Conditor Imperatoris Elijah.
2 Septara, 1492.
0452.
[Prestige Fighter - Gloom Knight, Step 5: Empire.]
[With Gloom's lair formed and her Riders both transformed and evolved, it is time for your Sovereign to settle upon her throne to gather enough power for the next stage. In the meantime, her Riders must claim for her an empire in the realms above and seed themselves throughout it; enabling Gloom's will to be enforced throughout the lands forevermore.]
[Prestige Warlock - Conditor Imperatoris Noctis, Step 1: Legion - Task Complete.]
[Reward - Evolution: [Conditor Mind.] As one who was personally educated by the God-Emperor, your mental prowess has grown immensely, vastly increasing mental processing and acuity while strengthening mental fortitude.]
[Reward - Evolution: [Conditor Physiology.] As one trained by the God-Emperor himself, your body has been significantly enhanced by his divine will, greatly reinforcing your constitution, strength, agility, and dexterity.]
[Reward - Mutation: [Conditor Spirit.] As one among the closest to the God-Emperor, your very spirit has been made into a vessel that gathers the faith of your citizens and legionaries, concentrating it into divine energy which then radiates from your visage, inspiring those in your presence.]
[Reward - Transformation: [Conditor Soul.] As one among the closest to the God-Emperor, your soul has been greatly reinforced against benevolent, neutral, and malevolent entities, protecting you from acts of divination, charming, banishment, and compulsion.]
[Step 2 - Nox: Having made your debut to the realms and their best guilds at the Bodhi Tree's mid-year ceremony, finally realizing the God-Emperor's ambition and cementing yourselves in its foundation, you must be accepted by the sorcerous family of death and darkness by completing the Summoners Course with the Necro King's Doppelganger.]
***
Our Guild Master shared everything with us, even before his ascension. His history. His knowledge. His wealth. His power.
After his ascension, he shared more with us, his beloved explorers. His creations. His divinity. His wickedness. His sovereignty.
Now that he has ascended higher, he shared more with us still. His senses. His soul. His spirit. His eternity.
We were truly his 'children' now; although only I saw it that way. We each had our own domain. Yet, like his power, like him, ours would develop over time; we would be forged through trails and suffering. Thus, what we now had was but a sliver of what was to be. But even with that sliver, we could remold our subordinates in the likeness of our images. Thus, they became our children.
Thus, the Lordlings became my sons and daughters.
Like me, Art and Kele were reborn in darkness and gloom. They then received my bite and drank the wine of my veins, raising them to my undying station and freeing them from their bonds in the same stroke. And finally, they completed their final trials and awoke as my children; and their children as my grandchildren.
Reborn as Vampiric Gloom Shades, their skin returned from that charcoal-magenta hue to its normal luster; their hair remained white, yet developed gold-violet highlights throughout and their eyes, like mine, developed a dark crimson hue.
And so, we came here to enjoy the spoils of leisure. Together, as a family and with the rest of the Eternal God-Emperor's children, we saw every accusatory finger pointed Amun's way just as we witnessed the open arms intended for him. We heard every blasphemous transgression just as we listened to every amiable musing regarding him. We felt his will, and thus acted accordingly to each of our natures.
The nature of the 11th was to be sycophantic isolationists. Masters of subterfuge. The pinnacles of predatory evolution. Imperial disruptors. In impassible darkness, we dwelled, pulling at the shadows in our lands to hunt for all things blood and information. We were a family, but we dwelled in isolation. In private lairs, separated by distance and yet united by Gloom, my domain. We did not seek to aggrandize or assault mortal domains. Only to assess and sometimes rip asunder by playing the long game.
We were the Eleventh Legion of the Nox, the Lords of Gloom. Thus, we had no royals and rulers to introduce ourselves to, as the other legions did. The land was already ours, ruled by my Noctis Sage. Our presence there was already known. That left little in the way of us learning our orders going forward.
This left little reason to wait until our period of leave was over. As Kele so aptly put it, we could watch these events from the comfort of our keeps. Even as we were building our cities.
***
Sinestro.
***
I heard it, yet it did not register until it was too late. The dainty hum that danced between the purposeful steps of gilded boots haunted my mind, bringing me to a place of old that still seemed new. Halls of orange and silver, filled with art and chambers of music, pulled from three realms. Constant lessons. Ever-present expectations. Her.
The sound had already ceased by the time it had registered. So, when I turned, she was already at the edge of our private booth, turning a curious amber eye over Rickley Ravenbrook, Ritrix Mildbluff, and Willard Rowe before they settled on me; and then it started.
"Hey, Sin!" She smiled, dragging out my moniker in ways that drew in a dozen eyes or more.
"Princess?" Rickley simultaneously asked as I greeted her, then continued. "You know Sinestro?"
"Of course she does. She's my little sister." I groaned. "Her being here only means she wants something."
Willard's jaw dropped. "Your sister is Princess Nevstan?"
"Olscilia Nevstan." She curtsied. "Dear Sin preferred a life of a traveling bard rather than a life of court. It is good to see him home, however."
At that, I could only laugh. It had been some time since I last saw her. Which was curious, considering I'd been one city away from her for the past year. Regardless, she looked the same as I remembered. Sulphuric-tan skin, horns like a second set of eyebrows, and hair as black as mine, kept in place by a regal tiara of topaz and diamond.
While I didn't have anything against her, I wasn't open to her either. Especially when she only sought me out to fulfill her ends like this. Much to my surprise, however, her attention remained focused on Willard while she withdrew a sleek pane of black glass and held its glowing face between them.
"The blue veins outside my room created this peculiar device." She turned the thing over in her hand. "It told me all about the Legion known as the Crown and their Imperator, the legendary Tengu Tamer. With current events such as these, I decided it was best to introduce myself, both to him and you. I imagine we'll be working together in the near future."
"I see." Willard lowered his head. "In that case, I'm willing to do a cultural exchange if you have the time. I cannot say the same for the others, however. We're enjoying a period of leave just as you are enjoying this revelry, Princess."
"That would be splendid!" My sister bounced in place, then adopted an apologetic smile. "However, I would like to introduce myself to the Tengu Tamer first. Until then."
"If only all of them will be that easy." Rickley sighed heavily. Then turned to me with her mouth hidden behind her hand. "I bet Corym's having a fit right now."
"About what?" I tried to ask, but Rickley saw right through my ploy. And worse...
"Don't play dumb, Sin. You know why." She scoffed, yet grinned wider. "While we're on the subject, though, I'm curious about what you'll do."
It seemed my suspicions were true. The Headmaster told Amun of the Southern Peninsula's future. On top of that, his subordinates were not only aware of its fate, but they were being as proactive as he would have been about it. In other words, there would be little success in trying to lie or play coy with the Legions. And so…
"Well, we've toured every interesting part of Nonus. We were looking for a fifth member, but…" I sighed, intending to leave the words hanging in the air.
Ritrix, however, was having none of that. "Well, we've got at least eleven empires for you to tour."
"And Maru. During and after the Great Marulean Crusade." Willard added. Tantalizingly so.
***
Iris Cole.
2 Septara, 1492.
0931.
[Clerical Druid: Divine Mother of the Technica Dominion. Step 5: Augmented Faith.]
[With your druidic sphere of technology fully formed and operational, you must establish the other half of your being by creating your house of worship and fully staffing it with augmented ecclesiastics.]
***
My deep diagnostic revealed no hubris setting or any other anomalies. I began to think Z'ress was right. Having my children reward squishies with augmented symbiosis was far less demanding than designing a separate recreation space for them. Geri already did that, after all. Then again, I was more restrictive with my blessings than anyone else in the Troupe, aside from Reina.
It wasn't that I didn't think they deserved it. Only, they had to earn it. There were already several legionaries who 'joked' about ruining their flesh just to receive augmentations; mostly Cogs. That was unacceptable. If anything, such actions should warrant re-training in the Darkroom - a legionary's only fear. But that was neither here nor there.
The task had stumped me. I don't like being stumped. In post-processing, I supposed I could have made a subprocess to facilitate the task. That, however, was a waste of resources for something that would only appear once in a blue moon. Or so I thought.
I sensed it on the Noctis Tracker first. Two blue blips skipped from Bakewia to the Bodhi Tree and began making their way to the compound with haste. They took the lift to the fourth level with no hiccups and skirted the circumference, making a pit stop at the Bakewian section, before continuing to ours. Simultaneously, a connection from an unknown contact was worming its way into my mind. Seeing as how they were nearly here, I promptly denied it and set my sights on the entrance to our booth. I could witness the fights through other means. Not that they were interesting.
What was interesting was who I saw. A man with a thick mustache colored a deep brown and sea-blue eyes, skirted with the blue circuits of the ArcaTech's blessing. It was the same as the woman with shimmering red hair walking next to him. Collectively, they had a 98% match with their designations on the Net. And yet, I couldn't believe my eyes.
"Iris!" He beamed.
Meanwhile, my head tilted. "Horace? Lois?" They looked so young. A few years older than my dad- and me, I supposed.
I was wrapped in their embrace before I could complete a full scan. All I could ascertain was that they were indeed still squishy, yet revitalized through some mechanical means or machine process. Most likely witch nanites to mitigate senescence.
"Oh, Iris, how much you've grown!" Horace sobbed, rocking me side to side before pushing me to arm's length, allowing Lois to take me.
"You've become such a strong young woman." She wailed and wept. Meanwhile, I smiled and laughed and introduced them to my many friends.
"Words cannot describe how happy I am to meet you all!" Horace bowed, wiping away a tear. Only for more tears to leak from his eyes once his gaze settled on a certain red-haired individual. "Blude!" He wowed, stepping over to stand before her with an approving nod. "So too have you grown! You as well, Sam, Redd! I could not be more proud of you all."
"Thanks, Horace. You don't look too bad yourself." Blude nonchalantly smiled, then took a long drag of her cigarette before tossing her hand up as she asked. "What are you doing here, anyway?"
"We've come on behalf of Sir Zapp Zeelba, the President of Bakewia." Lois gestured further down the booths. "He wishes to discuss the future of Bakewia with Sir Edward; as well as you and Iris."
Blude snickered without delay. "The last part- me and Iris- is that what he really wants or is that what you want?"
Horace slumped in place. Not in defeat, however. From impatience. "Does it matter?"
"Nope!" I snickered, moving across the booth to approach the door.
By the time Blude, Redd, and Sam joined us, Uncle Ed's Doppelganger was already standing next to me with his lore skull dangling from his hip. Together, we were preparing a design in the Terranaut app for the whole of Bakewia. But for that, we needed Blude's input. And it took no scans to realize she had some choice words for Sir Zeelba. Still, though, I tried.
I did so by prompting Edward to have Zazz recruit her cousin- his artificing teacher and the Bodhi Tree's armorer into his empire. Alone, the exuberance of one was enough to warrant a general idea about the design. Together, their combined exuberance was enough to demand they know everything; and Ed was eager to oblige.
"Many of the cities in Bakewia are rather… eccentric. So nothing too drastic." He explained. "They'll be lifted into the skies, allowing me to spread my…" He chortled in disbelief. "My divine lair stone across the land. Doing so will infuse the region with my magic. Mainly Force and Torch to power the transportation infrastructure I'll be have built across the surface to connect each city. Seeing as how it's a land of artificers, I intended to use our Creed of Artifice the guide them through making it. Seeing as how Iris and Blude are from there, though, I'd prefer them to approve the designs as well."
"Without scrap yards or landfills, my creatures can live, but not thrive, so there's not much I can add. The Creed's second phase has me infusing souls into their machines, anyway." I shrugged.
Maybe it was because of my upbringing, but I had no real attachments to Bakewia outside of Horace and Lois. Seeing as how they were with Uncle Ed now, that left no room for neither my sentiments nor my blessings. The chances of an ounce of scrap appearing in Bakewia was virtually nonexistent, both now and in the future.
Blude, on the other hand, waited to share whatever plans she had until Zoop and Zook introduced us to their cousin and the ruler of Bakewia, Sir Zapp Zeelba. A gnome with blonde sideburns that stayed true to his name, appearing like large lightning bolts.
"First, I wanna know why we grew up poor in Shavew." She demanded. Not that I could blame her. They arguably had it worse than I did. I was forever taken care of more so than anyone else, whereas they had to find work and struggle, even as young kids. Not that Sir Zeelba saw it that way.
The old gnome scrunched his face as he turned to size Blude up and down, which was quite the task for the little gnome, considering Blude had grown to be the third-tallest in the Troupe. "Until Sir Ed arrived, Bakewia was a Protectorate. The deal was for the high elves of Vruria to give us protection until all our counties were prosperous. That was the only way to keep the Shujen barbarians and the Vrurian savages from raiding our lands- and before you ask, that was before the deal with House Za'Darmondiel was made, allowing us to test our creations in their land. It isn't my fault Atford County was governed by incompetents." Sir Zeelba huffed.
"I see." Blude snickered in a way that wasn't funny. "In that case, I'll be ensuring no such incompetence is in power again- that no one has to grow up like we did. I'll be building water features outside each city- lakes, rivers, and canals- to give the disenfranchised and the delinquent housing, food, education, and guidance. Now, if you two don't mind." She flicked her gaze between Uncle Ed and Sir Zeelba. "We'll begin working at once."
***
Mack Ronald.
***
Teaching a different year and Titus notwithstanding, I now realized why Doyle Wolfgang and Olga Godzuik resigned from the Bodhi Tree last year.
On its own, the job was demanding but rewarding and surprisingly lacking in stress. The other instructors were in separate kingdoms and the others who worked in the Bodhi Tree's subguilds operated more in the background, handling administration and support so we could put all of our focus on instruction. They provided their resident nations with the scrying screens to watch the mid-year events or otherwise acted as liaisons between the nobility and the Headmaster. That left the instructors with a role akin to envoys, given the sole responsibility of training students until they reached a point when they needed to roam the lands on their own. Thus, it was smooth soaring until the end of the year.
As I learned last year, however, nothing was to go as expected whenever Amun was involved.
He was slated to fight a red Wrymling last year. Yet, to this day, few were aware of what transpired on that day; and those that were had kept their lips sealed. Regardless, he openly declared to Doyle Wolfgang that he was a God. Then, half a year later, he evolved and proved it to the realms. He was a God in the flesh, walking among mortals.
As I learned this year, such unexpectedness translated to his Legions.
I was there when Lucia Pike took her Oath of the Valkyrie Empress, though I heard it not. Then there was the matter of Toril's Tempest Griffon and his Oath of the Undying Tempest. Yet, I knew not of their station. Or any of them. I knew not that they were commanders of armies. All but two of them, at least. Those two, who returned with far more divine power than one could gain from an ordinary oath, were Sub-guild masters.
To think they were here now with an evolved force beneath them was unthinkable- namely because it should have been impossible. Only seven months had passed since their evolution, and less since they took their oaths. Yet, their subordinates had the look of veterans who'd been in the field for years.
As I learned this morning, such unexpectedness was about to translate to the whole of the Bodhi Peninsula.
Here I was, sitting next to the bloody Queen of Ligin as she perused this network of mana to learn of the Legion assigned to her territory. The 1st Legion. The Agents of the Undying Night, led by none other than Toril O'Connell.
I had to say, even I was impressed; and in more ways than one. First and foremost, I realized at a glance this was no colonization, occupation, or annexation effort. If anything, it was closer to the true mission of all guilds: to make better the societies they found.
They were to build schools and witch huts, fund orphanages and pave roads, build facilities, and improve infrastructure to improve their quality of life while working with the Queen to better govern her people- bring newfound knowledge to those comparatively primitive people. Her counts and the highlander king she contested with would be given kingdoms of their own, raised above the lands and expanded by wise rocks or conjured arcane stone; or both, thereby encouraging growth.
The surface would largely be left to be reclaimed by nature, becoming free zones for everything from homesteading and exploration to field training and war. Elevated roads and the craters of uplifted cities would be turned into transportation hubs, with several inns and taverns for those passing through the mountain pass to the lands of Redagh, or further on into Kasia and Rhar. The two abandoned counties near the Vrurian border to the north would be claimed by the legion and turned into an embassy or base and a training ground, respectively, leaving the Reservation on which I worked to become a true griffon reserve.
All of that, and yet, the Queen of Ligin and all of her people would still be given a choice. A choice to take these things and exist on the fringes of the Eotrom Empire as a protectorate, essentially, where she would be free to rule on the surface as she had with the new infrastructure they were to build, protected by the Legions from afar.
So too did she have the choice of assimilating with the empire to become a kingdom of the 1st Legion, wherein her entire country would be granted resources and knowledge never before seen amongst mortals, for they would be removed from the Mortal Plane, placed above the skies amidst his 'woven world.'
As it seemed, Toril knew Ligin politics better than the Queen did. Her knights and riders were fighting an honorable war with the nomadic riders in the mountains because she refused to submit to their demands of being a sovereign kingdom. Months ago, the Order of the Undying Tempest sought to make peace between the two by uplifting the nomads to the status of a kingdom in the Queen's stead. One with their own divine tree, just like Ligin. On top of that, they offered to sponsor the continuation of their honorable war by making them temporarily undying for the event, turning into an annual event.
Back then, both parties declined. Then, arcana filled the realms, forming an undying tempest above the Ligin Mountains. Now, the Queen was much less apprehensive than she was when she first summoned me to her castle to discuss my so-called students.
As great as it was, however, I began to suspect that such a thing would become commonplace wherever Amun and his Legions would go. That, or wherever they went, would become like Shujen.
Either way, the bigwigs of Stellaris Garrison, and thus Polaris, would not see that as virtuous.