Nero Walker, Book 4 Ch.78 (309)

“No, No, No! You… I mean WE can’t form a religion for him. Did you not even READ the material you got from the archives?!?” Nicholas practically shouted across the table.

Vera, to his immediate right, was reclining comfortably in her chair at the head of the table, thoroughly enjoying seeing her man so worked up. His love of science, which almost reached the level of obsession or self-destruction, manifested itself in many ways that never failed to amuse her. Like now, his need for ‘accuracy’ in the presented research he was hearing resonated with her own pillar of ‘precision’.

Across from him, to her right, were the team members she’d sent to the archives to investigate what ‘planar lords’ actually were, and whether or not there was any truth to what that instigator from the religious district claimed.

Clearly angry at Nicholas’ tone, the team leader replied, “Why can’t we form a religion? It’s obviously what the citizenry is demanding!”

Practically pulling his hair out, Nicholas screeched, “Because he’s not a god! A religion requires a god! How can you not grasp that irrefutable fact, you utter and disappointing moron!”

Seeing as the team leader, Mr. Sanders, was about to say something he might regret, his subordinate seated next to him placed a hand on his arm to stop him. Leaning forward to attract attention away from her superior, she said, “Well a cult then. How about we form a cult?”

Vera’s expression almost broke, her amusement becoming too much for her to hide. The look on Nicholas’ face was too priceless.

She watched as his eyes darted across the table, judging the seriousness in each of their eyes. It was clear to her that he was in a state of bewilderment at hearing their proposal. Undoubtedly, the poor man was about to explode into a tirade of insults that would both demonstrate his intellectual superiority and forever tarnish his reputation in her employees’ eyes.

Sitting up in her chair, Vera’s voice cut through the tension in the room. “Let’s all take a moment to calm down,” she said before turning to Nicholas and asking, “Dear, why don’t you start from the beginning and explain why you are so worked up over what Mr. Sanders and his associates found in the archives.”

Recognizing what she was doing, Nicholas rolled his eyes before standing up and beginning to pace along his side of the table.

“First of all, that ‘respected’ scholar everyone is talking about has no idea what he’s saying. He’s clearly basing his findings on historical records from the religions. Instead of crossreferencing and checking his theories against the archives, he’s simply spouting nonsense,” Nicholas declared boldly, not even attempting to hide his disdain for the man.

Before Mr. Sanders could speak up, Nicholas rounded on him, pointing an accusing finger at him to shut him up. “And you should have realized that after reading what you found in the archives!”

Affronted, and no longer willing to sit there quietly and be insulted, Mr. Sanders replied, “We’ve only just returned from the archives and haven’t had a chance to go through everything we’ve found! Our findings are based on a preliminary evaluation of the summaries we’ve been able to read so far. If you have knowledge that contradicts the theory that Lord Walker is a budding planar lord, then how about you stop insulting us, and share with the room what you know?”

Unable to stop herself from slightly smirking, Vera added, “Mr. Sanders has a point, my dear. How about you tell us what you know about planar lords.”

Huffing in annoyance, Nicholas spent a moment to realign his robes before calming down.

After taking a deep breath, he said, “My apologies. It’s just that when-”

Vera’s voice sliced like a knife through the room, cutting him off. “Nicholas!”

After another huff, Nicholas held up his hands in defeat. “Right… sorry. The point is, despite how low level our city is, and how little our archives have on planar lords, we do have access to plenty of information which any idiot can see disproves the theories that idiot is peddling.”

Vera offered Nicholas her most impatient stare, silently demanding that he stop being difficult and instead begin getting to his point.

After coughing lightly into his hand to buy a moment to organize his thoughts, Nick began one of his lectures.

“The references the ‘respected’ scholar from the religious district based his theories on were about the Planar Lords of Acturous. They were a group of mages who studied planar magic, eventually attempting to find a way to ascend to godhood without having to reach level one hundred and survive their ascension. In truth, they were all brilliant, and what they accomplished has been the cornerstone of planar research across the kingdom to this day. The repercussions of their experiments, despite what the religions claim, were not entirely their fault or an attempt to bypass the accords governing their various religions,” he said while resuming his pacing.

“The cults that were formed around them weren’t as big a deal as the religions make them out to be. In fact, planar lords can’t give out blessings or create any type of afterlife for their followers. Or at least not really,” he said before pausing for a moment.

Quickly retaking his seat, he leaned over the table and held out his hands as if he were begging them to listen closely to what he was saying. “You see, in order to understand how the cults were formed, and the subsequent laws that validated them, you have to first understand what it was exactly that the planar lords did. And more importantly, how that affected the scientific community at the time.

As I said, the Planar Lords of Acturous started out as mages. They were working under the various Towers of Magic in the region, communicating through a relay they had set up in secret. Technically, they were violating the isolationist doctrine between cities, and they only got away with it because they never shared what they discovered with the cities they served. Everything they did was held in the strictest of confidences.

Working together, they created spells and rituals that allowed them to search the various planes closest to our own, discovering and mapping the planar spectrum. At that time, planar travel was a restricted subject due to the multiple planar wars that were being waged. Their original intention, and the reason their group was initially formed, was to find a way to seal off our plane or at least gain more control over the planar walls. If they could succeed in finding a way for us to exert that control, then the threat of planar invasions would become a thing of the past. It was a noble and brilliant endeavor!” he stated emphatically.

Fed up, Mr. Sanders practically shouted, “What does any of that have to do with anything!?!”

Frowning, Nicholas immediately replied, “I’m getting to that!”

Muttering under her breath, Vera whispered, “Try and get there a little quicker, my dear.”

Standing up to resume his pacing, Nicholas said, “So, there they were, working for the benefit of all when they discovered something… something unbelievable. They discovered a way to interact with the upper planes. Now, at first, they couldn’t travel there. As you know, material reality doesn’t exist there in the same way it does here. But, they persevered, starting with some of the abandoned planes that no longer had an active presence controlling them. They - “

Interrupting him, Mr. Sanders’ subordinate asked, “How can there be an upper plane without anyone controlling it? I thought they were synonymous with the gods that created them?”

Nodding, Nicholas replied, “That’s true, in a way. Gods create their planes when they ascend. It’s through their own will and center that their planes are formed. But, over time, without any infusion of essence, the ‘will’ behind the god can dissipate. In a way, it's the life cycle of the gods.

Now remember, all of what I’m telling you is just the basics. The details of their research are beyond us, and the archives here are severely limited in their explanations.”

Seeing as the subordinate was busy processing what he’d just said, Nicholas moved on. “Now, each of these mages found their own abandoned planes to experiment with. And by using their own centers, they slowly began interacting with them. While it took them each a little over a century of hard work, they eventually succeeded in binding themselves to them. And the result was beyond their wildest expectations. Their centers expanded dramatically, limited only by the scope of their planes. Essentially, they’d found a way to become inexhaustible, borrowing the collected essence of the planes to do with what they wanted. Their perception of reality expanded, and they gained multiple abilities that defied our understanding at that time.”

Rubbing his hands together, he continued, “And this is where it gets interesting! They knew that this wasn’t a secret they could keep. So, they immediately began publishing their findings. As you can expect, it set off a storm of interest in the capital and beyond.

Researchers from all over flocked to the cities, each ‘planar lord’ being treated as both an oddity and a master whom they could learn from. And learn they did. With access to their methods, for the first time, mages were able to study the upper planes.

At first, even the religions were happy. They could now verify their afterlives, seeing with their own eyes what happens after they die. Our entire understanding of reality was reshaped, answering questions that had been asked since the beginning of our recorded history. It was a time of scientific miracles.

Planar studies advanced rapidly, and our understanding of the interplay between the material and the ethereal became more coherent every day.

And then that’s when the cults began. You see, while everyone ‘could’ look for their own plane to take over, it was much easier to tie themselves to one of the planar lords through a binding. And from what I understand, the ritual schematic they used was based on the ones the religions use to bind their followers. Needless to say, the cult spread rapidly.

Instead of being limited in their scope, the undefined essence the cults now had access to gave them unprecedented power. And as a result, legislation was quickly created to organize and ratify what they were doing.

At that time, no one knew what consequences there would be to what they were doing,” he said ominously.

Unable to stop himself, Mr. Sanders asked, “Consequences? I didn’t see anything about consequences. The summaries I read all stated that the planar lords disappeared, while the cults were forced to disband under pressure from the local religions. The laws governing the creation and management of cults still exist, as far as I can tell that is.”

Nodding easily, Nicholas replied, “I’m sure they do. No one would have wasted the time to remove them. However, I doubt anyone would actually create one. Not unless they're looking to kill themselves in the dumbest and slowest way possible that is.”

Interested, Vera asked, “How do you mean?”

“The consequences that I mentioned. What no one knew at the time was how damaging it was to a person’s leveling speed it was to tie themselves to another person’s plane. You see, what they did was trade their future potential for immediate power. Everyone who accepted the planar bindings to the planar lords could no longer level, at least not at a pace that would overcome age creep. Their entire identity became intertwined with the plane lord they were ‘following’, severely and permanently limiting their growth.

That was, in fact, what caused the planar lords themselves to disappear. In a way, they ended up getting their wish. They became gods… of a sort.

What I mean is that they became so infused with the essence of their followers that their identity on this plane became unstable. They could only ‘exist’ on their plane. However, without knowing the details, I can’t say for sure exactly what happened. All I know is that their bodies withered and died, while the records mention that they somehow became trapped on their own planes, utterly powerless and alone.

I remember studying the subject intensely because the archives here in the city didn’t explain what actually happened to them. Although every record I did find made it sound like whatever had happened, it hadn’t been good. To this day, not knowing still bothers me,” he said while rubbing his chin and staring down at the floor in thought.

Mr. Sanders, ever the pragmatist, asked, “But what does any of this have to do with Lord Walker?”

Startled out of his ruminations, Nicholas raised his eyes to meet Mr. Sanders’ before answering his question. “Well, for one thing, the recorded ‘abilities’ that the planar lords had included the ability to resuscitate themselves. At least according to legend. On at least two occasions, their members were assassinated. Witnesses who were present at the time reported seeing the planar lords come back from the dead without anyone’s aid. It was one of their most interesting abilities, and likely the reason they were supported so completely by the governing bodies who monitored them.

I also believe that that is what confused that charlatan from the religious district. He likely equated what Lord Walker did to what the Planar Lords of Acturous could do. Quite incorrectly, I might add.”

Vera’s response was as curious as it was pointed. “But there is no doubt that Lord Walker did revive himself. There is evidence of at least two occasions that I know of which prove it.”

Nicholas didn’t deny it. “Yes, but not in the same manner in which the planar lords could do it. Well, maybe the first time, but the only witness to that event was a delving recorded by Archmage Jennings, and I personally couldn’t understand half of what I was seeing when I watched it.

The point is, Lord Walker did something entirely different when he rebuilt his own body. He didn’t resuscitate himself, he self-actualized, which is a totally different theoretical phenomenon,” he declared sternly.

Scoffing, Mr. Sanders’ subordinate muttered, “It’s not all that theoretical when there are multiple memory engrams of people seeing him do it…”

Blushing, Nicholas replied, “Yes, well, I meant that it was as yet a theoretical phenomenon. It was something the scientific community theorized to be possible but had never been proven to be a reality. Up until now, that is.”

Vera asked quietly, “And that is why the people from the capital are so interested in Lord Walker. It’s not about his portal manipulation abilities at all, is it?”

Nodding, Nicholas replied, “That’s right. Or at least I believe so.”

Mr. Sanders, wanting to get back to the point, asked, “So, if Lord Walker isn’t a planar lord, then how did he do it?”

Blinking rapidly, Nicholas replied, “I have no idea.”

The room waited in silence to see if he had anything else to add.

After an uncomfortable few seconds, Nicholas continued, “Look, no one has any idea how he did it. All I can tell you is that he is not a planar lord. He never linked himself to another plane. Conceivably, he might be building his own, but that is purely conjecture at this point.”

Mr. Sanders, looking confused, asked, “I thought you said only gods could do that?”

Nicholas replied, “Yes, that’s true… as far as we know.”

Cocking his head slightly to the side, Mr. Sanders then asked, “So then why can’t we start a religion for Lord Walker to appease the people who are demanding it?”

After a second or two to process the question, Nicholas erupted in anger. Waving his hands around like a lunatic he declared, “Because he’s not a god, you simpleton! He has a body. He’s on this plane. His center is contained. Someone as oblivious as you must have been blessed by all the gods above to have survived this long without accidentally killing yourself with your stupidity!”

After snorting in amusement at Nicholas’ insult, Vera forced her expression back to its normal stoicism. “That’s enough, my dear. We’re just exploring our options.”

Loudly harumphing, Nicholas plopped himself back into his chair, pouting like a child having been scolded by his mother. Or equally accurately like a husband having been reprimanded by his overbearing wife.

*Chapter 309 - What's a planar lord?

*Spoiler - Exposition is hated by most people, but I tend to like it when it's presented like a conversation.  I like imagining the characters interacting.  I'm weird like that.