A Destiny in Bronze (Bronze Age Fantasy)

Blademaster · Aug 21, 2022

Olothreutes said:
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?

It seems grandfather is human, though changed or different or something. But human. And I think he is the only one. We knew already highly blooded people are long lived

paebel · Aug 21, 2022

Blademaster said:
It seems grandfather is human, though changed or different or something. But human. And I think he is the only one. We knew already highly blooded people are long lived

To clarify a little bit, the player in Kavodel is human. He also isn't. Both at the same time, somehow fulfilling two contradictory definitions at once. Thinking about it, you think that's part of how he is impossible and a cheater? Though not all of it, or even the largest part of it.

beardetmonkey · Aug 21, 2022

paebel said:
This quest takes place in a world broadly referred to as Ur

I like Ur, neat little history reference.

paebel · Aug 21, 2022

[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.

No, you think to yourself. I need more. You needed to know the numbers, the direction of attack, what sorcery and siege engines might be brought to bear! The Bnaimokt are the most clever foe of your people, if not the most fierce, and any bit of information could prove important!

The map of Ur still lays unfurled before you. The First City, Baitel, lay at the center. If you focus, it almost leaps out of the map, becoming a place you can see and interact with. The Holy Mountain remains clouded to your sight. To the distant north, at the very edge of the world, lay Seir. An immense city of high walls, run on a strict caste system, ruled by horrific tyrants.

The massive cities of the interior. They are huge, ruled by kings more concerned with their wealth and power than in their piety to El. Vast armies can be raised here. But the armies are like parchment, brittle and weak. The Blood of this place has gone thin, lost in endless wars amongst themselves and lack of devotion.

The Great Cities. Carine, Jericho, Karnak, Kothar, Badad, Efrat, Shinar... the list goes on. Each of these places may raise armies, great and powerful, but they focus inward or have their own struggles to deal with.

Your gaze turns south. Kavodel. Parts of it are like the Mountain, shrouded from your sight. Deception has been plotted here over the centuries. You cannot see it. But if you cannot, War Without End cannot. Does he even realize the trap that has been set for him?

Soon, you find your attention on Marad once more. Your body is twitching. Your teacher inspects it carefully and turns her gaze to you. You are outside of your body? Why is it twitching? And with that thought you feel it: a strain upon you, immense, yet... freeing? Something is coming undone. No, not coming undone? Being undone.

Your gaze turns south of Marad. Into the Mountains. You can see them. You can see their plans. They conspire and plot to gather what they can, in preparation for the rising of the Sea and the final breaking of the chains, that which heralds the end of days.

The first danger comes from the sky. Black flame falls upon the Fortress City. It consumes stone and flesh and spirit and all the good things of the earth. It is the herald of the tamed beasts. Immense creatures of flesh and fire and bone, slaves to terrible magic, no soldier of the Protectorate will resist them.

you are coming undone

Then they come. First the least of them. Still, each is the equal of of a handful of soldiers and they come in immense numbers. Clad from head to toe in their special metal, wielding immense swords and pikes, carrying immense shields, they storm the breaches that form.

Bnaimokt. You know them to be clever. Smarter than most men. More disciplined than all but the greatest. Instruments of war, bred to be the perfect soldier, all turned to one purpose. A mockery of men, that might choose their own path (What choice is there under a tyrant?) They come in the tens of thousands at first, and then in the hundreds of thousands.

you cannot continue

And among them will be sorcerers and twisted reflections of the Blood of the Prophet. They already sally forth. Minotaur march beside them, useful for fodder and food, and chained captives come as well. Through a pass in the mountains they march. It is too late to stop. In thousands these come, the equal to the Blooded, and amongst them are those that stand astride the land like Kings.

Marad burns on the map. And the armies continue to march.

But all is not lost. Something is in Mishpat. A figure. She wears manacles upon her wrists and ankles. Brands mark her forehead and palms. You recognize them from your lessons. Marks displaying a particularly dangerous and rebellious slave.

Broken chains hang from the manacles. She stands tall and proud. She is many things but most of all, she is Liberation. She is to be a sacrifice. She knows this. She accepts this. She hates this. She will come again. She cannot help but be born anew. But she will not be the same.

When she falls, War Without End will be certain in his power. He will fall into the trap. But the Protectorate will be broken. Or...

A branching path appears before you.

The matana might be expended. It's power used to fuel... something, you aren't certain what? Your teacher will know more, when the time comes, but it can give the Protectorate victory. Many will still die. War Without End will not grow arrogant, will not grow complacent.

The Cheater will toss aside his guise. He will show why he is also War Against the Abominable. And something else, something not yet formed, but something dangerous. He will ascend to his throne. He will call for crusade against the Mountains.

And they will come. In great numbers, from across all the land, men of great worth and Might and Potency will answer the call. They will strike into the Mountains and they will bleed. The slaves in those lands, held in thrall to profane things, will die in the battle.

Your own countrymen will bear the brunt of the deaths. Many other places will lose a generation. These places will be assaulted by their impious neighbors that did not answer the call. Heretics and wicked men will rule the day... yet the Mountains shall be torn down, nonetheless, if at great cost.

You cannot stop this.

You know this with certainty. Beings of Vast Power have put plots into motion, plots from before your birth. The victor is already decided. The cost, uncertain. The Protectorate... or chaos in all the lands?

With a start you return to your body. You ache. Not your body. Something deeper than that. Something is wrong with you. You feel... hungry. You begin to poke at the Bindings within you, instinctively attempting to see if something is wrong, but a sharp pain stops you.

You turn to your teacher. She looks concerned. She tries to speak but you cannot hear her. The look of concern turns to panic.

You feel so hungry right now.

She rummages in her bag and produces a sweet smelling potion. It glows with an amber light and you delight in drinking it. It is ambrosia, the greatest thing you have ever tasted!

The pain within recedes and your hunger reduces. But you want, no you need, more! You reach for her pack but she backs away. She is afraid. Why is she afraid? She isn't human. She does look... delicious...

The thought clears you mind.

"What..." you begin to say.

Your teacher lets out a sigh of relief.

"I thought I had lost you. You pushed yourself too hard! I'll need to inspect you for damage tonight, you can tell me what you saw in the meanwhile."

She leads you to her quarters. You are too preoccupied with what you witnessed, and your lapse of... control... following the divination, to pay too much attention to what she is doing. As you explain what you saw, you feel a weariness fall over you.

You are nearly asleep on your feet when she completes her examination.

"You nearly lost a Binding. It's a good thing I expected something like that, if not nearly so soon! I think our future lessons will be on control. "

She furrows her brow in concentration.

"Still, what you learned will be critical. We have a timetable, we know their strategy, and we know that much of it cannot be meaningfully prevented. Unless we want to use the matana... but I must advise against it. Our duty is to our people. Obviously, we will do what we can here, but if the Protectorate's fall truly baits that madman in the mountains into a trap..."

You aren't certain how you feel about that. Puabi is not mistaken. Your ultimate duty is to Zepath. The Protectorate is friendly and interests you... but the people of it are not your people. Letting it fall, though... it feels wrong. A sacrifice of expediency.

Ultimately, you are the one that knows what is to come, you are the one that claimed the matana. Do you expend it, to deliver the Protectorate? Do you save it for other purposes, and let Fare fall into a carefully prepared trap, sometime in the future?

[] You have knowledge of the disposition of Fare's armies and what sorcery he will bring to bear. You share this and nothing else. Keep the matana, allow the Protetorate to be dealt a critical blow, and allow Fare to grow over-confident.

[] Do all that you can to counter Fare's armies, even if it means your grandfather calling a crusade upon the next Jubilee. This path leads to immense amounts of death and suffering, but simply allowing the Protectorate to fall does not sit right with you.

Eternal_0bserver · Aug 21, 2022

Okay, this is definitely a terrible future.

[X] You have knowledge of the disposition of Fare's armies and what sorcery he will bring to bear. You share this and nothing else. Keep the matana, allow the Protetorate to be dealt a critical blow, and allow Fare to grow over-confident.

I think that we should not think that we are smarter than those who have been involved in these battles for centuries.

Dakini · Aug 21, 2022