Raelis

"Lis!" cried the Athanorian. He had a Callisti in his hand as Balast spoke; it thrummed with the words. "What you say is truthful enough," said the Athanorian, "Though it may be that you believe it and that they are the delusions of a madman. We cannot force the Callisti to give us the experience of truth.."


Sura

"Donation and scholarship are the prime methods," said Marthak. "If you are a scholar of exceptional learning, a gentleman of a certain pedigree, or are simply wealthy enough to support the Club, they will accept you. You must also swear an oath upon acceptance, and swear it on the Callisti."

"True.  However that is a decision you have to make for yourself.  What matters here is avoiding internal conflict.  Where Lis was a teacher that is not my role and though I have taken the buden of his responsibilities upon myself I cannot lead as he might have led.  My personality and powers are more destructive in bent.  Right now we need to get ready for the arrival of the senior Athanor and prepared to negotiate a new leader to this city."

"Will you allow me entrance then? I believe i meet these requirements."

Balast

"There are several senior Athanorians coming with haste to the palace," said the Athanorian. "As to which one will inherit the title, I cannot be so sure. It is.. not for me to decide."

Sura

"Perhaps you do, sir," said Marthak. "Would you be willing to submit an application to the Hydrathopoles Club? I can have our Grand Magister meet you, of course."

Balast clenched his teeth hard.

"Look, just find a room and set out twenty or so chairs in a circle so everyone feels that they've been placed equally.  Then get a glass of water for each chair and leave the rest for me top handle.  Show each senior Athanor into the room as they arrive and ask their servants to remain outside - no exceptions."

"Yes, i would like to submit an application."

Balast

"Yes, sir," said the Athanorian. He strolled into an adjacent room, preparing it for Balast's plan.


Sura


"A donation is needed up front, I'm afraid, sir," said the demon Marthak. "Though I am sure you have no shortage of gold. The equivalent of ten thousand souls worth would do nicely. If you have a being in fabled Akhenatan, waver it through."

Balast began to inspect the room looking for anything he could use as an obvious symbol of the mastery of Nibokerese and for any hint of what had happened here.

Sura ignored the question for now. "Say, Marthak, how would you like to serve me again?"

Balast

Around Marcento's neck he wore a pendant in the form of an Ourobouros surrounded a six-pointed star. Within the star was a single eye. The pendant was quite large, and made of a red-gold material that was not rose-gold or anything similar; it was a strange, rarer material. Still, Balast had a feeling that this was the only sign he needed.


Sura



"I enjoy the idea of serving you once more, Lord of Sand," said Marthak. "It was a richly rewarding, deeply challenging experience. Unfortunately, however, our own contract has expired, and has been taken up by Lord Zast, First Knight of the Hydra of Thapoles. It is due to expire in two hundred years or until his Final Death. You might buy the contract off him, however, if you can afford it."

"I shall enquire into it then Marthak. You are a valuable ally indeed." Sura then got back on topic. <Orange>"So tell me Marthak, what does one learn in such a club?"/Orange>

Balast knelt to pick up the star and then walked to the room next door to place in on the seat of one of the chairs before taking up a guard position inside the door with the soldier who had been setting out the chairs on the other side.  He also asked the soldier to place a callisti in the centre of the room.

Balast

The soldier did as he was told. Soon, several higher-ranked Athanorians were at the door, demanding an explanation. They showed obvious contempt at the presence of Balast.

Sura

"There are a multitude of forbidden arts available for study," said Marthak. "None which I can explicitly elaborate on. Nevertheless, within, there are texts on the fusion of souls, the creation of necklaces made out of spider-bone, and similar things. If this inspires curiosity, Lord of Sand, I encourage your donation."

"Yes, yes. I will return with the donation then." Sura said as he turned around to leave the city. "I'll also look into your contract. Farewell, Marthak."

Balast waits until all the senior athanor are assembled before starting to speak.

"Welcome gentlebeings.  You have been requested to attend here for a very serious reason.  Marcento is dead, murdered by the Conclave's hound.  I attempted to save him and failed to my shame.  I am a being of many names but the one you are aware of is Lis.  The callisti can verify my right to that name but before you get all het up that I am coming in and taking over let me assure you I'm not.  I have my own reasons to wish the conclave ill and the best way to achieve that is to ensure the athanor does not fall to infighting.  As Lis I would be ill-pleased if the athanor failed to understand my knowledge badly enough that they could do such a thing in the first place.  I have therefore requested that you come here to decide the new ruling structure of the Athanor.  First however I must request that each of you enter Marcento's study and view the body therein before speaking a word.  I repeat however - I do not wish to rule."

Balast

"Marcento? Dead? Outrageous!" snorted one.

"If it is true, a great tragedy has befallen the Brothers of the Athanor.." said another.

"If it is true. We don't even know who this man is.."

"He cannot be Lis. Lis is a metaphore. A parable.. a myth."

"He exists within us all."

"Perhaps."

One stood and declared challenge at Balast.

"Prove to us that you are Lis. Then we shall follow you."

Sura

"Farewell, old friend," said Marthak.

And it was so: Sura left the city.

Balast smiled sweetly.

"Lets take things one step at a time shall we?  Any of you with Callisti can verify I believe myself to be Lis with ease however this is not what is important now.  Please follow me."

He leads the way back to Marcento's study being very insistent that the senior Athanor enter alone and without him and then goes back to the room to await their return.

The Athanorians walked with Balast, following him even as they voiced their concerns. Each one that entered the room and left it came out shocked - they truly believed the Master Adept was unkillable, especially from such a mundane source.

Balast till all of the senior athanor had sat and then started talking, walking round the room as he did so.

"First can I ask any of you that have Callisti to use them to verify what I am saying.  I recognise that it only confirms that I believe it to be true rather than that it is the truth.  The callisti in the centre of the room belongs to the athanor standing at the door and will also be verifying my words."

He nodded decisively before continuing.

"I have identified myself as Lis.  I am Lis - let that be clear here and now but I am not what you think of as Lis.  A very long time ago twelve gods walked the world but they quarrelled and fought.  Three turned and fought against their fellows and were beaten.  In the aftermath of that war the world was reordered and passed into the rule of the remaining nine.  Then another of the nine fell and Lis was called to face the newly fallen.  He suceeded by wielding Ultima, the blade whose name you have taken as your ultimate state of being.  I remember that fight.  Eternity's End faced Ultima, destruction against the united aspects.  Ultima won, destruction was smitten and imprisoned by Lis in a place where none but the twelve could ever reach.  But Lis had been tainted by the fight and other things.  Within his perfect law destruction took root and he worked in secret to forge the ultimate weapon, the Last Word.  He turned that weapon against his brothers and then in despair took his own life."

His eyes sought each of the Athanor in turn trying to gauge their response to this story.

"But of course that was not the end was it.  The twelve could not be slain in truth, their nature forbids it and Lis was called back into being.  Some of you may have heard of Raelis?  God of Words?  He was Lis in every sense, pure law and one of the twelve aspect gods.  He returned to judge the tree, to decide if it could be saved and his essence was abused in an attempt to kill him by those he trusted, by the conclave.  So he did something that was considered unspeakable by the aspects and by those who knew of it.  He committed a transmutation in which he released the hold on his own aspect and committed an act of destruction to change his very being into that of another aspect, the aspect he fought all those years ago, the aspect of destruction.  He left me his knowledge, his role in the knowledge that the tree is falling and is past saving.  In the knowledge that the weapon he forged ages ago still holds the potential to be reawoken and turned against the tree by his own pupil and mine, Osiris of Tushmuthut.  In the knowledge that the tree will fall to dust unless the council is reawoken and that the council can be reawoken from their long slumber.  In the knowledge that the tree can be saved if we can act NOW to save it but that doing so would require him not to be Raelis of Litheris but Lis, the bringer of true order out of true chaos.  He knew all that and he choose to reawaken me, not Varl of Creation, not Marduk of Unity but me.  This is the end times of the tree and my role in the end times is to chop the stem before the tree falls to Dust.  However that action and the timing of it is mine to decide and I say the time has not yet come if we act now.  The conclave has struck at you.  As aspect and representative of the Black Council and Lis I say the conclave is evil and the time for its destruction has come.  You have seen the body of Marcento, you have seen the slow decline the conclave has allowed.  Roid has turned to Osiris-Ra and deprived us all of Raelis, our best weapon against him.  I urge you here and now to select a new governance, one or a group of you who can stand together to hurl our combined might at the conclave and bring it crashing down on the floor.  I have much I can share with you regarding the conclave including a way of identifying its spies and I bring my own powers of destruction which will enable the slaying of those amongst the conclave we cannot save from their evil path."

The Athanorians were stunned. Their Callisti hummed in truth, and they sensed that much of the gravity of what Balast was saying was indeed true. After the story was told, they muttered amongst themselves, but did not openly bicker. They were too shocked for that.

Finally, one of them stood up. Baast saw that he had the eyes and the figure of Marcento, but his body was finely toned and his teeth sharp.

"I am Mordalahi, heir apparent to the legacy of my father, Marcento," said the man, supported by a handful of those about him. "I have long held controversy in regards to my philosophy and views towards the future of the Athanor, but I beg you now, for my father's and our noble organization's sake, appoint me as your rightful leader. Listen to me. If the Athanor is to succeed.."

"Hah!" cried another man, smoke streaming from his mouth as he spoke. "You speak of madness, and have ruined what little credibility you gained from your descent. The Athanor is not a princedom, Mord, and you know it. We have ruled Niborkerese for three hundred years. We are not about to give up now.."

"Bralal," said another, a wiser, older man that held an aura of neutrality. "Perhaps Mordalahi's suggestions are, now at last, reasonable. And your claims are no better. I have long held the position of Pillar of Wisdom within this sacred order. Will you not listen, to myself and to the son of Marcento?"

Things were getting heated.

Balast listened to the growing debate with incredulity.  Then he coughed loudly to gain attention carrying on until the others were ready to listen to him.

"Perhaps I was unclear before.  Your rule over Nibokerese is likely to last less than three hundred minutes if you continue with this.  I have a variety of plans that I was going to propose to the new leader but since you cannot decide I propose a test.  Each of you selects a task from those I propose and then once all the tasks are complete you do a simple vote based on intentions and performance."

He moved to stand in the centre of the room.

"First we need to gather information about the conclave.  The first task will be to prepare for an insertion and kidnapping mission on one of the conclave's more important minions.  I want a complete plan and team prepared for the kidnapping of Ambaldros .  I will lead the team or support it as you wish but that is an obvious starting point.  This is the most active task."

"Secondly I want to propose the development of a new safe enclave for the Athanor's wounded and vulnerable.  I am aware of a realm which should be almost completely empty  but there is a danger that the cult of Osiris-Ra is present.  In fact I would be very surprised if they weren't given it would have been the logical place to hide Osiris-Ra's dirge until he gained the sphere of fire and force.  A base should be establishable there without too much trouble but limiting the cost is the challenge there."

"Thirdly I have a method of identifying the conclave's agents in Nibokerese.  I have in my head a chip which the conclave have developed to allow them to ignore callisti oaths.  With scans of my chip it should be possible to locate similar chips within the city and with that the identities of the conclave operatives in the city.  I would prefer as many as possible are left in place with the aim of feeding false information to the conclave but of course some would need to be taken.  Subtlety is the challenge here."

Balast paused for a second before continuing in a strident voice.

"I suggest very strongly that each of you that wish to rule the Athanor and this city take one task and then we meet again when they are completed and a simple vote is held to determine the new ruler.  I would also ask two other things, that one of you who has no interest in the leadership train me in the ways of the athanor and that a squad of soldiers be placed before this palace all of whom will believe that Marcento is still alive.  The story will be that the assassin failed and Marcento is cooking up a revenge against the conclave.  I would also ask that a few alchemists aid me in a few other tasks for the good of the athanor."

"This is.. too fast," said Mord. "Slow down, wise one. The Athanor has never been one to act blindly. Tell us.."

"Hah! Wise one!" cried Bralal. "He is nothing more than a charlatan, a knowledge-thief, and perhaps a murderer. Perhaps the destroyer of Marcento, the coveter of the Athanor. We have an initiation system in place. I suggest that once our friend here has passed the initiation, we swear him in as a brother. Until then.."

"Until then?" said the wiser man. "The Athanor will be destroyed."

Mordalahi shook his head. "Start from the start, friend. Ignore the cries of Bralal the Ignorant -"

"Ignorant?"

"Bralal, I'm speaking," continued the son of Marcento. "You propose we abduct Ambaldros. This is.. this is quite the task, Lis. How would you suggest we do that?"

"Send messengers out," muttered the wiser man to his servant. "Tell them the assassination failed - that we're plotting revenge. Tell them the house of Marcento is not to be disturbed. Cut narcotic production by thirty percent, but prepare the laboratories to have to cut it down a further twenty.."

(I'll write the rules for the Athanor very soon.)

Balast sits and looks round the circle.

"I do not propose we act except to develop a new base in a location I am sure is safe as only I and Osiris-Ra know the location. That should be safe enough for now and holds no significant risk.  For the rest we need information.  I cannot plan how to abduct Ambaldros unless I know his movements, his location, his guards, the likely conclave response.  Some of that you will know and I would suggest the rest can be discovered.  I propose we move to determine who the conclave spies in our midst are and then decide on the appropriate action.  As before we need to KNOW what we are doing before we are doing it and prepare against the worst.  The new base would be my preparation against the worst and the rest is pure information gathering."

He stands and walks back to the centre of the room.

"You are the great and good of the Athanor.  I do not propose to tell you what to do.  Each of you has the choice to reject my words and I can do nothing here to stop you but I can tell you this.  You are stronger together than apart.  In my time the black council ruled until it shattered and its shattering nearly destroyed the tree.  Unity amongst the divines and the other tier 1 races is absolutely essential if you and we are to succeed.  I have told you of the chips devised to avoid callisti oaths.  So you think the callisti will stand by and let such things exist when they pervert their entire purpose?  The Alkanites fight their constant battle against the floods and they still recall the twelve.  They call us the Eternalis gods and I have seen temples to us.  They could be persuaded to stand will us in saving the tree and they of all the races will have a good idea of the cost of failure.  The Dehlvanians are voidborn like me and I can enter the void in truth to speak to them.  I may be able to bring them to our side.  The daemons know who I am and of the others of the twelve.  They recall the war and the near destruction of the tree.  When the time comes they will join us if we play our cards right.  But that is for another day."

"Right now we need to prepare.  You know the strength of the Athanor.  You can generate the loyalty needed, not one of you but all of you acting together.  We need men, resources, allies, weapons and plans.  For example who currently leads the cult of Osiris-Ra?  Who leads the Isubanites?  Who leads the other cults?  What forces can the conclave bring against us?  Where are the conclave's stores of arms?  What forces do we have?  All those are key questions BUT I DO NOT EXPECT YOU TO TELL ME THESE THINGS!"

His voice thunders the last sentence.  Then he resumes speaking in a soft undertone that nonetheless carries to all the Athanor leaders.

"I expect you to work together without trusting me until I have proved trustworthy.  I suggest actions that are useful to the Athanor and hope you will heed my words.  I advise, I do not command.  I do not seek to rule, I seek to save the tree.  I was called here by the tree to serve it until there was no hope left.  You are that hope now - there is no other."

He turned and blinks slowly.

"Let us concentrate on our opponents weaknesses since I do not know our strengths.  Mordalahi, you asked how we would abduct Ambaldros.  He is a systemarch, a creator.  He must have things or creations that are valuable to him.  If we can identify and turn a conclave agent in Nibokerese we can determine his movements and plan for a moment to strike.  I am sure you have paralysing drugs so if we can find or create a moment when he is vulnerable, use a methodes gate to get in, poison him, and then leave by the same way.  I am sure work on the chips I mentioned can be modified to deal with conclave security.  That is one possibility - I am sure there are others if I had more information."

Sura appeared again, this time able to the pay the donation. He headed for Marthak, willing to pay.

Raelis

Mordalahi grinned. "Now I think I understand. We shall take Ambaldros and either destroy his hold over the Conclave Stones, or modify it subtly. Nevertheless, it will be quite a task. We have some intelligence regarding the spies of the Conclave. Alchemist provided, we can work to capture one as swiftly as possible."

Bralal said nothing.

"I'm half of the Shage people," said Mordalahi. "My mother was a powerful warrior-woman. I have a small hold in the Realm of Savagery. It has long been my unconventional idea that the Athanor leaves this place before it overwhelms us, and starts in a new world. Some consider it foolishness.."

"That barely begins to describe it," grunted Bralal.

"But," said Mordalahi. "Of the utmost importance is the Great Work."

He smiled, drew something from within his robes, and passed it to Balast. It was a thin book, bound in red and titled The Alchemist and His Work. It was written by a certain Lord Marcento.

"The initiatory text of the Athanor," said Mordalahi. "Keep the book. If you can succeed in the instructions of alchemy found within we will happily swear you in as Brother Student, full member of our Athanor."

Sura

"Ah, Lord of Sand, you have returned," said Marthak, smiling. "That was very soon. You've come to purchase my contract, perhaps? I am eager to feast on the bones of the infidels, sir."