Regulations on the designation of a "Hero".
Excerpted from the internal staff guidebook of the Church of the Serpent.
Written by the Pope at the founding of the Church.
Another one of our duties, as the general keepers of order in our society, is the designation and classification of the "Hero". Heros serve a few important roles, which in many ways parallel our own objectives. They provide people with a concrete representation of security; the common man has no reason to fear a monster when he knows a Hero is nearby to slay it. They provide inspiration to our fighters; seeing a shining example of what a single human to do, people are motivated to try and reach the same heights. And of course, they serve the very practical role of effectively being one-man armies.
It is therefore incredibly important for us to be exceedingly careful in who we designate as a "Hero". First and foremost, their character must not be in question. We must not have another Dreamwalker situation. Secondly, they must have strength. This may be an obvious criterion, but its importance can not be understated. A Hero must be more than simply a stand-out in terms of ability; they must perform better than nearly everyone else. Thirdly, and finally for this preface, a Hero must have deeds associated with them. For some, it may only take one event, for others it could take upwards of a dozen, but the fact remains that we must be able to prove to the people that this person is worth putting their faith in. The more impressive the deed, or the more numerous, the easier it will be to make people believe. Of course, these deeds also serve the purpose of showing us the skill of these would-be Heros.
One final important mention before the specific criteria are discussed: exceptional ability can be demonstrated in many ways. As will be discussed, you mustn't be one sided in your appraisal of an individual, as there are times when exceptional skill is demonstrated in mundane ways.
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"And the prodigal son returns! Or something like that, anyway. I told you he'd be back, Erin, didn't I?"
"Yes, you did, Sir."
"And just like that, he's back. Maybe I should retire and become a fortune teller."
"Given the events of today, I don't believe that's the best course of action, Sir."
"Always the spoilsport, you are, but you do have a point. This wave has not progressed like I thought it would. Things have fallen into a precarious situation, and I only have two-thirds of my limbs to deal with it."
His tone drifted from carefree to serious as he spoke. I largely ignored his banter, finding his clerk's subtle change in mannerisms interesting. She was just as serious as she had been when I spoke with her, but the formality she addressed the Mayor with was interesting to me. I felt that it went a bit beyond what one would expect from her position, and I wondered what he had done to make her so reverent.
Silence fell between the three of us for a time. I stood still, one hand resting on the hilt of my sword, almost hidden by my cloak, the other hung limply to my side. The Mayor sat in his chair, his cannon leaned barrel down against his right thigh, his hand resting on the stock just behind the trigger well. His bladed whip was placed coiled around the left post of the chair, leaving just enough room for his head to lean back. Erin stood just behind the whip, her hands clasped loosely in front of her and her eyes lightly drooped. Her confidence in the Mayor was clear.
I took a few steps forward, stopping once I reached a good speaking distance.
"It's good to see you're still alive."
"I wouldn't be without her. Or maybe I would be. I've seen people live through worse and die from less. Such is how the gears of fate turn, so to speak. Everyone has their purpose, and nothing will rip us out of this life until we've fulfilled it. I choose to take this as a sign I have I yet to fulfill mine, but that makes me wonder about you."
"I didn't think you were being serious about the fortune teller thing."
"Pah! I'm not trying to guess your future, kid, just wondering why you're still alive. I swear I never saw you until this morning, before you so kindly came barging into, well, here, actually. There was nothing special you did before now, no particular impact you made on the city, and yet you remain standing here now. I'll ask you, how many people do you suppose died today? What percent of the people in the city do you think are still alive?"
"Which question do you want me to answer? I'd say a few hundred people died but there's probably a few still alive, maybe ten or twenty percent of the people who didn't run."
"Nine."
"Nine percent? It's a bit low, but it's not too bad-."
"Nine people remain alive in this city. Of the people who didn't evacuate when first ordered, I'd say a couple hundred, us three are the only ones left. A group of six turned up a short while ago and started picking off the stragglers."
The figure stunned me. The city wasn't exactly bustling, but it was nowhere near abandoned either. On an average day, I'd pass by at least a hundred people, and that's just in the small part of the city I frequented. I took a moment to turn around and look out over the city, letting myself truly absorb the scale of destruction. The area in front of me led to the edge of the city that stood on the forefront of the wave. A portion of the view was blocked by pieces of still-standing walls, but the path of destruction was clear even despite that. It spread out in a cone converging on the courtyard. Nearly every building in the center line of that cone had been reduced to a simple pile of rubble. Moving out from there, broken but still upright walls became more frequent, and eventually the piles of rubble became dotted with houses. Nearly a quarter of the city had been flattened in just this area in front of me. Suddenly, it began to seem like a miracle that even the three of us had lived through this. A part of me felt that I was only alive because I had left, even if it was only for a short time.
"So, what do we do now?"
I turned back around and locked eyes with the Mayor. I could go around picking off the beasts that remained, but by this point, there weren't enough to be an issue, either here or back towards the more populated areas. Even if they found their way to the nearest true city, Aarkile, the guards would be more than enough to deal with them. If they were all that was left, there'd be no issue, but I wasn't worried about them.
"Well those two little shits are still running around somewhere. The hard part will be tracking them down, but if you two can flush 'em into this courtyard, I can just put a shot into them and they'll stop being an issue. Now that we know there're two, it'll be harder for them to catch us by surprise. But it's precisely that what worries me."
"You've already lost both legs, what's an arm at this point?"
"Oh, very funny. I'll have you know that I still have half a leg that works. I only lost two-thirds of my legs. But it's not those two specifically that worry me, but rather what they mean. Let me ask you, do you know how waves work in terms of the beasts?"
"Don't they build up beyond the Edge until they effectively get squeezed out?"
"No. It's more complicated. A wave will always have a leader – one beast smarter and therefore stronger than the others. This one will gather a group over time until it figures it has enough to take out the nearest thing, which is almost always a fort nowadays. This gathering of the beasts can be seen by the people just outside the Edge, which is usually how a warning gets issued. As more get gathered, less come out. There's a hierarchy with the beasts; the common beasts and the slightly stronger beasts you saw today are just the lowest rung of the ladder. In order to form a wave, they require some sort of leader. Now, we got unlucky in that respect as this wave was led by an Angler, which is a special type."
"Hold on. What's special type?"
"Unimportant right now is what it is. I'm expositin' right now, don't interrupt me. But to put it simply, they're a rung up on the ladder, but have more brain than brawn. Usually, Anglers command formidable waves compared to the normal ones, and we were unlucky enough to be stuck with two of them. This is the point that worries me. Like I said, there's a hierarchy. These things do not work together. I once saw two waves start fighting each other because two Anglers came out of different spots but decided to attack the same fort. With that being said, what do you suppose would make these two work together?"
"Something stronger… or something smarter."
"Bingo."
A seed of anxiety sprouted within me. I had already seen the tactics and the speed employed by the two Anglers, and the idea of something stronger and smarter than them lurking somewhere in the city was highly disconcerting.
"So, what's controlling the Anglers then?"
"Dunno."
"What do you mean you don't know? Haven't you seen something like this at some point?"
"Of course! I have more experience with the beasts in what's left of my left leg than you have in your whole life. It's just that there are three things it could be, and I haven't seen any of 'em yet. But with that said, not seeing it yet does narrow it down to two, so that's a start."
"What two could it be?"
"Well, it'll be either the special option or the annoying option, and that'll have to be where this little chat ends as the strays finally decided to show up."