15[20:37] <~VoxPVoxD> 'There is no sun. There hasn't been a sun for some time.' 15[20:37] <~VoxPVoxD> Not really clear where you go from there. [20:38] 4Well there clearly is a sun. [20:38] 4There might be, you know, some authenticity issues. [20:38] 4But this seems mostly like a theological debate! 15[20:40] <~VoxPVoxD> Whatever that is in the sky is pushing light straight down through the taut windowpane of the meeting-hall the Fangs find themselves in, with the rebel Immaculate hearth who once called themselves the Chrysanthemum Oath. Temida, of House Cathak; Szalony, of House Nellens; Rikai, of House V'neef; and the blind man they seem to look to as leader, the traitor Gu Len. 15[20:40] <~VoxPVoxD> "It's a lot to take in," says Rikai, with measured sympathy. [20:40] 07Dryas stares in shock. "Well, you're not wrong, exactly. I don't know what to make of it." [20:41] "I mean it's all very interesting on the monk discourse level but the plants still grow and the stars still shine, right?" [20:41] 10Well, one can certainly argue that the sun is much more than just a disc of light and warmth in the sky. It's divine fire, the creative principle, one of Gaia's greatest gifts to mankind— [20:41] 07Dryas: "But what makes you think it used to be different?" [20:41] 4She looks around. "So what're we actually talking about here?" [20:42] 07Dryas: "Like when I saw Ligier. When I really saw it." [20:42] 10Daizo: "…a thought experiment, Piu." [20:43] 07Dryas: "Ligier had.... instrumentality? Intention?" [20:43] 4Piu: "Ehhhhh, seems like our guys have been experimenting quite a bit, and not just by thinking." [20:43] "Imagine you built a greenhouse, but instead of leaving its panes open to the sky, you built fires at each corner." [20:43] "Would plants grow? Probably. But would they grow *right?*" [20:44] 4Piu: "I mean, they seem to be. So like is there some other, better, secret kind of corn we've been robbed of?" 15[20:45] <~VoxPVoxD> "What indeed? What indeed. These lovely ladies ask fair questions," says Gu Len, formerly(?) of House Peleps. The Commodore's uncle. The Governor's son. "But the sun is not just light and heat. It is no mere star. The sun is the expression of the Most High, the god of all gods, the emperor of emperors, the master of all Creation." [20:47] 10Daizo was winding up to that. Dammit. "Look at history. The shadowlands used to be smaller, fewer in number, The Wyld encroached less in the far places… if the ancient map we've seen is accurate, Creation itself was once much larger." 15[20:48] <~VoxPVoxD> Rikai nods. "Well put, Daizo." 15[20:49] <~VoxPVoxD> Gu Len holds up three fingers, "I ask you to consider the following. First, the procedural. Yes, the daystar rises and sets at its appointed times; yes, it brings light and warmth in the appropriate amounts. It makes the seas turn. It makes the plants grow. It makes the window blow. But for how long? When the mechanism degrades - as all mere mechanisms do - what effort will it take to 15[20:49] <~VoxPVoxD> set it right? Whose effort? At whose direction?" [20:50] 10Dammit. It makes sense. Too much sense.  [20:51] 4Piu: "Well, that just sounds like coming at 'who REALLY runs Creation?' from another direction." [20:51] "Which we kinda know. Some fuckers in Heaven." [20:51] 6Zhangyu is just completely lost by all of this. Like, the words in order make sense, and could even be persuasive, buuuuut also it's completely insane to him. [20:52] 07Dryas: "Ah, we've heard this one," 07she says, feigning a bit of ignorance. "Those bureaucrats." 15[20:53] <~VoxPVoxD> Gu Len's got a patter going now. "Second, the metaphysical. The Sun-god is the anchor of the Perfected Hierarchy, the tip of the pyramid from which all truth and virtue flows. In its absence, the order of things degrades. The low are raised high - garbed in false authority, raised from the ashes of fallen orders - and the high are brought low. Demeaned, degraded, scattered. Conquered." 15[20:53] <~VoxPVoxD> "And third, as you yourself point out, we have us a political problem." 15[20:54] <~VoxPVoxD> "The divine order is the basis of all authority in this world. It is the right by which we claim dominion over the earth; it is the right by which the star-sung claim the prerogative of Heaven." 15[20:55] <~VoxPVoxD> "In the absence of that legtimizing authority, we may hold office, but we do not hold power. The world is not ours to control. It's not ours to change. We cannot avert the end that is coming." [20:57] 14All Piu wanted to do was set up a criminal empire out here where the weather was nice and she never had to talk to Iselsi To and just vibe until it was time to settle down with a bunch of V'neef-aspirational hunks. And now she's being told the Sun is gone. [20:57] 14Great. [20:57] 4But yeah, don't worry, these guys have a light. [20:57] 07Dryas: "End?" 15[20:58] <~VoxPVoxD> Rikai: "An accurate word, I think." 15[20:59] <~VoxPVoxD> "The Realm is dying. Alone, this doesn't mean much. The matriarchs could fall to dust tomorrow and the world would go on. Empires rise and fall; this is the cadence of history. But the threats we face are existential, not seen since the Balorian Crusade and the Great Contagion. The dead rise; they form nations. Creation is rolling in at the edges like a map no one needs to navigate 15[20:59] <~VoxPVoxD> anymore." 15[20:59] <~VoxPVoxD> "And we are beyond unprepared. We are incapable." 15[21:00] <~VoxPVoxD> Temida: "Skullstone waxes in power every season. The spires of Onyx grow taller by the year." 15[21:01] <~VoxPVoxD> Szalony: "We've had visions. A scorched sky. A vasty shadowland stretched from pole to pole." [21:01] 4Piu: "This sounds like a job for the Golden Anathema." [21:01] "They're still getting their power from somewhere, right?" [21:02] "And it sure as shit still works on zombies." 15[21:02] <~VoxPVoxD> There's a collective intake of breath at the far end of the table. Gu Len grins anew, even though he never really stopped. [21:03] 10Daizo: "Ahh. I think I begin to see where this is headed. But speak on, Master Gu Len." [21:06] 07Dryas grumbles imperceptibly at Piu's remark. [21:11] 10Daizo's on the edge of his seat here.  15[21:13] <~VoxPVoxD> Gu Len: "I sense some skepticism... but not as much as we'd expect. You're not doctrinaire partisans of the Dynasty. You sense, I believe, the gaps and flaws in the Philosophy, because you've seen what Earth and Heaven dream of besides." [21:14] 4Piu: "You gotta get your hands dirty this far from the Blessed Isle. And other parts, besides. But none of you got the call-up from the big, uh, missing guy upstairs, unless I misunderstand how that whole process works." 15[21:15] <~VoxPVoxD> "And you're right, Lady Piu: it is the divine right of the Sun's Chosen to lay down the law of Creation. But it is not their job alone. The Chosen hosts are meant to rule as one nation, to fight as one army, to keep Creation alive." 15[21:15] <~VoxPVoxD> "Sun and Dragons. Moon and Stars. We are kindred, born to common cause from the blood of gods." 15[21:15] <~VoxPVoxD> "It's all there. It's always been there, if you think." 15[21:16] <~VoxPVoxD> "Just read your sutras as interpreted by experts!" [21:17] 4Piu: "Well, there's some Chosen we're not gonna be inviting to the party, even assuming your baselines." [21:17] "Those folks out in Skullstone, for one." [21:18] 6Zhangyu: "Yeah, that's... hrn." 15[21:18] <~VoxPVoxD> Temida: "That's exactly the kind of thing we can find broad agreement on, from the Mouth of Peace all the way to the sun-kings of the near East." [21:20] "Quite. The deathknights are wholly apart from the natural order." [21:20] 07Dryas, drily: "And to bring about unity, that's why you've struck out here?" 15[21:21] <~VoxPVoxD> Rikai: "What we have, fundamentally, is a crisis of leadership. We see our task as to ready the ground for the next generation of leaders. For the new incarnation of the old generation." 15[21:23] <~VoxPVoxD> Szalony: "The Golden ones have returned to Creation, in strength and numbers. A Deathlord was beaten back at Nexus, An ishvara. Fae lords and war machines. And it was a unified host - Solar leadership, Lunar cunning, Stellar insight, the hosts of blood and soil - that won the peace and saved the world." 15[21:23] <~VoxPVoxD> "That's not ancient history. It's not even living memory. It happened within the last two years." [21:23] 4Piu: "Xia Lan." [21:24] "That's where that Golden Anathema singer Xia Lan was, right?" 15[21:24] <~VoxPVoxD> Gu Len: "That's right." 15[21:24] <~VoxPVoxD> Temida: "And her Cathak lover." [21:25] 4Piu: "Can't say we've stood on principle on our collaborations. We team up with who's available and who seems to be doing the right thing." 4The 'right thing' being 'what we want,' of course. [21:25] "Except the Guild. Fuck those guys." [21:27] 4Glancing from face to face. "I'm getting the impression that this is an easier sell than you guys imagined it would be...but it's still a sell. We're gonna have to talk it over in private. Any closing arguments? Or specific, pointed next-step proposals?" 15[21:28] <~VoxPVoxD> Szalony: "We should talk about what we need and what we don't. We don't need soldiers. We don't need assassins. This is not a war we'll win by putting our boots to enemy faces." [21:28] 14Heh. [21:28] 6Buddy, 15[21:29] <~VoxPVoxD> Rikai: "We need teachers. We will win by drawing down the memory of the Sun to the darkest corner of Creation. We are readying candidates for selection. But we must ready them swiftly." 15[21:29] <~VoxPVoxD> "An eclipse draws near." 15[21:30] <~VoxPVoxD> As the others speak, Gu Len's fingertips have gone back to that great stone tablet, with the ideograms and the eyeless face. [21:30] 10Daizo: "Mrm. You think you can create your own Golden Anathema?" [21:30] 4Piu: "Ohhhhh you'd better be careful playing with that fire." [21:30] 07Dryas: "Wait a second. What?" 15[21:31] <~VoxPVoxD> Rikai: "We believe-- mmm? Lady Dryas?" [21:31] 07Dryas points to the stone table. "This thing. What is its purpose?" 15[21:35] <~VoxPVoxD> Gu Len: "This was the speaker of the Old Deliberative. The man who brokered every peace between the disparate factions of the Chosen hosts. The man who smiled sweetly as he marched Malfeas down to Hell. He came again, we are certain, to the near East when it seemed as if the world was due to come apart at that popped seam... but it cost him his life once again." 15[21:36] <~VoxPVoxD> "So his spirit has returned to the wheel... and we aim to draw it down again." 15[21:37] <~VoxPVoxD> Gu Len: "He was blinded. He could no longer see... unholy truth." 15[21:39] <~VoxPVoxD> Rikai: "The tablets call him the Stranger." [21:39] 4Piu: "...How many Golden Anathema, or even Silver Anathema, have you guys actually met?" [21:41] 10Daizo: "I should like to read those tablets, or rubbings of them. The actual life of a Golden Anathema, recorded..." 15[21:43] <~VoxPVoxD> Gu Len: "In our working years we met many. Dace and Panther. White-Winged Dove. Sadly we cut them down. We fought from a position of ignorance. I regret that terribly." 15[21:43] <~VoxPVoxD> "But we can do better now. We can unify the world again." 15[21:43] <~VoxPVoxD> Rikai: "I think if you can help us, we can share what we know. I'd be grateful for a second set of eyes." 15[21:44] <~VoxPVoxD> A glance in Gu Len's direction, and a shrug as if to say, so to speak. [21:44] 4Piu: "So do you like. Understand the fundamental contradiction here? That if you actually do what's necessary to get the Sun -- or whoever -- to put their seal on one of these kids' brow, you'll have probably quite understandably made yourself the first monster they kill?" 15[21:45] <~VoxPVoxD> Gu Len: "We've risked our deaths time and again for causes we believed righteous but have come to learn were truly profane. Who would we be if we shrunk from danger now that we know the truth?" 15[21:46] <~VoxPVoxD> "Where would the world be if its heroes did the same?" 15[21:46] <~VoxPVoxD> Temida: "You're looking at it." 15[21:46] <~VoxPVoxD> Szalony laughs a little. She sounds tired. 15[21:47] <~VoxPVoxD> Rikai, mildly: "It's a big risk. We're under no illusions." 15[21:47] <~VoxPVoxD> "But we believe it can be done, and we know it must." [21:48] 14Piu: "I'm hoping I didn't hear an answer to my question in there, but I'm beginning to think I did. Anathema? I can work with them. People who turn children into weapons? I've seen what they do to the blades that don't quench right." 15[21:49] <~VoxPVoxD> Gu Len: "The Stranger is an instrument of peace. We forge plowshares, not swords." 15[21:50] <~VoxPVoxD> Rikai: "We have the tools to train and educate appropriate candidates. But there are serious logistical issues. The language barrier is enormous. The religious education is hard to take. It's not what the children or their parents were raised on." [21:51] 07Dryas ponders this. "The blindfolds?" 15[21:51] <~VoxPVoxD> Szalony: "Yes, ma'am." 15[21:51] <~VoxPVoxD> "Not my idea." Another glance at Gu Len. 15[21:51] <~VoxPVoxD> "The only way," he replies, as if this is a long-rehashed argument. [21:51] 10Daizo: "Let's not be too quick to pass judgment, Piu. We can remain here for a few days and see for ourselves how they are being treated." [21:52] 14Piu: "Oh, we will." [21:54] 14Need to figure out if Rinca's captured somehow or just goofing off, as well. 15[21:54] <~VoxPVoxD> Gu Len: "Stay! Please. Explore to your heart's content. We have nothing to hide from people who have not made themselves our enemies." 15[21:54] <~VoxPVoxD> "Dock your ship. Get word to Bubble. I haven't seen her in a greasel's age." [21:55] 10Bubble? [21:56] 07Dryas: "If unity is what we all wish, then why don't we act accordingly? The families of this island have been torn asunder by this conflict. We should reunite them." 15[21:58] <~VoxPVoxD> Temida: "We're not the ones keeping them apart." [22:00] 14Piu: "We'll send word. And word to Budokan's camp that we're making progress. Presumably you'll know he's received it when the eastern sky lights up." 14There's no real playfulness in her voice now, but it's unclear whether that's related to the kids or to Budokan. Maybe it's both. [22:00] 10Daizo: "Given that Lord Budokan's idea of negotiation appears to be whether you're roasted golden-brown or charred black…" 15[22:00] <~VoxPVoxD> Temida: "Budokan's a pig." 15[22:00] <~VoxPVoxD> Szalony: "Pigs are cute and affectionate." 15[22:01] <~VoxPVoxD> This also has the air of a long-standing disagreement. [22:02] 07Dryas: "We have had visions of our own." 07She glances at the others - should she tell these strangers, outlaws, heretics about her vision in the witch-house, of charnel pits and black snakes? [22:02] "Hah. Well, Brother Rikai, allow us to rendezvous with our crew and then perhaps I can get started being that second pair of eyes of yours." [22:02] 14Piu: "Budokan is a problem that will resolve itself one way or another. Of that I have no doubt." [22:02] "It's what comes after Budokan that I care about." 15[22:02] <~VoxPVoxD> Rikai: "Just as what comes after the Realm matters more than the disposition of its houses." [22:04] 14Piu's an exceptionally trained operative, and so doesn't react physically to that beyond a slight smile with teeth. But now she wonders what Rikai knows, or suspects. [22:06] 10A noncommittal gesture towards Dryas. Daizo doesn't think that these heretics need more convincing that we're willing to hear them out. 15[22:06] <~VoxPVoxD> Gu Len: "Right! I think the wheels are in motion. Get word to your crewmates, bring 'em in. We can stretch the rations if we need to - but if you've got food to share, we won't say no." 15[22:06] <~VoxPVoxD> "Saving the world is hungry work." 15[22:06] <~VoxPVoxD> "We can reconvene at sundown?" [22:07] 14Piu: "Sounds acceptable." [22:08] 07Dryas smiles pleasantly, and rises. [22:09] 6Zhangyu nods curtly. [22:09] 14Piu's going to stay on their guard until the Prolix & Terse arrives and they can convene on board, knowing they won't be overheard. [22:10] *14her [22:11] 07Dryas: "The people here have immediate problems." 07How are the waters here for fish or whales? 15[22:12] <~VoxPVoxD> The catch is always worse in the rainy season, and the poisoning of the land by the mine extends out to see a bit... but fish is what they're living on, mostly. They don't have blue water vessels; if they did, they could get bigger catches from more fertile waters. 15[22:13] <~VoxPVoxD> Assuming a Messenger is sent, it only takes an hour or two for the jadeclad to pull into dock. People look up from their work and huddle in the school-hall door to stare again. The Commodore's standing on deck, Caxi behind her. Gu Len is there alongside the Fangs to greet them. Ratel looks relieved to see her people, but "Gu Len? What happened to you??" 15[22:14] <~VoxPVoxD> Gu Len: "Never better, Bubble. Never better. It is so good to hear your voice. But I won't impose! Catch up with your people. We can talk tonight." 15[22:15] <~VoxPVoxD> Ratel looks to Dryas and Piu, and with a distinctly uncomfortable expression beckons them belowdecks. [22:15] 4When they're safely out of earshot: "I'm guessing he was less completely insane last time you were here, Commodore?" 15[22:16] <~VoxPVoxD> Ratel: "He's always been an odd duck, but he looks like he rinsed his eyes out with boiling tar." 15[22:16] <~VoxPVoxD> "What is happening here?" [22:17] 4Piu: "Well, he's appointed himself the head cultist in charge of the devotional mystery cult of some Golden Anathema called the Stranger." [22:17] "And the Stranger is blind." [22:17] "So...yeah." [22:18] 07Dryas: "He claims to oppose the necromancers of Skullstone, but is also working to return an ancient tyrant to the world. And the people of this island are suffering great privations." [22:18] "Frankly, I can kind of see why everyone here's sort of lost it." [22:18] "They've got some concerning theories about the Sun." [22:19] 4Piu will quickly run down the revelations in the meeting room without editorializing too much. [22:19] 4She'll leave the stuff with the amulet up to Dryas. 15[22:20] <~VoxPVoxD> Ratel, carefully: "Do you believe them?" 15[22:20] <~VoxPVoxD> Caxi: "I hope they're right. That rules." [22:21] 4Piu: "I believe they believe it. And there's clearly something going on. Daizo's doing his Daizo thing, you know, being very nice and polite and getting his hands on all their written materials. Hoping he'll have a more substantial second opinion than mine, which kinda jibes with Caxi's." [22:21] 07Dryas: "I can confirm some aspects of their story. Our sun is of a fundamentally different character than, say, what I saw of the terrible green false-sun of Hell. Who can say if it was ever thus?" [22:22] "In fact I was feeling pretty good about all this until they revealed they're trying to farm kids into Anathema." [22:23] "One, specifically: their messiah figure. Apparently he came back recently, but got himself killed at the legendary shindig in Nexus." [22:23] 4Piu shrugs. "Which, I dunno. Seems like a bad track record for a world historical tyrant-messiah." 15[22:26] <~VoxPVoxD> Ratel: "They're trying to feed children to a demon?" 15[22:26] <~VoxPVoxD> Caxi makes a seesawing hand gesture. "Anathema aren't really demons." 15[22:26] <~VoxPVoxD> Ratel: "I don't think that was the important part of my question." [22:28] 4Piu: "Well, even if you take the Golden Anathema at their word and their most heroic...they're made under the confluence of huge hardship and dire circumstance." [22:29] "Unless they've figured out some weird trick, they'd have be to doing some horrifying stuff to those kids if they're serious about it. We're gonna observe them tomorrow. We saw the kids wearing blindfolds earlier, which makes sense now. If they've actually ritually blinded all those kids..." 15[22:30] <~VoxPVoxD> Caxi: "If they've had their eyes burned out like Gu Len seemed to, you wouldn't need the blindfolds, right?" 15[22:30] <~VoxPVoxD> Ratel: "Maybe blinding them is part of the sacrificial ritual." [22:30] 07Dryas: "Totally preposterous. This is like when your tenth cousin is worried she's going to age past the Second Breath and starts throwing herself off buildings in the hopes of bringing out the favor of the dragons." [22:31] 07Dryas does not look at Caxi when she makes that remark but does try to observe her through any reflective surfaces. 15[22:31] <~VoxPVoxD> Caxi catches her eyes in a reflection and winks. [22:32] 07Dryas lets out something between a sigh of exasperation and a gasp of surprise. 15[22:33] <~VoxPVoxD> Ratel: "This sounds insane, and doomed." 15[22:33] <~VoxPVoxD> "...but we just got back from seeing Budokan." 15[22:33] <~VoxPVoxD> "And, comparatively," [22:33] 14Piu: "That said, purely pragmatically...? I prefer these guys to Budokan's gang. I don't care about heresy per se, and their political aims for the region align with ours -- namely, the threat of Skullstone, rather than myopic teeth-gnashing over petty fiefdoms and the past." [22:34] 14Piu: "I'll amend that: I have no problem with Budokan's people." [22:34] "The man himself needs to be put down." 15[22:35] <~VoxPVoxD> Caxi: "Is his youngest still a wound-up ball of seething? I didn't see him there or here." 15[22:35] <~VoxPVoxD> Brightly: "Maybe he's dead!" [22:35] 10Daizo pokes his head into the captain's ready room, having washed and changed out of his armor. "I'm frankly surprised he hasn't burned himself to a crisp already, with all the flaming Essence he's tossing around. Even the Blood only confers so much…" 15[22:36] <~VoxPVoxD> Ratel: "There's nothing left in the old man to burn. The Empress made him kill his own brother in the culling of Iselsi." [22:38] 14'Made him.' Piu lets the comment go, and instead to Caxi: "Grenseal's still about. We had a long chat. I think he's ready to move on from Budokan as well." [22:38] 07Dryas: "I think we need to immediately catch a whale or something and haul it back. This war is totally pointless and utterly destructive. We should propose an alternative resolution to their conflict." 15[22:39] <~VoxPVoxD> Ratel: "What are they asking for from us? Surely they're not expecting us to go kill Dynasts for them." [22:40] 14Piu: "So far we're in the 'keep an open mind' phase of things. They've been pretty clear about not wanting soldiers or assassins, though." [22:40] 10Daizo crab-stops his way into the room and pulls the door shut once his wings are clear. "So far, we haven't committed to any course of action aside from acting as a neutral envoy." [22:40] "If I had to guess? They want us to guard their compound here until the eclipse." [22:41] "That's when they're doing whatever they're doing to summon the Stranger." [22:41] 07Dryas: "How soon is the eclipse?" 15[22:42] <~VoxPVoxD> Ratel looks at Caxi, who responds, "What? How should I know? I'm not an astrologer." [22:42] 14Piu: "Gu Len seemed to think it was quite soon." [22:44] 10Daizo: "Just a tick." [22:46] 14Well surely not THAT quickly-- [22:47] 10Look at the metagamer here.  [22:52] 10Daizo's doing some sums in his head and you can practically see the symbols popping into appearance around his skull. "Not long. Unless they also believe they have a plan to attract the attention of the Moon. Then they could pull one off anytime." [22:52] 07Dryas gives an assessment as if she is presenting at the Spiral orals, third-year: "I think we should take steps to erode the support of the leaders of both factions among their core supporters, quietly. Once they are vulnerable, we can propose a ritual duel or soemthing to resolve the situation. Then we find an excuse to clap them in irons and send them back to answer for this mess." [22:52] *clap the winner [22:53] 14Piu's eyes narrow. She doesn't like this. "I sent Rinca ahead to scout this place. He hasn't reported in. I hope he's just goofing off somewhere, because obviously he's under no obligation to follow chain of command...but if they need the attention of Luna..." [22:54] "We can't just keep exporting our problems back to the Blessed Isle. Eventually they're gonna start sending them back here." 15[22:54] <~VoxPVoxD> Caxi: "You can tell Piu's right because that's what they did to us to begin with." [22:55] 10Daizo: "Well, I'm just speculating about that part. But… pardon me for just a moment, I need to get some air." 15[22:55] <~VoxPVoxD> Ratel's not as down on the idea, but she has some questions, like "If we just throw all the belligerent leaders here in chains and pack them off to the Nail, who is going to be protecting this huge strategic jade stockpile right on the border with the Principality?" [22:57] 07Dryas settles back, grimly at Caxi's remark, in part because she has absolutely no rejoinder and dislikes the implication. She perks up at Ratel's question. "We will. With a fleet of privateers." [22:58] 14Piu: "Oh, yes. We're seizing this mine." 15[22:58] <~VoxPVoxD> Ratel: "The best privateer fleet in Creation won't hold back the Skullstoners if the promise of the Realm's might isn't behind any move made against it. That's a big political ask, on top of the military one." [22:58] "That's just going to be much easier with Gu Len's people in charge instead of Budokan." [22:59] 07Dryas: "Neither side will stand alone." [22:59] "Of course that's complicated by this fucking cult." 15[23:00] <~VoxPVoxD> Ratel: "Like, I'll be blunt. We're fucked without the Water Fleet. The West is fucked without the Water Fleet. The Realm is fucked without the Water Fleet. And the Water Fleet is, effectively, gone." [23:00] "Lots of tolerances can be made, but trying to grow your own Anathema crosses a line." 15[23:00] <~VoxPVoxD> "We'd be running up our own flags just in time to paint them black." 15[23:01] <~VoxPVoxD> "So what's the plan, really? A pump and dump?" [23:01] 14Piu: "Though they're correct that a popular front with the Anathema as they are is basically the only way to make up for losing something like the Water Fleet on a time budget." [23:03] 10Abovedecks, Daizo prepares another Messenger. Lady Clara. I I should have been in touch with you before, but we have had quite an eventful time these past months. Forgive the abruptness of my question, but is there a chance that you and your colleagues may have some insight on when the next solar eclipse is most likely to occur? 10Send cherub. [23:08] 07Dryas: "If we are to fortify this place to the greatest extent possible and sail off with as much as can fill the hold then we can't be dealing with this cult. We have to reconcile the parties and expunge the cult. But to do that we'll need our own credibility, not borrowed from the leadership here." [23:08] 14Piu: "..." 15[23:08] <~VoxPVoxD> Ratel: "So the plan is just to fill our pockets with jade and then leave." [23:08] "You know everything I've been saying about hardship and circumstance and whatever? The Anathema-making stuff? [23:08] " [23:09] "We gotta let the cult try and fail." [23:09] "Because there's no better way to get them to succeed for real, with the Stranger they want, than to go in there and start chopping heads off these kids' mentors and teachers." 15[23:10] <~VoxPVoxD> Daizo doesn't get a reply immediately. They say the Infallible Messenger can reach anyone, anywhere. It's right there in the name. So he's fairly confident she got it... 15[23:10] <~VoxPVoxD> "Master Daizo?" [23:10] 14Piu: "That's how it always starts in the stories. Someone rolls in and starts acting like the bad guy. I don't want that to be us." [23:11] "Especially since we might be at the point where expunging the cult means expunging the kids. It certainly means doing that if we're gonna be orthodox." 15[23:12] <~VoxPVoxD> He's not alone on deck. Seiri's behind him, looking at him and then at the smoke-choked skies of the island. 15[23:12] <~VoxPVoxD> "What's going on?" 15[23:14] <~VoxPVoxD> Caxi: "I don't really want to take care of or massacre children." [23:14] 07Dryas: "It's a gamble, isn't it? That they become dishillusioned instead of doubling down. The Golden Saucer wouldn't be a gilded palace if men were so rational." [23:15] 14Piu: "The Golden Saucer exists at the sufferance of an extremely powerful Anathema." [23:15] "Without her it wouldn't exist at all." [23:16] "If one of those does pop up here during an Eclipse, I'd rather they not do so in the ruins of their entire life. Or at the very least, not blame us for it." [23:17] 07Dryas: "My point is that if all it took to discredit a cult was for its prophecy to fail then the world would remember fewer prophets." 15[23:17] <~VoxPVoxD> Ratel: "Okay. I don't love any of these plans. I want to know more about their position, and I want to firm up ours. What's your read on the camp? Can we disembark without getting shipjacked or seized as prisoners?" [23:18] 10Daizo looks up, mildly startled. "Oh, Seiri. You mean, what am I doing? Or what's going on with the island? Or both?" 15[23:19] <~VoxPVoxD> Seiri: "Oh! I don't mean to invade your privacy, Master Daizo. I just... don't know... anything... so whatever you can tell me I'd be awfully grateful." [23:23] 14Piu: "They'd have to use the elementals in their own camp to pull that off. Otherwise it's us in a walk. If we sided with them we'd more than double their, uh, firepower." 15[23:24] <~VoxPVoxD> Ratel: "So one way or the other we are the thumb on the scale here. That's good. I like leverage. Makes me feel less like a bit player in someone else's play." [23:24] 14No comment. [23:25] 14Dragons know we're not the ones really running the show either. [23:25] 07Not for long 15[23:25] <~VoxPVoxD> Ratel: "What do we tell Garnet?" [23:26] 14Piu: "That she should mask up and not leave the camp, but otherwise I don't see any reason to deny her shore leave." [23:26] "Nor do I see any reason to keep her in the dark about what's going on here, with the proviso that she can't go taking Gu Len's head off. Yet." 15[23:28] <~VoxPVoxD> Ratel: "Okay. The girls can mind her." 15[23:28] <~VoxPVoxD> "Anything else?" [23:28] 10Daizo: "No, it's fine. Well…" 10He'll explain the situation on the ground. He doesn't include the details about the Stranger. "So we're left with one of those ugly, murky situations where neither side is clearly right or clearly wrong." [23:28] 14A popular front with Anathema is the only way they're going to get anywhere near enough power in the short term to oppose Skullstone without the Water Fleet. And the only way a bunch of Blooded are going to be able to stand at the head of a coalition involving Anathema -- instead of having it taken from them -- is if Old Mionzi is back on line and a credible threat. And the only [23:28] 14way THAT happens -- and we're purely in the dreamscape of forms now -- is if Garnet's onboard and part of this world. [23:29] 14Piu: "I think that's it for now. I'm going to find Rinca. If my worst fears are true, things are gonna change fast and move quick. But I just can't figure any way they'd have the ability to hold or kill him and be losing this fight. So he's probably out on the beach or something." [23:29] "We should probably meet again before we bunk for the night. On the ship." [23:31] 07Dryas: "The food situation here is dire and the peasant families have been separated. It may be premature, but if we arranged some alternative, we would show ourselves to be powerful and just." 15[23:31] <~VoxPVoxD> Seiri's eyes get saucer big as Daizo explains the dream of ignition. "I don't-- but how-- where does--" She presses her mouth into a line and takes a deep breath. "How can I help?" 15[23:32] <~VoxPVoxD> Ratel: "Well... we could fish for them." 15[23:32] <~VoxPVoxD> "I don't know if Budokan will consent to a reunion." [23:32] 14Piu grins. "How's the Prolix & Terse as a fishing boat?" 14The daimon can probably hear her. 15[23:33] <~VoxPVoxD> The air crackles as the daimon rouses itself to reply, "A staggering waste of my capabilities. But so is being a pleasure yacht, and that seems to suit you all fine." 15[23:34] <~VoxPVoxD> Caxi: "You're terribly judgey for a boat." [23:34] 14Wheedling: "Maybe if we had access to your capabilities we'd be able to employ you more judiciously..." 15[23:35] <~VoxPVoxD> The daimon: "Alas." [23:35] 07Dryas: "What about as a whaler? Have we passed any large sea-behemoths or serpents?" 15[23:37] <~VoxPVoxD> Daimon: "I have carefully charted a course past and between any such obstacles. If you'd like to backtrack a couple of days I'm sure we can scare up something to [4engage in dialogue]." [23:37] 10Daizo: "For right now, we should worry about helping those in the greatest immediate need. Lady Dryas plans to go out and hunt, and when she's done, she'll bring back enough fish or meat to fill the entire hold. Once that's dealt with, I want to look at Brother Rikai's notes and translations of the tablets here, in case he's misunderstood something that will lead him astray. So, let's help Dryas feed the people, and then you [23:37] can help me uncover the truth." [23:38] 14Piu would love to do that too...but Rinca comes first. Maybe if she can take care of it quickly this evening. [23:38] 07Dryas: "Days... pfeh..." 15[23:40] <~VoxPVoxD> Ratel: "I want to speak to Gu Len and the Chrysanthemums before we commit to sending our flagship away on a literal fishing expedition. But if we've got the time that's as good a use of it as any." 15[23:40] <~VoxPVoxD> "Especially if the ship refuses to fight for us." 15[23:40] <~VoxPVoxD> A staticky scoff. 15[23:41] <~VoxPVoxD> Seiri nods. "Yes, of course. I'll go prepare." She stops at the threshold of the passage belowdecks. "...what if they're right?" 15[23:41] <~VoxPVoxD> "What do we do then?" 15[23:43] <~VoxPVoxD> Caxi: "I have to say, this is a lot more fun than what I was expecting, which was a giant, fucked-to-death shadowland." [23:44] 14Piu: "Well, apparently we're getting there, if you listen to the cultists." [23:44] "And on that one thing they may not be wrong." [23:44] 10Daizo: "If they're right… it's going to mean a lot of fighting. Here first, then many other places. So we'll keep practicing your armor training as well. You may need to be ready sooner than either of us think." [23:45] 07Dryas: "I can't help but wonder if there is another force at work here." [23:45] 14Piu: "Wouldn't be the first time." [23:45] "Again, my Lunar boyfriend disappearing is not a great sign." [23:46] 07Dryas: "In Abalone, Brightwork, nearly everywhere we go, Onyx has someone on the inside, a Dynast, working with them. I wonder if they have two here." [23:46] 14Piu: "...I think I know who'd I'd pick in Budokan's crew." [23:46] "I don't have any real firm grasp yet here." [23:47] "I mean the scary answer is Gu Len himself. He's trying to bring something into one of those kids, but it isn't a GOLDEN Anathema." [23:47] "But really it could be any of them. Something's up with Nikai, too." 15[23:48] <~VoxPVoxD> Ratel: "Is he going to be a problem for you? I know he's not popular in House V'neef." [23:48] 14Piu: "I'm not sure yet." [23:49] "If he is, it won't be because of V'neef politics." 15[23:49] <~VoxPVoxD> Seiri nods. "Yes, sir." 15[23:50] <~VoxPVoxD> Caxi: "'V'neef politics' sounds like a euphemism for a group hug." [23:50] 07Dryas chuckles at that. [23:50] 14Piu: "Mmmmmmm. A bit more than that, babe." 15[23:50] <~VoxPVoxD> Ratel: "...why would you need a euphemism for a group hug?" 15[23:50] <~VoxPVoxD> Caxi shudders at the apparent thought. [23:51] 10Daizo offers Seiri an encouraging thumbs-up. "Good. Let Sadako know—and Piu and Dryas will tell Garnet." [23:51] 14Hey. Basically no one in the house is related by blood or knew each other before they were like, sixteen. It's not really incest. 15[23:51] <~VoxPVoxD> Many scrolls are premised on this. 15[23:54] <~VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: Getting Stoned