The Empty Throne: An Original Fantasy Quest

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[X] In Sunlit Halls: Slaves in the darkness. Rats in the walls. Must you trifle yourself with these things? The Ghalbazim are mighty, yes, but they are mortals still. Some of their hearts lie uneasy. Some among them see the tiny felines which dance among their legs with something like amusement, or affection. Others yet stir themselves and dream of wind under their wings, of great worlds yet untamed beyond the horizon. And of course, there are many in a race of slavers who smile to see cruel and red and senseless things done with sharp tools in the dark. Though they will not admit it, many of them chafe under the cloying perfection to which they have been born. You arise to the sunlit halls of the Red City, and seek purchase among the Dwellers in the Middle Air. Of course, (as you already know) every one of the Old Masters is sworn, bone and blood and claw, to another, until all the endings of the world. But you are a thief already, are you not?

A winner plays both sides.
 
[X] In Sunlit Halls: Slaves in the darkness. Rats in the walls. Must you trifle yourself with these things? The Ghalbazim are mighty, yes, but they are mortals still. Some of their hearts lie uneasy. Some among them see the tiny felines which dance among their legs with something like amusement, or affection. Others yet stir themselves and dream of wind under their wings, of great worlds yet untamed beyond the horizon. And of course, there are many in a race of slavers who smile to see cruel and red and senseless things done with sharp tools in the dark. Though they will not admit it, many of them chafe under the cloying perfection to which they have been born. You arise to the sunlit halls of the Red City, and seek purchase among the Dwellers in the Middle Air. Of course, (as you already know) every one of the Old Masters is sworn, bone and blood and claw, to another, until all the endings of the world. But you are a thief already, are you not?
 
[X] In Freedom
[X] In Dreams
I don't want to bother with the Old Masters, nor do I wish to tangle tooooo directly with Vengeance. Hope, however, is neither (I would assume) as easily roused to anger, and it clearly has not done a sufficiently good job.
 
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A note: discussion is both encouraged and may have consequences in in-quest actions and developments. Even a short note explaining a decision may help influence how I choose to interpret a winning vote for a choice.
 
[x] In Freedom: You decide that you shall trespass. The line is not so terribly close after all -- and did you really steal from Heaven itself to be scared away by any of your kin? You shall dance among their minds with dreams of things which are neither here nor there, but far far away. There is not a slave born in these dark halls who does not think daily in their heart of distant horizons, of places undreamt and unseen. It is beyond easy to slide in, to wrap yourself in their desires, to become everything they have ever wanted. Yes, of course, it is a perversion of their hope, but...well, perhaps his eyes are turned elsewhere.

Compare the option we chose last go-round:

In a city in the sky, many cats prowl the alleys. They are clever. They know to avoid the ones with many arms, and to walk between the legs of the ones in chains. At night, they nuzzle shaking slaves in the dark. Seeing them run free gives the hopeless something they did not remember: hope. You come to them.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
This seems to be to be a further commitment to that.
 
I wonder what the colored text mean. Do they just denote the domain of a higher ranking Air? I'm tempted to pick In Sunlit Halls because the Old Masters sound very interesting and might lead back to the scholar in the previous update, but it might be a little hasty to cross yet another Air so soon, after we've just made a nemesis of Heaven's gatekeeper. It is very enticing, though.
 
[x] In Freedom: You decide that you shall trespass. The line is not so terribly close after all -- and did you really steal from Heaven itself to be scared away by any of your kin? You shall dance among their minds with dreams of things which are neither here nor there, but far far away. There is not a slave born in these dark halls who does not think daily in their heart of distant horizons, of places undreamt and unseen. It is beyond easy to slide in, to wrap yourself in their desires, to become everything they have ever wanted. Yes, of course, it is a perversion of their hope, but...well, perhaps his eyes are turned elsewhere.
 
[x] In Dreams: No, the dreams of men are not necessarily your purview. But these slaves dream so strongly of cats, of nimbleness and liberty and warm cold pride that you cannot help but be drawn in. The Dreaming Host, you are almost certain, rides elsewhere. The dreams of these slaves bleed together, and they are mottled and black and streaked with despair. Where you walk, you take the shape of a cat, and their sleeping minds light up like stars. In the flesh, they are chained -- but in their sleep, they follow cats to places far away, beyond the horizon, where even the beating of mighty wings might not follow.
 
[x] In Freedom: You decide that you shall trespass. The line is not so terribly close after all -- and did you really steal from Heaven itself to be scared away by any of your kin? You shall dance among their minds with dreams of things which are neither here nor there, but far far away. There is not a slave born in these dark halls who does not think daily in their heart of distant horizons, of places undreamt and unseen. It is beyond easy to slide in, to wrap yourself in their desires, to become everything they have ever wanted. Yes, of course, it is a perversion of their hope, but...well, perhaps his eyes are turned elsewhere.
 
[X] In Dreams: No, the dreams of men are not necessarily your purview. But these slaves dream so strongly of cats, of nimbleness and liberty and warm cold pride that you cannot help but be drawn in. The Dreaming Host, you are almost certain, rides elsewhere. The dreams of these slaves bleed together, and they are mottled and black and streaked with despair. Where you walk, you take the shape of a cat, and their sleeping minds light up like stars. In the flesh, they are chained -- but in their sleep, they follow cats to places far away, beyond the horizon, where even the beating of mighty wings might not follow.

It disturbs me that whichever Lord of the Air counts hope in its purview seems like a malevolent being. I want to try to fix that, by drawing a little closer to the aspect and trying to take it the way we took Strife—but not by "perverting" it or deceiving them the way In Freedom does.
 
[X] In Freedom: You decide that you shall trespass. The line is not so terribly close after all -- and did you really steal from Heaven itself to be scared away by any of your kin? You shall dance among their minds with dreams of things which are neither here nor there, but far far away. There is not a slave born in these dark halls who does not think in their heart of distant horizons far, far away, of places undreamt and unseen. It is beyond easy to slide in, to wrap yourself in their desires, to become everything they have ever wanted. Yes, of course, it is a perversion of their hope, but...well, perhaps his eyes are turned elsewhere.
 
[X] In Sunlit Halls: Slaves in the darkness. Rats in the walls. Must you trifle yourself with these things? The Ghalbazim are mighty, yes, but they are mortals still. Some of their hearts lie uneasy. Some among them see the tiny felines which dance among their legs with something like amusement, or affection. Others yet stir themselves and dream of wind under their wings, of great worlds yet untamed beyond the horizon. Though they will not admit it, they chafe under the cloying perfection to which they have been born. You arise to the sunlit halls of the Red City, and seek purchase among the Dwellers in the Middle Air. Of course, (as you already know) every one of the Old Masters is sworn, bone and blood and claw, to another, until all the endings of the world. But you are a thief already, are you not?
 
[x] In Freedom: You decide that you shall trespass. The line is not so terribly close after all -- and did you really steal from Heaven itself to be scared away by any of your kin? You shall dance among their minds with dreams of things which are neither here nor there, but far far away. There is not a slave born in these dark halls who does not think daily in their heart of distant horizons, of places undreamt and unseen. It is beyond easy to slide in, to wrap yourself in their desires, to become everything they have ever wanted. Yes, of course, it is a perversion of their hope, but...well, perhaps his eyes are turned elsewhere.
 
[x] In Dreams: No, the dreams of men are not necessarily your purview. But these slaves dream so strongly of cats, of nimbleness and liberty and warm cold pride that you cannot help but be drawn in. The Dreaming Host, you are almost certain, rides elsewhere. The dreams of these slaves bleed together, and they are mottled and black and streaked with despair. Where you walk, you take the shape of a cat, and their sleeping minds light up like stars. In the flesh, they are chained -- but in their sleep, they follow cats to places far away, beyond the horizon, where even the beating of mighty wings might not follow.

[X] In Sunlit Halls: Slaves in the darkness. Rats in the walls. Must you trifle yourself with these things? The Ghalbazim are mighty, yes, but they are mortals still. Some of their hearts lie uneasy. Some among them see the tiny felines which dance among their legs with something like amusement, or affection. Others yet stir themselves and dream of wind under their wings, of great worlds yet untamed beyond the horizon. Though they will not admit it, they chafe under the cloying perfection to which they have been born. You arise to the sunlit halls of the Red City, and seek purchase among the Dwellers in the Middle Air. Of course, (as you already know) every one of the Old Masters is sworn, bone and blood and claw, to another, until all the endings of the world. But you are a thief already, are you not?

Undecided on these two, either would be fine (despite the risk, I'm pretty curious what a conflict between Airs would look like for the latter choice). Also wondering what kind of Air is the Master of hope, to inspire such dread. I kind of suspect he wields hope like an angler uses light, to draw in the unwary, but it seems like a strange tactic for something so powerful. Maybe he uses it the way Gaiman's Sandman described hope as being a part of Hell; a taunt to keep the tormented from accepting inevitability, keep them forever yearning for something out of reach, which would be quite cruel indeed.
 
[X] In Freedom
[X] In Dreams

I do like developing the fact our character is fundamentally a thief. And pursuing just the limited bands of Ghalbazim dissatisfied and restless feels a lot more stifling then insinuating us into the hearts of the oppressed everywhere.

Just as no distance is too large or too short for us, let us insinuate ourselves into ideas who are nearly as resilient as the laws of the world.

Ennui, boredom, restlessness, ungrateful devotees? Are these the sort of foundations we will build ourselves upon ever after?
 
[x] In Freedom: You decide that you shall trespass. The line is not so terribly close after all -- and did you really steal from Heaven itself to be scared away by any of your kin? You shall dance among their minds with dreams of things which are neither here nor there, but far far away. There is not a slave born in these dark halls who does not think daily in their heart of distant horizons, of places undreamt and unseen. It is beyond easy to slide in, to wrap yourself in their desires, to become everything they have ever wanted. Yes, of course, it is a perversion of their hope, but...well, perhaps his eyes are turned elsewhere.

We need to accept what we are: an outcast among our kind, a being who has no place in the world as it is. We have stolen from one who hold great sway in Heaven and its doors are closed to us. We are living in the realm the mortals inhabit, in the fief of the Jade One and by simply doing so without prostrating ourselves to them first we have challenged it, whether it was our intent or not.

This the place we have crafted for ourselves, this is the bed we have made, this the price we pay for out theft. Our salvation cannot come from those who hold the current order to their tastes. Not from any of out siblings who are mighty in Heaven, for at this time they would see us as little more then an easy prey to drink from, nor from any of the of the so called Children of the Sun, for their first and only true loyalty will always go to the Jade One.

Change is our only hope of salvation, our only hope to truly survive our mad theft. Those who wish for creation to be different are our hope, as weak as they may be, and we must be theirs, even if it mean to be a thief again.

And if, per chance, it allow us to better lie to ourselves as to our own nature and morality as well as push the memory of our part in the bloody beginning further and deeper into our memory all the better!
 
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[x] In Spite
[X] In Dreams

Spite is a powerful force and one easily grown in this environment. It also seems to have more synergy with the spheres we already have.
 
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[X] In Sunlit Halls: Slaves in the darkness. Rats in the walls. Must you trifle yourself with these things? The Ghalbazim are mighty, yes, but they are mortals still. Some of their hearts lie uneasy. Some among them see the tiny felines which dance among their legs with something like amusement, or affection. Others yet stir themselves and dream of wind under their wings, of great worlds yet untamed beyond the horizon. And of course, there are many in a race of slavers who smile to see cruel and red and senseless things done with sharp tools in the dark. Though they will not admit it, many of them chafe under the cloying perfection to which they have been born. You arise to the sunlit halls of the Red City, and seek purchase among the Dwellers in the Middle Air. Of course, (as you already know) every one of the Old Masters is sworn, bone and blood and claw, to another, until all the endings of the world. But you are a thief already, are you not?

Okay, I am voting this for two reasons. The first is that I almost want In Freedom to win... But I really dislike the line in the description that goes 'Yes, of course, it is a perversion of their hope' and I'd prefer to avoid that. The second reason builds on the first. The Old Masters are doomed as they are, brought down by both their arrogance and the arrogance of the Tyrant Air who chains them. Or at least that's what it sounds like. It may be a doomed hope among doomed hopes, but why can't we see if we can twist that fate slightly such that whilst all the Old Masters die, not all who where born to be Old Masters do so. If it means we steal their fates from what has been ordained for them, at the same time as we steal their allegiance from the one who has claimed all who are of them for eternity? Well, I do like the idea of creating some strife that way.

And it will be even better if in the process of stealing them from their fates and chains of allegiance, we can aid in the freeing of all the others who have been chained by the Old Masters. Not all rebellions start from below. Many rebellions also are aided by those above. And sometimes it happens that those above find a few amongst they who join with the rebellion. Let us see if we can cause such a seed of strife to no longer only be found on the far-distant horizon.
 
[X] In Freedom: You decide that you shall trespass. The line is not so terribly close after all -- and did you really steal from Heaven itself to be scared away by any of your kin? You shall dance among their minds with dreams of things which are neither here nor there, but far far away. There is not a slave born in these dark halls who does not think daily in their heart of distant horizons, of places undreamt and unseen. It is beyond easy to slide in, to wrap yourself in their desires, to become everything they have ever wanted. Yes, of course, it is a perversion of their hope, but...well, perhaps his eyes are turned elsewhere.


Sunlit Halls makes reference to the king clad in jade, who is the most powerful of the Airs beyond the gates of Heaven. Stealing from him, when most of the world is within his grasp, would be... unwise. A thief we may be, but a thief that fled reprisal, and the world is not big enough for us to do so again, just yet. I'd like for the Lord of Far Horizons to sup thirstily of mortal worship and prostration before contesting with the mightiest of the world's gods, when we might do so with a smaller margin of strength dividing us.

I also think it's foolish to try and get in on the Ghalbazim, because we know for a fact that they are going to one day fall and have the mantle of the world's mastery stolen by humanity. I think it's far more clever to get in with the humans, at the very foundations of the ground floor, and be able to rise with them all the way to the top. Other Balthazim are probably trying to get their hooks into the Middle Airs right now anyway as the more powerful of the mortal races, but as an Upper Air well aware of great distances, we should be taking the long view here, and tie our ship to humanity.
 
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[X] In Freedom: You decide that you shall trespass. The line is not so terribly close after all -- and did you really steal from Heaven itself to be scared away by any of your kin? You shall dance among their minds with dreams of things which are neither here nor there, but far far away. There is not a slave born in these dark halls who does not think daily in their heart of distant horizons, of places undreamt and unseen. It is beyond easy to slide in, to wrap yourself in their desires, to become everything they have ever wanted. Yes, of course, it is a perversion of their hope, but...well, perhaps his eyes are turned elsewhere.

Drink worship.
 
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