Will CoaEG make an appearance here? I know that Lovecraft-verse has been quarantined, but perhaps the corruption managed to infect some of the surrounding realities before the failsafe kicked in.
Yes, this does totally go back to the proposed pic of Tzintchi, God-Emperor Shinji, and CoaEG Shinji staring each other down while canon Shinji looks on in horror. Speaking of which, AN, did anything ever come of that?
Singular Quartet wrote:Two different things, there. The shockwave that cut off Vita from the Nanoha crew was caused by Tzintichi, because he wanted them cut off. The connection between Tzintchi and Lars was caused by the four gods being drunk at a concert, Haruhi getting laid, and Iron Maiden playing "Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner" all at the same time.
It didn't help that Lars just got caught in a massive coding error between the Void, the system bugs, and Yggdrasil.
Fragment of the Lord of Nightmares, release thy heavenly retribution. Blade of cold, black nothingness: become my power, become my body. Together, let us walk the path of destruction and smash even the souls of the Gods! RAGNA BLADE!
Lore Monkey | the Pichu-master™
Secularism—since AD 80
Av: Elika; Prince of Persia
The best kind of allies are the ones who can’t refuse neoChaos’ “generosity,” like Battlestar Galactica. There are plenty of shows, books, and genres where the heroes are on the verge of defeat and/or extinction.
However, neoChaos doesn’t have the resources or manpower to save every hard-luck case, so they should focus on groups with good industrial infrastructures.
P.S. MJNOLIR armor isn't dependant on GeneSeed compatibility, so females and non-humans can use them. I can picture women walking down the catwalk in "the latest MJNOLIR fashions from Paris, France." Practical yet stylish armorwear for today's working woman.
P.P.S. Back on the home front, in terms of non-military colonization, how far has neoChaos’ civilian population expanded from their native Earth? Has Mars been terraformed yet? From what I’ve seen, only high-ranking military operations are allowed access to FTL, so it’d take weeks or months for civilians to travel between colonized outposts. I know the Imperium of Mankind has the tech to build floating platforms on gas giant planets like Cloud City in “Star Wars.”
Valorie wrote:MJNOLIR armor isn't dependant on GeneSeed compatibility, so females and non-humans can use them. I can picture women walking down the catwalk in "the latest MJNOLIR fashions from Paris, France." Practical yet stylish armorwear for today's working woman.
Chicks with guns and chainmail bikini, fashion any male can get behind. For heavy armor, sections of the chestplate could be transparent to better show off breast cleavage without compromising protection.
Makes me wonder if Chanel, Gucci, or Calvin Klein still exist as part of neoChaos society. They’re a command economy indirectly controlled by the gods, and I’m sure both Mislaato and Askulon would encourage such endeavors.
Will ya'll shut up and stop making me think he's posted?!
Nitram, slightly high on cough syrup: Do you know you're beautiful?
Me: Nope, that's why I have you around to tell me.
Nitram: You -are- beautiful. Anyone tries to tell you otherwise kill them.
"A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP" -- Leonard Nimoy, last Tweet
Lady Tevar wrote:Will ya'll shut up and stop making me think he's posted?!
But we're having such fun
Valorie wrote:P.S. MJNOLIR armor isn't dependant on GeneSeed compatibility, so females and non-humans can use them. I can picture women walking down the catwalk in "the latest MJNOLIR fashions from Paris, France." Practical yet stylish armorwear for today's working woman.
But the implants thet make you a Spartan-II do have requirements in terms of genetic compatibility. In all the human worlds Dr Halsey could only find 150 candidates. I know ONI really racked up the numbers later on, but the Spartan-III's were not as good, and decidedly unstable. And MJOLNIR couldn't be used by normal humans, only Spartans. All this came from the novels btw; I believe they're canon, but I'm not 100% on that.
English is truly a Chaotic language; it will mutate at the drop of a hat, unmercifully rend words from other languages, spreads like the fabled plagues of old and has bastard children with any other dialect it can get its grubby little syntax on.
I am slowly putting the chapters into the Cleaned Fanfics section.
And do you good people know what would really help me? STOP ADDING IN THESE +1 NOTHING POSTS THAT HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THE STORY AND ARE JUST YOUR OWN RAMBLING IDEAS.
*sigh* Sorry. After 3 hours fighting with the bbscode, and only getting a third of the chapters transfered over, I'm not in a good mood.
Nitram, slightly high on cough syrup: Do you know you're beautiful?
Me: Nope, that's why I have you around to tell me.
Nitram: You -are- beautiful. Anyone tries to tell you otherwise kill them.
"A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP" -- Leonard Nimoy, last Tweet
Done. All current chapters can now be found in Completed/Cleaned Fanfics. New chapters will be added as they are posted.
At the request of the author, please stop being 'helpful' with your suggestions of what he should do. He has a plan, has his outline, and your attempts at 'helping' are merely distracting him.
Thank you
Nitram, slightly high on cough syrup: Do you know you're beautiful?
Me: Nope, that's why I have you around to tell me.
Nitram: You -are- beautiful. Anyone tries to tell you otherwise kill them.
"A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP" -- Leonard Nimoy, last Tweet
Okay, while the official warning is all well and good, I should probably wade in here before things go completely nuts.
Ahem. February and March are historically bad times for me because they are at the end of what is typically a long, long, long winter. I live in Northern Canada (if not the Arctic circle like some members). Winter typically starts in October and usually doesn't really end until mid-April. I'm also a university student and I'm going into the end of 8 months of brutally hard schooling on engineering. My family also has history of seasonal affective disorder. Simply put, the most likely time for my creativity to die is February and March. It's often not a good time for me either. I don't like to talk about those sorts of things to strangers, so don't ask or try and offer advice or condolensces. This is one of those things I have to work out within my own personal circle, and be glad that I'm letting you know this much as way of explanation for my silence.
It died again this year. Since I often suffer from lowered self esteem, this also means that I don't feel like talking to other people.
I'm writing again just to write, so expect things to bounce around a lot more and for plot threads to start before being dropped and ignored. Eventually I'll snag on something again. Hopefully.
I will say this though. I do find the endless natter about trying to find the wankiest places to go irritating. I don't mind discussion and speculation, but try and discuss things relating to what I've actually written. I'm going to open up new universes on my own time, according to the dictates of the plot. It's kind of... insulting I suppose would be the best way of putting it, that you're focused on other things instead of what I'm actually doing. It's sort of saying that my work isn't good enough. I can make improvements, but just endlessly offering suggestions about places to get X, Y, and Z wanktanium is... irritating. Got that? I have a plan. It's vague and prone to mutation, but there are certain directions I do want to go.
Anyway, I might have something ready to post by tomorrow. Tuesday at the absolute latest. I will warn you now that it unfortunately will not be the Anakin/Anakin fight scene, simply because I do have the mindset to do it justice. Before I get fanboy gnashing of teeth, it will be done, just not now.
I love learning. Teach me. I will listen. You know, if Christian dogma included a ten-foot tall Jesus walking around in battle armor and smashing retarded cultists with a gaint mace, I might just convert - Noble Ire on Jesus smashing Scientologists
Academia Nut wrote:Okay, while the official warning is all well and good, I should probably wade in here before things go completely nuts.
Ahem. February and March are historically bad times for me because they are at the end of what is typically a long, long, long winter. I live in Northern Canada (if not the Arctic circle like some members). Winter typically starts in October and usually doesn't really end until mid-April. I'm also a university student and I'm going into the end of 8 months of brutally hard schooling on engineering. My family also has history of seasonal affective disorder. Simply put, the most likely time for my creativity to die is February and March. It's often not a good time for me either. I don't like to talk about those sorts of things to strangers, so don't ask or try and offer advice or condolensces. This is one of those things I have to work out within my own personal circle, and be glad that I'm letting you know this much as way of explanation for my silence.
It died again this year. Since I often suffer from lowered self esteem, this also means that I don't feel like talking to other people.
I'm writing again just to write, so expect things to bounce around a lot more and for plot threads to start before being dropped and ignored. Eventually I'll snag on something again. Hopefully.
I will say this though. I do find the endless natter about trying to find the wankiest places to go irritating. I don't mind discussion and speculation, but try and discuss things relating to what I've actually written. I'm going to open up new universes on my own time, according to the dictates of the plot. It's kind of... insulting I suppose would be the best way of putting it, that you're focused on other things instead of what I'm actually doing. It's sort of saying that my work isn't good enough. I can make improvements, but just endlessly offering suggestions about places to get X, Y, and Z wanktanium is... irritating. Got that? I have a plan. It's vague and prone to mutation, but there are certain directions I do want to go.
Anyway, I might have something ready to post by tomorrow. Tuesday at the absolute latest. I will warn you now that it unfortunately will not be the Anakin/Anakin fight scene, simply because I do have the mindset to do it justice. Before I get fanboy gnashing of teeth, it will be done, just not now.
Perfect. It's after all your work....and frankly....some of the suggestions lately...(snort)......certainly they didn't read ANY of your previous notes and comments.....that...or they sucked to high hell.......
A devoted follower of the Chaos Goddess and her way.....
Buck Murdock: Oh, cut the bleeding heart crap, will ya? We've all got our switches, lights, and knobs to deal with, Striker. I mean, down here there are literally hundreds and thousands of blinking, beeping, and flashing lights, blinking and beeping and flashing - they're *flashing* and they're *beeping*. I can't stand it anymore! They're *blinking* and *beeping* and *flashing*! Why doesn't somebody pull the plug!
(hopefully this won't incur the wrath of an angry white mage goddess)
If nothing else, at least one thing is (likely, although I wouldn't put it past him just to show something awesome, or not) certain - we won't have to deal with the @#$& that was the finale of nBSG. Instead we've got them all down in Australia, kicking back, drinking -good- beer, and likely learning about just how good a steak can be down there.
So to avoid complicating matters (and getting Tevar or worse, AcademiaNut, irritated) lets recap what universes have already been explored, and leave it at that.
OpenDoor/ThousandShinjiEVA-verse (home dimension of NewChaos)
Haruhiverse (the 'hub' dimension, also hinted to be possibly an AU Cthuluverse. Iron Maiden exists here)
Praxis-verse (pretty much going through a 'birth of a galactic dark age' at the moment)
STverse (TNG/DS9 era)
SWverse (Vong Invasion era)
SWverse (Clone Wars era)
nBSGverse (Currently abandoned due to entirety of RTF being brought over to the NewChaos home dimension)
SGCverse (Daemonworld located here)
Nanohaverse (technically a 'hub' multi-dimensional 'area' under the guidance of the TSAB, with at least 4 known planets/systems off the top of my head)
Buffyverse (another hub dimension, seriously AU now due to events of Halloween and shortly to receive lots of visitors)
EVAverse (possibly the 'canon' universe without outside interference before the 4 gods show up and do some interfering)
40kverse (canon universe, or one of them at any rate)
A!MGverse (Skuld's home dimension and under the guidance of one of the Main hubs & an elder race (Norse gods))
Plane of Faerun (Gunnhild's home universe, technically, Think's pimp zone, Lars resides here currently w/ daughter)
Plane of Shadow (new worshippers of Skuld 2.0 are here)
Unknown Abyssal/Demonic/Lower Plane (Lars' Fallen Angels are from here)
UNKNOWN DIMENSION/PLANE (Wherever Skuld got sucked into)*
CURRENTLY UNKNOWN DIMENSION/PLANE (possibly Whoverse due to hints about 'Lords of Time')**
If I missed anything, let me know and I'll edit the list rather then waste a new post on it.
* - due to being speculative, cannot be commented on without possibly irritating author. Refrain pls. ^_^
**- As about, but also might not even exist at all due to being based on nothing more then hints and not yet referred to directly or indirectly in storyline. Refrain pls. ^_^
Macross Daedalus Attack: Because nothing says "Frak You" like punching them in the face with an aircraft carrier.
Macross Frontier Version: Unless you use 2 aircraft carriers. ☟ Named after a g/f! Sheesh, stop asking. ☟
barricade wrote:
OpenDoor/ThousandShinjiEVA-verse (home dimension of NewChaos)
Haruhiverse (the 'hub' dimension, also hinted to be possibly an AU Cthuluverse. Iron Maiden exists here)
Praxis-verse (pretty much going through a 'birth of a galactic dark age' at the moment)
STverse (TNG/DS9 era)
SWverse (Vong Invasion era)
SWverse (Clone Wars era)
nBSGverse (Currently abandoned due to entirety of RTF being brought over to the NewChaos home dimension)
SGCverse (Daemonworld located here)
Nanohaverse (technically a 'hub' multi-dimensional 'area' under the guidance of the TSAB, with at least 4 known planets/systems off the top of my head)
Buffyverse (another hub dimension, seriously AU now due to events of Halloween and shortly to receive lots of visitors)
EVAverse (possibly the 'canon' universe without outside interference before the 4 gods show up and do some interfering)
40kverse (canon universe, or one of them at any rate)
A!MGverse (Skuld's home dimension and under the guidance of one of the Main hubs & an elder race (Norse gods))
Plane of Faerun (Gunnhild's home universe, technically, Think's pimp zone, Lars resides here currently w/ daughter)
Plane of Shadow (new worshippers of Skuld 2.0 are here)
Unknown Abyssal/Demonic/Lower Plane (Lars' Fallen Angels are from here)
UNKNOWN DIMENSION/PLANE (Wherever Skuld got sucked into)*
CURRENTLY UNKNOWN DIMENSION/PLANE (possibly Whoverse due to hints about 'Lords of Time')**
If I missed anything, let me know and I'll edit the list rather then waste a new post on it.
As I understood it, the following universes are special, IIRC:
Buffyverse - a.k.a. "The Eye"
The two houses:
- A!MGverse - House of Space
- probably Whoverse - House of Time
- The four hubs:
- Haruhiverse
- probably Cthulhuverse
- two unknown verses, hints about controlling artifacts
Universes outside the great barrier:
- Nahonaverse
The rest should be 'normal' universes of varying power inside the great barrier.
Now these are -not- define as to whether he said yea/nay to them, just me trying to go by memory. Still, its probably a good idea if we shy away from even mentioning them until he comes back and makes a statement on them.
Macross Daedalus Attack: Because nothing says "Frak You" like punching them in the face with an aircraft carrier.
Macross Frontier Version: Unless you use 2 aircraft carriers. ☟ Named after a g/f! Sheesh, stop asking. ☟
von Neufeld wrote:Universes outside the great barrier:
- Nahonaverse
The rest should be 'normal' universes of varying power inside the great barrier.
The SGCverse is one of the outer realities people have to travel to get to the Haruhiverse and inside the great barrier, a bottle-necking buffer zone to the outer multiverse. Agents of neoChaos have already given the SG1 team knowledge of lazguns and ceramite armor to militarize Earth, took over the Lucian Alliance to repeal an Ori invasion, and turned Anise into a Tok’ra Queen able to produce thousands of larvae. Currently, Anise’s faction is experimenting with Wraith hosts and modified Kull armor.
Oh, and little Kali thinks SG-1 is “funny,” so she might stop by every now and again to see how the team is doing.
technically you also forgot Harry Turtledove's World at War-verse, but not that big a deal since Nut already said he's not planning ot return there and left it as a free verse for otehr authors to play around in.
It's good to hear from you, AN, I figured it'd be something vaguely along these lines given the past, but I didn't want to say anything because frankly, writing can't be forced. I wish English instructors would realize that, but that's another story. To be honest, I've stopped even reading this thread once I see it's not an AN post, because it's all been lolanime wankers. It'll be good to see you back around when you feel up to it, giving everything some direction.
Chronological Incontinence: Time warps around the poster. The thread topic winks out of existence and reappears in 1d10 posts.
Out of Context Theatre, this week starring Darth Nostril.
-'If you really want to fuck with these idiots tell them that there is a vaccine for chemtrails.'
My apologies for irritating you, Academia Nut, and the other members of this thread/forum. Now that I’m aware that such comments aren’t constructive, I will avoid doing so in the future.
White Haven wrote:It'll be good to see you back around when you feel up to it, giving everything some direction.
Take your time. You’re worth the wait!
(*Jaeger gives AN a chocolate-chip cookie*)
P.S. I forget, how many Cylon and Cylon/human hybrids are hidden among the Colonials in Australia? I missed a lot of the last season. A while back, the author said that members of the same species but from different dimensions couldn’t have children together (atleast not w/out bio-engineering or Divine Intervention). However, after 2-3 generations, the descendants of the Battlestar settlers might be acclimated enough with their current dimension to interbreed with the human members of neoChaos. As such, we must consider how the Cyclons’ progeny might taint mankind’s gene pool; diminishing GeneSeed compatibility and the manifestation of Psyker abilities.
This chapter isn't entirely what I want, and its a bit early plot wise, but it got written.
Chapter Seventy-three: A New Realm
Twisting layers of unreality, fractal patterns of possible creations unfolded and bloomed before spiralling back into tiny vibrating loops the size of atoms. Entire cosmoses stacked like translucent vellum sheets, infinitely large and yet no thicker than a shadow, separated by impossibly vast gulfs transmittable with but a single thought. Impossible things of flavoured sound cavorted with crystalline tiers of niobium light while things not wholly described by any seven senses a person could name played flutes of ultraviolet fire. Creatures with only the vaguest impression of what codified physical laws were and the life that resulted from such conformity of physics pranced about in vile dances, psychic susurrations filling the void with their gibbering, bouncing unnoticed off of the things with stars for hearts and all of the intelligence of amoebas as they plied across eternity.
It was a realm without rationality or order, where the inhabitants were called evil not out of any particular malevolence on their part but because they lacked the understanding to act in any way other than callous sadism to the beings of reality. There were predators in this inscrutable place, but malice was in short supply.
But not entirely missing, although much of the true evil rather than negligent destruction stemmed from places where the capacity to make the rational decision to hurt another existed, for amongst the mindless revellers and cosmic sharks, there were creatures that knew what they did. A few of them were also very good at what they did.
One of those creatures drifted between the layers of unreality, a bad dream with teeth that shifted through thoughts and memory like a thief carefully examining an underwear drawer looking for hidden valuables who did not wish discovery later, this creature carefully hunted for what it was looking for. No stranger to nightmare realms, it slipped between monstrosities the size of galaxies stuffed within universes no larger than a deck of cards from the outside, seeking out the fault lines of this place before it slipped outside of even this outside.
Indescribable to any being not born to such places, it was like floating outside of the chaos of unlikely activity around a deep sea thermal vent, surrounded on all sides by utter lifelessness but gazing in at a riot of life just a scant hand’s breadth away. Or it was like orbiting about a distant star in the dark void, listening to the crackle of nuclear fusion surrounded by a dense blanket of hydrogen plasma and the thrum of the cosmic background radiation while observing the impossibly distant goings on of creatures upon one of the chunks of rock orbiting the star. Except neither one of those analogies could possibly hope to capture even a glimmer of what was actually happening. Languages for creatures that existed in one spatial dimension and one temporal one could not hope to capture the essence of the experience for the brains of such creatures could not conceive of the necessary thoughts. Their nervous systems by definition did not have the necessary degrees of freedom to process such concepts.
It was a hostile realm, hostile to even the impossible creatures that dwelt just beyond, for it was a void like no other – Void deserving the capitalization – an utter lack of anything. The creature could tolerate exposure to it, but not for long, although since this place had no conception of time, ‘not for long’ could be a very long time indeed.
Moving along the boundary between the place of madness and the Void like a diver pulling himself along the bottom of a lightless ocean, the creature continued its search, running tendrils of thought across a membranous surface, if such words could be abused into applying to such a situation. It then paused when it discovered a vein of something with infinitely more substance than anything else in this place, something with no substance where it had originated from.
Following the vein, the creature discovered more of them, and followed the network along, always seeking to follow the larger of the branches in the hopes that they would lead back to the source, to the target the creature sought.
And then, anticlimactically, it found it. Sitting there, a black pearl nestled like a tumour between the crushing darkness of the Void and the maddening blackness of the insanity beyond, was what was sought. Tendrils gently stroked the armoured shell of reality about the sphere before it shifted away, plunging back in to the undefined realm and heading towards more familiar places, a diver surfacing from the abyss seeking fresh air.
As the being plunged through the unreal places between places and neared the order of something real, it could feel the ebb of power refilling its depleted banks of energy. It could probably turn about to return to its discovery now, but it decided to fully resurface and consider its options.
Finding the crack in reality where it had entered from, the creature slithered into the little pocket antechamber between the madness behind him and the reality before him. Shutting the door to the planar airlock, he then shifted into a form more suited to this environment and undid the lock protecting the world beyond.
Stepping out into the chamber, Lars stared up into the barrels of a Gatling gun and cried out, “I’ve found her!”
The Republic of Noctis, the so called Iron Crown of the North, had replaced the annihilated Silverymoon as the fulcrum about which the Silver Marches rotated, especially as some of the long term effects of the Time of Troubles sank in. In fact, the Avatar Period was considered only the beginning of the Troubles and some scholars still argued about whether or not the cataclysm was still occurring.
For one thing, magic was now much less stable, partially because of damage to the Weave when the first Mystra died, partially because of contamination by energies from the Far Realm when Marella had been consumed, and partially because when the new Mystra had been elevated to godhood she had immediately gone batshit fucking insane.
No one had really noticed at first as she had seemingly been just a kind hearted woman with a strong sense of morals who had suggested changing the way magic worked so that only equally moral individuals and deities could use it. Then Cyric had made his first, and only, plot against her.
They would likely be picking chunks of the dead god out of the planes for thousands of years to come.
Ao easily restrained the psychotic goddess, only to discover that there was no way to fix her as the damage to her mind came from the fact that her portfolio had been warped. Touches of madness from the Far Realm were now written into the Weave, and unless Ao wanted to completely undo everything in the Realms to get rid of it, any deity put in charge of the Weave would naturally go insane.
A certain young Elder Evil had been contacted to perhaps put Mystra out of her misery, but the offer had been politely yet firmly declined. Partly it was because Lars wanted as little further to do with the gods as possible.
Mostly it was because he’d used up his last God Killing shell during the Siege of Nesmé and he really did not want it to get out that he’d been bluffing some of the most powerful entities in the multiverse, any of whom could have squashed him like a bug if they actually knew how weak he actually was, and several of whom would come back to squash him if they found out.
Eventually the situation had eventually been stabilized, if not actually solved, by completely cutting away all the parts of her portfolio that didn’t directly relate to maintenance of the Weave and then sealing her in her realm where she theoretically couldn’t hurt anyone. She was now something of a kind hearted mother figure with a lopsided view on how to deal with things.
This, combined with the discovery of the Marella Heresies and the summoning of the creatures eventually dubbed weave wraiths had caused an enormous amount of damage to people’s trust in magic. The options seemed to be to tap into the Weave and go insane, make deals with dead things lurking in the Weave and go insane, look into the Shadow Weave but since the goddess controlling that was lost in the Far Realm that also probably involved insanity, or find an intermediary like a god to prepare the spells for you. But since the gods had generally all acted like huge pricks while in avatar form there was a growing feeling that you had to be insane in the first place to suck up to them like that.
Well, right up until the new god of the dead got into a shouting match with one of the few non-deities who could get away with getting into a shouting match with a god. Finally, somewhat begrudgingly, Kelemvor actually told the world about how the afterlife actually worked and the necessity of having a divine patron to ensure a proper afterlife. The fiends were a touch annoyed in that one of their better harvesting tactics was revealed, but it wasn’t like they could stop Kelemvor, and with Lars hissing menacingly in the background no one dared to bring it up.
The power balance left by the loss in confidence of magic left an attractive hole for Noctis to fill… if not for the fact that demand for new ways of doing things far outstripped the ability to supply and actually get what supplies they had to those who wanted such things. Also, the gods of invention and knowledge weren’t actually pleased with Noctis as Skuld had quietly carved out a large portfolio and all of the work done in Nesmé and the surrounding area fell under her absent purview.
Then there was the issue of citizenship. Noctis allowed as citizens many species and individuals who were considered evil monsters by ‘good’ nations and despite having executed more than a few individuals or groups who had proven as treacherous as their familial reputations suggested, many civilized groups had for a long time refused to trade with them. The barbarians tended to die in futile wars, perpetuating the idea that Noctis was imperialistic. This was despite the fact that such annexations were both to prevent disgruntled survivors from launching further attacks and to prevent the catastrophic economic collapse of the devastated tribes in the wake of losing up to ninety percent of their male population.
Then there were all the pantheons that had been pissed off in one form or another, especially the elves, who except for those already part of Noctis or who had gone renegade, refused to trade with Noctis and often went out of their way to ensure no one else did either. And while public perceptions against magic were shifting, the mages still tended to be very powerful people economically and politically, and few of them had love for the group trying to supplant their supremacy. When everything added together, there were very few groups outside the borders of Noctis that were willing to actually trade with them or form alliances.
The fact that, after ten years, one of the major dwarf clans in the region was finally willing to send an emissary to talk to them about anything other than where the borders should be drawn.
The party that had arrived had been somewhat unusual by most standards but seemed utterly mundane by the new Nesmé standards except for the station of the leader of the group.
“Ah, it is not often that we have a once and future king in our presence,” Johan said as the group from Mithral Hall arrived.
“Bah! Once, maybe, but Gandulag is still spry even after all he went through at the hands of the matron and crawling out of the ruins of the Underdark, so he still has plenty of time as the king left and I not be taking it from him any time soon,” Bruenor Battlehammer replied somewhat dismissively.
“Ah, you be an overmodest fool father! Everyone knows that even if he lives another century you will still live longer and be the one everyone chooses when his appointed time comes,” his adopted daughter Catti-brie said mockingly, causing the others to chuckle and the dwarf leader to grumble in annoyance.
Smiling, the business magnate and community leader who had been tasked with greeting them said, “Your loyalty to your king is a credit to your people, good dwarf. I must apologize for not being a trained diplomat, but so much of the Republic’s relations with others has been strained for so long that mostly we just glare at each other. And since none are as good at glaring as our marshal…”
Bruenor chuckled and said, “If even half the rumours are true then he is supposed to be some sort of hissing demon from the deepest part of the Abyss to whom even the over god is terrified of!”
The laughter died down when Johan looked rather uncomfortable and said, “I’m surprised that only half the rumours are that bad. And Ao doesn’t actually fear him, precisely. But uh… he is currently indisposed so he is unavailable to clear up such things personally, which he is best suited to do as he knows the full story. But in any case, as you may have already known from the diplomatic package, I am Johan Smith and I will be your host while in Nesmé.”
“A rather interesting choice, to send an ironworker to speak to dwarves,” a plump halfling with an enormous ruby about his neck pointed out suspiciously.
Grinning, Johan said, “While some might attribute that to some form of racism on our part, the fact that I am well equipped to ‘talk shop’ is somewhat of a bonus for us. No, I was chosen in an attempt to put a little initial distance the people of Noctis from some of the policy decision made by our government, which while supported within the Republic have not been popular outside our territory. Also, since we feel that initial negotiations should be primarily one of trade to develop trust, the fact that I am one of the wealthier businessmen in the city makes me well suited to such talks.”
“If you’re right trying to line your own pockets while doing so,” the halfling pointed out.
“Regis!” Catti-brie snapped.
“Ah, no worries. Those who gave me this task did so with the expectation that I would try and increase my own wealth, just that I would do it all out in the open. Perhaps a bit of a naïve stance to take, but we are still sorting out how to run our nation and I am also well trusted in the community due to both my work and the work of my wife, who is another pillar of the community as the headmistress of the academy,” Johan explained.
“Fair enough,” Bruenor said. “Lead the way.”
“Well, there are many places to see. There is my own personal business, there are the parts of the Blackstone Fortress open the public, there is the academy, and there is Parliament. Considering that we are looking at perhaps selling you some of our ironworking equipment, would you like to see foundries first?” Johan asked politely.
Bruenor glanced over at the one member of his group who had yet to say anything and instead he said, “Actually, I think I would like to see the school. I have heard many things about that place those in charge and I want to see what is true and what is false.”
Johan laughed and said, “My wife did not in fact kill Lolth nor have anything to do with that incident, and even if a third of the rumours about your companion are true then a sparring match between her and your friend would not be all that impressive as she is nowhere near his level of swordsmanship.”
The drow ranger, lurking the background and looking distinctly uncomfortable in the transformed Nesmé with its large population of drow from Menzoberranzan, had an utterly shocked look cross his face before Bruenor smacked him in the small of the back and roared cheerily, “Come on you blasted elf! I figured out of all of us you would be the one most interested in this place!”
Shaking his head, Johan turned before he stopped dead when a man in plain garb approached him and said, “Ah, Johan, I see you are busy with visitors, but perhaps could I borrow your ear for a second.”
“Uh… yes, yes, of course… err… this is Bruenor Battlehammer and his companions from Mithral Hall. They have come to begin negotiations for trade,” Johan explained nervously.
“Ah. Then I shall not trouble you for long. You know that thing we discussed earlier?” The man asked.
His eyes going wide, Johan nodded and said, “You… you…”
“Perhaps,” the man replied, to which Johan just shut up and nodded. “So is it ready?”
“Yeah… yeah, it’s mostly ready. It obviously hasn’t been tested or you would already know, but otherwise you can take it out now. Just ask at the foundry,” Johan replied almost stuttering.
“Perfect,” the man said before he rushed off.
“Who was that?” Bruenor asked.
“Uh… someone important, going incognito. I’ve been helping him with a project, but I can’t say any more than that,” Johan explained. “This is uh… I’ll take you to the academy but I’m going to have to speak with my wife privately first. This is pretty big.”
Far away and yet very near, depending on how you measured things, Lars floated in the void around the black pearl. He was fairly certain this was where she rested. However the defences erected were too strong for something such as him to get in through, an event he had anticipated might, and probably would, happen. So he had figured out a way to piggy back inside.
Pushing a bit of something real he had wrapped his essence about, he pressed it against the barrier, at first encountering massive resistance as the barrier tried to resist the intrusion before it went over the initial energy barrier and the bit of physical matter was drawn into the reality, more at home there than in the Void.
As it was pulled in, Lars slipped inside the collection of matter, using it to protect and sustain himself while in the reality constructed to protect Skuld from the Far Realm. Hopefully he would be able to quickly find and contact her so they could work on getting her out.
With the look of a splinter being forced out of a wound by the immune system, only much faster and using a three dimensional bubble of space-time rather than a patch of skin, what looked like a mannequin made out of plates of metal and bundles of wire was shoved into the reality constructed as a defensive measure.
No one but perhaps a few birds noticed this grotesque spectacle of warped physics as it occurred about a kilometre above the surface of the local planet.
Note to self: include wings on the next model.
The impact of a large amount of metal on the local landscape was noticed though.
“Vat do hyu tink it iz?” An oddly accented voice asked while Lars struggled facedown to realign all of the parts of his wire-doll so that it would work correctly.
“Hy don' know, it looks like a Klenk fell from de sky,” another voice replied.
“Vell uf kourse it’s a Klenk! But vy deed it fall from de sky und vat iz it doink here?” A third, more sarcastic voice pointed out.
Still face down in the dirt and restricted to the dimensions of the doll, Lars asked in a screeching, metallic voice somewhat muffled by being shoved into dirt, “Excuse me gentlemen, but I am looking for a young woman. Perhaps you have seen her; she has incredible power and a proclivity towards building elaborate if explosive inventions.”
“De Klenk talked!” The first voice cried out.
“Vell duh! Und it sounds like its lookink for de Heterodyne gurl!” The third voice, quite possibly the leader of the group, said.
“It und everyone else!” The second voice replied.
“Do hyu tink ve schould tell it?” The first voice asked.
Lars had the sinking feeling he was about to enter into an Abbot and Costello skit.
I love learning. Teach me. I will listen. You know, if Christian dogma included a ten-foot tall Jesus walking around in battle armor and smashing retarded cultists with a gaint mace, I might just convert - Noble Ire on Jesus smashing Scientologists
Six questions:
1) When Mystra killed Cyric, did she absorb his portfolio? If yes, then that’d mean you got an insane goddess of magic and knowledge now in charge of murder, lies, intrigue, deception, and illusions. If she wasn’t insane before, she is now.
2) Being insane doesn’t always mean having a bad memory or unaware of your surroundings, so it’s possible that Mystra will recall Lars refusing to kill her and look favorably upon him if she ever escapes from her confinement (you know she will eventually). Unfortunately, being insane means that her definition of “favorably” is far off from the accepted norm.
3) Have the Whispered taken over the Shadovar enclaves? If not, have they fled to Noctis? Even if the Shadow Weave is unattended, their scientific knowledge should allow them to compensate for erratic magical activity.
4) If Noctis has a stable, functioning gate/portal, could they could send diplomatic scouts to distant lands or other planes of reality? They could establish trade negotiations with people who haven’t been alienated yet by rumors of Noctis' threat to the status quo of medieval lifestyle.
5) As the daughter of Skuld, is Gunnhild the de facto caretaker of the Shadow Weave?
6) How are the Chosen of Mystra handling the imprisonment of their patron goddess? Where is Alustriel of Silverymoon during all of this?
Valorie wrote:1) When Mystra killed Cyric, did she absorb his portfolio? If yes, then that’d mean you got an insane goddess of magic and knowledge now in charge of murder, lies, intrigue, deception, and illusions. If she wasn’t insane before, she is now.
They've already taken away everything from her but the weave. She's now just the goddess of magic as shown here.
Eventually the situation had eventually been stabilized, if not actually solved, by completely cutting away all the parts of her portfolio that didn’t directly relate to maintenance of the Weave
Kelemvor publicly revealed that a divine patron is needed to ensure a proper afterlife. Some (like myself) would consider an absentee deity* like Skuld to be an ideal compromise: you get into heaven paying lip service to goddess that isn’t there to dictate dogma or boss you around. All you have to do is stay on Gunnhild’s good side and its live-n’-let-live. *Sseth/Merrshaulk of the yuan-ti has been slumbering for centuries and yet his worshippers still get in the afterlife, although he doesn’t answer the prayers of his clerics or grant spells, so it’s an uneven trade off. There are a decent number of desperate people like Rask the Archanomancer who’d sell their souls to fiends to avoid the Wall of Faithless but now have other alternatives to consider, so Skuld’s church might look pretty good to them.
TRADING: Likely: orcs, surface drow, Whispered of the Shadow Enclave, displaced survivors of Silverymoon and Elk Tribe, maybe a few lycanthrope clans. Possible: Mirthil Hall, Icewind Dale, the Harpell of Longsaddle (most are too eager and reckless to worry about their long-term political influence), Skullport the undercity between Waterydeep, etc.
Valorie wrote:Being insane doesn’t always mean having a bad memory or unaware of your surroundings, so it’s possible that Mystra will recall Lars refusing to kill her and look favorably upon him if she ever escapes from her confinement (you know she will eventually). Unfortunately, being insane means that her definition of “favorably” is far off from the accepted norm.
Many great dramas involve a female defending her boyfriend from the unwanted attention of other women, Lars isn't done being the Universe's Spittoon just yet.
I'm surprised Sharess/Bast hasn't send agents to investigate Noctis, both for weakening Shar and giving workers enough free time to explore hedonistic pleasures.
Is Lars still in Faerun? It looks like he made a crack in reality to go fishing in, but that doesn't exactly seem safe, and Ao (who presumably is the most qualified being to stand guard) doesn't seem the type to use a Gatling.
So wait, the Weave has been irrevocably tainted by the stench of Chaos? Ouch.
“Well, there are many places to see. There is my own personal business, there are the parts of the Blackstone Fortress open the public, there is the academy, and there is Parliament. Considering that we are looking at perhaps selling you some of our ironworking equipment, would you like to see foundries first?” Johan asked politely.
Open to the public, yes?
His name is Johan Smith? How generic...and yet ironically appropriate at the same time.
Fragment of the Lord of Nightmares, release thy heavenly retribution. Blade of cold, black nothingness: become my power, become my body. Together, let us walk the path of destruction and smash even the souls of the Gods! RAGNA BLADE!
Lore Monkey | the Pichu-master™
Secularism—since AD 80
Av: Elika; Prince of Persia
Hmm...i would think more that Agatha's procreation and birth may have been "induced" in order to provide the slightly "BATSHIT/NUTS/INSANE" Skuld with a vessel what could understand the sheer complexity of some of the more esoteric sciences and meta-sciences required to either release her physical from wherever she is, or to return to Lars and Gunhild using Agatha's body. That, or the Secret of the Heterodyne's Castle, and their outrageously strong "Spark" gift it may be related to Skuld herself.....
A devoted follower of the Chaos Goddess and her way.....
Buck Murdock: Oh, cut the bleeding heart crap, will ya? We've all got our switches, lights, and knobs to deal with, Striker. I mean, down here there are literally hundreds and thousands of blinking, beeping, and flashing lights, blinking and beeping and flashing - they're *flashing* and they're *beeping*. I can't stand it anymore! They're *blinking* and *beeping* and *flashing*! Why doesn't somebody pull the plug!
MichaelAwesome wrote:Kelemvor publicly revealed that a divine patron is needed to ensure a proper afterlife. Some (like myself) would consider an absentee deity* like Skuld to be an ideal compromise: you get into heaven paying lip service to goddess that isn’t there to dictate dogma or boss you around. All you have to do is stay on Gunnhild’s good side and its live-n’-let-live. *Sseth/Merrshaulk of the yuan-ti has been slumbering for centuries and yet his worshippers still get in the afterlife, although he doesn’t answer the prayers of his clerics or grant spells, so it’s an uneven trade off. There are a decent number of desperate people like Rask the Archanomancer who’d sell their souls to fiends to avoid the Wall of Faithless but now have other alternatives to consider, so Skuld’s church might look pretty good to them.
Of course when Skuld returns a large number of those who are only worshipers because of the easy demands would quickly leave. Some will stay out of habit or duty of course, but I can see many of the new 'free lunch' members quiting.
Oh, and Skuld has Lars and her companions to dictate doctrine in her abscence.
