Federation-Apocalypse Session 198b – The Voices of the Dawn

Posted on December 18, 2011 by Thoth

With Kevin quietly inveigling their latest evil necromancer, Mr Cartwright was quietly asking for an explanation of what was going on from Marty.

(Marty) “Kevin just transported everybody to his personal dimension. I think he was going to try to build new bodies for the woman and the two kids bound to her.”

(Cartwright) “And is the lizard the one that was possessing the woman?”

(Marty) “I believe so. Isn’t he, Kevin?”

(Kevin) “Yep! But there really is no such thing as Death – especially for master necromancers who often carry their powers over to their next life – so it’s much better to get people settled and doing something useful than to just kill their bodies and ship them off across the cosmos to start over!”

(Eyes) “So you wish to offer me a job as a teacher of magical and necromantic arts in a realm without death?”

(Kevin) “Oh no! The offer was for training in other arts and teaching some theoretical survey courses in necromancy!”

(Feanor, privately to Mr Cartwright) “Well… He was very mean, but killing necromancers tends to be even LESS permanent than killing other major powers! They tend to come back quite quickly! So Master Kevin would like to get him settled in somewhere more permanent and perhaps get him some training in other arts! That way he won’t NEED to be a mean necromancer any longer! And – just maybe – he will change.”

(Eyes) “I see, so would I be teaching talented students at least? I suspect the opportunity to do a little research is right out though. So what other magical arts would you be offering training in?”

(Kevin to Eyes) “Oh yes. The automatic systems handle the dabblers and less talented. There’s plenty of chances for research, and some rather extensive libraries – and as for other arts… there are several hundred to look into”

(Eyes) “Interesting, well I am certainly willing to take a look into what you have to offer.”

(Kevin) “Well, here are some employment brochures… And I’ll assign some aides, some transport, and so on… Would you like the aides to take forms of your own species?”

(Eyes, with considerable surprise) “You have shapeshifters at your disposal as simple aides?”

(Kevin) “It’s one of the powers I bestow on the youngsters who opt to work for me!”

(Eyes) “Why do I get the impression I am not the first you’ve recruited in this manner?”

(Marty) “Because you’re not?”

(Kevin) “Well, with limitless resources, the easiest way to resolve a lot of issues is through bribery!”

(Eyes) “Can it really be called bribing when the resources involved are supposedly unlimited?”

(Kevin, cheerily) “It depends on which end you’re looking at it from I guess!…. So, if you’d like some aides, would you like males, females, or neuters?”

(Eyes) “I think we are going to go with females in this instance.”

(Kevin) “Easy enough!”

There was nothing for diverting a mage from dangerous research like a big party!

(Eyes) “Very well, can we at least get somewhere more inhabited now? I am sure some people find this type of view scenic or something, but I’m not really adapted for it.”

Kevin teleported them all to one of the smaller cities – in this case one with an antique (1950’s) futurism theme over the Core base – crystal spires, greenery, currently drifting above a wild gorge and a swampy area full of dinosaurs.

(Eyes) “Lots of people and magical enchantments to support them here. Your resources must truly be nigh unlimited to be able to afford building a magical city like this. I cannot even begin to fathom the amount of metal and zenni it would take to build all of this.”

(Kevin, absently) “Most of them are empty and on automatic maintenance at the moment. I just created them as a part of creating this universe.”

(Eyes) “Even construct automatons to maintain it all?”

(Kevin) “Easier that way!”

(Eyes) “And the parrot has a domain like this one as well?”

(Marty) “Not quite like this one, but pretty close!’

(Kevin) “His is more cartoonish!”

(Eyes) “Cartoonish? I am not familiar with that term.”

Marty explained cartoons – and demonstrated with illusions as necessary.

(Eyes) “And one would make their own domain to look like this?”

(Marty) “Hey, I was born in a dimension that was like that. It’s what I know. Besides… it’s not just looks! It’s the laws of nature and magic and life and death too!”

(Kevin) “Even the power to create universes bows to habit!”

(Eyes) “And what are those disgusting hairless monkeys that are all over the place?”

(Marty, swapping back to his normal form) “They’re humans, and that’s what I look like when I’m not visiting animal based realms.”

(Kevin) “Oh they’re common here! Humans are the original base stock for the Manifold; most of the other races are just transmigrations! And even where they’re born that way, humans set the original mental patterns…”

Meanwhile, Feanor had temporarily assigned himself to explaining things to Mr Cartwright and answering his questions – of which there were plenty, including not a few personal ones.

(Eyes) “So these humans are the base stock of reality? Why do I get the feeling that the rodents are closer to humans than many of the races in my world?”

(Kevin) “Quite perceptive of you! They are indeed, since the Core Reality is technological – and so is that of the rats and mice!”

(Eyes) “So this is really a world of wheels and steam then?”

(Kevin) “Fusion and Force Fields mostly!”

(Eyes) “More terms I don’t understand. Worlds of wheels, machines, fields, and fusors. Worlds of moving drawings and illusions. Worlds of magic and animalistic races. Worlds of hairless apes that are the dominant race in reality. Maybe these resources are truly limitless.”

(Kevin) “Well, for practical purposes at least…”

Meanwhile, Mrs Turner and her two children had quickly ducked behind a tree to and had been quickly trying to put as much distance as they could between them and the rest of the group – particularly the chameleon. The teleport had neatly taken care of THAT of course, but they had no way of knowing that…

That left them wandering off into the uninhabited reaches of Kadia – where it was awfully easy to get lost.

Fortunately, Kevin had dispatched some Thralls to check on them, to explain a bit, and to keep them well-shielded for the moment.

(Eyes) “Very well, I think I want to see more.”

There was a quick tour – mostly for Mr Cartwrights benefit – as both Kevin and Marty turned much of their attention elsewhere.

Cartwright asked Feanor a LOT of questions about how the laws worked locally, the number of people coming and going, the gates to different locations, and the services offered. He was especially focused on asking questions about Core and the worlds there.

(Cartwright) “So ensoulment is related to how closely tied one is to Core? And ensoulment is the difference in why you were able to resurrect some of the children immediately and others not so easily?”

(Feanor) “Ensoulment… Souls maintain a core of identity between realms and always shape reality a bit. Their dreams come into being – somewhere. People who lack that quality… are aspects of the realms they belong in. They take various forms in those realms, and live in reality instead of shaping it – and can be fairly readily resurrected. The divisions aren’t strict though! Souls move in and out of normally un-ensouled roles all the time… I think it’s part of the merger process! The more souls that experience various roles, the more they have in common – and the closer each soul comes to having experienced everything! No one really knows – it will take many trillions of years for everyone to experience everything – but eventually… I think that we will all become one with the ultimate creator.

Sadly… Master Kevin may well be one of the last! He’s… happy enough in his role, and has lots of distractions – harems, and mates, and children, and pets like me, and dragon-rivals who try to intrude on his harem and get enslaved, and vacations, and things – but he may be trapped being the maintenance-man for Core and the catalyst for us to jump straight to the fun parts of infinity for a trillions of years… I’m glad I can distract him at times! It’s a fun job and he needs it!

Anyway… Souls are the one thing that cannot be created on demand.”

(Cartwright) “And how difficult is it to access Core?”

(Feanor) “Lord Kevin has lots of gates there! Want to look?”

(Cartwright) “I think that would be a good idea. The tales about the place have always fascinated me.”

Feanor went back to trotting at Kevin’s heels while some of the other Thralls took Mr Cartwright to see Core.

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