XS1NnWzR

1You arrive back home. It seems the Circle of Talons did significant damage to your land, but with them gone, you wil rebuild in time. 
2
3You return to your room and sit down at your study, contemplative. 
4
5What is your next move?
6
7May 3, 2018
8
9Eragon - Yesterday at 2:44 PM
10First... Survivors.
11Who made it?
12
13Meec - Yesterday at 7:00 PM
14You take an account of the casualties. Only a third of the Land's forty thousand plus consorts are alive and combat-ready, another six thousand in recovery, and over twenty thousand dead. 
15
16Of your expeditionary forces from the Commune, thirteen thousand of thirty thousand, though most of those are your veterans prior to your command being swelled by new forces.
17
18The Commune itself suffered dozens of ship losses and over a hundred thousand dead in military numbers alone, betrayed by faceless infiltrators. 
19
20Overall, the Veil is done for. Of the two point six million inhabitants of the Veil, less than a million are confirmed alive, the rest devoured by the Leviathan's Tide. The sovereign state of the Kingdom of Derse no longer exists, and neither is the Prospitian Kingdom's client state of the Golden March. 
21
22The Summer Republic is in disarray, but you... still haven't gotten much information about them.
23
24The kingdom of the lightning world is still suffering from ongoing chaos due to a fey curse, though last you heard Audrey was taking care of things there.
25
26The southern kingdom, as you've come to call it in the absence of an official name, is clinging onto life, though the combined depletion of over a million consorts and friction with the Dersite kingdom's military remnants and a refugee crisis is sorely testing the new queen.
27
28Kayren is going about the Incipisphere. Denlak mentioned he met her on the garden world earlier.
29Hecate still goes about doing as she has, but with optimism. She has absolute confidence in everything she does now. 
30
31And Zan is elsewhere. Flushing out the remnants of the Circle of Thorns that caused the Veil to collapse so quickly. Though he won't work with the Calamity Cabal, which is unfortunate.
32
33Denlak sends you the news; Apollo and Amalie are dead, killed by R'vas. He gets their corpses to you sometime during the aftermath. Apollo had his ribcage and heart chopped open, Amalie has a hole through her chest, exiting through her neck, her head hanging on by slivers of meat.
34
35Eragon - Yesterday at 8:05 PM
36... Apollo, you're such an idiot. You'll bring him back... Somehow. Nothing is impossible.
37
38Meec - Yesterday at 8:14 PM
39((will continue that thread from the other irc))
40
41The Ultimate Alchemy is underway. You have a Commune leadership to settle out, no? Arrests to make, figure out what they were thinking when they let millions die by withholding their forces?
42
43Eragon - Yesterday at 8:17 PM
44Sigh, yes. You put on your best suit, and join the VO to proceed with whatever comes next.
45
46Meec - Yesterday at 8:19 PM
47A few hours of tense waiting and intermittent struggle ensues, but at the end of it, the Adamant Cleaner and the Enigmatic Reactionary are captured and put into custody. The former saw it as a chance to eliminate the Kingdom of Derse once and for all, the latter was waiting for Astaphanos' orders.
48
49....the Reactionary was one of Astaphanos' people all along.
50
51Eragon - Yesterday at 8:23 PM
52"Disgraceful." You address them coldly. "Cleaner, you put conquest ahead of the survival of everyone in the medium. Rightful power is earned, not taken. And you... Reactionary. What do you have to say for yourself?"
53
54Meec - Yesterday at 8:26 PM
55The Reactionary is silent.
56
57As for the Cleaner, you.... wait a second.
58
59The Cleaner's mind is altered. It was magically changed at some point in the past, the evidence only made apparent now that its commands were played out. 
60
61"We were always going to destroy the kingdoms, or they us." she says. "It was inevitable, after Freya promised as much on the lightning world."
62
63Eragon - Yesterday at 8:27 PM
64"No it wasn't. In fact, that's not your opinion at all, now is it?" Time to work a little Mind aspect mastery... And erase the programming, bringing back the old mind, but with the current memories.(edited)
65
66Meec - Yesterday at 8:34 PM
67"What are you talking about?" she asks.
68
69The programming was more of a one-off command, except she's not capable of recognizing it. A form of hypnosis, Claire's proficient in doing this, actually, though you have no reason to believe it's her, especially since you also note that apparently she was over the Commune trying and failing to visit it around the time this would've happened.
70
71You undo her inability to recognize it.
72
73"I feel like there were better ways to do it." she admits.
74
75So still not completely out of character.
76
77As for who did it? Horrorterrors, you think. Must've been remnants of the Circle of Thorns, sowing discord across the entire Incipisphere. 
78
79Right?
80
81Eragon - Yesterday at 8:37 PM
82No, but magic leaves traces. You hunt for any residual energy left behind in her mind from whoever made the command.
83
84Meec - Yesterday at 8:39 PM
85There is none. It is untraceable with only a nominal amount of magic as to deliberately disguise the caster's signature. Has to be someone of serious magical talent.
86Which is a signature in and of itself, really.
87
88Eragon - Yesterday at 8:44 PM
89... Zan. Tell me, do you know who was the one who manipulated the Cleaner into destroying Derse...?
90
91Meec - Yesterday at 8:46 PM
92His response is prompt. I recall you slew one named Barrett on the plains world, once. Another like him. Alisa, on the mirror world.
93
94Great. The Circle of Thorns didn't stop recruiting.
95
96I will be dealing with her. She is inexperienced, and she somehow believes me to be a double agent, even after R'vas' death.
97He seems like he's waiting to betray you to the horrorterrors? You do recall he aided Hecate in getting that portal open to R'vas' flagship. Did R'vas think Zan was on his side throughout all that?
98
99Eragon - Yesterday at 8:51 PM
100Thank you.
101
102"She was hypnotized. While not entirely out of her character to do so, I wouldn't be too far from the truth if I assume you would have acted differently under normal circumstances, correct?"
103
104You force her to mantain eye contact as she responds.
105
106Meec - Yesterday at 8:53 PM
107She answers truthfully. "Of course. It's madness to continue the ideological rivalry while the world is burning down.
108
109Though I admit I would've continued it after, just as Freya and the Black King would've, were the latter still alive."
110
111Eragon - Yesterday at 9:01 PM
112"Then I see no reason to do anything other than a reprimand and a warning to keep your ambition in check. As for you," You address the Reactionary again. "Either you talk, or I start taking what I want the hard way."(edited)
113
114Meec - Yesterday at 9:04 PM
115"Wait a second." the Vindicated responds. "You— nevermind. Millions die and she gets a slap on the wrist. Great."
116"The Commune won't be happy to hear about this." he notes.
117
118Eragon - Yesterday at 9:05 PM
119"Orphan. She was hypnotized. She didn't make that choice."
120"The Reactionary's punishment will appease the Commune, I will see to that personally."(edited)
121
122Meec - Yesterday at 9:07 PM
123The Reactionary remains silent.
124The Vindicated accepts your line of reasoning, even as he pinches the bridge of his nose on what'll happen when the kingdoms respond.
125....ah right.
126Freya promised a reckoning after the grimdark threat was over.
127And you have no idea where Audrey is.
128Then again, she doesn't have the Black King backing her up, and the Kingdom of Prospit seems eager to sit out than take part.
129The Commune did what it meant to do in the end; it is now the uncontested, greatest power in the Incipisphere, bar none.
130Except perhaps Astaphanos. She may be a problem....
131You think about it, gathering information within the interim. She unmade every carapacian on Derse, ending the lives of millions in the name of a war that Sabaoth ended two decades ago.
132She singlehandedly has the potential to undo everything and send the Incipisphere into chaos again.
133But she's aiding Claire in rebuilding. She can't be solely malicious. But you have to be sure.(edited)
134
135May 4, 2018
136
137Eragon - Today at 11:15 AM
138Mmm. Best check on that. Jusr to be sure.
139
140Meec - Today at 11:18 AM
141You open up a channel to the Kingdom of Derse. Astaphanos answers.
142
143....she looks just like any human mother. Like what an ideal motherly figure would be, even if some of her features are exaggerated. 
144
145"I was wondering when you'd call." she says. "You want peace in our time, don't you."
146
147Eragon - Today at 11:19 AM
148"Of course. What I don't want is trouble. Tell me, when did the Reactionary enter your service?"
149
150Meec - Today at 11:33 AM
151"From birth. I made him, after all." 
152
153....strong programming that he remained loyal after all these years.
154So who else is one of hers, waiting to strike? If there even is any reason to strike. The Game is won, after all.
155
156Eragon - Today at 11:43 AM
157"Mmm. And what was your purpose in having him become a Minister of the Commune? What did you have to gain?"
158
159Meec - Today at 11:46 AM
160"I didn't. I've been locked away for twenty years by my own son, I couldn't do much."
161
162She probably wanted Derse gone. It was what she historically wanted, and the Reactionary must've been going off that when he gave the ordres. 
163
164"Though I won't complain about what he's done. Personal loyalty like that's hard to find."
165
166Eragon - Today at 11:47 AM
167"Yes it is. But do you understand what his subterfuge will cost him? He has broken quite a few laws because of his loyalty."
168
169Meec - Today at 11:51 AM
170"There's no law mandating you have to be a moral person." she says.
171
172Actually, some of the Commune's more draconian laws do come close to that, but ehh that's a tangent.
173
174"The Commune's very existence breaks the kingdom's book in half. My kingdom, I should remind you."
175
176Eragon - Today at 11:53 AM
177"Mmhm. I hope you understand what I have to do."
178
179Meec - Today at 11:55 AM
180She waves a hand dismissively. "Ehh. Do as you like. You've won the Game. It's your world now."
181
182She yawns. "Think I'll go to bed. Likely forever."
183
184Eragon - Today at 2:08 PM
185"Eternal hibernation?"
186
187Huh. Interesting.
188
189Meec - Today at 2:14 PM
190"The Game's won. That's what my husband forgot, and won't learn. It's not just my son's... fragments." she says, confused at how to refer to the shards of her son that became the denizens.
191
192"I was made for a purpose. And now that purpose is done, and I have little interest in looking for other things to do."
193
194Then she won't be hostile. She has no inherent aggression against you or anyone else. 
195
196"Good luck in the next world." she says, before disconnecting.
197...and there's that. What next?
198
199Eragon - Today at 2:27 PM
200Informing the Orphan of your discovery.
201
202Meec - Today at 2:36 PM
203You tell the Orphan of what Astaphanos said.
204
205"Oh. We gonna let him off the hook too? Err, serious question, sorry if I come off as passive-aggressive. Not sure he wasn't being manipulated too."
206
207Eragon - Today at 2:39 PM
208"Yes, manipulation seems to come in excess these days. I completely understand. Your tension is justified."(edited)
209
210Meec - Today at 2:44 PM
211"So should we get the iron maiden ready, or....?" he trails off.
212
213Eragon - Today at 2:51 PM
214"Iron maiden? Seems a little cliche."
215
216But maybe cliche would appease the crowd easier...
217
218Meec - Today at 2:58 PM
219"So we're still killing him then." he notes. "I'll start looking for replacements. We need competent leaders."
220
221....like you? Seems natural that you take the step to become one of the ministers now, with three of the positions vacant.
222
223Eragon - Today at 2:59 PM
224"Perhaps. There's another way I could handle it, but it wouldn't appease the masses."
225
226Meec - Today at 3:57 PM
227"No, but letting the Cleaner go won't appease them either. But you thought that was the right choice, so. it seems weird to cut one slack but not the other."
228
229Hmm.
230
231Eragon - Today at 3:59 PM
232"Perhaps... A compromise. Strip both of them of a few ranks, put them under constant observation, and change the Reactionary's loyalties. The last part is up to me."
233
234Meec - Today at 4:01 PM
235He nods. "Seems like the best."
236
237You work out the little details, then get to thinking. What to do for that last part you're talking about?
238
239Eragon - Today at 4:32 PM
240You are the mage of Mind, after all. If he won't cooperate willingly, you'll make him through the unsavory methods you promised earlier.
241
242Meec - Today at 4:35 PM
243You get him alone while he's in custody and work your power on him. 
244
245He's an obedient little minion by the end of it.
246
247Eragon - Today at 4:58 PM
248Good. He has skills we need, and his loyalties are now where they should be. You return to the VO. "The deed is done."
249
250Meec - Today at 5:08 PM
251He nods. "I think... I'm going to retire once everything's back to normal. My sister's going to open a consulting firm, I think I'll help."
252
253....wait. And the others are being demoted. So none of the original ministers will be left.
254
255"We could reform the government. We don't really need a ministry of Rememberance, for one, example."
256
257...with you at the top of it?
258
259Eragon - Today at 5:50 PM
260Of course. You smile confidently. "I will be happy to assist the Commune in whatever way I can."
261
262Meec - Today at 6:27 PM
263The government ends up reformed in the coming days. 
264
265On paper, you are the general secretary and seemingly a purely observatory role, with a new set of ministry seats to better serve the Commune's new needs.
266
267In reality, you vet and ensure the loyalty of each and every one of the new ministers, with Hecate's assistance. The Commune now answers to you, whether they know it or not. 
268
269.
270
271The Commune will be stable, under your leadership. They are undertaking all the logistics required for a migration into this new universe, eliminating another item off your checklist. 
272
273.
274
275What next?
276
277Eragon - Today at 6:29 PM
278Your Patron, and his Master... You want to learn more about them.
279
280Meec - Today at 6:38 PM
281You ask your Patron about the relation to his Master.
282
283"When he instructed me to make the pact with you, he specified two condition." he says.
284
285"The first is that I never admit fault.
286
287The second is that I never tell you how proud I am of you."
288
289....interesting conditions.
290
291Eragon - Today at 6:52 PM
292"... Those... Those are odd conditions."
293
294How much has he thought, but never said...?
295
296Meec - Today at 6:55 PM
297A great amount, possibly. 
298
299You ask more about his Master.
300
301"A puppeteer who enjoyed making his puppets clash with each other. like the DM
302
303He had grand ambitions, and he almost realized them. To be the only thing in the world.
304
305Even now, I realize I barely knew him, and neither did anyone else, if he surprised everyone so."
306
307He thinks about it. "I wonder if even he knew."
308
309Eragon - Today at 6:58 PM
310"Perhaps he lost himself in his quest for power. It's not uncommon."
311
312Meec - Today at 7:01 PM
313"He was power. Taking on abstract concepts as one's personality becomes more common the more powerful you get. A warning I would've given you in the far future."
314
315Not so far future now, you think.
316
317"He didn't even speak a language human ears could understand, at the end. Ate so many eldritch that he just gave in to his megalomania. There was nothing but him, save a few scattered survivors."(edited)
318
319Eragon - Today at 7:03 PM
320"What other survivors were there? Are we truly the only Terran Eldritch remaining?"
321
322Meec - Today at 7:05 PM
323"No. I am the only Terran Eldritch remaining. You still have a ways to go before you become like me."
324
325....still? Well then. The upward movement never ends.
326
327But you have time. All the time in the world.
328
329"And now there are no Terran Eldritch on Terra. Odd feeling, really."
330
331Eragon - Today at 7:10 PM
332"Very. So... What is our lifespan like? You are thousands of years old, after all."
333
334Meec - Today at 7:15 PM
335"Theoretically infinite. My master lived for over six thousand years with no sign of aging."
336
337He thinks about it. "Then again, if his recent behavior that led to his downfall could be attributed to the mental decay that comes with aging, our lifespan could be measured in the millennia."
338
339Eragon - Today at 7:21 PM
340"... Interesting. What about the Greater Eldritch? What of their lifespan do we know?"
341
342(The ones outside of Terra.)
343
344Meec - Today at 7:24 PM
345"There are stars younger than they are. But they've always been there. Less a figure than a force. You need to adjust your thinking. They don't have lifespans, or lives, as we'd think of it."
346
347Eragon - Today at 7:28 PM
348"Who was the first of the Terran Eldritch?"
349
350Meec - Today at 7:31 PM
351He shrugs. "I don't know. History becomes more obscure beyond the Sumerians' rise, and my Master was the only one from that period."
352
353He snaps his fingers. "I wonder if it was done before? There are no others that old because he devoured them all then, as he attempted to do now."
354
355Eragon - Today at 7:54 PM
356"That would make an unfortunate amount of sense."
357
358How much knowledge is there that will never be recovered...?
359Meec - Today at 7:59 PM
360Lost to the ages.
361
362He nods.
363
364.
365
366One more thing left, before the Alchemy is complete and you have a new world to which you will cast your focus.
367
368The other kingdoms in the Incipisphere.
369
370Eragon - Today at 8:01 PM
371Well, can't have them fighting in your absence... Annexation sounds like the best option, no?
372
373Meec - Today at 8:03 PM
374No, it sounds annexation is a given. But violently, or non-violently?
375
376Eragon - Today at 8:04 PM
377Non. Violence is a last resort. Enough lives have been lost.
378
379Meec - Today at 8:06 PM
380Over the course of days, you meet with envoys from each of the new kingdoms, except Freya, for some reason.
381
382They throw various words of hate and contempt at you, but they all bend the knee to you. Agree to be part of the Commune and bound to its rules.
383
384.
385
386You discover why Freya's been absent. She's dead. But so is the monster known as Oberon. 
387
388You never see Audrey again.
389
390Eragon - Today at 8:09 PM
391... You create a memorial for her. Your friend. A small, private one. Close to where you'll be staying.
392
393Meec - Today at 8:10 PM
394....
395
396Time passes. It seems that's all there is. 
397
398Wait. One snag.
399You talk to Apollo after reviving on your dreamself. Claire sends you everything you had on your waking self, so nothing is lost.
400He's sitting at a table with Kayren, musing about the future and mourning over Amalie, despite what she did.
401
402He nods at Kayren. She nods at you and leaves, giving the two of you privacy.(edited)
403"So." he says, gesturing plaintively.
404
405Eragon - Today at 8:14 PM
406"So." You return. "Welcome back."
407
408Meec - Today at 8:14 PM
409He nods. "You gave up godhood for me. Why?"
410
411Eragon - Today at 8:16 PM
412"Well, someone once asked me a rather cheesy, irrelevant question. I did, however, spare a few brain cells to think about it."
413
414Meec - Today at 8:18 PM
415He steeples his fingers and thinks about it, silent and contemplative.(edited)
416
417Eragon - Today at 8:22 PM
418"And so, I came to a conclusion. What am I, without my magic? Well, for one I am a leader. And for two... I have my friends. And others of various relationship titles. You happen to be on the list of people I care for."
419
420Meec - Today at 8:25 PM
421He nods after some thought.
422
423"I wouldn't have picked me. But I wouldn't have done a lot of things if I could do it again."
424
425He looks at you. "So what now?"
426
427For two hundred years, all he's been thinking of is how to combat the grimdark. 
428
429He needs a purpose. He's like Astaphanos, now that you think about it.
430
431Eragon - Today at 8:30 PM
432"Now, we look forward. We have a new universe to build. We won. I'd like for you to join me."
433
434Meec - Today at 8:32 PM
435He sighs, partially like he knows how cheesy this is going to sound.
436
437"You're going to have to show me how."
438
439Eragon - Today at 8:33 PM
440You smile. It is rather cheesy. But you expected nothing less.
441
442"It would be my pleasure."
443
444Meec - Today at 8:35 PM
445What happens afterwards is up to you.
446You have one last snag before you achieve your victory.
447
448Eragon - Today at 8:37 PM
449Gee, I wonder what happened
450
451Meec - Today at 8:40 PM
452On the mirror world, witnesses report that Zan and Claire encountered each other. 
453
454Zan tried to shoot her, then Claire exploded in a torrent of energy that consumed both of them. 
455
456.
457
458You look into it, into Zan's files.
459
460He was working with R'vas..... no, he was working with you?
461
462He was playing both sides the entire time. It comes to light that when Sabaoth was killed aboard the Ardent Sky, it was from Summer Republic agents that he'd hypnotised.
463
464The Cleaner's brainwashing? Maybe. You don't know, and you can't check anymore.
465
466When Apollo and Amalie ran off to R'vas' flagship? He was the one that convinced Hecate to open the portal and let them through, without waiting for you or anyone else.
467
468It'd been going so well for him. He was going to get away with all this without any consequences, until Claire tracked him down.
469
470You never see Claire again.
471
472Eragon - Today at 8:44 PM
473Claire gets her own memorial as well. Denny is the only one left. You have to find a way to keep him around...
474
475Meec - Today at 8:45 PM
476You will try. As to whether you will succeed? You will see.