Session 79

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Chancel_Amyra
Chapter 10

Random_Nerd: Now, you'd been talking with Consequences, prior to when you meet Barakiel. Did you have anything more to do in that scene, or shall we move on?
DanteE: We should get more info on how to talk to Barakiel
lazarus: well, we have been told that he wants to talk to us
lazarus: and ... he doesn't suffer fools gladly or something like that?
Random_Nerd: Well, he's an Imperator.
lazarus: and that he doesn't really talk to his minions a lot
Carrie: But he wants to talk to us... We should take note of that.
Theresa: Or it might just be that he doesn't talk to Shadows much. He seemed to be pretty focused on work.

      • lazarus is now known as Brian.

Random_Nerd: You get the impression he talks with Consequences a lot, with Shadows only a little, and that his Familia seems to be structured in a somewhat heirachical way.
Carrie: Ah, makes sense.
DanteE: so, Consequences will know about the big things not to do/mention.
Random_Nerd: So, which scene do we go to, you being shown to meet Barakiel, or more Consequences?
Brian: RN: can we head to Barakiel, with a summary of the big things to do or not to do?
Random_Nerd: That works. Cut to you being shown to him, with Consequences taling with you on the way?
DanteE: sure
DanteE: (what's the word on Sara, BTW?)
Random_Nerd: (She'd like to get back to us, but it'll take some schedule-talking. What do you guys think of me seeing if she can come to the first half-hour of the next session, so we can all talk over it together?)
Brian: (that would work)
DanteE: (sure)
Carrie: (Sure thing.
Carrie: )
Brian: I also like your scene suggestion
Theresa: Ready!
Random_Nerd: ___________________START____________________
DanteE: (Did we ask Conseq if he'd heard anything about Bara and Kudzu?)
Random_Nerd: (I believe that you did, and he said that he knew there was bad blood between the two, but didn't know why.)
Random_Nerd: Consequences is walking with you down a hall with gleaming tiles of gold, white and purple (a crude passage cut into the rock, with a channel down the middle through which runs old blood, flowing downhill as you walk uphill.)
Random_Nerd: The walls gleam with tapestries (lichen) and the ceilings are lit by gleaming chandeliers (skulls with candles in them, and without all the meat cleaned off of them.)

  • Carrie admires the decor.

Theresa: (Someone should talk to the maid.)
DanteE: (Maid got eaten last week.)
Random_Nerd: C: "Now, remember first that he wants to see you. That helps. It gives you an opening for what you need to discuss with him."
Carrie: (Hush you! I'm enjoying my rose-colored glasses here!)
Theresa: (i think I need to clean my gore-colored ones.)
Random_Nerd: C: "Now, he knows the basics of why you're here, that you want to discuss where he'll put his influence at the next Council. But he doesn't know exactly why, because I thought it would be best if you said that yourselves."
DanteE: "Did he mention Kudzu when you talked to him?"
Carrie: "Indeed. That will need to be put delicately."
Random_Nerd: C: "There's also something he wants you to get your Ymera to do with /his/ influence, but my Imperator wanted to discuss that with you himself."

  • Carrie does NOT look at Dante.

Theresa: "Oh, that's a new one!"
DanteE: "You guys think Theresa should lead?
DanteE: "I think we'll try to avoid saying the _main_ reason for the visit and stick to the, um, secondary reasons."
Random_Nerd: C: "Now, because he wants something from you, he'll be more restrained than usual. But remember that he's an Angel, and follows both the code of Heaven and the code of Hell. I do not recommend trying to backtalk him, as he reacts to that in unpredictable ways."
Theresa: "Oh...huh. We _may_ be in trouble, then."
DanteE: "... both? How does that work?"
Random_Nerd: Consequences: "Now... I'm not sure what to say and not to say. I like you guys, but I do also work for and respect my Ymera. I've tried to deal with this conflict of loyalties in the best way that I could. But remember that I'd help you more if my hands weren't tied."
DanteE: "Of course."

  • Carrie takes this in. "So, if I understand, our best strategy seems to be to appear flexible, but unwilling to cross our own Ymera. As best as we can, we will need tomediate their desires, where necessary."

Theresa: "And not get our butts thrown back into the primordial soup."
DanteE: "Sure, it's not like we're doing the _impossible_...
Theresa: "It's hard enough to deal with an Imperator that follows one Code. But two at the same time...that's insane _and_ impressive!"
Random_Nerd: C: "Oh! And if the decor starts changing... the two worlds... it means he's experiencing strong emotion."
Random_Nerd: Consequences shrugs.
Theresa: "Ah, thank you, we'll keep an eye on that."
Random_Nerd: C: "My Lord never liked the Fall. He's antagonized Heaven before, but he still doesn't like his own kind being at war with each other. He wants to find a middle way."
Carrie: "Intriguing."

  • Carrie 's skin seems to darken a bit for a moment, then resumers its normal fair shade.

Random_Nerd: C: "So... if he seems to act strangely... a lot of it is that. It's not easy to follow both Codes, and it's bent him in strange ways, but it's part of why I respect him."
Brian: "Well, shall we go, then?"

  • Carrie . o O ( Don't wake up now... It might not help... Just stay asleep a little longer... )

Random_Nerd: C: "Yes. I wish you luck, but I won't be with you."
DanteE: "His request?"
DanteE: (Oh... who's with us?)
Theresa: (Just us.)
Random_Nerd: (Just Consequences, and any Aides and Anchors you brought.)
Theresa: (Oh, I was thinking who was going in to talk with him with us. And I thought that it was just us.)
DanteE: (What were Kudzu's orders re: Lesson, Monty, & Barakiel?)
Random_Nerd: (He wanted you to bring Lesson and Monty, and show them to Barakiel. But he didn't specify that they be there when you negotiated with him.)
Carrie: (Make sure he sees Monty. And I think Lesson too.)
Carrie: grumble (Right. Honestly, Monty's probably hard to miss.)
Carrie: (Er.)
Carrie: (Need to get MUDs out of my head.)
Theresa: "I think we should perhaps leave Monty and Lesson as a tension or arguement breaker? Something to change topic, give a breather."
Random_Nerd: Consequences stops before a towering pair of doors.
Random_Nerd: On them is depicted two angels, one deformed, wrestling with each other. The light angel is winning. (The dark angel is winning. And the wrestling seems to have sexual overtones.)
Carrie: "My suggestion is to bring Lesson and William with us now. I do not know if we'll have the option to 'phone a friend' later."
Random_Nerd: C: "I hope that you and he can reach some sort of agreement."
Theresa: (Perv!)
DanteE: "Yeah, so do we..."
Random_Nerd: C: "Do you want me to have William and your demon shown to here?"
DanteE: "William, have you actually met an angel?"
Theresa: (William is back in the room.)
DanteE: (oops)
Carrie: "Your hopes are gratefully appreciated. We shall know the consequiences in due time."
Carrie: (Really? I thought they were with us.)
Theresa: "I agree with you, Carrie. Better to have Lesson and William with us, just in case. And we can always send them to prepare Sam, Snow and Monty."
Random_Nerd: (Oh, if you want them to be there, we can retcon that out.)
Carrie: (Works for me if no one objects.)
Theresa: (Sounds good to me!)
Brian: (*nod*)
Random_Nerd: Consequences walks over to the door and says "The delegation from Locus Kudzu is ready to see you, Lord Barakiel."

  • Theresa resists the urge to cross herself out of an old habit.
  • Brian waits for a "welcome" or a "come in" or whatever

Theresa: *takes a deep breath and straightens shoulders because darn it, she may not have Realm, but she's representing her Chancel!*
Random_Nerd: The doors start to open, very slowly.
Random_Nerd: Lesson nods and sighs at Dante.
Random_Nerd: Consequences starts walking briskly down the hall.

  • Brian follows

Random_Nerd: As he walks off, the doors continue to open, and by the time they've opened, C is gone.
Random_Nerd: (No, Consequences led you to the doors, they've started to open, and he's going back the other way.)
Random_Nerd: Inside is a huge chamber where the sense of perspective seems to be off, somehow.
Brian: (ah, ok)

  • Carrie steps forward into the room with elegant stride. As she does so, she slowly changes, hair, skin, and clothing darkening, ears lengthening, eyes changing shape and color, body shape and texture changing, until finally Eve stands before the Angel Barakiel, at the most appropriate time.
      • Carrie is now known as Eve.

Random_Nerd: It feels like a very opulent (hellish) room designed like some of those optical illusion rooms, where you can't get a good idea how big things are.

  • Theresa blinks at the transformation, but tries to keep the surprise off of her face. Because, ya know, we meant to do that.

Theresa: (If Barakiel turns out to be 6 inches tall, I'm going to snicker.)

  • Brian will walk behind Careve.

Random_Nerd: Inside, sitting on a throne (hanging from barbed wires strung through his body) is what can only be Barakiel.

  • Theresa heads into the room as well.

Eve: (She stayed Carrie long enough for Barakiel to see her as Carrie, or at least she intended to.)
Random_Nerd: His body is about the same color as Lesson's, a sort of wrought-iron dark grey with hints of red.
Random_Nerd: He has six wings, which jut out of his body at somewhat strange angles. And every inch of him is covered in eyes. Eyes of all colors, and all sizes.
Random_Nerd: Humanlike eyes that could be the size of cars, and smaller eyes with the I-shaped pupils of goats. Eyes of types you've never seen before, and surely aren't from earth.

  • Brian will bow when he gets suitably close

Random_Nerd: He speaks, and the voice doesn't seem to come from any particular mouth, but rather from the air all around.
Random_Nerd: B: "Welcome."
Random_Nerd: The door begins to close.
Eve: ( <Ackbar> It's a trap! )
Theresa: "Thank you, sir."
Random_Nerd: Lesson starts to convulsively bow down with his face on the floor, and stops about halfway through the bend.
Random_Nerd: The eyes turn around. Most are looking at Theresa, who spoke last. After that, Carrie, Dante, Brian, and Lesson, in order of importance.
Random_Nerd: Eyes shift around constantly.
Random_Nerd: Almost none look at William.

  • Eve curtsies deeply and gracefully. "Greetings, Ymera. I am Eve, Domina of Hope."

Random_Nerd: Barakien seems large, but it's hard to see exactly how tall he is. He's probably not as tall as Monty, but he's a lot taller than a human.
DanteE: (long as we're doing intros...) "Dante, Dominus Animus."

  • DanteE bows

Random_Nerd: Barakiel: "I have heard, through my emissary Consequences, that you wish to negotiate with me."
Theresa: "Indeed, sir, on the request of our own Imperator."
Random_Nerd: Barakiel: "Are you empowered to make choices on his behalf, or merely to convery messages back to him?"
Brian: "I'm sure you're aware that we're here to discuss the changing of the Age"
Random_Nerd: Barakiel: "Yes. The decision of the Council as to how to prepare."
Eve: "We have not been empowered to commit our Lord. As you may know, those of the Wild resist binding commitment not freely chosen by the self."
Random_Nerd: Barakiel: "Very well. Then I must persuade you, and use you as tools to persuade your Master, who would not listen to me himself."
Brian: "Well, he sent us to convince you, rather than the other way around."
Random_Nerd: Lesson is hanging back, standing in about the same weird crouch you saw him in when he was threatening the police force with a pair of old hedgeclippers.
Eve: (Brian, that was Dante's line! *facepalms*)
DanteE: (Hey, let Brian know how it feels to be the lightning rod for once. :)
Random_Nerd: Barakiel: "What are you to convince me of?"
Brian: "Um. We're not quite sure."

  • Theresa will try to subtlely move herself so that she's at least partially in front of Lesson. In front of him enough to act as a bit of a barrier but not enough to block his view.

Theresa: "We must first determine your standing on the ending of the Age, sir."
Brian: (mental note: this isn't my character who Can't Lie :p)
Random_Nerd: Barakiel: "Ah, yes. Then I must ask you a question. You have only been raised above humanity for a short time, and yet you have still seen some of the War. What do you think of it?"
DanteE: (Uh, we're against it?)
Theresa: "Warmains hit like a bitch, sir."
Brian: "I honestly don't know what to think. The Excrucians seem to be acting somewhat randomly."
Random_Nerd: William, also in back, stands in a very stiff way, and he seems to be muttering something to himself.
Random_Nerd: Barakiel looks at Theresa with all his eyes, for a moment. "They do, at that."
Random_Nerd: Barakiel: "Yes. And we still don't know their true purpose. Centuries, millenia of war, and we have no real idea what they want."
Theresa: (Can I use Aspect 2 to hear what William's muttering?)
Eve: "The War endangers all that we hold dear. It has given Heaven and Hell, Light and Dark, common cause, but only at the risk of the destruction of the essences which define Creation itself."
Random_Nerd: (Yes, or rather by lip-reading. He's repeating, like a mantra, the Society of Aides' Guidelines For Being Faced With Imperators Of Unusual Apperances.)
Brian: "Barakiel, sir, have any of your Nobles or yourself been Outside?"
DanteE: (Rule 1: Do whatever you have to to avoid soiling yourself.)
Random_Nerd: Barakiel: "Yes. The previous Consequences went Outside, once."
Brian: "What happened?"
Theresa: (Wow. Impressive. Question then becomes, what came back.)
Brian: (quote from ST:TMP: "what came back didn't last long ... fortunately.")
Random_Nerd: B: "I don't know. He must have died, because the bit of my soul I'd put in him came back after several months, but it had no memories attached to it."
Brian: "No memories attached to it?"
DanteE: "When was that?"
Random_Nerd: B: "Yes. I don't know what happened to him out there. I was unable to communicate with him, in any way, and I know more ways to try than most."
Random_Nerd: B: "About two thousand years ago, celestial time."
Random_Nerd: B: "It was some time, after that, until I put that bit of my soul back into a human, as it took me time to ensure that it was not corrupted."
DanteE: (1800 years, right?)
Random_Nerd: (Give or take a few decades, yes. Why?)
Brian: "Do you still have access to the means to going Outside?"
Random_Nerd: Barakiel: "The holes in the Wall are known. But nearly nobody uses them, now."
Brian: "I take it you wouldn't recommend leaving?"
DanteE: (... nobody from our side ...)
Random_Nerd: B: "Few are big enough for an Imperator or an Excrucian. There are more that can permit a Noble or Shard to pass through, and even more that let only things of lesser importance through."
Random_Nerd: B: "I would not recommend it. Consequences, the previous one, was a strong Noble. He'd even fought a full Excrucian once, and although he didn't win, he survived long enough for reinforcements to come. But he died out there, and I don't even know whether it took my soul-shard a long time to come back, or if he survived for some time."
Theresa: "Like Shadow's workers."
Eve: "Do you believe he may have beeen unable to return?"
Random_Nerd: B: "Yes. We'd studied them before the loss of Consequences, and even more since, because they're the only way we have to find out what's out there."
Random_Nerd: B: "I don't know. I've imagined many, many things that could have happened. But I don't know."
Random_Nerd: B: "By the way, did your change of appearance signify anything, or was it a mere visual alteration?"
Brian: "I take it nothing as mundane as tossing a videocamera out there on a string wouldn't work ... hm..."
Theresa: (Brian, don't give him ideas as you can also be tied to a bit of string.)
Random_Nerd: B: "Merely physical things don't even really stay together out there. There aren't the Estates they'd need to exist."
Brian: (Sorry, Brian's sort of gone off the Mission, as it were ... x_x)
Random_Nerd: B: "A Noble can go out, because he contains within himself the Estates of his own body and mind."
Brian: "Then a Noble or better would need to go. And can't bring rope with him. Unless, he were the Noble of Rope or something."
DanteE: quietly: "Ah, Brian? We have other concerns?"
Theresa: *murmur*n "Perhaps we should go back to the topic of the ending of the Age?"
Eve: "I wished to show you, as best I could, that I as well am seeking to bridge a gap of Codes. I am Eve Summers and I follow the Code of the Dark. Yet my name as I entered was Carrie Winters, and I followed the Code of the Light. We share the Estate of Hope and we alternate in tenure. My Lord Kudzu created this of myself by my request, that I might comprehend both Dark and Light."
Eve: (Edit, if permissible. Eve says Dawn Winters.)
Random_Nerd: Barakiel: "Fascinating. Perhaps I will wish to discuss that with you, after our business is complete."
Eve: (I forgot momentarily that Eve calls Carrie by the symmetrical name.)
Random_Nerd: (Yeah, retcon is permissible.)
Eve: (And keep in mind, you three, that your characters are learning this for the first time. XD )
Eve: (Though you probably suspected it to an extent.)
Random_Nerd: B: "So, these are the things I wish to emphasize, before I explain my plan."
Brian: (... wouldn't phase us :-P)
Random_Nerd: B: "Every Change of Ages has brought suffering into the world."
Random_Nerd: B: "The Fall. The War."
DanteE: (faze, not phase)
Brian: (yes, that one)
Theresa: (That this was with Kudzu's permission, yeah, but not the name difference of Carrie. Theresa's feeling a bit embarassed.)
Random_Nerd: B: "The estates of the next Age are Murder and the Infinite."

  • Theresa thinks of one of the parts of the Code of Hell.

Random_Nerd: B: "However, there is a difference, now. The War in Heaven was over before the Great War began. But the Great War is still raging, and we continue to lose ground."
Random_Nerd: B: "Next. Each change has been worse than the last one. The Celestial War was terrible in ways that have shaped my life ever since, but even it was less severe than the Great War, which may end all reality."
Random_Nerd: B: "And finally, it is my belief that if we are faced with yet another source of danger, either internal or from our enemies, we will lose ground far faster, in ways we can never recover from, and Creation will crumble."
Random_Nerd: B: "Do you disagree with any of these statements?"
Eve: "I would make a point, Lord, before continuing."
Random_Nerd: B: "Yes, Hope?"
Eve: "The Philosophy of Hell believes that Corruption is the natural state of Creation. That each new corruption brings Creation into its fullness. If suffering is indeed increasing, and if suffering is indeed a form of corruption, might this be the natural progression of Creation? From that which the Creator was to that which He was not?"
Eve: (I am so glad that Carrie is asleep now. She wouldn't be able to manage these kind of mental gymnastics.)
Eve: "Thus, while I concede your last point may be true, I am uncertain whether instead this increasing suffering may in fact be part of the Creator's design."
Random_Nerd: B: "An interesting question! And yes, it is true that the increase of suffering may be seen as a good thing by Hell. But suffering is not the only form of corruption. And the ultimate end of a loss in this war is not suffering, but nothing Nothingness."
Random_Nerd: B: "No beauty. No corruption. No justice or suffering or freedom. And no humanity, of course."
Eve: "Of course."
Brian: "So. We should start off with ... what's your position?"
Random_Nerd: B: "We must stop the next Age from occurring, if we can do so without destroying reality.
Random_Nerd: "
Brian: "How would you propose to do that?"
Theresa: (That is a big if.)
Random_Nerd: B: "Have the Council of Four decide to execute Ymera Ananda."
Random_Nerd: B: "This what I wish your help with. I and my supporters believe we can win Entropy's vote, and if we have that, Ananda will not vote against us."
Eve: "Lord Barakiel. Might such an action itself precipitate the tragedy you seek to avoid?"
Brian: "Ananda ... what's (his/her) Domains?"
Random_Nerd: "But there is no way, in this world or out of it, that we would get Surolam's vote."
Random_Nerd: "Murder, the Fourth Age, and the Infinite."
Brian: (wow, the Mythbusters just put out a fire with high explosives)
Random_Nerd: "So, I need your help. Your Lord, Kudzu, is influential amoung the Magisters of the Wild, and Ha-Qadosh is known to be of their number."
Random_Nerd: "We must have his support, if we are to make this work. And I have no influence with him."
Random_Nerd: "Can you and your Ymera help me in this?"
Brian: "No."
DanteE: "Agreed. No."
Theresa: (I'm sorry, I'm still boggling over the 'execute Ananda' part.)
Brian: (yeah, Brian tried finding an out with the whole Domains thing)
Random_Nerd: "Why not? Why do you not desire to save this world?"
DanteE: "We do.
DanteE: "That's not the way."
Theresa: "We desire to save the world. Our Imperator, however, has asked us to convey to you that your present idea for the new Age is wrong."
Brian: "Honestly? We were told to tell you you're wrong. Lord Kudzu believes you've been wrong on every Age Change so far, and thus does not believe your track record."
Theresa: (*checks Brian's character sheet again*)
Random_Nerd: "Kudzu has not properly understood the ways I have approached the previous ages."
Random_Nerd: "He referred to, I take it, the fact that I was banished from Heaven before Lucifer was?"
Brian: "I believe not, actually. Though I'm not quite sure."
Random_Nerd: He seems to exhale a bit, and calm down sone.
Theresa: (I don't think so.)
Random_Nerd: (some.)
DanteE: "No, he just said you were wrong."
Eve: "Our Lord was rather cryptic, in truth. But I do not believe he would be inclined to follow your suggestion."
DanteE: "Lord Barakiel....
DanteE: "I cannot help but believe that Ananda's continued existence would help ensure that there _will_ be a Fourth Age...
Random_Nerd: "The Fall? The War in Heaven? They occurred because I was not listened to."
DanteE: "Which would mean, as long as Ananda lives, there is hope."
Random_Nerd: "Ananda will not continue to exist. That is the entire crux of the plan!"
Brian: "What did you suggest previously?"
Theresa: (No, as long as Carrie/Eve lives, there's hope.  :) )
Random_Nerd: "No. As long as she, over there, exists, there is hope."
Theresa: (Jinx!)
Random_Nerd: "Lucifer and his Angels fell because they, and Heaven, could not come to terms."
Random_Nerd: "I attempted, both at the time, beforehand, and afterwards, to mediate."
Theresa: "What would be the difference between the nonexistance of the Imperator of the 4th Age and the nothingness that you were railing against earlier?"
Random_Nerd: "Because I have many times been banished from Heaven, but I have never once raised up arms against it."
Eve: "My Ymera may incarnate Hope, and I may bear that piece of his soul, but how do we know that Hope would survive the death of the Infinite without being diminished beyond recognition?"
DanteE: to Theresa: "What would support The Tree is there was no hell?"
Random_Nerd: "It is my belief that, if the Fourth Age dies but the other Imperators remain, that the world will still be sustained. Is it risky? Yes. But less risky, I think, than the alternative. Less risky than having another war during this one."
Random_Nerd: "Because if Hope were merely an offshoot of the Infinite, you would not be here representing Lord Kudzu. You would be a Noble of Cityback, not Amyra."
Brian: "What are you afraid of? Losing the Great War and being reduced to nothing?"
Random_Nerd: "Failing at my job to protect the world."
Theresa: to Dante: "Hell was always there, just no fallen angels in it. it's part of the Tree, just like the stars above the branches."

  • Eve 's skin is slowly lightening. "Hope is itself. It would survive Ananda's death. But would Creation? Without the structure of Creation to give Hope meaning, without the Estates which define Hope's interactions, Hope itself is meaningless."

Random_Nerd: Lesson, quietly: "I don't trust him. He sounds reasonable, but I don't trust him."
Random_Nerd: William nods at Lesson, seeming surprised to agree with him.
DanteE: quietly, to Lesson: "Does he seem different from when you last spoke to him?"
Random_Nerd: "Does Hope require the turning of the Ages? Does it require endless war? Endless lessenings of the world?"
DanteE: "Er... dealt with him?"
Theresa: "Has anyone tried to destroy or kill another Age Imperator?"
Brian: "The changing of the Age will herald destruction, no matter what."

  • DanteE checks everything over with The Sight...

Random_Nerd: "You are a human. You believe in the Light, and the Dark, as I understand it. Would you not rather the Fall of Humanity had not occurred, and you and I met here as peers? Would you not wish that Hell were never inhabited save by little bits of malevolence like your servant there?"
Brian: "Lesson? He's ... surprisingly not malevolent."
Random_Nerd: (Nothing unexpected with the Sight. Barakiel, and you guys, and Lesson, have varying degrees of the Spiritus Dei. But there're no hidden nobles, and no active major miracles.)
Brian: (afk a bit)
Random_Nerd: "Can I see your demon, for a moment? He looks familiar to me."
DanteE: (OK, but don't break him...)

  • Eve shivers. She is swiftly approaching becoming Carrie again. "I would give, and have given, much that it be realized what Humanity might have been. It does not follow that all that has come to pass is bad! The Second Age saw an end to murder and slavery among the True Gods! It saw advances in understanding and new philosophies were created which had not been before!"

Theresa: "He is the Anchor of our former brother Urbanization."
Random_Nerd: "So... you think that murder is a bad thing, Hope?"
Theresa: (Oo, nice trap.)
Random_Nerd: Barakiel picks up Lesson and encloses him within a hand studded with eyes.
Random_Nerd: "This belonged to me once, didn't it?"
DanteE: "Hold it together, Lesson..."
DanteE: "Yes, he did."
Theresa: (I hope the Courage miracle holds...)

  • Eve is now shouting, and by the time she is done she has shifted fully to Carrie. "I think that the hope of murder is necessary if there is to be any meaning to avoidance of it! I think that without the Estate of Murder, even if it were bad in every respect, humanity and angels could not *choose* whether to murder or to not!"

Random_Nerd: "And you bought it from my Consequences, to make it your servant?"

      • Eve is now known as Carrie.

Theresa: (And I'm sure that William is thinking "Better him than me!!!")
DanteE: "Not quite. We bought him for his heart.
Random_Nerd: "Murder is the destruction of freedom. To be murdered is to have every choice taken from one."
DanteE: "I believe our lord needed it to 'recharge' after the enChanceling."
Random_Nerd: "His heart? What good is a demon's heart?"
Theresa: "The organ was necessary in the creation of a whim of our Imperator. The end result is sitting outside of your Chancel gate."
Random_Nerd: "The rabbit?"
Theresa: (Very good with A1 sauce!)
Theresa: "Indeed."
Random_Nerd: "I must see this rabbit closer."
Random_Nerd: Barakiel moves his wings in various patterns, and the room becomes a lot bigger.
Carrie: "And yet, after death there is still freedom. There is still existence, and hope. And the ability even to roam the Tree, or to descend to Hell, which would have been impossible without that death."
Random_Nerd: Then, one of the huge walls bows out into a tunnel, leading towards Monty, who seems a lot closer than he probably actually is.
Random_Nerd: "One need not die to walk the Tree.
Random_Nerd: "
Theresa: "William, if you could inform Sam and Snow that Imperator Barakiel will be arriving immediately?"
Random_Nerd: "If your species had not fallen, you would be able to walk it as easily as I myself do."
DanteE: (I think Barakiel wants him brought in...)
Random_Nerd: "You. Dionyl. Have the rabbit come to me at once."
Random_Nerd: Anyone with Aspect 1 or better can see Samuel look at Monty with a "And you expect me to move this /how/?" look.
Theresa: (Can Sam tell that an Imperator is ordering him around? Can we get in trouble with the Aides about that?)
Random_Nerd: (It seems that he can tell, yes.)
Theresa: (I am impressed at Sam's scarf-face.)
Random_Nerd: (And Luc would hardly expect you to keep Angels from ordering people around.)
Random_Nerd: (It's all in the body-language.)
Carrie: (Lesser Creation of Hope in Monty to get him to want to approach Barakiel.)
DanteE: (Ghost of Courage to help that along...)
Theresa: (Uhh...Lesser Creation of Brakes, please?)
Random_Nerd: Monty starts hopping down the tunnel, as Samuel clings to a hair the size of a small treetrunk, and Snow makes happy sleepy noises.
DanteE: (Think of the adventure, Sam! :)
Carrie: (That's your job. It would probably take a Greater though. Use DP if you have to.)
Random_Nerd: Monty hops his way down the corridor.
Theresa: (Hmm, there's a thought. What viewpoint does Monty see?)

  • Theresa speaks to the Spirit of Monty. "The Imperator Barakiel wants to look at you, Monty."

Random_Nerd: Barakiel: "Okay, what in the" *stream of cursing in Hellish languages, as if uttered by many voices at once* "is that supposed to be?"
Random_Nerd: (How are you checking, and talking to his spirit, Theresa?)
Carrie: "It is the product of a combination of a rabbit possessed by Ymera Kudzu, one of your feathers, and the demon's original heart."
Random_Nerd: "Is this some sort of perverted piece of conceptual art or something? He's making a mockery out of me?"

  • Theresa blinks at the Angel cursing.

Random_Nerd: Lesson, in a voice two shades away from groveling: "Please put me down."
Carrie: "No, Lord. Our Ymera wished this display to communicate something to you. What, we do not know."
Theresa: (I have no idea how I would check to see what view Monty is seeing. Theresa is talking to him just like the others did on the road. Where he wasn't that bright, but still could communicate about toddler level.)
DanteE: "Actually, I think I know..."
Random_Nerd: (But there was a mythic world there. There isn't, here/)
Random_Nerd: (In Locus Barakiel, the mythic view is not a valid way to see the world.)
Theresa: (Oh. Crud. Okay, is Monty stopping?)
Random_Nerd: (Not yet, but he has a way to go yet.)
Random_Nerd: "I can't help but think this is some sort of insult."
Random_Nerd: "Some sort that makes no sense, by some damned Wildlord who no doubt thinks this is the height of humor."
Random_Nerd: "But I don't get it.?"
Random_Nerd: (err, no ?)
DanteE: "No, I believe it's a demoonstration."
DanteE: (er, drop one o)
Theresa: "If it is, it is not on our part, sir. Part of our instructions were to show you the rabbit. Monty usually lives on our Chancel's new moon."
Random_Nerd: Monty slides to a halt.
DanteE: (is Monty here?)
Random_Nerd: (He just arrived.)

  • DanteE climbs up Monty's side.

DanteE: to the others: "Monty and Lesson are examples of what 'lowly beasts' can become with a little help from us and Imperators.
Random_Nerd: "So, he sends you to disagree with me about everything... what, he doesn't even care what I think, just assumes I'm wrong? And sends incomprehensible Wild insults and messengers who don't know their own message?"
DanteE: "Which fits in with what we figured out earlier.

  • DanteE climbs up to Monty's head and faces Barakiel."

DanteE: "Lord Barakiel.
DanteE: "May I tell you what I think the message may be?"
Random_Nerd: "Okay. I believe, at least, that you do not intend to insult me."

  • Carrie is looking intently at Dante.

DanteE: (while sitting on a humongous rabbit's head and probably looking down upon you?)

  • Theresa crosses two fingers...

DanteE: "We know our lord likes humanity...
Random_Nerd: Lesson: "I don't belong to you any more. I'm not your property now. Put me down, Lord Angel."
DanteE: "and embodies Hope, Courage, and Numbers.
Random_Nerd: (Yeah, you're looking down on him.)
Carrie: (Lesson does not have Perfect Timing.)
DanteE: "As a quick aside, can we have our demon back?"
Random_Nerd: "Oh. Sure."
Random_Nerd: Barakiel tosses Lesson to the ground.

      • Brian has signed off IRC (Connection reset by peer).
  • Theresa will check on Lesson to see if he's hurt.
      • lazarus has joined #nobilis.
      • lazarus is now known as Brian.

Random_Nerd: "Oh, it's fine. Demons are durable."
DanteE: "Monty here started out life as an Australian Rabbit. A tiny member of a pest species, smaller than your largest eye.
Random_Nerd: "One of the few things the little bastards are good at ."
Theresa: "Still, he is a member of our Chancel and our brother's Anchor. It would be disrespectful on my part not to inquire after his well-being."
DanteE: "He has, with our help (so to speak) become something much greater than he was.
Random_Nerd: Lesson: "Not broken. Not happy, but not broken."
Theresa: (Man, who shoved the Tree up his behind?)
DanteE: "Lesson there was, indeed, a lowly demon.
DanteE: "With our help, he has become a trusted lieutenant, and protector of our realm.
Random_Nerd: "I've seen demon-anchors before. Even demon-Nobles. But I never thought they were much good for it. Too unpredictable and violent. Humans are far more useful and reliable."
DanteE: "Humanity and the other races of the tree have enormous potential... _if_ they are given the opportunity to use it...
DanteE: "and if they have something they can Hope for, and summon the COurage to go after.
DanteE: "Your plan would be the opposite of that...
Theresa: (Yeah, because humans aren't unpredicatable and violent...)
Brian: (back - dad just got back from a chorus exec meeting, and we're in a bit of important change, so I wanted to chat with him before he went to bed)
Random_Nerd: "And if not for the changing of the ages, it wouldn't be potential. It'd be actualized. I wish you guys /were/ Imperators, really. You're easier to deal with tham most of the kinds of us."
DanteE: "It would probably mean there will be no Fourth Age...
DanteE: "Which means _this_ age wouldn't age...
DanteE: "This age in which mankind's potential is unrealized, and war is ongoing, and ...
Theresa: (Humans are easier to deal with?!?)
DanteE: "Well, let's be honest. Do you want Lord Entropy to stay in charge?"
DanteE: (er, wouldn't end, not wouldn't age. Grr.)
Random_Nerd: "AND IF YOU DON'T STOP IT NOW, THE NEXT THING WILL BE WORSE! WORSE THAN HUMANS BECOMING NOTHING MORE THAN ANIMALS! WORSE THAN ALL MY OLD FRIENDS TRYING TO KILL EACH OTHER. WORSE THAN THE SLOW END OF THE WORLD!"
Brian: "Why do you believe so? Why do you believe it CAN be stopped?"
Carrie: "Lord Barakiel. I asked my Estate how to heal Humanity's Fall. And there is a way. It requires the turning of the Age."
Brian: "For all we know, killing Ananda will prematurely /cause/ the next Age to rollover"
Random_Nerd: "Because the War has taught us some things about how Estates work. If Ananda dies, there will be no new age to change to."
Random_Nerd: "Isn't it better, instead of healing a wound, for it to never be?"
Carrie: "My Ymera has entrusted our Familia, and myself in particular, with striving that this might come to pass. It is His desire... and my own."
Brian: "Not so, as I understand it ... that version of the new age may."
Carrie: "If the wound never was, it would remain unknown forever. How could it ever be understood?"
Random_Nerd: "Can't you people understand that we're on the same side? That we want the same things? It's just that I've seen a lot more of this War, and lost a lot more friends. I'm willing to do drastic things, because I've seen the alternative."
Theresa: (Darn you, RN. I'm liking this guy and I feel bad for him. If I weren't across the room from you, I'd be sniffling into my drink.)
DanteE: "You've seen the future?"
Random_Nerd: "No. But I've seen the past."
Theresa: "The War of Heaven."
Carrie: "We want the same things. We want to protect Creation. Yet, I do not need prophecy or history to know that this plan will lead to ruin. One cannot stop Murder by Murdering the thing itself."
Brian: "Lord Barakiel, this coming Age will see the end of the Great War. This War must end."
Random_Nerd: "Do you have anything you can show me, so that I'll believe that?"
DanteE: "Barakiel. If you want humanity to live forever... why end the Infinite?"

  • Carrie considers.

Random_Nerd: "To save the world."
Theresa: "Do you have hope, sir?"
Random_Nerd: "Yes. All my hope is in this plan."
Brian: "The outcome will not be as you expect. I can feel this."
Random_Nerd: "You. Are telling me. What the consequences of my choice will be?"
Random_Nerd: "Because you can feel it?"
Brian: "Yes."
Theresa: (Duck.)
DanteE: "They get that from me."
Random_Nerd: To the others: "Is he a little... well... Wild?"
Theresa: "Double Wild, I think, sir."

  • Carrie shifts to Eve, in the twinkling of an eye.
      • Carrie is now known as Eve.

Random_Nerd: "Two plus Two equals Five. I can /feel/ it."
DanteE: "We'll probably be mooning Jehovah later."
Eve: "Lord Barakiel. I can show you."
Random_Nerd: "You can?"
Eve: (Greater Creation of Hope in Monty, with my last four DMP, to create the strong possibility and power to act on it within Monty that he will fulfill his purpose.)
Random_Nerd: (Hmm. Within the Eve-based conceptualization of Hope?)
DanteE: (Don't forget I'm _on_ him... :) )
Eve: (Yes.)
Brian: "Lord Barakiel, could we ask Consequences about the lack of changing an Age?"
Theresa: (...are we going to detonate the stormbunny inside Jupiter? With Dante, Sam and Snow on him and all of us at ground-zero?)
Eve: (You're Courage. You'll live.)
Random_Nerd: "I /am/ Consequences."
Brian: "Have you looked as closely as your Noble has?"
Random_Nerd: (Yes, you can do that miracle. It'll take a while to get active, because most of Monty's purpose can't be fufilled right here.)
Brian: "He is, after all, more focused than you are"
DanteE: (Didn't Consequences say he can't tell what'll happen due to Noble meddling?)
Random_Nerd: "Do you think I've come up with this plan alone? He's been helping me plan this for a long time. And neither of us can divine exactly how it would go, because it involves far too many Imperators. But it's our best plan."
Brian: "I'd like to ask him a few other questions, too, about other options."
Random_Nerd: (Pretty much. Because stuff that keys off of Noble actions falls outside of his Estate, largely, just like how brave Nobles are not part of Dante's estate.)
Random_Nerd: "Like what? Kill Time? That would weaken the world far more."
Random_Nerd: "And I /like/ Time."
Theresa: (And like how Hope can't affect Barakiel's hope.)
Random_Nerd: "Do nothing? That's even stupider."
Brian: "More ... talk to the Excrucians. Find out what they're after."
Random_Nerd: "Oh. Wow. Why didn't we think of that."
Brian: "it's ... Wild."

  • Eve whispers to Brian calmly, "I do believe he's being sarcastic."

DanteE: "Or... recruit humanity and the other races to help in the fight."
Random_Nerd: "The Excrucians... sure, if you ask them, they might tell you. But they don't tell you the same thing."
Random_Nerd: "Either they're utterly unwilling to tell us, or they don't know themselves."
Brian: "Honestly, my plan currently involves going Outside to find out."
Eve: (Is it possible to do a Lesser Div of Hope to find out how my miracle has affected Monty?)
Random_Nerd: "Humanity isn't able to help, save as Nobles. I wish they were, but that ship has sailed a long time ago."
DanteE: "I mean, just imagine what a dozen Montys would do to their ranks..."
Random_Nerd: (Yes. It
Random_Nerd: 's made him grow faster, have a more intense storm, and look more irritating to Barakiel.)
Random_Nerd: "They would do nothing. Your rabbit isn't even an anchor, they could wipe him out with a thought."
Eve: (...Well scratch one deus ex lagomorpha.)
Random_Nerd: "And physical size doesn't mean power. A little girl who's a Noble can play pool with planets."
Random_Nerd: (Most of what Kudzu wants of Monty isn't directly connected to this situation.)
Eve: (Fair enough.)
Random_Nerd: "Sure, if you ennobled it, it might be an interesting combatant. But it's stupid. Even more so than a regular rabbit."
Theresa: "Do you have any ideas as to why Kudzu thinks you're wrong, sir?"
Random_Nerd: "Because he's full of himself, and hasn't looked at what I really did."
DanteE: "When you left Heaven?"
Random_Nerd: "Yes."
DanteE: "What did you do?"
Random_Nerd: "I did everything I could to stop the War in Heaven. But it was too little, too late."
Eve: (Barakiel is Consequences, Shadows, what, and Eclipses?)
Theresa: (And Duty.)
Random_Nerd: (Consequences, Shadows, Duty, and Eclipses.)
Eve: (Ah, that clears some things up. Thanks.)
Random_Nerd: "Do you have a better plan for me? One that can give us a better chance of escaping another War, or the same chance with less other risks?"
DanteE: "... you know ... there are several philosophies that say the War in Heaven was ... necessary."
Random_Nerd: "And those are several philosophies held by people who either weren't there or wouldn't listen to anyone else."
Random_Nerd: "Tell me again that my friends killing each other over a stupid argument was necessary, and Kudzu will be looking for a new Courage."
Brian: "The Great War will not end without the Age change."
Random_Nerd: "Let me guess. You feel it?"
Brian: "The change that will come about with the coming of the Age will be necessary."
Theresa: "Might I suggest a cooling-off-period, sir, to let us examine your viewpoints and arguements?"
Random_Nerd: "Okay. I'll give you that. Take some time off, confer with your Master, whatever. Because I really do want to get your help, and I do belive that once you think enough about it, you'll see the merits of my plan."

  • Theresa bows. "Thank you, sir."

Eve: "Our thanks, for this chance, Lord."

  • Eve curtsies, as elaborately as the first time.

Eve: "I do believe that your goals may be reconciled with those of our Ymera."
Random_Nerd: "And take the rabbit with you too."

  • DanteE tried turning Monty around...

Theresa: (Is the tunnel still there?)
DanteE: (trieS)
Random_Nerd: "You have to understand... it's not the plan I care about, it's just the best way I can see to defend what I must defend."
Random_Nerd: (The tunnel is.)
Random_Nerd: Monty, after a few seconds, does seem to respond to Dante.
Brian:
DanteE: (/me looks over Brian's blank look... :) )
Random_Nerd: (So, shall we cut here?)
Brian: (that was to test if I'm still here. I don't get a notification, I have to test it x_x ... everything else dropped, you see)
Eve: (If Monty refuses to leave, I'll use Last Trump, shift some MP to Domain, and Lesser Destroy his Hope to see Barakiel.)
Brian: (seems to be a good place to cut)
DanteE: (Yeah, let's cut...)
Theresa: (Cut is fine.)
Eve: (Cutting here works for me.)
Random_Nerd: _________________STOP____________________

      • DanteE is now known as Knockwood.

Random_Nerd: Good session, guys.

      • You are now known as BethE.
      • Eve is now known as Etheric.
      • Brian is now known as lazarus.

Etheric: Definitely.
Knockwood: OK, did I help or hurt things?
Etheric: ...I'm assuming another Hope miracle to cancel out the first one wasn't actually necesary?
lazarus: that was fun. Brian's a lot more stubborn than I thought :-P
Etheric: You helped.
BethE: I am really baffled about what to do. He makes good points. I blame being married to RN. He makes every arguement/debate something like this because I have a nagative logic-fu score.
Etheric: It honestly surprised me quite a bit how Dante's style helped.
Knockwood: You guys get where I'm going with my wild guessing... I mean theorizing?
lazarus: his plan won't work.
Etheric: Definitely won't.
Random_Nerd: What's your wild theory, Knock?
Etheric: I'm not sure I get the theory either.
Random_Nerd: Whatever it is, I'll steeple my fingers and say "Hmm. Interesting."
BethE: I guess I get sidetracked by how much pain he's been suffering since the War in heaven.
Knockwood: That what Kudzu wants is to let humanity face the Age's end (Hope & Courage, and Numbers)
Knockwood: and that Lesson and Monty are demonstrations of the potential of 'lesser beings'.
lazarus: kwd: partly, yes.
Knockwood: partly?
lazarus: Brian's taken a liking to this whole "end the war through diplomatic means ... out there" angle.
Random_Nerd: Hmm. Interesting.
lazarus: I don't know if that's all Kudzu's goal.
Knockwood: I may be way off with the recruiting-humanity angle, tho
BethE: Even though it's been proved that we can't go 'out there' and survive?
Knockwood: (Beth, check if RN's laughing his ass off...)
Random_Nerd: Hasn't really been proved.
lazarus: BethE: proof by example does not a proof make :-P
Random_Nerd: (No, I have the exact facial expression I always do when players tell me their plans.)
Knockwood: anyone else catch that the last Consequences was lost around another age-end?
Random_Nerd: (I have this facial expression, and the tone of voice associated with it, down to a /science/.)
lazarus: kwd: vaguely, yeah.
Random_Nerd: (Ask Beth.)
Random_Nerd: And, yeah.
Random_Nerd: You don't know that you can't survive out there.
Random_Nerd: Just that the people who've tried in the past have failed.
Knockwood: Of course, my idea presumes that Kudzu's put some thought into this.
lazarus: Brian's fairly sure that we can.
BethE: Fine, Brian goes first!  :)
Knockwood: Y'know, since Brian's Numbers, he could probably keep a digityal camera together... :)
Random_Nerd: Ah, but would his miracles work out there, where his estate isn't?
BethE: And about Conseq wasn't lost around an age end, i thought. Was the last age end 7000 years ago?
lazarus: in a localized area of existence, yes.
Etheric: 6000 I think.
Knockwood: afk a minute...
Random_Nerd: Oh, great, did I get the timeline wrong? I try to keep it straight, but there are a lot of NPCs to keep track of, and my notes could be more complete.
lazarus: well, we caught your intention
Random_Nerd: Oh, okay. So I hadn't said, previously, that the previous Consequences died at the end of an age?
Etheric: Sorry, the Second age was 3000 years before game start.
Etheric: Or, wait again, didn't they change the reckoning?
Random_Nerd: Longer than that. Second Age ended at 2000 AF.
Knockwood: bak
Random_Nerd: It's currently 4999 AP, which would be 6999 AF.
Etheric: Right.
Knockwood: Beth, don't forget to upload the logs so we can figure out what we're doing! :)
BethE: *nodnod*
Etheric: So, I'm still unclear on if you meant for the prior Consequences to have died at the turning of the Ages.
Random_Nerd: He isn't supposed to have.
Etheric: Okay, thanks.
Random_Nerd: He's supposed to have died a little under 2000 years ago.
Knockwood: <Ahnold> He'll be back. </A>
lazarus: ah, ok.
Random_Nerd: And then a few years passed, and the current Consequences was ennobled some time after that, as Barakiel was nervous about that shard for a while.
Knockwood: Hm... for next session, what if we come up with reasons the Age must end?
Etheric: (What is the page of that wiki again?)
BethE: (Link: http://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Chancel_Amyra)http://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Chancel_Amyra
Knockwood: (Eth: wiki.rpg.net, search for Amyra)
Random_Nerd: Anything else, before we go?
Random_Nerd: Oh, before I go, a question.
Knockwood: What exactly is Monty's status?
Etheric: (Searched for Kudzu and it didn't turn up much beyond several logs. Thanks for the tip Knock.)
BethE: Good quotes from tonight.  :)
Random_Nerd: Status in what sense.
Random_Nerd: Do you guys like it when a major session revolves entirely around you guys arguing with an NPC?
Knockwood: Mainly, is he about to go boom with me on top of him?
lazarus: RN: yes.
BethE: I liked the intereaction with this NPC and the information and emotion involved.
Random_Nerd: No, he isn't about to.
Knockwood: (BTW, what would you guys think of giving Monty intelligence?)
Random_Nerd: What do you guys think about Barakiel as a character, now that you finally see him after he's been referred to for years?
Knockwood: oh... did Eve intend for him to go boom?
BethE: (I think possibly a bad idea as then keeping him cooped up on the moon might become problematic.)
Random_Nerd: (My main response is "They called me mad, but I'll show them! I'll show them all!")
BethE: Interesting. We had seen little miniature Barakiels made by Kudzu but this...this is a fleshed out person. I was touched by his pain. He is suffering.
lazarus: he seems to be ... kind of a Vietnam Vet archetype.
Etheric: Eve intended for him to give Barakiel some huge insight, which apparently was too much to Hope.  ;)
Random_Nerd: Yeah. That's a part of what I'm aiming for him to be, Laz.
Knockwood: He seems to be overreacting to what he's seen.
Random_Nerd: Although some of the undertones of that aren't right, in that it was a civil war, and one in which he had ties to both sides.
Random_Nerd: (That, to Laz, not Knock.)
Etheric: He's fixated on the past...
BethE: I think he has low blood sugar or a hair in one of his eyes. Very cranky.
lazarus: unwilling to realize he's wrong
Random_Nerd: The past, and the future.
Knockwood: The best thing to do may be to fight through this war.
Etheric: Only the future he sees... Won't happen. It didn't happen the last time, at least.
Random_Nerd: I would say that the issue is less that he's wrong in a factual way, and more... that he has different priorities and axioms than you.
Knockwood: (and I'm going to avoid the RL ... um ...
Etheric: We can't fight through the war. That's been tried and failed. Creation continues to lose ground.
Knockwood: (Damn it, I've been glitching on words all evening.)
Etheric: (Not making an RL parallel, honestly!)
Etheric: We have to revolutionize the paradigm.
Etheric: For better or worse, that's what Barakiel wants to do.
Etheric: But he looks at it backwards.
Random_Nerd: Yeah. This isn't supposed to be about the Iraq War. Heck, this storyline got started before that war'd started, hadn't it?
Etheric: We don't have to prevent change, we need to ensure that the change moves in the right direection.
lazarus: RN: that war started when I was still in high school, vaguely 6ish years ago.
Random_Nerd: Oh, something that might help understand him, but a fact that may not come out in play. One of Barakiel's big inspirations here was the Flood.
Etheric: 6 years ago was Afghanistan, not Iraq.
Etheric: Iraq was 4 years and some change.
Random_Nerd: (Hmm. I guess I misrecalled when it started. Thought Iraq was some time after Afghanistan...)
Random_Nerd: (Yeah.)
lazarus: Etheric: ah, you're right. It's still vaguely the same timeframe.
Etheric: How so, RN?
BethE: The Flood is an inspiration?
lazarus: (that is, the time frame of "way too long" - yeah, I'm anti-war...)
Random_Nerd: Well, you know who did the Flood, and why, in Nobilis, right?
Etheric: Oh, because the Light won by losing?
Random_Nerd: Yeah. Because they saved humanity by killing most of them.
Etheric: Makes some amount of sense now.
Random_Nerd: That's the sort of drastic outside-the-box the-enemy's-gate-is-down solution Barakiel is going for.
Knockwood: When did the War start?
Etheric: the Valde Bellum? 4999 years before game start.
BethE: Which one?
lazarus: the Great War? Last Age change, wasn't it?
Etheric: The Fourth Age is widely believed to be coming the next year. XD
Knockwood: right at the age change?
Etheric: The War *caused* the Age change.
Random_Nerd: Started about a year before the age change.
Random_Nerd: Right?
Etheric: Or, rather, it was known the age had changed because the War satarted.
Knockwood: That would mean, as long as this Age is going the war will too.
Etheric: Hmm, let me check the book...
Knockwood: or does it?
lazarus: kwd: that's Brian's argument.
Etheric: You're right, RN. The Excrucian assault on Heaven happened the previous year.
Random_Nerd: I believe that the Excrucians went all "We're in ur Heaven, killing ur Imperatorz" in 1999 AF.
Etheric: Oh, and I was mistaken.
Etheric: Default game start is 4996 AP, not 4999.
Random_Nerd: But this game is in 4999.
Etheric: Ah, that explains my confusion then.
Random_Nerd: You have... ten months, I believe, right?
Etheric: :) Can hardly wait. Except that I have so much to do by then.
Knockwood: suddenly Barakiel's viewpoint makes sense... but not his methods.
Etheric: We still need to deliver the Angel of the Moon to Lord Entropy, for one thing.
Random_Nerd: And although the Nobilis book does not say a new age will begin in 5000, it is a matter of in-game canon that it will.
Knockwood: Though I thought both sides were at a stalemate
Etheric: And figure out how Ananda ties into things.
Random_Nerd: Both sides of what?
Knockwood: the War
Etheric: The War is still being fought, bloodily.
Random_Nerd: No. Estates still get lots.
Random_Nerd: Lost.
Random_Nerd: And there's no way to get them back.
Random_Nerd: The Excrucians are winning. Slowly, but they're winning.
Random_Nerd: Not nearly as quickly as they were winning at the beginning, but the rules are tilted in their direction, metaphysically.
lazarus: given that things will End at some point, anyway?
Etheric: Well, I think he means, because ground can be lost but not gained.
lazarus: well, we don't know that.
lazarus: 'cause we haven't been Outside yet
Etheric: Let me put it a different wy then. No one has figured out how.
lazarus: *nod*
Etheric: Nettling the Excrucians is a possibility, but who knows that their strength is even finite?
lazarus: RN does.
lazarus: or should soon :-P
Random_Nerd: Yeah. About the only known way for Creation to win would be to kill all the Excrucians.
Knockwood: heh... there is one possibility, if you assume RN wants a major plot to revolve around me. :)
Random_Nerd: But it's hard, because they almost never come in themselves, and if they do, they can just retreat outside the Wall and call "Base!"
Random_Nerd: Some have died, but not as many as have Imperators.
Etheric: Even if Creation loses The Infinite, the Excrucians have their own logic unbounded by Creations rules and wouldn't lose the potential to continue the war unendingly.
Random_Nerd: Anyway, I'm heading out. Good game, guys.
Etheric: Night, RN.
Knockwood: Oyasumi-nasai
Random_Nerd: (Oh, and while Dante's theory about the details of Barakiel's plan was off, the spirit was pretty close, so he gets partial credit for that, I figure.)
lazarus: later rn
BethE: Very good game, all. *HUGS*

      • Random_Nerd has left #nobilis.

Knockwood: Barakiel's, or Kudzu's?
BethE: Barakiel's.

Chancel_Amyra
Chapter 10

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