"I am the man who smokes the sacred herbs," said the shaman. "Would you care to experience an inhalation from my pipe? The experience, I promise you, is enlightening.."

Hirsu bows his head slightly in thanks, and takes the offered pipe. He takes a slow inhalation through the pipe, holds the smoke in his chest while he passes the pipe back, and exhales slowly. He waits a moment to see if he can detect the pipe's effects on him.

For a long while, nothing happened. Then, a slow feeling, as if his mind were expanding and being filled with unknowable, eldritch wisdom.. only to have it snatched away. Still, the experience of knowing - at least once - was a fine one.

Hours passed. Hirsu was lost in haze and smoke.

Hirsu stared dreamily through the air, enjoying the haze. He began studying the shapes the air currents made in the smoky room, watching the twists and swirls with rapt fascination. He wasn't sure what was in the pipe, but he didn't really care at this point. For now, he was too busy enjoying himself.

Soon, unfortunately, Hirsu came down.

"You saw, then. You saw the cloud, the mist, the smoke of the shaman. Did it please you, he who walks with us?" asked the smoker of the sacred herbs. The shaman king sat next to him, smiling.

Hirsu smiled easily. "It did, smoker of the sacred herbs. But tell me, what herbs produce this effect, even on one such as I?"

"A special crop, raised on the corpse of a dead god," spoke the shaman. Hirsu did not know whether he was speaking truthfully, metaphorically, literally, or all or none at all. "The herb must remain nameless."

Hirsu nodded his acceptance to that. "My thanks for sharing the herb with me. I came to learn how to travel the secret ways. I will need to deal with the royals if I am to act freely here, and since they aren't seeing anyone voluntarily, I'll need to go to them."

Ruse appears here, and senses for divinity. He then begins to fly towards it. (or the smallest divinity if he senses multiple signs). He is looking for Hirsu.

Hirsu

"Ah, yes," said the smoker of the secret herbs. "The herbs, they teach me things - secret, wicked things. Useful things. I know the secret ways of walking. I can guide you, if need be, he who walks with us.."

Hirsu senses another divinity in his Realm.

"One who walks with others has come," said the king shaman morbidly. This could be an ill omen, he knew.

Ruse

Ruse senses that Hirsu is within the outer city limits, somewhere, within one of the ten or so half-ruined buildings that were scattered among the jungle roots.

Ruse continues heading towards Hirsu, using a quick life spell to help him zero in on divine energy to make his task even easier. He took note of the realm as he continued on his way, but didn't stop to see the sights - he was here on official business.

He motioned for the Callisti to follow him as well.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:59, Sun 22 Nov 2009.

Hirsu looked up. "Yes, one has. I am impressed you could sense its arrival. I shall go out and meet the other walker. After I have met with them, I shall seek your guidance of the secret ways of walking, Smoker. I shall return when I am able."

Hirsu left the building, and took close note of his surroundings. He began to jog towards the intruding presence, moving smoothly through the streets and into the jungle to meet with the divine stranger. Once into the jungle, he carried his spear in his hand, moving through the night with the deliberate steps of a hunter following wounded prey.

They both met each other upon the shattered half-pavement of the outskirts of Elan. Hirsu saw the tall, regal, pallid man - and Ruse, in turn, saw the vibrant, powerful Hirsu.

Hirsu looked up at the other god. He held his spear at the ready, his eyes focused on the other god. "Who comes to my realm?"

Ruse rolled his eyes when Hirsu drew his spear. So typical of other beings to greet the Mistella with hostility.

With a "hmph," the man stepped forward confidently towards hirsu, slowly and without urgency. As the man approached, Hirsu could see that the man really was both pallid yet beautiful. Gorgeous actually. His flesh wasn't really palid - that was reminiscent of deathliness. No, his skin was white as clouds, his hair long and soft like down. He had eyes that occasionally glowed a pale blue - those eyes belied a strange power and a strong life force. His lips and skin were unblemished, his bones and body lean and perfectly symmetrical, his dispotion like that of a high elf. Although this was no mere elf though.

The mysterious man trailed an even more mysterious mist in his wake, although the mist never seemed to get too dense. The man pulled something from his robes - a Conclave Badge - and that of a Low Lord at that. Around his neck hung a small oathblade necklace. This was a legit Conclave representative.

"It is rude and unseemly to point a weapon at your lord, is it not..." The man grinned, and continued, "Hirsu, god of life? So I will have you lower your weapon immediately, and not raise it to me ever again."

The man gesteured with his hand, and a floating silvery orb floated to his side. This was the Callist. It dropped a small oathblade similar to the one the man wore around his neck into his open hand. The man nodded to the orb in a gesteur of thanks.

"I am your Lordship Ruse, Low Lord of the Conclave. My companion orb is one of the Callisti, and also a member of the Conclave. I am here to see you, Hirsu god of life. Here to see you about fully joining our most esteemed Conclave. It has come to my attention that you are interested in an associateship. We'd have you come to us, but our Halls of the Sun are temporarily closed at the moment, so we're doing house calls. I am here to oversee the oath swearing. Do you have any questions before we begin?"
This message was last edited by the player at 00:20, Tue 24 Nov 2009.

Hirsu nodded in recognition when Ruse identified himself, and lowered his spear, carrying it as a hunter might when they knew their quarry was no where near. "In fairness, I did specify that the representative should inform me before they come to my realm. Given what I have learned in the short time I have been to the Valley, this is not a time to be greeting unannounced strangers with open arms."

Hirsu considered the god before him, and could not help but feel somewhat impressed. Here was a being much to his own taste, one who carried a undeniable vitality within himself. Though perhaps very different in nature, Hirsu felt a small amount of recognition for this one, which made the situation somewhat easier.

"What will I be swearing, and will I be allowed to ask more specific questions about my own potential roles in the Conclave afterwards?"

Ruse nodded, and forgave the man of his rudeness.

Ruse circled Hirsu like a cat, before finally ending up where he began.

"Don't mind me, I had to quickly verify a minute element of your aura. You are like me - one of the rare Zealous gods. It is good to know that there is another god who is aligned well with Yggdrasil. But I digress."

Ruse spun the oath blade around his finger, from its chain.

"Normally we are good about giving prior notice, but as I'm sure you've figured out the conclave is in a bit of disarray right now due to the actions of enemies of the tree. Plus now is when I am available to assist you. Now...here is how this is going to work. I will ask you some questions, and you will respond to them truthfully. Be warned that lying to either myself or the Callist is next to impossible, so perish the thought before it even becomes a temptation. If you answer my questions to the satisfaction of the conclave, you will be sworn in and made an associate. Associateship comes with a variety of useful benefits - you get an automatic vote in certain conclave ballots, automatically get a lot of otherwise hard-to-gain liscenses and permissions, and of course you get to be utilized for the good of our cause, and compensated for your merit generously. Currently, you and everyone else is considered under the jurisdiction of the conclave, but with few of the fringe benefits. Consider an associate ship as the equivalent of being made a minor noble, if that makes sense."

Ruse tucked away his badge, and continued,

"Normally, many Conclave representatives would be curt and to the point. I, however, due both to my own generosity as well as for a nod toward your zealous affinity, am willing to answer all of your questions, within reason of course, to the best of my ability. I will always allow you to ask anything you'd like, but I do reserve the right not to answer certain questions. but yes, I am willing to tell you about oathblades and your future career opportunities, as well as other rules and even some kind suggestions and advice. Like if you meet a low lord named Aesin, know that he's a genuine prick - his worse makes mine seem cuddly. But please, go ahead and ask what you'd like before we begin the oath proceedings."

Hirsu smiled slightly. "Certain of my questions would likely only be answered after I have been judged worthy of their answers. However, I will abide by your generous offer, and ask them now."

He smoothly recited his questions one after the other, clearly having thought of them before being given this opportunity. "What is the punishment to breaking this oath to the Conclave?

"I came across the Conclave's classification of species, and the explanation that there are ten type one species. Yet only four are listed. Divines, Dhelvanians, Systemarchs, Artosians. Who are the other six?

"I am currently under the assumption that something like a hospital would be under the jurisdiction of Familiar Operations. Would this be correct?

"Aggressive Operations hold jurisdiction over the open warfare of the Conclave. Most governments would want to tout their successes in order to encourage enlistment or public support. Why is news of their efforts concealed?

"War has been openly declared against the Sphere of Force and Fire. Where is the current front-line in the conflict?"

He paused, judging Ruse's reaction to the questions, wondering whether he would find self-confident assurance, indecision, arrogance, contemplation, or something altogether different in the other god. "Whether you answer or not, I am prepared to continue."

Ruse looked at Hirsu with a smile - they were like a big cat playing with a somewhat bigger cat, yet both large cats. And both on the same page.

"I deign it okay to answer your questions, and good questions they are. Fine then. Let me run down the list."

Ruse stopped for a moment, organizing himself mentally. But it was only a breif moment. It was obvious to hirsu that Ruse was an extremely intelligent individual.

"Alright then let's see...ah yes, the ten species. Well there's three categories of species. Type 1 species are the "big ten" who are central to Conclave politics and functioning. They aren't all equal on a species level - I mean you have Earthborn classed with gods for instance - but they are all treated equally in terms of the conclave ranking system. They are Divines, Dhelvanians, Systemarchs, the Earthborn, the sorcerers of Alkan, the shage, the callisti, the vakud, the returned, and the leviatu namar. Artosian is not an offical type 1 name. Type 2 species are servitors to the type 1 species, or those species who are acceptable to the conclave but yet not deemed as pivotal in importance as the type 1. Type 3 species are dangerous or otherwise deemed unfit to live by the conclave, for a variety of reasons. Some could be type 1, under certain circumstances, but honestly I don't know much about that."

"You are correct. There are three career paths - aggressive, familiar, and estranged. The first is our military arm, the second is more of our infrastructure and research arm...a support arm, although no less important than the others. Estranged is our "shady" arm - espionage, assassinations, and other seediness that we must do in order to fight certain kinds of enemies. I myself personally began in aggressive to get my feet wet, but due to many circumstances I'm sort of outside of the system entirely, although if I had to choose would say I'm more estranged now. I support the councilate directly. But those odd little categopries aside, all you should concern yourself with are the main three branches.

A hospital would generally fall under familiar operations, I'd say. You've got field medics, but that is a different sort of focus than a hospital I'd say."

"Hmmm...a valid question indeed, but I will tell you this. The Conclave is an institution of lawfulness. It is more neutral in terms of good and evil, and lawful on the law-chaos axis. They like to um...how do I say it...control certain types of information flows. While they will let the conclave know through a special metaphysical channel called the Herald - which you should have access to by the way...just concentrate on it - of certain victories, at the same time the Conclave doesn't like making a fuss over things. Another way to put it is that victory is the assumed norm, not the exception. As such, you'll almost always hear more about losses than victories, although the pay is so good that you won't find an aggressive associate complaining."

"While war has been declared on the cult of Osiris, we also are at war with just about every other cult out there. Osiris' cult is just the most immediately dangerous. While I can tell you that there are efforts underway to combat the cult activites, I am not at liberty to discuss any more at this time, as you are not an associate."

Ruse let out a sigh, and condensed a large cloud of mist into a small cloud that eventually turned into dew. He motioned for it to enter his mouth, refreshing him.

"But that is all small potatoes to the biggest question of all: what happens if you break the oath. I'll cut to the case and not pussyfott around for this one. Basically, you die. Yup...you die. I believe it will kill you through all of your lives too, although to be honest I have no idea what it does to a reborn god. That'd be a nasty conundrum though I'm sure. But anyway, about the oath. There are two types of oaths that you may choose: the lesser oath and the greater oath.

The lesser oath involves you simply answering some questions for me, and then agreeing to equip an oathblade -which despite its watchdog nature is also a back-up weapon for when you're in a pinch, so it isn't all that bad. It can't read your thoughts per se, but it can read your intentions, and if you ever act to betray the Conclave, it can metaphysically warn the organization, and if they so choose can have it explode - and you along with it. However, at least it's only 1 of your lives, but it's a really painful and messy way to go. But on the plus side, if you're on the up and up then it acts as a pretty necklace that serves to prove your conclave membership, along with a badge the Callisti will give you. Even better, is that it is living metal. Don't worry it won't eat souls since it's been neutralized, but if you allow it, it can take temporary control of your body, and give you a small boost to your combat skill. and yes, in this state it grows into a super sharp, full-size sword. This oath is for people who are either content with associateship, allied to the organization but not too comittal, or who are testing the waters. You can always get the greater oath later, if you choose.

Then there is the greater oath. This is a package deal - you get the oathblade and badge, but you also must take a metaphysical oath sworn on a Callisti. This oath - which must be willing and the orb will know if you're not - is binding aacross all lives, so if you turn on the organization you will die. On the plus side though, taking the Callisti oath is the only way they will EVER let you advance up the food chain past associate. Taking the oath won't start you as a low lord, but it makes low lordship an option at least, while as with just the lesser oath you can't ever rise above associate. It's pretty heavy-handed, but that's the way it is since good help is so hard to find these days.

Ruse looked at Hirsu, and then added,

"I know that the conclave is pretty tight-fisted. It's great at what it does, but it is still tight none the less. You will be expected to conform to our hierarchy...well you already are anyways as a grey member, so you might as well at least get an associateship and get some priviledges to go along with the responsibilities. That, and I assure you that the Conclave is by far the lesser of the many evils presently plaguing this world - it stands for life and order, as well as the preservation of the tree - the most important thing there is. The question, then, is what sort of oath would you like to take? I personally took the lesser oath to start out and get my feet wet, but I eventually took the Callisti and passed it. What is your decision, god of life?" 

Hirsu considered the matter quickly, answering after a brief pause. "I will take the lesser oath, for now. In time, perhaps I will take the greater oath, but considering how little I know, risking all of my lives on the organization when the need of the tree might be greater would be foolish of me.

"I am prepared to swear the oath."

Ruse grinned a pearly smile at Hirsu, of something cunning and insightful.

"A wise choice, my fellow zealous friend. And also for similar reasons as my own - not identical, but similar enough. Also, note that since you did not take the sphere oath, you must carry the oathblade with you at all times. It will monitor your intentions, as I said before, but otherwise it's not actually mentally intrusive or anything, and it does have its perks."

Ruse glanced at the Callisti, winking at it in a gesteur to begin sensing for lies.

"Now for the questions. This will be much simpler and less invasive than the greater oath. But remember, please think wisely about what you say as you are in the presence of the Callisti, and many in the Conclave are not as generous and understanding as I may be. And of course, lying is a no no." He added with a wave of the finger.

"I need you to state your full name, domain(s), and titles, as well as that of your realm and your people."

"Now, do you swear that you've neither committed any crimes against the conclave in the past, nor plan to in the future?"

Hirsu spoke solemnly before the pair "My name is: Grey Neoacadem Hirsu the First of the Balanced Realm of Elan, Zealous God and Slight, Conjurer of Life. My people are the Xin.

"I swear that I have not committed any crime against the conclave in the past, and do not plan to do so in the future."

Ruse looked to the Callisti to see if the god of life spoke the truth.

((Hirsu, feel free to give me ooc knowledge if you're being truthful (we can be mature players), if you want to skip nat having to post and allow us to continue on. Otherwise, we have to wait for Nat to post for the callisti.))

PM

Ruse nodded in approval.

"Alright then...things seem to check it from my end. If the Callisti starts chirping or something we'll know there's an issue, but unless that happens let's just go on and continue."

The oathblade necklace levitated out of ruse's hands and over to Hirsu, carried on thin, near-transparent vapors. The vapors deposited the necklace into Hirsu's hands harmlessly, accompanied shortly after by an associate's badge.

"Go ahead and put the necklace on, and tuck the badge away. Keep both with you at all times - they will serve as immediate tools to allow you to access the majority of your associate priviledges. By the power invested in me by the Conclave, and as a Low Lord of said institution, I hereby do name thee an Associate Member. Welcome aboard, Hirsu god of life."

Ruse looked over to the Callisti, and said,

"If you do not detect an anomale or flaw in the proceeding, please record to official record that Hirsu is now an Associate of the Conclave, and is to be granted Brown Status. Thank you for your assistance, Callisti."

Ruse looked back to Hirsu, and said,

"Okay...here are some immediate things for you to know about. Your realm is located within a cluster of realms that the conclave arbitrarily names as meta-districts. Our metadistrict is shared by my realm, yours, Associate Max, Low Lord Raelis, and Low Lord Prick err...excuse me I mean Low Lord Aesin. There are a few others in the metadistrict too but yourself, myself, the three others I've named will be most immediately important to you. As an associate, you technically answer to the low lords of your metadistrict, although for now I am your immediate supervisor over Raelis and Aesin, until the Conclave deems otherwise. Raelis has Max and Aesin is up to his head in work. Aesin is the Hound of this metadistrict, but he has no authority over Raelis or myself unless granted such by a high lord or above, and only then in regards to specific sorts of inquisitorial missions. However, if he comes to your realm on a mission, it is best that you do not get in his way. If he gets you in trouble, contact me."

Ruse was about to snap his fingers to open a portal to his realm, but then stopped, and added,

"Now I need to give you a capabilities test before we discuss career paths. I have decided to hold it in my realm for reasons that will be apparent soon. Are there any questions, comments, or concerns before we continue?"
This message was last edited by the player at 21:05, Tue 24 Nov 2009.