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The following conversation is in primordial.

Followups posted here. If someone walks off, it isn't a timeskip.

Masoom: "Then, I guess... what can you tell me about me?"

Elemental: "Who is the me? Your body or your soul?"

Elemental: (short but first thing that came to mind)

Masoom: "My soul, first... the body doesn't last as long. Although I do enjoy it." *grins*

Elemental: "The lady offers an opinion. She claims your bodies odd state is a product of your souls flux. She claims your body is merely a vassal and meaningless in the grand scheme"

Elemental: "She offers an example, she compares it to metal heated, such that its energy escapes and glows. Your body is changed by energy escaping your soul"

Masoom: "Energy escaping my soul?"

Elemental: "The soul harbors far greater energy then the body. But this energy is rarely released to the material world. But as the soul exists, acts, thinks and feels, it uses some of that energy"

Elemental: "For a mortal to use magic, they must draw energy from the soul"

Elemental: "But the lady insists, as an object of the material uses energy, some escapes. As the soul uses energy, some of it escapes. And as the soul changes, some of its energy escapes"

Masoom ponders. "What is my soul changing into? Is it simply swapping between 2 forms, or is it growing? Or shrinking?

Elemental: "It becomes like us, but different"

Elemental: "Souls like you and the lady carries great potential, yet are still bound to what you call the material"

Elemental: "With it, it carries the structure to draw tremendous energy"

Masoom: "With the material binds?"

Elemental: "Those like you and with you, are like the lady, but differ from me"

Elemental: "Your souls were forced close to the material, I do not know why. Yet you carry a structure similar to my own"

Elemental: "But it seems as your body was born, your soul was weaker, it could draw what you called magic, but nowhere near as much as it can today"

Elemental: "As they tried to change you, the pathwise that draw that energy from the universe into the material were opened. It allowed you to grow, and gain what you call power"

Elemental: pathways* not pathwise

Masoom: "And then they were expanded further with my own training and experience?"

Elemental: "as you learn, it expands"

Elemental: "It is potential and ability that matters"

Elemental: "But even to the lady, the potential of the soul is not reached"

Masoom: "Why not?"

Masoom: "The lady has had millenium. She's the 'perfect eladrin' the Church seems so eager to recreate, isn't she? If she can't reach it, then who?"

Elemental: "The lady has weakened over the millenium"

Elemental: "She deteriorates, the cost of repairing were greater then she could accept"

Masoom: "What are the costs?"

Elemental: "To repair the damage of entropy, entropy elsewhere, more entropy"

Elemental: "The energies you deal with are not sufficient"

Masoom: "But before, her abilities grew faster than the entropy... but then she peaked somewhere?"

Elemental: "Her late master claimed only the energy of souls was enough, but he also claimed the coast of souls was too high"

Masoom: "Wait, her master?"

Elemental: "He was the oldest"

Masoom: "The oldest what? Eladrin? Prophet?"

Elemental: "The oldest Malakh"

Masoom: "What's a Malakh?"

Elemental: "A soul like mine, but bound to the material"

Elemental: "The lady claims there were about 100,000 Malakh souls"

Masoom: "Are there any left alive?"

Elemental: "The soul are continuously reborn, like all the others"

Elemental: "Some have died recently, many currently live"

Masoom: "Wait... is that where the Spiritual Alignment comes from? Checking the strength of the soul? Looking for the reborn malakh?"

Elemental: "I do not know. The lady never used that phrase. I cannot assume what you refer to"

Elemental: "If another used it, we can not know"

Masoom explains the differences, how they are one grade, while Rhea's another.

Elemental: "If it refers to spiritual structure, they may be the same. The lady may look into it"

Masoom: "And Vela... she's supposed to be a prime. -The- one to cause the giant change." Masoom sighs and frowns.

Masoom: "What do we do with her? She's caught in the middle of this giant fiasco. Where does she get to enjoy life instead of just being a -tool-?"

Masoom: "If our research is right, she's turning into some... god-being and there's nothing we can do about it."

Elemental: "I cannot know of whom you speak. Are minds are not one"

Elemental: our*

Masoom: "And no way to? Not even for the lady to peer in, to see?"

Elemental: "It is possible to peer in, but it is painful. The instict of the soul keeps others out"

Masoom"I can see that..." Masoom tries to describe Vela, her influence at the black orb, her being turned into a comatose power battery, her body split into a material side and something on the moon, the theories about her... and the storm that seems to surround her in the shadow realm.

Masoom continues describing what he knows until the elemental is either completely stumped or grasps it.

Elemental: "The lady thinks, but the lady offers an suggestion"

Masoom: "Listening..."

Elemental: "The lady belives that is a way of expressing spiritual potential"

Elemental: "She claims before here, there were souls greater then her own"

Elemental: "But even they were only able to express power far below there potential"

Elemental: "One soul, was the one she was made in the image of"

Elemental: "She belives somones seeks to modifiy a soul to that level"

Elemental: "And use that soul to bring other souls to their true potential"

Masoom: "And use it to dominate the world as gods..."

Masoom replied "And use it to dominate the world like gods..."

Elemental: "dominating never crossed there minds. But I cannot speak for whom you speak of"

Masoom: "Yes... so I was a soul with high potential? That's why you think I was taken as an infant, raised in some godforsaken laborator?"

Elemental: "I cannot speak for those who caused you ill. But both you and your companions carry high potential"

Elemental: "all are Malakh"

Masoom blinks at that. "That's... noted. And there's a hundred thousand others like us, constantly being reborn?"

Elemental: "The lady doesn't know the exact number, but it is close to 100,000 souls"

Elemental: "but all souls, even those not Malakh, are reborn again and again"

Masoom: "What if they are crystallized?"

Elemental: "The lady thinks, giver her a moment"

Elemental: "The lady speculates. She knows energy released by the soul can effect the body"

Elemental: "the lady speculates, if enough energy is released by the soul, the body will cease the function as life, and become crystal"

Elemental: "She believs if somones souls realeses enough energy, through the right change, the material body will form crystal. The body is dead, but the soul may live on"

Masoom: "And if the crystal itself is detonated to release all the stored energy?"

Masoom: "It would destroy a whole city, we know that much. Would it detonate other crystals nearby? Would it destroy those souls?"

Elemental: "She doubts that the crystal is what is important. The true change, she believes, is in the soul"

Masoom nods. "If a soul was stored as a small crystal, then... how would it be given a humanoid form again? To live? Like Ruby? She was made of crystal, could disassemble and reassemble..." Masoom sighs a moment. "We have a girl like Rhea trapped in such a crystal. We're trying to give her life again."

Elemental: "Crystal...an ordered repeating pattern. The material body is insignificant, the soul contains true power. A soul with the right information, could manipulate a material structure. If she learned how, something taught her. A girl in crystal, do you have her with you?"

Masoom shakes his head. "She is back in the House laboratory. I asked others to inspect her, try to help her. I could retrieve her quickly, but I would require a portal circle to return here. Or if she has a way of retrieving me."

Elemental: "The lady warns me against presuming"

Elemental: "The lady has thought. She belives a material crystal could store a soul, but it would require intential effort from somone else. She cannot know, unless she sees the soul"

Masoom: "Would the lady be willing to travel with us back to view her? Even just for a moment? The girl has been imprisoned too long. I would like to see her free again, even if it's not in her original body."

Elemental: "The lady refuses to travel farther"

Elemental: "but the lady currently investigates your other companions"

Masoom: "Mhm... what does she think of Joshua?"

Elemental: "She watches somone with green hair"

Masoom: "Rhea? The mechanic/summoning prodigy?"

Elemental: "Is that the name?"

Masoom: "Yes, we kind of... kidnapped her when we stole her airship. She's stuck around since. Good with engines, but she's attracted towards summoning."

Masoom: "And, we suspect, one of the reborn prophets."

Masoom: "I'm assuming that's why she's interested in her."

Elemental: "The lady knows of no prophets. But maybe your people have their own beliefs"

Masoom: "Perhaps... hasn't noticed Joshua at all?"

Elemental: "She notices everyone. But the green haired one is taking her interest"

Masoom: "Mhm, yes. Has..." *pauses, mischievous smile* "How long has it been since she's made love to someone?"

Elemental: "She keeps to herself. If she has, it was before I was created"

Elemental: "But many more Malakh were around befoer I was created"

Masoom: "Mhm, could you ask her?"

Elemental: "She is busy. She will not answere until later"

Masoom: "Alright."

The conversation continues, and Masoom asks about the black orb.


Water Elemental: "You have one too"

Masoom: "Several, actually. The dark lady has the yellow one embedded within her. This one is strange, though. Very quiet, not really in any of the old records we've seen."

Water Elemental: "She always knew they were related to people, but this orb, the black one, always puzzled her"

Masoom: "Why?"

Water Elemental: "She knew, the one she carries, is bound to the one whose image she was created in. Aether"

Water Elemental: "They share an empathic bond"

Water Elemental: "But she never knew who the black was bonded with"

Masoom: "Well, we saw its form once on a shadowy plane. A dark man pecked at by the nastiest ravens I've ever seen."

Masoom: "He manifested near a giant blood stain in this shadow realm. It was weird, it appeared in one of the House gardens. Not what you'd expect to look like a murder scene."

* Water Elemental stares at Masoom. Its face too alien to read, yet emiting a sense of pondering

Masoom: "After we helped him drive off the ravens, I gained... well, some knowledge of how to use it to peer into this shadow realm. Altair had originally forced it to do his bidding; I don't think he liked that."

Water Elemental: "Noone likes to be forced and bound"

Masoom: "No, although you seem happy with whatever arrangement you worked out with Emmy."

Water Elemental: "I've been near the material before she came. My perspective leaves it at will"

Water Elemental: "I rarely act, only sleep and observe"

Water Elemental: "I rarely leave this pool. She only put up that barrior a few days ago. I do not know what she was doing, but I didn't mind. I did what I always do"

Masoom: "...She did? To protect what from who?"

Masoom: (( BTW, what was the object floating in the middle of the lake earlier? Did we ever figure that out? ))


( you see it in the middle of the elemental )

Water Elemental: "I do not know"

Masoom: "What's inside you, anyway? We saw it on the lake before..."

Masoom:*squints*

Water Elemental: "She tossed it into me when she set up the barrior. I do not know. I did not ask"

Masoom: "Could I please take a closer look at it?"

* The elemental rumbles for a moment, then shoots it out. The object lands near Masoom


* Masoom peers at it.


*It hot, like you would expect from a pot of boiling water. Its a stone, with a simple infusion. It looks like a beacon of some sort. about 100 miles, subtle signal*

* Masoom tries to figure out what it's for.

Water Elemental: "I felt it when you removed the barrior"

Water Elemental:

*You can see its already triggered, and spent. It emits no more signal, and the signal seemed to be a pulse*

Masoom: "So... when the barrier was removed, the stone pulsed and sent a signal to something about 100 miles away..."

Water Elemental: "If that is so, it may have been to call her"

Masoom: "...She moves fast."

Water Elemental: "Distance is not an issue for her"

Masoom: "Reminds me of someone else I know. Not as skilled, but she didn't have millenia to perfect it either."

Water Elemental: "Not long ago, she felt her orb"

Masoom: "Felt her orb?"

Water Elemental: "She feels it aura change, and she takes note"

Water Elemental: "It may explain her behavior"

Masoom: "...How many nights ago, would you say?"

Masoom: "Exact number, if you can... there was an incident with another elemental. Rather large and angry..."

Water Elemental: "I will ask her..."

Water Elemental: "She clarifies. It has been unusually active this past month. This happens from time to time, but she took note. She also mentions she felt it hurt earlier today"

Masoom: "Hurt? Is she giving birth?"

Water Elemental: "Orbs do not give birth...Do you mean the lady? She does not, and she was not the source of the feeling, the orb was"

Masoom: "Well, if it's embedded in her, like Verity's yellow orb is, then I would imagine hurting would imply a transferral soon..."

Water Elemental: "...I do not...understand"

Masoom: "Where does she keep the orb?"

Masoom shrugs.

Water Elemental: "She junctions it into her soul"

Water Elemental: "Their power is shared, but still separate"

Masoom: "Ah, so it isn't- uh- honestly, I'm not quite sure if the same thing happened to Verity."

Masoom: "They were going to rip her soul apart just to retrieve it..."

Water Elemental: "The orb may be removed. The junction is not permenant"

Water Elemental: "The lady claims the one you call Verity junctions the orb the same way"

Masoom nods.

Masoom: "What... happens if two orbs interact?"

Water Elemental: "But it may only be removed if the orb wills it"

Water Elemental: "Mood"

Masoom: "Mood?"

Water Elemental: "If they sleep, nothing"

Water Elemental: "But the lady claims, she rarely saw them interact"

Masoom: "Hm, because we're in close proximity to a lot of orbs now. Wondering what happens if we gather enough of them in the same spot..."

Water Elemental: "The lady wonders"

Masoom: "Hopefully it doesn't involve fatal explosions."

Water Elemental: "She denies having seen all eight together at once"

* Masoom nods at that.

As you walkaway from the scene of your latest ambush, you recieve a message on your comm orb.

Lord Sereth speaks. "I've already made arrangements at Karth Spire. When you enter, just tell them who you are, and they'll send you to general Xenias. The details i've given are still sparse, so be prepared to explain everything you need to.

"But as you go about it, I want you to consider something. Its something from the Mycenae documents you recently recovered. While they span a fair amount of time, there are still plenty of recent entries, including comments about Kerberos. I'll quote, 'The recent appearance of the demon will not change our plans. Even if it begins attacking the capital, we will still continue with our bid for the throne. If anything, we will make use of its attacks to assist us.'

"This was written by Lord Venier of Mycenae. Just be aware of this, as we attempt to get the other houses, and the rest of Lemuria to cooperate to stop Kerberos"


( Forum RP discussion could continue on towards the meeting itself if people are interested. Else, we wait for next session.)

Mio frowns. "Who would want a fancy chair in a place where everyone else is dead? It seems rather strange," she says in her near monotone. She shakes her head, "Also, am I coming to this meeting? I'm not good at explaining."

"Ah, it's not the chair, it's what comes with it: unrivaled power and the destruction of all your foes. Of course, I think he's overestimating the Lemurians' ability to kill a demon that causes airships to crash and crystallizes anyone that's too close when she roars, but...

"...actually, that's a good point. He sounds awfully nonchalant about this. You think he knows something we don't?

"And yes, you're coming to the meeting. You won't need to explain anything; you don't know the details about what led us here yet. But you should see what goes on regardless."

She shakes her head, "Perhaps it doesn't kill his friends? Only his foes?" she sighs a slight sigh, "Perhaps he has no friends? Or is immune to it?"

She nods, "And I will be quiet for the meeting then to not interrupt."

Masoom shrugs.

"He may not have any friends- having anyone you're displeased with killed tends to lead to that- but the throne isn't worth much without a populace to order around. And if the demon isn't stopped, there won't be much of a populace left.

"And don't commit to being quiet during the meeting. You might think of something we don't. Although if you have any questions about the stuff leading up to this, you might want to ask them now."

Masoom glances around at the other pedestrians a moment, then lowers his voice.

"...Well, when there aren't any potential eavesdroppers nearby."

Mio patiently waits till there is nobody within convenient eavesdropping range and opens her mouth to say something, then pauses and closes it shut with a slight frown, "... my first question would be what should I ask you. I know that there is a monster that turns people into glass. That the church is wanting to use me to power something. That you want an airship fleet to fight the monster away from the town. That Joshua thinks your town will be attacked." she shakes her head, "... other things not relevant to the thing we are doing right now."

"I guess the first question should be, 'Who are the players?'

"First, you got Zephyr. Head of the Church, wannabe god, has done experiments on people to that end for millenia. He would sacrifice his subjects to become a god.

"He led Project Netherworld, secret experiments to create avatars of Karellan the eladrin god. Presumably to advance his own ambitions. The demon, Kerberos, is one of them. I'm another. Well, I would be, if pirates hadn't kidnapped me while I was young.

"Kerberos was released by Altair, leader of some terrorist riven dedicated to overthrowing the Church and ascending into powerful shadow creatures themselves. Real piece of work, perfectly willing to sacrifice his own men for power. Former partner of Zephyr, they had a falling out. Last we saw, he pledged himself to Rasha rather than die at our hands.

"Rasha, psychic 'demon'. Nasty habit of mind-controlling people from across the world. Looks like he's reluctantly serving Zephyr and trying to undermine him to gain power himself. Basically, if you hear voices tempting you into betraying others, probably him

"This has all converged on several... kids that are supposed to be reincarnations of Karellan's prophets. Obscenely high potential that the Chirch wants to use to power their ascention. We're caring for Vela, who the Church made into the... Catalyst for their ascention. Any one of them is worth more than the lot of us; we can't let the Church have them.

"There's also several orbs associated with the prophets. We have some of them." Masoom pulls out a black orb for a moment, then puts it away. "Very powerful, have personalities and memories. We're still learning how to use them, but they could be the key to victory.

"And, on the side, we have the machinations of the noble Houses to deal with and Kerberos on the loose. As well as a young apparition giving us visions and stating something big is gonna happen.

"That's the 'heretical' background in a nutshell. The Church would kill you for knowing most of it. We may need to use some of it to convince Kreia to assist us. And most likely, we'll need to blow the lid open on all this soon, igniting a fight between the eladrin and the Church for the future of the world."

Masoom grins and shrugs. "Gonna be interesting times ahead."

Mio keeps her frown as the things are listed and then nods, "...It sounds a bit odd. Why would being an avatar make you a giant rampaging monster? Is that Rasha demon also an experiment?"

She shakes her head and Masoon gets a stray thought; it is quite an odd one, as if she does not know what she is. Except it is obviously not his nor referring to himself and it seems for a brief moment to be Mio.

"I don't know. Perhaps the rituals are corrupted, or perhaps there is something about this 'link to Karellan' we are unaware of. It's been several millenia since he was supposed to have walked the earth; I doubt their history survived this long without some twisting.

"Rasha isn't an experiment... at least, not that we know of. He's a prisoner, someone powerful enough they built an entire temple to contain him for eternity."

Masoom glances at Mio a moment after the stray thought and grins.

"While wanting to know where you come from is natural, I think the more important question is what you will make of yourself."

She frowns and tilts her head. "I did not wonder where I am from. I just..." she looks away, "do not thing it true that I was made solely to be killed. I do not know differently though. It is" she gives a slight sly, "sad."

She looks at the rest of the party, "I seem to be okay at protecting you all. I could do that in the future. It does not, however, let me know why I am. Nor does what I do define who I am. I could also be a kitten or a canary or something similar. I would be one, but that would still not be who I am."

She frowns, "I'm sorry. I am speaking out of line." She gives a slight bow to Masoom.

Masoom scoffs and waves off Mio's bow. "Yer among comrades, no need to bow or worry about talking out of line." Masoom thumbs back towards Nashira. "If talking out of line was an issue, Josh would've strung up Nashira days ago.

"As for their 'purpose' for you was, we could look you up in the Church records when we get back." Masoom pulls out a small data crystal and shows it to Mio. "Nearly all of the Church records. Stole it when we busted out of their cathedral. It has all of our names on it. It probably has yours as well."

"You bow to apologize though," she corrects, "And there is reason. If you all decide you don't like me I get sent away." She looks away, "I would, however, appreciate if you could check, if it's not a bother."

Masoom shrugs. "Don't worry about it. I know you grew up among nobles, but we had to deal with scoundrels, thugs, and other unpleasant folk our whole lives. As long as you aren't trying to kill us, we'll tolerate a lot. Relax, we don't dismiss people as quickly as nobles do.

"And yes, remind me once we get back to the manor and I'll check your record in the archives."