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abraxaslogs2021-12-17 12:09 am
- alucard; the hierophant,
- castiel; the hanged man,
- estinien wyrmblood; the hermit,
- geralt of rivia; the hanged man,
- goro; the chariot,
- hector; the magician,
- himeka sui; the fool,
- inej ghafa; the hierophant,
- kylo ren; the tower,
- leonard mccoy; the lovers,
- ronan lynch; the moon,
- sam wilson; justice,
- sasarai; judgement,
- stephen strange; death
The Mission
The Dimmest Day is upon us.
The champions of Thorne seek to deliver their caskets safely to the central artifact of the Singularity. Opposing them are the champions of the Free Cities and Solvunn, who are charged with intercepting as many caskets as they can and carrying them safely back to their respective factions— but each is also charged with preventing the other from doing the same.
From across Abraxas, in the dead of night, three groups of the Summoned converge on the Singularity. What they do here will have lasting effects on the world and every other beyond it.
Pleased to see a healthy number of volunteers gathered at the Empty Throne, Ambrose allows his champions a moment to savor the vocal appreciation of the gathered crowd ringing the courtyard. Thorneans applaud and cheer, and Frederick, previously this year's Elected sacrifice, looks beyond relieved. High above, the King and Queen emerge on the Royal balcony, and without any further warning the gathered crowd breaks into song— an ancient hymn of thanksgiving that feels very awkwardly like a prayer being directed towards the Summoned themselves.
Along with black leather sling packs for carrying the caskets and a lantern each, a group of apprentices bring forth pieces of armor, enchanted rings and circlets, all of them offered as temporary loans to Thorne's champions who could use a little aid in their work. These hold simple defensive and life-preserving spells, presumably a small hoard of trinkets kept aside from the usual Dimming sacrifice: putting them on may grant added resistance to magical attack, a boost to existing magical ability, or increase an individual's speed, strength or dexterity. Once everything is distributed, Ambrose himself passes out the caskets, taking great care to hand each one over with a stern, steady stare.
Even tapping into the emergency storage of magical energy provided by an ornate reliquary placed behind the throne, it takes the efforts of all the assembled Thornean mages together to open the portal that will deliver the Summoned to the crater's edge. Ambrose explains that due to the Dimming, they won't be able to create another to bring his champions home until the sun rises— and only then if the mission to restore the Singularity is successful. Everything rests with the Summoned, now. They must not fail.
Aleksander's laboratory is exactly the kind of mad scientist with access to magic take on Leonardo DaVinci's workshop you might expect. Strange, chemically powered devices bubble and tick. Doves flutter and coo anxiously in cages. A couple of ominous metal exam tables with leather restraint cuffs bolted to them have been pushed back to the walls to make room for a large contraption that looks like a cartoonish steampunk ray gun, far taller than a man, aimed at a hastily painted bullseye target on a raised metal platform. Surrounding it are strange alchemic sigils burned into the floor. It becomes clear all too soon that this is the method of transport the champions of the Free Cities will be using to get to the Singularity for their mission. This is a very tech-heavy flavor of New Magic.
Assistants usher the Summoned towards the platform and offer a range of odd hand-held devices and wearable tech for anyone who would like a little extra boost. Alongside chemically powered lanterns, the Summoned are invited to pick up energy dispersing chestplates, power-assisted boots for increased speed or spring in a step and so on— though it's fair to say Aleksander's creations do all look like they might be more in the experimental stage.
Charged using a device some of the Summoned might recognize from Alexander's holiday experiment at the Circus of the Sciences, the transporter ray is ready to deliver the Free Cities' champions to the Singularity. Set on a timer, the device will activate a second time at dawn to generate a gateway to welcome them home with their winnings. Aleksander wishes them good fortune, ensures everyone is properly situated on the platform, and with a pull of a lever sends them on their mission.
By the Solstice itself, a great unlit pyre topped with a strange, crude effigy of a creature resembling a bear has been built in the middle of the town, encircled by a group of seven mages in elaborate masked costumes representing elements of the landscape around them— rocks, fields, forests and streams. But Rowan, who the Summoned have been directed to report to, is not among them. He stands by a smaller fire, uncharacteristically solemn. It is time for Solvunn and its champions to receive their blessings, though as always these come with a price.
Rowan directs each of the group to step up in turn and surrender something to the flames. These sacrifices can be small, but they must belong to the person giving them up. A garment they are wearing would suffice, or even just a lock of hair, a drop of blood, a clipped fingernail. These gifts, Rowan explains, will link each of the Summoned with a blessing they can carry with them as they travel to the Singularity.
Another mage wearing an elaborate antlered headdress bestows the blessings as the Summoned give their gifts, dipping an elegant hand into the flames and drawing a strange runic sigil onto their foreheads with the ash of the ceremonial fire— and instantly, the Summoned may feel they have received increased vitality, strength, speed, enhanced visual or auditory acuity. They are handed a lantern each and instructed to stand aside as the mages ask the gods to light their path, and once all gifts are distributed, the gathered mages lift their arms and begin to chant. A fiery tendril leaps from the sacrificial fire to the main pyre itself in a crackling arc that sustains itself there in the air, forming a doorway to the edge of the Singularity’s crater. This passage of fire will remain passable in either direction until the great pyre burns down to embers.
The more perceptive of the group may catch sight of huge, formless shadows moving at the very edge of their vision as they step through the fiery arch.
When each faction's group of champions emerge on the other side, they find themselves delivered to the closest point around the rim of the Singularity's crater to their home faction. A few miles in diameter and several feet deep, the crater is a strangely, perfectly circular depression in the desert with the towering monolith of the Singularity itself glowing faintly visible through the dark of night at its center— and unlike the last time the Summoned were brought here, they have time to catch their breath and let their eyes adjust, if they wish. Muted and diminished, the Singularity makes no attempt to draw the Summoned to itself. To approach it, they will have to walk.
Physically breaching the border of the crater makes shivers run down spines and hairs stand on end, but it seems Ambrose was right. Rather than being yanked without ceremony into the metaphysical realm of the Horizon, the Summoned are able to make their careful way over the sloping rim of the crater, where each party will be able to catch sight of lights moving in the darkness as the Summoned of other factions climb down to the arena of the crater's smoothly featureless floor.
The desert air is cold and clear in the dark of night, sound carrying easily across the distance between the three parties. Raised on its rocky plinth, the towering statue of the Singularity beckons. The Dimming reaches its nadir as the Summoned of each faction march towards inevitable conflict.
no subject
[ with one casket added, Castiel had heard, not ten or more, which seems to be the current strategy. why the need to add more, is where he's stumbling on it. what purpose besides an attempt to blindly boost power. ]
I fail to see the urgency with this instance. [ not a criticism, but an attempt to communicate where he's at, why they're having this conversation and conflict at all. though stephen does make a good point about getting a read on how the singularity reacts. ] If Solvunn and the Free Cities manage to redirect half the excess caskets, perhaps that'll make it more experiment than overkill.
[ even 6 times the typical level of energy boost is too much for a safe observation, reducing it from 15 hopefully dodges anything complete catastrophic. they'll just have to wait and see. the central controversy aside, cas gives the man a tired smile, pleased to hear he's more interested in connections than conflict. ]
You're a reasonable man, Dr. Strange. Were more of us, this chaos might've been avoided with a discussion in the Horizon.
[ something he'll keep in mind the next time they're about to be pitted against each other. trading information and opinions, before there's swords and magic in hand. ]
no subject
That’s the equivalent of saying it’s alright if someone has a minor heart attack every year because it eventually resolves itself. Assuming it’s going to resolve at all is a gamble, and preventative measures are better than reactive ones.
[Unless Thorne is overplaying their hand, which doesn’t make any sense with the context he has. But that’s part of the frustration, too, not knowing every cog that turns in this political machine, certain motivations utterly obscured to him beyond what the general public is told. Stephen is aware of that; thus, Castiel’s argument isn’t wholly dismissed.]
But it could be that moderation works best. A blessing in disguise that everyone decided to swoop in and take a few, though don’t tell the Thorneans that.
[He scoffs at the compliment, though, humorless.]
What you call reasonable, others would call treasonous. But we do need to keep communicative lines open with one another. We need to make an effort to talk because what happens with that monolith will ultimately affect us all.
no subject
[ genuinely puzzled, it makes no sense to castiel why an ancient relic, created by old gods, would be left with a natural flaw that requires regular human maintenance to avoid disaster. cas can't recall a single supernatural artifact he's run into with that kind of condition. even something that feeds on energy or power simply goes dormant when starved, but doesn't crumble. ]
The stress of annual cardiac arrest on a human body would kill it within a handful of years. This Dimming's been occurring for as long as this world's been aware of the Singularity, with no reduced function after it resolves, correct? It's cyclic, like darker days after a solstice, not abrupt affliction.
[ The fact Thorne has less access to magic at the time is an issue of Thorne's society within a natural order, not dysfunction of the Singularity. setting aside the Free Cities objections to magic (a sentiment Cas doesn't share), Solvunn's reliance isn't so direly crippled, or is there something Thorne knows that the rest of them don't? regardless, the sense of 'either this or that', either apply excess energy or inaction, is a logical fallacy. there's rarely only two options, to any situation. as far as castiel's concerned - fuck the politics and what these factions think they know about this thing. they didn't create it, they don't know it's purpose for certain. the only way they'll uncover the truth is digging back towards that origin, setting aside local myths, rumors and politics that cloud it. perhaps something he and stephen can work towards together. ]
I don't believe any of these nations truly understands the nature and purpose of this structure.
[ only that it holds power, a siren call for any being, human or otherwise. for many, that's considered all they really need to know. as for treason, cas lets out a soft chuckle, glancing down and away, chewing on a thought before his eyes return to dr. strange with a wry, half-smile. ]
As is often the case. One may judge the integrity of an authority on how much they honor loyalty over reason and greater good.
[ that's to be applied to each side. this peaceful interaction wouldn't exactly be celebrated by the Free Cities either. That's the nature of bitter war, each side loses more and more sight of what's true and best for all. Cas should be more concern about his own fostering of treason, but after you've rebelled against the entire Host of Heaven, nationality and human politics seem paltry. ]
no subject
[Something about not going quietly into the night. The universal desire of all things living to keep on living, and the fear of losing it all to oblivion.]
I agree. I don’t think the nature of the Singularity is so easily understood even by those who’ve been here longer than us. But you can’t discount concerns just because you think someone’s going about it the wrong way. There’s the looming threat of entire worlds being lost, potentially devoured by the Singularity itself to make up for its waning power. Even if that were just how the cards fall, it’s not exactly something I can accept. Not when my Earth could be one of those worlds.
[Stephen sighs, less impassioned than tired-sounding. He gestures lamely at Castiel.]
There is the other option: Thorne’s just lying to us. But no matter what the truth is, we’ll need people willing to do their research to unearth it. Are you willing to help me with that?