TheStarsAreRight:CarlNote9
REDLAND JACK
Figuring the train trip to the interior of Russia is a good time to brief/debrief before their next mission, during a quiet moment, Redland approaches Carl. "Hello. How is life treating you this fine day?"
CARL
Carl glances your way, a secret humor in his eyes. “Life and I are in agreement this morning,” he replies. “It makes my outlook brighter. And you? You seem cheery. What’s on your mind?”
REDLAND JACK
Redland smiles. "In my mind? Untold wisdom and knowledge... oh, you said 'on my mind', er, not a ton. It's just that I wouldn't know what to do with myself on a train if I didn't spend some portion of it yakking about portentous stuff, so, of course, I thought of you."
CARL
“Ah, well – then you’ve come to the right place, hmm? Or we could play cards.” He waves you to a chair. “Got a particular portent in mind? I’ve just been playing with a couple of flies, so conversation is welcome.”
REDLAND JACK
Redland sits down carefully on the chair.
"Nothing too particular. I mean, I suppose I have the current trip on the brain, but my guess is that the resolution will be more in your wheelhouse (mystical awakening of the land), than mine (practical ensleepening of the students).
"I mostly just wanted to check in to make sure everything was going alright."
CARL
“That’s a good question. There’s so much at risk here that I almost never feel that things are ‘alright’ – little voice in the back of my mind whispers ‘Hurry! Hurry!’ all the time – and nothing I delegate ever seems to get done, so no matter where I go, I wish I were six other places as well.
“And,” he sighs, “I miss my wife and family, and being home, and all of that. But it would be selfish of me to put all that first, I think. Don’t you?
“Speaking of students,” he flicks a finger toward a small slate tile on the arm of his chair; a pair of large black flies buzz frantically away, and Carl wipes the slate with a damp napkin as he talks, “we really ought to figure out some way to put that academic genius of yours to work. It’s not economics, of course, but there is mathematical rigor to some of this stuff, and it could use some modeling. That’s one thought. Another is this: how are your sorcery lessons coming along? Have you mastered all the stuff Boris gave you to practice?”
REDLAND JACK
"Hmmm. I don't know that I would call that selfish. You're not immortal (or near immortal) like some of the others, right? Regardless, at some point, you need to be able to live your own life. There's always something else to do, always someone else who needs your help, like Sydney Smith said in his letter to Lady Gray. They shouldn't always come ahead of your wife, your son, and yourself. Given how I've complained about this trip to Russia, I'm guessing that I gave you guys a bunch of grief for the time you took off for Henrik and Rebecca's wedding. If so, I was wrong then, and I'm wrong now. You have to do what you think is right. If that includes taking a month off to spend with your family in France, so be it.
"I'm happy to do some mathematical modeling. As always, just let me know what you need.
"With Boris's stuff, Rebecca warned me off of it. I've sort of grabbed a hodge-podge of knowledge from Rebecca, you, and Boris ... and forgotten most of it, of course. I'm still pretty much at the point of being able to channel energy and communicate telepathically. I have been talking to Mr. Parsons a bit, since he seems to be a bit of an expert in this area."
CARL
“Ahah.” Carl smiles. “Dale is a dab hand at a lot of things. Comes from a very pragmatic background. He doesn’t stand much on principle; if you need something done, he’ll tell you if it *can* be done, not merely if it *should.* And he’s a pretty good musician too.
“The reason I asked, is that I keep thinking about the alchemists and their little monstrosity. I wasn’t much help to you then, was I? You were more or less on your own. I want to make sure you have all the tools available, if you have to act without the team at your side…. And the most important tool is knowledge. D’you see?
“If you can channel Power, you can run the machines, and I want you to have any that you care to carry. There are other tricks you should know too, some for you and others for Henrik – as one of the Avowed, he has more resources but needs to know how to use them – and not all of them are,” he wiggles his fingers, “effects.”
He stops, gazing blankly through the window at the passing countryside, before turning to you again.
“I suppose I’m just feeling more and more as though the time’s coming when I won’t be there to help. I want you to be ready when that happens.”
REDLAND JACK
"He's certainly not keen on the Dark Pharaoh, but then who is, I suppose. But yeah, I suppose I prefer it when a person tells you how to do something and allows you to make the moral judgment for yourself. It feels like they're giving you a little more credit.
"You know me... more knowledge is always welcome. You shouldn't worry too much, though. I'm sure there'll be plenty of time to accomplish thing things you need to do."
He gives a wry smile. "It seems that just as my mood is improving, yours is taking a turn for the worse. Like I'm one of Dale's vampire friends..."
CARL
Slightly startled, Carl looks at you more directly.
"Oh no!" he says, "I'm not in a bad mood at all! Just ... looking ahead." He smiles. "So Dale's been telling you about the Nightfolk? Were these old stories, or has he got new chums?"
REDLAND JACK
"Hmmm. It took place in the context of talking about Outsiders. While he doesn't think my communicating with Outsiders plan is a particularly good one, he allowed that it may work out for the best, insofar as he had hunted a vampire or two back in his day, but now has his home set up to accomodate them, since they're on the same side."
CARL
Carl laughs. “Well, that’s Dale all over! Used to have a Nightsider partner, back before the rise of the Fae. Molly was one of the first to sign the Compact.” He sobers a bit. “Of course, the Nightfolk weren’t the Fae – but they weren’t true Outsiders either. They were hybrids, with a vested interest in the survival of the Land, as well as their own.”
He shifts around a bit. “What happened in the Alchemists’ lab – that was something of a warning, a good object lesson. Some of those Out There want to make deals – but we rarely have any way to know what those deals mean to them. Sometimes it seems as though the mere act of dealing with us, here, is of immense value to them – and I don’t know why. Our words – their promises – have power. Binding power. They might try to find loopholes, to wiggle out of the spirit of a pact, but never the letter. Never. It seems unthinkable for one of the Kinder, once a contract is made, to break its promise; but so hard, sometimes, to tell for certain exactly what it *has* promised, at the end of the day.
“Now, Jack, you need to hear this.” Carl is intent. “You have been anointed as a negotiator. If there was any doubt about it before, there is none now. Your name – and quite possibly your Name – is out there. Some sort of Outsider gossip now says that Redland Jack will speak to them – and they seem to hold that as vitally important. I do not know whether some of that weight comes from the Pharaoh’s hand on you, or whether the Pharaoh merely saw it first and claimed you because of what It already knew. You have the potential – the King sees it – to shape the fate of our world; and having that potential, it will be very hard for you to walk away. Heck, I don’t want you to – I want you at my side, to help me! You saw what happened there! I can speak for myself well enough – but when the Allergy strikes me down, I’m useless. I need someone like you, ready to speak, to carry on when I cannot.
“What they promise you will become fact. Will become law, if you will – even though I don’t believe there are any Outsiders who can speak for anyone but themselves as individuals. No sign of hierarchy or government, really, just big fish and bigger fish, no two alike. Coming here, they *acquire* something. Law, perhaps; a sense of consequence. They can be bound into contract, into service, and those bindings are not just words.
“What remains is to figure out how to be utterly unambiguous to both sides – and to know how to value what it is you give away, as well as what you get.
“We do not have experience doing that, you and I. Some sorcerers do, or at least they may. Dale isn’t one of them; and there are far too many tales of sorcerers who ran afoul of their own contracts for me to trust anyone’s experience in that regard. What we have is a bit of trivial experience, and a growing body of laws – laws, like physics, that describe the forces that govern magic and reality – for them, as well as for us. Ponics, Vitalics, the Logos; these may be the Kings’ domains, but they are also the fundamental laws that govern the Outsiders, beyond their similarities and differences.
“Now, we’re on our way to see a deadspot. I’ve investigated four of these so far. I *hope* that this is like the others, and not something different. If it is ….
“The kind of dead spot I’ve looked at before is a, call it a thin place – one where the Worldsoul has pulled away. I call them dead spots, because everything that lived there wastes away and dies. Some of the folklore, instead, calls such a place a Place of Birth – because it’s a place where the Outside can come through and make itself known. They’re like natural meeting grounds between us and Them – they can be walled off, or destroyed, or used.
“Used by us, or by the Outsiders. As embassies – or as beachheads.
“Do you see?”
REDLAND JACK
"It does strike me that there must be some sort of hierarchy. Not 'overall', of course. We need to be careful not to think of the Outsiders as being a single tribe. However, for Pentheus's plan to have any sort of meaning, there'd have to be some sort of structure, if only that of a gang leader keeping his lackeys in line.
"Now, this 'allergy', well, I haven't experienced it in anyway, as of yet. Perhaps that is some inherent luck on my part, or, as you say, perhaps the Dark Pharaoh has tipped the scale in my direction in this regard..."
He thinks for a moment.
"In regards to what occurred in the Alchemist's lab, well, it may have highlighted both a strength and a weakness of mine. Certainly I was able to negotiate with him, both willing and able. However, almost assuredly I didn't get as much out of him as someone like Father Patrick would have. I felt bad for him, stuck here against his will. Where I probably should have negotiated sharply, from a position of strength ... well, you saw what happened.
"I will endeavor to do a better job at this dead spot. I know people are counting on me. If nothing else, perhaps we'll be able to gather some more data on how communications with the Outsiders work, if it comes to that. Insofar as we have a relatively straightforward objective, in this particular instance, namely 'sealing' this dead spot within the boundaries of Russia, negotiation should be easier."
CARL
“It has always seemed to me that the Outside is like the ocean, with bigger fish eating little ones, and so on. Not so much of an intelligent hierarchy – I suspect they have as much difficulty understanding one another as we do them – more of a constant competition for demesne and control. In fact you have put your finger on one of my reservations about the Pentheus plan, though it’s not a strong one: In order to assure that it works, you either need to give the Earth over to the keeping of Something – or Somethings – that will keep other random predators away, or to train all of the milling hordes that the *only* places they can come are the ones prepared for them.
“As for the negotiation, well, there is another side to that. We had no idea we were going to enter into a parley, did we? So we were hit with it utterly unprepared. I don’t think you have anything to blame yourself for, unless you want to make a place negotiating for yourself. On the other hand,” Carl shrugs, “if you will negotiate for others – the King of Life, say, or Pentheus, or the Emperor of All Russia – you may reasonably expect that your patron ought to brief you beforehand on what he or she desires, and what stakes they are willing to put up. Hmm?” He smiles.
REDLAND JACK
"That's an interesting thought, that they have difficulty understanding each other. Perhaps this is a failure of my imagination, but I've been assuming that if you had three Outsiders, it would be along the lines of having a guy from Britain, Japan, and the United States. That is, nobody can really comprehend what the guy from Japan is saying, but they can sort of understand what he wants by his body language, hand gestures, etc. Whereas the British and American guy can mostly understand each other, though they have a different conception of what 'football' means.
"Next time I talk to one of the more easily comprehended Outsiders, I'll ask him about this.
"Now, with our current objective, though we've basically just been sent off on a scouting mission, I'm assuming that the Tsarina really wants us to secure the borders of Russia, a goal which I'm (probably) happy to oblige. What I can give up to attain this? Well, I prefer to bargain with my own 'stuff', if possible. Decent chance that won't be enough, in this instance, I suppose."
CARL
“If you’re speaking for others, it is expected that your own ‘stuff’ is not at stake.” Carl pauses consideringly. “I’ve long wondered just what the Others get out of dealing with us. They have little interest in material wealth, of course, but why they respect the things they do is a question worthy of a good deal of thought. On the purely material front, you can usually find a taker for , hmm, call it food – Ponic energy, life force, the stuff of sacrifice – but beyond that? The ones that talk seem to have value for … something else.” He looks down, frowning in thought, and checking things off on his fingers.
“On the one hand, they value things that make us uniquely ‘us’. Memories, dreams, that sort of thing. And the more we value what we lose, the more it is worth to them. Truly understanding the reason for that worth would be a good thing.
“On another, they value promises. A sworn oath is sacrosanct; a debt incurred is pure coin, and can be passed in trade without losing value. The why of this has puzzled me, since they do not swear on principles or higher powers – the oath itself is the coin. Sworn pacts are gold, inviolable. The Outsiders seem much more powerfully bound to them than we false and faithless humans are. You see echoes of this in the Nightfolk, the Fae, hybrids that they are, and in the tales of Fae Righ; they will twist and wriggle like the best lawyers, but will not break the letter of their sworn word. Ever.
“My experience as the King of Life tells me that there are at least two parts to this. One of the underlying mediums of exchange, if you will, is potential: a promise sworn trims the field of possibilities – and the wealth, the energy of all the potential paths now lost because of the oath, are channeled into the act and the oath itself, giving it power. Sacrifice is the same: a channeling of potential, stripping it out of the world into a single sacred act, empowered by all the maybes that now will never be.
“The other evident medium of exchange, here, is identity. True names have great power; and my ‘name’ in this case I mean the essential nature of a thing made manifest. The memories and so on that some buy have value, I think, both because they define us and because, in being sold, they alter what we are – change our true names, in some small measure.”
Carl nods, sitting back with a small sigh.
“Think about that Jack. You’re the economist; I would love to hear your speculations on the kind of models for trade and evaluation that come out of rules like this.
“As for our trip to the Dead Spot, what we do there depends on whether the Tsar himself is still in the area. If he is, of course, he gets what he wants,” Carl smiles, “and if not, it’s up to us to see to the Tsarina’s interests. And our own, naturally.
“Assuming, of course, that the Dead Spot is anything like what I think it is. It’s always possible that it is something entirely new. That happens all the time – far too often actually.”
REDLAND JACK
"It sounds, to some extent, like maybe the Outsiders don't fully exist. I don't really know what I mean by that, but it is possible that they value these things due to some ... lack. Perhaps when they are able to obtain these things from us, it makes them more 'real'. Hmmm, that doesn't really account for the binding nature of oaths, though.
"Ah well, the whole question is something I'll have to continue thinking about ... or ask one of the Outsiders about, I suppose. If they don't hold any special allegiance to others of their kind, there is no particular reason that one of them would have to hold back this information.
"If I'm ever to be of any use to you guys, this is the sort of thing I need to figure out. On the plus side, there seems to be a reasonable chance I can make some headway on this when we arrive at the dead spot."
He considers for a moment.
"One problem in our exchange with them, is that they seem to value things that are used up. Er, that is, it would be nice if they valued things like visiting a museum as opposed to eating a steak. Or maybe we just need to find those things."
CARL
“Maybe we do.” Carl nods. “It would be nice to know what sorts of things are ‘used up’ coming from them also. Part of the problem is that they, or at least some of them, seem to be able to provide miraculous things here, but we don’t have any concept of cost on their side. The only thing we can say, and that tentatively, is that this business of binding promises means that any promise they make costs them *something*, at least in terms of potential. Freedom of future choices. How much that’s worth? Again, we do not know.
“Good thoughts, too about the Outsiders not seeming entirely … independently real. I don’t pretend to know if you are right … but there is something in the notion that touches on a sense I’ve had before. Take the Nightsiders for instance: Hybrids though they were, they were not a part of Earth’s Unity, and that affected everything they were and did. That same attachment to promises made … made sense in two ways. One, in making a deal with one of us, they were attached in some way to the Unity – and that attachment had obvious great value, even if it was not a thing of which they were usually *consciously* aware. Two, and this may be more to the point, the Nightfolk were,” he pauses, “they spoke truth, always. Masters of the misleading answer, yes – but always literal truth in it, if you could pin them down and winnow it out. They spoke truth; they were at the mercy of true names, true things; and yet their humanity was, in a sense, a façade upon their true selves, which they never wanted to look squarely at and acknowledge. In a sense, humanity is in a similar state; the very power and potential of mankind is both constrained and enhanced by the fact that humans are, in the main, headblind – they do not see and participate consciously in the Unity, yet they enrich it and define it by their constant unseeing struggles against it.”
REDLAND JACK
"This inability to lie... again, it is as though we are defining them by a 'lack', rather than a characteristic. If they chose not to lie, that would be one thing (laudable, to some extent), but the inability to lie, this desire/need for attachment... well, I'm no Hercule Poirot, but it certainly seems indicative of something."
Redland scratches his head wearily for a moment.
"I enjoy speculation as much as the next guy, but it would be nice, from time-to-time, to have a solid set of facts. Ah well, what're you going to do, I suppose. It seems we'll likely have another chance to acquire some information soon."
CARL
Carl sighs. "Indeed" he says. "At least I hope so.... even if the things we learn only throw other things into disarray.
"So - what did you have on your mind, before I distracted you with all this?" Genially.
REDLAND JACK
"Ah, nothing in particular. I just wanted to check in and see how you were doing. However, there is one thing I've been wondering about lately. Do you think it would be a good idea for me to try to contact The Lady?"
CARL
Carl looks momentarily confused. “Which lady?”
REDLAND JACK
Redland chuckles to himself. "Dang. I need to learn how to speak in capital letters! Er, I'm referring to The Lady associated with the Principle of Compassion. I know we'd talked about this (a bit) a little while back, but I figure, if I'm in the business of contacting Outsiders, if The Lady would be a good bet."
CARL
“Ah! Yes, all right, I see. Hmm.” Carl thinks for a moment. “I suspect She’s probably rather angry with us at the moment – but at least we have a reasonable chance of reaching Her. And she *can* be talked to, unlike others.
“Were you thinking of doing that now? I mean, before we leave Russia? Or perhaps after we go back west?”
REDLAND JACK
"My understanding of this 'dead spot', is that it makes Outsiders easier to reach. Would that be a reasonable place to try to establish contact? Even if that's not a good idea, my inclination is to attempt to contact Outsiders in remote areas. I presume that is why I fled to Canada to talk to the Dark Pharaoh, back in the day. I think people are less likely to be harmed by the ... presence ... of the Outsider if a lot of physical distance is maintained (and, of course, if something goes awry, the fewer people around, the better).
"As to her being angry with us, I'm not quite sure whether they 'feel' emotions similar to ours. Even if she is angry, insofar as they have some sort of mandatory adherence to contracts, it would seem that she has some sort of obligation that she owes. Of course, I'm not quite sure how she managed to 'break' her contract last time."
CARL
“Hmm… there’s a document back in France that you remind me of …
“A dead spot is a good place to contact Outsiders in general – however the Lady is in prison, so to speak – it may be harder to reach her than it would to reach others.
“As for breaking her contracts ….” Carl stops, and sighs. “She may not have done so, by her lights. Her … earthly vessel, the Principle, was a dear friend and an ally; we had an agreement with her. Not with the Lady. You might argue that the two were one, and there is some truth to that, especially so as time went on – but it didn’t start out that way. Later, I am told, she – Constance – was angry with me because she felt that we’d given her nothing to do. Truth is, her job was to put down roots and grow strong – which she was doing – so that the Lady and her people could stand in defense of Britain. But the Lady chose instead to “burn” Her ties and Her followers, and leave the Earth entirely. It’s rather a mess – but that is what She was attempting to do when we stopped Her and locked Her back up.”
He sighs.
“I don’t feel good about any of it.”
REDLAND JACK
"I never really understood what was going on in Bailey. I was too new to all of this at the time, and I fled during the actual confrontation, so I'm a little hazy on The Lady's status. When you say she's been imprisoned, does that mean she is back in the Sandoo Islands, even though one of the Warders was destroyed? Is that where we'd have to go if we wanted to speak to her, or would it be possible to contact her through an intermediary of some sort?
"My understanding on how this whole Principle thing works, is that the Agent makes/facilitates the deal between the Principle and the Outsider. However, the Outsider also has some longstanding connection with this world, or something along those lines. So what you're saying, is that Constance had a deal with the Outsider and that you had a deal with Constance. So, essentially, it was Constance who violated her deal with you, while The Lady, technically, hadn't done anything wrong? Or am I misunderstanding this completely?"
CARL
“No, I’d say that’s a pretty fair summation At least it’s a good guess. It’s rather hard to tell, since Constance and the Lady had … joined forces … so far that it was tough to tell them apart in the end. If we were to talk to the Lady herself, one of the things I would like to find out is what exactly she thought the bargain was – or if she saw one at all. “
He pauses.
“There are intermediaries. Members of the Families who hear Her and speak for Her. I have met one such, and could probably find her in a pinch, but she’s in England. Or was, last I heard.”
REDLAND JACK
"Alright. I suppose we'll have to play this whole 'dead spot' situation by ear, but, if it doesn't occur organically, I wouldn't mind shoehorning in an attempt to contact an Outsider while we're there, and a 'friendly' one would be preferable. We might not have another good opportunity anytime soon. However, if we end up having to wait until later to contact The Lady, such is life. Perhaps we could look into chatting to the Dark Pharaoh or just see who's out there listening.
"I definitely would like to delve into the issues surrounding the Principle of Compassion at some point. The more I can learn about how that worked, the more help I can provide to Laura, if she ends up pushing forward on this 'Aspiration' thing."
CARL
Carl nods. “All right,” he replies. “In fact … would you be interested in talking about it now? I was involved in most of it. Pretty closely, in fact,” he adds, sounding regretful.
REDLAND JACK
"Yeah, though I'm not sure if I can ask useful, specific questions. I sort of understand how things work, at a 'high' level. I don't really know the details, though. That is, once you located the Agent of Change (and how that happened might be significant) and he located the relevant potential Principle (again, this might be important), what exactly happened next. Did they just summon up The Lady and make their deal? I'm guessing there was a lot more to it than that!"
