Argentus started to raise an eyebrow at the leader, then checked himself.  Argentus would be dubious himself if a dead man tried to walk into his meeting.  "Fair enough:  I haven't been able to be around much of late, lest the people that thought they killed me find out they should come back and finish the job.  Personal bit of advice to anyone who's not Moros: If you're going to get banished to a supernal realm, try to make sure it's not Stygia.  Worst vacation spot ever."

He concentrated for half a moment, uncloaking his nimbus: he began to glow slightly from within, and a constellation seen nowhere else before began to take shape above his head.  The constellation seemed to draw the eye and the mind to a higher plane of understanding, which remained just out of reach.  "I am Master Argentus, member of the Silver Ladder, spirit Baron in my own right, and recognized with court names in Stygia, Aether, and the Jovian courts."

He pointed outside the door.  "Outside still is Mistral, a friend of mine from another order, whose demise, like my own, was greatly exaggerated and who, like myself, has something of an inside track on what's been going on lately.  I will abide by this council's decision on whether she may sit in with us, and if allowed whether she may speak of what is discussed outside the order."

OOC: Mistral, are you a master of space?  If not I'll edit your title above.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:51, Wed 08 Jan 2020.

 The leader looked at you for several moments before speaking. "The Supernal Realms? You've been there? and returned? How?!?"

 Argentus found that those around him now stared with a general sense of wonderment.

Argentus nodded.  "In order: Yes, Yes, Yes, and ..."  He came up short, realizing something and turned to look at the stranger.  ""Hold up - I recognize most of you, but who is this?"

He scrutinized the man's pattern with his Prime and Spirit sights, which he had generally had active in every combat and investigative encounter, trying to discern whether he had seen him before.  Argentus mentally noted that some of the others might find himself having a second eye that moved around (rather than the old glass eye) a change.

07:58, Today: Argentus rolled 2 successes using 7d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 4,6,4,10(+4),5,1,10(+7).  Int/Occ scrutinize the stranger.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:00, Wed 08 Jan 2020.

Mistral closed the portal behind them and followed Argentus into the Silver Ladder compound like a shadow, wearing more than one form of cloak and calling no attention to herself.  Apparently her red-haired comrade had some status in his Order, for they let him into a meeting with the senior mages with little question, though she remained just outside the door.  After he introduced her she took one step inside the door and greeted the gathered mages with a simple “Bonjour.”

The Silver Ladder were rightly incredulous about the claim to have escaped Stygia, but she spoke up in conformation, “Argentus speaks true.  We were banished to Stygia and faced thousands of deaths, but defied them all.  Our escape was brokered via strange roads and at great cost.  Now we are here, and the Concilium has summoned us.”  She was not inclined to say more on the matter of their escape, for she scarcely understood how it was done herself.  Mistral left it to Argentus to explain the summons.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:43, Wed 08 Jan 2020.

 Looking more closely, the new person was one of the junior members of the Silver Ladder (or had been). The other mages paused for a moment before speaking. "He's… your replacement. You were considered dead for months and we needed to fill your position."

 The man waved his hand. "But that's a discussion for later. The Supernal Realms and the Concilium, those need to be discussed. If you were invited to the Concilium, then it means you are somehow connected to Promethius. Am I correct?"

Argentus smiled when he recognized the former-junior member.  He nodded at their decision to fill his position.  "That's fair, completely reasonable, and certainly within everyone's rights."

He thought for a moment before adding, "Might I request the Deacon move that you all amend the rules of operation to add one seat to the current area Council, with the first seat to empty not refilling in perpetuity?  That way we can avoid any awkwardness and move forward to the more important business?"  Argentus had no desire to oust the young man who had replaced him, but he did want to be able to speak from within the council, rather than as a guest when important matters came up.

When asked about Prometheus, he nodded again.  "Yes.  He was here with some help for us when we returned from Stygia.  I don't know much about him, but we worked together in blunting the storm and resolving some of the tangential issues related to it.  Why has he been summoned by the Consilium and not his own order?"  He asked curiously.

 There was a pause when asked about adding a second deacon seat as the leader looked at everyone else. "Anyone oppose?"

 No one raised their hands so the leader smiled and nodded. "Then it is done."

 Afterwards, the leader sighed. "Look, this thing has blown up. A giant dragon, an unnatural storm, a magical solar flare, and rumors of an anti-mage weapon out in the pacific. All the evidence the Concilium has gathered ties it back to Promethius's arrival in New York and this concilium isn't some local thing. Leaders in the magical community the world over are portalling in to attend.

 Magisters from France, Germany, China, and Italy have already arrived and more are coming. Everyone wants to know about the dragon and mage weapon and how they're related to the storm and solar flare. If you know anything, then we could really use your help getting this sorted before everything starts."

The Silver Ladder leadership, and the Concilium, were apparently lacking a great deal of information about what was going on.  Even given their ignorance, Mistral did not follow their reasoning for pinning it all on Prometheus.  Mistral asked, “Begging pardon, but might I ask the reasoning behind attributing all of these far-ranging and massive-scale events on Prometheus alone?  Why the fixation upon him?  Surely this one rogue sorcier does not command such vast power and resources.”

Mistral awaited their answers and then asked vaguely, “Talion.  The infamous synth-tech mogul who was framed for our murders.  You know of him, non?  Are either the Silver Ladder or Concilium aware of his nature, and his circumstances following his emprisonnement?”  If they were only aware of him as a human synth-tech innovator there would be a great deal to explain.

 The leader nodded. "Well, his arrival in town coincided with several strange phenomenon. First, Noah's synthetic shop, the Ark, vanished and, the very next day, a massive neon green ship appeared in the harbor.

 Promethius is a known associate of Noah's and there are only 12 people in the entire world that can work with synth tech in any meaningful way... well, 11 now. Promethius is on that list.. and the only one in New York that isn't dead or in jail.

 We've examined the resonances on the ship, though it is heavily warded, and it matches similar resonance in the dragon, the storm, and the solar flare.

 In addition, we found two synthetic mages on the ship when we went to investigate it. A small child and a glowing synth. Promethius is known to try and advance life using synthetic technology. Our working hypothesis is that he's learned how to fabricate synthetic mages using Noah's research.

 Our attempts to find out more were cut off. We sent in our best infiltration experts to try and find out the purpose of the ship, but we lost contact with our team only four minutes into the operation. Our current working theory is that it is some sort of anti-mage weapon."


 However, the leader paused at the mention of Talion. "Talion? What about him? We know he's a mage of some degree of power but he has little to do with any of the orders. He seems more interested in talking to vampires and werewolves than his own kind.

 We know he was up to something in that compound of his, but I imagine most of that has fallen apart once he was put in prison. Why ask? It's not like he could do anything while under surveillance from that many sleepers, no matter how powerful he is."

On a better day, Argentus might have laughed as the strange circumstances were explained from another's perspective.  However, the events were truly inscrutable to those around, who had also gone through difficult times.  It was no laughing matter.

"Prometheus's arrival coincided with our return from Stygia, which is more integrally related with the phenomena."  Argentus started.

He continued, trying to keep the rest as concise as he could to avoid confusion.  "Noah also came back from Stygia with us.  The boat is his.  Not sure about what happened to your team.  The rest is best explained by knowing a bit about Talion."

He considered how much to say.  "Most or all of this information should be closely guarded: As far as I understand, Talion is either an Archmage of incredible power or a spirit of equivalent power, possibly merged with a related mortal.  The Jovian court knows him as Emperor Apocalypse.  The Garou, as the Wyrm.  He intimates that these names are because he was forced to absorb a nearly infinitely powerful weapon of destruction into his pattern as the last resort as he was recovering it from being in the wrong hands.  He was working on an experiment to counter some of the effects of the fallen world on magic.  We had begun to work on his behalf to oppose a Demon... or group of them, which we learned about the night of our disappearances."

He gave them but a moment to absorb the data, then continued.  "Demons, some Nephandi, a space mage, a necromantic technologist, and possibly some true Fae, conspired to steal Talion's children - whose nature I am not 100% clear on but may be the synthetic mages you were looking into.  Talion's conscious mind tried to restrain his subconscious, but with the level of power and the level of impotent rage he felt with dozens of innocents being kidnapped as hostages against his action, his subconscious formed both the solar flare and the rage spirits who generated the storm.  We recovered the children for Talion, which allowed for the storm to be much more blunted than it would have been.  The Nephandi have been executed.  The Demons and space mage are up in the air - all I know for certain about the demons is that it was one of their power that sent us to Stygia, theoreticall removing us permanetnly from being able to disrupt their plans.  The true Fae involvement we haven't begun to investigate yet."

He stopped there and looked around for water.  "Mistral, please feel to correct or add to my report wherever you know can and seems prudent to you."

 The leader paused for several seconds. "You're telling me that one mage, in full view of hundreds of sleepers, subconsciously worked an act of will so great that it dwarfs every work of will since before the days of Atlantis? And what about the dragon?"

 One of the other members of the council interrupted. "Noah has something to do with the dragon, doesn't he?"

 There was a pause, a look of "aha" and then a look of "oh no" that passed over their faces almost simultaneously as they all came to the same conclusions at once. The leader spoke up, almost as if he dreaded hearing the answer. "He's behind the dragon in the photo, isn't he?"

Mistral responded to Argentus, "You explained it rather comprehensively.  I've nothing to add, but I expect there shall be questions."

The leader was rightfully skeptical, but Mistral shook her head and said, "It is a mistake to consider Talion and the cataclysm he has wrought in terms of will-working as we know it.  The laws that constrain our will-working do not apply in the same way to a being of his power, if at all.  As Argentus has said, he is not merely a mage but a titanic spirit of near godlike power.  He has concealed his nature well, it seems, and so I would not expect you to believe such an extraordinary claim.  Perhaps the Concilium would do well to make contact with him."

On the question of Noah and the dragon, Mistral pursed her lips and considered how much to tell.  She said, "You could say Noah was behind the dragon, in part.  The bulk of what was seen during the storm was of une nature technologique.  Experimental technology, though will-working was involved as well.  I am not qualified to explain it further than that, but Noah himself will have a more detailed explanation to present to the Concilium.

 The leader of the Silver Ladder raised a quizzical brow. "You're saying that a Mage Spirit, capable of will working a cataclysm without the risk of paradox, summoned magic strait out of myth and legend, from behind bard, without any ritual components, and while under surveillance?

 I'm sorry, young lady, but I find that hard to believe. Still, I'll have someone dispatched to see if we can contact him. However, you do understand that such a breach of the veil is a grave offense. If he is somehow capable of magic on such a scale, such a gross misuse of power has certainly caused severe damage to the Tapestry. The likelihood of paradox has likely been increased severely due to such a display of hubris."

Argentus nodded.  "I made no comment on Paradox.  I don't know if he's more mage or spirit and whether Paradox applies to him like it does us, or not as it does for spirits.  However, there is something you need to understand.  When I said the Jovians call him Emperor Apocalypse, I was using Emperor in the technical sense."

Mistral could likely hear Argentus shifting slightly to educator mode as he geeked out on spirts... again.  "In terms of rank, let's ignore the spirits we'd actually run into day-to-day on the other side of the Gauntlet, and skip straight to the greater gods to get us closer to the right county in terms of power.  Even greater gods, like Kali, would mind their business in the presence of planetary gods like Helios, Luna, and Jupiter.  Those, in turn, use "please" and "thank you" meticulously - or for some, as little as they can get away with - in the presence of Emperor class spirits.  I mean, how could Helios, who embodies heat and light, fight a being that is actually the origin of and universal reference point for those concepts?  That is Talion's weight class, according to the spirit courts.  To be clear, the only being that can pull rank on him and make it stick is the Creator.  So... we may want to steer clear of words like 'grave offense' if we send a delegation.  Unless speaking of the child abductors."

He thought for a moment.  "As far as any offense Noah made: the storm and solar flare were incidental, conflicted subconscious workings in response to a threat to Talion's children.  Noah did what he had to do to make sure those children survived.  Does anyone want to take a minute to imagine what would happen if the being that includes in its patter the conceptual reference of 'Apocalypse' actually had its children killed?  If Noah is hypothetically guilty of an act of hubris, that alleged act of hubris saved the Atlantic seaboard, if not the continent.  As a conservative estimate.  Was it ideal?  No.  Did the abyss sneak in a win?  Somewhat.  But at least we are here to complain about it.  Quietly."

Argentus doubted that he would be fully believed, but he didn't add any evidence to his claims at this point.  If they wanted to question him further he'd respond, but he wasn't going to flaunt anything willy-nilly.

 The leader of the Silver Ladder stared at you. "The guy who invented synthetics, the guy who some of us have rubbed elbows with at charity events... you're saying that his pattern embodies the very concept of the end of everything? That's..."

"Insane?"
"Deluded?"

 The leader holds up his hand to silence the rest. "Hard to swallow. I don't believe you'd come all the way out here to tell us this if you didn't believe it but surely you understand just how far fetched this all sounds. Besides, he's been in prison for months. If he was really an emperor, why didn't he just walk out? Why all this now?"

 The leader shook his head. "Are you sure of all this? The Concilium is tomorrow. We don't have time to fully investigate what you've just said and it's so far out in left field that I don't believe people will accept it.

 If we're being fully honest, I'm not sure if even I believe it even when it comes from someone ranked within our Order. Can you give us anything concrete? Some tangible proof that we can use to sway the Magisters from other countries?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:14, Sun 12 Jan 2020.

"He did nothing but stew internally while sitting in jail because of the children being held hostage behind wards.  We made it back from Stygia and saved the kids, in the nick of time for the storm to be blunted from what it could have been."  Argentus responded calmly.

"As for evidence?"

He called Polt and pulled out a bottle.  "Polt is a death spirit sent to me by Pluto when I met him in Stygia, and a Stygian storm in a bottle.  For the rest, any Thyrsus or Thrice-Great, or any mage with sufficient Spirit and interest, could easily contact a sufficiently organized court - like Jupiter's - and ask where the most powerful spirit in town lives and what his rank is.  But more simply, as references to my knowledge of this matter, as well as honesty and integrity, any of the same group with Celestial contacts can verify that I am Custos and I do not lie.  I also have phone numbers for a few Garou who can verify at least part of what Talion is, though again, having a Thyrsus call or visit might go better.  These are the evidences I can offer without violating trusts or expending inordinately valuable resources."

He had no intention of burning his IOU on something so minor as a meeting of mages from all over the world.  Nor of even mentioning it.

 Polt finally... finally comes to the fore and manifests as the darkened spirit of some form of clerk. The man gives a curt bow. "I have been given the name 'Polt'. I am a diplomat sent by Pluto to assist this one. I indeed followed his trail through the lands of the dead."

 The little fairy also popped up. "I'm Niri. I wasn't present for the actual event but can confirm that he was given a divine name."


 The leader inclined his name toward the two spirits that spoke up for Argentus. However, he sighed. "I'm assuming you haven't heard about the Garou then? They were the ones to contact up about an impending spiritual storm involving the Wyrm.

 They came ready for battle and were almost all exterminated in the ensuing struggle. We saw most die but lost track of them when they retreated... but, by then their numbers were few.

 We lost a few hundred mages ourselves. This storm has cost us dearly. From what we can tell, the changelings suffered severe casualties too. We invited the vampires to aid us but we were told no outright by their prince. At first I thought they were cowards for refusing to try and defend their city... but now I think they knew something we didn't."

When the Silver Ladder leader condescendingly called Mistral ‘young lady’, he immediately received a withering glare from her.  She kept that glare going while letting Argentus speak for a time, as he was much better at it than she.


“We have only spoken from our experience, which has indeed been extraordinary.  Proof would have been easier to attain three months past, before Talion was locked away and held hostage by threats to his beloved, leaving his works to crumble.  The Adoni Institute has fallen, I understand, but there likely still remains there some fraction of his work on the convergence of the supernal realms.  I did not believe either, until I experienced it myself.  It would prove nothing regarding the storm, but it might provide a basis for understanding the so-called ‘impossible’ power we speak of.”

Mistral paused and added flippantly, “What I find difficult to believe is that the Concilium and the great sorciers of the Orders are so ill-informed of the true powers in conflict over the Fallen World.”

On the discussion of the other supernaturals and their involvement in battling the calamity, Mistral offered, “We have met a Garou survivor who was rather traumatized.  We were in contact with Prince Victor regarding the menace démoniaque, which may have been caused by a rogue vampire faction known as the Children of Pestilence.”  She shrugged, then added, “It was his information that brought us to the trap that banished us to Stygia, so I am less trusting of him now.”

Argentus nodded at the man's word about the storm involving the Wyrm.  "And by the Wyrm, they meant Talion."  He supplied.

He later raised an eyebrow at Mistral.  "Careful.  It wasn't so long ago - from our perception of time - that I was out of the loop too."

When she mentioned vampires, Argentus nodded again.  "The nature of the storm, I expect, had little to do with it.  How many vampires does anyone know who would stick his neck out for others when he could get others to do it for him?  I know exactly one."

 The man almost said something to Mistral when she mentioned how out-of-the-loop they were when it came to what was going on, but then Argentus spoke up and the man let it go. "You're probably right about the vampires and we'll see if we can get someone to go investigate the Adoni Institute when the storm subsides tonight, though I must still ask. What do you know of the giant boat? This... S.S Grey, I believe it was called? Most of the people in the Concilium believe it to be the source of all of our current woes. Do you know anything?"

Argentus nodded.  "Sorry - for some reason I hadn't connected the anti-mage ship you were talking about with the Grey.  Its connection to our present woes are almost entirely circumstantial.  It is the remnants of the Ark and some remnants of Talion's work, fused with a ship raised from the depths and repaired with Matter.  It is parked over an undersea node which Talion's subconscious will also used to fuel his storm, which probably made it seem like the source of it.  Something about the nature of the ship protected it from the spirits that generated the storm - likely Talion's knowledge that we were working from there to save his children.  I'll reach out to see if we have anything about the team that disappeared near there.  Though, from experience, if they let their mind's perceptions wander too near to the node when the storm was forming, it would have taken fantastic resilience to not have their patterns scoured cleanly from creation."

He texted Noah to see if he or Grey could tell him anything about a team of Silver Ladder mages who had come out to investigate the storm and the ship.

OOC:  Argentus would relay anything Noah gave him on the missing mages, and would ask if there was an agenda he should be playing toward - while this grand conclave might not have come about in the most ideal manner, the Silver Ladder had been hoping for a great or better for over a century and it would be a shame to have this go to waste.

~"They came on the ship with no one announcing or contacting the ship. When they showed clear foul intentions the security system activated. Only finding out about this now, and to be honest Grey did her job. She protected us and our charges from an un-announced, unmarked, and apparently hostile group."~

~"Well, boop.  Thanks.  I will pass things along."~

Argentus teared up.  He took a breath to calm and compose himself, then relayed to the assembled council, "The mage team showed up unannounced and hostile on a ship that was serving as a base for protection of children against their Nephandi, Demon, and other tormentors.  The security system activated against them, and we only found out about it now by direct inquiry.  I am so sorry.  What were their names?"

He deeply regretted that he hadn't been able to let the Consilium and Order know they were alive sooner.  Then that loss of life could have been avoided.

 "Raven, Nighthawk, Rhea, and Sparrow."