The Power of Ten

Chapter 9-280: Burma and India

Burma was a slaughterfest.

Predominantly Buddhist in origin, when the Mantra arrived, the Burmese fell hook, line, and sinker. Not converting was a death sentence, and every soul who could be subordinated was leashed to the Nirvanic Enlightenment; everyone there, and every land not in a Shroudzone, was rapidly in direct service to the Buddhists, expanding the Shrines that were their Qi Formations, having more children to make more Buddhists. Orcs and Goblins who popped up were little more than slaves, Yuan-ti were executed immediately, and constant excursions were made into neighboring countries with Buddhist populations, rapidly claiming them as well.

The Rohyinga tribe was completely massacred, and resulted in a massive Shroudzone in the country, the slaughtered marching out every night to avenge their deaths. That resulted in a great Deathzone blotting a whole section of the countryside where the Buddhists did not go, and could literally do nothing about, despite all their talk about light and purification and whatnot.

I couldn’t avenge all the people they’d enslaved and slaughtered, I could only do what I could do.

Myanmar died much as Bangkok had, with the addition of a great storm to pound the Buddhists who had withdrawn there to reinforce it. I cracked it open with Spellflares, bit by bit, let in the Heavenly Thunderbolts, and ravaged their great temple structures and shrines with uncaring shining Lightning from the Haze.

The whole country was filled with Qi-making Formations, and there was nothing for it but to go from place to place, destroying or reversing all of them. Thankfully, they often came with attendants who could help me recharge and move on to the next without being drained overmuch.

We did cut a zigzag course across the country, Teleporting here and there before returning to the Lived-Line. There were just so many damn places to go, and so much to wipe, and I couldn’t do it all.

On the other hand, once the senior Buddhists were annihilated and I tore through the lesser acolytes and disciples indiscriminately, there was an explosion of mob violence in all those areas as those chaffing under the condemning voices of the Buddhists rose up with extreme violence to put them to the spear, led largely by their orcish populations.

There were going to be a lot of undead generated, as revolution against the Buddhists also generally meant against the ethnicities that had backed them, but if that generated new Shroudzones, that was on them. I would be coming back, probably with a lot of guns, but for now I could do nothing.

It took me two days of crisscrossing the country, reading everything on The Map, to destroy all the relevant Formations and butcher any larger Temples, Churches, Monasteries, and other places of power. Master Fred and I were completely ruthless about it all, and no protests they made even slowed us down.

If they surrendered and tried to appeal to my peaceful side, that just helped me butcher them all faster. It was horrible to have to do it, and I did it anyway.

I was aware they could not be trusted, and they could not share a world with Primos or Powered without conflict. Surrendering was merely a waiting game. I took what they stole and gave it back to the Land, and left all they’d wrought burning behind me.

-------josei

India was also bad, but surprisingly, not as bad as I’d feared.

It turned out the Hindu population in many areas did not have a good opinion of the Buddhists, and had actively resisted their expansion, in some cases with extreme violence. The Powered there, coming from a pantheist background as they did, had eagerly embraced the new gods. The fact Powered were born as readily or moreso among the poor as the wealthy meant the caste system long in place there had been turned on its head... violently in more than a few cases.

Powered did end up ruling the roost, but the Priests, Monks, and Dragon Wielders among them rapidly discerned what the Buddhists were doing, spread the word of it, and went off on them.

As a result, while the Buddhists had literally cut India in two, spread through the land that on another world would be Bangladesh, and had a death grip on Nepal and Bhutan, the north and south of India were up in arms and clashing with them and anything spouting the Mantra.

Into this royal mess I came riding, and I blew that situation wide open, naturally enough.

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Visag was naturally under storm, and areas of the city were getting pounded into dust, most notably all the Shrines and similar areas, dotting the area with Qi-eating vivus.

Opportunistic armies of Dragon Wielders and other Powered had cut across the country, following my rampage across the east side of India. They were joined by hundreds of new Land and Placebound Warlock humans eager for revenge and strength, helped out by Master Fred’s efforts and coming with them.

Dusk was coming.

“...and dream of the wind at dawn.”

There was nothing.

Scout/5, Expert/5, Archer/5, and Noble/5 were done, a scattering of Feats and Masteries with minor effects, adding to my Metas, etc.

Now, there was nothing.

I pursed my lips and mentally ticked over that lever to Sorcerer/9.

Nothing. Really, nothing. It didn’t happen.

“Crap,” I muttered under my breath, and ticked over Nobility/2.

Ding! Good job, attagirl, take your +1 to your Noble Mastery Tier so you look even more outstanding!

Noble/5 yesterday had given me two Feats and a Mastery. I was now probably stuck on Masteries and couldn’t advance until I caught them up. Inherent Nobility meant my highest Class Level was treated as my Noble Rank, which was Eight, equal to a Duke. Leader of the Race added my Spellcasting Racial Level boosts to my Rank for my species... so, +3 for Elves and Humans, +5 for Halvyr.

The Nobility Mastery meant my apparent Rank was higher, i.e. I was regarded as being Noble and so more capable than I let on.

Noble Rank normally only counted true Class Levels, so my Theurgic Levels weren’t adding to the pot. After all, they were glass cannon stuff.

+2, to 10, meant my base Noble Rank was a Queen. Someone running into me for the first time out of nowhere would automatically treat me like royalty.

Halvyr would treat me like a High Queen, basically the leader of every halvyr on the planet, while elves and human would automatically see me as equal to a very, very powerful Queen of their own people.

I guess it was prepping me to take the world stage. Hrm de drm...

Why I was being limited to Masteries, I didn’t know. My Karmic influx was monstrous; I certainly could and would pay all those increased costs, and I certainly wouldn’t mind increasing my Level further. More room under the Metacap was nice, even if I could and did exceed it regularly.

Well, whatever. For the next 318 days or so, I was going to be limited to taking Masteries and filling them out to five Tiers.

It removed any crushing rush for speed at all for assembling anything resembling a build from me.

I eyed the spreadsheet of Masteries in my Visual File, delineating all the Class Levels I’d taken, and all the Masteries I was eligible for.

One hundred and fifty-nine Class Levels eligible for three Purchased Masteries each; I’d only taken my one a day. Two more in each to go, and some change.

One hundred and fifty-seven days here on this world, December 6, 2018. My campaign against the Buddhists and Cultivators in general had picked up nicely here in India, with some newly-minted Blessed helping coordinate things and identify where the enemy was, and who and how they could attack.

The Indian forces were still rolling across the landscape, restricted by lack of decent machines, fuel, and torn and destroyed railways. Powered could move fast, but there were limits on how many people Powered could move with them.

Still, when you had that many people, even after millions have died in conflicts, it amounted to a lot of Powered, and definitely some of the hardest, toughest Dragon Wielders in the world.

Master Fred bringing up the Spirits of lakes, rivers, mountains, forests, and the sub-continent itself to fill out their roster of Warlocks with Humans, Goblins, and Orcs eager for some revenge was also a thing.

There was a very significant Goblin population in India. Urgobs were common in the north, where Mongol blood was more common, while Hobgoblins tended to pop up in those with bloodlines from the Middle East. Orcs were from tribes intermarried with old Chinese derivations of one kind or another, greatly respected among the military forces for their willingness to fight.

There were a lot of warlords in India, regional pashas and sultans and rajahs and whatnot, all jockeying and vying for power while juggling problems with the undead, active wereclans, Tomb Clans, churches that held real power now, and of course the combined threat of Daoists and especially Buddhists.

Me riding through had really thrown their politics into a mess, as I totally ignored the détente they had with the Buddhists and ripped all of the Cultivators apart. Their battle-happy Dragon Wielders and other Powered could only try to run along after me and clean up what was left. With a marvelous coordination that could only stun the Buddhists trying to pull some coordinated maneuvers and strategies, they picked off force after force of Buddhists who may or may not have been mauled in passing by me at times, racking up more victories and kills than they had for the last thirty years combined.

Now I was at Visag, the largest city on the east coast, and hammering down the guardian hexagons of the protective Dome the million Buddhists hiding beneath it were keeping intact. I purged the entire city around it of just about everything living, helping them stay occupied with the Heavenly Thunderbolts coming tolling down from above.

My contacts had told me that their spies had witnessed Bombay, the main stronghold of the Buddhists in India, making preparations for me. I was wholly unsurprised by that, but that city was hundreds of miles away, and I wasn’t going to do anything about it now.

Instead, I was watching the great Summoning Ritual these guys were undertaking, spearing shafts of solid Nirvanic light spearing up to and ‘past’ the Haze, vanishing into space to call for help.

It didn’t matter if they Called for something Divine, their Call would be nullified. So, they were limited to something at Twenty, and honestly, I wasn’t too concerned about something at Twenty.

The pillar of light started to solidify and pull something down from Above. Auspicious lights warred against the storm and the hate lightning of the Haze as the entry of the entity was presaged by mystic phenomena and illusory puffery, none of which particularly surprised me.

It descended from beyond the clouds to this mortal soil it had risen so far above. I borrowed Master Fred’s eyes, which ignored all the light special effects and blinding and judgmental radiance, so I could see what was within.

I think we called that thing an Arhat. It was essentially a big fat smiling Buddha, legs folded, ears huge, hands clasped, beads dangling, glowing golden in color, transcendent in power, broadcasting faith and belief and Thou Shalt Submit to Me as it descended from the High Heavens to come to the rescue of the beleaguered.

Its closed eyes popped wide open when Master Fred shot it.

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The Traveler, The Star Mage

Halvyr/3 (Elf/2, Human/2) – The Perfect Halvyr

Primary Classes: SageSorcerer/8 (12) (P), Wizard/5 (14) – The Ringlord, The High Wizard

Secondary Classes: NPC: Expert/5, Vizard/5, Noble/5

Non-Caster: Melee/5, Scout/5, Archer/5, Monk/5

Caster Classes: Magus/5, Witch/5, Inquisitor/5 (9), Binder/5 (9), Artificer/5 (9), Alchemist/5 (9), Minstrel/5 (9), Bard/5, Blighter/5 (9), Ur-Priest/5 (9)

Advanced Classes: Arcane Theurge/5, Mystic Theurge/5, Elemental Theurge/5, Lore Theurge/5, Creation Theurge/5, Name Theurge/5, Battlemad/5, Arcane Archer/5, Archsorcerer/5, Archwizard/5, Warshaper/3, Grenadier/3, Hierophant/2, Archmage/2

Stats:

Perfect Form: All Stats at 18 base

Strength: 29 +9

Dexterity: 39 +14 (+5 Inherent)

Constitution: 41 +15 (+5 Inherent)

Intellect: 48 +19 (+5 Inherent, +5 Sacred)

Wisdom: 35 +12 (+5 Inherent)

Charisma: 38 +16 (+5 Inherent)

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Health: 91 (3d8 Halv/3 (24), + 45 Con, + Arcane Toughness/1 (+15), +Toughness (+7))

Soak: 269 (d6+Int (25), +4d6 (24) Sorc +11 FC, +20 Melee (+4), +105 Con, +37 Arc Tough/2, +31 Tough/2)

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Ki: 49 (+18 Invested/Class)

Arcana: 30

Spell Pool: 62 (38 Wizard, 24 Sorcerer)

Heartsong Uses: 31

Turn/Channel Uses: 21

Arcane Pool: 193

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Talent: Naturally Centered

Racial Benefits: As Halvyr/3, Elf/Human 3: +2 Dexterity, +2 Con, +2 Int, +2 Cha

Traits:Experienced Warrior, Mark of Doom, Favored by Faith, Magical Lineage, Undead Killer, Warcaster Tradition

Karma: Current Ten, Rank B

Base Abilities...

Feats/Class Abilities...

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