Lillene

Enjoy!

Baron Restali,

The full report on Earth is on its way using the Messengers’ Guild. It was very expensive because I kept finding things to add and they were so cheap that there was no excuse to not include them.

Earth is a contradiction. After as long as I spent on the planet, all I can safely say is that I do not understand it. It is not like the other worlds I have spent much time on. In many ways, it’s the closest to the city-worlds, like Stekka or Lyka, but while it offers the same hordes of lower-Tier people, it is different in two major ways. 

First, it is safe in a way that they do not achieve; as far as I can tell, there is no deliberate policy of allowing low-grade dungeon breaks to temper and train (and sometimes terrorize) the low-Tier population. While there are some areas that have had enough breaks to have monster populations begin to establish themselves, they are areas with low human presence. Many of these areas already had dangerous Tier Zero animals. I would have expected those animals to be overwhelmed, but much like the people they seem to be improving faster than they should be.

Second, the reliance on non-enchanted tools that you mentioned also extends to low-grade enchantments. They are enhancing what they have by adding enchantments and creating new enchantments quickly. Many of them are useless, of course, but that doesn’t seem to discourage them. Even many poorer areas are quite wealthy.

They have a long history of internal war, including two events they call “World Wars.” While not truly global, they are significant and worthy of study. However, I do not believe that these are the most relevant examples for an Imperial conquest; instead, look at the files labeled Afghanistan, Iraq, and Ukraine in the full package. They have developed some of the same techniques as the Bheryta, and we all know what happened on Behar.

There are many places I was not able to visit, but I was able to see enough to reach a conclusion: Earth is not going to be an easy conquest, at least not without destroying the very things that make it valuable. In fact, my recommendation is to take the slow route. Bribing the rulers will work in a few cases, but in most the best option is probably infiltration. It will be a slow process, even if we exploit existing tensions. I admit that I am glad that I will not be responsible for overseeing it; balancing the maintenance of tensions with easing them enough that all sides are willing to submit eventually is never easy and it seems likely to be worse here.

Earth reminds me of the stories of the early days of Aru’tsa’lkeet. It is far from here and not a human world, but I still remember what we were taught about the war they fought to defend their world. Half-scorched it may be now, but they still hold it. I am unwilling to see the Empire waste itself against such a world.

On the topic of World Shaman Senkovar Et’Tart and the World-Eaters, the World Shaman is still very unsure of the cause, though he is still convinced that it is something that moves from world to world. He has invited Serenity to travel with us and seems convinced that Serenity can help. He has also mentioned that he believes Earth will be threatened by the World Eaters and that it will be devastating if it happens, though he cannot explain why he believes that.

I have agreed to Serenity’s presence. I made the World Shaman have to convince me in the hope that it would allow us to gain additional concessions, but I was unable to request them directly given the circumstances. We have not yet settled our route, but I expect it to pass through Suratiz at some point; the World Shaman still seems convinced that Serenity has some sort of connection to his Clan and will likely wish to introduce him. 

I will update you as other developments occur, of course.

I still do not have a clear picture of who Serenity truly is. With the information I was able to gain on Earth, I can say that some of my initial assessments were incomplete or inaccurate; for all that I believed otherwise earlier, I now believe that Serenity was indeed Thomas Rothmer prior to Earth’s induction. My best guess at this point is that he was somehow used as a catspaw by an instructor, but I have been unable to determine the purpose. 

I also have been unable to identify who, outside Earth, he is working for or even if he is working for anyone. With further interaction, it has become clear that his skill at deceit is worse than a child’s; he can misdirect but appears incapable of lying. Everything he says is at least technically correct, and it is often possible to tell when he isn’t saying something. It appears to be connected to his Path, somehow.

His Path is confusing. I can normally tell what someone’s focus is, but that doesn’t seem to be possible with Serenity. All I’m getting is some information on his latest Paths. It’s unique and focused on his highest Affinity. There’s something above the norm about it; I believe he might even have touched on an Aspect. 

The Path before that is even fuzzier, but it seems to be a religious Path of some sort.  He denies worshiping any god, so I suspect it’s actually one of the nature-spirit Paths. Perhaps that is why his sigil bears worlds and the word Friend; perhaps he actually worships the Worlds? It is hard to say, but at this time it does not appear to bar him from the Empire.

All know there is no God save the Emperor.

I have managed to determine some candidate worlds for the four on Serenity’s sigil. One is definitely Earth; the other three are likely to be Lyka, Zon, and Tzintkra. I believe they are the worlds he has visited and spoken to; they are certainly the ones he mentions the most. He has also mentioned a world he calls Aeon, but I have never heard of such a world.

A short list of other notable Earthlings and those connected to Serenity is in the information packet.

Lord Cymryn

Serenity tapped a connection on the planned route Senkovar had laid out. “We can’t go through Berinath. At least, I can’t.”

Senkovar frowned at that. “Sure we can, it’s the fastest route.”

“I know I told you about this, Senkovar. They think I’m undead and want to fix me. I just left. It’s not my proudest moment, but the other options I had were worse.” Serenity could easily have killed some of them before he left, but there had been no need for that. They were misguided and definitely overreacting but not evil. Simply leaving still seemed like the best option.

“Going around Berinath adds at least a month,” Senkovar grumbled. “At least, unless I can talk Cymryn out of a quickship passage, and trust me, you don’t want to be the fifth supernumerary on a quickship. Four is too many. We have to go through Berinath. Remind me why they think you’re undead? You’re definitely not undead.”

Serenity shrugged. “My Vital Affinity isn’t Life; I don’t think they managed to detect it at all. My strongest Affinity is Death.” Serenity paused, then added a detail he didn’t normally pay much attention to. It hadn’t even occurred to him until well after he returned to Earth. “My Death Affinity is strong enough that they probably assumed it was my Vital Affinity.”

The World Shaman seemed startled at that. “I know I checked your Vital Affinity early on and it was quite strong. Arcane, I think? Not a normal Vital Affinity, but …oh. That’s the problem, isn’t it. They must be using a Quillaerro variant detector and discarding the Arcane readings since Quillaerro’s theorems result in an echo in the Arcane. A flaw but normally an acceptable one. Even so, we can probably convince them to allow us through with the appropriate proof. You didn’t kill anyone, did you?”

Serenity shook his head. “They also said they knew I was there from the Forest, something about the Forest knowing when Death comes near and that I walk with Death. They’re not wrong about that.” 

He literally walked with Death sometimes; most of the time, she brought Kaasi as well. It was too bad that she wouldn’t be coming on the trip, but it made sense that she’d want to stay with the only friend she’d ever made other than Serenity. Serenity knew that the lack of her physical form didn’t mean she wasn’t with him, after all, while leaving would mean that she wasn’t with Kaasi.

“The easy solution is to hide it,” Senkovar noted. “Depending on how strong it is, we ought to be able to either make it completely disappear or at least make it seem weaker than your next-highest Affinity. What is your next Affinity, by the way? We may have to take some care to select the appropriate disguise.”

“Arcane,” Serenity immediately answered. It was the other Affinity that no longer showed on his Status, but he knew it was well up there. It was also one of the few he had an Aspect for. “That probably doesn’t help, under the circumstances. The one after that is …”

Serenity had to check his Status to know; it wasn’t something he looked at very often. The answer surprised him, because it wasn’t an Affinity he used often as anything other than a modifier or trigger for a spell. “Liminal, apparently, though my other Aspect is SpaceTime. It’s a fair bit lower than Liminal as an Affinity but my Concept’s far higher.” He decided not to mention the Essence Aspect. It was also part of his Vital Affinity, after all, and wouldn’t help. For this purpose, it was basically the same as his Arcane affinity.

Senkovar blinked at Serenity. “Other Aspect? You aren’t telling me that you have multiple Aspects, are you?”

Oops. Serenity had clearly gotten too comfortable with Senkovar and was treating him more like someone trusted than someone he was friendly with but didn’t completely trust. It was too late to try and hide it, though, so he might as well own it. He should probably not mention the Incarnate, however.

“Yes? Death was my first Aspect.” It had been, too, both in his time as the Final Reaper and when he became Serenity. The fact that it changed to an Incarnate since then didn’t change the fact that it was his first Aspect.

“Uh.” Senkovar didn’t sound happy at the information. His next words made it obvious why. “That will make it difficult to hide. I don’t think the spell will completely hide an Aspect; it won’t even completely hide a particularly good Affinity, though it will make it seem weaker and also make it hard to use. I’m not sure it’ll work on an Aspect at all. I’ve never tried it.”

“Does that mean we can take the long way around?” Serenity was hopeful. He didn’t really want to have to deal with Elder Lisven again. Yes, she seemed nice enough, but the fact that she’d threatened to basically kill him so she could raise him from the dead meant that he wasn’t fond of her even though she clearly thought it would help him.

Lillene

You can’t always run away from things … but Serenity still thinks it was the right decision, even if it does make things more complex now.