps someone will take pity on me, if I can't earn passage while living wherever I've found. And the final option for a destination is the afterlife."

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The judge mulls it over for a bit in her office and then comes back out.

She says he is to be dropped with whatever possessions his erstwhile companions agree are his alone, in the place he was when arrested; the dragons and animals in that area will be warned about him; if he enters Vanda Nossëo territory again including by any territory joining while he's there he is still wanted for murder and will need to serve out a delayed five year sentence, he is not free to walk around any part of Vanda Nossëo or polities with a mutual law enforcement agreement with them, he should be advised that the dragons are working on joining - but as long as there's anywhere he can get to that isn't interested in having laws against murdering dragons, he can live there.

Permalink Mark Unread

Understood.

Just one question, Vanda Nossëo doesn't generally do conquest, does it? They obviously could if they wanted to.

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Vanda Nossëo doesn't generally do conquest per se, no.

Assuming it's not complicated to identify which items are his, they can have him dropped off right where he was arrested right away.

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The stuff can be divided straightforwardly, though everyone claims the dragon head, which they eventually agree can just be destroyed.

Mattin is dropped off there in the mountain foothills, gets his bearings, and then hikes north, having a slightly difficult time of it since all the animals avoid him. The whole series of trials has gotten a fair bit of attention on Spirit, with quite a bit of division. In the weeks after Mattin goes on a quick tour of the Metal Kingdoms (which is looking less likely to join by the day as more cosmopolitan people just emigrate to neighbors that have gotten colony planet land), gathering a small following.

Mattin gets more money from friends and coreligionists to pay his lawyer a bonus, before they go.

The group makes speeches and blog posts about the joys of anarchism and buys a bit of distant valley from the King of Bronzehill and puts up lots of signs saying "The state of Wilder. The only law here: Do as thou wilt." and starts building in the unremarkable bit of land. Several of them bring in modern amenities like magic songs, though.

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Anarchist states usually collapse, but in the meantime they attract people who, like Mattin, do not care to or are not allowed to walk freely around in Vanda Nossëo, as long as they are permitted the use of the bus system or can afford to get a teleporter to courier them in direct!

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That's probably going to be a problem for Wilder depending on who shows up exactly, but this is still the choice they're making here.

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And they can make it as long as they want!

Meanwhile, they're still trying to hammer out a dragon statehood situation, Samara's halfway through her magic rock course, and there are shamanism students eager to learn all about this weird planet's new exciting magic system.

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The dragons' Grand Moot has been firmly set for eight months from now. Next spring, for the majority of the dragon population. Dragons don't move that quickly. It seems like all the progress that can be made until then is more discussion with individual dragons, animal-spirits, and incorporeal-spirits.

 

Solomon the shaman goes through student interviews and picks based on intuition more than anything concrete. For the first actual lecture he has eight people (the first of a few sets of them) meet in a greenhouse he's bought with the grant money and filled with Spirit-native plants, two minutes' walk from a bus station. There's a clear spot with a ring of cushions and scattered chairs, he encourages everyone to sit.

"The foundation of shamanism is a spiritual awareness and understanding. You need to build an intuitive understanding and awareness of the world, and then of the principles and flows of this magic, in the shamanistic tradition. Now, I've taught two apprentices before but they were starting from a very different place, so I'll appreciate your patience. What do you all know already about shamanism?"

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"My understanding is that it's sort of like druidism but possible to learn outside of the Materia neighborhood," volunteers a woman.

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"There are some similarities," he nods. "And differences. Shamans often focus on the four classical elements of earth, water, air, and fire. We are in tune with nature. But we aren't going to be transforming into animals any time soon, unless you go to Cube. Most shamans spend a lot more time watching and listening than doing. Spirit natives can learn it for certainty, and this class is sort of a test for whether it can be spread- I think it likely, but one never knows for sure."

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"Are we watching and listening for anything in particular?" asks a young man.

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He smiles and makes an approving gesture. "To spirits. Most of the intermediate work is listening to them, working with them, coming to understand them. By learning to do what comes to spirits naturally, you gain the obvious, outward signs of magic." He lifts sparks from his staff with a snap of his fingers. "My plan is to start off each session with a bit of lecture-slash-discussion, and then guided meditation. So. What are the four elements? Fire, earth, water, air. But I don't mean 'the process of combustion' and 'oxygen and nitrogen molecules'. What does fire mean?"

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"Like metaphorically?"

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"Yes. Whatever comes to mind."

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"I think that's going to vary crossculturally?"

"Fire is civilization and warmth and destruction," volunteers another student.

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"It'll vary, yes. Everyone thinks a little differently. The thing I'm calling fire is - again - not a literal, actual fire. It's the magical element of fire, which forges metal and lights the way, which comforts and holds back the cold, which burns everything it can reach. Fire can be civilization, warmth, destruction. Anyone else?"

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"Just for fire or any of them?"

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"Fire for now, we'll do the others in a bit."

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"Renewal?" someone says. "Like those trees that need fire in their lifecycle."

"Light, technology in general..."

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"Renewal is a good one. Light, yes. Technology? The aspirational creation of something that didn't exist before. Fire the element is also emotional. 'The fire in your eyes' when you want to win a game, or fiery rage. It's also history, the natural history of Spirit, because spiritual activity leaves impressions. The echoes of past wildfires and the warnings of future ones can be felt where they're common. As I talk about the elements, I want you to try to associate them to experiences and emotions in your own life. Imagine what the magical essence of fire or water might feel like. Try to predict it, what elements are present at a birthday party, what element is an insect most like? At some point, I'll begin channeling the element and looking for signs that you're reacting to them, consciously or unconsciously. I don't expect any obvious signs immediately. Oh, and do interrupt at any time with questions."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Are things blends? I think I wanna say earth and air for insects..."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Things are blends, yes. Earth is centrally about patience, endurance. Insects are more fire and air."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Are any things all of the elements?"

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"Dragons are. People in general are from what I've seen, with more or less of each based on one's personality and life experience, and some animals are as well."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Can you tell us what our element balances are?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"I could. I think that would be a good thought exercise, though! When we have the foundation done you can feel yourself out and discuss it with me, and then I'll tell you. I am tentatively planning some one-on-one time later, only some of this can be a lecture."

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"Do things that aren't alive have elements?"

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"The way I understand it is, things that have elements are at least a little bit alive. Perhaps the way a microbe is alive more than the way an animal is, but alive. The sun this planet orbits around has Fire and Air - other stars here do not. Stars in other worlds, do not. I'm going to do my best to never, ever visit Materia, but there seems to be a grain of similarity there... Though it's not the whole world, merely large objects within it, that eventually develop opinions by manifesting spirits. This is a new frontier for me as well!"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Whoaaaa..."

"What's the smallest thing that isn't biologically alive that has elements?"

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"Smallest thing I've seen that way was a small golden amulet, smaller than a fingernail, that absolutely brimmed with fire. It was a gift given between a couple who had true love, and passed down in the family, and became a magic item, or an item with a spirit within it, whichever you like, over time."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Whoaaaa..."

"Is true love a thing, like, ontologically? Here?"

"What did the amulet do?"

"Did the spirit say anything?"

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Solomon laughs. "Not quite ontologically, if I understand that word correctly? True love is my poetic way of describing a particular clear and intense love. But love is something most spirits will recognize, and many will feel - enough love has been felt, over a long enough time, that it's become a rut that the world continues to deepen. It's as ontological as a river is, a result of things rather than a thing-itself. A pattern. Most spirits don't say things as much as they be things. The amulet was being memories of a long chain of mothers passing it to daughters and telling the story. Some had harder lives, some easier. Wearing it would make your hands warm and remind you that things can always get better."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Aww, that's sweet."

"Would it stay magic, if it were in a museum or sold to another family or something?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"It would! It might lose potency or change eventually, especially in a museum, but for a time at least, it would. Okay, I think it's about time we talk about the other three elements. Fire is active and ambitious, transforming and destructive. Fire burns. Now air, air is just as active - the wind blows all the time, it flits back and forth. Have you ever talked about a 'flight of fancy'? Curiosity is airy too. Air can destroy, but it can be a refreshing breeze just as easily. It can spread the seeds of trees and move boats. What do you all think?"

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"Freedom?"

"It's life-sustaining, you need it more than the other three, more constantly..."

"It's usually not steady, not in nature. Comes and goes in gusts."

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"Air is free, it flows everywhere. It's always in motion. Not everything necessarily needs air - or rather, anything living can be associated with any of the four. Air and water as mediums of exchange, earth as sustenance, animating fire to bring all into motion. Air is fast, the wind can blow quickly. Emotionally, air is linked to curiosity, exploration, freedom. Magic of air might take shape as a breeze, or bring you knowledge from far away or help speed your footsteps, just as magic of fire can be literal warmth or abstract destruction or more metaphorical warmth like inspiration. Water?"

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"Adapts to its container. Locally straightforward but on larger scales meandering. Patient? ...Mysterious?"

"Cyclic?"

"Smoothness?"

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"Adaptive. Mysterious. Cyclic. Smooth. Flowing water may not feel like much, but it is a force that can move mountains. Drop a boulder in its path? It floods or goes around. Freeze it? Eventually it'll melt. Water connects all life. You have the nugget of an idea on the difference of scale, though I wouldn't have put it that way... Examples of water magic would be seeking connections like finding the animals that eat from a certain tree, breathing water, and eventually the same empathy that dragons use to speak. Okay, last one and then I have some poetry and art to show you all. Earth. I've said patient and enduring already."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Sudden unexpected violence? Hidden depths?"

"Quiet. Uh, except for the sudden unexpected violence thing. Not - even metaphorically agentic, though, even then. It has the most variety in physical details, is that anything - like there are more kinds of rocks than kinds of water -"

Permalink Mark Unread

"I think this is a bit off. Earth has the capacity for immense force, yes, but not in the way fire can lash out, more in the way of - inevitability, unstoppable weight. There are many kinds of rocks, each useful in a different way, and there are even more kinds of soil, that root and nourish life. Motherhood is of earth, fatherhood is of fire. And there's... Hmm. Doing nothing, being still and silent, is a choice. Holding still and waiting, is an action.

'The silent mountain's majesty,
a thing as heavy as the world.
It watches from the center,
letting the trees and grass grow.
It cares not for sun and rain,
like dust falling on the skin.
It stands unmoving, strong, eternal.
If it did not it would not be a mountain.'

...It rhymes in my native language."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Oh, I was thinking about earthquakes, does that not play into the metaphor at all?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Oh, somehow you made me think 'volcano'. Earthquakes do fit into the metaphor. I'd say they're pretty unstoppable unless you have the staggering might of Vanda Nosseo's finest at hand."

Permalink Mark Unread

"I think there isn't actually a great earthquake prevention system."

"That's beside the point - the poem is nice -"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Thank you. I have more, we'll look at each element. Just to be complete, the most basic earth magic is being physically tougher, and it can become always-on too. Most earth magic metaphor is defensive, resisting poison or heat or disease. The ultimate expression of earth magic is active healing of others, but the multiverse has more efficient sources of that, which feels a tiny bit tragic to me. Just a tiny bit, it's obviously good to have healing even if it takes away a bit of majesty from my favorite thing."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Maybe there's chronic stuff your thing is better for?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Quite possibly yes! I'll have to look into that. Okay, any questions before we move on?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Is there a limit to how much magic you can do in a day?"

"How long have you been practicing?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"More dramatic works can be quite spiritually draining. Tired in the soul. I've been a shaman for twenty-eight years, though that wasn't magic all day every day, it was a lot of travel and talking to people."

Permalink Mark Unread

"What's it like to be tired in the soul?"

"Does this work if we don't have souls?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"I believe you will develop the thing we call a soul during our practice. I think a Spirit-soul is crucial for learning shamanism. It feels like... Well, not indescribable, I'm going to describe it. A bone-deep feeling that you need to stop. Something you should remember but just cannot, or trying to do athletics but your body is moving too slowly. I've heard others say 'like pouring from a cup that is empty', or 'like trying to breathe nothing', or 'the chill of midnight in winter'."

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"- will this make it harder to resurrect us, do I need to alert my insurance?"

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He blinks. "-I had not thought of that. I don't have the answer offhand, since I'm still not used to that... Being a thing."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Well, can people here be resurrected?"

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"I'm thinking, I remember reading this, just a moment." He pages through a notebook. "...Aha, yes, I did hear about it. Doing it naively doesn't quite work, you feel disoriented and disconnected, but a group of religious people wished up a Spirit-specific power that does, it seems."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Okay. I should let my insurance know." So should several other people, but one of the students is from Dreamward and already has a soul. "Can you tell if it's the right kind of soul?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"I don't think so, not until you make progress or fail to. If you're used to troporting things that might help, but that's just a guess."

Permalink Mark Unread

"I'm not exceptional at it but I do it, like, a normal amount, which is multiple times a day."

Permalink Mark Unread

"So you're used to taking an action that's not purely physical or mental. If I understand correctly. We'll see, we're just speculating right now. If anyone wants to leave after that little revelation, by all means do. If not, I think it's time for some guided meditation."

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They all stick around to guidedly meditate.

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He has everyone sit in a circle in the clear area and walks around them. He reads poetry in a low steady voice and pauses to play a bit of music or nature sounds instead sometimes and tells them to feel the strength of the earth and the playful wind and the flow of energy in the plants and so on.

Nothing obviously magical happens.

Permalink Mark Unread

Well, they did know it might take a while.

Permalink Mark Unread

He tells them they can continue thinking about the elements and meditating but trying to force it won't work, and he has copies of the soundtrack and poetry online, and he repeats the whole process with several more groups of eight.

The same class meets again two days later, and this time he's drawn circular diagrams in salt and chalk and ash.

"Welcome back! Today I'd like to discuss the basics of symbology and ritual in shamanism and then we can try meditating within a circle, which should help. First thing's first though, any questions?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"What will it help with?"

"Does it matter what the materials are or are these just convenient?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"These circles are meant to concentrate or block particular elements. They're the most common way to contain or repel spirits, and it'll be easier to feel the elements inside, or the differences as you cross. The next two steps if this doesn't work are visiting natural places with good resonance and visiting an actual aware spirit, but this is more convenient. The materials do matter, much like love has become resonant with the spirits and elements, certain materials and actions and symbols are too. Ash is fire, salt is neutral, seeds and flower petals and spices can be air or water, powdered stones and coal are earth. Chalk is earth, but only slightly."

Permalink Mark Unread

"The ash makes me a little nervous? They use it in Disappear magic..."

"What does salt being neutral do?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"These circles are all perfectly safe. They're small and I drew them in a few minutes each and didn't pour extra ceremony or energy into them. Not all shamanism is safe, mind, but it's advanced works or hostile spirits that are truly dangerous. Salt is good for when you want all the elements or none of them, or just the effect of the symbols."

Permalink Mark Unread

"No, I mean, I believe that within this context it's safe, I'm just nervous around ash in general since Disappear magic uses it?"

"Is this an all elements or none elements salt circle?"

"Can we take photos? Are the symbols the kind of thing we should have on flashcards?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Ah. I'm not sure I can do anything but reassure you. This is an all elements circle, and feel free to take notes or make flashcards. The circles can be used even without sensing the spiritual world, you just won't have any feedback on whether they're working right."

Permalink Mark Unread

They take pictures and notes. "What do each of these symbols mean? How many of them are there in use? Can you make new ones?"

Permalink Mark Unread

He will give a whole lecture on that! There are thousands, different people use different stylizations or subsets, meaning anything from kinds of animals to kinds of weather to kinds of actions. You can make new ones but they have to be personally meaningful or used kind of a lot before the world catches on. The bident, here, can mean royalty or mining and that's new in the last twenty years.

Eventually they move on to meditation exercises. To one person in particular, stepping through the circles feels... Different.

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"- oh I think I noticed a thing - can I try it blinded -"

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"Oh, a good sign! Here." He has a bandanna. "I'll hold your hand and guide you."

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She ties the bandana around her eyes and holds out her hand.

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Solomon guides her around a bit, then through the circle for earth without pausing, once she's plausibly lost track of her exact position.

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"Ah! There!" she exclaims delightedly.

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"Yes, there! What do you feel? What element is it?"

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"It's - not fire - not air either - I think earth?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Yes, earth. Okay! Let's step forward a bit more and... How about... Now."

She's in the all-four salt circle, now.

Permalink Mark Unread

"- this one I'm not su- oh, there's a salt one, it's that."

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"Excellent! You've picked this up very quick. See how it's - sort of intuitive? Can you describe what it feels like to everyone else?" He glances around. "Anyone else want to try blind walking?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"I didn't feel anything..."

"I might have but could have been imagining it? I'd try."

"It feels like I'm... standing in a compass rose? - metaphorically?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"The way you feel the elements and spirits is ultimately personal. I see them, you might hear them or smell them or feel them."

He passes the blindfold to the next candidate. 

"And some people simply do not have the talent, that unfortunately may be the case for some of you. I wouldn't call it quits just yet though, any of you."

Permalink Mark Unread

The next candidate can't tell yet when he's in a circle but can do better than chance guessing which one.

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This is also promising! Everyone gets a turn.

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Nobody else can manage yet.

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After the meditation session is over he lets the two who noticed something know that he might be reaching out for individual tutoring, then emails the Dwarf that got him the teaching grant with the news that this person definitely is learning and that one probably is, what now?

Permalink Mark Unread

The grantmakers will get in touch and give him an extension.

Permalink Mark Unread

How much of an immortality necklace is what he has in total worth? The teleporter's fine for accidentally stranding him, and the first and second grants, are the vast bulk of his income, with only a few incidentals, a cheap room, and some teaching supplies subtracting.

Permalink Mark Unread

An immortality necklace is more than that, but he can also just go to Cube and morph younger, which covers many of the same use cases.

Permalink Mark Unread

...This is his real original body! It's irreplaceable! Maybe he can morph once or twice, that sounds like something to do and might even be insightful, but not stay in it permanently.

He pays on some job-sharing site to get help setting up the scheduler tool of the education software the Dwarf recommended him to arrange weekly half-hour individual lessons with everyone going forward, and then reads up more about Cube and morph.

Permalink Mark Unread

Cube is a universe with an Earth, but like all Earths it is not like the others; in particular it has a thus-far-unique complement of aliens, such as Yeerks and Andalites, and also it kind of sits on top of a "world"-like dimension called z-space, which enables a local FTL method (it's not very good) and also morph (it's great). Worlds adjacent to Cube can use z-space-reliant tech but the experiments that made z-space evident to advanced civilizations in Cube don't turn up the suggestive results there, so probably it wouldn't have been invented there, or not for a much longer time.