The Power of Ten

Chapter 7-183: Binding Heavenbound Hall

“I do not do this for myself. I do it for this world, and those beyond, in TRUTH.”

The Word rang out, and laid bare all falsehoods and lies, including to themselves. They were abruptly aware of their suspicions, jealousies, ambitions, distrust, and suspicion, arrogance and pride, and the feeling of threat coming from my rapid rise.

The Word crammed that truth right down their throats, and I could see and feel most of it, courtesy of my Detects and the like. The shame of it all burned on them as they were confronted with their failings.

“The people of this world now have some of the basic tools they need to truly defy the Shroud and take back their world, and perhaps defy those that are waiting beyond when they do so.

“They have a new measure of HOPE.”

They jolted again as the darkness in their thoughts burned away, cleansed away like the fog of a new day, and for a moment, they forgot all the past, all the pain, all the weight and striving and sacrifice, and felt that most fleeting and grandiose of emotions.

They all let out their breaths together, their eyes closing to bathe in the aftermath of that Word, and I let them.

“The world weighs down Good people. The Green, the Grey, the Blue, the Brown... they drag down good intentions, color them with their own faults and desires, waste them, dilute them, try to profit from them, and destroy them in so doing.

“But this is a high path we will be taking, the noblest one possible for the living... and for the dead. It will take unstinting determination to do what must be done; enterprise, perseverance, and persistence in the face of all who will ascribe what we are doing to a raw power grab, suppression, greed, ambition, and all of that.

“We will do what we must do, get done what must be done, and when the task is done... we must be able to walk away, the hardest part of all.

“It will take more than just courage to do this. It will take VALOR!”

They all jerked upright as their hearts swelled with the kind of courage and conviction only Heaven can bestow upon their own. It rang in their hearts and beat with the endless passion of martyrs and heroes who had given their all for a higher Cause.

I looked into their eyes, now burning with a fervor many of them had likely not possessed in their entire lives, except possibly the Paladin. “You are Sixes, and you have been fortunate to live under the Shroud.” They all kind of looked at me, wondering if I was daft. “There is a great deal we have to do BEFORE we wipe the Shroud, and it doesn’t mean wiping Shroudzones. There are already dire threats here, and if they are still here when the Shroud is cleared, it is likely you’ll all die, and we’ll lose the planet.”

They all gawked at me. “This... is this related to those tales of the Chinese Cultivators your people are talking about?” Senior Warlock Gorky finally spoke up.

“Not merely them. I have been informed that the Mantra of Enlightenment is here, too.” There was nothing positive in the grim notes of my voice. “Two hostile, lethal, and pervasive Cultivation empires somehow managed to insert themselves here under the Shroud. If the Shroud falls and they call to the entities above them for aid... they’ll wipe the Powered off the world, reduce humanity to slaves and servants, and harvest them for souls to create more of their own.

“There is literally no choice in this matter. We have to Kill Them All.” I let that sink in as I studied them.

“We have to Level all our people, and do it properly. Windgraf Mochtal can ensure that we have more Talented Powered able to get beyond Four than any other force. The making of Vivic Weapons basically requires skill in positive energy that only Good Casters have.

“And when we finish, and the Shroud is ripped away and the Dark Hierophant in its Cloud in Russia has exhausted its final scheme and been Fed to the Land... humanity has to be strong enough to face the sky and all the gods and powers that will suddenly realize that we are here.

“Councilors, I have seen the sky. I do not know if the Church of Sylune has noticed, or the astronomers of the world. I find it difficult to believe you do not know.” I turned my eyes on the Moonsister, who flushed faintly.

“You refer to the Alien Stars, Lady Traveler,” Elder Hrunnkrov spoke up from the end of the table somberly.

“Ah, you do know.” I let my eyes dance over them, and they averted their gazes guiltily. “This is a truth you will have to let the world know. If fear be what motivates them, well enough. It is better than what awaits them if they do not know.”

“We... were afraid that the people would chose to stay under the Haze, rather than dare exposure to true gods, and the evils that are out there,” Rosesister Lucia of Nuava spoke up quietly.

“They would only be damning themselves to eternal torture in the Shroud,” I scoffed. “No soul that has died since the Shroud came has gone to their reward... or their doom. The Shroud has them all... young, old, saints and sinners. From them, the Shroud draws its power, in the pain and madness of the dead who cannot die.

“And that is the fate of all that lives, including yourselves.”

The Councilors all froze in horror. Elder Hruunkrov surged to his feet, as did Inquisitor Torast next to him. “Are you certain of this, Lady Traveler?” he demanded to know, his dark eyes fairly shining.

“TRUTH.”

He rocked back on his short and broad heels, and both the Harsites quivered in place. The faces of the Councilors present were all distorted at the doom laid out before him.

“I SPEAK FOR THE TEMPLE.” The dwarf’s voice boomed with iron authority, and all eyes turned to him irresistibly. “We will tolerate no impediment to the destruction of the Shroud, and succoring the fate of the living and the dead! Lady Traveler, if the rending of the Shroud is your plan, you will have the unflinching support of all Orders of the Ivory King!”

That was a HUGE promise, but there was no doubt he meant every word he was speaking. The Inquisitor behind him was basically radiating cold fury, and there was no doubt he was fully supporting the dwarf.

The whole Church of Harse was mine with those words!

“Elder Hruunkorv, none of the Shroudlords are going to be able to stop me.” I swept my eyes over the rest of them all. “You all should be taking the steps to ensure that they cannot stop you.”

Sir Ogambe rose to his feet, white hair and dark skin a perfect contrast for his serious expression. “There is no Paladin nor Champion born who will refuse the Call to this Quest, Lady Traveler. This... this is the fight we wanted when we heard the Call!”

I inclined my head to him respectfully. “When I say that I have things for all of you to do, Sir Knight, I mean it.

“Now, Councilors, allow me to speak to you about how the Magic of the Allegiance works, and the difference between Monarchs, and Kings and Queens...”

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The magic of an Allegiance was both a Fellowship written large, and a way to unite a group of people of similar hearts together.

It all started with the Oath of Fealty, one of the more powerful magical Oaths you could take. Swearing false Oath was a good way for a normal person to be killed on the second, as the power of the Oath curdled all the Alignments, and they smote you for your temerity.

If you didn’t believe in your Monarch, you didn’t swear the Oath. You could swear to the Banner, if the Monarch allowed it, and get the benefit of their Mantle, but you would not be a member of the Allegiance, i.e. a ‘citizen’ in normal terms. Other members of the Allegiance could see you were an affiliate, but not a full member, although anyone sworn under the Monarch could see someone else was also sworn in.

The Monarch determined who could swear to them, and most of them had Alignment and personality requirements. Being full members of the Allegiance was not a small thing.josei

Once enough people were sworn to the Monarch, the combined spiritual force actualized the /tell network among them, which basically worked off the ability to Message. You could effectively talk to anyone in the Allegiance you wanted to, with a little focus, much like being in Fellowship.

Allegiances ran on Duty and Loyalty, and these were things you actually devoted Skill Points to. Loyal members passed up extra Allegiance Karma, which flowed from Vassals to Patrons and eventually up to the Monarch. Allegiance Karma was powerful and flexible, and could be used for making many things at a large scale and speed that would take forever individually. As it represented the will and power of large numbers of people, Allegiance Karma was applied far faster and able to put up and power things like large-area Wards, defenses, Allegiance-specific magic items, Oathbound items, and the like.

Loyalty meant you passed up more Allegiance Karma. Duty meant you used that Allegiance Karma more efficiently for your Allegiance.

A well-organized Allegiance was somewhat feudal in organization, with up to nine Directs sworn to the Monarch, and others sworn below them, in layers after layers. A Monarch’s rank was effectively determined by how many complete layers of people he had beneath him, so becoming a high rank Monarch meant having six or more layers of Titled Allegiance members below him.

Having a large amount of Bannersworn could add the Great, Grand, or High appellations to your Title. So, the Great Count Romex might be responsible for twenty thousand Bannersworn, who were not organized into Fealty chains, and who he in turn might allocate to his Vassals to look after.

As you accrued more people, the Monarch’s Mantle got stronger and more beneficial, and the power of the Allegiance flowed more fully. The Monarch provided direction and will, and there was a large array of magic that helped manage an Allegiance, put people where they were best suited, identified weak points, and spotted infiltrators and undesirables.

In effect, at the higher levels, an Allegiance became directly about resource management.

The key item of Swearing In was that you could not Swear to someone with less Karma than you had. There had to be an element of seniority and sponsorship to the Oath, senior looking after junior, even if it was based on skill and not age. If you Leveled past your Patron, the Monarch could shift your Ranking, or you could simply continue on as before, even if the real power in the relationship shifted.

As Loyal Vassals pumped Karma into Dutiful Patrons, it was actually pretty hard to out-Level a Patron, but it could be done if they were civilian managers who didn’t accrue their own Karma very fast.

An Allegiance was thus a nation built up of people, who were its only assets. An Allegiance could be anywhere... material holdings were completely independent of it.

All of that was not about Kingship. In a magical world, Kingship was Rulership with Teeth.

A King was Bound to the Land, Anointed by Faith or Blood, Acclaimed by the People, and Proven in Power. A True King or Queen was the Ruler... there was no ambiguity about it whatsoever. They were backed by the Land; by the Gods or their Ancestors; and by the People. Their number one job was to look after the land and the people they were the rulers of, and their spiritual authority in this matter was obvious to any and all of their subjects.

However, being a True King meant a narrowing of vision. The welfare of your land and people was paramount, which meant conflict with other rulers was almost inevitable, and you didn’t really care about the metastory going on, or distant things that didn’t affect your Kingdom.

There were no weak True Kings. A True King ruled for one generation, and then it was time to pass the crown on. While the Land favored those born of its own soil over all others, it was perfectly possible for an outsider to come in and take the crown, if they could win the approval of the land, people, and gods.

To become the True King, you needed to be strong. Your Land would not approve a weak True King, even if your Ancestors were hot to keep a member of their bloodline on the throne. A True King had to be able to fight, defend, and perhaps even expand the borders of their kingdom. They could not just sit on a throne and use false authority to order around those stronger than they were... that was the tactics of mundane royalty, not True Kings.

If your children weren’t strong enough to keep the Throne in your family, that was all fine and well by the standards of the Land. The Land favored the young over the old, the strong over the weak, and the noble over the ignoble... but nothing was absolute.

Getting approved by Blood and Ancestors was the Axiomatic way of getting a shot at the throne, and the Land acknowledged that the children of Rulers had a certain right to be rulers. Getting Approved by the Gods was the way of Heaven, and generally meant you had some form of Divine Casting ability, showing you had the favor of the Divine.

Being Approved by your Land usually meant you had or gained some manner of either being Landbound, especially if you were Primos, or had some level of Druidic ability, both truly tying you to the Land. Being allowed to gain those Levels confirmed the Land’s approval... although that didn’t mean you weren’t going to fight with others who also had that approval!

A Kingdom dominated an Allegiance. The loyalty of Bannersworn in a Kingdom was gradually taken away by the power of the Throne, and they would transfer their loyalty to the King and their Land if they remained there. Members of an Allegiance were perfectly obvious to citizens of a Kingdom as people who did not have loyalty to their King, which instantly made them outsiders.

Monarchs could swear to True Kings, but the reverse was not possible. A True King was Sworn to their Kingdom, and there was nothing above them. Oaths of Fealty were not possible, and promises were only backed by the personal honor of the True King.

Thus, making up an Empire composed of True Kings sworn to an Imperial Throne was basically impossible from a magical standpoint. True Kings could gather in Councils, they could be friends, and even appoint a High King who was first among equals... but the needs of their Kingdom were always first, and everything else came after. It didn’t make them ignorant of greater causes, but their own Kingdom was first in their considerations, without exception.

It was the single biggest benefit and problem of being a King. Knowing your King was first and foremost responsible for their land and people was a huge Loyalty boon. But powerful people with their own ambitions, be they personal or metagamey, found the ties of a King to their Kingdom to be chains, and preferred to remain Monarchs.

There were no Divine Kingdoms, per se. A Theocracy was dominated by service to a god, not to the land and its people. A god could appoint and approve anyone as a Theocrat, Hierophant, Pope, or Archimandrite what-have-you, but that was a mere Allegiance network in comparison, albeit composed of the Faithful reinforcing Loyalty and Duty. A divine kingdom was its people, nothing more, nothing less... the land was a material thing the gods were ultimately unconcerned with, as their focus was on the souls of people, not material lives and possessions. Move the people, and a Theocracy moved with it.

A Kingdom was the land AND its people!