I wouldn't have thought of that, but that makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the advice, I'll try to look into how to do that specific kind of magic.
[ There's so little he understands about the different branches of magic and how they all work, but Steve is a good student when he puts his mind to it, so he's willing to put the work in. ]
The only reason the shield can function the way it does back home is because it's made of a special type of metal, something that doesn't exist here. So I'll probably line it with something lightweight that I can latch onto magically.
[ Like that special compound Viktor and Jayce have, maybe? ]
It's definitely what I would do in your position. I was fairly resistant to learning combat or weapons when I first came here, but my partner insisted early on, and he was right to do so. Too much potential in our situation for trouble.
[ Like if the Free Cities does try to destroy the Singularity. Unlikely that talking them down will help. Istredd assumes some day he will really have to use what he's learned. He would have tried in the Pit, but everyone was in a bad way there. ]
A shield suits you though. Your instincts are protective.
Yeah, I've just started putting a friend of mine here through some self defense training. She's not thrilled about it, but I think she'll thank me in the end.
[ Or not. Steve will take on the task either way. ]
I guess so, yeah. Even during the War, I preferred not to use a gun unless I had to. I know how to fire one, the shield just always felt right.
War is inevitable, we all have to be ready. It would probably be impossible for all of us to flee to Nocwich intentionally.
[ To avoid the conflict between the other three factions. And he promised Lucifer they wouldn't go there.]
My personal leaning in magic is toward mental and protection spells, so I understand. You aren't an inherently violent person, that is clear. But we don't always get to choose.
[ War is inevitable, huh? Maybe Istredd is right. It always seems to be, no matter where in the universe Steve finds himself. ]
You're prepared to fight, then? Maybe you're right and we can't stay neutral forever, but I don't intend to take up arms for a cause I don't believe in.
Don't get me wrong, I've fought in my far share of wars before now. But at the end of the day it was always about protecting people.
I don't want to fight for Thorne. The people in charge are nefarious and corrupt and the only reason they'd push this war is to conquer the continent again. The history of Abraxas is filled with the ways in which Thorne has tried to destroy and conquer everyone else.
The thing I think we're all waiting for is if they were smart enough to have a way to make us. There is no proof as of now that they can, but I wouldn't put it past them.
Yeah, that's been weighing on my mind from the start of all this too. I don't know if they can do it either, but there were rumors here in the Cities about the potential of a draft. It's been a few months since then and a lot has changed, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything.
I think our Conclave representatives might broach the subject with one of our motions eventually. It would give us an answer of how much they're going to force the issue, if nothing else.
I don't think Thorne is stupid and it would be stupid to kidnap people from other spheres with supernatural abilities and let them go loose without anything ready to stop them. I doubt any of our factions are that stupid.
They did get the Summoned to fight each other briefly over a year ago but that was when people barely knew each other. They would have to use something stronger to make us fight again.
The fact that those cultists were able to limit our powers so completely is already a sign that the technology exists. It wouldn't be outside the realm of reason to assume that Thorne has that kind of ability too. Or any of the other factions, for that matter.
The ritual turned us against each other too. We have evidence that this is possible, and it's not exactly comforting.
Yes, Josselyn told me that she used something similar to whatever they do, but with High Magic instead. They were also using disruptive sounds and parts of the pit to break our concentration, so it was a mix.
The ritual made everyone delusional and unable to focus, that would also put their soldiers at risk having us hallucinating next to them. But there are spells that could make people do things. They could also use the obvious, our own friends against us.
What else did Josselyn tell you? I didn't realize you were one of the people who interrogated her.
I've seen science break down a person's mind with mental conditioning. I've seen trigger words used to set someone off and turn them from a person into a weapon with only one purpose. I'm sure magic can do the same.
Yes, I'm a telepath so I thought breaking into her mind was a worthwhile endeavor. Wanda also mentally interrogated her, we have discussed sharing what she told us with everyone. Kyle and Lucifer also told me what they learned from their interrogations, so we know some things.
She didn't know who the shrines were originally to, unfortunately, so no answers on the shrine monster. She was trying to find a way to be a vessel to one of their gods. She believed that the Summoned were unworthy for their connection to the gods/the Singularity and they were trying to steal that from us. Thorne attempted the same thing in the early days, seeing if they could take our connection and use it on one of their own. They believed that using metamorphosis could get people closer to the divine, that's why they experimented on us. The vision would be proof that the direct attempt worked and she wanted to extract the vision from all of you. We escaped before that was possible.
All of her accomplices were found and they have no other places to hide. She said they were a recent sect, only in the last year. They attempted to contact all the gods for help and Nikodaemus was apparently the one that answered and helped 'bless' their enchantments. That is why she thinks they were so powerful. Some of this is more about belief than proof. I don't think they saw Nikodaemus and he spoke to them, it was more that 'proof' happened by actions being successful.
The vision may very well have been successfully enabled. It is possible what you saw was a connection to the native gods here. It would line up with some of what people saw, when it was similar to the situation with the heralds.
[ That's a lot of writing, and Steve's grateful that Istredd is willing to "think" it all out for him. He hadn't realized about the telepath thing either, but given that Istredd is an accomplished mage, he shouldn't be surprised. As he mentions, this is something Wanda can do too. ]
It's pretty odd that a giant monster just disappeared into the sea and there's been no sign of it since then. Is it just hanging out at the bottom of the ocean?
[ More of a rhetorical question. Moving on... ]
How much do we know about this Nikodaemus? Sorry to ask you for a religious studies lesson, but there isn't much about the old gods here in Cadens.
Either way, it sounds like for better or worse, those visions did mean something. They have some sort of importance and legitimacy to them.
I know Castiel was hoping to learn more about that, but none of us are allowed near the island to go looking as far as I know. I doubt it's the last we've seen of it.
[ The shrine monster was more than a typical monster. It had been talking to them through the shrine, or that was Istredd's assumption when it kept persuading them to open it. That means it is smart, far smarter than a typical animal. If it went underground, it may show itself another day. Not unlike the turtle that saved them. ]
There's not much here either, from what we know, he is a god of illusions, which is why they were able to hide us so long. You should talk to Wanda, I believe Solvunn is the only place with information on the gods. She was open to making us a pantheon of some kind.
Yes, some of the visions related to the heralds. Whoever the dark figure was, I'm not sure any of us know.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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[ There's so little he understands about the different branches of magic and how they all work, but Steve is a good student when he puts his mind to it, so he's willing to put the work in. ]
The only reason the shield can function the way it does back home is because it's made of a special type of metal, something that doesn't exist here. So I'll probably line it with something lightweight that I can latch onto magically.
[ Like that special compound Viktor and Jayce have, maybe? ]
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[ Like if the Free Cities does try to destroy the Singularity. Unlikely that talking them down will help. Istredd assumes some day he will really have to use what he's learned. He would have tried in the Pit, but everyone was in a bad way there. ]
A shield suits you though. Your instincts are protective.
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[ Or not. Steve will take on the task either way. ]
I guess so, yeah. Even during the War, I preferred not to use a gun unless I had to. I know how to fire one, the shield just always felt right.
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[ To avoid the conflict between the other three factions. And he promised Lucifer they wouldn't go there.]
My personal leaning in magic is toward mental and protection spells, so I understand. You aren't an inherently violent person, that is clear. But we don't always get to choose.
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You're prepared to fight, then? Maybe you're right and we can't stay neutral forever, but I don't intend to take up arms for a cause I don't believe in.
Don't get me wrong, I've fought in my far share of wars before now. But at the end of the day it was always about protecting people.
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The thing I think we're all waiting for is if they were smart enough to have a way to make us. There is no proof as of now that they can, but I wouldn't put it past them.
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I think our Conclave representatives might broach the subject with one of our motions eventually. It would give us an answer of how much they're going to force the issue, if nothing else.
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They did get the Summoned to fight each other briefly over a year ago but that was when people barely knew each other. They would have to use something stronger to make us fight again.
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The ritual turned us against each other too. We have evidence that this is possible, and it's not exactly comforting.
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The ritual made everyone delusional and unable to focus, that would also put their soldiers at risk having us hallucinating next to them. But there are spells that could make people do things. They could also use the obvious, our own friends against us.
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I've seen science break down a person's mind with mental conditioning. I've seen trigger words used to set someone off and turn them from a person into a weapon with only one purpose. I'm sure magic can do the same.
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She didn't know who the shrines were originally to, unfortunately, so no answers on the shrine monster. She was trying to find a way to be a vessel to one of their gods. She believed that the Summoned were unworthy for their connection to the gods/the Singularity and they were trying to steal that from us. Thorne attempted the same thing in the early days, seeing if they could take our connection and use it on one of their own. They believed that using metamorphosis could get people closer to the divine, that's why they experimented on us. The vision would be proof that the direct attempt worked and she wanted to extract the vision from all of you. We escaped before that was possible.
All of her accomplices were found and they have no other places to hide. She said they were a recent sect, only in the last year. They attempted to contact all the gods for help and Nikodaemus was apparently the one that answered and helped 'bless' their enchantments. That is why she thinks they were so powerful. Some of this is more about belief than proof. I don't think they saw Nikodaemus and he spoke to them, it was more that 'proof' happened by actions being successful.
The vision may very well have been successfully enabled. It is possible what you saw was a connection to the native gods here. It would line up with some of what people saw, when it was similar to the situation with the heralds.
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It's pretty odd that a giant monster just disappeared into the sea and there's been no sign of it since then. Is it just hanging out at the bottom of the ocean?
[ More of a rhetorical question. Moving on... ]
How much do we know about this Nikodaemus? Sorry to ask you for a religious studies lesson, but there isn't much about the old gods here in Cadens.
Either way, it sounds like for better or worse, those visions did mean something. They have some sort of importance and legitimacy to them.
no subject
[ The shrine monster was more than a typical monster. It had been talking to them through the shrine, or that was Istredd's assumption when it kept persuading them to open it. That means it is smart, far smarter than a typical animal. If it went underground, it may show itself another day. Not unlike the turtle that saved them. ]
There's not much here either, from what we know, he is a god of illusions, which is why they were able to hide us so long. You should talk to Wanda, I believe Solvunn is the only place with information on the gods. She was open to making us a pantheon of some kind.
Yes, some of the visions related to the heralds. Whoever the dark figure was, I'm not sure any of us know.
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[ Steve's even made some sketches so that they can investigate it further, but nothing's come up about it just yet.
A god of illusions. Like Loki? Eugh. ]
I'll ask Wanda then, we check in with each other regularly. And yeah, it seems like there's still a lot of unanswered questions about all of this.
Either way, I'll find out what I can about the Free Cities and the Singularity and get back to you.
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Thank you, Steve. Please be careful, the last thing I want is for you to get in trouble in your faction.
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[ Istredd included, it seems. ]
And don't worry. I'm good at getting myself into trouble, but I'm also good at getting myself out if it.
[ It'll be fine. Probably. ]
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Well, I have seen that myself from you, so I have faith.
[ They all managed to get out of serious trouble, but Steve saved his life. ]