Empire 7: Pilgrimage to Bloodhome

[Silent_Interim]

Pilgrimage to Bloodhome

All ye who would join with our god, bring your frail and your elders, your sick and your dying; we shall show you wonder.

How does one put words to a god, manifest in water? The Reef in Red is vast, stretching for miles. A vision like blood in water, sharp like cracked bone, but with an aura of welcome, a sense that, if you cast yourself to it, you will be joyous in the moments before you slice yourself to ribbons.

Normally, Uluist would be the busiest place across the whole Reef, the prime location for the notable to make their final pledge, but today, it has been commandeered by the priests. Nearby to the Reef, on a large platform where families would usually bid farewell to those passing on, smaller tables with seats suitable for a variety of physiques have been set out in orbit an impromptu stage, with a few spaces marked out for those whose physiology might not be suitable for any kind of seating. There would be no hasty last-minute preparations today; this had to run smoothly.

Swimming peacefully, surrounded by bodyguards and with an air of nonchalance, the Living-Speaker himself waits by the stage for the guests to arrive. As they do, ushers show them to their tables, telling them that the Living-Speaker will make a speech before the ‘festivities’ may begin. A few priests linger about, watching intently.

[Tychris1]

Goldfin was much taller than his kin. Standing a head above the rest, his pronounced and eponymous golden fin would act as a kind of banner over the masses. A lighthouse in a tide of flesh. His scaley skin too was daubed in gold, rubbed and scratched into the very edges and crevasses of his being, and upon his face was adorned a solid sheet of brilliant material. He stood apart from the festivities, still as a statue, on a nearby cliffside observing the divine Reef, and the rays of light that reflected from it and his facemask. He was fully standing, his arms outstretched, left fully straight and leveled with his shoulder, and right stretched equally then bent at the forearm to angle towards his left in tandem with the vision of light before him.

A small gathering of Kucen stood behind him, looking on with reverence, and dancing excitedly every few minutes.

[Silent_Interim]

Goldfin was much taller than his kin. Standing a head above the rest, his pronounced and eponymous golden fin would act as a kind of banner over the masses. A lighthouse in a tide of flesh. His scaley skin too was daubed in gold, rubbed and scratched into the very edges and crevasses of his being, and upon his face was adorned a solid sheet of brilliant material. He stood apart from the festivities, still as a statue, on a nearby cliffside observing the divine Reef, and the rays of light that reflected from it and his facemask. He was fully standing, his arms outstretched, left fully straight and leveled with his shoulder, and right stretched equally then bent at the forearm to angle towards his left in tandem with the vision of light before him.

A small gathering of Kucen stood behind him, looking on with reverence, and dancing excitedly every few minutes.

A priest, carrying a bundle of sashes in bright red, gently finned over to the towering kucen. "Welcome to Uluist, honoured one. If there are any among your party who are intending to join with the Choir on this day, I would request that you have them wear one of these sashes, so there is no... confusion, when the time comes." He proffers the bundle. "Please, take as many as you need."

[Miltonian]

A cloud of sand and detritus appears along the horizon. Something moves along the bottom of the ocean, stirring up the ocean floor as it goes. A herd, perhaps, or one very large creature is on the approach.

'A' creature, though, is perhaps a misleading statement. What is on the approach is a colony of many, tiny creatures that have grown over the skeleton of a carnivorous, killer whale. The eyeless skull, covered in black coral, looms through the cloud of dirt, its jaw frozen in a wide, toothy grin. Hard coral plates have grown over each of the teeth, lengthening and sharpening them beyond their mortal dimensions. The wide flippers on each side are held close to the body while in transit, and only when it draws closer is the method of its movement visible. The ribs of the skeleton move independently, skittering along and pushing the whole colony along like one of the many-limbed centipedes. Some move and bend as if they had been broken and, while mending, the owner had taken the opportunity to create a joint instead.

The creature bears on its back another coral-covered skeleton: a mer whose body has mostly been taken by the black growth but still has a few tatters of flesh and bare patches of bone. It points to the Reef in Red and some communication passes between the two. The course changes slightly and it bears down on the company.

At a sign from the one on its back, the great, grinning ghoul comes to a halt at the base of the reef. From its perch, the mer-skeleton rises with the sound of grinding joints and creaking bones. It opens its mouth and reveals an odd, cracked growth, something that barely resembles a tongue. The mass extrudes itself from between the jaws and begins to move in complicated patterns. To those listening, however, words can be heard amongst the crackling, grinding noises the thing produces.

"We have come from far away," the thing says, "To bear witness to the wisdom of the one who is the largest and greatest of all colonies. And to bear our..." It pauses. "Apologies. For the state of this one who has given birth to me."

[Silent_Interim]

A cloud of sand and detritus appears along the horizon. Something moves along the bottom of the ocean, stirring up the ocean floor as it goes. A herd, perhaps, or one very large creature is on the approach.

'A' creature, though, is perhaps a misleading statement. What is on the approach is a colony of many, tiny creatures that have grown over the skeleton of a carnivorous, killer whale. The eyeless skull, covered in black coral, looms through the cloud of dirt, its jaw frozen in a wide, toothy grin. Hard coral plates have grown over each of the teeth, lengthening and sharpening them beyond their mortal dimensions. The wide flippers on each side are held close to the body while in transit, and only when it draws closer is the method of its movement visible. The ribs of the skeleton move independently, skittering along and pushing the whole colony along like one of the many-limbed centipedes. Some move and bend as if they had been broken and, while mending, the owner had taken the opportunity to create a joint instead.

The creature bears on its back another coral-covered skeleton: a mer whose body has mostly been taken by the black growth but still has a few tatters of flesh and bare patches of bone. It points to the Reef in Red and some communication passes between the two. The course changes slightly and it bears down on the company.

At a sign from the one on its back, the great, grinning ghoul comes to a halt at the base of the reef. From its perch, the mer-skeleton rises with the sound of grinding joints and creaking bones. It opens its mouth and reveals an odd, cracked growth, something that barely resembles a tongue. The mass extrudes itself from between the jaws and begins to move in complicated patterns. To those listening, however, words can be heard amongst the crackling, grinding noises the thing produces.

"We have come from far away," the thing says, "To bear witness to the wisdom of the one who is the largest and greatest of all colonies. And to bear our..." It pauses. "Apologies. For the state of this one who has given birth to me."

The priest who approached the pair of encrusted skeletons, bearing sashes in purple, quivered visibly while listening to the words of the colony before him. "Ah... you are... quite welcome, to bear witness to the wonders today. And we will, ah... convey your apologies to the family of the... deceased?" He holds out the sashes with some difficulty. "Please, accept these, and we will have priests ready to commune with the Reef in Red on your behalf."

[Miltonian]

"Not...entirely deceased," the smaller ghoul says in its crackling voice, "his echo lives inside of me. It is what guided us to this place. And it is why we have come. His memories of this place show that it was greatly important." It dismounts slowly from its perch on the larger's skull and accepts the sash. By inherited instinct, it places it under one arm and over one shoulder, though it dangles loosely below its ribcage.

Behind it, the larger one's jaws open. A similar black structure pushes its way outwards and it speaks in a much louder voice with a deep, bass rumble underlying it. "We have come to speak to the greatest and largest of all colonies, and ask why it is red instead of black.. One of its fines reaches down and grabs the sash carefully, but each set of phalanges, carpals, and metacarpals move more akin to an inflexible tentacle than a finger. They pull the sash onto the 'wrist' and let it hang there.

"May we proceed?" the smaller colony asks.

[Silent_Interim]

The priest casts his eyes desperately about, looking for support, but the other priests seem just as terrified, and entirely unwilling to come to his aid. "I, uh. I don't... yes?" Sashes accepted, he backs away. "You may, uh, approach, the Reef in Red. I-it does not... think, like us, though. Y-you may need a, uh... intermediary. I'm not sure if your, um..." His eyes swerve to the few scraps of flesh on the smaller skeleton. "You do not have any b-blood. It might not want to... t-talk to you?" Panic widens his eyes. "Not that you are not worth talking to! You might just need someone t-to, uh. It communicates best with the outside world if it can talk through someone who is... feeding it..." He screws his eyes shut as he realizes the implications of what he has just said. "I am, uh. Qualified. To help you speak with it."

[Miltonian]

Seemingly unaware of the discomfort they are causing, this news seems to delight both colonies. This is more obvious in the Mer ghoul, who, while his expression does not change for obvious reasons, straightens slightly in posture before leaning forward and in a little. "I see," it says eagerly, "An excellent system, and so unlike our own! There is so much to learn, yes."

"Since the beginning of our memory, we thought we existed alone," the great whale skeleton says, "But now we find that not only do other Wise Ones exist, but they are known and respected by wise versions of our Foundations, who willingly give themselves as nourishment. This will change much back home."

The mer ghoul nods to the accompaniment of cracking bones. "I wish even more now my host had not run into a group of our neophytes first." His 'tongue' clicks a few times in a sound that conveys the idea of sadness and regret. "Please, do commune with your Wise One for us. Let it know that I, Quicklimb the Enlightened, and Grinmaw the Calamitous, Devourer of Life, Lord of the Abyss, The Greatest, the Largest, the Wisest, and the First of the Unity, the People Who Are One Made From Many, and many more titles that it would take too long to recite here, have come to learn its wisdom."

[Silent_Interim]

The priest bobs deferentially, resigned now. "V-very well. If you would please come with me..." The priest leads the two skeletal creatures to the edge of the reef. Taking a deep breath, he reaches out a hand. "If I... fall over, my fellows will come to tend to me. Please let them do so. If you wish to continue your conversation, one of them can... take over." Then, after an almost imperceptible moment of hesitation, he slices his hand on the reef, grasping it tightly.

Immediately, his eyes roll back in his head, and his body goes limp. A second passes, then another, then another. For a moment it looks like he might be dead... but then his gills flare with a sudden intake of breath. He pulls his hand away, leaving a cloud of blood roiling in the water, though it is gone within seconds, absorbed into the Reef. Gills heaving wildly, he takes a few moments to regain his composure, before turning back to the guests, speaking with a voice renewed with vigour and confidence.

"Quicklimb the Enlightened and Grinmaw the Calamitous. Welcome to my waters.

"Quicklimb, you are forgiven for the trespass of your birth; it would be better that the flesh had been to feed me, but I am glad you make use of the bones. That the one who you echo was devoured is forgiven; but next time, it will be an error of judgment and not of ignorance. My gift of wisdom is free to all who serve me, but the gift of memory is for the blood. You have not merely deprived me of the blood of the faithful, but you have robbed the faithful of a place in the Choir. But ignorance may be forgiven. Only heresy done knowingly may not.

"Grinmaw. Wisdom is a precious thing, and most so when earned, not simply dispensed. These scraps, though, are yours for free. Devourer of Life you may be; Lord of the Abyss, indeed. First of the Unity, too, I do not doubt. Many are always One, even when it is not so obvious; even this child who speaks for me is composed of smaller things, wriggling and insignificant alone. But gaze upon me. I know every inch of my self, stretching for miles from where you can see me. This mere thought crossed my length and breadth a dozen times in the time it would take the fragile body that speaks to blink. Perhaps at home you are greatest, largest, and wisest; but in my domain, you are none of these things. It is not a shameful thing to be humble. I am no mere wise elder. I am wisdom. I am age. You, too, are forgiven ignorance; and as a leader, I think you understand that you may only be forgiven this ignorance once."

The priest stops, then looks at the two skeletons. "It's not normally that... verbose." He reaches into a pocket of his robe-like clothing, extracting a small, flat creature, which he attaches to his sliced up hand. "To keep the bleeding down," he explains. "And to make sure that as little as possible is wasted. The Reef is always hungry." Shakily, he breathes deep through his gills. "If you need a moment to prepare a response, it is no trouble. Once you are ready, I will open myself to the Reef again." Though the communion has clearly left him physically weak, the priest seems bolstered by proximity to his god. His hand still trembles, but it is with weakness from blood loss, not fear.

[Tychris1]

Goldfin did not respond. He merely wiggled his eponymous fin ever so slightly and the crowd erupted in rapturous fossicking. One of their number shuffled forward as the others scribbled “The great Goldfin has cogitated another wondrous insight! Blessed day!” They looked at the sashes confusedly but one amongst them took it and examined it with a wandering glossy eye.

[Silent_Interim]

Goldfin did not respond. He merely wiggled his eponymous fin ever so slightly and the crowd erupted in rapturous fossicking. One of their number shuffled forward as the others scribbled “The great Goldfin has cogitated another wondrous insight! Blessed day!” They looked at the sashes confusedly but one amongst them took it and examined it with a wandering glossy eye.

The priest looked awkwardly at the chaotic mass before him. He gestures awkwardly to a prepared table. "There is... seating over here, if you wish it." With his due diligence done, the priest backpedals away from the strange cluster of kucen to rejoin the rest of the priests by the stage.

[Rolepgeek]

An odd silhouette approached from above the Reef's eastern end. From above or below, it appeared to merely be be a rather sizable manta ray, but to any who saw it from a level, the shape was far too bulbous.

Of course, it was the song that gave it away. Slow, sonorous, drone and melody overlapping. Universally soothing. Some had claimed even the Reef itself was less hungry when a Reefback Convoy was paused above - but rumors surrounded the Chora like mussels did brine. And as the manta approached, those bulbous shapes upon the back of the manta would unfold themselves to reveal a quartet of figures from the Chelonian Chora. Like most members of the Chora, these were Pojan, and thus related closely to cephalopods. Six long, powerful limbs sprouted from a partially bifurcated head/body, which in this case were adorned with bits of shell and woven strands of unclear origin that nonetheless managed to sparkle in what light was present. Each limb might have been called a tentacle, if it were not for the fact that halfway down their length, they split in half, then again halfway down the remaining distance, and a third and final time another halfway down, with each of the original six limbs ending in eight tentacle-like tips - it was well known that this multitude of appendages was part of what made Chora musicians and instrumentalists as unique and sought after as their singers.

Their skin rippled in coruscating patterns and colors that, if one were to examine carefully, seemed to match the music, though none in quite the same way as the other three.

"I do hope we've not come too late."
"Not to worry, there's still some wait."
"We are expected, yes, and not in rudely bursting?"
"If the messenger arrived when the reef was not thirsting."

Even when speaking, there was a hum beneath their words, as if merely giving lyric to what was already to be sung.

[Miltonian]

The priest bobs deferentially, resigned now. "V-very well. If you would please come with me..." The priest leads the two skeletal creatures to the edge of the reef. Taking a deep breath, he reaches out a hand. "If I... fall over, my fellows will come to tend to me. Please let them do so. If you wish to continue your conversation, one of them can... take over." Then, after an almost imperceptible moment of hesitation, he slices his hand on the reef, grasping it tightly.

Immediately, his eyes roll back in his head, and his body goes limp. A second passes, then another, then another. For a moment it looks like he might be dead... but then his gills flare with a sudden intake of breath. He pulls his hand away, leaving a cloud of blood roiling in the water, though it is gone within seconds, absorbed into the Reef. Gills heaving wildly, he takes a few moments to regain his composure, before turning back to the guests, speaking with a voice renewed with vigour and confidence.

"Quicklimb the Enlightened and Grinmaw the Calamitous. Welcome to my waters.

"Quicklimb, you are forgiven for the trespass of your birth; it would be better that the flesh had been to feed me, but I am glad you make use of the bones. That the one who you echo was devoured is forgiven; but next time, it will be an error of judgment and not of ignorance. My gift of wisdom is free to all who serve me, but the gift of memory is for the blood. You have not merely deprived me of the blood of the faithful, but you have robbed the faithful of a place in the Choir. But ignorance may be forgiven. Only heresy done knowingly may not.

"Grinmaw. Wisdom is a precious thing, and most so when earned, not simply dispensed. These scraps, though, are yours for free. Devourer of Life you may be; Lord of the Abyss, indeed. First of the Unity, too, I do not doubt. Many are always One, even when it is not so obvious; even this child who speaks for me is composed of smaller things, wriggling and insignificant alone. But gaze upon me. I know every inch of my self, stretching for miles from where you can see me. This mere thought crossed my length and breadth a dozen times in the time it would take the fragile body that speaks to blink. Perhaps at home you are greatest, largest, and wisest; but in my domain, you are none of these things. It is not a shameful thing to be humble. I am no mere wise elder. I am wisdom. I am age. You, too, are forgiven ignorance; and as a leader, I think you understand that you may only be forgiven this ignorance once."

The priest stops, then looks at the two skeletons. "It's not normally that... verbose." He reaches into a pocket of his robe-like clothing, extracting a small, flat creature, which he attaches to his sliced up hand. "To keep the bleeding down," he explains. "And to make sure that as little as possible is wasted. The Reef is always hungry." Shakily, he breathes deep through his gills. "If you need a moment to prepare a response, it is no trouble. Once you are ready, I will open myself to the Reef again." Though the communion has clearly left him physically weak, the priest seems bolstered by proximity to his god. His hand still trembles, but it is with weakness from blood loss, not fear.

Far from being dissuaded by this stern pronouncement, Quicklimb seems to become even more eager. One could almost swear that a faint glow appears in its empty eyesockets. It leans in further, almost nose-to-skull with the more confident and bolstered priest, eagerly drinking in the words spoken to it by what it is convinced both from the Echo of its host and now its own experience is the greatest of the Wise. "I humbly accept your master's words," it speaks with the quickness and fervor of a true believer, "In the future, we shall preserve the blood for thee, oh Tremendous One, and bear it to this thy home." Working off its inherited knowledge, Quicklimb shakily offers a bow.

Grinmaw's gaze roves over the great span of the Reef's domain, and the spirit inside it is humbled. What good is pride in the face of such an obvious truth? Was not respect for the evidence of your own senses something it taught to those impetuous upstarts that had sought the throne many times before? Had it not brutally displayed its strength to the Unity many times before, and with grinning fangs and grasping limbs torn would-be usurpers apart? Grinmaw had come in-person out of curiosity, but now it was filled with dread. The best, and only, course it saw was to take the clemency offered to it.

"I...hear you, Wise One," it says in a softer voice than before, "I need no further demonstration of your power than the evidence I see around me."