Chapter 2.1 (such as it is)

[yhlee]

[GM's note: This is Ashari's summation of the mission briefing to Sasha, who is the new team leader in the interests of whisking away inactive PCs. While this letter is addressed privately to Sasha in-character, players are welcome to have out-of-character discussions [in bracketed comments] about, e.g., logistical concerns or things that they would like for their own characters. Regular IC discussion--e.g. if Sasha decides to start a meeting to discuss planning--can also happen in comments to this post, without the brackets.]

[Reminder: I'm out of the country from Sun., Dec. 2 to Wed., Dec. 5, so will be out of commission during those days and maybe a couple after. I apologize for the bad timing but hope this will give y'all something to chew on in my absence.]

[ETA: For reference, this is the one existing map of the hexarchate]. It's ca. Revenant Gun, but you can see some sites of historical interest. Candle Arc, for instance, is near the bottom center, in the Glover March.]

Congratulations, Sasha. You're in charge now. I expect you have very strong opinions on how things should be done. I look forward to hearing all about it upon my return.

As I told you earlier, Kaliyan, Ankat, Yehan, and myself will be siting a new base of operations just in case we need to cut our ties to the rebellion, or the Quill-led part of it. But don't worry. I wouldn't leave you entirely without hawks and foxes to play with. Don't hesitate to bully the new recruits as necessary to get the job done. I for one consider it highly promising that you seem to be getting along smashingly with the new Kel.

Here's your part of the mission. I have received reliable intelligence (no, you don't get to ask what I did to get it, unless you want to arm-wrestle for it after I get back) that there's going to be a significant push into the Lanterner era. Moreover, Quill is involved with rebellion operations via a rift to the heptarchate during 852 [h*archate timeline for reference]. Given what I understand to be the historical significance of that time period, this could be a major push.

Your task is to enter 852 via the rift map that Nirai Remi has provided us and figure out what Quill's people are up to. If this is a major intervention, what are they trying to accomplish? Can we get anything out of it?

The exit of the aforementioned rift will take you to a Lanterner orbital stronghold called Autumn Pyre. (They seem to have gotten their naming sensibilities from the Kel, how tiresome.) It's three days' travel by Cantata to Candle Arc, which has not yet happened. (You know what I mean.) Autumn Pyre is a military base, but it also houses a Lanterner aristocrat-diplomat named Aramis kae Pharon who fancies themself a natural philosopher and is interested in studying rift phenomena. Like civilized people, the Lanterners put their family/house name first, the personal name last. The "kae" designates an aristocrat or person of high rank--it can be given to generals and the like even if they're of low birth, it's all very complicated. Unfortunately for Autumn Pyre, but fortunately for us, Lanterner cultural peculiarities mean that kae Pharon is what we'd consider the "ranking officer."

Quill's people have already made contact with kae Pharon. Quill herself doesn't appear to be on site--yet. I've obtained forged orders that should make you look like reinforcements for the rebellion. Things are chaotic there anyway, what with interdimensional travelers. Get to Autumn Pyre and find out what's going on before it comes around to bite us in the ass. Oh, and if you get a chance, grab me some Lanterner red cordial, I've always wanted to try it. Good luck!

Ashari

Comments

Re: so I hear there was a battle at Candle Arc

[zuhrovet]

Sasha hears voices outside her office and enters a command to make the door slide open.

Ashari left the room more or less bare. Sasha has adjusted the desk and chair for her own height, added a water tap, and acquired a self-heating kettle. There are grid displays on the walls, as well as Sasha's personal monitors. Both of the displays are currently set to close-up pictures of salamanders. One salamander is covered in round red dots; the other's skin is mottled in a pattern like intentionally distressed gold leaf.

[These are heptarchate salamanders, not Naxorian ones; they're from the planet where Sasha went when she was trying to get into the Nirai primary academy. yhlee, if you have a possible name for this planet, I would appreciate knowing it!]

Re: so I hear there was a battle at Candle Arc

[yhlee]

[Let's call the planet Isterov unless you radioactively hate the sound of the name.]

Re: so I hear there was a battle at Candle Arc

[zuhrovet]

[It sounds a little bit like a Naxorian patronymic, but on second thought then it would probably be Istrev!]

Re: so I hear there was a battle at Candle Arc

[lleullawgyffes]

“Yes,” Virmad has time to agree with Sulen before the door opens. The office looks, he has to say, better now, with plainer decor. He’s still half-waiting for an invitation to enter before he remembers that, right Sasha‘s a foreigner. Feeling a little awkward, he steps inside. “You wanted to speak to me — to us?”

Re: so I hear there was a battle at Candle Arc

[zuhrovet]

Yes, obviously. This is the worst part of formal meetings, the time you have to waste saying things that everyone knows you're going to say. Sasha gestures for Sulen and Virmad to sit, and pours tea for both of them. It would be more polite to offer Virmad brandy, but she expects he'll defer to his fellow Rahal, and it's too fucking early to fight with Sulen about toasts again.

"Quill's people are moving toward Candle Arc. I want your best guess as to what that might mean, how and why Quill might want to intervene. We're going to be posing as arms dealers, selling to the Lanterners, so I also want to know what we should tell people about interacting with them. Our only common language is the high language--is that going to be an issue?"

Re: so I hear there was a battle at Candle Arc

[lleullawgyffes]

Virmad accepts the tea with a brief smile and takes a sip by way of collecting himself.

“The Battle of Candle Arc was — more or less — the turning point in the war against the Lanterners.” He pauses for a moment. “General Shuos Jedao, while still recovering from a Lanterner assassination attempt, commanding an outnumbered Kel swarm and seventy-three Rahal calendrical lenses, outmaneuvered a Lanterner swarm in unfavorable calendrical terrain.” Another pause. “There were no Lanterner survivors.”

He takes another sip of tea.

“If Quill’s goal is to destabilize the Heptarchate’s calendar, ensuring a Lanterner victory at Candle Arc — especially if they can arrange Jedao’s death in the process — would upset the balance of calendrical terrain throughout what will later be called the Glover March. Since...Jedao was the main reason the Heptarchate won the war, and since the nearest other Kel swarm is on the other side of the Heptarchate, his death could mean a Lanterner victory in the war overall, which would — at a minimum — throw a wrench into Heptarchate expansionism. And, while the propaganda the Shuos and Vidona produce is effective — sometimes terrifyingly so — it would be difficult to suppress this news. A Heptarchate that can be defeated by a small client state in revolt is in...a precarious position, both internally and externally.”

He’s been debating whether or not to say this, but better to get it out of the way now than have Sasha yell at him later. “I should add, in the interest of full disclosure, that I was at Candle Arc. I was stationed at Smokewatch 33-67, where Jedao got the calendrical lenses. I don’t know how our time traveling relates to that, but...ideally I would prefer not to see my past self be killed, if possible.”

He pauses for a second, then presses forward: “As far as language and culture, the Lanterners were a client state of the Heptarchate — anyone with the resources to purchase weapons from us will be fluent in the High Language; their language is related to ours, in any case. The grid may have more information, if anyone is interested to try to learn it. There are some cultural similarities, as well, except that their calendar doesn’t require mass human sacrifice to function. I can put together a précis for anyone who’s going to be interacting with them, like the calendrical notes Sulen and I made, although I’ll need more details about what our cover story is supposed to be — are we posing as Lanterners, or sympathetic Heptarchate citizens, or foreigners, things like that. Meanwhile, if you have any other more specific questions, I can try to answer them now.”

Re: so I hear there was a battle at Candle Arc

[zuhrovet]

Might as well clear the easy tasks first. "Yes, please put together notes for everyone. I expect the Lanterners will see us coming through the rift, and it will be obvious that our only common language is the high language. Reshad and I had discussed posing as a group of people with piratical leanings, from some small and obscure system."

She continues, "Ione told me her people could go sideways, to versions of time where history worked differently. I don't know whether the version of you on the other side of the rift is the past self you remember, or more like a twin, or a sibling." This sounds like the sort of question the Liozh fight over. "But I wonder--what if Quill wants to stabilize the calendar? If she is coordinating with the Shuos who sent Mishka? Should we expect to see Flute undercutting the Lanterners, then?"

Re: so I hear there was a battle at Candle Arc

[lleullawgyffes]

Virmad raises an eyebrow. “I can’t see what Quill would want to accomplish by trying to undermine the Lanterners’ campaign — Jedao did — does — will do that well enough by himself at Candle Arc; after that it was mostly just a matter of time.”

Unless... He stops and considers. “Actually, maybe that’s a premature assessment. The final suppression of the Lanterners happened at Hellspin Fortress, which is just beyond the Glover March. Jedao used exotic weapons called ‘threshold winnowers’, which...” He shudders. “In addition to wiping out the Lanterners in the fortress itself, they killed everyone in his swarm, and he personally murdered his entire command crew.” He closes his eyes. “There were...recordings.” He opens them again. “He was executed afterwards; there was never a satisfactory explanation for his behavior. Whatever Quill wants to do with the calendar, I think it’s fair to assume it will hinge on Jedao.”

[I can't remember exactly what details we're given about how Jedao ended up in the Black Cradle — I'm writing under the assumption that it didn't become common knowledge until the first time he got broken out of storage.]

on Jedao and the black cradle

[yhlee]

[Jedao's execution had a very small audience due to security concerns. Kujen made off with him and shoved him into the black cradle, after which there was a period of screwing around with Jedao's head. The black cradle was known or rumored to exist then but it wasn't confirmed that Jedao specifically was in it until after the first time they deployed him, yeah.]