[Warpworld] Ch 26 – Pyramidal Discussions

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            “One percent,” Patrick Briggs repeated, while Elisia Rantha just snarled again. “Well.” The brawny Ancient took a long breath. “I’ve seen whole planets die, so that’s actually not wholly horrible, but when it’s the old homeworld, that really sucks...”

            “It was them all getting back up as undead which really sucked. All the gamers from Power of Ten were empowered as their characters. We could have dealt with a mass slaughter very easily. A low population just means there is less work to do to recover from a tech crash in the face of mass starvation. Doing that while you’re killing off the other nine billion or so undead things is a bit of a distraction.” I waved my hand, while the watching elves glanced at one another sharply. “Not your problem, it’s a work in progress. Although it sounds like you’re off to a humungous start on us!” I had to admit. “How long has it been for your people?”

            “Uhhh... Grandmother is the head of the Curseline, and that was, 430 years ago, give or take?” Elisia glanced at Patrick, who just nodded.

            “Four hundred and thirty years?” I was astounded in spite of myself, and slapped my face. “Of course. Give some Ranthas centuries to play and Sources to build, and crazy things happen. I’ve only had a decade to work with, inexperienced poser that I am.”

            Both of them laughed. “Well, we had an entire galactic civilization to draw on, too, once we got rid of the Warp Gods’ influence and the super-lich sitting on the throne of the previous Empire.”

            “I am afraid that this part of Creation that you are in is currently MUCH lower tech, but technology does seem to work here. Steel, faith, and gunpowder and all that.”

            The two of them looked at one another. “That... is a heck of a religious conversion recipe,” Patrick smiled grimly. “What’s the religious situation?”

            “I’ve only been here a week or so, and well...,” I trailed off as I gestured at the wonderful scenery around me. “I haven’t got the slightest idea. We should see if you have counterparts here and they can fill you in.”

            “That would be very convenient,” Elisia admitted. “My Curseline isn’t planet-tied like many are, so we can hop around and spread the faith and all. There shouldn’t be any existential problems with us being here.”

            “Please. Your uniting element is the Curse. It won’t be a problem. Hands.” I held out Mortus Dius, and they slapped their hands back out on it. I pulled on my Pool, and Sent, “This is going out to all Ranthas on the planet, be it Sama or Briggs lines. This is Aelryinth of Terra. If you’re here, could I get a reply and a location? Currently up north in the polar Warpzone giving what-for to the Warp Gods.”

            -Holy fucking shit! Are you goddamn kidding me?! Aelryinth the Ringlord? Ugh, this is Sama, I’m down in Talea, killing fucking rat-men all goddamn day. How the fuck did you end up here? Wait, you can contact my Briggs? WHERE IS HE?!-

            -Aelryinth? No kidding? Briggs here. I’m in northern Osterland in the port of Vagnuskar, I kind of head up the military here. They just call me The Brute, and it stuck. Wait, there’s a Sama here? Where?-

            Patrick and Elisia glanced at one another, smirking. Well, they had their priorities right.

            -Good morning to you both. A couple of your cousins arrived, Patrick and Elisia. Brute, Sama said she’s down in Talea, being a Hag swordbabe. Sama, your man is in Vagnuskar, going by Commander Brute, no doubt. I’m sending these two off to meet him, and then you, depending on how things work out, don’t know if you can Teleport around with Tremble yet.-

            “Don’t want us to stick around?” Elisia asked archly.

            “I’m moving so fast, if you want to come back, however will you catch up to me?” I moaned to the skies, and both of them laughed.

            “Well, where is this Vagnuskar, then?” Patrick asked reasonably, fist clenching on his Hammer with knuckles cracking dangerously. “Time to meet a local bro!”

            “Going to have to ask a local.” I flicked up a view of the planet I’d seen when coming in from exo-atmosphere. “Hey, Elders, I only got a partial view of the planet, but is the city called Vagnuskar on this somewhere?” A nice red pointing arrow indicated our current location.

            The younger elven archmage hesitantly raised a hand, and a point of light gleamed on the map, on the land across the sea to the south of us, only a thousand miles or so away. “I believe this is the location of the human city you are speaking of?” he offered politely.

            Both of them memorized the planetary display as I rotated it for them. “Apologies, I didn’t do a complete circumnavigation,” I informed them. “Kind of out of control at the time.”

            “Forgivable,” Patrick dismissed the lack of a complete map airily. “If we want proper orbital recon, we can do it ourselves as needed.”

            “Not sure on the atmospherics, but that should be a Linejump of about a thousand miles thataway. You’ll be outside the atmosphere, but it should be pretty much below you.” A glowing red Holo arrow pointed at precisely the right angle and direction, and both of them hopped off their Disk-chairs to their feet.

            “Send for us if you think you might need our help,” Elisia said seriously.

            “I do a magnificent panicked squeal. My vassals say it is absolutely hilarious to hear,” I replied blandly, and both of them guffawed at that.

            “Well, we came, we chatted, we are off, and keep us posted!” she repeated for emphasis.

            “I may or may not be able to help participate in cleansing this world of the Warp and its infestations. I’ve a feeling that popping the Warp Zone should generate enough to send me on my way, and I regret that I’ll have to leave proper dispensation of the planet to your hands.”

            Both of them cracked their knuckles loudly enough to make both elves flinch, and they had the exact same sort of battle-hunger flaring in their eyes. “Oh, we’ll try to make do without you, Powered-reliant unweaned babies that we are,” Elisia assured me soothingly. “Is there anything we should pass on?”

            “How about you ask your contemporaries and find out what is needed? I’ll try to accommodate you on my pell-mell charge into the hands of Hell and all.”

            “We’ll do that!” Patrick laughed, and then he and Elisia turned, lining up on that arrow.

            There was a boom, and a line of light flashed off low along the ground, out past the edge of the horizon, Linejumps taking them both out of there without worrying about the Warp fucking up more precise dimension-bending Teleports.

            Unaffected by their sudden arrival and equally sudden departures, I turned back to my mighty stone monolith racing forwards at three kph, trying to beat that tortoise that had the outside track on me.

            “That... was most interesting,” the older archmage, Master Sethanon, breathed out. “The magic around the pair of them was... alarming.”

            “Ah, they are Forsaken, no magical ability, shut down magical ability around them if they are so inclined. Perfect for wandering through the Warp, which is full of shit totally dependent on the supernatural energies there. The Warped are like a bunch of buffed-up shit that gets all their pretty magical spells dispelled when those two show up, and suddenly they don’t have all their demonic advantages and it’s time to play kill-me.” My utter lack of concern only made both of them more concerned.

            “What... is a Galactic Empire?” Master Artlis asked urgently.

            I started to say A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, and had to stop myself. Instead, I brought up a Holo of the world, and drew back from it, showing the moons in orbit around it.

            They leaned forwards as I drew back further, and the planets of the local solar system were fed into the half-Divinatory illusion I was making. I drew back further, and further, and the local sun became just one of the stars in the background, which faded into one of the local star clusters, which became part of a spiral arm, which drew back to reveal the galaxy shining in the night sky that they couldn’t see on their own.

            “This is a galaxy. Generally, a massive star cluster with ten to a hundred million stars or more, although some can be much larger, is termed a galaxy.” I waved at the sky above. “You don’t actually have that here,” I added as they both craned their necks back to look at the tableau above. “You’re in a pocket dimension, the stars in the sky you see are actually points of light on the envelope of the pocket plane you’re in, not actual stars.” I shook the Holo above my palm. “This is how the real universe is, the one your creators came from, and which the Warp Gods have sealed you off from so they can play temporal reset games with you.

            “A galactic empire is naturally a multi-planetary governmental body that extends across multiple star systems, to the point of being a dominant player in whatever galactic political systems exist there. Generally, it means having thousands of worlds under colonization, and it could easily be far more.” The view of the Holo enlarged a bit, and little flags popped into the display all over the thing. “As an Empire, it probably first expanded by conquest and colonization. If it was simply colonizing empty worlds, it would probably be a Federation or Commonwealth of some kind or another.

            “The two of them were alluding to a true galactic empire, so probably a million worlds and systems, at least.”

            I ignored the way they flicked glances at one another, and at me, doing the numbers and not liking what they portended.

            Galactic empires would have to be huge, massive, and highly developed. The interlopers and myself could reasonably call THEM bumpkins from rustic worlds, if we were aware of and moved among such things.

            “And is your... Terra, your homeworld, part of a galactic empire?” Master Sethanon asked carefully.

            “My homeworld? Oh, gods, no. We aren’t travelers in space, time, or dimensions. We’re still dealing with the fallout of a world-wide apocalypse that nearly resulted in our planet getting eaten by a Thing,” I stutter-paused uncontrollably at just the flicker of memory of the entity, and both elves shivered without knowing why, “from Outside Creation. I’m just familiar with the concept and, well, being personally powerful helps wherever you may find yourself. Case in point, wandering through interdimensional space and getting drawn down onto a planet dominated by sinister Divine entities and just sighing and getting to work with what must be done.”

            “I see. Well, travelers and explorers have always been a special breed,” the older elf acknowledged slowly, digesting that. “And these newcomers... intend to remain?” he asked, an odd look on his face.

            “I don’t know, I don’t speak for them. It’s more amusing that they’ve cousins already here. They may or may not have been able to save you just by themselves, but I think I just gave them a big shortcut by making this.” I smiled slightly at nothing as I tapped the Warpeater Pyramid with Mortus Dius.

            “Are they... humanocentric?” Master Artlis inquired carefully.

            “You saw how they didn’t react to your presence, so they’ve definitely met elves, or something similar to your people, before. So, no, their thinking isn’t dominated by racial imperatives like yours and the local humans likely are.” I didn’t begrudge them it, but it was what it was. “The powers of Heaven are frankly unconcerned with what species their followers are. If you’re a Good soul, you’re a Good soul, and that’s the biggest and most important fact. What you were born as is, in the end, mostly irrelevant.”

            “That sounds almost childishly fanciful,” muttered the elder Master softly.

            “I know! Chaos, Law, and Evil really do piss all over Good, and yet, Good is the one that their own people all dream of their kids being able to live in a world of. Nobody wants to live in a wildly Chaotic, unchanging Lawful, or mercilessly cruel Evil world, after all, although they’re oh so happy to proclaim the benefits of applying those factors to others for their own advantage.”

            The elves were silent, glancing at one another and thinking thoughts, probably laced with more than a bit of treachery, judging by how their Auras fluttered.

            Good beings were also unreasonable, as we didn’t buy into a lot of the obvious self-interested logic of the other Alignments, and would refuse to do things that seemed to be sensible and correct on the surface for moral reasons, even if it might be incredibly beneficial in the short term to do so. It annoyed the heck out of the other Alignments, who were basically always willing to wheel and deal with one another to get something out of it for themselves.

            “If you’re worried about them uniting humanity and turning them against the elves, that is definitely not what they are about, and they take a dim view of that kind of behavior. Elves have the ability to bring out the best in a lot of humans, and our two species work very well together if we can look past our differences. I’ve been told that Realms of Harmony spring up between our two species more often than any other pairing of species...”

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