[M&M] Withering Confluence: The Dropship

[TheGreatJabu]

Everyone:

The metallic interior of the dropship bay may reduce the roaring noise of the craft as it flies, but it gives your conversation the effect of a small echo chamber. The ride constantly experiences small turbulence, preventing you from feeling truly comfortable in the increasingly-stuffy vessel. The discussion amongst the collected strangers here is the sole preoccupation available for most of you.

Amlien settles on a page, glancing up towards Raynor and Ornstein more than the others.
"I serve under Tunon, the Archon of Law, oldest of the Archons, who's power has made him a being of shade. He, like a few, have forbidden study of him, but he restricts how he uses his power to empower himself and his Fatebinders. We are carefully schooled in law, magic, combat, and a great deal more. On achieving rank, we are authorised to speak with the Voice of Tunon, who Speaks for Kyros. We are all equals, and only two can overrule us on matters of law, being Tunon and Kyros. All other arbiters are lesser, though given Archon's set their own laws within their domains, we speak carefully and study a great deal. We are also charged with mediating and deciding arguments between Archons, as well as reading Kyros' edicts."

Unexpectedly, Kerrigan speaks up from her corner of the shuttle. "Hear that, Jim? Another nomadic dispenser of law and order. No wonder you two are hitting it off so famously." A playful smirk lightens her typically stern countenance.

"Oh, 'ha-ha'. I don't reckon signin' up with ya'lls 'terrorist organization' counts as 'law and order'." Raynor smiles faintly, a look of pride in his eyes. "I don't mind callin' it 'justice' though." He plants his two gauntleted hands upon his hips. "Figure ya'll deserve a fair rundown of the mess ya'll've fallen into. Me and Kerrigan are part of an outfit called the 'Sons of Korhal'. And yeah, you heard me right - what passes as the government 'round these parts calls us terrorists. Our group's named that because every last living being on Korhal was killed by the Confederacy. That's what these b@$*@()$ do - they just think they can kill anybody who don't step in line. And we're the first ones to stand up and say 'enough is enough'." Jim started getting rather passionate as he spoke, and has to let out a big breath before he continues. "So yeah. That's who you're hitchin' a ride with right now. If that changes ya'lls mind about wantin' the ride, just say so."

[5ColouredWalker]

Amlien seems to take things in her stride.
"Kyros' rule started as a rebellion, and has continued as a conquest to incorporate everyone into one rule, one that's far better for most than what was before... Besides, we're far away from his law so I'll withhold judgement."

Amlien seems to pause in her skim, raising her right hand. She still doesn't look up, but she seems to be practicing a hand motion with her thumb and pinky, given it's repeated nature.

[TheGreatJabu]

Amlien seems to pause in her skim, raising her right hand. She still doesn't look up, but she seems to be practicing a hand motion with her thumb and pinky, given it's repeated nature.

Amlien's routine seems to have captured Kerrigan's attention. The woman alternates between staring intently at Amlien's hands, and closing her eyes for several seconds at a time. Raynor takes notice, and quips about it. "You're not fallin' asleep on us now, are you?"

The lieutenant replies without changing her pattern of behavior. "It's a lot like physical mnemonics. It's a technique they teach Ghosts to focus their psionic abilities. Certain physical movemens cause your synapses to fire in a specific order, focusing the psychic output." She closes her eyes again and continues. "Whatever she's doing isn't psionic, but I can barely feel it. There's some kind of power, there."

Jim shrugs and pats the weapon on his back. "Sounds too complicated for a farm boy like me. I'm more of a 'point and click' kind of guy." He turns to Ornstein. "Though if I could hold the dang thing up, I wouldn't mind havin' a spear that shoots lightnin' too much. Or does that require a whole lot of meditation too?"

[5ColouredWalker]

"Well, I'm about to do something other than practice movements, tell me what you feel..."

With that, Amlien shifts so her hand is pointing at one of the walls behind her, and with a practiced Sigil of Force, with barely any draw behind it, there's a slight shift of air and tug on the magic of the world. Her hand hides the sigil, but there's a very faint light.
Amlien frowns.
"No... that's far too weak."

Amlien then brings her hand up to her face, and with a second thought tilts it slightly and lids her eyes a little, her hands signing again. The Sigil is again hidden, but the result makes Amlien glare as the slight breeze barely shifts her hair.
Then she does it near her ear, but pointing back. Her eyes are fully closed this time as she concentrates, listening for the faint strumm that comes from Force magic, as a flickery and somewhat broken rune appears in the palm of her hand, creating a slight breeze.
"The draw's maybe a third of what it should be, and it's tainted horribly... But that doesn't make sense because force is based magic." Amlien speaks in a concerned mumble.


Amlien flips through the book a few pages, then closes it with a slam leaving the page unmarked, rifling through her bag and pulling out a much smaller book, more like a journal, flipping through the pages she ends on one with a strange rune and some notes. A bottomless regular pentagon with a dot in the middle. Notes are written around it in a rather scrawling text.
Suddenly, Amlien's expression clears, and she looks up to Kerrigan. There's a pause as Amlien bites her tongue, thinking. Amlien doesn't let down her mental barriers, but she's not particularly hiding that she's trying to find a correct phrasing.

"Lady Kerrigan. I don't seek to pry into any closely held secrets of the School of Ghosts, but with your talk of psionics I assume you're at least aware of magic. Is there a particularly common brand of magic among different schools? On Terratus, the most common Sigil is that of force, and is believed to be the base state of magic, usable mostly for throwing things around with very little shaping. If I had to guess based on what I feel the common type of magic would mostly be based off of manipulating emotions in some way. If you could confirm that would cut down on experimentation quite a great deal."

Amlien doesn't quite veer into sounding subservient, but more towards someone asking potentially costly help from a stranger.

[Emperor Ing]

Meditation, nay, Jim of Raynor. Ornstein shook his head as he brought his spear forward. It was longer than he was tall. You needst only the strength to carry, alacrity to maneuver it upon thine grasp, and faith in the power of the Gods. Needst...I explain, mayhaps. Ornstein leaned forward, drawing his spear back. Upon mine world, within the Age of Ancients, 'twas a time of grey. Of no light, no dark. A time of the Everlasting Dragons. Born from the First Flame, Gwyn, Lord of Sunlight, discovered the Lord Soul of Light. With its power, He and His knights brought battle to the Everlasting Dragons in the War for Disparity. He then tilted his head when he realized that this may very well just be a story to him, and not as an integral part of faith.

Mayhaps upon a future date, shall I expand further upon such legendary tales. For now, understandest thee mine tales art not mere stories collectifying dust upon library shelf. When casteth I lightning from mine spear, recall do I the tales of the Gods. Tales of the Firstborn of Lord Gwyn ripping the stone scales of immortality from the Everlasting Dragons with the power of lightning upon his swordspear.

With faith, can I recall such mightsomely feats, tales of lighting to cast immortality asunder, and wield I such power, if only briefsomely. In mine world, this power, beknown art these as 'miracles.'

Art this none simple pointy stick with lightning, 'tis a divine weapon, beforged by the giant blacksmith of the gods in the likeness of the swordspear of the Sun's Firstborn. One may lift it, certainly. Waveth it around, stick a Hollow with it, yet to truly wield it is to recall the Sun's Firstborn. His power, His majesty, His strength... Ornstein shook his head. Prithee forgive me, have we a history.

Hast thou seen him? He asked rather eagerly. Canst thou misseth him not, art he mine height, a tunic of dragonscale upon his breast, a godly crown and the power of sunlight danceth upon the blade of His swordspear. Must I see Him.

[TheGreatJabu]

[COLOR="#808080"]
"Lady Kerrigan. I don't seek to pry into any closely held secrets of the School of Ghosts, but with your talk of psionics I assume you're at least aware of magic. Is there a particularly common brand of magic among different schools? On Terratus, the most common Sigil is that of force, and is believed to be the base state of magic, usable mostly for throwing things around with very little shaping. If I had to guess based on what I feel the common type of magic would mostly be based off of manipulating emotions in some way. If you could confirm that would cut down on experimentation quite a great deal."

Kerrigan is clearly caught off guard by your question. It's the first time you've her looking uncertain about anything. "Well...I mean...it's not..." She gathers her thoughts for a moment. "Okay, so while we don't call it 'magic' here, I really can't help but wonder how similar they might be. For us, it's not just about - how'd you phrase it? Manipulating emotions?"

To your surprise, Kerrigan gets up from her secluded position and walks over to Amlien, sitting cross-legged down in front of the Fatebinder. "The way we're taught, psionics can be a lot of things. It can be mind-reading, telepathy - talking directly to another mind, and things like that, sure. But it can be a force, like your Sigil. A push, a pull, a lift." Kerrigan leans towards you and lowers her voice. "There were some in my academy that could literally create fire out of thin air using their psionics! And I've read reports of really powerful psychics that can create things like illusions, or even lightning storms. So there's all kinds of things psionics can do. But at their base, what they are are a sort of..." She pauses to think again. "It's like there's this latent energy field that mostly is still. But when someone has developed their psychic potential, they can create a sort of ripple through that energy field that can reach out and effect other things. The psychic just generates the initial push from within themselves, and that sets off the ripples. Making big waves is easy; its creating a precise effect - especially one that's far away from you - that sets apart the experts from the novices." Her voice began to trail off near the end and you suspect her mind was wandering. She, too, realizes this shortly however and snaps back to looking at Amlien. "Did that make any sense? I never was much of a teacher."

With faith, can I recall such mightsomely feats, tales of lighting to cast immortality asunder, and wield I such power, if only briefsomely. In mine world, this power, beknown art these as 'miracles.'

Art this none simple pointy stick with lightning, 'tis a divine weapon, beforged by the giant blacksmith of the gods in the likeness of the swordspear of the Sun's Firstborn. One may lift it, certainly. Waveth it around, stick a Hollow with it, yet to truly wield it is to recall the Sun's Firstborn. His power, His majesty, His strength... Ornstein shook his head. Prithee forgive me, have we a history.

Hast thou seen him? He asked rather eagerly. Canst thou misseth him not, art he mine height, a tunic of dragonscale upon his breast, a godly crown and the power of sunlight danceth upon the blade of His swordspear. Must I see Him.

For the first part of your tale, Raynor displayed obvious awe. The glow seems to fade over the course of your story, however, into concern. "I'm afraid I haven't seen him. Trust me though - if anybody around these parts does, I'll hear about it. Fellas like you don't fall out of the sky every day."

Raynor backs into the bulkhead behind him, points a stiff arm down his torso towards the floor, and slowly eases his legs further and further forward, slowly sinking down along the wall until he's able to sit. He sits with as much bend to his knees that his armor allows, and then rests his crossed arms upon his knees. He asks you a question with apprehension. "So if you don't mind me askin', what happened to that fella? The Firstborn? You made it sound like ya'll were winnin' your war with the dragons. He didn't fall through one of those portals like ya'll, did he?"

[5ColouredWalker]

Amlien nods, appearing thankful.
"I cannot be certain, but it sounds as if your base field is incredibly polluted, perhaps in however long it's taken to achieve such power over metal and such, with Archons and their ilk coming and going. It sounds as if those capable of manipulating the base field are all very minor Archon's somehow, which is something of interest... And if you were all just manipulating the field yourselves by thought, that could explain why you learn towards greater complexities."
Amlien glances down to the open pad below her.
"If I'm right, I imagine most of my Sigil will work at very low power just from a nature draw. With runes of refinement weaved in most Sigil's should work properly, however I'll have to be careful. But, a good way to test if I'm right would be to try Sirin's Sigil with Force's standard draw runes and see how much base magic responds."


With that, Amlien glances once more towards her book, performs a few hand motions, and with her palm down in her lap, performs the Sigil of emotion. Like the first, it's pale and somewhat patchy, but it's far more coherent and brighter pink light than the Sigil of Force. A slight sense of fear assails Amlien's mind, but it's easily ignored by her Bulwark and excitement.
"It works! Just over half draw which would leave just enough room for Sigil's of Storm, Fire and Illusion, among whatever else is mixed in. It also feels like the base emotion's part is somewhat diluted but this is excellent. I daresay Kyros would give up a leg for the chance to study this... If nothing else the composite sigils a truly learned scribe could figure out would be worth a kingdom. It'll take some time to work out the precise changes I need to make to my Sigil's to get them working normally, but this is a good step forward."

Amlien bows towards Kerrigan, as best the Dropship allows.
"Thank you, lady Kerrigan."

[Emperor Ing]

Nay, these portals art a most recentsome phenomenon, am I the only one of mine world do I know to betravel through. Ornstein was aware the extent to which he thought anyone he would recognized from his world could have also traveled through was wishful thinking, at best, but even the slimmest possibility of freeing himself of the Curse of Undeath was better than wasting away into a Hollow.

The War for Disparity against the Everlasting Dragons was won, a once grey, timeless world delivereth it into the light of the Gods of the First Flame. Thus began the Age of Fire. Lord Gwyn recognizeth he the threat of their return, even as their remnants casteth aside their immortalsome form into new, horridsome beasts. The Wyverns, Drakes, Men-Serpents.
Could they adaptify upon a new world, waitifying to the opportunity. By His decree, the infernal serpents shall be cast to ash and bone in totality, their wickedness never to return upon this world.

The Firstborn rebelleth. He sighed. Clemency for thine enemies, demandeth he. That extermination were it not necessary, adaptified had they to the Age of Fire,
from their Age of Grey. Rose didst He against Lord Gwyn, and was cast out for His treachery. His name, plucketh from mine memory was it by Lord Gwyn. Empty pedestals absent statues within Anor Londo His only monument. Though Ornstein speaks of betrayal, there is clear sadness and regret in his voice.

He beraised me from the dregs of humanity. Trained me until was I of Lord Gwyn's mightest knights, bequeathed was I a fragment of His Lord Soul of Light, upon mine mentor's behest. Forgivest me, Jim of Raynor, mean I not to burden thee mine plight, but if may I confide in thee, I fear I chose the wrong side.

[TheGreatJabu]

Amlien nods, appearing thankful.
"I cannot be certain, but it sounds as if your base field is incredibly polluted, perhaps in however long it's taken to achieve such power over metal and such, with Archons and their ilk coming and going. It sounds as if those capable of manipulating the base field are all very minor Archon's somehow, which is something of interest... And if you were all just manipulating the field yourselves by thought, that could explain why you learn towards greater complexities."
Amlien glances down to the open pad below her.
"If I'm right, I imagine most of my Sigil will work at very low power just from a nature draw. With runes of refinement weaved in most Sigil's should work properly, however I'll have to be careful. But, a good way to test if I'm right would be to try Sirin's Sigil with Force's standard draw runes and see how much base magic responds."


With that, Amlien glances once more towards her book, performs a few hand motions, and with her palm down in her lap, performs the Sigil of emotion. Like the first, it's pale and somewhat patchy, but it's far more coherent and brighter pink light than the Sigil of Force. A slight sense of fear assails Amlien's mind, but it's easily ignored by her Bulwark and excitement.
"It works! Just over half draw which would leave just enough room for Sigil's of Storm, Fire and Illusion, among whatever else is mixed in. It also feels like the base emotion's part is somewhat diluted but this is excellent. I daresay Kyros would give up a leg for the chance to study this... If nothing else the composite sigils a truly learned scribe could figure out would be worth a kingdom. It'll take some time to work out the precise changes I need to make to my Sigil's to get them working normally, but this is a good step forward."

Amlien bows towards Kerrigan, as best the Dropship allows.
"Thank you, lady Kerrigan."

Kerrigan blinks. "You're...welcome?" She chuckles - it seems like she doesn't do that much. "I'm glad you got something out of it. I didn't think I was making any sense, and hearing your response just confused me even more." She gives a tired smile. "I don't think I've ever talked about psionics before. Not since the Pro- my training," she corrects herself.

The Firstborn rebelleth. He sighed. Clemency for thine enemies, demandeth he. That extermination were it not necessary, adaptified had they to the Age of Fire,
from their Age of Grey. Rose didst He against Lord Gwyn, and was cast out for His treachery. His name, plucketh from mine memory was it by Lord Gwyn. Empty pedestals absent statues within Anor Londo His only monument. Though Ornstein speaks of betrayal, there is clear sadness and regret in his voice.

He beraised me from the dregs of humanity. Trained me until was I of Lord Gwyn's mightest knights, bequeathed was I a fragment of His Lord Soul of Light, upon mine mentor's behest. Forgivest me, Jim of Raynor, mean I not to burden thee mine plight, but if may I confide in thee, I fear I chose the wrong side.

Raynor listens, looking rather sober for one that you gather is quick to joke. "Hell, it can't have been easy to have been this Firstborn. Ya'll spent almost all your existence fightin' the dragons, and then he turns around and says that they can have peace now? I've seen the Zerg of this universe; seen them kill. Seen them consume planets whole. I don't know if I could ever do what your guy did and just forgive 'em." He's silent for several moments, then continues to speak without looking back up. "Guess it depends on them. The dragons OR the Zerg. I knew a pretty wise fella once. He told me that it's not about what you're born, or how you're raised. It's about the choices that you make, and no matter what path you were on, you can turn around with a single decison." He looks up at you. "Maybe your dragons were more than just monsters, and they made that choice. And then maybe your Firstborn saw that, and made his choice, too. Couldn't have been easy." He looks back down at the ground. "It seems awful easy to say I couldn't ever change my mind about the Zerg. Maybe some day I'll have that choice to make. Lord, I hope not." He shakes his head, then returns his gaze to you, the familiar smile returned. "Seems like you made your choice, though. I mean, you didn't say 'Hail to thee, Raynor! Wherest shall I find the swiftest path home following mine glorious victory in mine quest'. You'd be lookin' for him again, quest or no quest. I respect that."

[5ColouredWalker]

Kerrigan blinks. "You're...welcome?" She chuckles - it seems like she doesn't do that much. "I'm glad you got something out of it. I didn't think I was making any sense, and hearing your response just confused me even more." She gives a tired smile. "I don't think I've ever talked about psionics before. Not since the Pro- my training," she corrects herself.

"I can imagine not having much time to refine your... Psionics outside of combat applications in War, but no time at all?"
Amlien shakes her head.
"If you'd like, I'd be happy to talk after I've had some time to refine my Sigil's into usability. It might be interesting teaching you mine alongside another, to test my idea regarding your world's Archons... Anyhow, I've got to fix these sigils, and will need to focus."

With that, Amlien goes to her original tome.

[Emperor Ing]

Ppppht!! Ornstein snorts with laughter at Jim's mimicry. Ahem, forgivest me, was I not expecting that.

Speakify to thineself, too. Thou fightest for a cause thou believest in against a great empire and horriblesome swarms. Shalt not I judge upon vast sociopolitical causes wholly alien to mineself, having still coming I to terms of civilization beyond the sky.

Surely thou hast much insight into the nature of Curses. A long shot, but it didn't hurt to ask.

[TheGreatJabu]

"I can imagine not having much time to refine your... Psionics outside of combat applications in War, but no time at all?"
Amlien shakes her head.
"If you'd like, I'd be happy to talk after I've had some time to refine my Sigil's into usability. It might be interesting teaching you mine alongside another, to test my idea regarding your world's Archons... Anyhow, I've got to fix these sigils, and will need to focus."

With that, Amlien goes to her original tome.

Kerrigan smiles. "Sounds good. I'll leave you to it; give a shout when you're finished." She stands up from her position by you, and hearing a sudden snort of laughter from Ornstein, turns her attention that way.

Surely thou hast much insight into the nature of Curses. A long shot, but it didn't hurt to ask.

Raynor shrugs. "Probably not the kind you're interested in. Here, 'curses' are what we call it when we say...words meant to make somebody mad. And those I'm pretty damn good at."

Kerrigan walks over to join you two in your conversation, folding her arms in front of her before addressing Raynor. "That's terribly helpful Jim." She turns her gaze to Ornstein. "If you can describe what the problem is though, maybe we've got something that could help. What we lack in magic here, we do pretty well in with science. Our healers can do some pretty remarkable stuff."

[Emperor Ing]

Ornstein hesitated. Not sure how best to put it. Maybe he's pushing too far, but he doesn't want to give away his...condition. There's a way to be oblique about it, oh. Of course. It's obvious. The Curse of Undeath. He answered. As the fire doth fade upon mine world, humanity were it afflictified by Undeath. Bekilled, can they be, however shalt they resurrect. Cursed are they to die, over, and over again. Each death erodeth away their memories, personality. Only when nothing remaineth but a pale, beshriveled shadow of a human, a Hollow, art they begranteth release of true-death. He thought about how that would be HIS fate. Had they dealt with the Curse on their world?

On my world, the great Kingdom of Lordran wath it a glorious, shining jewel of civilization. Lordran art it a shadow its former glory. What few remain hide from the Hollow and Demons of Chaos.

Knoweth I not the origin of the curse, but...if thou knowest a way to lift this curse...