-The Second Gospel of the Divines: Over time, the Lord Creator made stories and lore for the people of his world. He gave them lives and purpose. The humans knew no god before this and lived together peacefully. The Lord lived among them still and enjoyed as they discovered history, art, and culture.-
There was no ruling class in the southern lands. The whole government was decentralized with a top-down authority. At the top, you had the council. They included representatives from the different areas in the southern lands. Each area would send one representative to help make large overall rules and regulations.
These rules related mostly to how areas and people interacted with each other. A large number of members of the council, roughly 30, meant that you had enough minds and ideas to prevent most wars over petty complaints or squabbles.
Just below the council in terms of authority, you had the local magistrates. The people of a large area elected them, and they oversaw things like locations of towns, disputes over resources, and road travel. They were supposed to be the wisest and most fair of the area because they acted as the go-between for city-level government and the council.
At the lowest level, you had city-based leadership, which varied from race to race. You had mayors, town elders, elected officials, and in some cases warlords. They handled day to day people managing. All three groups, Council Members, Magistrates, and Town leadership had to agree for anything as large as war. They also had the ability to override the others. If two-thirds of the others had a complaint with the way something was happening they could ask for change. This made sure that everyone had some authority. But as long as things flowed smoothly you couldn't force your ideas on an area you had an interest in.
For the most part, the system worked. When disputes happened, they mostly got settled in their areas by local leadership. Occasionally, magistrates would intervene but rarely did things go all the way to the council. This kept things peaceful and organized. Something everyone in the south enjoyed.
Because of this peace, certain wartime offices had been forgotten. The position of General was one of them. In the early days, there had been a fourth position called a General. This person was appointed by levels of all three governments. They acted as peacekeepers. They could only act in far extreme situations. They were also expected to harness the power necessary to end any uprising if need be. They were the equivalent of mutually assured destruction against any unwanted reaction. If you went and did anything too crazy you could be assured that the General for that area would come and put things right.
When Ko'Loss called for them what he was acting for was an audience with those who's power would be needed to protect this young man's life. It was a shame that he didn't realize that position had been done away with due to the long period of peace the southern lands had enjoyed as of late.
Ko'Loss stood in the noble reception hall. A long table of carved stone ran down the entire length of the room. Ko'Loss stood and stared at the table. He remembered carrying it into this room. The whole area would have given him chills when he was a human but he had spent so long in this body that he no longer felt those emotions with the human levels he used too.
And the city had no nobles. But at one time they had entertained them. There was no real royalty in the northern lands anymore. Just local lords and the church. Together they kept a coddled together peace. The idea of nobility had faded with time. Would the man in the basket have ben protected if there had been nobles to want to protect their peoples? He cradled the basket in his arms, hoping that the mana and divine energy he was emanating would keep him alive. Almost like a mother hen with her newly laid egg.
Ko'Loss felt no need to keep track of time, he had seen so much of it why would he bother to measure it at this point. Eventually, things happened. if you just waited long enough. So to him the time it took for the council to scramble together a plan and a response to his request wasn't troublesome. It was just a function of being alive. You often had to wait, as simple as that.
The room was covered in large panels and paintings showing battles between the humans and demi's. Ko'Loss looked at them and found himself in many of them. He was concerned why he was in a few because he had never participated in some of these battles. He assumed the artists took liberties with his human and non-human likeness.
Two attendants stood beside the door. Watching the golem stand silently in one spot, cradling the large woven basket in its arms. They were trying not to squirm as they watched its eyes and mouth rotate across its body as it took in its surroundings. The sight of it was unnerving to anything that had to move its head to look around.
The two men stood up straight and waited patiently. They tried to look at anything but Ko'Loss. They stared at the tables with large candles and silver trays full of treats and pieces of bread. They searched for any cloth out of place or the first piece of dust to fall from the air. They needed an excuse to do anything but try to avoid looking at the large thing occupying the center of the room.
Finally, after several hours a retinue of people came in. The chance to meet the Oracles right-hand man had been too much for some people to bear. Others wanted to send a signal dignitary in to handle the whole thing. There was panic and they still had a whole army of clerical people scanning through old books and scrolls looking or any sign of who the generals were and what to do when this person showed up.
A man in shining armor walked in first. The golem swung his face around to see him. He was large, by most living things standards. He had the lower half of a minotaur, but his face and upper chest resembled that of a centaur. He had a human face and large horse-like ears that pointed up from both sides of his head. He stepped to the center of the table across from Ko'Loss and kept his eyes locked on the ever-moving face of the golem. Other people came into the room and stopped at the far end of the table, daring to come no farther into the room until the Knight had made sure it was safe.
"Excuse the delay in getting here. My name is For'ten Kirgas, a Knight in the order of the Clear Glass. Can you please confirm who you are and why you are here?" The man said as politely as possible.
Ko'Loss put the basket on the table. He was trying to remember the correct way to deal with things like Knights and Dukes. He had always hated this part. Dealing with the oracle made his life easier. He just listened to what she said and kept the trouble away.
"My name... Is Ko'loss. I am... protector of the oracle. She has tasked me... with bringing this here and reviving it." He reached down to the cover on the basket and pulled the lid. For'ten peered across the table and saw the body of a human inside the basket.
For'ten was uneasy. The body looked dead. The oracle never really did anything that would be considered criminal. The oracle also never sent anyone into town either. This was all very unfamiliar territory. "Is it dead?" he asked in the direct manner expected of a Knight.
"No... this is... just lost... at the moment." Ko'Loss was piecing together words and ideas. Centuries of guard duty meant that he had very little to say besides you may pass, you can't pass, you are a threat. Ed's presence was also draining him of power. He was becoming weaker the longer this took. Ko'Loss would simply pass out before he would complain of the loss, it had happened in the past before. And he would wake up in a mound of dirt a few hundred years later refreshed. The human part of him likened it to sleep.
"Excuse my asking, but why bring him here?" For'ten asked crossing his arms and taking a step back.
"The council... protects... the people of the south. This man... also protects the world... The oracle wishes him to... live." He struggled with some of the words and ideas. He lived when the common tongue was different. Ko'loss' thoughts and words would be different when he was alone. This new way of arranging the words was something he was still getting used to.
For'ten nodded and signaled to the others to come into the room. They brought out paperwork and rushed over to the side of the golem. "May we carry the basket for you, sir?" Several strong-looking demi's asked him.
The face of the golem swung off its head and down onto its side just above where the waist might have been. You could see the holes of the eyes and mouth look at the men before what had to have been a nod.
"Which alchemy lab would you like?" For'ten asked politely.
"If you will allow me to pass... I will lead myself. I assume... it is still stocked?" Ko'Loss said turning his body towards the door but rotating his face back towards the knight.
"I hope so. Things may have changed though. We are afraid we don't know which labs you are talking about exactly."
"I will show you... You may... follow me."