She isn't an Autumn Herald; she's a droid, a very complicated type of machine designed by humans and other similar species to work as servants.

Master Deskyl says that this is a different universe from where they were, and she doesn't know how this one might be different, but where they're from there are lots of other planets with people living on them on them, some humans or related to humans and some completely alien, and even more without any life at all, plus stars and asteroids and things; it takes years to go between even very nearby stars without special technology, though, and most stars have only one planet that can support life. She's not familiar with the Vard.

She doesn't eat or sleep, though if she runs out of electricity - it's a type of energy that she uses instead of food, and that powers a lot of other technology the people in the other universe have - she'll shut down, which is like being asleep in the sense that when she gets enough electricity she can start up again as if nothing had happened rather than being stuck like that permanently. Master Deskyl is going to build a machine to make electricity for her from the movement of the water in the river, but they're waiting on supplies.

"The Vard are, like, they're Varushkans now but they and the Steinr fell from the sky, hundreds of years ago!"

"What other things can you do with electricity?"

"If you're a machine, do you have... sorry that's probably a mean question."

"Go on, it's a bit late now."

"Do you have a soul? Or are you _like_ a Herald, even if you aren't one?"

There are thousands and thousands of different inventions that use electricity: it can make light and heat and move heat out of a place in order to cool it, it can power machines that do most of the tasks a human can do and tools that allow them to do even more things, for example vehicles that go faster than animal-powered ones and never tire, and it can power machines that do lots of math very quickly and use that to do something like thinking and to speak to each other - droids are a very advanced type of that kind of machine, but the simpler versions are good for keeping records and sharing information, including sharing information with many people over very long distances, in addition to all the math they do. In particular electricity is considered revolutionary because it allows for automation, where most work can be done by machines instead of people so that the people can spend their time on other things instead while the work still gets done.

She would prefer to wait and see what Master Deskyl has to say about the question of whether she has a soul.

"Cooooool."

"Are you going to teach us that stuff?"

"Are you going to, like, run off to the League, they have real cities?"

"Seren's a real city!"

Allegra _looks_ at the two people talking about cities and they do not have the argument they were probably about to start.

She doesn't know enough about electricity or machinery to teach them how to make them, but she expects Master Deskyl to be willing to show them some things. She doesn't expect Master Deskyl to be very interested in moving to a city; she doesn't like crowds.

"Oh good, maybe we get to keep something interesting!" 

"Why do you call her Master, is it like a title or something, should we be using it?"

"Are you going to join Navarr then? We mostly do not crowds..."

"Droids traditionally refer to everyone as 'Master', as a sign of respect; Master Deskyl won't expect you to refer to her that way. She does have a title, 'Xaari', which means 'Sith apprentice' - it's important to note that Sith consider Sith of any rank to outrank any nonSith; you may want to avoid referring to her as 'apprentice' if it might cause confusion about that. I don't know if she'll be interested in formally joining any local groups."

"We're a nation, not a 'group'!"

"We don't really do rank here either. But we're happy to respect her because she's scary!"

"So you normally have to call everyone 'Master'? That doesn't sound very good, I don't think anyone here will appreciate it and really don't say it to an orc!" 

"Yes ma'am; I don't know if she'll be interested in joining any nations, either."

"That will be fine, sir; that's how it works among Sith, too."

"I can refer to someone a different way if that's what they prefer, sir."

"Just calling us sir and ma'am is weird enough!" 

"I don't know, I quite like it. It's refreshing to hear someone be polite around here!" 

"Mostly people will want to be called just their name, or 'you over there'."

"So, uh, what's it like where you come from? It sounds very different!" 

"Did you have a specific aspect in mind, ma'am? It's much more technologically advanced, but I'm not sure what else might be different about it."

"Do you have, like, different nations and stuff?"

"What kinds of magic are there?" 

"Are there, like, loads and loads of different planets?"

"Do you have orcs? Or other species?"

"Ooh, have you ever met a Daeva?" 

"There are hundreds of thousands of inhabited planets, and they're mostly self-governing at least to a degree, but they're also grouped into four larger political regions: the Sith empire, where Master Deskyl is from, which is run by the emperor and the Sith council under him; the hutt empire, which is run by the hutt species and mostly concerned with trade; the republic, which is administered by a democratic process that its member planets vote in and which is at war with the Sith; and the outer rim, which is made up of planets too far from any of the other three to be of interest to them. Many of those planets have unique sapient species; many of them are derived from humans but the majority are fully native to their planets and not necessarily very much like humans at all, for example hutts are much larger than humans - about twenty to twenty-five times as heavy - and have sluglike, legless bodies and froglike heads. To the best of my knowledge orcs don't exist there; the word refers to a fictional species. I'm not familiar with Daeva and haven't personally met any nonhumans; I've been assigned to caring for Master Deskyl since my last memory wipe."

"Magic is extremely rare in that universe; only Force-sensitives can make use of the Force, and in most species Force sensitivity only appears in one out of several billion individuals. Force use does seem to be more flexible than your local magic; there is a distinction between light-side and dark-side Force techniques, and individuals who practice one generally can't practice the other, but most techniques are neutral or can be achieved either way; the main difference is that dark side practitioners draw power from their emotions in a way that makes them stronger but less emotionally stable than light-side practitioners. Sith are exclusively dark-side practitioners while Jedi, the faction of Force-sensitives in the republic, are exclusively light-side practitioners."

"Uhhh, your _last_ memory wipe? Do you do it a lot?"

Allegra looks kind of slightly worried, which is a lot of emoting to reach the surface there, but doesn't interrupt; if DZ isn't making a fuss about it she's not going to make it a big thing in front of a crowd.

"Oh, everyone can do magic here. I wonder if you can? Allegra can try teaching you something?"

"Don't you have, like, potions and stuff that's kind of magic but not really? And artisan stuff?"

"Light and dark... is that like Day and Night, that's orderly logical stuff versus emotions and passion and things?"

"Light and dark force practices do sound quite a bit like your local Day and Night magic, yes sir, though it's not a perfect match; Force healing is a light technique, for example, and lightning production is a dark one. Potionmaking is a very rare capability outside of a few Force-sensitive species with a natural ability to produce magical substances; in general a Force-sensitive can't produce an effect that persists after they've left, though there are a few exceptions and they can produce changes that persist - if Master Deskyl causes someone to be afraid, it will take them the normal amount of time to calm down even if she leaves. I expect Master Deskyl would be interested in knowing if I can do your local magic, if it's not inconvenient to try to teach me."

"Oh, healing is just... basic magic? You can do more complicated healing with Spring but normal healing doesn't have a element."

"Do you have magical materials, like Orichalcum? Or Mithril?"

"Lightning production? Is that like the ritual that summons storms?"

"Let me know if they're tiring you out and I can shoo them away until we've got your charging arrangement set up," says Allegra, as the crowd only appears to be growing in number and enthusiasm.

"Yes sir, the Force seems to be different in that way."

"No sir, there are no intrinsically magical materials, though there are a few mundane ones with unusual properties related to Force use."

"The standard lightning technique produces a small lightning bolt beginning at the practitioner's hand and extending for up to fifty or sixty feet, ma'am, with the practitioner having a degree of control of its path related to how much practice they have with the technique; it doesn't produce any other stormlike effects."

"This isn't especially draining, ma'am, though I should probably talk to you privately at some point."

"Oh cool! So it's like repel, but, like, _super_ repel?"

"We have to use an implement for that kind of thing and it still has to touch them to set it off!"

"So you have weird magic and you only kind of have potions... anything like liao? Uh, it gives you dreams and you can use it to make, like, Virtue auras and exorcise ghosts and stuff. Plant extract."

"The basic plant's Vinum, that's the stuff that gives you no dreams at all."

"To be clear, ma'am, lightning is quite dangerous; the technique is generally used as a weapon. There are foods and drugs that can assist with reaching certain mental states that are relevant to Force use, but I wouldn't expect any of them to be tied to a specific technique or group of techniques like that, no sir."

"What do you do about ghosts, then? Do you even have ghosts?"

"Repel hurts unless you're super careful too."

"Yeah, but not as much as getting struck by lightning!"

"Wait, hundreds of thousands? That's... a lot."

"Why are you at war with the Republic? Are they likely to come here and make trouble?"

"Sith who die in especially violent or emotionally charged ways sometimes leave ghosts, which are limited to either the area they died in or an area around their remains, and usually those places are abandoned; other Force-sensitives may also leave ghosts, but I know less about them, and non-Force-sensitive individuals never do; it's largely not a concern, sir, since Force sensitives are so rare and only a fraction of them leave ghosts."

"Yes ma'am, hundreds of thousands of planets is quite a lot. I don't know very much about most of them."

"I don't know anything about the political situation between the empire and the republic, sir, I'm sorry; Master Deskyl didn't expect anyone from our universe to be able to follow us, though, Force sensitives can't usually teleport at all."

"Oh good, we don't want to open another front."

"I'm not sure it's a 'front' if it involves thousands of planets!"

"How long does it take to get between all those?"

"It generally takes a few days or weeks to get between relatively nearby planets on highly-traveled routes, sir, and several months to get from one end of the galaxy - the overall group of stars - to another."

"So a lot like taking a fleet across the ocean, then."

"Do you still fight with, like, spears and swords and things, or do you have crazy high tech weapons?"

"What hasn't anyone asked that you expected us to?"

"Force sensitives do favor lightsabers, which are a type of high-tech sword, yes sir - that's the copper rod Master Deskyl wears in her holster, which you shouldn't try to touch, she'll react violently. Other people generally use blasters, which are projectile weapons that shoot bolts of superheated material, or larger vehicle-mounted weapons that work similarly, and most ground wars are fought with battle droids, not people."

"It's a bit surprising that you haven't had more questions about Master Deskyl, ma'am."