The Answer of the First of Winds
Voikirium
SV's Estalia Guy
- Location
- Ruritania Illinois
- Pronouns
- He/Him
The Answer of the First of Winds
And then Wise Cadedri, Cadedri who damns the Foe-Men, Cadedri who protects the Forest, who protects nature, who walks dark paths and teaches the Egg Breakers to fear, gave to her first students, her followers, her friends the knowledge of shadows; for in that forest the blackness stretched around them.
-Parkalan, Shadowdancer of Athel Loren
"Ah, pretty Parry isn't still angry with me? How sweet."
-Ehfeyos
Ehfeyos reached out a hand, and the shadows seemed to lengthen, and the world seemed to stretch as well as the very shadows danced to the will of one who had walked the boughs of Athel Loren and Laurelorn alike, who had studied knowledge of the Shadowmancers and the Conjurers' Guild, who had bartered with Druchii and slaughtered Zharr, had tricked Dawi and learned with Asur, thrashed only once, allowed a fraction of a fraction of her understanding of Ulgu to flow out from her into the world. The trees seemed to lengthen and shift, growing into disconcerting angles and incomprehensible ways, bleak shadow blanketing the world.
Only Menleth's brood, there as a sign of her approval and commendation and to aid if Ghyran had been chosen, are not perturbed by the Great Spirit reaching out with all her will and shaping the world in accordance with her magic. The greater portion, simply by the serenity that Ghyran breeds, only by the calm and peace and puissance it shares; a smaller, much smaller, portion, by their understanding of the forest, brought along by the Ghyran. By the magic. That is to say, they are not affected by a lie when they know truth.
"You must be cunning." Ehfeyos speaks with words that are not, the jungle itself seeming to speak with her, for her, as its dark boughs vibrate with her and to her will. "Clever. Subtle. Uncanny. Horrifying, if need be." She stretches her will, so easily, more easily even than as a spirit as so much weight, even if proffered recently and still digesting, settles on her like armor, like strength beyond strength, like authority itself. A great fire burns to the north by her command, spitting brass and blood flames all around itself and roaring and screaming and braying. "For you have foes, everywhere. To the north, yes." Not fire now, but the scent of sweat and sour beer and gunpowder and age, ossified, arrogant, ignorant age, age without end, age all bound up in memory and Grudge. "But to the west." Hissing, shaking, roaring, rutting, all seem to pour out of the forest. "From the south." To the east...nothing. The worst of nothing. "To the east. Everywhere you have foes. Everywhere you will have those trying to kill you."
And then Ehfeyos appears from the back of the crowd and at the front and to the sides all at the same time. "All of these things are true. There are those who would like to kill you. Those who would do worse than kill you." She smiles, and the fires and the beer and the beasts and nothing alike all seem to dim, to fade. "But this is true too. If they want to kill you, they will have to catch you first, and so I will teach you how not to get caught."
Three of the four Ehfeyosi disappear, revealed as rocks and trees and stones and mist and more all covered in Ulgu, bewitching the mind to seem like their teacher. The Ehfeyos at the front on the other hand remains solid, true, real, material, not fading to mist, not a lie, but a truth hidden until the right time and the right instant and the right moment for its best effect. "The first lesson will be simple. I called you all here. I guided you, I showed you, I implanted the knowledge into your soul." She smiles again, and shows sharp, sharp teeth. "I never said I would show you the way back. You will make your way back to the village," Yes, she believes that is the term, "this will require you to understand the basics, this will show you what you need. I will keep you alive, you have my oath."
And whatever Dwarf or Dark Elf or Imperial or anyone might say, she keeps her oaths. She does not play cheap games with her words, she does not babble in mindless games. She says, as ever, what she means, and let those who argue otherwise prove that, let those who would claim the spirits are liars and murderers show that, let them provide even a little proof beyond the supposition of those who would kill the spirits.
"But precious little else. You will not like my remedial lessons if you end up taking so long that I have to drag you back." Her eyes twinkle with a mirth that does not reach her spirit, and they know, they all know as they look at her, they have entered a precarious situation indeed. "And the first band of you or so who manage to get back, you will be esteemed and judged worthy of helping in constructing our fastness, our place of learning, our stronghold." And she is not even lying, not truly. She is simply not telling the truth.
What fool builds a fastness of learning predicated on only one Wind, when there are eight that can be layered, eight that can strengthen, eight that can teach Bloodthirster and Runelord and Grail Knight alike to respect the might of magic?
But what is the nature, the essence of Ulgu, that Ehfeyos first passes along to her students? She has studied Elven learning; she knows they speak of the Tripartite System, of Elemental, that substance which is suffused with the Wind, and Mystical, that which is the Metaphor made realest and truest and purest, and Cardinal, the gathered Wind. The Conjurers speak of the Lesser Lies and the Greater Truths, the Rishis of Ind the Singular and the Divided, the Tumult of the Dryads as they shift.
But in her Wisdom, Ehfeyos teaches a root. The simplest portion, the easiest to grasp.
[] She teaches the Boughs. That which is hidden.
[] She teaches the Dance. That which changes.
[] She teaches the Lie. That which confuses.
[] [Write in, I have final veto]
--
Oh sweet, I got this out before the sun went supernova.
Real short moratorium since this is mostly an aesthetic thing, in effect you will have a bunch of Ulgu wizards no matter what. Imagine it as the difference between producing Gray Wizards and Shadowdancers and Dryads, though it will be filtered through their own foxy aesthetic no matter what.
If you have questions, feel free to ask.
And then Wise Cadedri, Cadedri who damns the Foe-Men, Cadedri who protects the Forest, who protects nature, who walks dark paths and teaches the Egg Breakers to fear, gave to her first students, her followers, her friends the knowledge of shadows; for in that forest the blackness stretched around them.
-Parkalan, Shadowdancer of Athel Loren
"Ah, pretty Parry isn't still angry with me? How sweet."
-Ehfeyos
Ehfeyos reached out a hand, and the shadows seemed to lengthen, and the world seemed to stretch as well as the very shadows danced to the will of one who had walked the boughs of Athel Loren and Laurelorn alike, who had studied knowledge of the Shadowmancers and the Conjurers' Guild, who had bartered with Druchii and slaughtered Zharr, had tricked Dawi and learned with Asur, thrashed only once, allowed a fraction of a fraction of her understanding of Ulgu to flow out from her into the world. The trees seemed to lengthen and shift, growing into disconcerting angles and incomprehensible ways, bleak shadow blanketing the world.
Only Menleth's brood, there as a sign of her approval and commendation and to aid if Ghyran had been chosen, are not perturbed by the Great Spirit reaching out with all her will and shaping the world in accordance with her magic. The greater portion, simply by the serenity that Ghyran breeds, only by the calm and peace and puissance it shares; a smaller, much smaller, portion, by their understanding of the forest, brought along by the Ghyran. By the magic. That is to say, they are not affected by a lie when they know truth.
"You must be cunning." Ehfeyos speaks with words that are not, the jungle itself seeming to speak with her, for her, as its dark boughs vibrate with her and to her will. "Clever. Subtle. Uncanny. Horrifying, if need be." She stretches her will, so easily, more easily even than as a spirit as so much weight, even if proffered recently and still digesting, settles on her like armor, like strength beyond strength, like authority itself. A great fire burns to the north by her command, spitting brass and blood flames all around itself and roaring and screaming and braying. "For you have foes, everywhere. To the north, yes." Not fire now, but the scent of sweat and sour beer and gunpowder and age, ossified, arrogant, ignorant age, age without end, age all bound up in memory and Grudge. "But to the west." Hissing, shaking, roaring, rutting, all seem to pour out of the forest. "From the south." To the east...nothing. The worst of nothing. "To the east. Everywhere you have foes. Everywhere you will have those trying to kill you."
And then Ehfeyos appears from the back of the crowd and at the front and to the sides all at the same time. "All of these things are true. There are those who would like to kill you. Those who would do worse than kill you." She smiles, and the fires and the beer and the beasts and nothing alike all seem to dim, to fade. "But this is true too. If they want to kill you, they will have to catch you first, and so I will teach you how not to get caught."
Three of the four Ehfeyosi disappear, revealed as rocks and trees and stones and mist and more all covered in Ulgu, bewitching the mind to seem like their teacher. The Ehfeyos at the front on the other hand remains solid, true, real, material, not fading to mist, not a lie, but a truth hidden until the right time and the right instant and the right moment for its best effect. "The first lesson will be simple. I called you all here. I guided you, I showed you, I implanted the knowledge into your soul." She smiles again, and shows sharp, sharp teeth. "I never said I would show you the way back. You will make your way back to the village," Yes, she believes that is the term, "this will require you to understand the basics, this will show you what you need. I will keep you alive, you have my oath."
And whatever Dwarf or Dark Elf or Imperial or anyone might say, she keeps her oaths. She does not play cheap games with her words, she does not babble in mindless games. She says, as ever, what she means, and let those who argue otherwise prove that, let those who would claim the spirits are liars and murderers show that, let them provide even a little proof beyond the supposition of those who would kill the spirits.
"But precious little else. You will not like my remedial lessons if you end up taking so long that I have to drag you back." Her eyes twinkle with a mirth that does not reach her spirit, and they know, they all know as they look at her, they have entered a precarious situation indeed. "And the first band of you or so who manage to get back, you will be esteemed and judged worthy of helping in constructing our fastness, our place of learning, our stronghold." And she is not even lying, not truly. She is simply not telling the truth.
What fool builds a fastness of learning predicated on only one Wind, when there are eight that can be layered, eight that can strengthen, eight that can teach Bloodthirster and Runelord and Grail Knight alike to respect the might of magic?
But what is the nature, the essence of Ulgu, that Ehfeyos first passes along to her students? She has studied Elven learning; she knows they speak of the Tripartite System, of Elemental, that substance which is suffused with the Wind, and Mystical, that which is the Metaphor made realest and truest and purest, and Cardinal, the gathered Wind. The Conjurers speak of the Lesser Lies and the Greater Truths, the Rishis of Ind the Singular and the Divided, the Tumult of the Dryads as they shift.
But in her Wisdom, Ehfeyos teaches a root. The simplest portion, the easiest to grasp.
[] She teaches the Boughs. That which is hidden.
[] She teaches the Dance. That which changes.
[] She teaches the Lie. That which confuses.
[] [Write in, I have final veto]
--
Oh sweet, I got this out before the sun went supernova.
Real short moratorium since this is mostly an aesthetic thing, in effect you will have a bunch of Ulgu wizards no matter what. Imagine it as the difference between producing Gray Wizards and Shadowdancers and Dryads, though it will be filtered through their own foxy aesthetic no matter what.
If you have questions, feel free to ask.
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