[X] To predict the future is impossible. Yet some part of you captures information you cannot even begin to understand and makes incredible predictions. Against any enemy not significantly more powerful than yourself, you gain the ability to see... images of what is likely to pass.
[X] To predict the future is impossible. Yet some part of you captures information you cannot even begin to understand and makes incredible predictions. Against any enemy not significantly more powerful than yourself, you gain the ability to see... images of what is likely to pass.
[X] Beings and objects of power are often hidden and disguised. You have somehow learned to pierce through these disguises in many, though not all, cases.
If the Matana are remnants of gifts, how did this one end up inside this lizard thingy? Do monsters eat warriors with all their possessions?
I've been collecting some pictures to spice things up a bit. Let me know if you like or dislike them.
Winning option:
[X] To predict the future is impossible. Yet some part of you captures information you cannot even begin to understand and makes incredible predictions. Against any enemy not significantly more powerful than yourself, you gain the ability to see... images of what is likely to pass.
You have been hard at work for the last day and a half. Evening quickly approaches and, with it, an extremely important divination. You have had little time to actually speak with your teacher. Between her preparations for the divination and your own exercises, you haven't been able to ask further about the matana nor the strange lizard monster you fought.
Something shifts within you and you intuit that a door within your mind has creaked open ever so slightly. You feel all the Presences in the city much more intensely and for a brief moment something had appeared within them as well. Something immense but well hidden.
You remove the blindfold from your face and look out a nearby window. The streets are busy. You know that a changing of the guard is happening about now. Yet there is something strange. You see strange phantoms emerging from the soldiers in the street. The soldiers perfectly follow the motions of these phantoms, with only minor variation.
You stare at this strange image for a few moments. Then a headache begins to form. You close your eyes and shift something within you. You open your eyes and everything appears normal. Another thing to ask Puabi.
And on that note, you should really get to finding her. You're certain she wants to know about any strange abilities you develop. She'll probably use more of that weird magic dust, you think to yourself. You weren't looking forward to it; it didn't exactly feel pleasant.
You finally find her on the roof of the citadel. Several stationed guards are eyeing her warily (but keeping a safe distance, you note) as she measures the distance between an altar, a basin of water, and eighteen rods. The rods are placed in a strange pattern that seems to draw your eye.
"Teacher," you say. She looks up in surprise, shushes you, and spends several minutes completing her measurement.
"Zana," she says at last, "you're supposed to be completing your exercises."
"About that... I think I've had a breakthrough?" you respond.
She immediately rushes over to you. She doesn't throw any magic dust on you, but she does perform a quick examination, asking rapid fire questions about how you feel. When you state you had a headache but "turned off" whatever it is that happened, she looks relieved.
"This was not expected, not yet," your teacher says. "But it seems we are in luck. A part of your mind is... considering an immense amount of information, and making highly accurate predictions of what will happen. Use this sparingly, it places a strain on your mind. Though it will be quite useful for the divination tonight. And in future divinations you might perform."
She begins to lead you to the basin she has prepared. Before she begins to explain what, precisely, she is doing, you decide to ask her some more questions.
"How did that monster obtain the... matana to begin with?" you ask.
"Huh? Oh, yes, I didn't mention it, did I? I can't imagine how it received one, but any number of creatures or demons may make use of them--it doesn't really take intellect. I imagine the monster you found stumbled upon it somewhere. It is not unheard of, especially if it migrated from the south-west."
You ask one more thing before she can begin her explanation on divination.
"And why didn't I see a woman in need of rescue, like Jacob did? Does it have something to do with my... nature? Or senses?"
She scrunches up her face in concentration.
"You say it didn't take any form, but acted as if it couldn't decide upon one? And it had some terrible screech that seemed to hurt? I suspect it attempted to present in a form that you would find 'pleasing.' To Jacob it appeared as a beautiful woman that needed rescuing. Why it couldn't find one for yourself is something you'll have to learn on your own, I can only guess."
You put the thought aside for now. It's a mystery for another day. Your teacher begins to describe the ritual that will be performed.
Apparently, when Afra--and later Puabi--had taught you the stars could show you many things, they had meant it literally. If one knew how to beseech them, information could be gleaned from certain beings, beings that normally had little interest in the affairs of men. Several criteria need to be met but, by the grace of El, the stars were right for the ritual tonight and your teacher could obtain most of the required materials on short notice.
The rods themselves help to mirror certain patterns in the sky, the altar provides necessary materials, and the basin... is perhaps the most critical part of it all?
As night descends, your teacher forces the nearby guards to leave. She also provides you with an ominous warning.
"Do not lose yourself."
It is nearing midnight when it begins. Small wisps of silver light form in the air and the moon hangs full in the sky. It is directly above the altar your teacher had erected. She takes your hand and leads you through the formation of rods she had placed. It feels strange. Like you are... swimming against a current? You are displacing something more than air as you move and your Presence sense indicates something strange is happening.
Soon you stand before the altar. It does not look as it had. Where before it had been a solid block of stone, almost rough in appearance, now it had a sheen to it and emitted a silvery glow. Your teacher removes a ring from her finger. It is formed of a strange white material, with a texture like tree bark, and a brilliant blue gem is set within it.
She places it upon the altar and a flame erupts!
The silver wisps of light begin to coalesce and your teacher begins a chant! You think it might be the priestly tongue? The flame finishes burning and only white ash remains in its place. Your teacher continues to chant as she places the ash into a small pouch.
She carries it to the basin of water and you follow. A charge has been building in the air, slowly but surely, but now it accelerates! As her chant reaches its climax she tosses the ash into the basin of water. You lean to look into the water and you feel yourself pulled.
You find yourself before a door. The door has opened a single crack. A flood of silver light blasts it and, for but a moment, it is wrenched open. You feel a jolt come through you and then... you see everything that is hidden.
In the Fortress City of Marad, there are two non-humans. They are both on the roof. You are one of them. Your teacher is another.
A game takes place. A game enjoyed by many men of good breeding and privilege. Pieces are moved, turn by turn, all in an effort to push the opponent into a no win position.
One player is in Kavodel. He is not human. He is human. He is... both human and not human? He is many things, many contradictory, somehow held together. He is of law and order and mercy and compassion and heroism and assassination and justice and Secrets. He is more than this. Above all he is of war against theabominable and cleverness. He is also impossible, and a cheater.
The other player is to your south. A figure of shadow and darkness and blood and earth and, above all else, he is war without end.
The two figures are not equals. The player to the south thinks he is the better. Yet even as he takes pieces from the player in Kavodel... other players, that are also somehow him, simply grant him new ones? Even when the player to the south manages to steal a piece, the player in Kavodel simply gains two or three more, but somehow hides them?
He is cheating. But War Without End does not realize it, nor realize he cannot win, but he can cause incredible damage in his defeat. It is simply a question of where and why.
Your vision changes.
A map of Ur spreads out before you. The Lands of Zepa are not included. The Protectorate catches flame from the south on the map. It puts the flame out but great damage is caused. The flame is imminent and coming... in the next week?
The flame does not spread to the Protectorate. Instead, the lands ruled by Kavodel are burnt. They are not burnt as badly, but the damage done reverberates across Ur in some fashion. Even Baitel is singed, if only lightly.
Widespread damage to Ur, though not as severe in any one area--but potentially more damaging long term--or sacrificing much of the Protectorate, to deliver a more powerful blow.
I need more, you desperately think to yourself, even as you feel the door beginning to close. You remember your teacher's warning to not lose yourself... can you try to learn more, specific details, or will you have to pay some other price?
[] Withdraw. The door within you closes, and you leave before it does. You don't learn immediately relevant information beyond that an attack comes in a week's time, and it will be terrible.
[] Stay and seek more. You don't know the consequences but you want to try to learn something truly actionable--number of troops, specific direction of attack, something.
[X] Withdraw. The door within you closes, and you leave before it does. You don't learn immediately relevant information beyond that an attack comes in a week's time, and it will be terrible.
[X] Stay and seek more. You don't know the consequences but you want to try to learn something truly actionable--number of troops, specific direction of attack, something.
We need something more. We could already guess a big attack was coming.
[x] Stay and seek more. You don't know the consequences but you want to try to learn something truly actionable--number of troops, specific direction of attack, something.
Feels like we're not on the edge just yet.
[x] Stay and seek more. You don't know the consequences but you want to try to learn something truly actionable--number of troops, specific direction of attack, something.
What are cool supercharged magics for if not for pushing your luck?
[X] Stay and seek more. You don't know the consequences but you want to try to learn something truly actionable--number of troops, specific direction of attack, something.
I like the pictures, it's a nice visual aid when reading. Plus, it's cool to see the previous vote spill into this one. Since we voted for a chance to see the future, so why don't we milk it for all it's worth.
[x] Stay and seek more. You don't know the consequences but you want to try to learn something truly actionable--number of troops, specific direction of attack, something.
[X] Stay and seek more. You don't know the consequences but you want to try to learn something truly actionable--number of troops, specific direction of attack, something.
[X] Withdraw. The door within you closes, and you leave before it does. You don't learn immediately relevant information beyond that an attack comes in a week's time, and it will be terrible.
[X] Stay and seek more. You don't know the consequences but you want to try to learn something truly actionable--number of troops, specific direction of attack, something.
I think we need more than that, and this risk seems to play to our strengths significantly more than the last one did.
[X] Stay and seek more. You don't know the consequences but you want to try to learn something truly actionable--number of troops, specific direction of attack, something.
The pictures own, are some of those machine generated? They give me that vibe of a machine working from samples/going for an aesthetic with kinda random content rather than a human artist visualizing a specific piece, but in a good way. Especially for inhuman magicks bending your brain.
[X] Stay and seek more. You don't know the consequences but you want to try to learn something truly actionable--number of troops, specific direction of attack, something.
If we don't push ourselves now, under the supervision of a teacher, how can we learn more?
[x] Withdraw. The door within you closes, and you leave before it does. You don't learn immediately relevant information beyond that an attack comes in a week's time, and it will be terrible.
[X] Withdraw. The door within you closes, and you leave before it does. You don't learn immediately relevant information beyond that an attack comes in a week's time, and it will be terrible.
[X] Stay and seek more. You don't know the consequences but you want to try to learn something truly actionable--number of troops, specific direction of attack, something.
The pictures own, are some of those machine generated? They give me that vibe of a machine working from samples/going for an aesthetic with kinda random content rather than a human artist visualizing a specific piece, but in a good way. Especially for inhuman magicks bending your brain.
Yeah, I'm pulling them from some friends that have access to Stable Diffusion. I have a small folder that I'm just kind of adding to as I see cool pics, if they match the vibe. Otherwise I'm just gonna search the internet when necessary.
[X] Withdraw. The door within you closes, and you leave before it does. You don't learn immediately relevant information beyond that an attack comes in a week's time, and it will be terrible.
[X] Stay and seek more. You don't know the consequences but you want to try to learn something truly actionable--number of troops, specific direction of attack, something.
Well this explains how our teacher has been around for hundreds of years, and some of our own weirdness. Does this mean that grandmother and some of the other "humans" in Kavodel that have lived for ages aren't human either?
[X] Stay and seek more. You don't know the consequences but you want to try to learn something truly actionable--number of troops, specific direction of attack, something.
