Fiora laughs softly at Vasily's statement.  "And who do you think holds the reins of fate when we aren't touching them?  Who kisses us in the womb and punishes us for overstepping?  Some might call the question heresy, but do you think we could wrest the strands of fate from The Creator's hands if she didn't let us?"

"No, the Heirophant might like to claim our power comes from Legion, but if they could wrest fate from The Creator, this world would be far, far harsher."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:23, Tue 31 Aug 2021.

"Are you suggesting that The Creator is a Syrne?"

"What!?"  At that suggestion she actually looks up from the fascinating cards and stares at Vasily.  "No!  She created them too.  Obviously."

"So, then my original point still stands; Sorte, Porte, and Hexenwerk do not seem to stem, at least according to current knowing, from a Syrne or similar ancient race or creature.

If The Creator created everything, then, of course, everything ultimately stems from them. But that line of thinking is completely unproductive when regarding the link between Syrne and sorceries of mankind, unless this is simply a religious display. But if it is such as that, shouldn't there also be representations of virtually everything in Creation?"

"Oh, I misunderstood that original point."  She smiles and nods toward the spread cards.  "You didn't have my full attention.  An interesting thought.  Those three sorceries all manipulate the world as The Creator made it, demanding a sacrifice in blood as their price.  The others all deal directly with beings of less power than The Creator, but more than an ordinary man or woman."

"Sadly, not all men are created equal," Valentino adds. "Just as some men are great thinkers and others are great leaders or generals, so, too, some men and women are born with a talent for sorcery."

"Is that not so? The Creator's Hand moves in mysterious ways. Why cannot one of those ways be sorcery? Or the Syrne?"

"I've heard it claimed that one of the first races of Syrne were Dragons, and it is the remnants of them that result in Hexenwerk."

"I do not know the truth of that, and, in fact, I do not now that any person alive knows that truth. The Creator gave us minds with which to think. Does that not include finding the truth?"

"As for sorceries, the Knights of Avalon have their glamours, Ussura has the Mother's Touch, and there is Sanderis in Sarmatia. Perhaps there are other sorceries that have not yet been discovered or still remain obscure. It is not sorcery as I understand the term, but I've heard claimed that a Castillian's way with a blade is tantamount to sorcery."

"Perhaps the Crescent Empire has its own sorcery, or even far Cathay. And what of the Sidhe?"

"I think that as long as the Church denies the truth except as they know it, we will never see the real Truth. But I, for one, will not stop seeking it!"

((OOC: Bleh. I intended to post a reply to Fiora and then somehow got distracted and forgot to do it!))


Indeed, one of the Sorte decks appears to be made of green glass. As thin as it is, the edges are not sharp and each is flexible enough to be handled like a regular deck.

She guesses the other two decks are made of silk and paper and glue. One of them has silver and gold threads woven through the silk.

It is the other one that startles her--there are no strands connected to it--none at all!

DECK #1: This is the glass deck. While the images are familiar, they are only half there... but twice! The top half of the image is copied and rotated to match up with the bottom of the top half and then blended together. The symbols on these cards are unfamiliar to her.

DECK #2: Fiora can see that the faces are similar to what she's used to, but she can clearly see that there are different cultures being represented. Some are dressed in Vodacce fashion, some in Castile fashion, others in Montaigne, Ussura, Sarmatian, Avalon, Eisen, or Vestenmannavnjar garb. There are even a few in Sidhe garb, and two that she doesn't recognize.

DECK #3: Perhaps the strangest deck is the one without strands. It has pictures of animals instead of people such as a lion for the Emperor and a donkey for the Fool. The Devil is a snake, and the Heirophant is an owl. Each animal depicted appears to be standing and is dressed in what should be human clothing. The symbols on each card are unfamiliar to her.

In reply to Fiora Ambrogia (msg # 536):

Alessandra decides that she has to read up more on witchcraft. She hasn't any idea of what Fiora is talking about!

"So, what do you think? Are these all Syrne artifacts or Sorcery artifacts?" Anders asks.

"Since you seem to be well versed in Syrne lore, Valentino, are there representations of all those previous Syrne? And can you point them out to us? I just want to know what I'm looking at and what to look for elsewhere."

"The cards at least are Sorte decks, very strange ones, but still.  The glass deck has no reversed cards, or they are all reversed, I cannot tell.  They are engraved with images that remain the same when turned.  The silken deck is... odd.  The images depict men and women wearing modern fashions, so either they were painted by a prophet, or the images change with the passing of ages."  She points to the decks as she speaks, finally picking up the last of them and holding it out for inspection, cards fanned out.

"This one has been cut entirely from fate.  The stones of a dirt road have fates, just the thinnest of threads true, but if a merchant trips three years hence, is delayed five breaths, and misses a bargain, that's a thread."  She starts waving the deck about with her gestures, reminding onlookers of that joke about gagging a Vodacce by tying their hands.  "It caught my interest, provoked confusion, I picked it up and showed it to you.  It's already changed our fates, but it has no threads!?!?"

"I suspect that it probably has ties to fate, it is simply that those ties have been hidden from your eyes. Otherwise how would it affect our fates?" Vasily responds, a bit absently, as he studies a different section of the display; likely the section that he's the most familiar with, since it is from his own nation. Vasily examines the different items from the Mother's Touch display, looking for clues as to how it may be exclusive or inclusive to his own nation and his own, different and much rarer, sorcery. He felt fortunate that none of his countrymen were here, so that, if it became necessary to discuss such things, he could be slightly more frank about it. Even so, he was meant to reveal as little as possible about such matters, if possible.

"This is an... interesting... display."

It's not easy to identify the section that deals with Pyeryem or Mother's Touch, but Vasily knows (kind of) what he's looking for.

The 'display' has a few stones and twigs, plus teeth/fangs, claws, antlers, bits of fur and a few other things that he can't quite identify.

"I'm not sure if it is relevant or useful, but I am aware that there are lesser-known sorceries native to Theah, however, it does not appear that such sorceries are represented here, at least not explicitly. Could it be that this display is actually simply a display of the most widely known or accepted mystical things in Theah? Presumably, it must, given the evidence, keep itself up to date, somehow, or have predicted the moment that we arrived and was set up for our benefit. Perhaps by studying it we could learn some info that is new to us about each of these topics. Do we have the patience and time to do so, though? Now that we have the pearl and its bearer with us, I suppose the urgency of figuring out the next step is greatly reduced, but I guess there must still be some urgency to it; after all, if Fiora could find us, even if only by sorcery and happenstance, surely eventually someone else could as well, right?"

"Did she? Or did Fate bring her here?" Valentino said.

"If I understand Mother's Touch correctly, there are no physical manifestations of it like the decks are for Sorte."

"I'm not sure these are displays so much as work stations. Is it possible that the ability to change into a wolf could be instilled in a talisman made from the fang of wolf? That's the only purpose I can think of for having these bits of an animal."

"I count 12 sorceries represented here. Are there more than that? A few of these I don't recognize."

"The decks are only a small portion, a way to read distant strands, like a telescope to a ship's captain.  Like a telescope, one can only see a small part of the horizon at a time, which is why they're as... fallible as they are.  As for the true physical manifestation of Sorte, why, that would be the Creator's Kiss.  She wears lipstick incidentally, and it never washes away."

She smiles at Valentino.  "There's a reason I always guided your lips to the right side of my neck, else you'd taste the makeup hiding it on the left." Reaching up and pulling her hair aside, she turns her head to show the red birthmark, indeed shaped like a makeup coated kiss, on the left side of her neck.  It's just under and behind her ear where her hair normally covers it, but not above the hairline.

"I don't begin to understand about strands and knots regarding Fate," Anders says, "but unless you want to... do something here right now, maybe we should move on. We can always come back and play with things later."

"The question is still whether the Black Pearl has a specific location here in this cathedral where it can recharge, or is just the cathedral itself enough to recharge it. And that's assuming that was why it came here."

"We should give some thought as we go as to what we're going to do with the Pearl."

"Fair enough, Anders."

Since he's been the master of door opening thus far, Vasily heads back out into the hallway and continues opening any remaining doors in the hallway so he can see, at least, if there's anything else interesting here.

The one deck that at least looks like a modern deck makes its way into Fiora's pouch next to her own.  The two that are mysteries get a regretfull look, but they're too obviously Syrneth to take out of here without drawing significant attention.  Hopefully the ordinary looking set has some interesting secrets to puzzle out, or maybe a stronger connection to the pearl with which to draw better spreads for their current journey.

Setting the splayed decks back in order, she leaves them on display and follows Vasily out of the room.

"I also think we should be careful about attributing powers and abilities to the Pearl that it may not have," Valentino adds as he follows the others out of the room.

"I'd also add to not underestimate the Pearl, but we already seem to be paranoid about it... perhaps rightfully so."

"For instance, did we see the cathedral because the Pearl was present or nearby?"

"While I don't think there is any... mind... or entity or intellect or whatever... within the Pearl, it's always possible that it was designed for a purpose and it blindly tries to follow that purpose."

"Remember, too, that all we know about it is that it is supposed to have great power. Whether that is just runaway storytelling or the sages and rulers know what it is I can't say. Being a Syrne artifact, there is probably some price to be paid for using it, probably commensurate with how it is used. Turning an enemy's sword to dust, for instance, if it can actually do that, might just give you a headache for a few days. Sinking a ship could age you 50 years, or blind you or break a leg."

"So, let's just be very careful."

As if to emphasize his words, he casts a glance back into the room as he closes the door, and then continues to cast glances back over his shoulder as they go.

In reply to Valentino Iocovelli (msg # 554):

Alessandra has to agree with that. Goodness knows what the pearl could do!

The next door in the hallway is on the right side, same as the living quarters, and when Vasily opens it, he can see that it's another living quarters just with a darker green motif. Everything still seems to be made of the green glass; the glass is just darker in here.

There doesn't appear to be anything different in here.

The next door is across the hall and down a little farther. Opening the door, Vasily sees a bunch of workbenches circling the room. At several places on the benches there are piles of crystals. On the floor, he can see green glass buckets full of more crystals.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:09, Mon 20 Dec 2021.

"Looks like this one is another workshop of some sort. Looks like it is for doing something with crystals. Maybe they can be processed and turned into all this green glass-like stuff? Or I guess it could be anything, really.

Anyone know anything special about crystals? Maybe a more expert eye could make more sense of this. Maybe they are gemstones even?"

"Sadly no.  They're pretty, but I'm not familiar with different types of stone."



[I'm guessing something would have been said if they have more or less fate to them than expected.]

In reply to Vasily Pavlychenko (msg # 557):

"They are very pretty, no matter what they are." Alessandra says.

Fiora didn't see anything but normal Fate strands to the crystals. Those fell into two categories--the Fate of having been plucked from the ground, and the Potential to be anything else.

However, she is sensing strands in this room. It takes a bit of concentration to realize that they are not attached to the walls and floor of the structure, but that the room itself seems to have strands. At that point, she realizes that they are faded strands... as if something happened long ago in this room and the strands are all that remain.