another tangent (alternate Ngoverse again...bleh)

[Cannonshop]

AFFC Medical Dropship Merciful Angels, Arc Royal system, August, 3052...

"Kommandant, I need to explain to you-"

"She's my sister, and our mother tried to kill her, what's there to explain?"  Kommandant Patrick Ngo glared at the medical technician, "I want to see her, I want her to know she's not alone."

"Kommandant, you don't understand-your mother tried to sacrifice her to the dark gods.  The Inquisitors aren't sure they got to her in time!"

Patrick glowered, "I'm a paladin of the Order of Coventry, I know how to handle a Possession case, Adept.  Get. out. of. My. Way."

The medical adept stepped aside, unlocking the penitent's quarters, and allowed him through.

"Lizzie?"

"Hey pat."  she was huddled in a corner, dressed in the white robes of a penitent, "sorry about the mess...you look pretty good for beastman chow."

"we got lucky." Patrick said, "one of the warlocks on the other side misjudged a curse and it landed on the leading elements of their horde."  he sighed, "We still lost the city though, and the castle."

"And your mount?"

He shuddered, "dead." he said.

"And Baroness Evelynn?"

"She's waiting in the next room." he told her, "Gimme a look in your eyes, little bit?"

Elizabeth met his eyes.

"Well, you're no more damned now, than you were when you left the monastery in '48." he told her.

"Yeah.  Mom dangled my soul out there but none of the demons wanted any." she explained, "The Hells already know they have me, it's what happens when you're born with god's damnation."

"Don't say that, Liz-"

"It's true." she said, "I've seen the metaphysical workup.  The curse will gradually get worse, and none of the priesthood has had a revelation on how to lift it.  I was born damned and our fool of a mother thought she could bargain a damned soul for power with the powers that will receive it when I die.  It's why they're all afraid of me now-the Inquisitors were late, mother had already been rejected by Ahriman and Azathoth, Bha'al and Zenkub, even Azazel told her no sale.  I was bleeding out on that black altar and none of the Dark Powers thought I was worth the offer!"

"Liz, there's another explanation, in the Holy Writ, you may be one of the Blessed.  If the Demonic powers found you unpalatable, you're possibly incorruptible!"

"No.  The Blessed live long." she said, "I've got dog years, and the last Incorruptible was Ethan Gilmour, three centuries ago."  she spread her hands, showing the bloody wounds on her forearms, barely wrapped with enough gauze to prevent smearing, "Do I look like someone who can lead a holy crusade? or even fight in one??"

Patrick sighed and shook his head.

Elizabeth grunted as she stood, leaving tracks on the polished floatstone of the penitent's cell.  "I should get to work." she stated, "You lost your Mount, Father lost his, a Paladin needs a Mount or he's just another fighter, and that means we must get to a forge."

"Elizabeth..."

"SOMEONE must do the work!" she scowled, "I'm damned, but I'm skilled! You're home, you can be the Duke Father never was!"

"Liz, the King, King Victor...he personally asked me to remain."

she rounded on him, "It's not right!! It's not fair! Our people have done enough for them!!  You're the Lord of Kowloon, without you, that Regent will continue to bleed our people until the Hordes turn Spinward and take our world from us!!"

"I need you to go home, and see to things, Liz." he said, "I'm going to give you my seal and my word."

"NO!!" she begged, "No, come home!! I'm...Fifteen years old! I haven't even finished an apprenticeship, they rejected me at the Collegium as 'too cursed' for Sorceror's training! The Regent has years of practice as a Cavalier and Wizard!!"

"You're incorruptible." he told her, "I need you to do this.  Gather the People of the Ships to aid you, Liz.  but I must hold back this invasion or all will be lost."

"I'm not-"

"Remember which one of us finished seminary? you've been rejected by the Lords of Darkness, you're incorruptible, Blessed.  This is your role.  make sure there is a home for me to come home to."  he stroked her cheek, "I'm counting on you, little bit."

[georgiaboy]

Whoa there, I get a strong 40k vibe from this one, and I love the idea and where this is going. Liz being 'Blessed'/'Damned' already makes an interesting point to be. A Lot of spells will not affect her is so.


I think she would be on the Blessed side of the equation. Obviously the 'Medics' that arrived first on the scene would have used heal spells and bless spells to bring her back from the edge of the void, and bless spells to raise her chance of being able to save her. If she had been 'Damned', the medics would have received a backlash at spell casting.


Will be interesting to she where this one goes.

[Cannonshop]

The Lyran Commonwealth was established by members of a bardic order, within a generation, it had been taken over by a military order with bardic roots, replacing the Lyre with the mailed fist of a war-golem.  Early on, conflicts with the Slaver Republic and the Draconis Shogunate hardened and strengthened the Lyran nation, replacing bardic magyks with Divine researches and Profane sorceries.  After the fall of League of Stars, the people turned away from Profane sorceries as the aftermath of pacts and curses fueled by the Dark Gods laid worlds to waste in the Succession Crisis through plagues, and poisons, brimstone and earthshocks.

There are sorcerors of the divine, and Monastic Prophets with the gift of spellwork, and there remain, scattered and often suppressed by the Holy Brotherhood of Blake, sorcerors and madmen of the cult of Reason, to whom the powers of the arcane, the divine, and the profane, are merely tools.

everyone knows, of course, that the Cult of Reason is no path to power-without allegiance to above or below, the Cult works its way through hedge magics and simple tricks, and has, as a result, little influence on society.

it is strongest, wehre neither the Divine, nor the Profane are strong.  Typically far from the centers of power.

Reason is very popular in the spaces near the furthest flung worlds of the known universe.

For Elizabeth, there is little choice: the gods of the Profane have already rejected her soul, and she believes she is damned by the gods of the divine.  Her only recourse, is the cult of Reason...

[Ttw1]

This sure is different.

[Cannonshop]

"...the economy runs on Hedge magic, Liz."  Margaret Doons was a Rationalist and a merchant.  "I mean, think about how many Paladins your family's produced?"

"Dad...Patrick." Elizabeth said, "Henry went to seminary at the Blackjack Monastery, but they were overrun by the Horde..."

"Three.  and your most famous ancestor?"

"Tranh Truk Ngo, the Impaler, they say he was in service to Profane powers, but how could he be, if he were supporting the Knights of Kerensky in deposing the Usurper?"

"Correct.  Tranh Truk Ngo was a Rationalist.  Neither beholden to Divinity nor to the Profane.  Most of your family have been."

"But wasn't he a great Sorceror?  Did he not stand equal with the Incorruptible Ethan Gilmour?"

Margaret shrugged, "that should tell you more than the claims of those fanatics with the Order of Blake.  You must understand, Liz, what is taught as history is a fragment made of fantasies and forgotten truths.  Even followers of reason and logic must remember-our picture of the distant past is incomplete.  If you would know the true picture of the story, you need to seek those seen as either too vital for those in power to suppress, or too dangerous for the profane to cross."

"Patrick, my brother, the rightful Heir to Kowloon, wants me to drive the Regency out." Liz said, "but they're powerful."

"Divine or Profane?" she asked me.

"um..."

"You don't want to say it, but I can see it.  Profane, but in service to the King?"

"Yeah."

"The royals will be quite put out, I assume?"

"Kowloon is considered a backwater." Liz recited.

"That does simplify matters.  You can do it...with enough preparation."

[Cannonshop]

The ship was old, possibly an artifact of the League of Stars, or even the Kingdom of the McKennas, but it wasn't like the Elven-crafted wonders of that era, it was crude, human made, the portals had rust...rust! in vacuum, flaking the paint.

as the Ferry Pinnace rose to meet it, Elizabeth could see evidence of warding runes worked into the metal, and her education said those would be the runes for crossing through the Aether.  They were neither wholly divine, nor wholly profane, just utilitarian.

Whoever did the spellwork, however, was a prodigy.  the pinnace aligned with the mouth of the craft, and slid inside, the huge doors closing like a jaw, and the lanterns glowed red...then yellow, then green, meaning it was safe to enter the old transport vessel.

Far above worlds, gravity is localized, and weak.  there was little pull in any direction right nwo, and would be none until the ship's helmsman invoked the stored power within the central altar.

"Welcome aboard, Duchess in waiting, Elizabeth Ngo."  an older woman spoke in her own people's tongue-the speech of the H'mong, mixed with loan words from yisroel and Anglish.

"It is my honor to board your vessel, sovereign-?"

"Alicia Li, and the term is 'Captain', even outside the Hosts...but your gestures are proper for greeting one of the Folk."  Li said with a glimmer in her eye, "My line and Ships are sworn to House Ngo."

"I remain honored to be guest upon your steading." Liz insisted, "You are known a Sage."

"You seek the middle path? as your Ancestors did, and reject the Divine and the Profane?"

"I do."

"What is the first understanding?"

"The gods exist to serve mankind." Amanda stated.

"And the second?"

"The Creator of all is not honored by adulation, only by understanding.  To know the creation is to understand the Creator."

"And we seek this how?"

"By the application of Reason, by clear minded observation, by Learning and by doing.  By doing we emulate the Creator, and gain insight into the Creator's will."

"You'll do." Li said, "I swear, I never thought I would have an apprentice at my age, much less one of your family's line-not since your father knelt at the Altar of the Divine on Coventry and swore his allegiance to their gods."

"I have no intent to kneel." Liz stated.

"Good.  We are Rational, we do not kneel to the altars of fanatics.  Your application showed you have some talent for the language of logic."

"Numbers are easily comprehended, Captain."

"Then we will begin with how to operate this ship, you will apprentice in the craft of navigation."

[Cannonshop]

Every child learns the basic movement of the spheres.  What Li taught Elizabeth, was all the things they don't bother to teach small children at school.  Instead of the simplified methods of Copernicus, Elizabeth learned the calculation of mass, the interactions of forces, the clockwork of the universe.

"Divinists appeal to higher entities to accomplish what Rationalists achieve through simple mechanics." Li explained, "Diabolists appeal to different entities, for the same thing-the entities grant their wishes, so they claim, yet they end up using the same devices we craft through logic, reason, and hard work.  It's the dirty secret of the Temples and the Covens, Elizabeth-both are made more of the rantings of charismatic charlatans, than proof of divine, or profane, powers.  There are powers, but they are only tapped in specific ways."

"but I saw...I heard them."

"I didn't say there weren't charlatans on both sides of the aether, not all liars are humans." Li told her.  "When we enter the Aether, we will do so from the outer bridge, once you've finished fashioning your suit-remember, the seams must be air tight and you can not have so much as a molecule free at the joints, or you'll die most horribly of vacuum exposure and extreme temperatures."

"Why the outer bridge?"

"Because there, and only there, will you see what is the space between, as a step in your understanding." Li explained.

[Cannonshop]

[out of story]

Magic System

There are 3 basic 'poles' of magic in this 'verse.

1. Divine magic.  Essentially 'holy' or religious magics. 
2. Profane magic Essentially 'Demonic' or Diabolical magics.
3. Rationalism.  "rationalist' magical theory is actually closer to an elementalist perspective.

Yes, in this universe, 'Magic' actually does exist.  the three 'poles' are really just interpretations of phenomena and spellcraft.  The first two involve various forms of exchange, with Divine based magics trading on belief and bending one's will to fit, or conform, to the wills of the higher powers invoked.  These powers tend to favor longer-term commitments, and spreading of their influence by open means.

Profane powers offer short term benefit at long term costs, usually of a destructive or chaotic nature.  Weapons can be crafted in either tradition, but Profane weapons will tend to be more destructive (while having nastier long term side effects, since you're taking shortcuts.)

The Clans of Kerensky are actually deep adherents to the Divine side, and more sophisticated in its invokation than the nations of the former League of Stars, which are also under a divine influence, having recoiled from the widespread use of Profane magics and devices during the three hundred years of the succession crisis.

Notably, all nations harbor various levels of both Profane, and Divine practicioners, and make use of both-but the use of Profane powers or diabolism, is frowned upon by the same rulers that would employ it-and it's limited by the actions of the Order of Blake-the last remnant of the Divine-aligned Government of the League of Stars.

The Order is pretty brutal about preventing profane sorcerors from gaining too much power, and highly suspicious of the operations of Rationalists, as this third school does something the other two do not:  It elevates man above the gods and demons alike, treating magic as simply a tool like any other.

In a sense, Divine or Profane powers leverage influence to take a shortcut in imposing one's will upon the universe, borrowing power (or mortgaging souls for power) to skip ahead of the hard work Rationalism demands.

for example, a Divine spellcaster might only need bespelled clothing to stand on the upper or outer bridge of a sky ship, while a Rationalist will need a fully contained suit-the difference being that the Rationalist won't suffer if his or her spell is disrupted, but disrupting the protective sigils of a Holy Ship will kill everyone on board who isn't wearing a Rationalist suit.

Rationalists gain power, additionally, much further from a system's primary inhabited world.  (this is because the further you are from habitation, the fewer souls are invoking divine, or profane, entities for support!)

Unsurprisingly, most of the deep-spacers are rationalists, while most of the militaries are going to align with one or the other more powerful poles (Divine or Profane).


Extra terms:

Paladin: a Divinist Warrior, often a warrior-monk, these heroes ride into battle on 'steeds', which are the finest form of War-Golem, able to channel vast powers in acts of faith, often a Paladin's 'steed' or War Golem is two or three stories tall, crafted in imitation of an armored man, or of a fantastic creature.  Powerful physical melee weapons are complemented by artifacts and seige engines that function because the user's faith and will are strong. 

Warlord: a Sorcerous or wizardly warrior able to ride a War Golem into battle, but without the direct need for a divine patron.  Warlords are often Paladins whom have turned on their patron deity and embraced the Profane.  Surprisingly, this doesn't stop Monarchs and Nobles from taking them into service and even promoting them.

Sorceror/sorceress: a magic user or student who embraces Profane powers, often scholarly.

Wizard: a sorceror of the divine.

Hedge Magic: Rationalism, Elementalist magic, many hedge mages are employed in maintaining War Golems, Sky ships, and so on, however, when it's Capitalized it specifically refers to someone deeply versed in Rationalist philosophy and methods.  Most Hedges have a 'day job', because their methods aren't widely spread and don't have the visible power of Divine or Profane magics (though users of both rely on them to keep things working.)

Sage: a Hedge Magician equivalent of a High Priest (Divine archmage) or Dark Sorceror (Profane Archmage) Sages are about as famous as you can get if you're a Hedge mage. 

[Cannonshop]

lost my train of thought here.  I kind of suspect ideas that look great after 30 hours awake aren't necessarily the best ideas.

[kindalas]

lost my train of thought here.  I kind of suspect ideas that look great after 30 hours awake aren't necessarily the best ideas.

It is quite great gives so many places for the story to tangent off too.

[DOC_Agren]

lost my train of thought here.  I kind of suspect ideas that look great after 30 hours awake aren't necessarily the best ideas.

Damm Jim he missed his Caffine

this was interesting take on Ngo lines