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A Sword Without a Hilt: A Song of Ice and Fire/D&D 3.5 Crossover

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Vote closed. Update in beta.

I knew this was a bit of a filler vote so I started working on it as soon as I had a vote down.
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Feb 18, 2021 at 6:28 AM, finished with 18 posts and 8 votes.
  • [X] You will send some troops once the pacification has run it's course. It would be bad form to promise troops that might yet get bogged down in hunting Vale knights in the mountains.
    -[X] Ask the Shaitan for a permanent military attache to coordinate these matters in the future.
    -[X] Also tacitly sound out their opinion on Imperial outposts in the Plane of Fire. In particular among the Salamander realms and taking Efreeti mines.
    -[X] Tentatively agree to sending a battlegroup led by the Dauntless, since it's the most likely vessel that will be free.
    -[X] In the coming days, ask Mereth, Sarell, Siduri, your Gelughon and the Phistophilus about their opinions on Baators movements in the PoF. Why Mammons forces and what might the trap be?
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Part MMMDCCXLVI: Seals of Empire
  • Threadmarks
    • Seals of Empire ​

    Thirtieth Day of the Fourth Month 294 AC

    Though you might not be able to commit as much as one might hope, the envoys of your oldest allies understand the circumstances precisely. He bows low with grace and skill. "One must look to one's own realm over foreign commitments lest the latter collapse unexpectedly to some urgent call from the homefront."

    What an odd word. It is evocative, yes, but unlike other concepts common to the Peerless Empire you are not sure you would fancy it slipping into the Imperial vocabulary. You do not wish for your realm to be in a eternal war against unknown foes. There is much yet to fight, but there must be an end to it eventually, and certainly you do not wish your ordinary citizens to live their lives as though they are constantly in the midst of battle. The Legion, the Airforce, the Praetorians, the Inquisition, even the Lawmen, all these make it their duty to guard their fellow citizens from war's devastation. You will not see it codified in the minds of your people that their scarifies are in vain and they must live amid endless war.

    "I will likely be in the position to send a battlegroup against Mammon and his ilk, led by a Dauntless," you explain, dismissing the mussing of words and expectations for now.

    A nod of course, understanding. "And the Sea of Fire?"

    "To be honest I do not think diplomacy is what that roiling domain of chaos most needs," you reply delicately. "I have thought to sending expeditions to claim certain strategic positions in addition to efreeti mines. Those of my vassals who share power over fire are particularly fit for the task." And it is probably best to keep Amrelath from the path of temptation, you add silently. There is a reason he is not present at this very banquet—draconic pride makes a poor fit for the subtle games and barbs of court.

    This time the envoy considers you a long moment, you suspect considering how far his authority to negotiate extends, or possibly questioning a superior across the veil of worlds. "That would be of significant use, but be wary of the pride of the salamanders. They may seem ineffective in their lust for glass that gleams brightest and blood easily spilled, but should their pride be challenged they will fight like with unquenched fury and terrible guile as the Sultana's grandfather learned to his sorrow."

    To your surprise he produces a small silver-bound book, empty of any writing and touched by only the faintest of magics, and taps it with an ivory rod. Under your eyes ink races across the velum in a black spiderweb of cursive script and when all it done you are looking at what seems to be a centuries-old military report, one of what you know from previous reading is a deeply unsuccessful campaign and the most recent reason why the shaitan do not meddle in the Sea of Fire directly.

    Gained Reports of the Campaigns of Sultan Kohai of the Peerless Empire

    You take the book, surprised and impressed by the small but potent show of magic as you would not be of some grand battle casting. After all, even the Peerless Empire only has so many archmages, but this is ubiquitous enough that the envoy could carry such a rod and book with him. What library is it linked to, you wonder, and how does the bond work across the veil of worlds?

    "A permanent military attaché would be of great aid in not only avoiding the errors of the past but also helping to build up the answers of the future," you offer.

    "Certainly," the envoy agrees at once. That he had been expecting obviously. It takes only a few more moments to cover the credentials such a person would have to show and the security measures one would have to take with their mind and person in general, the sort of warding you had planned already, but you can hardly blame your allies for being cautious.

    ***​

    The matter handled you turn to another delegation closer to home, though in one way perhaps more remote than even the genie realms could be, for they are separated from you not by leagues of land and sea, nor even by the barriers between the realms, but by a gulf far more daunting—time.

    As you look upon Queen Naamaru of the Waterfall City sitting quietly alongside her handmaidens and diplomats in a corner of the garden you are touched by a edge of unease, not for the deathly power that neither glamor nor sweet scented flowers can quite hide and which subtly wards away most of the living. Rather, when you listen to the voice that had inspired a thousand poets now fallen to dust and silence when you feel the faded coils of ancient worship hanging in the air, you cannot help but wonder if this will be your fate in some distant day when the world is changed and changed again, a relic of bygone days, too enduring to fade and bound to some narrow corner of the world.

    "You are too young yet to worry over your dotage, and she is far from hers," Varys hisses in your mind, amused.

    She has a point of course, the mind behind the glamor's mask is just as sharp as it had been in ages past, not just a warrior and general but a diplomat also. A single city beside the whole Imperium gives her but a small card to play even with all the advantages the wisdom of ancient dead and the treasures of sealed tombs may give. Her people may need neither food nor rest, but they are yet few and loath to make more of their kind until they had grown accustomed to their nature, be it reforged steel or deathless flesh.

    The Queen of the Waterfall City plays her cards as one who knows she has a strong hand for the moment but may not have one later, graciously agreeing to a joint campaign to make an end of the hungry dead and agreeing to extradition treaties in almost the same breath. Discovering what it is she might desire enough to swear an oath to you is somewhat trickier, for you must read not just her word and tone but the intent behind them, and that is no easy task when both are shaped by the unshakable will that had endured ages in death and been restored from it.

    In the end you must conclude that what she truly desires is not any single material thing, but rather an ideal, a dream to preserve. She who was born from the legends and dreams of Sarnor wishes that it never be forgotten, that its art, its history, its language, and its culture echoes down through the long ages.

    "What has been passed to me I would weave into the tapestry of ages," she concludes.

    A door is left open, though you cannot yet step through it. That she has shown interest in the creation of greater undead and acknowledged the debt such an agreement would bring with it can only be a good sign.

    And so you turn your gaze from the quiet dead to one of the most lively delegations present, the color and merriment almost enough to overshadow Oberyn's antics. Yet the Summer Islanders too play a game, that you know for certain. They are playing to type, to expectation, you can see that in the subtly different way the envoys play to more knowledgeable travelers like the Sealord or Rodrick the Reader as opposed to Westerosi lords who only know their people from rumor and hearsay.

    The Prince and Princess of Walano present in many ways less of a challenge than the Queen of the Waterfall City—they have no pledge of alliance and trade union, no hosts of the dead who can fight shoulder to shoulder with the Legion—but by the same token they are not your allies yet, only honored trade partners.

    What incentives and offers do you hint at to see if the Summer Islanders are inclined to swear to you?

    [] Write in

    OOC: Needed a break here, this update was running really long and already had an break point between Shaitan and Sarnori, and I did not want to add a second.
     
    Last edited:
  • Threadmarks
    • DragonParadox said:
    In the end you must conclude that what she truly desires is not any single material thing, but rather an ideal, a dream to preserve. She who was born from the legends and dreams of Sarnor wishes that it never be forgotten, that its art, its history, its language, and its culture echoes down through the long ages.

    "What has been passed to me I would weave into the tapestry of ages," she concludes.
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    @DragonParadox, can we poke Namaaru to give us the means to make museums and culture study centers or whatever for the Sarnori? Maybe have her send over historians, playwrights, artisans, etc to recraft the lore that was lost during the Century of Blood so it can forever be remembered by the Imperium? And yes, this is a shameless excuse to add to the Library.
    DragonParadox said:
    What incentives and offers do you hint at to see if the Summer Islanders are inclined to swear to you?
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    1. Infrastructure! Like hardened roads, bridges that could span across islands, hospitals, mail, orphanages, schools, etc.
    2. A Scholarum branch, with the first one going to whoever is the most enthusiastic about bending the knee
    3. Direct protection from monster attacks
    4. Trading without restriction within the Imperium and access to no less than three genie realms through the Terminus
    5. A flat gift of precious metals (to be determined, but we shouldn't need that much, maybe like 100 lbs or something for them to do with as they will)
    6. A few enchanted items
     
    DragonParadox said:
    Seals of Empire ​

    Thirtieth Day of the Fourth Month 294 AC

    Although you might not be able to commit as much as one might hope, the envoys of your oldest allies understand the circumstances precisely. He bows low with grace and skill. "One must look to one's own realm over foreign commitments lest the latter collapse unexpectedly to some urgent call from the homefront."

    What an odd word. It is evocative, yes, but unlike other concepts common to the Peerless Empire, you are not sure you would fancy it slipping into the Imperial vocabulary. You do not wish for your realm to be in eternal war against unknown foes. There is much yet to fight, but there must be an end to it eventually, and you certainly do not wish your ordinary citizens to live their lives as though they are constantly in the midst of battle. The Legion, the Airforce, the Praetorians, the Inquisition, even the Lawmen, all these make it their duty to guard their fellow citizens from war's devastation. You will not see it codified in the minds of your people that their sacrifices are in vain and they must live amid endless war.

    "I will likely be in the position to send a battle group against Mammon and his ilk, led by a Dauntless," you explain, dismissing the mussing of words and expectations for now.

    A nod, of course, understanding. "And the Sea of Fire?"

    "To be honest, I do not think diplomacy is what that roiling domain of chaos most needs," you reply delicately. "I have thought to sending expeditions to claim certain strategic positions in addition to Efreeti mines. Those of my vassals who share power over fire are particularly fit for the task." And it is probably best to keep Amrelath from the path of temptation, you add silently. There is a reason he is not present at this very banquet—draconic pride makes a poor fit for the subtle games and barbs of court.

    This time the envoy considers you a long moment, you suspect considering how far his authority to negotiate extends, or possibly questioning a superior across the veil of worlds. "That would be of significant use, but be wary of the pride of the salamanders. They may seem ineffective in their lust for glass that gleams brightest and blood easily spilled, but should their pride be challenged they will fight with unquenched fury and terrible guile, as the Sultana's grandfather learned to his sorrow."

    To your surprise, he produces a small silver-bound book, empty of any writing and touched by only the faintest of magics, then taps it with an ivory rod. Under your eyes ink races across the velum in a black spiderweb of cursive script, and when it is done you are looking at what seems to be a centuries-old military report, one of what you know from previous reading is a deeply unsuccessful campaign and the most recent reason why the Shaitan do not meddle in the Sea of Fire directly.

    Gained Reports of the Campaigns of Sultan Kohai of the Peerless Empire

    You take the book, surprised and impressed by the small but potent show of magic as you would not be of some grand battle casting. After all, even the Peerless Empire only has so many archmages, but this is ubiquitous enough that the envoy could carry such a rod and book with him. What library it is linked to you wonder, and how does the bond work across the veil of worlds?

    "A permanent military attaché would be of great aid in not only avoiding the errors of the past but helping to build the answers of the future," you offer.

    "Certainly," the envoy agrees at once. That he had obviously been expecting. It takes only a few more moments to cover the credentials such a person would have to show and the security measures one would have to take with their mind and person in general, the sort of warding you had planned already, but you can hardly blame your allies for being cautious.

    ***​

    The matter handled you turn to another delegation closer to home, though in one way perhaps more remote than even the genie realms could be, for they are separated from you not by leagues of land and sea, nor even by the barriers between the realms, but by a gulf far more daunting—time.

    As you look upon Queen Naamaru of the Waterfall City, sitting quietly alongside her handmaidens and diplomats in a corner of the garden, you are touched by a edge of unease, not for the deathly power that neither glamor nor sweet scented flowers can quite hide, and which subtly wards away most of the living. Rather, when you listen to the voice that had inspired a thousand poets now fallen to dust and silence when you feel the faded coils of ancient worship hanging in the air, you cannot help but wonder if this will be your fate in some distant day when the world is changed and changed again, a relic of bygone days, too enduring to fade and bound to some narrow corner of the world.

    "You are too young yet to worry over your dotage, and she is far from hers," Varys hisses in your mind, amused.

    She has a point, of course. The mind behind the glamor's mask is just as sharp as it had been in ages past, not just a warrior and general but a diplomat also. A single city beside the whole Imperium gives her but a small card to play, even with all the advantages the wisdom of the ancient dead and the treasures of sealed tombs may give. Her people may need neither food nor rest, but they are yet few and loath to make more of their kind until they had grown accustomed to their nature, be it reforged steel or deathless flesh.

    The Queen of the Waterfall City plays her cards as one who knows she has a strong hand for the moment but may not have one later, graciously agreeing to a joint campaign to make an end of the hungry dead and agreeing to extradition treaties in almost the same breath. Discovering what it is she might desire enough to swear an oath to you is somewhat trickier, for you must read not just her word and tone but the intent behind them, and that is no easy task when both are shaped by the unshakable will that had endured ages in death and been restored from it.

    In the end you must conclude that what she truly desires is not any single material thing, but rather an ideal, a dream to preserve. She who was born from the legends and dreams of Sarnor wishes that it never be forgotten, that its art, its history, its language, and its culture echoes down through the long ages.

    "What has been passed to me I would weave into the tapestry of ages," she concludes.

    A door is left open, though you cannot yet step through. That she has shown interest in the creation of greater undead and acknowledged the debt such an agreement would bring with it can only be a good sign.

    And so you turn your gaze from the quiet dead to one of the most lively delegations present, the color and merriment almost enough to overshadow Oberyn's antics. Yet the Summer Islanders also play a game, that you know for certain. They are playing to type, to expectation. You can see that in the subtly different way the envoys play to more knowledgeable travelers, like the Sealord or Rodrick the Reader, as opposed to Westerosi Lords who only know their people from rumor and hearsay.
    The Prince and Princess of Walano present in many ways less of a challenge than the Queen of the Waterfall City—they have no pledge of alliance and trade union, no hosts of the dead who can fight shoulder to shoulder with the Legion—but by the same token they are not your allies yet, only honored trade partners.

    What incentives and offers do you hint at to see if the Summer Islanders are inclined to swear to you?

    [] Write in

    OOC: Needed a break here, this update was running really long and already had an break point between Shaitan and Sarnori, and I did not want to add a second.
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    Made some additional edits to the chapter, DP.
     
    "Hey, swear to me and I'll forever save the souls of your people" is an extra good selling point after we've finished killing one of their Gods.
     
    Daredevil_Dave said:
    What do you mean?
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    At some point we're going to be making our own brand of Outsiders forged out of the souls of our valiant dead who chose not to move on to the afterlives of any particular god (much like the Great Empire of the Dawn created the Kami who were then inherited by Yi Ti). I was wondering if Azel was considering patterning one of the Outsider forms after something from Sarnori legend, or if this was just the standard "We've got a way to save your souls" which in fairness is a potent argument.
     
    [X] Plan "Poor Unfortunate Souls"
    -[X] Free trade with the Imperium and it's partners.
    -[X] Infrastructure
    -[X] Military and Espionage aid
    -[X] Access to the vast lore of the Scholarium with a branch in his capital city.
    -[X] Access to crop rituals, fleshforged plants, steam powered machinery and the many other marvels of the Imperium.
     
    Duesal said:
    much like the Great Empire of the Dawn created the Kami who were then inherited by Yi Ti
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    You've been going further and further with your theories, using each possible conclusion as a definitely stepping stone for further results.
    However, I'm not too sure I agree with all of the details.

    For example, IIRC Kami in the far east occupy the same ecological niche as Fey (and arguably the OG) do in the west. This suggests that Kami are either naturally differnet for some reason, or were altered and not created wholesale. Furthermore, it suggests that they aren't full Outsiders but are something else (like how Fey aren't Outsiders, they're weird narrative spirits connected to the natural world).
     
    TalonofAnathrax said:
    You've been going further and further with your theories, using each possible conclusion as a definitely stepping stone for further results.
    However, I'm not too sure I agree with all of the details.

    For example, IIRC Kami in the far east occupy the same ecological niche as Fey (and arguably the OG) do in the west. This suggests that Kami are either naturally differnet for some reason, or were altered and not created wholesale. Furthermore, it suggests that they aren't full Outsiders but are something else (like how Fey aren't Outsiders, they're weird narrative spirits connected to the natural world).
    Click to expand...
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    Do you have any ideas on why the Kami care so much about succession in Yi Ti? Most immortal spirits don't give a shit about mortal empires, but the Kami care quite a bit. And Yi Ti is blatantly a successor state to the Great Empire of the Dawn, so it's not exactly a big step to think they're the ones who made the Kami.

    That said, you are correct that they're Native Outsiders rather than actual Outsiders.

    [X] Azel
     
    Yet it seems that Fey are to theme and type, they are "nature spirits" but what that means isn't even really fully accurate, better said they are "consensus of thought" spirits. When enough people believe something, they mirror that belief, but there's no overriding control mechanism that either course corrects that behavior and their form. It's like what you would get if you just left a whole aspect of the world alone.

    Whereas those wild forces, either too nascent and in their infancy to resist, or agreeable to the process due to ancient pacts, were slotted neatly into place. Even the see-sawing beliefs that things like civil wars or general unrest against the person who is supposedly the ultimate manifestation of Heaven's will is insulated from these Kami from trying to support their enemies. Simultaneously, those same spirits will continue to do their jobs and make sure that there is an empire left to take control over later on, not allowing external foes to take full advantage of the chaos which befalls flagging mortal rule.

    The system is just that robust.

    To be honest though, I would just rather hammer out individual agreements with our Fey and focus those same resources on crafting Outsiders. The Kami have way too much independence from any hierarchy for my taste, for as much power and responsibility they have.
     
    Duesal said:
    Do you have any ideas on why the Kami care so much about succession in Yi Ti? Most immortal spirits don't give a shit about mortal empires, but the Kami care quite a bit. And Yi Ti is blatantly a successor state to the Great Empire of the Dawn, so it's not exactly a big step to think they're the ones who made the Kami.
    Click to expand...
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    It's a huge step. Especially because in Westeros, we've seen another bunch of spirits who really cared about mortal succession. It turned out that it wasn't because they'd been created as servants, but simply because of the wording of the original bargain between Garth and the Court of Stars. And then of course the Fey could use the rightful ruler for various ritual purposes, possibly to use other old bargains they still remember...
    We could simply have a similar situation here, with Kami bound by age-old oaths to the Throne of Heaven (or whatever the throne of Yi-Ti is officially called).
     
    Azel said:
    [X] Plan "Poor Unfortunate Souls"
    -[X] Free trade with the Imperium and it's partners.
    -[X] Infrastructure
    -[X] Military and Espionage aid
    -[X] Access to the vast lore of the Scholarium with a branch in his capital city.
    -[X] Access to crop rituals, fleshforged plants, steam powered machinery and the many other marvels of the Imperium.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Does cheap and easy access to iron deserve special mention here, or does it simply get filled into the "Free trade" category? It would, I'm sure, but that might be a particularly enticing carrot for the metal poor Summer Islanders.

    [X] Azel
    Takesis said:
    Wait, did we just snub the Djinn? I thought the talk will be with the Shaitan and the Djinn?
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    I would like a Djinn specific POV here. I don't think we've had one during the coronation yet?
    Duesal said:
    Do you have any ideas on why the Kami care so much about succession in Yi Ti? Most immortal spirits don't give a shit about mortal empires, but the Kami care quite a bit. And Yi Ti is blatantly a successor state to the Great Empire of the Dawn, so it's not exactly a big step to think they're the ones who made the Kami.

    That said, you are correct that they're Native Outsiders rather than actual Outsiders.

    [X] Azel
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    It's not that they were built to be loyal, but that they're the symbiotic product of 10,000+ years of continuous cultural interaction and spiritual shaping/worship. The Kami basically fill the metaphysical niche of gods and the Fey for the Yi Tish, though the culture that shaped them was so fundamentally different that the beings it shaped - and was in turn shaped by - formed a completely different sort of being.

    How much of the culture formed because of interaction with the Kami and how much the Kami formed because of interaction with the culture is completely opaque at this point, but the end result is clear.
     
    The Djinn envoy is Embra. I don't believe that should've been backgrounded as she's an important asset of Armun Kelisk.

    Her attempting to steal Waymar again would be an amusing perspective to see at least.
     
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