Night Falls on Daeor [Rosinderian Uprising ~ Open Thread]

[Malum]

An alloy is an alloy is an alloy; a combination of metals that in turn, due to their atomic makeup have electrons that are shared in a way that allows free flow of them between atoms at phenomenal speeds. This phenomenon was known to some as electricity? What a bizarre occurrence to witness such sorcery, such unabashed manipulation of nature as to cast the most powerful of electrical blows to such an alloy! Why, the speed and transmission of electrons throughout such an alloy would be enough to generate degrees within the thousands that conducts all-too-well in an alloy. Thankfully for Aiden, he had this alloy at his disposal to transmit his electrical attack. Why, even if it were a compound, so too would such an incomprehensible strike of power generate annihilation and fusion of the compound in such a way as to ruin/alter its very structure and thus change its properties from its benevolent defiance of physics. God bless alloy.

There were more pressing matters, there was neurotoxin fallin upon Aiden, along with meteors falling upon the city where he was stationed.

“Oh c’mon, love!” He cried out to his comrade in the skies, his words likely washed out by the commotion.

Aiden took two courses of action, the first was to rally his Custodians who loyally redirected meteors away from their force and upon the fortress. The second was to transform his epidermis into a resilient display of electrical discharge. He had essentially made himself a mobile lightning humanoid. The ionized air within immediate proximity of 1 inch of his form would destroy the molecular makeup of the toxin to defend himself against what daeor would have to withstand.

As Aiden could expect no less than dissolution of his opponent’s precious alloy, he decided it time to take final strike with power bestowed to him by arcane enhancement. Aiden whispered thanks and praise to the Custodians in his own minds, their homage would be paid in full when he was done. And so from the ground Aiden’s form rose in electrical might, his form radiating with electrical discharge as he ascended some 50 feet above the ground, the light of his form flickering and dancing to sound of .

Aiden pointed at the fortress where he would unleash a form of lightning spawned from the erratic occurrences of miniature black holes. One upon itself had miniscule effects on its surroundings, but Aiden had no intention of summoning one. Upon the surface hundreds of thousands of miniature black holes would synthesize and be annihilated from existence releasing massively energetic discharge, the combination of which would decay matter at its source and abolish it from existence. Like the sound of a gattling gun they began to eat away at the walls of the fortress with nothing to stand in their way.

[Corban]

They sent priests after her or something? Even the technologists feared death, especially when they invaded other people's lands! Euphaire kicked away from the interposing man, landing solidly on the ground several meters away. Where once was just one man was now two, and soon to be zero. Payne's bomb struck the pavement between them, and detonated forward. It was such a strange phenomenon to behold. One would think that bombs would have a perfectly circular radius. Instead, this one remembered where it was thrown, and went in the opposite direction.

Point blank. Blue fire. The collapsing of ambient energies reversed in a fuel-air explosive of otherworldly proportions, engulfing the two Renovators.

Euphaire wasted no time. The vast majority of the fuel would've cleanly burned at their very souls and armor, but the ground and bodies were still gelled. The Duskblade dashed forward, time seemingly slowing down for her. Her hands sparked as she took gravity's reins and slammed them forward and up into Cartyr's chest. The air lensed as she dropped his mass with a pat, then leaned in with her left shoulder. If he wasn't already staggered from the blast, he and his compatriot would be as she heaved him backwards.

She was doing well. Momentum maintained. Dropping her shoulder let her hands roll smoothly, with her right reaching for Eden Raid. The last swing was a feint; this was the real deal. One swing, and the air sheathe would explode the rest of the napalm gel at them.

[Corban]

This Resistance theatre was unusually well-armed, even distributing Nexus Link™ communicators. While ascending the maintenance shafts, Corban activated it. "Ahem. Corban calling in. Was struck by orbital weapon in descent. Meant to hit Security, got Residential instead. What was that? Weapon's down? Great! Will take out the rest of their infrastructure post-haste!"

"Who's there?" A voice called from a side tunnel. The technician cautiously shined a flashlight across, then looked down. A thwack from above knocked him out, sending the flashlight falling to the bottom of the shaft.

"Hmm, maintenance workers. Expected in maintenance tunnels." Sliding into said side tunnel, he propped the unconscious man up so he didn't fall on his head. He plucked the headset and gear off the man and attached them to his person. Of the League of Mages, Corban had the greatest affinity with magitech and technology. He was a futurist, improving upon the advances of the past in novel ways. This cold and sterile piece of metal in his hands may not have talking spirits, but it represented something: unity. His own magical equipment interfaced with it. "Maps! Central Command, here we go!" Spreading his hands apart, he slid down the tunnel on magnets, popping out like a snake into a vertical tunnel. Kicking off the ladder rungs, he zigzagged through the pipes.

"Power conduits. Wonder where they lead. Could use one to summon reinforcements." Suddenly, Corban had an idea!

[Anathema]

~Give No Pause to Your Attacks!

Payne was never one to wait for her attacks to connect or not, she never stood back to watch. Everything remained in real time as she flipped the blade in her hand. The shift of the hilt swirled in her palm as the blade now faced downwards. The cold steel ran like power in her hands, as the energy continued to grow. The beings ahead of them, creatures in her peripherals. Her thoughts were gone, the madness was building faster into her body. She only seemed to smirk at the delicate position these beings ahead laid. They wanted to play a game of being invincible, anybody could play that. Science was magic in this game.

--
Genesaris Xiares.

The blast had landed infront of them as Euphaire had jumped back, the power of the blast shook the battlefield. The planet roared with a groan as the floor beneath them would begin to collapse, earthen materials becoming decayed as the blast immediately destroyed the existence of the soil. The blast on contact would fire forward in a cone that would blast everything in it's path. Anything in the plane of physical and metaphysical existence would be wiped entirely from view at this point. The forest, soil, earth, life would be completely destroyed. The blast rose as the cone continued to expand releasing every amount of energy encrystalled into the blast. It was high enough it scraped the edges of the floating city's bottom, shattering several bits.

Worst guardians ever, to let such a thing go off.

---

Payne charged forward, the weapon hummed slightly, as an aura of blue energy swirled around her body. Immediately the aura turned a dark purple, shuddering for a moment and becoming more and more invisible to the eye. The Custodians had boosted her armor, allowing her movement when her Phantasmic shell was up, disabling her connection to feeling physical and magical attacks. She rushed right into the blast, and spun the weapon again into her palm. As Euphaire attacked above, she slid along the crumbling earth as it sent them up. Her skirt wavering as li podkletnov spun rapidly, rising her form off the ground just to be below the beings. She would slash her blade up, as the energy traveled from the last her match into the blades, a blade of pure energy, like a blade beam shot from her weapon.

Their position? Right below Daeor. If the so-called-Guardians were there to protect Daeor then they would take the blade slice or find a way to block it, if not. The weapon's beam of slashes traveled high into the air, and met it's true intent. Slicing right into the floating's city side view, destroying a quarter of the property from below and above.

[Aloyseus]

"Alright, then. Let's go for a walk."

And then the world slipped away.

The space between here and there, now and then faded across one another, crossing like threads weaving a pair of seams into a whole, and then fading into the background noise of reality itself. In that brief instant, he swore that he could hear the entirety of the universe shifting several thousand miles away, like a piece of furniture being shoved across a hardwood floor. Yes, that was what it was. He hadn't moved at all. It was as if the entire universe itself has moved. A deep form of teleportation, he brought himself closer to the rocky bottom of the floating fortress. A mere flick of his wrist once more, and lances of divine roared across the belly of the floating civilization, ripping through several conduits and metallic constructs that were linked to keeping this beast floating.

Manipulating the waveforms of coalescing weaves masterfully, several beams bore themselves deep inside, some even piercing through so far as to erupt from above along the surface of the mobile construct. They would appear as pillars of light piecing the heavens and splitting the space and everything that was existent apart, ripping through atoms and other constructs that were flying and moving about above. This being showed no mercy, he reigned upon this machine and administer of agony and destruction with a firm hammer of justice and divine.

Silver locks cascaded over his sanguine visage as he felt the presences of those powerful above. Still his right hand whipped through the air and commanded forces of arcane weavings, mystical pressure completely consuming the bottom of the gliding monster as to hinder it and further destroy the abusive tyranny that it had bestowed upon the lands of Ronsinder. The true objective behind his series of moderate attacks were to destroy the platforms that projected pressure along the air, or rather, kept this thing moving. Doing this would bring down this massive continent and cause it to collapse along with whoever else was working along the surface. A hesitant form of doubt filled the face of the assaulting hume, hoping that those along the surface that were allies wouldn't be effected too harshly by this action that he knew was needed.

"Sleep dear children of innocence, dreamers of the future, and builders of a new world. The war, your fear, your hindrance is breathing its final breaths of existence."

[Zach]

Between all the commotion around, and above him. Rhezzo got an order from command, they wanted him to officially evacuate non-combatants from the city below Daeor. Lifting the Ravenbrand up toward the bottom of the metallic behemoth of a city. Rhezzo shrugged then finally released all that pent up energy inside of him. Using the Aura-Null ability to bombard the city from the bottom he curled the force into a percussive kinetic blast that took on the form of an Obsidian Ray. The Bichun Ray technique one of the newest abilities in his repetoire would jet from the Ravenbrad, apart of Rhezzo's innate Aura. It would shear toward the heavens with a massive clap of power that sent shockwaves that could be heard the whole area. The pillar would shoot into the fortress from the bottom to hopefull give a startling shake to those inside. If anything it was a warning to Corban to hurry on with the dismantlement of the cities engines. Someone was being called in to mop up this massive fortress, or whatever.

"Alright! Alpha Team, Bravo Team gather up your supplies and prepare for civilian evacuation. Any of those grunts within the city, kill 'em if they even look like they're reaching for a weapon!"

The power itself could be seen amid the rain, it blasted a hole into the very bottom, where cumbling stone would begin to crack. And or fall in clumps below, Those mobile Shield devices came in handy shielding them from the debris. Mounting upon his horse, Rhezzo would watch observantly at his men as they began to mobilize onto the town just a little to their west. Seems like this had been a little too easy, well at least he had made his little shot out at the damned thing. He hoped that whatever technology was within its confines wouldn't fall into the wrong hands to be used. Immediatly aftweards, they would arrive into the small town where civilians were being directed from their homes. Whatever was to happen next with this damned floating tower. It was sure to be a hell of a fireworks show. He could already note where his blast had permanently scarred the scaffolding.

Sitting upon his steed, as soon as the civilians were packed up they were out of here. He didn't want to be anywhere near here when that flying piece of shit came down. Thusly so, he looked over his shoulder at the civilians as they gathered miscallaneous items. Some were ready to be led wherever they would go to next, some fighting with the Soldiers. The indiscretions of War, as it were. When one side was bound to lose, it was up to the other side to show a human face, beneath the monstrous fangs beared. A less then honorable enemy would've had the men executed, and the women and children sold as sex slaves. However that was not the way this war would be led by the bastions of the Resistance.

[Traxien Cion]

Admin post

It has been brought to my attention that this thread and its direction have become a point of contention among several of the participants. As such, the administration thinks it necessary to issue a statement regarding the actions that have taken place here.

Here are a few points that I want to raise about how you're expected to behave if you want to roleplay on Valucre:

1. Realize that this is a collaborative roleplay environment. This means that the type of ego masturbation that has been going on here is unacceptable. You are expected to give some and take some if you want to participate.

2. The Valucre canon is strictly mild powers. We usually don't feel the need to enforce this, but this thread has caused us to question whether or not it will be necessary in the near future. We do not allow absolutes. Note that both sides are guilty of this.

3. In a war environment, it's important to understand scale. One mage might not be able to create a massive firestorm, but an entire company certainly could. Also take note of logistics and the plausibility of claims of might or resources.

4. I've noticed that some people are arguing IC; that is, through roleplay posts. This shouldn't be the case. If you have an issue with someone, then take it to PM. If there is some refusal to correspond, then bring it up to an administrator. Remember point #1.

5*. Arms races should take place prior to a battle and not before it. Cities are gained and lost in wartime - if your army is caught unprepared, then don't buff it up just because the opponent came in stronger. Time should be spent building up forces and establishing powers - not just fighting. At the very least make sure to keep a concrete list of capabilities, resources, and manpower. This ties in with point #3.

If the players fail to adhere to these guidelines, then the administrators are going to step in as DMs and interpret the direction of the thread after every round.

*basically, don't metagame.

[sunbreaker_]

Upon entering the area at all, Honor had been privy to some sort of planar machinations being in place. At the edge of its area of influence, he had found that natural processes requiring a transition between two planes had ceased; a simple few paces to his left and right and particularly astute abilities of perception and deduction had then given him the rough size and shape of the field, in addition to the nature of its attributes. As Honor had then proceeded willingly into this field, it stands that he had found its properties to not apply to any of the things he does.

Honor knows planeswalkers; powerful beings, and among what would be the principal targets of this area of influence. Honor slew his first one by manipulating her into phasing into a flagpole protruding from the grounds of her courtyard; he then broke each of her fingers, drew the veins from both her legs, used them to secure her wrists to the pole, then gouged her perineum and left her to bleed dry. Planar ascendants, also quite powerful, are another potential target of the field employed by the invading forces. The one ascendant Honor met was a guard to a king, so Honor left his skinned musculature sitting upon the throne with his flesh in a wreath, mounted as heraldry on the hearth behind it.

He is neither of those things, nor is he any sort of thing the field can, by design, properly perceive. As his form does not interfere in any way with energies of any kind, there are no planar disturbances for any registers to record. As his physical presence is not known to the space it occupies, there are no means for any devices or beings to recognize that something occupies that space. Similarly, as his intent cannot be perceived from without—another consequence of subliminality; spells, abilities, and the like with effects that sense intent return no data when he occupies this state—the field cannot determine whether or not he is malevolent, nor can it detect his state was brought about by means of maligned ether or negative faith.

In his subliminal state, Honor is not even a needle in a planar haystack.

He is hay.

Several actions indicate the mage's insistence that she knows someone to be present; Honor recognizes them all as fear. Within moments, she teleports, as is the wont of mages, no doubt freeing herself from the radius of an attack likely meant to scourge the area. By his count, this will make two attempts on his life.

Teleportation spells when unprepared leave substantial magical residue, but Honor supposes this one to have been augmented or otherwise enhanced. He has seen many mages move in this manner, and is suitably well-versed in the properties of different sorts of teleportations. It does not take a cognitive moment for him to cross-reference the likely locations a general might inhabit with the areas experiencing heretofore absent swellings of magical energy, nor to deduce from there where she has moved. It is, after all, simply another chase to him; the variables change, but the formula remains the same.

As one walks through a gate or door, Honor simply steps through the air, leaving the sea of Custodians before the harbingering whine begins and crossing the liminal from his present location to one nearer to the mage. It is crude air, this door, no more distinct than the air men breathe, and the effect of his movement on his subliminal state is the same as the effect of walking: absolutely nothing. Notably, as the door is only for him, it does not exist as such to anyone else.

Even had they the security against his door, security is never totally infallible, and control was an illusion.

[Traxien Cion]

Locked pending discussion between the parties.


Also, I already requested that you stop arguing with IC posts.

++ In order to perceive one must interact, as is the nature of the world of Valucre and MP in general.

[Julius Aldoid]

OOC: Anyone who wishes to join the thread or continue is to contact Indi so that the further story may be organized as this is to become a DMed and private roleplay. I repeat, this is now a private roleplay.

Within the glimmering city of Daeor, there sat a man. It was a strange symbol Aldoid though- a massive golden tower where apparently some manner demiurge lied sleeping. Around him roaches and chaos and destruction and madness and all the torrent that angry mages could muster. He looked about again and sighed.

And with a sudden jolt, a woman was standing before him. Those vicious eyes looked back at him and he felt like a young man again. Last time they had met, she had elected to not take his life. A man ran over to her, pressing a mask to her face. There was neurotoxic gas everywhere after all.

"Forty three years. Ya look good kid." He kept his words brief. She was none too pleased to ask him here.

"Sir," one of his technicians minding the planar anchor blared into his ear, "It seems we getting the ping of some strange, luminal entity."
he gestured to hold a moment to Coda.
"Is it peering in?"
"seems interposed."
"What? That is silly," he coughed, scratching his nose.
"And we detect some manner of what seems like dimensional door."
"If it disappears, let it go, if it remains, it might be an aberration. Force contact for to identify otherwise be locked out from this plane for the duration of my presence. Helldivers, you are the bagmen in this- any contingency is to your digression in the matter.”
"Understood," said the Technician
“Oro eist Xitha,” muttered the Cartographers. Roughly the same sentiment.

The man checked his pocket watch, worried that the neurotoxin would be getting though his Cartographic seal. It was fine.

"Ignore the hovering city," he said to Coda, it running over the entire Nexus, "my boys scanned what it was made out of. It’s a fraud."

Juli walked over to his staff, which had been set standing up, and grasped it, the rings of it glimmering in the light as though the rain had hit it. He had noticed an illusion when he first entered, but had thought it the super tiny devices he had heard were switched in for an illusory proxy. The roaches had been empowered by custodial aura, and so likely would start to munch on the lovely simulacrum. A scan of the ground by Punch Eye Divination Rig revealed that the whole thing was merely an illusion. The frayed nature was due to a lack of maintenance- it was well composed and somewhat interactive; stable enough, but something like that cant last very long. If he were the teacher, they would have gotten a B: Strong effort, but lacking in fundamentals or novelty. Then again, he was horridly biased being that illusions were his primary art.

“Seems the gents just up and left, and set this interactive illusion right here. Simulacrum spell- acts exactly like the real thing. In this case, it did too much and started to break itself. Lots of good of empirical avenues covered… but it was too big and to fancy and too good. Illusions shouldn’t rely on force of their spells.”

He stopped himself when he was prattling to his former apprentice.

“So my side of the bargain is fulfilled. I shall let you finish things here before we discuss price. Would be a bit odd if something like this was just a spell unto itself though. Has to be an artifact somewhere nearby making this. Would guess it was in the lower city. The boys are getting some weird readings coming from down there anyway. Whatever the case, someone wanted this thing still here even though the cat is away. Maybe you can find out for me. Your House seems to be quite well organized, maybe point them that way yeah?”

She would hear a little click in her ear. Perhaps it would dawn on her the structure they were sitting in. It was a lovely cage.

“Turned off teleporting with your link for you. You can talk to the others still, though I can't having you running off. Still owe me a debt for all those Custodians I furnished you with,” Julius smiling to Coda as they stood.

I sudden howl of feedback would come in over the nexus.

"Tali," Julius asked, "please stop putting the nexus device in your mouth."

He turned back to Coda. He was a touch reticent to inform that Tali was his new apprentice. Would not go over well.

Anyone who wishes to join the thread or continue is to contact Indi so that the further story may be organized as this is to become a DMed and private roleplay. I repeat, this is now a private roleplay.

[Inalitalllane]

Well, well, well, if it wasn't the Man of Miracles himself. Julius' haughty reputation proceeded him so well, that Coda was getting sick on the fumes of his public personae. He stood with a chipper mood, resolute and always sincere, even if he was trying so hard to fake madness. A genuine illusionist; the wise fool; the constant oxymoron. Coda gave him a look that bore into his rainbow stained soul, but her look could not withstand his gaze any longer than a few passing seconds. In shame, her look was downcast. The violent wind caught the turquoise locks of her hair just as one of Juli's lackeys placed a mask over her mouth. The familiar stare of thought overtook her for a moment while she gaped into space. He had spoken something that had cut through her like a knife, causing her to shiver as all the old skeletons clawed at her from the closet. Now was not the time for verbal scourge and retribution from revelry, no matter how difficult it proved to hold her tongue.

"Forty three years. Ya look good kid."

"It's nice to see you still keep your promises, Mr. Aldoid," was all she could muster through ground teeth.

"Sir - It seems we getting the ping of some strange, luminal entity."

"Ignore the hovering city. My boys scanned what it was made out of. It’s a fraud."

"What?!" blurted out Coda in a fit of rage, and her hair flew backwards as every single cockroach and droplet of rain froze. It was one of the potent side-effects of magic, your emotions and will are completely linked. As a result of being so caught off-guard, there wasn't a single roach that hadn't posed for the camera. It must have looked as though they were suspended in space. "If this is an illusion, then what's its purpose?! I've many mages who are still being caged and brutally tortured! If our enemy is not Renovatio, then to whom does the point of my staff aim?!" Her eyes had become so fiery and her mood so very fierce, that Juli would have to tap dance around a few stray lightning bolts should he wish to calm her down.

When Julius had spoken of his side of the bargain being fulfilled, the black unicorn lazily turned its head and she steered the horse around. "Your side of our bargain is not yet fulfilled. The agreement was that you would help me fight the enemies of Rosinder, and our enemies are still clearly at large." The tone of her voice was dark and her brow furrowed low. Rustling from the ceramics of her glaive came as her armor powered down. There was no point in wasting precious auryl when you've not an enemy to attack. "Come! Alrión! Let us round up the others!" With a toss of its overly-grown mane and a strong whinny, the horse reared and then bucked, kicking the top hat cleanly off of Juli's head before going into a full gallop around the circular perimeter of the city.

"Melarne, Aiden, Amara, Valick, Payne. Remobilize your forces to the lower city. Take out any hostiles. I'll be sending someone to speak with you shortly..."

[Inalitalllane]

http://www.valucre.com/threads/5188-All-Engines-To-Full

Tälï held onto the edge of the wing of the Aethon as they flew closer to Earth at top speeds.

"Nyeeeer!" cried the girl, absolutely enchanted at the mechanical device that soared through the heavens. The wind flew through her hair and feathers, causing them to give off their Celestial radiance by a kind of dispersion that the plumage in her feathers caused when travelling quickly.

"Miss, I don't think it's safe for you to stand on the wing!" cried the geist piloting the plane, and though there was no physical body present in the cockpit, you could tell he was rather panicked. "AHHH!"

The harpy-like young woman pressed her face to the cockpit window from the outside peering in, her face all squished against the glass. "FATHTUH!**" shouted she in triumph, the tones of her voice clearly muffled by being pressed into the glass.

"Madam! Passengers are meant to ride INSIDE of the fuselage during descent and take-off--AHHHH!"

Tälï flattened her body across the window of the cockpit as they dived into the Rosinderian atmosphere rendering the geist blind. Did he need LOS to land the plane? To make matters more rambunctious, the crunchy deliciousness of her Nexus Link was about to be swallowed when the plane caught fire travelling through Valucre's thicker atmospheric layers. Julius' voice came over the Link, telling her not to eat the scrumptious device. With a sulk, the bird-maiden was obedient, but could not reply due to being pinned to the glass from centrifugal force.

"AHHHH!" cried the pilot.
"NYEEER!" cried Inalitalllane.

--Moments Later---

An explosion streaked across the background over Daeor's valley. Though no one saw her do it, Coda let out an elongated sigh of disappointment. "All that mechanical mastery and still yet to add landing gear to any of his planes..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~

** "FATHTUH!" = "Faster!"

[Inception]

What awe-stricken fuchsia eyes took in was a scene of total confusion and barbarism. A war of between two upstanding forces was diminished in the instance the illusion dissipated and it was revealed to be nothing more than a farce. The true forces and inhabitants had long since fled the city, and now nothing was left but a few remaining civilians and fighters that refused to flee their homelands. The saint of purity couldn't help but stare in a mix of various emotions that couldn't equate to anything quite as accurately as he would have wished. As much as he wished that a war between two opposing forces could just end and live in harmony, he saw that it was proving to be quite an impossible task.

Ligaments shook and booted heels uprooted from the flat surface of gaia beneath him, while a warped sigil appeared underneath his body. Craning his head backward, and his arms outstretched, the saint which pursued happiness was taken by a halo that slowly engulfed his body from his crown to the very soles of his feet. A mere shift if appearances, his body had now shifted into the form of innocuous wanderer. Garbed in royal alabaster silk as pallid as his previous overcoat, the figure was hooded and unidentifiable by anyone that may lay eyes upon it. Rather than providing itself with an entirely physical form, an ethereal wisp would be better suited for investigation of this hovering fortress' take-over.

In a movement best described as contemporary, the ashen figure faded in a single step forward. Within every second it reappeared in a new location closer to the hovering world, separating every fleeting movement with several meters that were cleared in every instance. Well aware that the environment was hostile, the embodiment held a sense of spatial awareness that cleared it for anything that might remain a threat against him. Still the resonance of previously implemented/utilized magick was fresh in the air, and brought about a sense of pressure on anyone within the area of the continuum of events.

Where Adalhard Valente once stood, a sigil of a indescribable etchings remained, emblazoned into the surface of the earth as to mark his previous existence at a time that was now gone.

[sunbreaker_]

On the other side of his gate—a single step away in terms of motion, though much more in terms of distance traveled—Honor reassesses the situation. It would appear that the very city to which siege was being lain does not properly exist.

More pertinently, however, the woman called Coda has retreated to a position more heavily fortified by her allies. From his vantage point does he perceive her and her ilk, studying them, absorbing information. Heights, projected weights. Hair, eye, and skin colors. Dress tendencies. Posture. These observations yield related deductions: projected area of habitation. Political standing. Age. Marital status.

Progeny. Diet.

Already, Honor is moving back through the abandoned battlefield, his mind still processing and re-processing data. No step leaves a print in his subliminal state—not that it would otherwise—and every twenty or so steps is a gate. Even when he cannot be perceived, he plies precautions to preclude potential pursuers. After all, does he not know the ways of his own kind?

Thus, though he is exiting the area, Coda has lost the ability to stand among acquaintances he does not know. She will never eat a meal he has not seen prepared, nor will she bathe in waters he has not seen decanted. She will never set foot upon earth that he has not crossed, nor draw air into her lungs that he has not known.

People may cast aside their honor, after all, but they never escape it. Never.

[supernal]

Synopsis

The events that have taken place in Daeor are intricate and confusing, but the simplified version is as follows. A woman by the name of Coda, one that seems to harbor some manner of bitter spite towards Arthur while simultaneously recognizing Arthur's importance in the Resistance, leads a small faction of devout followers, a mix of the League of Mages and the Resistance, against Daeor.

Here, the exact details get a little blurry. The League of Mages and the Resistance pose a formidable threat and mount a serious offense against Daeor. A number of Renovation soldiers step out to meet those that fight on behalf of Rosinder, and a battle of egregious ability ensues. Powers clash, bright lights snapped into existence before fading away and, soon, the truth is revealed.

The upper half of Daeor, the giant castle floating in the sky, proved to be nothing more than an illusion. Those living in the lower half were real though, and they were dealt with by the Resistance as the League of Mages hung back. Some citizens were killed outright, but the vast majority were marched to the borders of Rosinder and thrown back home.