[Be Gone] Ch 33 – Political Lines

« Chapter 32 | Index | Chapter 34 »

            The House and Clan lords were all looking at me and my bland delivery. It truly wasn’t a scenario for the faint of heart.

            Korbald caught on quickly. “They won’t have the strength to press any claim on the koro lands...”

            “More to the point, what if you keep defending their borders?” I asked archly. “Aren’t you in effect taking lands from them, even as you regain your own?” A Holo of the western and northern borders, taken from one of Korbald’s maps, came up on the table, complete with terrain features.

            “In effect, you turn your defense of their border in the west into defense of your own border with them... in YOUR east. You turn your defense of the border in the north into defense of your trade routes there... and yet, those lands are still yours.

            “There are two other things you should do, as well. You should naturally start negotiating terms of what you can take with you and the Empire’s relationship with you after the Shadowlands are gone. Right now, you are letting the ambitions of the elves take the lead. It is time you do so, instead.

            “Secondly, I suggest you start requesting permanent garrisons of elven troops to learn the ways and means of the Great Wall and the northern borders.” Symbols rose up along stretches of the walls, and everyone leaned forward with interest.

            What Houses would be stationed where was suddenly very important. Snakes in the south, Lions in the west, and Cranes in the north...

            “That will send them all into a frenzy,” the Ilkhan murmured in appreciation at seeing the deployment. “Instead of reinforcing the areas nearest them, they reinforce the areas nearest their rivals!”

            Having Snakes in the south meant the Cranes would be bordered by potential Snake forces on both the west and north. Having Lions in the west meant the Snakes would be sandwiched between them and the main Lion homelands to their east. Having Cranes in the north meant the Lions and the Snakes would have the Crane to both north and south.

            “It works out even better if you are very sincere, and show them all the trails that raiders and bandits and vile invaders from outside the Empire use to infiltrate the area, so that they can better patrol and guard them,” I went on blandly. “Good patrols should know the terrain, after all!”

            “They would certainly never use such knowledge in dishonorable ways,” the Iron Bear murmured for all of us, and we all laughed quietly.

            “Master Aelryinth-san,” the Iron Bear spoke up to me directly, “is there anything you need to continue your battle against Jigoku... more effectively?” he asked me.

            I considered the map. “A hill you won’t miss,” I acknowledged at last, and they all blinked. “I have to make something impressive out of it.” I considered the map. “I haven’t found anything really suitable in this area.” The map lit up with where I’d been. “Are there more hills to the south?”

            “A great many,” the Panda Clan Leader, the great Shugenja Xiaonmao Dondon, spoke up quickly, his grizzled face and darkened eyes accenting his silvered hair. “Perhaps something we would like to get rid of?” he asked leadingly.

            “Why, I think that would be most efficient,” I agreed calmly, not even cracking a smile. “I’ll need it in about a month, when I can start on it.”

            “That long, Ael?” Korbald asked in a low voice.

            “Turns out Matrix-weaving to a Sevenfold Theurge standard is a damn messy process,” I shrugged back. “It’s fine. Not like I don’t have plenty to keep me occupied in the meantime.”

------

            The rest of the talk was about moving forces, allocations, making vivic Weapons, having goldweight to Burn, and making sure all the Tainted stuff everywhere was getting Burned, all the time.

            The border of the Shadowlands was definitely receding. It was now a full mile further away from the Great Wall than it had been, and its influence fell with its absence. Vivic Torches and Beacons were burning along the edges of it, Taint fueling their flames, and they pushed forward as it receded, while dead creatures, long-dead remnants of battles past, and twisted plant life blazed everywhere.

            Following behind was the new green, as Tainted blood and blazing Sin Fed the Land, and it responded by returning slowly to life.

            My downtime was as busy as my uptime, especially since I was staying near conflict zones so I could run over to help if there was a problem. Keeping a Tiger nearby who could Teleport until I regained my ability to do the same meant I was available for any fighting that happened within at least a hundred miles.

            Mother Bea arrived to share the same downtime, and learn the finer points of Ring-making and specifically making Oathrings. Advanced formulae and diagrams for magical item construction weren’t provided by the akasha until they existed here, after all, and the Artificers of the Tigers were going into a tizzy as I laid out design after design of new Runecraft and the like they’d known of, but had not been able to duplicate after coming here.

            So, yeah, I was doing a lot of writing, and the Tigers were reaping all the benefits thereof, with my blessing. They couldn’t pay me the value for it, but they could help me get home... and they needed the Karma to pay for the new Naming and post-Ten Levels and all the new Theurgies, Advanced Classes, Feats, and Masteries I had made possible.

            Learning that they could get Elemental Command and then expand into Shugenja also lit a fire under them, and yeah, the demand for such Rings was pretty silly. I reworked the default Oathring I normally used to include the basic Elemental Command for just this purpose. It meant nothing to the Forsaken, of course, but for the Powered it was another avenue of growth which would bring them closer to their adopted world.

            In addition, I started making Obelisks. Or rather, guiding the Tigers into doing so, as I couldn’t do them myself quite yet. Rebuilding a Matrix a Caster Level at a time, when you have thirteen mainline Caster Classes, was not a quick process. I had my minor Casting back for utility uses and Cantrips, but I was still going to be without my higher Valences for months.

            Turns out rebuilding a Matrix from scratch is just as big a pain in the arse as an opportunity, if you want to do it right.

            I never thought that I would be relying on my Gear, Pact, and Companions to the extent that I was, but that was what they were there for. Planning ahead, just in case fecal material hit the ambulatory rotator, and really, they were why I’d taken all such things in the first place.

            If I never had to use them, great. But I did, so all the Karma and goldweight I’d spent on them was now fully justified.

            Ah, the Obelisks, right! Obelisks were an area-defense Ward-type instrument, powered up through either goldweight or Allegiance Karma. That meant hereabouts that only the Tigers could put them up, as they were the only force with proper Allegiances, and there weren’t a lot of them to do the empowering... but for their size, they generated a LOT of Karma.

            The first one went up across the River from the Tigerfang Fortress that led to the long mountain valley they’d been awarded as a fief. It radiated Protection from Evil for a mile around, and a vivic-pushing effect that slowly destroyed any Taint in the lands within that radius.

Anything from Jigoku coming to the lands of the Tiger was going to have a terrible time just getting close, and anything Tainted was going to burn if it did.

The River Corpus nearby began to clear up quickly as its Taint began to burn across its full width, and within a week was running as clear as normal water, visibly burning as upstream waters poured in and blazed and were devoured in fluid unwhite flames below the surface, a constant dance of white devouring the dark.

The next Obelisk went up five miles beyond the first, within the outer edge of the Shadowlands itself. The Protection effect was left off, and the vivic burning took over solo.

Like a great spike, the landscape was nailed into place as the vivus eating at the Taint locked the Veil down. The instability just flowed around it somewhat, of course, but it also meant increasing planar stress and energy consumption by the Vortex that was behind all that stuff.

Every little thing added up. Also, the Tainted creatures in the area went wild with hate at it being there, and would come charging to the attack. It was a great place to stand around and have Karma come running at you, and quickly became a favored training area for the younger fighters of the Tigers.

As the days passed and more Obelisks slowly went up, reclaiming more territory from the Vortex, the number of Tainted creatures drawn to attack increased, a virtuous cycle that made the Tigers very happy, and really helped contribute to their crazed reputation as slaughter-mavens.

The other Clans and Houses clamored for their own Obelisks, of course, which meant I had to do some design work on a Four Element Ritual that could empower an Obelisk the Tigers could assemble for them. The more people involved in the final Ritual the better, and I had to use all the Skill Ranks in my new Shugenja Levels for Spiritual Lore, anyways...

---------

            “Ho, you are a very busy man.”

            I came out of my two hours of Meditation after midnight, in the deepest and darkest part of the night. Feature turned as I did, eyeing the old man atop a small mound of stone off to the side of us.

            Neither of us had felt him approach, which was pretty impressive. My Perception modifier wasn’t to be laughed at, nor my other senses buttressing it.

            He looked like an old fellow in a plain brown robe, and sandals, affecting a wide-brimmed hat and a simple wooden staff. Yeah, riiiiiight...

            I considered the manafield around us, and hummed a short, low Note. The fellow’s cheerful demeanor and smile stilled somewhat as I did so.

            I stood up and bowed deeply to him. “Greetings, Elder. The Land is blessed by your Presence here. What brings you down to see a blind fool in the mortal world?”

            He sighed as I pierced through his masquerade so easily, but then drew himself up with equal pride. “Your awareness is exceptional, Master Aelryinth. It appears we did not hear wrong of you.”

            “You cannot hide your presence from the Land, Elder, and so it is reflected in the Weave. The Earth Magic hums quite differently when such a powerful Elder of it is around, and the others are somewhat shyer.

            “To avoid the Sublime Chord, you would have to change music and magic themselves, Elder.”

            “I see. Most discerning of you. Have you realized why I am here, then?” he asked, stature now radiating from him with the air of an absolute monarch.

            “Checking up on the off-worlder tossing around foreign magic and causing a ruckus as he beats up on Jigoku?” I scratched my chin. “Please tell me you’re not offended that Feature is running around as a dragon. I know the locals give dragons a very lofty status, but I’ve never actually claimed he’s a dragon, especially one at anywhere near your level.”

            “Spirits can evolve from low power to greater, too, and he is a powerful Spirit,” the Earth Dragon of the Jade Empire answered magnanimously after a stern look at my Snake. “As long as you do not claim our endorsement or mastery by his service to you, we will not look down on your relationship.”

            Feature bowed to the much greater Spirit in acknowledgment. He wasn’t claiming anything, of course. Most people assumed he couldn’t even speak, since he almost never did to anyone but me or my family.

            I followed courteous suit. “My thanks for your understanding. Feature stands outside your hierarchy entirely, and anyone who makes the mistake of voicing such things I will correct. Any of the Spirits can verify such things, so if a local Shugenja starts spouting such things, he is attempting to create trouble out of nothing.”

« Chapter 32 | Index | Chapter 34 »