Notes for F-16 to go here. Edit this blurb for plot summary, or add a character perspective using the "Add new comment" mechanism.
Arwel, Za’har, Dariel, Simone, Sahrit, Kith + Vanquisher, Vartara, and Sophia join us.
Sarhit’s mother is weeping with joy about the possibiltiies.
Vartara jars up some essence and wants to gather us to travel to Arx.
Asking about considerations about why this is the only place this can happen? What about places in the wild?
We all go to Arx in a portable hole.
120 seconds pass
In a conference room in Arx where discussions with geomancers have taken place, though it is currently empty. (Headquarters of the insurrection against the demons.)
Darial: Limited number of paths (typical of regular lifestyle) 1st: speaking with council of elder nomads expressing a need to find and stop Kalanon
before that: Dariel being told that Kalanon has left the tribe
Dariel with Kalanon who is congratulating him on becoming a full druid.
Vanquisher: Him fighting 1 on 1 with a humanoid thing that looks bizarre, barbs and thorns on it’s skin, clawed hands, bill like a duck. Dressed in leather, red (rust colored) gloves. Then a quake happened.
Calling for a retreat of his forces as many other like the one he was fighting were swarming into the city. Were deflecting attacks with their arms, destroying the axes that are being used to attack them.
Storming Terminus, fighting against demons, massive earthquake taking out large sections of wall, winds picking people up and taking them into the city.
(Platapods attacking Terminous!!!!!!)
.....
Za’har: still has as many pasts as he had before, most lead here. Can see the transformation. Starting to transform into a Rakshasa before turning into a human.
Arwel: Hundreds maybe thousands of possibilities reflected and they are all different. Something horribly wrong that happened. The point at which this started - The ordering, then they scatter out again.
---------
Sahrit talks with the Vanquisher about getting “his” body back.
Vanquisher: Make me an offer
Sahrit: I have no idea what you would want
Vanquisher: well then, I expect an interesting offer. Ordinarily, we of the hordes do not give up trophies very easily. Why do you want it.
Sahrit: To create a weapon to use against my father
Vanquisher: hmm I’ll wait on the offer
Sahrit: still have no idea what I could offer.
Za’har asks the Vanquisher if he knows what the flow is
Vanquisher: <shapes the path>
Za'har: no, though I will offer the answer in exchange
Vanquisher: you will require proof that the flow is different that we have known it to bed
Za'har:
Za'har: Humans, Devas, and Rakshasas are all the same creatures
Za'har: centuries ago, human beings discovered, took in stewardship, or created, the twin fists of creation. Temperance to the point of disillusion from the vibrant flow of the world. The way of the hell fist was the way of power, was the way of passion, joy and fury. So weighted by the tug and ebb of day to day events. Potentially be crushed under the weight of their own emotions. The time came that some practiced one idea to the exclusion to the other. Those dedicated to the ways of heven became less mortal, less physical and became the deva. Those who yeilded to their passions, gave themselves to the wilds of magic became the Rakshasha. Humans, many survived and escaped the culling. We’re all one race of beings. I know that the light nexi, their energy is the ideal of the heaven fist. The inverted nexus is the ideal of the hell fist. Once is stillness, almost dead peace, the other is fury, untennable fury.
Kith: So you are saying that the flow is passionate emotion
Za'har: no, I’m telling you what the Deva are, the human, are, and the Rakshasa
Arwel: questioning Deva being passionate.
Arwel: how do you know this
Za'har: I was there, I remember
Za'har: these memories are mine
Ktih: do you remember a time before the flow
Za'har: I’m not certain, sorry. But I have an understanding of what the flow is.
Vanquisher: If you want to continue to have a place in this conversation, give him back his body. (Sahrit)
Vanquisher: if you offer me any provable insight into the nature of the flow, I will do as you ask
Arwel: Za’har do you remember a time when.. do you remember all the events of you many lives, why this memory
Za'har: because it’s so relevant, because I’m more whole than I have been for quite some time.
Kith: (to Za’har) why are you interested in this body
Za'har: I have interest in helping sahrit ....
Za'har: some being, or divine power, has bound, chained perhaps, something of the flow is, there is suffering.
Kith: what do you mean bound
Za'har:
Ktih: how do you know this is the case
Za'har: intuitive connection
Sahrit: we had mentioned the name of this god’s name to Levistus, and he was shocked at it’s utterance
Vartar: I’ve never seen a body change as such, I’m inclined to believe him.
Za'har: That’s right vanquisher, it’s name whose very utterance caused fear to appear in Levistus’s eyes.
Vanquisher: Very will, if what you say is to be believed, tell me his name.
Sahrit: Therisdun
Arwel: you may know him by another name
Za'har: ?
Arwel: the raven queen
Za'har: they are not one and the same. They may be bound, but they are not the same.
Arwel: you are not bound by the oath. Those were broken when she was unable to carry out her mission.
The vanquisher hands over the body (naked).
Sahrit: so he has the other body too. The other body is Cameron’s
Sahrit: so I’ll have to make a separate deal for
Za'har: when he strains against his bonds, when he trhashes in violent pains, it shreds the fabric of the world. These are the quakes
Sahrit: so the nexuses are it’s cage?
Za'har: I think so
Kith: who build it
Sahrit: the gods
Kith: when?
Sahrit: when they made sigil
Kith: why did this creature need to be held
Sahrit: that is an even bigger puzzle
Kith: what is this creature
Arwel: chains...
Za'har: something of vast power, something of deific power, perhaps more
...
Arwel: many died
Za'har: a lot of this is still quite beyond me.
Arwel: many died, all are guilty, well most are guilty.
Za'har: Arwel, where is this coming from
Arwel: truth, you learn many things when you travel between points. Most of the gods committed horrible injustice
Sahrit: they continue to do so
Za'har: ....
Za'har: motivation is the gestation of action
Arwel: yet is the action that is punishable, not the cause
Kith: did
Arwel: the raven queen was causing the ... quakes
Arwel: she DID, she has been stripped
Arwel: she had another name: Kiaransalee
Arwel: Oaths to the raven queen no longer hold power. She has been stripped of her power.
Kith: Are you so weak as to only keep an oath if it’s enforced.
Arwel: contract not a swear
.. Working hypothesis, the woman in chains is the raven queen.
.. Trying to figure out the other woman in the vision
Arwel: you cannot trust the gods or those who serve them, be ware, be watchful, and be wary.
Za'har: I must do that now with nearly everyone I have ever met
Arwel: for what it’s worth, you may trust me.
Arwel: I have but one mission now, pretty simple, speak the truth, punish the guilty, and do not fall prey to deceptions.
Sahrit: - bargaining for the other body
Vanquisher: are you taking up necromancy now?
Sahrit: no, these pieces are useful for creating a weapon I can use against my father....
Sahrit: if it helps things, my father is a man know as Vance, formerly Vecna
Za'har: he is a necromancer
Sahrit: yes
Za'har: we can negotiate a lower price on this next transaction
Za’har wants to speak with the servants of Pelor. We have an existing relationship that may help us
Arwel: He is also not to be trusted on authority of st. cuthbert
The raven queen was stripped of power by many of the other gods for breaking oaths. St. Cuthbert claims that she is innocent.
Others have taken up the task, Cuthbert may be one, but I’m not sure. Other who wish the truth of what the gods have done to come forth.
Cuthbert wants the gods to pay for their sins. Arwel shares this goal.
Arwel on ordered nexus
Sahrit: smaller and very stable. Arwel was at a normal nexus, and it remained positive.
...
discussion about what to make of Oraculum
It should be a free and neutral city.
discussion about truth, doubt about what we assume and what we know.
-------
We decide to split up and try to get more support. Za’har and Sahrit are going to go to the empire to rally Za’har’s troops. Simone, Kith, Dariel and Sophia are going to visit the warrior tribe. Arwel is going to Tatenda to try and find Jonas.
Simone's musings
We are learning so very very much about the history of this world, yet many, many questions remain.
The current theory is that the world is acting as Therisdun’s cage, with the nexuses acting as the bars. This leaves open questions about the nature of the flow. Why it exists and what it’s purpose is.
Also, why are there different types of nexuses? I had always assumed that a positive nexus is the normal state. Now I’m not so sure. If that were true, how were inverted nexuses created or discovered initially? I know why there are currently needed, but what was known about that before the curse? Or did the knowledge of how to invert a nexus come with the curse? Was the curse granted to create inverted nexuses?
And what of the new types of nexuses? There is the balanced nexus we created in Orraculum. This feels like it should be the natural state of a nexus, or maybe just the final state. Did all nexuses start this way, or is this a new creation? I wish I could view a nexus’s past as easily as a person.
Then there are the ordered nexuses. This affect may reach across the flow to unify all the possibilities into only one. If one of these nexuses were to be destroyed, would it destroy the nexus in all versions of the world? It may. Also, we were told that they only target inverted nexuses. This hasn’t been true in my world, as they have targeted a nexus that was positive at the time. But what if they could order a nexus in a different version of reality and still affect one in mine? Do they even need to be in my reality to do it? Or does a nexus suddenly become ordered? Or does the process unify the flow before the ordering is final, so we at least have a chance to intervene? That’s a really scary thought. At least our new balanced nexus is a new nexus and is unlikely to be inverted in any version of history.
And what about the hells? Where do they fit in? They are obviously failed versions of our world. Versions where all the nexuses are removed. But how do they come to be? Does the world fail, and a new world get built? Or are there a set number, and we live on the last one? Is it the last one, or are there more? I have only been to one layer of hell, though I hear there are more. Is he flow constantly managing and warping different worlds? If that were the case, if this one were to fall, it would be another hell, but as long as the possibility of other worlds existing, there would still be a world similar to this one. But can the ordering reach across that an eliminate the possibility that this world still exists? That’s a really scary though.
Then there are the gods. They know what’s going on, but aren’t telling. I don’t follow any particular god, so I don’t know much about them. I talked to Arwel about them, and she’s not happy with them either, though is still devout to St. Cuthbert. He feels like the Raven Queen was behind the strange quakes from before, but that she has been stripped of her power. But the quakes continue, and seem to be getting even more strange, and involving even more people. If the Raven Queen is no longer behind them (if she ever was) then who or what is?
I have a lot of answers. I can only hope that some of them are correct, and some are not as I fear, but I still have a lot more questions. When I saw the temple of Sigil collapse, was that in this version of history, or was that a world that became a hell? Who is the lady that was flying above sigil and seemingly the cause? How do we get to, let alone repair an ordered nexus? How can we create more balanced nexuses, and what effect will that have? Was I brought or Oracculum because I needed to be there, or was I being diverted from Sigil for some reason? Or both?
Speaking of Sigil, what can I do from there? I hope I can repair, or at least analyze an ordered nexus. Sigil must be more than just a tower, just a shrine, and just a map. It must have greater ties into the world. I only wish I knew what they were.
This Little Light of Mine
This nexus represents something we have never seen before. It could be the end of so many struggles, a new age of equalities, or maybe it is the doom of us all. It seems the gods do not want us to have this. Should the nexuses truly be the cage a Tharizdun, I can only guess as to what this nexus portends. I mean it when I say I will do whatever it takes to protect this new found "truth". Hopefully, in time it will prove itself to be the best and truest path to lead us through the calamity, because I don't know of any other way to go.