Somewhere far far away, in orbit around the fiery world of Char, Queen of Blades is experimenting with Warp Space. Since death of the Overmind, the Swarm was no longer able to open enormous warp rifts, and they had to resort to more crude methods of FTL travel. Leviathian lifeforms are a promising result, but still far from the original rifts. 

During one of the experiments, she manages to form her own minor rift with surprising ease.

<Broodmothers, protect the Swarm until my return, I'm going to investiage this>

She steps through the rift, and...

There's someone who looks like weird Succubus standing in the summonning circle.

Um. This is most certainly not a dretch. It seems like...a succubus? The demon does not look like a regular succubus, though. Still, she knows a conjuration accident when she sees one. She yells at the two students to get out of the room. If she's accidentally summoned something nasty, it's better for her not to have to worry about collateral damage.

"Hello? Who are you? What are you?" she asks in Abyssal. The thing she summoned does look demonic, so she'll speak Abyssal.

Yeah, she doesn't understand that. People look Terran, but the room doesn't look like any Terran facility. Quick checks: Can she move, can she read their minds, can she reach the Swarm?

The woman is wearing long, loose gray robes with a slightly shimmering cloak. On her head is something between a tiara and a leather strap studded with amethyst and sapphires. Despite this, she manages to make the outfit look austere rather than gaudy. The magic workroom they're in is made of smoothed gray stone – appears to be underground, and has wooden furniture. All of it has been pushed to the side to make way for the three circles of powdered silver on the ground, one of which the Queen of Blades is currently in. All of them are about ten feet in diameter. She can move freely inside the circle, but she can't touch the powdered silver, nor try to cross over the boundary.

This magic workroom is also used for Enchantment and Divination spell research, so it's not affected by the Mage's Private Sanctum cast over the entire Bronze Orchard. She can totally read Conradia's mind!

She's currently mildly panicking over the seemingly very powerful ?succubus? that she just accidentally summoned, and is afraid that she's going to have to fight. Hopefully her two students have sent for help. She runs toward the shelf and picks up a flask of holy water, preparing to cast Banishment – a spell to forcefully dismiss a conjured creature. She repeats what she said – Kerrigan would be able to pick out the meaning in her mind.

"Hello? Who are you? What are you?" she says again in Abyssal.

She cannot reach the Swarm from here. Indeed, there seem to be no Zerg in range at all.

Good. They are already afraid. 

Psionic communication: <I am the Queen of Blades, leader of the Swarm. I answered your call, for that place is new to me, and may be of interest to me and the Swarm>. 

Absence of Zerg is worrying. She should be able to reach them across the Sector, and even longer distances. How far did that rift take her?..

Huh? She is so confused. She might not be cleric, but she has studied the Abyss and its creatures. She has not heard of any 'Queen of Blades, leader of the Swarm'. What swarm? Deskari's? But Deskari had already been killed two decades ago by adventurers, and his realm taken over by Conrad and Damian. Okay. Okay. So she might have summoned something from very far away indeed.

Rather than speak, she instead pushes the thoughts she wants to convey at the forefront of her mind.

:Ah. My sincere apologies, in that case, Your Highness.: She bows at her hips, like she was taught in her youth. She does not kneel, however. Ugh. Dealing with royalty – or people with pretensions thereof – is giving her flashbacks to Cheliax (suffering, tyranny, torture, stifling), but she'd rather not offend the powerful outsider she just accidentally summoned. 

:I was attempting to teach students how to cast Lesser Planar Binding and did not attempt to conjure or call for you.:

She does not let go of the holy water flask and is ready to cast Banishment at a moment's notice. She hopes it'll go through, if she has to use it. Powerful outsiders tend to have spell resistance. She deals with demons as part of her job, so she has good spell penetration, but it might not be enough to pierce through the Queen of Blades' defenses.

Kerrigan isn't entirely getting the concepts of 'clerics', 'Abyss' and the like. 'Outsider' also has some weird connotations that don't seem to map. It does look like they want to send her back, and this place is... "fascinating" is probably not an emotion that she can properly exprience, but it's at least intriguing.

Probably she wants them to fear her slighly less, it's easier when they are feared enough that you are scared of going against her, but not so much that they try anyway.

<Impressive. I belive we can be of use to each other. Your weilding of "psionics" (translates to general 'magic', but with some mind-connotations sticking to it) seems more advanced than Terrans (humans) ever managed to achieve, but in other aspects, you seem to be lacking>.

'Psionics' translates as 'Enchantment-school magic' to her, and she becomes even more confused. 'Terrans' translates to an ethnicity of human.

:Enchantment? That's not my specialty school – I'm not that good at it. It's the Damianites that specialize in enchantment magic. Er, in which aspects do we seem to be lacking?:

She's hoping that help will arrive soon. Hopefully the two of them didn't just stay outside the door and actually called for someone. Like the Head Priests. She said that she came here of her own accord...which probably means that the Lesser Planar Binding's trap misfired and went to her, but she decided to answer its call anyway? Why would she want to do that? None of her abilities (save for mind-reading, it seems) can pass through the sigils she's drawn, and neither can she try to escape by teleporting away – the sigils function similarly to Dimensional Anchor – and she cannot disturb or cross over the powdered silver circle. She doesn't know her thoughts are being read, so she doesn't make an attempt to conceal her thoughts.

:Your Highness, I believe you said earlier that you came here of your own accord.: She wants to ask "Do you know where exactly you are?" but she wants to be a little more diplomatic. I mean, if she chose to come here by her own choice, she would think that the Queen would know where her destination would be, right?

:We were not prepared for your arrival. This summoning spell was meant to be a teaching lesson for my wizards. Did you want to have an audience with the High Priests?: The two of them have never granted formal audiences before – this place is supposed to be secret after all, but presumably if you're a very powerful outsider, you can just ignore that convenient limitation and just show up asking to talk to someone.

<Yes, I would like to meet "High Priests". I am always looking for new opportunities to improve the Swarm, and this seems like a promising cooperation>

And while they are still alone in the room, she tries to gently touch Conradia's mind, to implant a desire-to-help-her, but is ready to pull back if she notices any sign of detection - they seem quite certain their protections are adequate, but so thought many of those who experimented on Zerg before, with less than desirable results for them.

The summoning circle blocks the attempt, although Conradia does not notice. The circle also does not shift at all.

She opens the door to call for either Rendon or Magnus – the high priests, but it seems that they have already been sent for by her students, who are flanking Magnus. She gives a quick summary of the situation and lets them in, telling them to stand down. The Queen of Blades does not seem overtly hostile, not that she would expect her summoning circle to fail.

The man that enters is stunningly beautiful. He's wearing similar robes to Conradia, but more ornate and detailed, and the outline of his muscles can be seen below the cloth. They're colored purple and gold. He has a similar band on his head, but it has even more gems. There's an aura about him that seems to fill the room. It's a frightening aura, although there's the sense that it's actively being suppressed by him. He has a similar cape to Conradia, but this one has an embroidered symbol on it – an inflorescence of violet heliotrope flowers. On his hips is some sort of chain with spikes and blades coming off it – clearly some kind of weapon. 

He speaks in the same language as Conradia, in Abyssal.

"We greet you, Queen of Blades. I am the High Priest Magnus Sundheim, servant of Damian, the Fragrant Petal, the Lord of Flowers and Allures. May we know the purpose of your visit? Where is your realm located?" His speech sounds refined and his voice sounds lovely to listen to. It's clear that his Charisma is well above normal levels. He's assuming that the Queen of Blades is some sort of herald of a demon lord, although why they decided to come here via entering a Planar Binding circle, he has no idea. Heralds usually have Greater Teleport – why not just use that and teleport into the Bronze Orchard, or just outside it?

Wow. The not-succubus is very attractive! Very scary looking, but he loves that aesthetic, actually. Only the headband's boost to Wisdom allows him to continue undistracted. 

The two fifth-circle wizards leave the room, and only Magnus and Conradia remain.

<Greetings, High Priest. I come here looking for opportunities to enhance the Swarm - my servants - and I believe this world may hold many such opportunities. My Swarm holds most of the Koprulu Sector (image: multiple planets) under its control>.

The man is impressive. Stunningly beautiful doesn't exactly register to her mind, but his aura of fear pressing against her mind does, though she is able to separate it, at least in this held-back state. The weapon is less surprising than can initially be assumed of someone coming from a higher-tech world - Zerg have long claws and blades and spikes in combat - though it does seem unweildy.

"very attractive" is a useful thing to be! She's not used to employing it - she's visibly Zerg, and that usually prevents that from working with Terrans - but she can adapt.

He – 

Wow. Wow. This entity controls multiple planets? Just...all under her control? Not even Pharasma, the creator of the world, has control over any one single planet. Surely, someone controlling that much territory has to be a god. But...she doesn't exactly have the Overwhelming Presence of one. And it doesn't explain why she would come here in such a weird way, through a Planar Binding spell. What god would allow themselves to be bound so? Although if she is a god, then presumably she could just step over the powdered silver circle like it was nothing.

Magnus isn't as Intelligent as Conradia, both now and before enhancements, but his headband enhances Splendor and Wisdom as well, whereas hers doesn't.

He sends his thoughts via Telepathy.

:Your Highness, do you come from another plane? Do you come from outside Pharasma's Creation?: He's starting to think more and more that this was some sort of huge accident.

Wow, that was a lot of complicated concepts in his thoughts. "God" almost maps to "Xel'Naga", but in a weird way. "Pharasma's Creation"? Did she somehow end up in a different universe? Her initial warp tunnel certainly wasn't powerful enough to send her far from Koprulu, but if she stumbled onto universe-travel, it's possible the energy calculations work completely differently...

Well, in any way, she can't really evade such questions for much longer, so it may be time to let some her confusion slip, and hope they'll spill more.

<I believe that might be the case. I wasn't looking for specific target, so perhaps I found something very unusual indeed>.

Okay. This is something that requires divine consultation. Indeed, her coming here might even be the result of divine intervention.

:I will have to leave to pray to Damian for guidance.: And to tell Rendon, the other High Priest, what exactly just happened. 

He instructs Conradia to keep watch over the Queen of Blades, and then leaves.

God, what a mess. She takes a deep sigh. 

:So, are you a demon, or are you not a demon? If you're from outside Pharasma's Creation, that is. Usually, demons speak audibly in Abyssal despite having telepathy, since telepathy usually disconcerts people, and because it's easier to address many people at once when speaking audibly. Can you speak Abyssal? If you can say a sentence or two of your language, I'll be able to talk to you – I have permanent Tongues (her thoughts: magical translation spell) – or is it that you are incapable of speech?:

She only now notices that yes, the Queen is really hot. She had been too distracted by the prospect of danger, but that has since lessened. Not entirely, though, her holy water flask is still in her left hand. But would it even work to augment the power of Banishment? If she's not a regular outsider like demons are, holy water might just be regular water to her. She sure seems evil, though. She has that...aesthetic going on. She's read theological debates concerning whether aesthetic tastes are related to alignment.

"I believe I'm not a 'demon' under your classification. The whole concept of 'outsider' didn't really go though". Her voice sounds human, but slighly unnatural, and with a coherent echo following it. 

Noticing Conradia's thoughts, she will slightly adjust her behaviour to evoke more feeling of "hot". It's too early to try to fully capitalize on the emotion, but it's a opening that is wise to widen.

"I...see," she replies in Terran. Huh, this language is well suited to humans. Many outsider languages like Abyssal were clearly not spoken originally by humans. They have weird phonologies and grammar. But this one feels closer to what she's familiar with. 

"Outsiders are entities which exist in the Outer Planes. Demons" there's no word that quite corresponds to the word she's looking for in Terran so instead spoke the Abyssal word "are outsiders are associated with the Abyss, the Chaotic Evil afterlife," she says. She has to remind herself that this entity was likely from outside Pharasma's Creation and so likely had a different system. She has to replace many words with Abyssal since Terran has no equivalent.

"Pharasma, the creator of the cosmos, assigns mortals to one of nine afterlives based on their life philosophy and how they acted while they were alive. She sorts people based on whether they were Lawful or Chaotic, or Good or Evil, or in the middle of either of the two axes. We tend to summon demons a lot because we worship demon lords, who are divinities which dwell in the Abyss. I worship Conrad, but Magnus – the High Priest you just met – worships Damian. They are closely related to one another" they are lovers "and so our churches are very closely aligned."

What a system! It's clearly designed, much more than her own universe, though that is to be expected if they have "creator of the cosmos" as an entity that is active.

She is, of course, not telling them any of that, or her thoughts about similar powers in her own world, not that she know very much.

They can spend some time talking about general concepts of this world. Kerrigan doesn't know enough to successfully misdirect their expectation of what exactly she doesn't know, so she's gonna lose some moew of her Totally In Control appearance, but with a world this different, she can't expect to maintain it for long anyway.

While maintaining the conversation, she will also start to carefully poke the circle containing her with various psionics, looking for a leak or perhaps a weak point. Conradia is certain that the circle is sound, so she's not hoping for much, but she doesn't like being confined. She still wants to avoid them noticing that, more than she wants to see if she could escape with her full power.

"It will take them a while to pray. Likely up to half an hour or more, though I imagine that given the gravity of the situation, the gods would deign to grant us visions of what we're supposed to do. So, since your world is outside Pharasma's Creation, what is the divine situation there?" She's already forgotten about the 'respect to nobles' thing she's supposed to do, since the churches of Conrad and Damian have very flat hierarchies and they refrain from using titles and honorifics.

The circle remains sound! However, poking around does imply that the spell isn't quite stable – it operates on a cycle. In about a day's time or so, there may be an opportunity for her to escape if she's able to channel enough psychic energy to break it during a weak moment.

She usually prefers respectful adresses from her servants, but is quite used to others, especially Terrans, not bothering about that. She can work more casual attitude.

Well, she can answer about gods, it's not like there's much strategic info in what she knows.

"We don't have gods that can be preyed to, but I think the closest concept would be 'Xel'Naga', they are rumoured to be the ancient race, responsible for creation of the universe. There are people convinced that they left some grand prophecy around, but nothing useful has yet come from searches for them". She doesn't mention she is one of those searching.

The circle is really inconvenient! And also really impressive how finely they can cage her powers, she would expect the only way to do that would be flooding the psionic field with interference, but they certainly aren't doing that!

"Huh, so you don't have divine magic at all? The servants of gods: clerics, paladins, inquisitors, and warpriests, are able to cast divine magic granted to them by the god they worship. You have to have a special relationship with your god in order to become one of them, however. I worship Conrad but He hasn't turned me into one of his clerics. There do exist other people which are able to cast divine magic granted by sources other than gods. For example, druids and rangers receive divine magic by communing with nature. Do you have those? Or do you only have arcane magic?"

Xel'Naga, hm, she'll file that one away to see if she might be able to get some information on them. Perhaps they're related to the Outer Gods – the gods that Pharasma excludes from Her Creation.

"No, we don't have anything like that, and even 'arcane magic' doesn't quite line up. 'Psionics' is the closest - some people can do seemingly-impossible things by manipulating certain form of energy with their mind, but it's rare".

????? they don't even have arcane magic ?????

"So...so how were you able to get here without arcane magic? The spell I cast wouldn't be powerful enough to summon an entity like you normally. Your world really doesn't have arcane magic?" She supposes that it isn't completely implausible – her world could simply be a dead magic zone, except she keeps talking about psionics, who seem to be some sort of sorcerer? (her thoughts: bloodline transmitted magic powers)

"...Is psionics rare in your world? In ours, magic is very common. Many things are done using magic or magic items. For example, we clean our laundry using a spell called Prestidigitation. Many commoners can't afford magic, but even to them, magic isn't something extraordinary. Small villages will usually still have a first-circle" (her thoughts: weakest caster) "wizard who can cast Prestidigitation for laundry or Mending to repair objects."

She has Prestidigitation, Mending, Detect Magic, and Mage Hand prepared today. Maybe she should demonstrate one. She's kind of afraid of doing so, though, for fear that the powdered silver circle might be disturbed. If it's ever broken, or an object laid across it, the spell would be instantly broken. Had she known that she was about to summon an otherworldly powerful entity, she would have used the dedicated carved summoning circles in the conjuration workroom, whose divots prevent the powdered silver from being disturbed accidentally. Too late for that now, though. She wanted her students to know what it's like to do a summoning in the field, and also develop discipline regarding summoning circles.

"I am myself a powerful psion." She hopes that's a vague enough answer for 'how ere you able to get here', and yet not revealing the specifics.

For psionics questions, she's going to answer them from the perspective of Terrans. It would seem more natural to her, and avoid revealing information about Zerg and Protoss:
"Psionics is indeed rare, and even people who have often don't have much power for it. They are recruited by the government and trained, but there's not much of them".

Weakness of the circle: identified. Since Conradia was so sure in her safety previously, it's probablly impossible to just lift a rock and lay it across, but a more subtle approach might work.

"Can you demonstrate your magic? I'm interested in how it compares to my powers.", she wants to lift something in the air, but there's absolutely nothing inside the circle. Oh well. 

She reaches to her wing, breaks off one of the tips, and holds it a few centimeters above her hand, showing to Conradia.

(Behind her, the wing restores in a matter of seconds)

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."

"I see. Many demons have telepathy, although that's where their psychic-like abilities end. I assume that this polymorphing effect is permanent, then? If so, learning that would be a huge boon to us. How do Zerg reproduce? You implied that you are able to turn someone into one, or, at least, turn them closer to one. What do Zerg look like?"

The spell finishes! Conradia sighs, and looks to Magnus. The two of them nod, and Conradia sweeps her foot across the powdered silver circle, breaking the spell and setting Kerrigan free.

"Alright, you should be free now. None of the binding effects should be present on you anymore."

"Most of the Zerg strains are created from Larva (Tongues translation shares a word with Abyssal Petitioner, but has significantly distinct connotations), which are in turn produced by specialzed Hatchery-organizms. It's not unlike human reproductive system, but spread across distinct organizms. Zerg vary depending on their role, most have visual similarities to animals, but with certain elements enhanced, cases like mine are rare, and most zerg aren't human-looking, though I did design the strain for my advisor to look more human. Appearance is a design contraint, and can be carefully honed if needed."

Kerrigan will lift the paintbrush from the Mage Hand demonstration, do a few tricks with, and give it to Condradia to test that her abilities are working properly.

He nods. 

"Design and appearance is very important to us, so I'm glad that that can be accounted for. Hm, sadly I don't think we have any Zerg hatchery organisms here. None of our bestiaries have anything similar. We do have giant insect creatures that have brood queens, although none of them display the sophistication the Zerg seem to have.

We have a few choices for what to do now – I'll let you decide which order you want to do them in.

- Introduce you to the Conradian High Priest
- Eat
- Show you to your room
- Get an arcane stamper
- Test your power level

We'll refrain from teaching magic or psionics to each other until tomorrow, so that you can get settled in. Oh, right, that reminds me: Conradia needs to cast Share Language on you. Do you have it prepared, Conradia?"

She does!

"Share Language is a touch range spell, so I'll have to tap you in order to cast it. It's important that you do not try to resist it with spell resistance, or try to block it with your will. It won't work otherwise. It will let you speak our language fluently, as well as read anything written in it." She chants and waves her arms, and angles her arm like a scorpion poised to strike with its tail.

She accepts the spell.

Fortunately, she can weave some Zerg from scratch, though she isn't telling them that yet.

Getting to know the leaders here sounds most useful, having two distinct factions around is her favorite state of affairs!
"I would like to meet the Conradian High Priest, and we can observe the trivialities later."

"Sure thing! I'll lead you to the Conradian part of the complex later. Oh yes, and give you a map." 

Magnus opens the door, and passes through it. As soon as he does, any thoughts he weren't deliberately projecting become unreadable and opaque.

Ok, they got protection from mindreading. Kinda expected, and she's not going to reveal that she's been doing it by having any sort of comment.

She'll follow.

Magnus leads, and Conradia follows behind Kerrigan. Despite the base being underground, the hallways are surprisingly spacious. They're built of the same stone walls with engraved decorations and colored stone tiles, usually lilac-colored. It's clear that the designers of the place really cared about it looking good. Of the few people they encounter, they stare at them, but none of the stares imply hostility.

They pass through a large open door, and the aesthetic of the place changes. The colored stone tiles are gone, and it's just plain smoothed stone with simple engravings. It seems to be an entirely different section or wing of the buliding.

Later, they then approach another large-ish door, this time with a symbol of a rod and a sword laid perpendicularly to one another.

Magnus knocks, waits for a moment, and then opens the door.

"Here we are. I'll leave you in the company of the Conradians. See you." He leaves by going back the way he came. Conradia stays, but does not enter, leaving Kerrigan to go in alone.

So, two groups with different opinions on aesthetics. Promising.

She passes through the door. 

"Greitings, High Priest", a minor nod.

There's a man wearing similar robes to Conradia in the room, standing behind the door. He smiles. His appearance is much less threatening and imposing than that of Magnus. He gives off the energy of a young and an old man simultaneously. His body is lithe and youthful, but his demeanor is that of a kindly grandpa you can tell all your problems to.

His skin is dark purple, and there are foot-long horns sticking out of his black hair. He appears humanoid, but not human proper.

"Welcome to the Bronze Orchard, Sarah Kerrigan. The church of Conrad welcomes you. Please sit, if you'd like." 

He gestures towards one of the ornate padded armchairs in front of the desk. His own chair is less of a chair and looks more like a throne: it's richly decorated with silver embroidery and metal accoutrements.

"I was told that you came here through a magical accident. Are you hurt? Do you need healing? Or are you tired? I can cast Lesser Restoration on you or talk to you tomorrow, if you need rest." He says it as though there would be no problem at all.

"'Magical Accident' is probably not entirely correct. Apparently, interaction of your planar maigc and of my research projects produced a result that neither could achieve on its own. I'm not particularly tired now, and don't need much rest in general." She will sit down though.

He nods. Wow, there's so much to talk about! He has to think for a moment about which thread of conversation to pursue. Proselytizing and recruitment can come later. First, he wants to learn more about this Zerg thing.

"So, Zerg," he opens, resting his arms on the table. "You mentioned that you're able to transform people into them, and that such entities could be given various boons. Could we see you create one, or transform a human into one? Does it have to be a human, or can it be any humanoid? We can procure prisoners for you so that you can demonstrate – perhaps people on your world are different from ours."

The whole base is lit by magical light that seems to be emanating from the ceiling, but in this room it is particularly bright: comparable to the noonday sun.

"I can create Zerg, though I would need time to start with simpler forms, without hive infrastructure the process is difficult. Transforming existing organisms is easier, it can potentailly be any living organism, though I will need to study their Essence to develop a successful setup, and first attempts might end in failure, so having disposible prisoners is useful. But I'm certain I can do it safely eventually."

It's not clear whether she even registers the unusually bright light, and if her eyes might've displayed some adjustment, it's certainly hidden behind their glow.

"Excellent." He claps his hands.

"Hm, are you able to create hive infrastructure on your own? We'll probably be able to assign the lesser-used workrooms for you to set up in, after we've seen what the Zerg can do. It will take about a day to a couple of days for us to get prisoners for you, but once we've set up we can get you...about a dozen or two a week. Perhaps more." He'll send out a bunch of his people to nab commoners in Nerosyan and Caliphas. Vigil is too risky – he does not want to deal with Lastwall.

"Could you tell me more about the sorts of things Zerg can do? Their combat potential? Although I'm more interested in the sorts of things that a human-transformed-into-Zerg could be made to do. Are you able to keep much of yourself – your mind, your personality – when you change?" Conrad doesn't really care about aesthetics, but he does care about combat capability.

Well, now is the time to be impressive. 
"Zerg can do great variety of things, and combat is one of them. There's a significant variety of warrior-strains, but all of them are deadly in battle, with claws capable of tearing through metal, and carapace that can withstand the impact of multiple bullets." 

"Human-Zerg hybrid can also vary depending on the process used to produce them, but under the right conditions, personality can be preserved, and capabilities greately enhanced. Human body is a host t o a number of weaknesses that easy to rectify, but it's also possible to enhance mental capacity, and psionic powers. I suspect it can also improve proficiency with local magic."

"Full hive cluster will require a lot of space, but I can setup the simpler forms without too much problems." 

He smiles widely.

"Approximately how much space will you need to set up the simple version of the hive cluster? If it's too big, I can have the wizards expand the base to give you more space. Ah, we'll probably need to set up more Cauldrons of Plenty, then. It's a magic item we use to conjure food – while we do import food from outside, it's mostly treats and the like. The Cauldrons fulfill the bulk of our food needs. Each one can sustain around thirty six people: we have fourteen."

"Minimal size for the cluster would need a room of about a hundrent meters on the side, height about fifty meters. I can try to reduce the size of the hive structures at the cost of time and efficiency if that is unfeasable."

Hm...that's a lot of space. Still, it's probably doable.

"We'll wait to see the results of the experiments before constructing the building – it's difficult to excavate underground. Do the hive structures need food, or energy? If so, what do they consume?"

"Food will work fine. Also, if you are interested in combat potential, it would be beneficial to have access to sturdy materials that can be worked into carapace, some crystal or metal."

"The setup for creating hybrids is much smaller and can probably fit in a room like the one I appeared in, though it wood take the whole room for prolonged period of time."

"I'll be sure to tell the wizards."

He lets an appropriate amount of time pass before continuing.

"What is your world like? Although we can't Plane Shift you there – we have no tuning fork – we could send a message to anyone you know via Sending if you want to tell them you're safe, or something like that. It will also permit a short response back. Alternatively, we could attempt observing someone you know via Scrying, and we would be able to pass messages back and forth for a few minutes."

"My world, is currently recovering from a series of wars fought in quick succession, causes and consequences of which would take a long time to explain. All powers, including the Swarm are currently recovering from it, so there's some time before another big conflic starts, but at some point it will, and I wanted the Swarm ready. Establishing contact would be beneficial, especially if you can reach Izsha, my advisor."

Mm. Wars. Fun. Actually, he shouldn't be sarcastic about it – wars are things that produce lots of people potentially aligned with Conrad.

"Message is almost guaranteed to succeed – it works even if you're in a different plane – but you'd only be able to send a message no more than twenty-five words long. The entity on the other side will be able to respond once with the same constraints, and after that, the spell ends. Scrying works for minutes at a time and will allow back and forth communication, but...it's difficult to get working. It works best if the caster has a close connection with the target, and I don't, and if you're able to produce foci that relate to them. A picture, a possession, or some sort of small body part will work, with the latter working best. Even just a hair will work fine."

"How flexible is 'small body part'?.. I don't have any, but I can make a part with the smae Essence."

"I can also project the image into caster's mind."

"I'm not sure what you mean by Essence, but from the sound of it, it might help. And yes, using telepathy would work too. I sadly don't have Scrying or Message prepared today, but I'll be able to pray for them tomorrow."

Izsha is also the most well-shielded Zerg in the Swarm, probably more resistant to mental attacks than Kerrigan herself, and also absolutely loyal, so she isn't to worried about letting them contact her.

"Well then, what can you tell me about your world?"

"Our world." He opens his mouth as if to speak, and then chuckles.

"Sorry, it's just that, you know, I expect everyone I meet to basically be familiar with Golarion. That's the name of the planet we're on – it's the third planet from the sun. There are other planets too other than this one, but this is the only one with humans on it. We're currently in the very north of Avistan, a continent, in Sarkoris Scar. Sarkoris Scar used to be where the Worldwound was: an Abyssal rift where demons would pour out of, but it's closed now. Describing the political situation is more complicated, because unlike your world, no one polity has been able to occupy the whole of Golarion at once. There are many states warring over this and that. We personally are not warring with anyone, mostly because we've taken great pains to keep the location of this place secret, and given our obscurity, it's very presence.

Iomedae's church would likely be very upset to find out we're a thing, for example, although I think she's too busy fighting with Cheliax and Asmodeus. That's one of her pet peeves."

She likes this world. She would very much like to conquer it, but that's a thought for later, after she deals with those she landed on.

"And what about 'gods'? How do churches work? As I understand, you get some form of magic from them, in return for what?"

"Gods have domains and tenets: that's the set of things they are closely associated with, and a set of rules they want people to obey. Essentially, they want the world to be a certain way or for certain things to be more present in the world. If your goals and motivations are particularly aligned with a god, They might deign to ordain you: turn you into a cleric. Clerics are able to receive divine magic from their god in return for their service."

"And so far, no one of them has managed to establish control over even a single planet? What gods are there, anyway?"

She doesn't like the the concept entities-supposedly-more-powerful-than-her having a big influence here, but it's not just the she would like to be a simpler playing field - she dealt with forces greater than her multiple times, there's something else in there...

"No. Not because they can't, but because they've agreed to limit how much they can intervene in the mortal world. See, at the beginning, just after Pharasma had created the world, She spawned this beast called Rovagug, who was a god in and of Himself. Some say that He had existed before Pharasma's Creation, but more people support the former view. Rovagug started eating the world as we know it, but Sarenrae, goddess of healing and mercy, rounded up as many gods as She could to stop Him.

Many of the ancient gods were involved in the process of imprisoning Him in the center of Golarion, deep below the earth – this is both a metaphor and not a metaphor – but the way He was imprisoned was such that any one of the gods could let Him out. This was an incredibly unstable situation for all of Them: none of Them wanted the world to be destroyed, but many of The were willing to threaten its destruction to get what They wanted. So, Abadar, the god of fair trade, drafted up the god-treaties that persist to this day – all deities were to refrain from intervening according to Their pure strength only, and limit Their intervention based on a budget that each one of them has. This was a solution that satisfied all of Them, and it made the state of affairs much more stable. The corollary, however, is that if one of the gods was to become supremely dissatisfied with the way reality was going, They might choose to let Rovagug out. The other gods would try to stop them, but they're not guaranteed to succeed."

For some reason, the thought of stopping a thing that can annihilate the whole world is badwrong halt stop abort nothink

Her expression blanks for a second, but then returns to normal

"I see. That is... an interesting state of affairs."

Interpreting the expressions of outsiders is usually a fool's errand: they think much differently from mortals, and also, a lot of them don't even have faces. Still, he did there was a shift there. Was it about Rovagug? He is quite upsetting to think about, so he understands.

"Your world is safe from Rovagug, since it's outside of Pharasma's Creation. At least, I would think so. Given that you were able to travel here, it's conceivable that a god would also be able to travel to there. Still, I don't think there's anything to worry about. Were He to be let out, He would consume our world before yours."

"I see. Good to know. Do we have other buisness for now?"

She's perfectly composed again, with no trace of whatever happened.

"I don't think so. You should get your arcane stamper ordered in the forge, afterward, we can show you to your room. Conradia can get you there."

"Good."

She gets up, and exists the room.

Conradia meets her outside.

"How was it?" she asks. "In any case, we can go and get the arcane stamper now, eat, or get you equipment from the armory. Do you even use weapons, or do you prefer using natural weapons like claws?"

"It went quite well. I believe we can cooperate." Until the right time cones, of course. 

"I normally use 'natural weapons'" huh, what a word to have a compound for ", but I would at least want to look at what you have".

She walks to the armory while talking.

"We have the standard weapons. Do you use swords? Conrad prefers greatswords, but we also have rapiers, glaives, longswords, shortswords, and a few other rarer weapons. We have crossbows and longbows for ranged weapons. What sort of weapons does your world have?"

"In our world, most battles are fought at range, but sometimes something not unlike swords is used. Our ranged weapons are far more advanced than bows and crossbows though."

"That sounds really interesting. Weapons aren't my area of expertise, I'm a wondrous items crafter," she says it like it's a technical term, "but one of the magical arms and armor crafters would love to talk about that with you."

The armory booth is a large rectangular opening in the wall with a desk on it, similar to what you might find at a bank. Behind it are rows upon rows of weapons, armors, and other not-easily-recognizable things. There's an older gruff looking man attending to the weapons, who comes over to the desk when Conradia calls for him. His name is Selm.

"Well, I would love to talk to then. Would it be possible to enchant 'natural weapons', if you have some control over how they develop?"