Post by Meirielle on Nov 6, 2008 8:09:30 GMT -7
((Diplomacy lore spoiler for any wanting to discover this on their own, written through Meirielle’s perspective.))
The moon was high and the night calm when Meirielle made her quiet camp on the shores of Kojan, out of sight but not far from the busy city of Tanvu. A small fire crackled within a sandy ring, illuminating several small glass jars the mage had pulled from her travel pack and lined up before her where she sat. Next to her lay an open journal filled with notes, sketches of anatomy and all sorts of scribbles only she could decipher. Her face was a pale sliver in the moonlight, mostly hidden by a wave of fiery red locks that fell over her features as she worked.
“Dare I ask what that is?” A velvety voice shattered the half elf’s concentration, bringing Meirielle’s head up in a snap. She peered into the darkness that bordered her camp, night blinded by the firelight. She was met by two crimson orbs peering back at her, the rest of the intruder’s body shrouded in shadows.
“Cybella,” Meirielle smiled. “Come into the light.”
“I have striven to do that my entire life. Yet few seem to believe.” As she spoke, the dark elf strode gracefully forward with a commanding elegance, melting from the darkness that had blanketed her approach. Snowy tresses adorned her head and fell down her back in a cascading wave of silk, swept away from her delicately featured face with an ornate hair pin inlaid with glittering gems.
“So what is it?” she asked again, nodding at the jars.
“Better to not ask,” Meirielle smiled. “But with these ‘materials’ I can construct symbiotes to aid us in battle. They can cover an ally in protective scales…leech poison from your flesh…this one I work on now will eventually allow me to levitate as I wish.”
Cybella peered closer, noting that the rather ‘fleshy’ looking substances held within the jars were twitching and pulsating as if alive.
“Disgusting.”
Meirielle shrugged, not offended in the slightest, though these morbid creations were her current obsession. How she wished she had the luxury of putting down roots and building a home to house the laboratory of her dreams. She would never leave it.
“So I heard you have been promoted to Jurator of the Empire. This surprises me. Diplomacy was never your passion.” Changing the subject, Cybella still found her eyes drawn to the contents of the jars, mesmerized by her own revulsion. She had heard of these “experiments” blood mages enjoy partaking in, by use of still living body tissue. She wondered what unfortunate creature has been harvested for this latest symbiote.
“Yes, that is true. Not everyone is happy about that. I suppose that is how such news travels so fast.” Meirielle paused, looking over in the way of Tanvu. “I have learned much in this pursuit, enough to brush aside my distaste for maneuvering within the political circles of the Magistrates. Undoubtedly you know of the Ulvari, Cybella?”
“Of course,” nodded the dark elf.
“And you have heard the rumors of the Emperor’s ‘troubled’ dreams? The Ulvari invasion is far more reaching then I before knew.”
Cybella stared at Meirielle, not at first following her logic. “Do you mean to say that the Ulvari are causing his restlessness?”
“I suspect, though it neither starts nor ends with the Emperor. My first case was to investigate two murders that occurred between two of the domestic families in the village. A young woman had been brutally murdered – hacked apart – by the man she was soon to marry. He, in turn, had been murdered by the woman’s brother in a similarly brutal fashion. Seemingly an act of revenge.”
Cybella listened, reminded suddenly of Pankor Zhi. She smirked at that, the memory not fond but the irony not missed on her. “Not revenge then…Or is your tone misleading me?”
“Not revenge. Both murders occurred after the perpetrators of each crime had been afflicted with terrible dreams. Suggestive dreams.”
Cybella laughed at that. “You claim a dream made them do it?” Quirking an eyebrow, she grinned and added, “You pale skinned folks certainly have difficulty reconciling the darker side of your nature.”
Meirielle leaned forward, her blue eyes blazing, “No, listen to me! The Magistrates know of this…it was all a test. I uncovered a secret many of them feel I should not have. The Ulvari have found a way to get into their heads through dreams. I was promoted to Jurator of the Empire not because I have a future in that career…but rather to get rid of me. My jurisdiction is no longer Tanvu.”
The dark elf narrowed her crimson eyes, “So the Magistrates are corrupt and plot with the Ulvari?”
Meirielle shook her head, “Not exactly. Some of the Houses are controlled through these dreams. I do not think they aid the Ulvari by their own free will…nor of their own knowing. But it is turning the Magistrates against one another. Assassinations are becoming more and more common. The Ulvari will not need to take Tanvu by force. They can sit and watch it fall from within, seeded with the strife they have been sowing in these dreams.”
Cybella sat back, watching her friend.
“What’s more…I have seen them. I have seen the Ulvari that caused the fishermens' families to murder their loved ones. I saw them and I killed them.” Meirielle shook her head in dismay. “For the twenty I slew, there are a hundred more waiting to burst through their portals.”
“How many Magistrates can be trusted?” Cybella asked curiously, thinking she remembered there to be Ten Houses in all.
“Two.”
“Two?” Cybella gasped.
“Perhaps three. The Jadedragons may yet be uncorrupt. House Aurora and House Threecranes can still be trusted. They call it a Dream War. They were teaching me to become a dreamwalker to fight these Ulvari, for they must be fought in the Dreamworld.”
Cybella snorted, “Plenty of Ulvari out here in these forests to slay. Perhaps we just must get to it faster before the Empire collapses.”
“To the Shadow War…”
“What?”
“That is what the Auroras’ called the secret war the Magistrates have been playing at,” Meirielle explained. “Some of it is influenced by the Ulvari’s dreams…some of it is not. Power corrupts, and the Magistracy is no exception. These two wars fuel each other, and with the Empire internally weakened from both war fronts, all of Kojan is at great risk.”
The two sat in silence a moment, each imagining a future overrun with the Ulvari.
“You are not really leaving Tanvu, are you?” Cybella asked.
“Of course not. People need to know of this.”
Cybella nodded, smiling despite the dire circumstances. It felt good to have something to fight for once again. Perhaps it was selfish. But...she was dark elf.
The moon was high and the night calm when Meirielle made her quiet camp on the shores of Kojan, out of sight but not far from the busy city of Tanvu. A small fire crackled within a sandy ring, illuminating several small glass jars the mage had pulled from her travel pack and lined up before her where she sat. Next to her lay an open journal filled with notes, sketches of anatomy and all sorts of scribbles only she could decipher. Her face was a pale sliver in the moonlight, mostly hidden by a wave of fiery red locks that fell over her features as she worked.
“Dare I ask what that is?” A velvety voice shattered the half elf’s concentration, bringing Meirielle’s head up in a snap. She peered into the darkness that bordered her camp, night blinded by the firelight. She was met by two crimson orbs peering back at her, the rest of the intruder’s body shrouded in shadows.
“Cybella,” Meirielle smiled. “Come into the light.”
“I have striven to do that my entire life. Yet few seem to believe.” As she spoke, the dark elf strode gracefully forward with a commanding elegance, melting from the darkness that had blanketed her approach. Snowy tresses adorned her head and fell down her back in a cascading wave of silk, swept away from her delicately featured face with an ornate hair pin inlaid with glittering gems.
“So what is it?” she asked again, nodding at the jars.
“Better to not ask,” Meirielle smiled. “But with these ‘materials’ I can construct symbiotes to aid us in battle. They can cover an ally in protective scales…leech poison from your flesh…this one I work on now will eventually allow me to levitate as I wish.”
Cybella peered closer, noting that the rather ‘fleshy’ looking substances held within the jars were twitching and pulsating as if alive.
“Disgusting.”
Meirielle shrugged, not offended in the slightest, though these morbid creations were her current obsession. How she wished she had the luxury of putting down roots and building a home to house the laboratory of her dreams. She would never leave it.
“So I heard you have been promoted to Jurator of the Empire. This surprises me. Diplomacy was never your passion.” Changing the subject, Cybella still found her eyes drawn to the contents of the jars, mesmerized by her own revulsion. She had heard of these “experiments” blood mages enjoy partaking in, by use of still living body tissue. She wondered what unfortunate creature has been harvested for this latest symbiote.
“Yes, that is true. Not everyone is happy about that. I suppose that is how such news travels so fast.” Meirielle paused, looking over in the way of Tanvu. “I have learned much in this pursuit, enough to brush aside my distaste for maneuvering within the political circles of the Magistrates. Undoubtedly you know of the Ulvari, Cybella?”
“Of course,” nodded the dark elf.
“And you have heard the rumors of the Emperor’s ‘troubled’ dreams? The Ulvari invasion is far more reaching then I before knew.”
Cybella stared at Meirielle, not at first following her logic. “Do you mean to say that the Ulvari are causing his restlessness?”
“I suspect, though it neither starts nor ends with the Emperor. My first case was to investigate two murders that occurred between two of the domestic families in the village. A young woman had been brutally murdered – hacked apart – by the man she was soon to marry. He, in turn, had been murdered by the woman’s brother in a similarly brutal fashion. Seemingly an act of revenge.”
Cybella listened, reminded suddenly of Pankor Zhi. She smirked at that, the memory not fond but the irony not missed on her. “Not revenge then…Or is your tone misleading me?”
“Not revenge. Both murders occurred after the perpetrators of each crime had been afflicted with terrible dreams. Suggestive dreams.”
Cybella laughed at that. “You claim a dream made them do it?” Quirking an eyebrow, she grinned and added, “You pale skinned folks certainly have difficulty reconciling the darker side of your nature.”
Meirielle leaned forward, her blue eyes blazing, “No, listen to me! The Magistrates know of this…it was all a test. I uncovered a secret many of them feel I should not have. The Ulvari have found a way to get into their heads through dreams. I was promoted to Jurator of the Empire not because I have a future in that career…but rather to get rid of me. My jurisdiction is no longer Tanvu.”
The dark elf narrowed her crimson eyes, “So the Magistrates are corrupt and plot with the Ulvari?”
Meirielle shook her head, “Not exactly. Some of the Houses are controlled through these dreams. I do not think they aid the Ulvari by their own free will…nor of their own knowing. But it is turning the Magistrates against one another. Assassinations are becoming more and more common. The Ulvari will not need to take Tanvu by force. They can sit and watch it fall from within, seeded with the strife they have been sowing in these dreams.”
Cybella sat back, watching her friend.
“What’s more…I have seen them. I have seen the Ulvari that caused the fishermens' families to murder their loved ones. I saw them and I killed them.” Meirielle shook her head in dismay. “For the twenty I slew, there are a hundred more waiting to burst through their portals.”
“How many Magistrates can be trusted?” Cybella asked curiously, thinking she remembered there to be Ten Houses in all.
“Two.”
“Two?” Cybella gasped.
“Perhaps three. The Jadedragons may yet be uncorrupt. House Aurora and House Threecranes can still be trusted. They call it a Dream War. They were teaching me to become a dreamwalker to fight these Ulvari, for they must be fought in the Dreamworld.”
Cybella snorted, “Plenty of Ulvari out here in these forests to slay. Perhaps we just must get to it faster before the Empire collapses.”
“To the Shadow War…”
“What?”
“That is what the Auroras’ called the secret war the Magistrates have been playing at,” Meirielle explained. “Some of it is influenced by the Ulvari’s dreams…some of it is not. Power corrupts, and the Magistracy is no exception. These two wars fuel each other, and with the Empire internally weakened from both war fronts, all of Kojan is at great risk.”
The two sat in silence a moment, each imagining a future overrun with the Ulvari.
“You are not really leaving Tanvu, are you?” Cybella asked.
“Of course not. People need to know of this.”
Cybella nodded, smiling despite the dire circumstances. It felt good to have something to fight for once again. Perhaps it was selfish. But...she was dark elf.
