So, this is where we get outside the boundaries of kingdoms, and things start getting complex. The United Kingdoms are a proto-federalized land, with the Empire holding the seven together. The Empire has the Emperor (as head of the Legion), the Senate, and the High Courts as official branches, with the two Churches (Magnas and Albion) as unofficial branches. Never to be discounted are the practitioners of the Old Way, which is literally practiced in some form by every single knightly order in Tariel because they like winning duels.

Opposing these are the Glitch, the Dustmen, and the Outlander tribes, the last of which are simply people and Mons who don't see what they get out of being conquered, and the first two are nightmare fuel for everyone.

Within the Senate are the dogmatic Zed Alliance, who had been working with the United Kingdoms back when it was called an Empire, and the enlightened Celsi, named after Tarien I's self-titled Grand High Super Master Greatest Indomitable Explosioneer Celsius, who was responsible for Tarien's technological edge, set the standard for how scientific experiments were to be performed (hint: the Mythbuster's approach), and encouraged a philosophy that pushed progress and innovation without heed for the costs.

Also to be considered is a group that formed calling themselves the Celestine Pact, a split from both the Albionese and Magnan faiths that formed during the Aftershock Wars. Their direct rivals for the battle over the soul of the church are the urban and ruthless Family, a pre-war criminal enterprise that has its hands in high society and economics.

Recently, the secretive Team Victory has entered the scene, infiltrating nearly every other faction for their own ends.

And lastly, you, the cherry on the top of this disaster cake.

Tarien Legion

This is the core of Tarien and the legacy of its founder, the man who would become Emperor Tarien I during the final years of his life. In the wake of the Aftershock Wars, Tarien was simply a very dangerous and egotistical Great War veteran with a dream of conquering the world, suppressing the Glitch, and making everyone bow to him in gratitude. He was not a hero in a traditional sense, but he was very good at convincing others that he should be in charge, and his success record at driving back the chaos added to his sense of destiny.

What really put him on the road to greatness, however, was when he caught one of the Mewtwos. His alchemists had been developing a replacement for the legendary tesseract orbs of old that reliably imprisoned Pokemon and forced obedience upon them, and his side was the not the first to develop and employ capture crystals, but they were they first to figure out how to make them cheaply. He also had the good fortune of uncovering a cache of Snag Machines, and when an ambitious Democian alchemist calling himself "the best explosioneer" figured out how to make them work with Capture Crystals, he was convinced that Arceus wanted him to rule.

But he felt the need to make sure, and went on a pilgrimage to speak with the gods themselves. He found them, realized they were backing their own individual sides, and so corrected this "error" by besting their challenges, and winning their gifts and allegiance one by one, by hook or crook. He had a talent for the basics of making an empire - forging separate small things into singular grand things. Mew, however, challenged him with something he never expected from that entity.

"What becomes of your empire once you are gone? Does the chaos simply sweep it away, or do you bring something beyond your transient life?"

He had no family, no heirs, at least not at this point. He shook his head, denied the value of a hereditary line. "I can choose my heir from the best. I need no kin."

"Ah, but who agrees with this, once the terrifying Emperor Tarien That Will Be is no more, and becomes nothing but a shadow in the past? How can you assure your kingdom will not simply perish in flames?"

The question is known. The answer, however, is not included in most histories. "My actions are always my answer," is how the late king replied when asked about it. "Figure it out."

Family must have been the answer, for a family he had. What else could the answer be? Try again, mortal - for a man I hold in high regard, his solution was pure idiocy, and I will not share it here, lest rebellious elements get the wrong idea.

After Tarien's untimely disappearance and presumed death, his son, Tarien II, took the throne in accordance with his father's wishes. Upon doing so, he promptly announced that the Tarien Legion had stained its honor during the creation of the newfound empire, and ordered a decimation of many units that had been involved in his father's most contentious actions. Several officers found themselves, after years of loyal service, in front of the Frisian High Courts, as sacrifices in the name of peace and stability.

Minor insurrections occurred, and the Outlanders invaded in force, but they did not blossom out of control and were swiftly dealt with as the young new emperor demonstrated his own bravery in battle.

Surprisingly, the Legion remained loyal. Tarien I had done and ordered far worse, and like his father's own dirty business, this was done swiftly and effectively. The young ruler had apparently not only been planning this for some time, but even had the means in place to execute the deeds long before his father's own death. This caused some rumors to circulate, but the Legion veterans dispelled most of those very publicly - Tarien's Sword and his crystals had been recovered from the fated mountain pass that buried him, and anyone who knew the late emperor understood he would never have parted with those.

Tarien, Second of His Name, can barely plan a successful military campaign, and the writer wants their reader to believe that he planned out something like this? I suppose his audience doesn't put two and two together quickly.

The most common rumor was that the Heatran reached out of Hell to pull him into the furnace personally at Yveltal's request, knowing he could never take the Emperor honestly.

This is...actually the kind of propaganda that Tarien would have endorsed, although it is true the man was astonishingly formidable when it came to frustrating  Yveltal and myself both - I really looked forward to adding him to the furnace, and was pleased when it finally happened - the man is quite dead today. I promise you he will not rise from Oblivion to reclaim his throne or some such nonsense, and his essence was powerful indeed. This kingdom has my gratitude, for all that worth to you, and I aim to protect his legacy, such as it is.

I just need to work some kinks out of it first. The late emperor was a willful man, and even dead he seems to have had his own ideas - orders executed posthumously. Some of them are still being carried out, others have yet to be executed, and the man was very considerate of his own premature death - despite dying in the fields of battle at the youthful age of eighty-four.

Do carry on.

Today, the Legion is largely considered a force for good, the standing army of Tarien and the bulwark against the Outlanders and the Chaos. They bear exclusive rights to the Snag Machines, and many select Mons such as the Pawniard and the Beldum are tightly controlled by them. The Legion is much more selective about its membership then it used to be, valuing justice and honor, but accepts human or Mon that can pass its tests. Indeed, the highest ranks of the Legion are almost exclusively Pokemon Nobles, at least until one gets to the inner circle of the Emperor.

They also have access to Avatar Shrines, sacred arks allowing temporary requests for a powerful Mon to aid their forces on the field. While they lack access to the Black Vault, this comes close to simulating that kind of power, although it is much more short lived, and they are required to not displease the power they call upon.

My ark exists, but it usually just collects dust with these do-gooders. They REALLY like Victini and vice versa, proving they have gone downhill since Tarien, First of His Name, held the reins of power. He understood the price of power and gladly paid it - these fools turn their back on their maker's legacy and pretend to be something they are not, chasing foolish ideas and glorifying the business of violence.

"Righteous cause"...pah! An irrational reason for murder is okay, but killing for a reason, such as seizing power from a weak fool, is evil. You mortals are absurd.

In short, the Tarien Legion is the foremost military power in the land, bolstered by the best of the seven kingdoms and with a reputation for action in the face of caution. They put corrupt and rigid elements alike on edge when they arrive, because they act with the Emperor's authority and believe it is better to beg forgiveness than to ask permission. They actually award an honor to officers who violate an order and achieve victory...although it must be established that the defiance allowed a victory to be acquired.
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:54, Sat 15 June 2019.

During his rise, Tarien had two people who were usually at his side, aside from his trusted Mons. One was Grand Explosioneer Celsius, and the other was Duke Arctorius Zed. Celsius was responsible for many advances, but Zed brokered deals, and was Tarien's primary diplomat of choice.

Zed's true talent lay in building law. He wrote the legal code of the United Kingdoms of Tarien almost from scratch, seeing that the martial law that Tarien I would have put down would been stifling to civilian morale and unacceptable to his own people in the long term. He created most of the modern institutions and, to his surprise, found the Emperor amicable to his changes.

Zed looked forward to a future where the Senate he was making got to determine the real ruler of the land, and felt Tarien was a pawn, a means to an end. "If I have my way," Zed determined, "the throne will become a cog in the machine I am making and the real power will belong to the Senate, who will choose their own members. Like Massalia, only stronger, impossible to destroy, and perfect."

He mostly succeeded, as Tarien was in the field often and Zed was entrusted with the throne in his absence. As the Senate had been filled with mostly his own people, the machine of government was smooth and effective at first, although corruption was not absent, despite Zed's best efforts.

Today, for all intents and purposes, the Zed Alliance is Tarien. They are the majority party in the newly formed Senate, they control the Frisian High Court, and nearly everywhere the authorities are either Zed Alliance or they defer to those who are. For reasons known only to him, Tarien II has empowered the Senate, some of it at his own direct expense. This has drawn criticism, as the Zed are presently the majority party in the Senate, and are known to be oppressive, stifling and rigidly traditionalist in their application of the law, who would revert the system back to a single party system if it were not for the Emperor's refusal to enforce the laws suppressing the Celsi on the grounds that the competition is "good for them."

At present, they create and judge law. The Legion is generally in charge of the enforcement of that law, but many of the lower functionaries who do so on a local level are also Zed or defer to them. Only the direct involvement of the Legion or the Emperor gives the Zed any pause - they regard the Churches as their peers, not as the ultimate moral authority, and this viewpoint often rubs the aforementioned Churches the wrong way.

Thankfully for both, they agree quickly. Unfortunately, the Zed are traditionalist in a way that would make the most die-hard Templar encourage them to dial it back a notch - they have written laws that make it hard for known Outlanders and non-Legion Pokemon Nobles to appear in public places without a Writ of Exception, which is having the side effect of hurting immigration and long-term growth due to how the laws are written. They have made associating with the Dustmen a crime, and have written laws intended to stomp the Glitch down as much as possible, both of which actually enjoy majority public support - although they are causing collateral damage by hitting other faiths and philosophies, such as the Celsi and the Old Ways, both of whom are getting angered at the Alliance, especially the Celsi, who see this as a cynical political ploy aimed at suppressing a growing threat to Zed power.

Recently they have taken to using Oracles and other visionaries in an effort to crack down on the Family, making their operations very, very difficult and increasing tensions with the underbelly of the Magnas Church, and the banks of the land.

To put it in short, the Zed Alliance is making a lot of enemies and taking the Empire with them, forcing the Emperor to improvise frequently to deal with their frequent overreach, or at least order his Legions to not enforce one law or another. Tarien II knows they would not have dared to do this sort of thing to his father, and is certainly considering "long kniving" the entire Senate more and more frequently of late. Only the sheer number of kingdoms that would be upset at him for doing so (or would consider it a pretext for war) is stopping him - after all, even dogmatic fools have loved ones, friends and connections.

I thought the point of the Senate was to have everyone who might oppose you in one place so that they could be swiftly and successfully executed on short notice. It's why I would make one. I certainly wouldn't give them any real power, but I would work to give them the illusion of power to keep the ambitious frustrated and not working against me.

Tarien II is not the man his father was, and if he is having internal conflict about this, he is weaker, too.

Grand High Super Master Greatest Indomitable Explosioneer Celsius, as called when he was feeling informal, was a genius who struggled with his passions very frequently. He didn't care much for Tarien's and Zed's shared visions of "one land, one people" but he did need a lot of people willing to work and a lot of land made safe to set up his own dream to using his greatest creations, the Reality Stabilizers. To Celsius, forcibly imposed chaos was no different then the rigid and tyrannical "perfect society" that Zed refused to stop talking about when he had free time.

Celsius provided a voice of dissent, a counterbalance against Zed's arguments for a tighter fist. Celsius was not the prominent voice in Tarien's court, but Tarien had enough private conversations of his own with the visionary to have begun forming his own ideas. He requested that Celsius match Zed's vision with a counterpart - to show Tarien what a world without consolidated power would look like.

Celsius's book, Discourses to Tarien, is presently outlawed by the Zed Alliance-controlled Senate, although the Legion doesn't enforce that law and the Emperor doesn't endorse it, and thus it is up to local authorities to enforce it. The contents were a two-part work - the first part is considered unethical, and the second requires reading of the first to have context on its advice.

Whatever Zed's opinion, Tarien seemed to enjoy it, and took at as a vindication of both his methods and his goals. The Family considers it required reading for their leadership, though while in public members condemn it as Giratina's handiwork if it comes up in conversation - they hate competition, and can't be seen as having read it.

I wish I had written this, especially the most famous part of it, the first part, The Ascended. You mortals really downplay yourselves sometimes. This book has probably done more to promote and justify my type of thinking than any literature produced by any of my actual cultists.

Celsius might not have liked me, but he certainly understood me and those who think like me. If nothing else, he was a worthy foe and I respect his memory immensely. He knew what he was dealing with when he fought my influence, and while I don't know if the results were what he intended, he certainly did me a great service.

Celsius did not part ways with the Empire on good terms. In the final year of the Emperor's reign, Celsius petitioned unsuccessfully to have the Reality Stabilizers sent to other nations. Zed was his foe as usual in this debate, stating that if the other people of the world wished for a stable and safe world, they could submit to the Legion and the new Empire.

Celsius considered that highly offensive, and stole two dozen of the grand engines and his personal notes on how to make them. His reasoning was that it wasn't theft if he figured out the black box tech required to create them, and he had intended for the whole world to benefit from them, not just a single people. He and a group of followers fled the country into Outlander territory through a path he had set in advance, banking that they would make it to another region before anyone could stop him, and that the large force he was sneaking through would dissuade a local Legion from following him.

He underestimated Tarien himself. Tarien, having been told by Zed that Celsius had betrayed them, rushed out with the fastest Legionnaires on hand, trying to stop his friend from getting himself killed by Outlanders, as according to Legion scouts both the Ninth Gate Tribe, a Glitch cell, and no fewer than three other tribes had set up camps there as part of some kind of planned grand offensive.

The enemy was alerted to action by the large force uncharacteristically charging quickly forward nearly blindly, and it was a disaster - Tarien's body was not recovered by either side, Celsius disappeared to a less certain fate, the Outlanders claimed a great victory...but the silver lining was that the Stabilizers were not intercepted, and some of them even reached other kingdoms. Additionally, Celsius's uplifted Charizard X, Bunsen, had survived the battle, and returned with the Emperor's sword.

Zed wanted to execute Bunsen and did his best to have the Charizard found guilty of conspiracy against the throne, as to Zed it was clear that Celsius had intended to get the Emperor killed. Tarien II at this point pointed out that if that were the case, they could have chosen to not return, and then the new Emperor surprised Zed by disagreeing with his father: Tarien II believed Celsius was right, and that his father had more likely been killed because of Zed's realpolitik thinking.

Bunsen was pronounced not guilty by a Zed-controlled court. They didn't feel the evidence matched up. Zed maintains to this day that Celsius arranged the Emperor's death.

Since the rise of Tarien II and Bunsen's trial, a group naming themselves after the late Explosioneer has enjoyed a meteoric rise. With the Emperor screening for their existence, they have seized 21 out of 49 seats in the Senate. Not enough to promote their own ideas, but enough to frustrate the Senate on any major legislation if they refuse to talk to the Celsi.

Today, they are the Renaissance Men of their time (yes, even the women), and they are constantly pushing for innovation. Of what? "Yes" would be the answer to that - they are a fractious movement only united by the fact that they don't like the Zed Alliance (whom they have taken to calling Zedheads) their ability to pass for intelligent people, and the fire they have in their hearts (literally or otherwise).

They push for more freedom, more rights, more liberty - pretty much all the changes that scare the hell out of the Zed Alliance. The Celsi are considered scandalous by proper aristocracy and, as such, tend to be popular among the younger and less influential ones who would like more personal freedom for themselves. They are considered a revolutionary movement, and certainly become such among the more extreme branches of the Celsi.

It is worth noting that the Zed-controlled High Courts and their law enforcement branches tend to work reasonably well with the Celsi, and have occasionally ruled or acted in their favor. It is the Senate where it really comes to blows, occasionally literally. More than one Senate session has been disrupted when two or more members decided to have an impromptu duel.

On top of being a political gadfly, the Celsi serve two additional roles in society. One of them is the promotion of the Celsius Scientific Method, which begins with the question, "Can we do this?" Consequences of success are not a concern, and it starts out resembling science as it is understood, then becomes an exorcise in extreme physics should they fail to yield the desired results, and should it still fail, becomes an impromptu experiment in volatility. They have yet to find an experiment they cannot at least blow up.

The other thing they do is funding expeditions. The Celsi want to know everything, and as a result will throw money at insane ideas and actions, such as exploring the Endless, collecting Glitch samples, and capturing live Pokemon Nobles, the last of which the Nobles very violently object to. Bunsen, now the patron of the movement, really just wants to find his master, dead or alive, and considers everything else expendable in the process...although he is appreciating more of the journey then he thought he would, and is reconsidering against his plan of burning the kingdom to the ground should he find Celsius's body.

After all, if Celsius was about anything, it was the journey there, wherever he was going. Spare me your sappy and romanticized writing, author. Celsius should have backed the power, rather than resisting it.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:23, Fri 21 June 2019.

There are two factions within the dual Magnan and Albionese Churches. One of them is the infamous Family, who has long been considered the left arm of the Church for some time. These days, the right arm of the Church is the Celestine Pact, and both arms would gleefully amputate the other if they could figure out how to keep the body alive afterwards.

The Celestine Pact is a new group with some very old ideas. The Magnas and Albion faiths are identical, save on two sticking points: the issues of divorce and wild release of Pokemon (which are considered connected), and the authority of the Grand Paladine, which the Albionese deny. In both locations, the faith tends to run into the same issues with both the Pact and the Family.

During the Aftershock Wars, many members of the faith found themselves cut off from their central authority. With no directions or instructions forthcoming, most of them simply did the best they could in extremely unfavorable circumstances. One of them, however, discovered not only how to commune with the gods, but to send those messages to others of the faith through lines in the world that were still intact. Even in the madness of the Aftershock Wars, several of these formed, talking to one another and, if nothing else, taking heart in the idea that others were still alive.

They saw Tarien's ascension well before the man himself did. To them, who now called themselves the Reunited, Tarien was Anathema - a bane who followed Yveltal to a violent end for those around him and ultimately himself. They had spent decades driving off the ambitious; they couldn't afford selfish people in the community during the hard times.

And yet for some reason, the Celestine was backing him up. They were torn between denying him aid and helping him on the grounds that the gods were backing him. In the end, they deferred to the wisdom of the gods, although they felt no obligation to like him and provided him with minimum aid.

Luckily for them, he rarely asked anything of them, and would actually leave troops to aid them if they wished for it. They gained a few converts from his army as a result, but for the most part the Legion and the Reunited kept a safe distance from each other. Tarien's excesses were never pointed at them.

He saved those for the Dustmen, the Glitch, and those tribes that would later become collectively known as the Outlanders.

But for the most part, Tarien valued them as stable, safe points for the people who weren't soldiers to run to, and he was prudent enough to recognize their worth. As a result, when the land became reunited and the Grand Paladine reaffirmed that they were the voice of the Celestine, the Reunited found common ground with their Albionese brothers and sisters at long last - having spoken to the Celestine themselves, they really didn't care for Araqiel's will anymore. After a few visits from the Legion that thankfully never turned violent, they did find the value in paying lip service to Araqiel, especially after they learned how the Grand Paladine had been killed, and the next in line was actually one of the leaders of the Reunited.

They were torn. On the one hand, as far as they were concerned, Tarien was the Devil in the body of a man who had burned the City of God to the ground over an insult to his pride. On the other hand, he had actually gone out of his way to arrange for the post of Grand Paladine to be given to one of the Reunited on the (what they could tell was) actually sincere grounds that they were the best for the job.

Tarien hated competition when it came to the pursuit of temporal and political power, and he wanted the Church to focus on spiritual matters and uplifting their flock. Luckily for Tarien, the Reunited started calling themselves the Celestine Pact and their woman, now Grand Paladine Tremellia I, agreed with the direction the Church should go in. The Pact had been building up an army long before Tarien came, and they figured they had no reason to stop now - they just needed to make sure their Mons passed as something else, and that the martial training could pass off as just harmless aerobics and meditative katas.

They were still preparing for the future though when his open-casket, bodiless funeral occurred. They consulted the Celestine to confirm his death, fearful of some wily ruse intended to flush rebellion out, and were relieved to learn that he really was dead. They were pleasantly surprised when his son, Tarien II, decimated the units involved in the Sacking of Rachiel and Araqiel out of apparent contrition, although they did not release those Mons they had been raising.

Today, they call themselves the Celestine Pact, and their existence is an open secret within their respective churches. They are closer than ever, although they accept that their official leadership remains divided and this will never change. Mostly because those faithless Albionese heretics-

Don't change, mortals.

-insure that the dogmatic Magnan are required to at least repeat the usual nonsense of their leadership publicly, and vice versa. But privately, in the confines of the ritual communion chambers, they speak as equals and old friends, under the watchful eyes of the Celestine.

Ah. Disappointing in a way, but fascinating that you think you can actually learn. They also like to forget that I'm Celestine as well. Either way, let's see how long this hugfest lasts before they realize they don't need each other anymore, and return to the old views that their leadership still endorses.

I am abashed, to be honest, in how they noticed Tarien played them, and they just...went along with it. They are idealists, just like the modern Legion, and they are all fools for it.

To them, nothing has really changed. Tarien II at least appears honorable, but they saw hints of his dark side even as the young emperor sought atonement for his father's actions, as if it was something that was simply another price to be paid. He backs the Celestine Pact, but at the same time he tolerates the hated Family, and favors neither Magnan nor Albionese faiths. They continue to grow, and encourage communal bonds at the expense of one's worldly desires.
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:23, Sun 23 June 2019.

There are many such faiths that could rightly call themselves "the Old Way," but in Tarien, usually they are speaking of the one practiced by present day Frisia. Frisia does not adhere to either the Magnan or Albionese interpretation of the Celestine will; in point of fact, they largely do not care, and consider their faith to run parallel to what they call "the New Way."

The old ways are a shamanistic view of the world, concerning themselves less with the will of Arceus and the Celestine, who are seen as unconcerned and therefore unimportant, and more with who interacts with the world. I like them, although they do not like me back. Fools. They concern themselves mostly with the Mons of this world, the ones that impact daily living and, most significantly, the ones they can capture.

In so far as they do concern themselves with the Celestine, they view them as a force of conflict, that desires fighting and violence in this world as a way of making it stronger and harder, and they use the dead to keep the world existing. This is...actually spot on, at least in regards to Father and myself. Therefore, the gods, such as they are, are seen as an antagonistic force for the most part, with the job of mortals being to become strong enough to stand for as long as possible in a world they built to destroy the weak, harass the slow, and confound the foolish.

Why are they NOT the preeminent faith? Perhaps it is because those who are skilled at telling others a pleasant lie will rule over those who refuse to do so. As above, so below.

What they are really known and (in)famous for are their tendencies to push their Mons harder than is considered reasonable. Nearly all Taskmasters are Old Way practitioners (or Outlanders who are doing it to Mons who are fine with it), and every Order posting, without exception, has a shrine to the Old Way somewhere in it that sees use, regardless of the preeminent faith in the area. The Old Way encourages developing a Mons power and making most of it, along with careful, precise techniques and methodology to make one Mons capable of enduring any challenge set before them.

No one has more documentation and stories regarding the raising and growth of Mons than they do, with perhaps the exception of the Celestine Pact. For applicable Pokemon Knowledge, the Old Ways are unmatched. The faith, however, has a bit more of a dark side than simply being the favored belief system of the notoriously driven Taskmasters.

For one, many of them often apply these philosophies to themselves, often becoming Berserkers. The best of them become warrior-philosophers, and the worst of them become raving lunatics who drive themselves and their Mons to mutual destruction. Their ruthless drive for perfection can easily become a cage for them, and sometimes their life turns into the question of how many they will simply drag down with them.

The other flaw they tend to have is their willingness to push their Mons to a point where even the Shade Callers, who don't consider it cheating unless you are caught or lack enough audacity, will often tell them their Mons are "overjuiced" and cannot partake in legitimate tournaments. The Old Way has several songs and passages of literature dedicated to reminding its followers that cheating isn't wise.

Oh, this author is seriously dancing around the Old Way followers and their "dark side." While this is a minority of them, they do have a plurality of their membership which is best described as - how your Internet culture phrases it - furries. This is one reason they are big on uplifting Mons, as they want to make that consensual issue not a problem anymore, so at least they are thoughtful berserker-scientists twisting nature's designs like a pretzel.

They aren't all like this, but enough are that I get to have a laugh at them about it. They have proven that mortal and Mon are closely related. I know for a fact that at least one of them is responsible for bringing a half-Ditto into the world who intuitively understands Pokespeak - not at present, mind you, but they have it recorded in their writings.

Still, they demonstrate a lot of uncomfortable truths. That is what they truly excel at; questions you do not want answered. If you want dark knowledge that you probably shouldn't possess, they likely have it.

In short, the Old Way is dedicating to expanding and recording Pokemon Knowledge, and carefully applying that knowledge to one's Mons. Also, they are usually the group that one goes to when they want to learn something new. While the Celsi have the money and the "rock star" publicity, the Old Way practitioners are generally in their lab or their garden cultivating results the long and slow way. Both groups have a common love of R&D, although the Celsi think the Old Way is slow and boring, and the Old Way think the Celsi are impatient and substitute noise and shrapnel for actual science.

Most of the reality stabilizers these days are maintained in large part by the Old Way, as the tech required to keep them going is actually more in their department. The stabilizers have slowly become almost alive in their own right, an unexpected development that the Old Way are very keen on learning the cause of.

Their relationship with the Church is rocky. They agree with the Celestine Pact, and tend to find the Albionese variants easier to deal with. The Family they do not see eye-to-eye with, being more interested in making Mons awesome then in exploiting them, and thus they are at odds with the most political branch of the Church.

The Zed Alliance they would see eye-to-eye with, were it not for some legislation making the practice of "pagan faiths" very difficult, as well as making the use of their most powerful Mons either illegal or highly restricted, such as the Prohibition of Kaijumons Stipulations, a set of laws aimed at stopping the most powerful evolutions and treatments of Mons, or the Control of Unauthorized Dragons Act, which speaks for itself.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:39, Mon 23 Jan 2023.

While there are tribes within and without Tarien that are not members of the new Empire, called the United Kingdoms, the Outlanders are generally a catch all term for "everyone who will fight the Tarien Legion" and usually a reference to nine tribes. Why they fight differs from group to group, but none of them see the value of submission to Tarien as worth the gain. In the case of a few of them, they fight simply for vengeance against the relentless tyrant they recall killing their kin and grasping for ever more territory and glory, and they exult in his death in the battle they recall as "The Mountains' Vengeance," when they slid several mountains into him and everyone around him.

They consider themselves the practitioners of the real Old Ways, although what that means differs from tribe to tribe. Generally, it is less methodical than the Frisian variant, generally focuses on the ability to take and deliver punishment, and is summed up as "whatever you like as long as it breaks something." The results are surprisingly close to their Frisian counterparts, although their Mons tend to be wilder and more "bursty."

The Outlanders, for the most part, lack Capture Crystals, and old world Tesseract Orbs are hard to come by. Indeed, if they want a Mon, a Capture Crystal or anything like it is considered blasphemy, and generally marks one for exile or worse. The primary method is to make the Mon serve you, either through negotiation or, usually as the starting point, force.

Many of their shamans get around this through deal-making with the ones called Pokemon Nobles. The Outlanders do not pray to the Celestine - as far as they are concerned, these beings that talk to them directly without avatars ARE their gods, and require dealing with to get Mon to work with their tribe. Most of the Nobles are veterans of what they call The Long War, an unending war that will only stop when humanity stops trying to chain Mons with orbs, crystals, or whatever they use tomorrow.

The Outlanders would generally consider themselves composed of eight great tribes and the Ninth Gate Tribe. Those tribes are Burnstump, Ithan, Sarzimod, S'Reah, Graund, Zotorior, Boraungr, and Tarod. The Ninth Gate are considered outcast, as dangerous as the Legion, and only to be allied with under dire circumstances...which seems to be coming up more often as the United Kingdoms consolidate their gains and methodically contest territory.

    Burnstump of the Forests is a composite tribe composed of other destroyed tribes, hence their Albionese name. As they are the largest of the Outlander tribes by quite a margin, most who deal with the Outlanders sparingly tend to assume they represent all of the tribes. They consider it a point of pride to count the entire Legion as their foe, and are considered by the other seven to be the most powerful.
    Ithan of the Seas are the remnants of the Albionese tribe that destroyed their own nation during a civil war (see Albion for details). They continue to fight who they see as their treacherous kin. They are known both for their frequent and vicious attacks, as well as their impetuous daring in where they choose to camp.
    Sarzimod of the Tundras believes in ritualistic scarring and branding as a means of self expression, both for themselves and their Mons. They, like the Burnstump, are made of several tribes - unlike the Burnstump, they engulfed or destroyed those tribes and absorbed the survivors. They are seen as honorable but ruthless, and they are eyeing the Burnstump for any weakness.
    S'Reah of the Grasslands are known for being clever and fickle, unwilling to commit to a battle they do not believe they can win. They favor ambushes and long range, and other tribes consider them cowards who refuse to stand and properly fight. Only their reclusive and territorial nature stop them from being hated.
    Graund of the Mountains are known for being hard as nails. Each member of the Graund must stand up to a Geodude or Graveler's Self-Destruct in order to be considered an adult in the tribe, and not faint. Those who use Ghost-typing to bypass this are usually shamans, but most actually take the hit - and those who take a Graveler's hit (or a Golem's!) in full are often seen as potential leaders.
    Zotorior of the Wetlands are straight-up demon worshipers, specifically giving praise to Heatran and Zygarde and seeing themselves as enemies of the Celestine. Piles of skulls mark their territory, and they believe that only when their gods are unleashed will Tarien fall. While they are regarded as terrifying, their conviction is admired by the other tribes, and unlike the Ninth Gate, the Zotorior possess warrior's honor and value their word.
    Boraungr of the Deserts value one trait: big. Their leadership is notorious unstable and prone to changes within weeks or even days, but they are well known by the other tribes for their impressive insights on engineering and siegelaying. They love those rare moments when they pit their giant Mons against something bigger.
    Tarod of the Caves are fierce, independent recluses who are almost a network more than a tribe. Short-tempered and impatient, they keep loosely in touch with each other, and sometimes are drawn to major events. They are regarded as mad visionaries and spirit touched, and they draw attention both when they gather for a moot and (especially) when they suddenly decide to leave en masse without warning anyone.

Most Outlanders, human and Mon alike, are considering the actions of this new chieftain of the Legion and the United Kingdoms, Tarien II, very carefully. When they tried to follow up on their victory after the Mountains' Vengeance, Tarien II spearheaded the efforts against them in person, driving them back in a series of lightning counterattacks that sent the Outlanders reeling. While several of them have sworn vengeance, they noted that he is different from his father, and either let them retreat or simply failed to cut them off.

They are still not sure if this was mercy or ineptitude.

Then he did something his father would not have done: Tarien II sent emissaries requesting peace, rather than pressing the attack. While most of those emissaries were sent back with disappointing messages, they did return (including one which was sent back as a reanimated assassin [Ninth Gate]), as most of the Outlanders believe in sacred hospitality, and will at least listen to those who come to them under a banner of truce. Violations are frowned upon, and so far, Tarien II has not given up and continues to send them out.

For their part, the Outlanders also have not given up the Long War. A conquering force, regardless of its chief, still wants what you have as far as they are concerned, and to the Nobles, they are fighting for their very freedom. Given the laws that the Senate has passed (or rather refused to pass), their logic is not without merit.

These savages are idiots. A Capture Crystal allows your fainted Mon to tactically retreat and be healed later with ease as opposed to needing a physical extraction. It also allows one to be subtle with one's Mons, keep a lower profile, and compel obedience from a willful Mon who refuses to accept defeat and would rather fight to the faint or the death.

Most of them, contrary to their perception within the United Kingdoms, are actually worthless to me. Also contrary to rumor within Tarien, they do not worship me primarily, and may actually fear me more than Tarien's populace does. In fact, they see me as backing your Empire, which is actually not wrong, and they actually consider that one more reason for destroying Tarien.

I have gone against the power several times. That I am not your supreme overlord yet speaks for how that tends to go. They should bend the knee to the obvious power, as I did, and simply wait, as I do.

The Family is a crime organization, and when most people talk of it, they speak of the criminal enterprise and occasionally the association with the Magnas Church. What most do not know is how deeply their hands are in the Magnas faith, and how extensively the Family is involved in the economics of Tarien. They are more than a criminal enterprise; they also control most of the banks and have a great number of aristocracy on the mainland that have no interest in serving on some to-be short lived Senate or kneeling to some Emperor of the week, although some are seeing the wisdom in lobbying.

The Family, rather like their counterparts of the Celestine Pact, are an open secret, but one that is noticeably more dangerous to discuss. They are the left hand of the Magnas Church, and if their Albionese branch hadn't legitimized and cut the bulk of their ties with the mainland organization, they would serve the Albionese faith as well in exactly the same role. Both, however, have a great deal of control and influence over their respective faiths, although neither branch of the Family has gotten a member of the Family in the role of Grand Paladine, although the Reim of Albion is in the pocket of their Albionese branch, Team Thunderbolt, now formally known as the Break family.

They preceded the Empire, survived both wars after providing counsel to the Shadow-Kings, and presently look forward to integrating with and surviving Tarien as well. By backing the late Emperor with very generous loans, they insured their survival, and Tarien spared them because they ran a tight ship, generated wealth, and he was not interested in killing a golden goose, even if it was corrupt.

The burning and subsequent rebuilding of Araqiel weakened them immensely, doubly so since the king of Magnas, who had long been deeply in debt to them, took the opportunity to mercilessly persecute them. They have since rebuilt their structure, and wherever the Zed does not enforce law, the Family is always there to shore up society in their own way.

Any place where the Family has taken the role of law enforcement considers the community to be Family, and enforces the law through that lens. Such places are dangerous to visit, unless you can pass as a local somehow or are considered non tangere due to your connections. While not all of the official Family is criminal, all must be willing to turn a blind eye to crime when not doing so would harm the Family.

While they are not what they were before, they are still powerful and influential. They have even managed to snatch four Senate seats since the formation of that institution, one representing each of the four Families: the vicious Vinograd, the subtle Soika, the resourceful Ristovic, and the "blackguardly" Break. The Vinograd operate in Frisia and Demosia, the Soika claim Massalia and Empuries, the Ristovic cover the ancestral homes of Magnas and Helvatia, and the "dishonorable" Break control Albion.

The Vinograd favor high-profile crime and hard work, and are what most think of when they think of the Family. Given what the punishment for being criminal in Democia tends to be, most of the Vinograd tend to be somewhat brazen when they are in other countries, as they regard the legal systems as a joke.

The Soika deal in bizarre crime, generally focusing on how to make money using elemental connections and their Mons to find new and inventive ways to generate revenue. Indeed, this branch of the Family offers "immortality" to anyone about to die, and all they have to do is make a generous donation to a specific charity, and sign that line there to "resurrect" as a Ghost, that now owes the Family. After all, to cheat death, there is no way the price could be too high, and the service is not eternal, right?

It isn't at first. The Family is mine, but I speak plainly when I say you do not want to owe them a single Harp. Pay all debts to them promptly, and read anything you sign with them carefully - I tire of defaults, unlike my overenthusiastic and greedy mortal hands in your world.

The Ristovic are politicians, and also specialize at espionage. They are usually the ones people think of when they think of the "corrupt Church" as they are very skilled at advancing in the institution they cannot rob without violating their laws. They can, however, legitimately transfer funds to "church allies."

The Break do not engage in conventional criminal conduct, having a strict "white collar only" policy in regards to crime, as the Albionese Rangers are both competent and hard to bribe - non-native crime is flushed out fast in Albion. This policy has made them the central economic power in the United Kingdoms, granted them the authority to create coinage, and the standard for economic currency is printed by-

-me, ultimately. I want Tarien to be strong, and that means road and coin must be well maintained and controlled.

All operate on a code of conduct, although the Break interpret this code differently, given their aversion to blatant crime:

I've got this. I'll recite it for you. After all, I wrote it up.
1.  All life has value. Death at our hands releases the deceased from all debt, and should be treated as the mercy that it is.
2.  Poor people are poor targets. We give alms to them, both for our souls and their obeisance.
3.  You owe the Family everything. If you do not, you are not truly Family.
4.  Only perform crime on the foreigner. We need a base, and your former victims will not help you.
5.  The Family will ask of you sometimes. Do not refuse us when we do, no matter what we ask.
6.  Tread lightly in dealings with children, as we cross them more than you would think. Do not abduct or kill them.
7.  Leave the church alone. The Celestine pulled us through the Aftershock, and continue to be useful.
8.  Hoard and cultivate your earnings. You are Family, and the Family wants money and power.
9.  Help no enforcers save those of the Family. We require no aid from them to stand.
10. If you find a corpse, make sure no honest spirit has claimed it as theirs. We honor the claims of the honest dead, but if no such claim exists, it is yours.
11. Do not betray anyone to our enemies, not even other enemies. Word spreads quickly, and your dishonor will cost you.
12. Do not lie to the Family. Do. Not. Lie. To. The. Family.
13. Honor your contracts and your deals to the letter. Never double-cross your partners.
14. Never murder Family. We have formal ways to settle disputes should blood be required.
15. Do not work with criminals that are not Family. They will betray you, because they are criminals, and they are not Family.
16. Never reveal Family secrets save to Family. Recall the third rule if you have doubt about their being Family.
17. Pay in the largest currencies you can, but never part with the coin we gave you upon joining. We have entrusted it to you, and it is not yours to spend.
18. If you must kill, we will help you placate the spirit that may arise. Pray your killing was within our code.
19. Those who celebrate our misfortune and falling are our enemies. Our laws do not protect them.
20. If you meet Family who has been disabled as a result of his services, give alms to them, and pray that their fate will not be yours. We take care of our own.

Remember, there are outliers in every group. Not all of the Family obey this code, but that just means they just burn longer in the Furnace then even their brethren do.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:10, Sun 23 June 2019.

The Ninth Gate Tribe is generally considered by citizens of Tarien to be the Outlander tribe who follows the will of the Gallows That Walk, Lurchsplinter. The Outlanders, for their part, consider the Ninth Gates to be fanatics and psychopaths who use strange and dangerous black magic and forbidden technology, and are to be allied with carefully under the best of circumstances and kept at arm's reach at all times. The truth is that the Ninth Gate Tribe is simply the most brazen faction of a deeper heretical group known as the Dustmen.

The Dustmen are called such from their catch-phrase, "All is dust." In short, they are nihilists who either believe the past holds the key to a circular future, or those who believe that the present should be destroyed and the future is something they are willing to throw the dice on. This alone could make them dangerous, but they go a step further and employ a power simply called Shadow.

Shadow is drawn from beyond the edges of the universe. It is the proto-material that Palkia uses to create, and the substance Giratina works so tirelessly to banish from our world, lest its energies destroy it. You are welcome, by the way. It defines the immediate border of the universe just beyond its border, and the substance rarely lasts long in our universe, as it immediately destroys itself and everything, including the air, that it contacts.

"Thank you, Giratina, for using our selfish and short-sighted nature to prevent an uncaring universe from destroying us all" is what you should be saying. You are welcome, again. I literally couldn't do it without you.

Giratina's Law prevents it from doing more than that, and usually destroys the means of entry at the same time. However, the Dustmen discovered long ago that vessels of living essence, souls, if you will, can hold Shadow relatively safely. What Shadow does to beings depends on their state at the time of contact.

Ritual combining of Shadow with a living being results in the subject losing a piece of their virtue, their loyalty, their connection to others, and replaces it with cold, detached fury and above all, want, often interpreted as some kind of hunger. Such beings look at the world and see something unworthy of respect, love, or investment. They become extremely dangerous to themselves and others as a direct result, but this can be treated with patience and care, and the Shadow will leave them.

Ritual combining of Shadow with a deceased being, on the other hand, has a more dramatic effect. Giratina's law regarding resurrection is as inviolate as the one regarding Shadow itself: he takes the ambition of the mortal, and they cannot be brought back as anything but a puppet. Only Ghost-types seem to get around this, and what they do is to absorb the memories and mannerisms of the recently deceased - they are not actually the deceased.

Shadow can replace what Giratina takes with itself, in a similar manner to what it does to the living. At its most basic, it can reanimate the corpse as a semi-aware puppet. At a more complex level, the subject will biologically live again, but as an entity effectively haunting their own body, viewing the world through the twisted lens of Shadow.

Treating the deceased is invariably fatal to them, as they simply cease haunting their own body as the Shadow dissipates. The body dies, and the being loses the will to live as a hateful shell of themselves.

In all instances, the power of Shadow increases the power of any attacks they issue, pushing the power of such attacks by one step of super-effectiveness. However, as the Shadow's hold in our world is tenuous at best, all attacks against them are equally increased by one step of super-effectiveness. There are, thankfully, no Shadow-type attacks in existence, and of the Celestine, only Darkrai holds the secrets of Shadow in his heart.

Every one of the Dustmen, without exception, has been exposed to Shadow, even if they only know of it as a idea. To most of the Dustmen, Shadow is basically a silent god whose demands are known through the cold, focused, hateful power it grants. The most famous are necrostrategoi, commanders of the dead, but others are assassins, discontented aristocrats, peasants with nothing to look forward too...Shadow can come unbidden to a mortal who feels intensely enough about pretty much anything, although many of them who hear it will not join the Dustmen, and most refuse its call without ever realizing what they experienced.

During Tarien's rise, the Dustmen eagerly stepped up their activities, having felt a powerful omen around him they had not felt since the days of the Great War. During the Aftershock, many of the Dustmen ruled kingdoms of the dead, and they initially viewed Tarien as a dark messiah who would drive back the Glitch and leave them the undisputed masters of a dead world that could be reshaped according to their glorious whims. As it turned out, they were right about Tarien having a need for their unique services.

Specifically, he needed the target practice.

Shadow had no place in Tarien's vision - his Empire was a bedrock in the making, not a corpse that would accept whatever grew on its carcass. Since few outside the Dustmen actually liked them and most hated them right back, Tarien saw easy targets with no allies that would earn him respect if he destroyed them. Initially, he found them easy to assassinate, as they often believed what he told them for a reason he initially didn't understand.

I wanted to see the Dustmen exterminated, and for once the rest of the Celestine agreed with me. Let me drop something on you - those Shadow-Kings that occasionally get mentioned in the history texts? Take one guess who they were affiliated with, and take another as to one of many reasons the Great War was as vicious as it was.

They weren't responsible for the Great War, but they did a lot to push it along.

Eventually, they wised up, but by that time he had already stepped up his attacks on them. He persecuted them before and during his Empire's rise so intensely, that as one they fled to the Darkwood Forest, to the underkingdoms of Messalia, and across the northernmost seas into the Endless. In Darkwood, they encountered a little known tribe of humans ruled by a vicious Travenant...

...and they made a deal with that now-infamous entity, and they have been living in renamed Blackwood Forest ever since. They are so good at drawing attention, that many don't know about the other two groups, who are smaller but no less dangerous.

The Chiselers, a Dustmen sect that lives under Messalia, has slowly been tightening their grip in the darkness for decades now. Democia's Underkingdom proved too formidable for the fleeing Dustmen to use as a site to regroup, but away from the Democian Undercities and off the main cavernways, the Chiselers presently hold the real power under Massalia. They have been studying the geology under Messalia for some time, looking for a way to literally pull the kingdom down into the darkness to be set upon by their growing forces. They tend to be fairly tight with the Ninth Gate, although distance prevents closer ties.

The Walkers are the last of the three, and they believe simply in waiting out Tarien. Having moved across the Endless, they have settled along the frozen lands and try to keep out of sight of the Outlanders. They think the Chiselers and the Ninth Gate have it all wrong, and that by trying to force an end, they may be strengthening the ties of civilization by giving them an enemy they can fight. Their philosophy and dream is to become forgotten, and then, once Tarien has no external threats and begins lashing out in earnest at itself without an outside threat to give its existence context, then they can march in, kill everyone, and finally win once everyone else has tried and failed.

The other two think the Walkers are simply justifying either laziness or cowardice, and the Walkers are certainly inclined to take easy and safe routes - in the Endless, any other way results in permanent death. But they do respect the Walkers' wisdom, and all of them try to play the long game in their own way. The Walkers simply play the longest game - they are no less dangerous, and have also debated the idea of melting the Endless down and drowning the world, while others have talked about damaging the Heatran's prison and scouring the surface.

Even the Walkers are still mere mortals at heart, and can become impatient too. Also, individual members of all three clans often do their own thing, and might decide to act on a plot that reminds others they exist, and results in a sweeping counterattack that catches others. Only the Ninth Gate can resist this effectively, and even they are not unbeatable should the full might of the Legion ever focus on them.

T̵͘ͅȟ̶̤è̸̢ ̶̤͌G̷̫̔l̴͖̒ȉ̷̻ẗ̸̰́ć̶͍ḧ̶̢

On the edges of the world, one can see the skies turn into an alien heaven where the stars do not match any known to astronomers, and the land breaks apart to an impossible vista before fading into the utter darkness of the ever-waiting Shadow. This is the home, insofar as such an entity has one, of the strange being called MissingNo, who has many titles: the Crawling Chaos, the False Creator, and his most famous title, The Glitch, which is both what they are and what they do. MissingNo is, for its reputation, one of the most straightforward entities in existence and one also of the most paradoxical.

Based on research, the Glitch seems to be a pantheon in itself, a tripartite entity with three personalities and goals, moving between wanting to rearrange everything in the world to a mad whim, to wanting to kill all the gods and rule, to wanting to protect this world and keep it intact. It compromises by being a demonic force: madness, ambition, rage and an alien sentiment combine to create a vicious, capracious being that has no wish to lose its favorite plaything.

The Glitch is unique in that often its primary target is the very ecosystem itself. It attacks the very essence of the land itself while attacking everything else at the same time. It is a plague that empowers often enough to tempt the desperate and foolish, and corrupts, twists and kills often enough to terrify everyone else.

I will NOT accept one of these things in my furnace again. I have successfully petitioned to destroy the essence of any being in a terminal state, those beings called the Consumed, if they die. It is regrettable, and it infuriates Xerneas to no end, but I explained to him that the damage they inflict on the Furnace will slow the rate of reincarnation if I am forced to stop and fix it again.

Sacrifices must be made for the greater good. Until we can cure the Consumed, however, their souls are in their last form before they die. Cure yourself before that point, or enjoy your last dance. And if you are afraid of my furnace and would rather sacrifice all future lives to avoid it...well, I guess you pulled one over on me. I hope the prize of Oblivion was worth it, you clever mortal you.

MissingNo calls to those who are willing to hear it. For those who consider this world to be largely a joke, something absurd, an anthill begging for the application of a magnifying glass, MissingNo is there to laugh with you. That is usually the manifestation of his call - a bizarre, buzzing laugh, that a Shock Master would say sounds electric.

MissingNo is different from the Dustmen, though, in that the Shadow is just as dangerous to the Glitch as it is to everything else. Again, the Glitch has no desire to see the world slain and reduced to nothing - rather, it would like to see the world change, and change, and change, continually turning into more fascinating shapes and forms. To the Glitch, you deserve neither love nor hate, but you are living modular toys that might be more entertaining if fiddled with in new ways.

T̸̮̈́h̴͈͗ȩ̷̓ ̶̨̚b̶̞̽ě̵̬s̸͖̓ẗ̵͙́ ̵̞͠p̷̟̉a̴̙͋r̶̗̍ẗ̴̠ ̴̲̀ă̶̱b̸̞̐o̴̤̎u̸͖͗t̵̟̀ ̸͙͗ẗ̵̖h̶͔̿e̶̞͊ ̸̫͒t̶̖̿o̴̙͋y̶̛̟s̷͔̄ ̴̠̋I̵̧͘ ̴̛̥p̶̩̿l̶̨̊a̶̎͜ẏ̴̝ ̸̯̇w̷̳̏i̵̬̋t̶̜͑h̵̡̑?̴̭̅ ̸̪̋I̵͈͋f̷͇̐ ̷̝̽o̵̗̊n̸̯̒e̶̖̕ ̶̥͠b̴̖͘r̶̝̐e̷͖̍a̸̜͒k̶̹̿s̸̝̀,̴̒ͅ ̷͍̍t̷̻̽h̴͕͊e̵͈̋r̴̛͇e̴͇̔ ̸̫̇ā̶̗r̷̛͖e̷̩̋ ̸̻̀a̷͔͝l̷̟͒w̶̖̓a̵͔̽ÿ̸͕s̴̖͊ ̷̨̊ṃ̴̏o̵̠̚r̵̬̋è̷͍.̷̎͜ ̵̳͌T̶̳͑r̴̗͒u̵̫̾ę̷̛,̶̢̕ ̸̻̈́t̶̻́h̸̨͐e̵͉͂y̷͎̋ ̵̟̈a̷̜͂r̴͚̍é̷̲ ̴̨̎f̵̤͌r̶͍͆a̶͔͝g̴̦̚ì̴͍l̵̯̾e̸̥͘,̶̼̆ ̶̙̕b̷̞̌u̸̲͝t̵̛̬ ̴̟̒t̸̜͝h̴̢̅e̷̚͜r̷̮̎ě̶̡ ̷͍̆á̸̲ṛ̶̋e̶̲̐ ̸̭̇s̴̖͂ô̷͙ ̶̢̐m̷̬̑ã̷͎n̴͍̅y̶̩͗ ̸̲̽ȍ̷̙f̵̛͙ ̶̦̂t̵̛̰h̵̩̀ȩ̴͠m̶̳̓ ̴̜̉ä̶͈́n̷̩̒d̵͔̀ ̶̼̓a̵̠͒l̸͉͌l̴͔͋ ̷̼͆o̵̱̕f̶̫̋ ̸͕̀ť̸̡h̴̦͗e̴̤̊m̷̛̺ ̴͉̄ȃ̴̬r̷̞̈́ȇ̵͙ ̴̱̚d̸͉̈́i̶̳͠f̴̝̈f̵̼̎e̶̟͋r̸̮̚é̴̦ṅ̴̼ẗ̸̟́ ̷͇̓á̵̙n̸͖̽d̴͈̿ ̶̩͝ũ̶̻n̸̘̑ï̸̜q̵͚̑u̶̯͌ë̸̼́!̵̠̓
̴̳͌
̵͈̎I̷̺͑ ̸̡̓l̴̜͊ȯ̴̦v̵͚̚é̸̗ ̶̱͐a̵̻͝l̸̛͕l̷̩͂ ̶̨͗o̷̻͗ḟ̷͜ ̵͈͒ý̷͓ó̴͍u̴̥͋,̷̭̉ ̷̘̌ä̴̰́s̵̯̉ ̶̳̈́y̴̲̎o̸̩̕ǔ̶̺ ̷̻͐ä̸͔r̵̰̐é̶̹ ̶̻͋ă̸̫l̷̖̆l̴̖̈́ ̶̤̊ŝ̴̥o̵͍͊ ̸̳̀ẁ̶̳o̵̥͑n̷͚̆d̷̜̀ȅ̷̗r̷͕͝f̴̳̈ű̸̪l̶͍̇l̵͍̋y̵̦̐ ̷̝͆ş̵̃c̵͙̍u̵͕̒l̴̲̃p̸̛̮t̴̙͝e̵̕ͅḏ̴͋!̶̛̘ ̸͉̿I̷̭͑ ̵̰̾H̶̗̾A̷̪̓T̷͇̄E̴̗͒ ̸̼͒Ă̴̼L̷̞͘L̶͈͑ ̸͚̄Ơ̸͓F̸̩̽ ̶̣̉Y̷̖̐O̴̒ͅṲ̷̀,̴̭͝ ̶͙̃F̷̝̀A̷͓͐L̷̲̊S̸̡̆È̵̻ ̸̅ͅC̴̼̑R̶͎͂Ë̸̬Ȁ̴͓T̵̮̓Ȋ̷̲Ọ̴̎N̸̠̈́S̴̝̕ ̸͍͊Ö̷͔́F̵̨̋ ̶̩̄Ȃ̶̗ ̵͉͝P̵̪͋R̴͔̉E̸̜͆T̴̺̏Ę̷̒N̷̲̍D̵̳͋Ȅ̵̺R̴͇̾ ̷̪̀G̶̨͗O̸͙͒D̶̦͠.̸̨̀

Who invited you here? Shoo! Shoo! Back to your holes in the world!

It is worth noting that of the beings that exist beyond the borders of the world, that MissingNo is the least malevolent of them. The Glitch is a perpetual innocent in two of its incarnations, and it is literally not capable of grasping that these toys are beings with feelings that matter. To a being of comparable power, though, the Glitch is quite playful and considerate...unless it is in the form of the Fallen Creator, at which point it is quite treacherous and dangerous.

If one approaches the Glitch or the Spawned, the weaker avatars of MissingNo, one can make a deal with it, and the conditions of the Glitch are always the same: E̴̜̿n̷̗̑t̵͈̕ḛ̶̽r̴͓̂t̷̙̿ȁ̶͜i̶̊ͅn̷̡̆ ̷̭̊m̴̗̾e̷̼̋.̵͎̇ What constitutes entertainment, on the other hand, is rarely the same thing twice, or even of consistent difficulty. If one fails to entertain the Glitch, it suffuses you with its essence to make you more interesting.

If you entertain the Glitch successfully, however, it suffuses you with its essence to make you more interesting. The difference, however, is that the failure instance simply instills one with random and likely fatal mutations, while the success allows one a degree of control over the transformation, although it is far from total control. After all, to the Glitch, not knowing what's going to happen is just part of the game.

It has several cells scattered throughout the United Kingdoms, but the most prominent Glitch cell is in Empuries headed by an old world avatar of Heatran, one that escaped imprisonment in the Vault by having neither Type nor gender, and therefore being difficult to find in the first place. It's no longer part of Heatran, inventively calling itself Nartaeh, and it loves its independence. It is still a demon in disposition, though - its just become more subtle than its furnace-bound brethren.

Glitch cultists are the most feared individuals in the United Kingdoms, being seen as dangerous subversives, regardless of what aspect or aspects of their dire entity they serve. They are considered a group that desires a return to the chaos of the Aftershock Wars, and depending on their manifestation and views, this view might be anything from tragically inaccurate to quite accurate. This cult ebbs and flows, depending on its contact with other cells and on circumstance.

A Glitch cult can literally have any goals, as long as it is filtered through the deranged lens of its patron. An individual cultist does as they choose, as MissingNo rarely imposes rules of any kind. The Empuries branch has actually managed to infiltrate the Celsi, and are beginning a project of their own.
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:13, Tue 25 June 2019.

-----------------------------------------------------------
Documentation: Recovered, Declassified
Subject matter: Undercover Agent *REDACTED*, last known field report

Most of the operations by the Family usually are preceded by the name "Team," and thus many criminal enterprises unconnected to the Family usually give themselves that moniker to lend themselves an element of credibility. Team Victory is the latest of these, and what makes them unusual is that as of yet, no one knows what they actually want. Their actions indicate asymmetrical warfare, thus they DO have some objective, but they do not seem to be based in commercial enterprise - they are probably politically motivated, although I know not for whom.

The simplest solution would be that they are anarchists.

While I am certain of the existence of this elusive Team as well as its moniker, I have yet to discern motivation beyond my theory. They seem to have some grasp of Shadow, and employ it, but they are not Dustmen themselves. If I am wrong in this, then the Dustmen have undergone an unprecedented evolution, as the only group of Dustmen that are even close to them in tactics are the Walkers. The rest of quite brazen when discovered, and do not fear death, while these operatives clearly do.

While they are not behind all things bedeviling the United Kingdoms of Tarien, they do have a hand on the rudder, so to speak. They are fond of feeding us false information, and delaying our ability to separate fact from fiction, indicating that they have illegal, time sensitive operations. I know they are not Family, as this group seems to be competing with them for control of the shadows, and the Family has never employed the power of Shadow before, not even by proxy.

They certainly seem to like to direct the Emperor's efforts against us, and I wonder how much of the Celsi's rise they are responsible for. They tend to scapegoat the Dustmen and the Glitch, and they hate the Outlanders, and it is these last two details which confuse me. If they were simply anarchists, would these groups not be natural allies against the United Kingdoms?

While I am certain that nearly every major faction and court seems to have a Victorious agent within it, I have yet to get more than a bit of structure out of them - the few agents I have caught are good at dying in captivity, and I have shaken off one or two assassination attempts. On all accounts, however, they seem to be cell based: one of two small groups answer to a handler who is also part of a group. When one group goes dark, a few months later, a new group receives instruction to begin their work.

A theory that has been suggested is that perhaps Team Victory is a rogue intelligence group, that is to say, former Legionnaire spies. This would explain their access to military grade Mons, and their modus operandi, which is about infiltration, impersonation, assassination, and theft of both material and information. Their tactics are non-standard, suggesting they have been in the field for some time and have adapted, and they tend to try to pass their actions off as being that of the group they have infiltrated, or they try to frame another party entirely.

Knowing what someone is doing, in this case, turning foes against each other, is not the same as knowing why. This, however, is also how I know this operation is not Family sanctioned: their rules prohibit betraying anyone to an enemy. They do not operate like this.

Legion Intelligence has not been forthcoming about information about them. Small wonder - if this were traced back to them, it would stain their honor. I will still be sending a copy of this to the Legion for vetting, as is standard procedure, as their continued support is appreciated.

For the time being, they seem nothing more than a nuisance. Further action is out of my hands. I shall continue to send my reports, as ever.

[Language unknown: Ughiveame Oveantestthi.]

------------------------------------------------------------
Documentation: Recovered, Declassified
Subject matter: Handler *REDACTED*, response to Undercover Agent *REDACTED* last known field report

There are countertheories which my superiors would present me with if I seriously tried to explain this to them. Allow me to share some of them with you.

"Perhaps they are not rogue Legion intel as much as they are a Family operation?" Information is currency in the underworld, and the Family certainly likes to be well informed. They will posit that you likely blundered into one of their major informant networks and believed it to be something else.

"So, you believe a group of covert Shadow users working to likely undermine the United Kingdoms are not, in fact, Dustmen, even though they sound like Dustmen, operate like Dustmen, and only deviate from them in having a sense of self-preservation that exceeds the others?" They will have a second opinion - they are Dustmen, and they will try to link it to the first theory as a political pretext to bring more legal power against the Family. We have long sought to drive that criminal enterprise out of the Church once and for all, and, entirely incidentally they will assure everyone, finally put the realm's treasury in the control of the Zed Alliance, where it belongs.

"Indeed, all of these things sound like the Family's doings." And the case would be hard to refute; the Family likes to waste our time, they often fund the Celsi simply to antagonize us, they certainly have long standing grudges against the forces of chaos just as we do, they sometimes have internal conflicts that are usually quietly and violently resolved, and they likely have people in every noble house who hate the idea of someone telling them what to do and do not like our continually rising star. Our superiors will claim there is no reason to believe there is another party separate from the Family when all of these actions sound just like what they do when they believe we cannot see them, because they will WANT to believe the Family is behind this.

"They may possess a few rogue Legion spies and some of stolen Mons, but I doubt they are an entire Legion intelligence cell." You said their tactics and methods were non-Legion standard, which lends some weight to this counterpoint. Likely, Legion Intel is doing simply their own thing and not cooperating with us. They do that - it is likely that you came across as accusatory, and they went dark on you in response.

As of this moment, though, I wish to see your mental state for myself. You are no fool, and you clearly believe something is not as it appears. Return to base for debriefing; bring the usual friend along.

[Language unknown: Ieient Omrionec.]

---------------------------------------------------------------
Documentation: Recovered, Unclassified
Subject matter: C-class Investigative report, nonstandard procedure, Homicide case #514-C

I recovered the communications between the handler and their agent. The field agent apparently killed the handler, and the agent in question died from injuries sustained during the battle. It's strange though - this mutual killing looks almost ritualistic with how perfect everything is, like someone wanted me to see a murder.

Even the Mons all died from fighting each other, and there are no Ghosts at the site of the violent deaths. No Psychic residue, either, so likely possession was involved and Ghosts cleaned the site, although that is impossible to prove without a retrocognitive on the site, which means I need your help, despite prior disagreements. Something is wrong with this case, and I need to go a little beyond my normal means, which means biting the bullet and asking you.

The field agent seems to have had a history of contradicting his superiors, and ended up here on the frontier of Democia as an informal punitive assignment. The records detailing such, however, are unusual. As a former agent in charge of detecting forgeries since almost the official founding of the United Kingdoms, the paper the documentation is printed on is recent and shows little aging for an agent who was supposed to have been assigned here ten years ago, and it lacks the "copy" designation anywhere on it.

I am certain this is a forgery. But were it not for my prior job, I do not believe any other investigator would draw a conclusion other than "open and shut, we are done here."

Yet I have no contradicting documentation, and thus I am required by my job to record this information as fact. However, I request a retrocognitive check on the history of the agent's psychological profile - specifically, the physical paperwork I have sent you, as they are the originals I recovered. There is certainly more to this case, and perhaps we DO have a new enemy who is very, very good at covering their tracks.

[Language unknown: Ichforhou Wiomesla.]

----------------------------------------------------------------
Documentation: Recovered, Closed
Subject matter: C-class Investigative report, nonstandard procedure, Homicide case #514-C

I feel the need to point out to your that there was no psychic residue on that documentation you sent us, and thus I was reluctant to move this forward without due cause. You owe me one for that. When the retrocog touched it, though, they had a mental breakdown, screaming about the webbing and how we were all trapped in it.

We cannot do that again, as cognates of any stripe are hard to find. I would say you owe me two now.

Still, I have faith in their recovery, although the price is likely going to be whatever they learned. But your hunch was right, I'll give you that, and Team Victory is as good of a designation for them as any other. We'll find them, and we'll figure out what they are up to.

I wish to keep this low-key for now to stop the Senate and the criers from going rampant. I have not yet involved the Legion, and officially I must insist that you not speak to Lieutenant Kar'sai of the Eastern Democian Tenth regarding this topic. I would be required to demand your Mon, your sword, and your badge of office if you did this and were not discreet.

Your instructions are clear. This is officially out of your hands, and the case is otherwise closed. Good work.

[Language unknown: Dinsanove Siforeai.]