Cetashwayo
Lord of Ten Thousand Years
- Location
- Across the Horizon
Okay, calling it for sword.
-
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Sworn to the State: A Magical Quest
- Thread starter Cetashwayo
- Start date
- Original Fantasy
Chapter 1.7: The Ordainment
Cetashwayo
Lord of Ten Thousand Years
- Location
- Across the Horizon
THE ORDAINMENT
You pick up the needle-like hairpiece and undo the chinstrap on your Vicar's hat, then slip the hat off. Carefully, you slide the pin into your hair to hold together your bun. After inspecting it in a basin of water, you smile. It looks perfect. You put together the tea kit in a tray and give it over to Godei, who takes it with a word of thanks. Your eyes wander to the sunset outside.
"You like watching it, don't you?" Godei asks, head tilted to the horizon as he puts the tray down and walks over to the window.
"I do...I do like it, yes."
"What do you want from me, Vashti?" He suddenly blurts out as he pivots towards you.
"What?"
"That promise. What precisely do you want from me?"
The twilight wind descends from the mountain and chills the skin, and a shiver quakes your body. You open and close your mouth. How can he not understand?
He told you nothing about Sako besides that he was a master, and then you find out in the worst way possible. He has not even mentioned the things Sako talked about, the crimes and the massacres, and even now he seems to renege on the promise he made just a minute before.
"I don't know what to tell you." The admission comes, weak and despondent, from your lips.
"And I don't know what to tell you, Vashti. Do you believe that come tomorrow when you are a Vicar I will simply sit you down and tell you everything? I can answer some questions, but…"
"But." You say as your heart sinks in your chest. It's not fair. He just promised and he's already taking it away from you.
His expression is just as uneasy and unhappy as yours. "But there are some things that prevent me from telling you."
"Some things." You repeat dully.
"Some things," he affirms, "some things which go beyond old-hearted stubbornness. A vice-vicar takes a particular vow not to reveal what he knows to subordinates in the order. You have to be able to trust me."
"I...I have! I have!" You yell at him, growing frustration roiling inside you, "I have trusted you for five years. Five years! And then I get it all in a few minutes, from someone I didn't even know was still half-alive, trapped in an urn-"
Godei stands upright and his voice is made of steel. "Your will is fluctuating wildly from your experience with Sako. Please take some time to calm down and then join us at dinner."
"No, master, please-"
"Listen carefully, Vashti. Tomorrow you will no longer be a student but a Vicar. When that time comes, you will no longer have the opportunity to ask questions. Vicars do not ask questions. We do. There is an entire world out there that will destroy you for asking questions. I have seen it. With my own two eyes, I have seen it. I care for you deeply, you are my pupil, and I will reveal more to you. When the time comes."
"When will it come?" You ask through gritted teeth.
Godei hesitates for a moment, seeing your mood, but then clasps his hands together and shakes them to the sky. "I will pray for you tonight after dinner, that you do well in the ordainment. Do not stay too long out here, there will be dinner in my room."
Just like that, the conversation is over. Whenever he clasps his hands together like that, you know it's over. You stomp a foot down, but his eyes grow glazed and half-lidded, and he takes the tea kit and shuffles away, leaving you.
A memory creeps in your mind of your master.
It is with a word that earth opens up and swallows the bandits. They scream, but the ground closes, and they are gone. He smiles at his craft.
You shift your weight around and sway like a tree in the breeze as you walk towards the window, watching the sunset. Indecision and guilt mix together in your gut. He has spent so much time and energy on you, helping you, training you, protecting you. He has been there for you. Do you really want to try and break that by asking him more about himself? But he just took your promise, the promise you hoped he would at least keep for one day, and broke it near instantly.
A distraction. You need a distraction. You focus on the sun. You imagine it as God's chariot. Four wheels, the angels of his chariot, spin around his throne. They have wings on every spoke of the wheel, and eyes across the rim. They are rings of fire and light the sky as they descend. God's face is obscured and turned away, to save the mortals from his destructive gaze. You remember the passage told to you as a child, even before you came to Godei. The prophet Amalgast was the only one to look upon him, and afterwards his eyes grew speckled with cataracts that shined like precious jewels, allowing him to read the sacred words of God. He took that power and he smote the Gushans and their witches, he banished the Baal Zurah, and scattered the Pusi. Although- no, they wouldn't have been called Baal Zurah in those days. That was a later attachment to their real name, lost to time.
There is so much to history that you don't know. How much of it is lies? Can you even trust the Mentsh books and their claims? You certainly can't trust your master to give you the truth you are asking for, so how can those books be better? Did the Baal Zurah really die? Did Amalgast really have the powers spoken of? Can you even be sure that any of it is real? Your visions of God and his chariot seem absolutely real, and yet when you stare at the sun again the image is gone. It's all tableaus and false courtyards, delusions and lies. You hate it.
Godei hosts a small dinner for you, him, and your Baba, in his room. It is a repurposed store-room, about twice as large as yours. There are scrolls and books neatly stacked against every wall, practically ringing the room. Otherwise, it has a bare and ascetic feeling, blank red stone walls and a simple bed without a single sign of mess. No sign of character or anything you can discern about Godei, much as you have tried. There is a gap in the books where Sako's urn was.
A single carpet is laid out in the center with three cushions around and it is a simple meal of wheatball soup in a ceremonial bowl with blue and yellow designs. You take your boots off, and when your cloak takes too long to unclip you just pull it over your head and throw it down in frustration.
Your Baba and Godei are already there when you sit down on the last. A groaning stomach signals that despite your anger, you are hungry.
"I'll have some of that, please." you say to them, only to meet silence and their intent stares.
"Did I- did I do something wrong?" Your heart sinks in your chest. What now?
Your Baba glares at you. "You know what evil thing you did."
"An evil thing which will mark you for the rest of time." Godei adds with a growl in his voice.
You glance at Godei, and then your Baba, and you begin to grow pale. Oh god, what did you do? You have no idea what they're talking about. You turn from one to the other and back frantically, trying to discern what they're talking about. It is only after a few moments that your Baba bursts out laughing and Godei right after.
You cover your face with your hands and emit a tortured shriek as you remember that both of your parental figures are among the worst scum in existence. Still, it's enough to break you out of your mood for now. You fall backwards and start to mumble curses.
"Oh by god Godei, perhaps we shouldn't have overdone it there. She looked like we were about to execute her." Your accursed witch of a grandmother says with a mirthful smile on her stupid face.
As you get up and sit on your knees again with a miserable expression on your face, Godei sighs and shrugs. "Suffering is a good teacher. It was a learning opportunity."
"What precisely did I learn?!"
Godei tilts his head in confusion and then nods his head in understanding, "oh no, I didn't mean for you. For us. We wanted to see how badly we could needle you. Your grandmother is a pretty miserable prankster and I am told was once exiled from her village for it."
"They said that if I ever returned they would beat me with the stick I used to use to poke into the proctor's house." Your Baba says with a hand on her chin.
"And you enabled her?!" You shout at Godei as he says a prayer over the soup and then starts taking some with his own bowl and a ladle.
"Calm yourself, Vashti. It is in fact training for the seventh school. You see, there is another school that we have not told you about, and that is primarily to do with lies and secrets. I was testing you."
You blink at him, but then see the corner of the smirk at the corner of his mouth. "You're lying again, aren't you."
"Yes." Godei says without reservation before he puts the soup against his lips and tilts it upwards, drinking it without slurping. "The soup is good. Not as good as your face, but good."
"When I leave this monastery and become queen," you declare with the deepest hate in your voice, "I will elevate you both to advisers. Then, I will have you summarily executed."
"Is it in that order?" Your Baba asks idly as she pokes you in the side and makes you blush with embarrassment, like a little child.
"I changed my mind, I'll just kill you right now." You grumble as you slap her hand away from poking you. She does it again and you slap her away again, and then she tries to get around your defenses while making a "nyoom" sound. You start to laugh as you push her away.
"Baba, please, not in front of Godei, this is- agh, stop it- I just want to eat my soup- BABA!" You finally shout at her in exasperation and she stops, folding her hands together and adopting a cutesy expression as if she didn't mean to do anything at all.
"You have failed to pass your test. You did not block your Grandmother's jabs in the right order. You are barred from becoming a vicar." Godei says before picking up one of the wheatballs in his soup with a wooden skewer and popping them in his mouth.
"Okay, okay, okay," you say as you put down your soup bowl and put your hands out in front of you, "what is actually going on here." The change in demeanor from your Master is jarring enough, after such a difficult conversation, and now this with your grandmother?
Godei finishes chewing his wheatballs and clears his throat. "I spoke to your grandmother about some things, and we have resolved some of your concerns. I agree you must learn quickly. As a result, you and I will proceed on the pilgrimage to the great shrine of the Immortal monk Yata right before the harvest. We will bring him the ceremonial provision of food and water, and perhaps may even be able to chat with him."
You gasp and your eyes light up at the idea. "You...you really mean it? We will be able to go together? But, Baba Nasa..." you turn towards her, but she just gives you a grin.
"Well, I was worried, but then he showed me a little of what he could do with his witchery and I decided you were more or less safe. But only for the pilgrimage! Only for that." She says, holding up one finger.
You sway back in forwards in place from excitement, eliciting a chuckle from Godei. You have wanted to go pilgrimage and leave the monastery on an extended trip for over three years.
"But- but." he says, "That'll be in a month. In the meantime there is much to do. Your ordainment is tomorrow evening, and I would like you to do a full review of the ceremonial procedures. You still have the texts?"
You think back to the enormous pile of books and scrolls that litter your room and flash him a smile, "Absolutely, I know exactly where they are," you lie.
"Excellent. Then!" Godei says as he lifts his bowl up to the sky, "I will bless us all for good fortune tomorrow and in the coming month."
"Amen!" Both you and your grandmother cry out in unison to the blessing, and then you dig in properly, chatting and eating. It is not until you get into bed that you realize that this precise strategy has been used by Godei almost seven times before in order to avoid questions. He even brought out the wheatball soup. You kick the frame of your bed at being played, but soon after fall into sleep out of exhaustion.
The ordainment is performed in the ancillary courtyard. Both you and Godei are wearing your formal Vicar's clothes. The only observer is your grandmother, who sits at the edge of the courtyard on her knees and watches, chewing some yam root. The sun is low in the sky, and you stand a few paces from Godei, who faces you.
"Pulagu Shulgi Vashti." He starts.
"I am her."
"The Order of the Vicars call to you. You have passed your test and seen through the ancient mysteries. Are you prepared for the next step?"
"I, and no messenger."
"The Order of the Vicars are bound to serve the country and the Patriarch. He is God's viceroy on Earth and watches over all. He is the sacred keeper of the eternal fire, the successor of Amalgast. Do you trust in him and all that he does?"
At the moment of your triumph, there is an intrusion into your mind. Sako's words whisper to you. What was once may come again.
"I do."
"Ours is an order of many responsibilities. We safeguard the country against threats both spiritual and temporal. Are you prepared to cross into the realm of the Zurah, the realm of the dead? To inflict harm and pain upon others in the pursuit of your duties to protect the state?"
He became a Vice-Vicar by killing everyone ahead of him. Out of self-defense, of course. The Patriarch ordered us to enforce peace over the land, but many judged the cost in blood too great.
"I do."
"Are you willing to protect the innocent who must be protected, to guard those who are too weak to defend themselves, to bring up the meek and cut down the strong?"
He buries his son again twelve times. He curses a mother to miscarry sixteen times, stabs a man in the gut fifty-two times, watches the man's life fade from his eyes.
"Yes."
The thoughts are shoved away as your eyes meet with Godei's. He is smiling.
You block out these intrusions on your moment of victory, these invasions into your soul that you will stamp out. Sako was lying. He was a poor madman tortured for decades. His mind was not well. What he saw was not real.
Even if it was, you will ensure it will never be real for you. You would never commit such crimes. You are sure of that.
"Then you are a Vicar." He declares with an even voice, and then lights a pot of incense. It has a thick and floral smell. "This is an incense that is often called scented vermilion. Whenever there are two Vicars in a place, they must band together to form a chamber. As the most senior Vicar, I will lead it, and you will be my second. Is that acceptable?"
You nod to him.
"Then it is done. Welcome to the Vermilion Chamber, Vicar Vashti." He says with a stony expression, walking over to you to let you smell the incense. Then he places it down and sits with his eyes closed across from you.
You mimic him, and have a strange feeling in your gut. Has it really happened? Are you just...a Vicar now? You suppose so. Your cloak certainly shows as much. Your boots, your uniform. Your hat.
So you are a Vicar now. With all that entails.
"Now we will have a time of rest and relaxation. Tomorrow you will begin your first real work. You are behind what is usual for a fully ordained Vicar, and so you will have to work twice as hard. At the end of the month, it will hopefully be enough to see you safely through our pilgrimage." Godei explains, and then yawns.
He rises up and stretches. "Well, I believe that is enough for me. Dinner, and then we begin early tomorrow. You will find me in my room, and we will start work on reviewing some of those Mentsh texts you have been neglecting." He says as he leaves the courtyard, leaving you and your Baba alone. She smiles to you, wishes you good luck, and then goes to sleep herself.
The lonely courtyard greets you again and brings back the memories of yesterday evening. It is such a short, simple ceremony, but it has completed a journey that has taken you five years of your life. A mixture of feelings spin in your mind. You cannot just ignore Sako's words, but Godei has locked away many things from you. You are starting to learn his game, the way he avoids questions, distracts you with sweets and good meals. If he was collaborating with your Baba (oh god, did he teach her some curses in exchange for her help?) then he must be feeling the pressure.
Your gloved hand balls into a fist. He should be worried. You are a Vicar now. A subordinate of his, but a vicar nonetheless. You cannot spend your whole life in his shadow, feeding off the scraps he gives you. If he will not tell you willingly, you will discover it yourself. You have a responsibility to, now. A Vicar cannot take her vows, seal her oaths, and smell the sacred incense without knowing so much about her own order. No, no, that will not do. It absolutely will not. Besides, Godei is an old man. A powerful old man, but an old man nonetheless. He cannot truly believe he can share the burden forever. You already helped Sako pass on, allowed him to go on to the next world, all without his help. The idea that you need him totally, that you cannot do anything on your own, that he shoulder shoulder everything...no, no, you will not have it!
Tomorrow. Tomorrow, on your first day of studies as a Vicar, not just as an apprentice. You will confront him then and tell him what you think of his avoidance, his evasive maneuvers and his delicious meals. Tomorrow he will reckon with his secret-keeping and his enigmatic past. You will force him to reveal all to you, for you are Vicar Vashti of the Vermilion Chamber, and you will not tolerate his lies!
You go to bed with new resolution, ready to challenge him. You dream of him bowing before you as a Queen and surrendering all his secrets. How could he not!
When you awake, however, it is to the sound of warhorns and the smell of smoke. Above you, the sound of the Monastery's noisemaker is harsh and clear. The hand-cranked gearwheel turns, hitting up against a stiff wooden board.
Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack.
You have only heard this sound once before, and the scene in the monastery as you open your door confirms it: Nuns and monks run to and fro, the younger children are weeping and wandering the halls. Shouts and drums echo from the valley below. Abbot Tado brushes by you without a thought, yelling orders. Your blood freezes solid and you go dizzy as a memory floods your mind.
The village is burning and you scream like your throat is burning too. You try to run back, but your Baba holds you. You bite and gnash at her grip but she holds you. You try to push her away, but slip and collapse. You fall to the grassy ground and let out a single shriek as you watch your home collapse in a conflagration of dust and fire.
From the hill, a Melik with a mask of wrath watches atop a red horse.
You wish it wasn't, but you know it to be true. You want to block out the memory, to avoid the reality of the moment, but you cannot. Finally, you muster your courage and face the truth.
There is an army coming up the mountain.
END OF ARC 1
Article: Congratulations. Despite the intervention of Godei's former master Sako, Vashti has passed her tests as a Vicar and is now a fully ordained member of the order. She has begun to learn that there are parts of the order that are less savory, and even if her master Godei has been reluctant to tell her about them, she has become committed to learning about them. She has constructed her own Zurah Realm and stood, if even for a moment, against a Master's will. You have gained 400 XP to distribute. XP must be distributed now, and cannot be banked for future arcs.
Note: You cannot boost a single school by multiple levels at a time. The most you can boost Zurahna by, as a consequence, is 100 XP, and the same goes for any other school. This will be less of an issue later, but with such small xp values, it is meant to prevent rapid gains in any school over the course of a single arc.
Please format votes as plans like so, with an X between the brackets.
[] Plan We Are Going to Die
-[] 100 to Karogen
-[] 100 to Zurahna
-[] 150 to Rongen
-[] 50 to Chutzpah
Or something to that effect.
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Cetashwayo
Lord of Ten Thousand Years
- Location
- Across the Horizon
Please consult this character sheet on the front page for information about Vashti's current schools. I did change up some of the school levels, and it also has levels of Mentsh and the blurbs that show what precisely your level of skill will get you.
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Mother Nyx
Mother of Elpis
- Location
- The Kei Klub
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[X] Plan Strong(er) in Mind & Body
-[X] 100 to Karogen
-[X] 150 to Hastata
-[X] 150 to Rongen
-[X] 100 to Karogen
-[X] 150 to Hastata
-[X] 150 to Rongen
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Cetashwayo
Lord of Ten Thousand Years
- Location
- Across the Horizon
If you're unsure about a particular school or the gains of a higher level of understanding, feel free to ask.
Pandemonious Ivy
Panties, Revolution. Big Drawers. Parachute.
[X] Plan Learning Souls
*looks at the angel overtones thicken*
*sighs*
This is gonna get eldritch, real horrible-like.
*looks at the angel overtones thicken*
*sighs*
This is gonna get eldritch, real horrible-like.
- Location
- Earth
[X] Plan Strong(er) in Mind & Body
-[X] 100 to Karogen
-[X] 150 to Hastata
-[X] 150 to Rongen
Boost our two physical skills and the mental skill that will best support it. We don't want to have a panic attack in the middle of the fight.
-[X] 100 to Karogen
-[X] 150 to Hastata
-[X] 150 to Rongen
Boost our two physical skills and the mental skill that will best support it. We don't want to have a panic attack in the middle of the fight.
- Location
- in the trash
[X] Iron Fists To Shatter the Wicked
-[X] 100 XP to Karogen
-[X] 100 XP to Zurahna
-[X] 150 XP to Rongen
-[X] 50 XP to Tologda
Okay, in no particular order.
Karogen lets us punch good, and there's an army on our doorstep.
I want to start levelling up Zurahna so we can suck people into our spirit realm and fuck them up there.
Rongen lets us buff morale, which is also pretty important in a fight.
Hastata would also be useful in a fight scenario, but we did disfavour it.
That leaves 50 XP, which I'm assigning to Tologda but could probably be dumped into something else.
The Ethical Schools can probably wait a bit.
-[X] 100 XP to Karogen
-[X] 100 XP to Zurahna
-[X] 150 XP to Rongen
-[X] 50 XP to Tologda
Okay, in no particular order.
Karogen lets us punch good, and there's an army on our doorstep.
I want to start levelling up Zurahna so we can suck people into our spirit realm and fuck them up there.
Rongen lets us buff morale, which is also pretty important in a fight.
Hastata would also be useful in a fight scenario, but we did disfavour it.
That leaves 50 XP, which I'm assigning to Tologda but could probably be dumped into something else.
The Ethical Schools can probably wait a bit.
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Cetashwayo
Lord of Ten Thousand Years
- Location
- Across the Horizon
Well keep in mind at lower levels your Zurahna is not necessarily a good combat ability. You're immobile, it takes a lot of energy. That's not to say you shouldn't be boosting it, of course, but that you should be careful about thinking it will give you safety against mundane enemies this early on.
- Location
- U S of A
It's a long term investment, I know. We have enough points to boost Zurahna and some more immediately relevant skills at the same time.
Cetashwayo
Lord of Ten Thousand Years
- Location
- Across the Horizon
Yeah, just wanted to make sure no one thought you could trust trap people in your witch realm and crush them with boulders this early
Cetashwayo
Lord of Ten Thousand Years
- Location
- Across the Horizon
Even if he broke his promise
Obviously Godei knew you were going to confront him and sent an army to stop you.
Mother Nyx
Mother of Elpis
- Location
- The Kei Klub
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Obviously. This the same guy who carried his not dead old master around in an urn! He can't be trusted!
...I am joking.
- Location
- Outside the Box
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[X] Plan Strong(er) in Mind & Body
-[X] 100 to Karogen
-[X] 150 to Hastata
-[X] 150 to Rongen
We don't know that there won't be any magical threat, but these three together are the best for dealing with mundane stuff while still having Rongen boosted to help with possibe magic stuff.
For the other plans, keep in mind that you don't have to spend any extra xp yet. Having an extra 50 xp unassighed means more flexibility gor its use later.
-[X] 100 to Karogen
-[X] 150 to Hastata
-[X] 150 to Rongen
We don't know that there won't be any magical threat, but these three together are the best for dealing with mundane stuff while still having Rongen boosted to help with possibe magic stuff.
For the other plans, keep in mind that you don't have to spend any extra xp yet. Having an extra 50 xp unassighed means more flexibility gor its use later.
BungieONI
Seven gremlins in a trench coat
- Location
- Lickwidget
- Pronouns
- She/Her
On top of that Rongen is going to be one of the most useful of the Schools because of this list:
- Helps us stay coherent and not freeze up or otherwise lose it
- We can boost the morale of our friends and allies
- Any magic weirdness is more easily resisted
- We can use the spiritual schools and other similar things for longer
The other two are the Bruisers schools for going up and punching people.
Deadly Snark
Tryhard As Fuck
[X] Plan Strong(er) in Mind & Body
-[X] 100 to Karogen
-[X] 150 to Hastata
-[X] 150 to Rongen
This will probably be just enough to allow for survival.
-[X] 100 to Karogen
-[X] 150 to Hastata
-[X] 150 to Rongen
This will probably be just enough to allow for survival.
- Location
- U S of A
[X] Plan Learning Souls
Can I recommend this plan as a compromise? They're very similar.
BungieONI
Seven gremlins in a trench coat
- Location
- Lickwidget
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Hopefully getting Karogen and Hastata to Student and Rongen to Teacher will be sufficient.
- Location
- Scotland
[X] Plan Strong(er) in Mind & Body
-[X] 100 to Karogen
-[X] 150 to Hastata
-[X] 150 to Rongen
-[X] 100 to Karogen
-[X] 150 to Hastata
-[X] 150 to Rongen
- Location
- UK
- Pronouns
- They/Them
I was thinking this update seemed too hammy but, in contrast to the ending, it worked really well.
[X] Plan Strong(er) in Mind & Body
-[X] 100 to Karogen
-[X] 150 to Hastata
-[X] 150 to Rongen
All about survival rather than longterm gains. Chesed could, arguably, also be useful but I'd rather up Rongen, so we don't freeze, and Hastata, to be at less of a physical disadvantage. Zurahna is my favourite school but not something I can justify investing in right now.
[X] Plan Strong(er) in Mind & Body
-[X] 100 to Karogen
-[X] 150 to Hastata
-[X] 150 to Rongen
All about survival rather than longterm gains. Chesed could, arguably, also be useful but I'd rather up Rongen, so we don't freeze, and Hastata, to be at less of a physical disadvantage. Zurahna is my favourite school but not something I can justify investing in right now.