"Hello Magnus." You hear a slight reverb to Mentat's voice. "I am attuning right now, and I see what your newfound friends are planning. Surely they don't think I cannot hear them chittering and assembling around me. I have not cast enough magic to justify this level of activity, so someone else has sent them. Likely disassembly, if I had to guess. Of me, I presume? Likely the meditation made them nervous."

He's beginning to go on a ramble, clearly. "Maybe they can't hear them like we can, or most cannot. But you can, and you can see and hear them as clearly as myself. Your mind's constructs of the builders and janitors of the known universe. Not a blessing, all the time, mind you, but it does give...oh, right. Imminent danger. What's your plan, exactly? Or rather, what is their plan?"

The older voice speaks. "He cannot hear us, but he can hear you, so I will speak plainly: it is only way we have discovered in our short time of meeting you to exile one of your kind. You are exceedingly resilient, and your full capabilities are largely unknown to us. Yes, you make us very nervous, and your friend in the cell is making us very nervous, and unlike you he's enjoying it. Make him stop whatever he is doing. You are the moderate option, and so is that button. I pray to the Maker we do not need an extreme option."

"What do you mean by Attuning? Anyway. Could you please stop and talk with them? I would prefer to not see you ripped apart by pattern spiders. It's happened to me before and it is a rather unpleasant way to go into your next world. We should be able to work something out if we talk."

He gives a reverberating chuckle. "So, they have authorized the Pattern Spiders to directly unmake me as an abomination to the universe. Of course. We are of them and not at the same time, and Yu-Shan's remaining authority would allow this more easily than normal. Still, they don't worry me, and you will soon see why."

"As for what I'm doing, I'm preparing to leave my cell. I've had enough of waiting for them to see reason, and my patience is gone. I don't believe it will happen, because the leadership is paranoid. Sad, too. They are strong allies and dangerous foes."

"They love to talk, so I'll make a term for them: let me out of my cell, and I'll find my own way out of the city. No fuss, no muss. Refuse, and I'll find my own way out of the city. More fuss, lots of muss."

"So if they have something other than a threat I can swiftly make empty, even weakened as I am, I will reason. If they do not, I shall finish what I am doing unless interrupted. If they do that, I will use plan B. Feel free to ask them on my behalf if they have something I want."

The reverb in his voice is a side effect of tremendous psychic power being channeled. Your ki sense is seeing it travel along currents and what seems to be wiring.

The elder voice speaks and voices some pent up irritation. "We can't give him his wife, because we don't know where she is. I don't know what this vicious creature wants other then that, because he's not offering us anything either. He's got more to lose then we do, and he doesn't see that." His voice relaxes. "I think he might listen to you. Just show us that you are not rash, and not only will we all win, but you will have your chance at glory against a foe greater than any you've ever fought."

I talk to the elder Solar.

"Mentat and his wife Carmine would be extremely powerful allies. I Might rival them in pure destructive power but they are definitely better than I am when finesse is required. I would highly suggest dealing with them with an even hand. If you do, You'll get Allies that can help you a lot more than I can with your fight against the Unconquered Sun and the Primortials. As for having more to lose than you. He doesn't see it that way. Versers really don't like being imprisoned. Most would have reacted with all the violence they are capable of. Mentat and I where a lot nicer about it and negotiated with you first. Since his first negotiation with you failed he is fine with fighting you until you kill him and send Him and his wife to their next world. So they are not losing anything that they didn't start with."

I'm turn and face Mentat's image.

"Mentat. They really can use our help. And they can repay that help with many things. Right now we are on a Primordial that is also effectively a Worldship and Battleship. They have advance Magitek that can produce Giant Mecha, power armor and Space Fighters in significant numbers. oh, I also saw something that is like a Lightsaber. They could also probably produce something like the Millennium Falcon. Our Help is quite valuable. And they have and entire industrial world to make things that would be hard for us to make on our own. And they can teach us a few things too. Their Magic is quick but static, unchanging. It would be worth it to study it and learn a few things from it."

I'm now talking to both of them.

"Ok I'm going to try to make this as evenhanded and fair as possible. First Mentat will stop using his psionics to break out of his cell. Within ten minute of Mentat stopping, The Solar Deliberative will Release Mentat from his cell but he will have an escort consisting on myself and one Solar. Both Mentat and I can sense where Carmine is. We will travel to her location. And when we get to her I will moderate a negotiation for terms of service between Mentat, Carmine and the Solar Deliberative. If you two can't come to an agreement, The Solar Deliberative will immediately direct Autochton to the nearest inhabitable planet to drop you off there. While traveling there the Solar Deliberative will provide sufficient food and living space for Mentat and Carmine in exchange for not causing trouble. I just want to point out that the cost for Living space, food and traveling to a inhabitable planet is a small drop in a bucket compared to the property damage and lose of live that would occur if Mentat and Carmine go all out in fighting you.

If you do come to an agreement. That's good because that means we all can work together.

Are there any objections to this plan?"

The voices in the room are presently silent, waiting to see how this all plays out.

Mentat responds with some surprise. "I've discerned their intent for me. That would eliminate me for a relatively long time. Irritating...they don't have anything I need, but I'll go along with this tale, and see where it takes me. If they do what they are thinking, they had better hope I never return in this time period again. I will not show mercy twice."

A brief flicker of the lights occur, and Mentat leans against the wall of his cell, sitting and exhausted. "My consciousness is no longer in the machines. I'll be a moment. Your judgement had better be spot on, because I'm dumb enough to trust it."

The deep voice speaks once more. "We will honor the terms of the deal. Our youngest will accompany you, when you are ready."

OOC: Diplomacy +@1. Well spoken.

"I'm ready to go and met with him now. Unfortunately I don't know my way around here."

Once I met the solar I say
"Thane I presume? I would guess you and one of the Eclipses. It would make sense to send a diplomat to negotiate with someone. Anyway It's a pleasure to met you. Let's get to Mentat before he decides that you are not going to follow though."

Thane possesses black, waist length hair in a braid, and a pair of rounded spectacles. "Agreed. Our defenders claim he was doing some kind of undermining activity to our network." The floors lit up once more. He speaks even as reality turns white and bends, unfazed by a familiar experience.

"I understand some of what he was doing, although how he did it without access to personal or peripheral essence is beyond my understanding. To put what he was doing in physical terms, he dug a tunnel under several of our walls, and was planning on either using them to access whatever he wanted, or failing that, collapse them, causing citywide catastrophe. We'd have survived, but it would have thrown the timetables off tremendously. His exhaustion means he undid his own damage, at least in part."

You arrived outside a familiar cell surrounded in golden light. "He, nor anyone else anytime soon, will not be able to do that again. You're something of a hero, I guess."

You hear snoring from inside the cell.

What does my chi sight read about Thane?

====================

I look at Thane confused for a moment then I translate what he meant.

"Ah. He was Hacking your computer network. Or your analog to an computer network. I still need to get familiar with your MagiTech. Your network uses Geomantic leylines and physical lines to transport Essence and information, correct? Anyway, What do you mean by Personal and Peripheral Essence?"

====================

"Well. let's open the cell and wait for him to wake up. Going against the nature of his power must have contributed to his exhaustion. He should wake up soon knowing Mentat."
This message was last edited by the player at 05:38, Sat 19 Sept 2015.

Now that you have a close look, and you've had some time to adjust to the "glare", Thane's aura is quite telling. The young man is clearly some sort of diplomat, but he has a strange passive aggressive attunement to power not native to himself, like a weaker verser.

"I don't think he so much went against himself so much as he had to improvise." He tips his head. You see several small areas on him where power is concentrated, likely some form of magical artifacts or devices. "Apparently, if we had taken him out, he'd have blacked out large chunks of the city, an unacceptable delay to our production. And..." He smiled as he tipped his head. "He did a controlled collapse of the work he had done. How generous of him. If he hadn't caused the problem in the first place, we might reward him."

"By the way, what do you hope to achieve in the armed forces? You have no stake in our world. Are you simply seeking a challenging fight? There are many of those beyond Creation."

"It's true that I have no stake in your world. But I decided to help you guys Because of what you fight. Plus you guys can help me out by teaching me your magic and building a few things for me. You didn't answer my question on what you mean by Personal or peripheral essence. I'm hopefully going to be here for a while. So it would make it easer for me to be here if I knew what you where talking about."

He sighed. "That essence difference really is basic stuff. I'm amazed you don't know this. Peripheral is the essence around you in your reach. Personal is yours. There's more nuance then that, but that's the short version without going into metaphysics."

"Magical instruction might do you some good. We might have to get you out of the Gunstar before we could get a full measure of your fighting ability. Your raw essence is brighter than his." He waves to Mentat. "His is just more polished and focused. He's also very, very good at hiding it, but I can see where he somehow mutilated his own soul to refine his power. There's a reason we thought he might be a spy for the enemy: that's something they tend to do. Reminds me of She Who Lives In Her Name."

He looks at you, heading off the question. "One of our enemies. Very rigid, opposed to free will. Thinks it was a bad idea. Knowing her full name is supposed to enslave the one that learns it. So we don't say it. The Pyrian Flame is another of her nicknames."

"I am familiar with those concepts. I wasn't familiar with the terms you used for them.
So Personal essence is stored within you ready for immediate use. And Peripheral essence is the essence of the world around you which need to be gathered up before you can use it.
My fighting ability varies depending on how far I'm pushing myself. Push too far and I'll probably explode. It also varies based on what type of essence I can access...

Anyway, I saw that crippling before. I'm not sure why he did that.

The Pyrian Flame sounds like something I would want to fight anyway. "

"Probably did it to make him better at sorcery he intended to use. It's one of our advantages on our Primordial foes: they have huge blind spots we can exploit. The Pyrian Flame, for example, doesn't deal well with surprise or anything new. This can backfire, though. When we demonstrated that we could kill her unkillable siblings, she went into a brief catatonic state, then annihilated the majority of the Creation her and her siblings made. They've rebuilt much of it, but it cannot be as it once was."

"Your friend here has a very similar weakness, but it's not as noticeable, because the power isn't as concentrated. Keep him on his heels if you ever fight him, and don't let him breathe."

He stopped himself. "What do you mean, type of Essence? I have a feeling you don't look at things in terms of Essence within and Essence without."

"Yeah, Essence can have many aspects or flavors. Depending on how you look at it. There is undifferentiated or colorless mana: Chi which acts like a combination of Red, Green and White mana: Oh mana is another word for Essence. anyway there is the Five Main colors of mana Red, Green, White, Blue and Black along with  Snow mana that is different from the rest. Actually there is different essence type for what many world would consider magical elements. Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, Ice, Lighting, Sun, Moon, Stars, Darkness, Void... It depends on how the world is set up to determine what type of Essence I can channel into myself. There is an hierarchy for how rarefied the essence is. Colorless mana is ok for most uses but doesn't excell at any use. While Fire essence is really good at burning things and not much else. and Red mana is between them in usefulness."

"You are something of an essence gourmand. I'd swear you were talking about geomancy more then sorcery or Essence usage. Sounds complex. The savants might be interested in what you have to say. I understand your words, but if they have implications for me, they are over my head."

He looks to Mentat. "Seriously, how long is he going to be out like that? Can't we just..?" At that point, his body disappears in a flash of blue light. You get a verser sense for a brief moment, and then his life and verser signals vanish.

Thane is stunned, confused, and somewhat frightened.

"We'll technically that style of magic is a type of geomancy..."

After Mentat Disappears.
"Huh? A blue Teleportation spell? And now I can't sense Him. Must be that cloaking skill he has. Odd that I didn't feel a mana buildup from him though. And Teleporting doesn't make much sense at the moment. Hold on, is that room still suppressing Magic?"

I walk into the room and then sit in a lotus position. I meditate for a bit to quite myself then I try to extend my magical senses and try to feel out the magic that has happen in the last minute or two.

Can I sense another verser?(Carmine)

There are no other detectable versers in the world you are in. "Yes it was on, we never turned it off! That's why we still don't know what's going on!" He tips his head slightly to the side, like he's hearing something, namely a telepathic communication that your senses can perceive. The message has a tiny mechanical spider on it, and seems to carry something calming and focusing. "Right. We can trace a teleportation, but if he did that, he didn't use any means we know."

"Besides, I...really don't think that's what happened here." He's noticeably calmed down. "If he could have teleported out all along, why wouldn't he have just done that first?"

"He would have. He couldn't have used magic to teleport and he would have use psionics to teleport out in the first place, if he could teleport with psionics...Damn it. if he was that hurt he should have told me, I could have healed him with my magic. oh Sorry. Based on the available evidence the most likely explanation is that he has move to his next world by dying, Or Versing out.

What he did to your essence network must have put a massive strain on his soul. I would have probably died sooner if I tried it.

Anyway Somehow He was following his wife though the Multiverse or she was following him. I'm not sure how that works so I don't know if She left with him. If I was you I would be on a lookout for her just in case she is still here. Because I can't tell if she is still here with my sense for other versers.  If you contact her you'll want to negotiate with her.

Let's go, there is nothing else to do here."
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 03:01, Sat 03 Oct 2015.

He sighed. "I guess nothing else can be done. A shame, too."

"Well, let's see about getting you fast tracked in. Now, did you want to be a pilot, or did you have some kind of MOS in mind. The more you know about what you want to do, the better you will be able to serve. And the less you will resent it."

"What's a MOS? I'm not familiar with that term. Anyway, I think I'll want to be a pilot. I'd like to try that giant armored suits that the other Solar told me about. Since I like fighting with Martial arts... but you guys don't want me fighting on the surface of Autocthon. I would also like to work with your Savants. I'm probably not as good as your Twilights. But I sould be able to help out there."

Thane thinks hard, like he's trying to recall a lot of information all at once. "A Marine Engineer? I suppose I could put in a word for you, but the prerequisites for that one are fairly strict. The physical you could probably pass, but the mental and technical tests might prove rather difficult for you."

"If you made it in, though, your role would be technical work under fire, on board enemy ships. You'd be rather important in the role of invading and destroying enemy vessals at knife-fighting range. 'Knife-fighting' in this case means you are less than a kilometer from your foes. In void, that's pretty close."

"That sound like something you want me to push you in for, or did you have something else in mind? If you fail, you will likely end up a basic marine. Still formidable, but not as important."

"The Marine Engineer sounds interesting. I would need to familiarize myself with your magic technology before I try that I think. A Crash course Might be what I need though...

Anyway. That's not quite what I meant. Despite how interesting that sounds. You guys have very interesting magic items. I would like to learn how to make them. Something like helping out in Research and Development? I guess it wouldn't be my main focus though.

I also want to learn how the Exalted fight. I want to learn all the martial arts you have developed. "
This message was last edited by the player at 13:12, Mon 12 Oct 2015.

"I don't think I'd be able to get the brass to accept that. My predecessor died rather recently, so I don't yet have the pull to make that kind of call. From what the others have seen of you, you are good at destruction, not creation."

"If you can present me with a master-craft of some kind, I can vouch for it, and speed you in."

"I'll need to learn how to make a master-craft item then. Could you find someone that would be willing to teach me in our spare time?

Anyway I guess I should try for that Marine Engineer. That should teach me a somewhat rounded skillset."

"No. That's what I'm saying: you need to have some kind of talent for them to work with in the first place. If you don't have that aptitude, they won't let you in." He realized quickly what your issue really was. "What they do teach is how to make that sort of thing quickly, and how to make the things quickly that save lives."

He looks around, and almosts whispers. "Seriously, you can make something on short notice, right? Just create something cool, right now."