Wow. The Very Powerful Outsider also has fast healing! She has enough Splendor not to let her jaw drop, but it is very impressive to see still.

"I can do the same, with Mage Hand. It's a cantrip, which means I can cast it at will. However, it's only capable of holding things up to five pounds in weight."

She chants for three seconds and moves her hands. She uses it to hold up a paintbrush and spin it in the air. She uses her left hand to keep it spinning.

"Cantrips are the weakest spells, but they are special in that they can be used an unlimited number of times. Spells – true spells – can only be cast once. You have to prepare them multiple times in order to cast them multiple times, whereas you can cast a single prepared cantrip over and over again."

The propensity to show off their magic is the weakness of any wizard.

She folds her hand, and the wingtip is crushed into dust.

Well, let's volunteer a bit more details, get her invested...

"For me, it's not that - rigid - it's limited somewhat by how tired you get if you use it a lot, but mostly by your ability to collect energy from the psi-field and direct it - it doesn't stay stable in large volumes, but also can't be collected very fast".

Interesting!

"Hm, it doesn't work like that for us at all. I don't feel tired after I've cast all my spells – although at my level it's rare for me to have cast all my spells for the day. How many spells you're able to cast per day is related to your channeling capacity: how much energy you're able to devote to your spells. It's an energy that's inherent to you. I'm not sure what you mean by psi-field, but I think there's a related concept for magic. There are certain areas where magic ceases working, like in antimagic fields, but also in dead magic zones or demiplanes."

She pauses for a bit to think before continuing.

"Hm, my Tongues spell gives me some insight into the words a language has. Psionics...has something to do with the mind? I think I initially thought you meant enchantment magic, but it seems that it's deeper than that. For example, Telekinesis and Mage Hand would be categorized as transmutation magic by us, and not enchantment. Transmutation has to do with altering the substances and properties of things, whereas enchantment affects the minds of sapient beings."

"Psionics usually is associated with the mind. First actual power usually learned is simple telepathy, and only later you become able to channel the energy itself. But once you can direct it, you can do quite a lot". And she's gonna snap her fingers, tangle the energy into an unstable tight loop, and produce a tiny short-duration psi-storm, lasting only a few moments, looking sommething like a spark of lightning, but significantly more dangerous.

She smiles widely.

"Amazing. Lightning spells are usually Evocation magic. Do you know how Intelligent you are? If the High Priests come back with good news and they agree to make a compact with you, we might be able to teach each other magic. Or, well, teach each other powers. I'm not certain that psionics is magic exactly – if it works in an antimagic field, then it must not be magic. Is psionics something that can be taught like wizardry, or are you...born with it, like sorcerers? Wizardry can be taught, but it only works if you have high Intelligence."

She's certain that the Queen of Blades would be intelligent enough to learn wizardry, though. It's sad she didn't have Detect Thoughts prepared – that would have let her assess her Intelligence.

"I don't know how would I rank on your system, but it does sound intriguing. Normally, you are born with psionics, but I have some ideas about how it might be given."

She also never stopped reading Conradia's thoughts, and - "Intelligence" concept feels strange. It feels, like many things in her explanation, very clear-edged, and perfectly mapping onto normal concepts, either fuzzy human "intelligence", or zerg-specifc concept describing independent strategizing.

"Oh, I see. Like our sorcerers, then. Sorcerers are similar to wizards in that they cast arcane magic, but they come to it through their bloodline. We have sorcerers here, but fewer than wizards. Usually they're of the Abyssal bloodline – many are tieflings descended from demons. It has to do with their parentage. They usually awaken their powers around their teenage years, or equivalent, for the other races. Wizards have to learn to cast spells through study.

Sorcerers can cast more spells per day than wizards, but wizards have the advantage in versatility. We can cast any spell of the appropriate circle that's in our spellbooks, whereas sorcerers can only keep in mind a certain number of spells at once. What mental abilitystat is related to psionic casting? Is it Intelligence, Wisdom, or Splendor? Wizards rely on Intelligence, but sorcerers rely on Splendor. Clerics use Wisdom, but they do divine magic."

Oh wow those are tightly packed concepts. She's totally not getting what they mean just from words for them. Thankfully she is also reading thoughts.

"I think it's Splendor. To use it properly you have to undergo training, but it certainly isn't 'study', more - getting a feel for how the energy flows, and how to direct it. Though telepathy usually develops naturally."

Sorceres sound very very intriguing. She's been trying to make psionic zerg, but the sequences for it are so fragile that adding it requires sacrificing basically everything else, and the results are mostly blobs of flesh, barely holding themselves together, and totally unfit for combat. Those "bloodlines" seem to also deform humans, but to a much lesser extent. 

"How stable are sorcerer bloodlines? Psionics is thought to be heritable, but in practice it transfers very rarely, and mostly appears at random."

"Hm, it seems to be more stable than what you say about psionics, but there is an element of randomness to it as well. Damian, in His mortal life, came from a family of sorcerers. His siblings were all arcane-blooded, but not him. That's why he became a wizard. The High Priest of Conrad is a sorcerer, but he's Abyssal-blooded. He's a tiefling, and that bloodline is common to them, what with being descended from fiends.

Generally, a sorcerer that has children with another sorcerer will have sorcerous children, but this is not guaranteed, and it's also possible to suddenly attain to a sorcerous bloodline even through a relative three steps removed. It's the same for people like tieflings or aasimar – some people suspect infidelity when both the mother and father where humans, but usually it's just latent blood expressing itself.

The door opens, and Magnus reenters. His smile lights up the whole room. Figuratively.

"Good news! Damian and Conrad have both sent visions." Well, they were way too vague to honestly say 'visions'. 'Vague premonition' is more accurate. Still, one of the things ordained people are trained for is the detecting divine communication, and this was definitely a divine communication.

"The churches are willing to extend to you, Queen of Blades, the status of provisional initiate, with all of the privileges and rights that that entails, provided that you stay under the effects of Geas, and you telling us more about your world. Or rather, worlds plural." 

"I have been instructed by Them to tell you more about the place – They seemed to imply that I should furnish more context to you. You are currently in the Bronze Orchard, the headquarters of the churches of Conrad and Damian, two ascended mortal demon lords. The Bronze Orchard is in a secret location in Sarkoris Scar, and is hermetically sealed from the outside. The only way in or out is via teleportation. Please feel free to ask any questions before you make your decision to accept or decline."

He draws a deep breath and rattles off a prepared speech he has said many times before. Rather than sound forced, however, he manages to make it seem dignified and authoritative.

"As an initiate, you will have free access to most facilities in the Bronze Orchard except for, most notably, the armory, scriptorium, and some of the magic workshops. You will have to request items and equipment via the quartermaster. You will receive base pay weekly commensurate to the level of your strength, which we are able to test with spells. You may be assigned to missions, and you may receive bonus pay for successfully completing the missions based on the difficulty of the mission. You may not harm other members of the church directly or indirectly. You are free to leave the church and sever your connection with it at any time, except when you are on a mission.

However, if you do wish to leave, we will have to erase all of your memory here, so as to keep our location secret, since you do not have a soul contract with either Damian or Conrad. We have a spell for that. We will put you under magical sleep before casting the spell, and then Teleport you to a major city no more than one thousand miles away, with your body and all of your belongings intact. This applies also if you decline our offer to become an initiate and choose to leave immediately."

How sweet of them to invite her in such a nice way.

"What would 'staying under the effects of Geas' entail? I'm assuming it's some form of enforcing the agreement? It wouldn't count me leaving as intending to as intending to hurt you?"

They can erase her memory, huh? Well, she won't make it easy for them. Zerg biology is flexible, and she, looking like she stops to think about the agreement, starts the process that will unnoticibly encode memories in her body, in a few various ways. They might notice it if they inspect her closely, but they don't seem to have the biotech for that. And perhaps the spell of theirs will erase it too, but only time will tell. 

"Yes. Geas is a spell that compels one to do or not do certain actions as prescribed by the caster. And one cannot try to get around the restrictions indirectly by setting up a scenario where you cannot complete it – if circumstances conspire such that one is unable to obey, the spell's curse will tighten around one's self, degenerating both body and mind. However, the curse and any attendant effects are lifted a day after one resumes following the spell's directives. The spell lasts between one to two weeks depending on the strength of the caster – either Conradia or one of the sixth-circle wizards will refresh it until you either leave or become an initiate proper.

We rarely cast this spell, since we vet initiates before they are even permitted to step foot inside the Bronze Orchard, but you are an exception. The fact that Conrad and Damian offered this to you meant that They were able to peer inside your soul and determine that you were not a great danger to us, or rather, that the danger posed by you is insufficient to outweigh the possible benefits from letting you into our inner fastness. Gods are able to detect intentions and the shape of people's minds like that: it is the way They are able to select people that align with Their values to ordain." Unlike Golarian languages, Terran does not seem to distinguish between standard pronouns and god-pronouns.

"In the case that you are able to secure a soul contract with either Damian or Conrad, you will be able to leave the Bronze Orchard without having your memory erased. This will also ensure that you go to Their realm when you die, rather than being sorted by Pharasma. Although...I'm not sure about how you being from outside Her Creation would interact with that."

She doesn't really like being compelled to do or not do certain actions, but it wouldn't be the first or even second time for her. At least it sounds less invasive than the tech Confederates shoved into her brain back when she was a Ghost in training.

"I would like to see the exact... wording, if that's how it works, and clarify some points, like what exactly is considered 'harming other members of the church' - Conradia proposed that we could work on sharing psychic magic, and I have ideas how it can be done, but some of intermediate procedures would be painful. Would it count as 'harming'? Is it possible to add a clause that allows someone to overrule that?"

"But in general, I think I will accept your offer, Hight Priest", a slight nod of acknowledgment.

"Of course, that's understandable. I'll have Conradia talk to you about the specifics. As for 'harming', our definition of a harmful event is an event where one would choose to avoid it if one had full foreknowledge of what was about to occur. For example, an object falling on me and hitting my head is harmful because, if I knew that it was about to happen, I would choose to avoid it. In this case, a person who decides to accept your proposal to attain psychic magic despite knowing that it would be painful would not be harmed.

That's great to hear. I'll have you listen to Conradia's Geas wording before confirming it, though."

Geas wordings are tricky, because too-strict directives will make the person useless, but too-loose directives will make them dangerous. You have to strike a middle ground. They've refined their Geas wordings in the decades since their gods' ascensions, however, drawing on the Geas wordings of Cheliax.

"You will not harm anyone who is a member of the church, as per Magnus's instruction.

You will not attempt to leave the Bronze Garden without informing us – in this case, it is for us to cast the memory removal spell, as well as dispel the Geas. Or if you are sent out for a mission.

You will not steal any items belonging to the church or the members thereof.

You will not attempt to destroy any items belonging to the church or the members thereof, unless instructed otherwise.

You will not enter the armory, scriptorium, or restricted workshops without permission from someone ordained.

You will not attempt to utter statements that you know to be false.

You will not use magic or psychic abilities targeting members of the church without permission either from the target or someone ordained, except for telepathy."

The difference between the statements that have 'attempt to' and not is that the former are more forgiving, and won't trigger the curse in the case she does them accidentally. But for the others, they'll trigger even if it was accidental. Sometimes it's good to incentivize carefulness.

She modified the last clause on the fly. Usually, she would Geas someone to block off all their magic and abilities to render them harmless, but she doesn't want to remove all of the Queen's psychic abilities, because she doesn't know how much of her psychic abilities are tied to her...health. She did mention that they were related to her mind. Besides, blocking it all off would likely make her more resistant to sharing her abilities. Let's hope it doesn't end up being a mistake.

"As an aside, we here disdain the use of titles and prefer that we have a flat hierarchy, where everyone is of similar social status. We usually only use rank when we go out on missions or if there is great internal disagreement. To that end, it would be good if you had some other name we could call you by. We have other nobles in the church, but we do not refer to them by their title."

"My Terran name is Sarah Kerrigan, though I don't usually use it. I accept the wording"

The wording is clever. She's going to need to poke about which statements count as false, and they did leave a significant opening in the part about using her abilities.

Great! She'll prepare to cast the spell then. Although before that...

"Do you happen to have spell resistance? Er, given that your world doesn't have magic, probably not, but I should ask anyway. Please ensure that you do not resist the spell as it is being cast on you. It will take ten minutes." It wouldn't be a disaster if she resists it by accident, but she does not want to have to spend a quarter-hour re-preparing a sixth-circle slot.

She then begins chanting and gesticulating with her arms. She's not in any state to talk.

"I see. Welcome, Sarah Kerrigan, to the fold." He smiles widely.

"It is a requirement for all initiates to learn Abyssal – it's the language of demons. Usually, anyone we induct would have been taught the rudiments of it by now, but for you, we can cast Share Language so that you'll have fluency in it while we tutor you. After Conradia finishes the spell, we'll show you to your room.

We will also get you an arcane stamper, although that's less of a priority. The arcane stamper is a way for you to place an arcane mark on your objects despite not being an arcane spellcaster. We use it to mark which objects are whose and avoid disputes. It also functions as a token that lets you bypass our Teleport Trap. Normally, entities that try to teleport into the Bronze Orchard will immediately be redirected into the dungeon cells, but having the token plus a password which we'll teach you will let you teleport instead to the atrium and not in a prison cell.

Hm, do you need to eat, drink, and sleep? Demons – all outsiders – do not, but we have already established that you aren't one."

"I need food and rest, but not full sleep."

"I see. We can eat once the spell is done being cast, in that case. It might be a good idea to talk about your world, now. So, you mentioned earlier that you control several planets?" He has enough Splendor to make it sound like he's asking a casual question, although internally he is stunned by that fact. He can't believe it's real, honestly.

"How are you able to manage that much territory at once? For us, it is immensely difficult to travel between planets. The spell Interplanetary Teleport is ninth-circle – the highest and most difficult class of spell. There is no one here among us that can cast it, indeed, there are probably only a handful of people on the whole of Golarion, this planet, who is able to cast it."

She's not going to tell them about Overmind and its death yet, if she can avoid it.

"Leviathan-class Zerg are able to fly in space, and also cut through Warp Space to travel interstellar distances. It's not immediate, which, sounds like Interplanetary Teleport is, but is efficent enough to allow maitaining control of most of the sector."

"What are Zerg? The Tongues spell is saying that they're creatures of some sort. Are you able to control them? I have not heard of anyone using creatures to traverse the space between planets before."

This is probably getting closer to why Damian sent him the instruction to offer provisional initiateship to Sarah Kerrigan despite the fact that she teleported in here and is highly dangerous. Being able to move to other planets without using a 9th-circle spell is huge!

"On an unrelated note, do you prefer being referred to as Sarah or as Kerrigan, or using both names?"

"Either is fine, Kerrigan would be slightly more formal"

"Zerg are a race of organisms which possess, among other traits, a significant ability to manipulate their own biology. Most known Zerg are part of the Swarm and answer to me. I am a Terran-Zerg hybrid, they offered me a position of the Leader of the Swarm, because I am unusally powerful psion." (This is technically true, if "offered" is interpreted to be about known-to-her Overmind intentions after her infestation was complete)

He nods his head. So she really is a Queen – he had thought it was just an affectation.

"I see. Kerrigan it is, then.

How does this ability to manipulate their biology manifest? We would be keenly interested in knowing more about that. Conrad, in His mortal life, was a transmutation specialist and could shapeshift into all sorts of beings in battle, but the nature of transmutation magic is that virtually all polymorph spells are temporary. As for Damian's church, we would be interested in modifications that could enhance the senses or the aesthetic qualities of a person. For example, we use alchemy to better the appearance of initiates when they enter Damian's church." Which is why the Damianites look better than the Conradians. Hah.

The Geas, it seems, permits technical truths!

"Damian is interested in...the usual lay explanation is 'pleasure and beauty', but that doesn't quite capture the essence of what He's about. He is about experiencing the wide range of positive experiences available to you, and expanding that range as much as possible by training the senses and becoming more discerning. Therefore, enhancements to bodily senses are of deep interest to us."

"All Zerg are slightly psionic, though for most of them it doesn't go beyond being slightly more able to receive telepathy, and they also manifest their unique power - they can weave 'Essence' - which is similar to genetic structure, but is significantly more responsive to dynamic change - and they can adjust it within themselves. More powerful of the zerg can also manipulate it in other organisms. That's how I was made into hybrid." (This implies Essence Manipulation is psionic in nature, but doesn't actually say it)

"I may be able to help with 'enhancements', though it would probably require first bringing the subject closer to Zerg, to a form not unlike myself, so that their Essence can be more easily adjusted. That is also the basis for how I was planning to give psionics to people who normally lack it."