01[10:22] By secret glyph: 3prayer wheel transmission 01[10:22] Glyph: 7urgent, security protocols granted 01[10:22] Security protocols: 4null-destiny warding 01[10:22] 4 01[10:22] To Chejop Kejak, in wisdom! In enlightenment! In absolute moral good! 01[10:23] 4 01[10:23] Forgive my direct sending, but Director Nara-O has never responded to previous efforts to warn Heaven of the findings of the Infinite Light Inquiry Tree. I admit that these warnings may have been too esoteric to receive the attention they deserve. In short, the Jade Prison is weakening, and I know why. Moreso, I have uncovered memo-spider traces of rogue perfections above known error 01[10:23] span. Heaven is threatened by previous Mandates, and the Solars are not contained at all. 01[10:23] 4 01[10:23] Please give me permission to be heard by the full Capital Convention, even if only by linkpearl. 01[10:23] ----- 01[10:24] Yes, I recall your reports. An interesting theory, but there was nothing there that we could act upon. Creation-spanning extradimensional conspiracies? With all due respect to your eminent circlemates, the Interpreter Moths have never provided us with much practical information. 01[10:24] After the fact, yes, your metaprophetic analyses always make sense then. New-chosen viziers make their careers on such things. But my business is the guidance of Creation in the here and now, with a multitude of problems and dangers that are all too clear. I do not mean to be dismissive; give us something concrete, and you shall see us act. 01[10:24] 4 01[10:25] I remain, 01[10:25] Chejop Kejak, Senior Reader of the Forbidding Manse of Ivy, Chairman of the Capital Convention, etc. 01[10:25] ============ 01[10:25] Titan Citadel Black Tortoise dropped out of the clouds and cast its great shadow as it flew over the frozen deep tundra, which seemed to squirm uneasily in response like a schoolboy caught in mischief. 01[10:26] The vast Directional Titan resembled a tortoise only in the most general sense; its ovoid shape was broken by triangular protrusions bristling with imperial fire lances and heavy implosion cannon, each emplacement covering the next. Slipping out between them were great sickle-shaped boarding claws. 01[10:26] Ship lore claimed they were used to cleave the flesh and then cling to creatures so vast that the Tortoise would be like a tick on a runnerbird - but there were no crewmen now living who could speak to the truth of it. 01[10:27] Traceries of frost etched themselves on cannon-mouths and on the tips of the boarding claws and the edges of thick armor plates, the least sailors hunching over and blowing into their cupped hands as they jogged through covered maintenance tunnels snaking over the Directional Titan's nigh-impenetrable skin. The bitter cold clung to the Black Tortoise, a chill that marked their 01[10:27] proximity to the Pole of Air as the Titan swam northward through the skies. 01[10:27] Deep within the Titan Citadel's heart, the cold was kept at bay by the eternal thrum of great Essence reactors, and some strange quirk of ventilation made the air thick and humid. Dagger-shaped, the command bridge of the Black Tortoise bustled with activity, as servicemen and women in crisply pressed uniforms moved between the control consoles set on either side of the dagger's blade. 01[10:28] They carried reports on paper or micro-thin jade slips, they huddled over displays of ammunition counts and alert readiness, they gazed at the ghostly vision of the tundra outside thrown into the air above them by hidden godsight fonts. None of them dared glance at the massive throne set back where the dagger's blade met the hilt. 01[10:29] Any other sitting on it would be swallowed by the throne's size, but Golden Diamond Empress towered over her subordinates and the seat had been built for her alone. She bore no weapon, and it was said that while she did so no weapon could bite upon her. 01[10:29] She wore the heavy plate that none on the Black Tortoise had ever seen her remove, that looked like battered bronze but surely could not be. While the underpadding and soft cloth gloves she wore were intricately embroidered, the armor itself was plain to the point of being crude, torn from great sheets of metal and then bent roughly into shape. 01[10:30] It glowered at all who saw it, especially the helmet, featureless except for small glaring slits for the eyes. 01[10:30] She wore the helm perched on the back of her head, revealing the dark olive skin of a Southerner but the aquiline nose that was already characteristic of the Blessed Isle. Her expression stern and unmoving, Golden Diamond Empress' eyes were nearly closed, with only the occasional flash of gold beneath her lids showing that she was awake and aware. 01[10:31] Nearby, her agatakin equerry sang in harmony with herself, a voice of brass bells and crystal raising triumphant chords as the abhuman's shimmering crystalline skin shifted uneasily. Golden Diamond Empress' mind was elsewhere. 01[10:31] https://img.hiki.life/images/2021/06/10/tumblr_pbjfzieQrz1tky9b8o1_1280.png 01[10:32] A languid gesture with a gloved hand, and the agatakin abruptly ceased to sing, bowed, and retreated behind the throne. "Report," came the Empress' rich contralto into the sudden quiet. 01[10:32] An older woman in an immaculate blue uniform turned from the exterior visage and walked briskly to the throne, removing her cap and bowing deeply. She revealed close-cropped silver hair - that and the congestion of ribbons on her chest caused Golden Diamond Empress to suppose the woman had followed her on previous campaigns. It was possible, given a moment, that she might recall the 01[10:32] woman's name. 01[10:33] She spoke: "We are within aetherlink range of the Chaos incursion now, my Empress. Taimyo Heru reports a mere seven legions, most no greater than cataphractoi. He believes - and the Meditation Stars concur - that the Thunder Dragons will crush them before the Black Tortoise can arrive. He requests that the Black Tortoise proceed to incursion site nonetheless to assist in mopup 01[10:33] operations." 01[10:34] Golden Diamond Empress' lips twitched slightly in amusement at that last. A strange gambit from her wilful son. As if there was ever a doubt that she would arrive to inspect the failure of Creation's outermost defenses. 01[10:34] The aging shasazei spoke again. "My Empress, it may have to do with what we've been hearing about a change in the rakshas' behavior. Outlying fortifications have been reporting that Chaos forces - anything above hobgoblins - no longer rout when overwhelmed in the field. Instead, they split their forces in a controlled manner and scatter... they use spot-Wyld zones as stepping stones 01[10:34] to penetrate further into Creation. It can take weeks to track them all down." 01[10:35] Golden Diamond Empress leaned forward. "Small guerilla forces... but why would they move further in? Why wouldn't they try and return to the Deep Wyld? Unstable zones or no, they're dooming themselves to calcification." 01[10:35] The shasazei swallowed nervously. "We haven't been able to determine that, my Empress. It could be anything." 01[10:35] Golden Diamond Empress' brow furrowed. Her frown deepened. The silence stretched. 01[10:36] ============ 01[10:36] A duke among raksha came to the Fractal Cathedral, pausing before each scripture door to pay his respects, until finally he was met at the gate to the throne room by the major-domo of Prince Balor. 01[10:37] The Duke of Silver Nights said, 'I was summoned by Prince Balor, He of the Terrible Gaze, and I have brought the pennants of my seven legions.' 01[10:37] The major-domo, whose head was a bubble of foul water and sickly fire, bowed low, so that the head of the Duke of Silver Nights became enclosed in his own. 01[10:38] He saw the first pennant, which commanded a legion of hekatonchires with eight faces that pointed every way. 01[10:38] He saw the second pennant, which commanded a legion of six-winged bulls and the bearded kings whose chariots they drew. 01[10:39] He saw the third pennant, which commanded a legion of floating hydras, who carried aeon mauls and bore shields that flew this way and that. 01[10:39] He saw the fourth pennant, which commanded a legion of collapsing stars. 01[10:39] He saw the fifth pennant, which commanded a legion of jumping wounds looking to hop onto a victim. 01[10:39] He saw the sixth pennant, which commanded a legion of frozen sharp-edged moments. 01[10:39] He saw the seventh pennant, which commanded a legion of armored winning moves. 01[10:40] To which the major-domo said, "Noble Duke, your legions while mighty are not enough to destroy Creation or the hated Sun-children." 01[10:41] Yet from within, cloaked in deepest shadow in mockery of one who we do not name, Prince Balor spoke: "It will be enough for my purpose." 01[10:41] ============ 01[10:41] Heru, Taimyo of the Thunder Dragons and shakazei of the Blades of Dawn stormhost leapt from mountain stone to stone, ascending toward the nameless peak he had set for the final muster. Where there was no place to stand he climbed, where there were no handholds he punched the rock furiously and made his own. 01[10:42] Below him were the columns of Dragon-blooded soldiers at his command, marching through the only clear pass; over his shoulder in the distance were the massed ranks of the Wyld, marching toward them beneath a thousand colorful streaming banners. 01[10:42] Heru had pushed his forces to get through the pass before the cataphractoi could trap them, but he had the feeling the sons of Chaos would have declined the ambush regardless. The sneering aristocratic manners of Oblivion. 01[10:43] The Thunder Dragons were made to be to Dragon-bloods as the Dragon-blooded were to ordinary men. Each a fulm in height taller than the loftiest of their lesser kin, the Thunder Dragons had been taken after their Second Breath and put through dozens of sorcerous rituals designed to enhance their physical, mental, and spiritual prowess. 01[10:44] Their bodies had been reshaped radically to push the bleeding edge of the warrior sciences. Each bore the superheavy plate that was their trademark, encasing them entirely in thick plates of jade-impregnated soulsteel. 01[10:44] Few outside their brotherhood ever saw them without it, which heightened their mystique among the rest of the legions. 01[10:45] Heru thought it was just as well. For his part, he felt uncomfortable being seen without his armor. The rituals that made him a Thunder Dragon gave him great power, but they weren't chosen for their aesthetic value. 01[10:45] He always felt uncomfortable looking at himself in the mirror, as though the proportions of his body were wrong. To himself he seemed an inhuman thing, stretched and bloated with more muscle than a man should rightfully have. He might have been handsome, but something about his features had a mass-produced quality that wiped away their appeal. 01[10:46] Heru flexed his legs and leapt, clearing the final cliff and landing where the mountaintop had been sheared away and pounded flat. Before him stood hundreds of massive figures talking in small groups, each armored as he was. 01[10:46] His shozei Salevli barked a short laugh, distorted by the blue jade amplifiers in the grille of her helmet, as she saw him arrive. "The honored Taimyo graces us with his presence! I had thought you would miss the battle altogether!" 01[10:46] Heru grunted, but his own helmet made it sound like a sharp cough. "The Tortoise has entered range, and I was obliged to account for myself." He continued swiftly - the brash Salevli would be embarassed to have brought Heru's mother into the conversation, even accidentally. "It sounds as though you would have taken care of all this for me, had I taken much longer." 01[10:47] Heru could feel the grin beneath Salevli's helmet as she held up her beloved pair of artifact hammers, her fiery anima snapping into existence momentarily before its Essence was drawn into the jade tracery etched into her armor. "A sorcerer gave me the Third Breath and twin krieghammers," She said. "Let's roll." 01[10:47] ============ 01[10:48] 4MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY 01[10:48] All Wyld penumbra stations monitoring INTEGRITY, this is Wyld Arcology Infinity's Crown, declaring a SUNDOWN loss of habitability event. We have 2.9 million souls aboard. Repeat, Infinity's Crown is no longer ontologically stable and will be unable to support human life. 01[10:49] We are experiencing massive tidal forces of unknown origin. Our observation cluster detects contradictory narrative, sturm und drang, and broken syllogisms. Possible origins include coordinated localized redefinition or Unshaped within five hundred thousand waypoint radius. 01[10:49] Primary reality anchors have failed. Secondary anchors are holding but are losing power at 1700 times expected rate. Our enginseers believe they were sabotaged internally and we may experience total anchor failure at any time. We require all vessels with Wyld transfer capability to receive refugees. Contact Infinity's Crown Traffic Control on approach. 01[10:50] Local tapestry confirms reality bubble tidal bulge of 40 yalms - 400, repeat 400 percent of ordinary tidal deformation and growing. We anticipate massive mythoseismic activity as the tidal effect recedes. Total causal reflex will trigger a multiple hypocenter mythquake swarm. Local effects catastrophic. 01[10:50] Be advised that we have no contact with Creationward ships or settlements, and are transmitting in the blind. 01[10:50] This message will now repeat. 01[10:51] 4MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY 01[10:51] ============ 01[10:52] Damage alarms blared. Emergency lighting flickered red. The Black Tortoise had fallen, carving a deep furrow into the earth. Where it could never be taken from the outside it had fallen from the inside, the news of the treachery that destroyed Infinity's Crown seeping through the Titan Citadel's crew like a poison. 01[10:52] Engineer had turned on gunner, marine had fought navigator, animas had flared in anger and too quickly blood had been spilled. 01[10:53] On the command bridge, the ground was scattered with burnt bodies and battered weapons. Consoles burst in a shower of sparks as Essence backflow overwhelmed them. Through it all, the Golden Diamond Empress stood in front of her throne, outwardly unconcerned. The ship would be reclaimed. The heart of this thing would come to her, she knew. All she need do was wait for it to arrive. And 01[10:53] so it did. 01[10:53] "You." snapped the Golden Diamond Empress, as Heru trudged through the gates to the command bridge, hefting his daiklave. "You carry my blood in your veins and have been given high station. Is this not enough for you?" 01[10:54] "Mother," Heru replied, his helmet battered into uselessness and discarded in the long battle across the length of the ship. "You are responsible for the sabotage of critical defense infrastructure, and have given aid to the enemies of Creation. By order of the Deliberative-" 01[10:54] "The Deliberative is WEAK!" The Empress roared. "Time and again I warned them about the threat the raksha posed. They sent legion after legion to die just so a few could infiltrate behind our lines! But the Deliberative was so certain all we needed were reality anchors and watch-torches. They didn't see the danger! Now they see. They'll have to respond." 01[10:55] "They have," Heru said bitterly. "Mother, your Operation Wyld Hand let millions die! A whole city destroyed! The law-" 01[10:55] "Some must be sacrificed if all are to be saved." Golden Diamond Empress interrupted again. "I am the state and the whole of the state, the origin of every judgment. If you seek redress under the law..." She stepped forward, arms wide. "Why, here it is." 01[10:55] It was Heru who swung first. Contemptuously, the Empress made no attempt to block and his daiklave impacted on her breastplate, causing her to take a single step backwards with the force of the blow. The massive blade let out a tortured metal screech as it scraped across the ancient armor. 01[10:56] Golden Diamond Empress' response was a crashing blow with a fist that send Heru spinning backward, coughing up a mouthful of blood. 01[10:57] The two titans leapt toward each other, clashing again and again as the force of their blows made the command bridge shudder, crushed delicate machinery and dented bulkheads. 01[10:57] For all Heru's strength and skill, the Golden Diamond Empress was inviolate - she shrugged off his most powerful blows while hammering him again and again with her fists. He was going to lose. 01[10:58] At last, she turned her body sideways and grabbed at the hilt of his daiklave, bringing down a numbing blow on his arms that caused him to loosen his grip enough for her to tear the artifact blade free. 01[10:58] Her face twisted in a sneer, the Empress raised his weapon preparing to strike Heru down. "Creation will be protected," she vowed. "Neither you nor the Deliberative will weaken i--" 01[10:58] She stopped, her voice choked off into a hiss of pain. 01[10:58] In astonishment, she looked downward. At her feet, one of the bodies they had been fighting over had turned out to be clinging to life. A dark blue uniform singed almost beyond recognition, short silver hair burnt almost black. 01[10:59] Somehow the shasazei, wounded unto death, had picked up a shortsword from one of the dead and - Golden Diamond Empress felt the wound as astonishment as much as pain - stabbed the blade into her god-queen's leg, through a thin gap between the panels of her greaves. 01[10:59] Ashiko, the Empress thought vaguely. The woman's name was Ashiko. 01[10:59] The mundane steel of the weapon smoked and crumbled, cringing into nothingness at its temerity in harming one of the All-Mighty, but the damage was done. 01[11:00] Stunned, the daiklave began to fall from her nerveless fingers, and bloodied Heru, her avenging son, raced forward to grab it, twist it around in one fluid motion and jab it at her chest. The ancient metal of her armor crumpled as if it were made of thin copper. The erstwhile Thunder Dragon's blade pierced metal, padding, skin and flesh. 01[11:00] Golden Diamond Empress staggered, dropped to one knee. Weakly, she put her hands around her son's on the hilt of the blade. "I will never die," She said, choking on blood. "The Wyld will never overcome us. The dam will not break. The flood will not come..." 01[11:00] ============ 01[11:00] LOST: * Limit Trigger: The Solar is insulted, belittled, or deliberately frustrated by another character. 01[11:01] GAINED: * Limit Trigger: Allies or companions refuse the Solar’s advice or leadership and suffer for it.