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Port Miere report from 13th Orgus 1017 - Labyrinthe Forum
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> Port Miere report from 13th Orgus 1017
Christine
post Aug 15 2017, 11:51 AM
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Here’s my notes of our trip to Port Miere on Sunsday – we (Rangar, Harley, Charlie, Apathy, Bradley and myself) found out a lot, and resolved anomalies #10, #8, #34 and #40, deciding it was safest not to resolve anomaly #13 at the Netter’s shrine yet.

We also discovered that it was imperative (as we had always intended) to resolve the anomaly in the Citadel cellar linked to Louhi, and kill him, before Port Miere returns at the Dawn.

Anomalies #10 and #8

These linked anomalies were #8, the city treasury, which had been taken by pirates and in which the bound spirit of the treasury’s administrator was the anomaly. He was hostile to us until we resolved #10, which was a shrine to Tsu-Ling faced by a shrine to the Watcher of the Ages. On that shrine were several pieces of parchment through use of which one might negotiate with the Watcher and formulate a pact. I have these.

Causing the Watcher’s shrine to be unable to view Tsu-Ling’s shrine restored the sense of tranquility associated with that deity, resolving the anomaly and calming the spirit of the administrator in #8, such that we were able to speak with him. We agreed to repair the treasury doors and ensure the authorities were informed that it needed protection, and then with his consent laid his spirit to rest.

Anomaly #13 - the Netter’s shrine

We travelled to the Netter’s shrine, being waylaid by servants of Louhi just outside. Just inside the shrine we found some Reavers, who were waiting for Tapio, who had apparently been trying to speak to the Netter to persuade her to release her net so that the Reavers can leave, but without success. We did not in fact meet Tapio, although Achramas confirmed that he was in the area.

Going further into the shrine, we spoke to some sailors had taken refuge from Salas’ rite and the later confusion, who told us a little about what lay within. We fought statues that could only be stopped from reforming if a coin was placed on their heads as an offering to the Netter, this being a tradition that enables the Netter to claim the souls of those who have died at sea. Beyond these was the main body of the shrine, in which roamed a vast number of dead spirits of those who had died at sea and been claimed by the Netter. They seemed confined by her nets, but although they sought to move on they were not distressed; it was as though the nets were both preventing them from moving and protecting them. They were very much dead spirits, rather than souls, and I formed the impression that the souls had already moved to wherever they should rightly have gone. These spirits were guardians of the shrine, who we ascertained would become hostile should we interfere with it beyond simple exploring.

With this in mind, we proceeded, leaving a number of things well alone, as they were not things important to our purpose and there seemed no point in antagonising the Netter and those dead spirits within the shrine – in particular there was a vampire in a room we didn’t enter and a rite empowering the spirits.

Beyond the room of the spirits we were attacked by more followers of Louhi / Certizal, and various guardian undead, before entering the chamber of the shrine, on which were numerous offerings, and a casket containing a pact between the Netter and the Watcher of the Ages. As we read through this and discussed it, the Netter focused her attention on the shrine and we were able to communicate with her.

A copy of the pact is below, I have removed the Netter’s name as she requested that this should not become widely known. The pact remains on her shrine, as she did not wish it to leave the City and we judged her best placed to defend it as she has an interest in doing so.

From what we could ascertain from scrying and conversation with the Netter, the pact between her and the Watcher is the focus of the anomaly because the agreement made between the Netter and Lord Blunt and the pact are not exactly in accord; whilst not conflicting they are interacting with each other, there is what might be called an imprecise fit. There are many ways in which we could resolve it that, but we judged it best to think through a considered solution to take effect at the Dawn rather than rushing into anything, as we cannot sensibly ask the Netter to release her net at present (this will release Louhi from Port Miere) and she does not wish to (she has the fragments of the Shattered World in it which she is obligated to keep safe and give to the Watcher).

The Netter’s pact with Marcus Blunt involved a rite to be directed against the coastal cities of the Empire by a House Naquita. Marcus Blunt agreed with the Netter (according to her) that she would protect against this assault if shrines were built to her in Port Miere, Scarlene and Keys, and if he gave her the souls of House Naquita. The Naquita rite was suborned by Salas / Certiazal into Salas’ Rite of the Ocean’s Claim and so the Netter was bound to protect against it.

The pact with the Watcher of Ages was made around 200 years ago, some time after the destruction of the Shattered World. It appears that the Shattered World was destroyed when a Word of Power was spoken, and that the Echoes of the Word against which Talthar had warned Lucien are the Pantheon of Seven. I do think we need to consider whether assisting them is dangerous outside of the threat posed by Rachane, for example whether their presence will destabilise or otherwise weaken Primus or its existing gods.

The Watcher of the Ages arrived on Primus about 200 years ago and made a pact with the Netter, under which it would give her 1000 souls within 100 years (which it has done), and she would capture and protect any fragments of the Shattered World (specifically not the deities) which she could, and hand them over to the Watcher or its agent. At the Dawn when Port Miere went into the Nacht a number of fragments were present for the Netter to catch, and she did so. The Watcher then fulfilled its side of the bargain and showed her how it had become properly divine. The only part of the bargain remaining to be completed is for the Netter to hand over, on request, the fragments in her net to the Watcher.

The Netter has suggested that we could consider allowing the anomaly of her pact to remain unresolved, as this would be to her benefit – the city would suffer some harm as a result but not greatly, and can survive a few anomalies remaining when it returns. Without very convincing reasons for doing this, I am against it, but I am not sure why or how this anomaly could persist once the net is removed (which it has to be to allow the Reavers to leave), so it all needs further scrying / thought.

This next bit is speculation, but the handing over of the fragments to the Watcher would, I think, involve releasing the net, so we don’t want it to happen yet, and similarly if the Netter releases the Net then she has failed to protect Port Miere from Salas’ rite. Given what I mention later about the Watcher, maybe (and this is very tentative at this stage) we want to agree to take these as its agents or some such, so we have control of the time of the handing over? Scrying indicated that the Watcher’s intent towards the fragments was broadly protective of them.

The Netter’s Pact with the Watcher of the Ages

By this deed of contract, I, Mistress of the Undersea, Weaver of Nets, do hereby freely enter into the following agreement with the Watcher of the Ages, to be acquitted by both parties on pain of vengeance:

That upon presentation of an opportunity sufficient to necessity, I shall entrap the surviving fragments of the plane known as the shattered world, from which the Watcher of the Ages was born, within my nets that they may be prevented from being lost to the Nacht.

That I shall not bring harm to nor knowingly allow harm to brought to those fragments whilst they remain within my care, unless doing so would result in the destruction of myself or my demesne.

That I shall release them to the holding of the Watcher of the Ages or their directly appointed agent upon request, unless it would cause direct harm to me or to my demesne.

That in this time I and my demesne shall take no offensive action against the Watcher of the Ages or their demesne, unless this agreement should be sundered by its terms.

In turn, the Watcher of the Ages agrees:

To pass into my care and possession no fewer than one thousand souls, that they may cross into my realm and become one with the Undersea - said souls to be delivered within one hundred primal years of this agreement’s formation.

To reveal to me the methods by which they ascended to and maintain divinity, this information being given fully and truthfully, and upon the successful entrapment of the fragments of the shattered world as per my pledge.

That in this time they and their demesne shall take no offensive action against me or my demesne, unless this agreement should be sundered by its terms.

These acts we agree to perform within five hundred primal years. Should either of us strike from this agreement through action or inaction, may the fullness of our fury fall upon the other, and may war be between us and between our demesnes, the terms of this agreement wholly sundered.



Anomaly #34 - the temporal convergence

Next we addressed the temporal convergence, which appeared through the map to be solely darkness. Inside the anomaly was a large initial area of necromantic darkness, full of shades, in the course of negotiating which Charlie unfortunately died again.

Within the anomaly the time was around Aprius 1018. Port Miere had been returned at the last (next) Dawn, with the anomaly at the ritual chamber in the Citadel cellar unresolved. The city had returned greatly weakened, but had survived. Louhi had then left the city, killing Tapio either before or shortly afterwards. He had teleported to where Achramas was, outside the city, as the Chosen are all linked together and thus know the other’s location, and killed her and everyone at the waystation. Inquisitor Wilton had died after Achramas, which had prevented any assistance that might be expected on her death from arriving in time. Louhi had been opposed by Imperial forces, whom he had defeated, and he had then turned against Certizal (more on this below) and the ensuing battle was still raging. Eventually, that battle would end with Certizal victorious.

Within the city, things were unpleasant. The corrupted angels of Certizal roamed around, hunting the followers of Louhi, as in turn did Reavers loyal to Louhi. The ordinary populace were dead or in hiding, and the Watch had been raised, as before, as undead. The centre of the anomaly was Achramas, whom Louhi had animated as an extremely potent undead, who tried to tell us to flee before attacking us. She could only be slain by shattering her body, at which point the anomaly collapsed in upon itself.

Anomaly #40

This anomaly contained numerous undead, at the centre of which was a 10th rank undead in the form of a wash of blood, named the Wake of the Ocean’s claim. It was weakened by prayer by Bradley until I was able to dismiss it, which then purified the water and resolved this anomaly.

With this done, we headed back to the waystation for some chips and a bit of further scrying.



Some further thoughts

I know I’m repeating myself with some of this next bit, and some of it is speculation, but a lot of the time people only read the latest report, so I think it’s worth saying again, and the people who don’t care won’t read it anyway.

The Watcher of the Ages

The Watcher appears to be a truly neutral divinity, and indeed it seems likely that the Pantheon of Seven represent all of the facets of morality as they are sometimes defined, exploding outward from the initial event of the world’s shattering. Thus Chibueze is a force of both evil and law, in the form of dominion, whereas Rachane is a consuming evil force of chaos and destruction. The Watcher is in the centre, making bargains with all sides but having no personal interest in any. It wishes to gather the remnants of the Shattered World, and it does not seem this is for malevolent reasons.

I suspect we may need to make a pact with the Watcher, if only to deal with those issues in which it is already involved (the pacts it has made with Louhi and with the Netter), and that it would not necessarily be a bad thing to do so – it is not anything of the order of a demonic pact, for instance. However, that is subject to whether we want to be assisting the Seven at all; we still need to know why Talthar considered them as a whole to be dangerous to us.

Louhi

As I have mentioned before, Louhi was a Reaver (albeit one of the Reaver God’s Chosen Five) until Certizal gifted him with a spiritual form, I think likely as some sort of investiture of power, as part of his elevation to the role of Exalted Darkness. I’ve found it easiest to view this as some sort of potent supernatural servant akin to an angel, although as we know Certizal’s “angels”, those only harmed by dark spirits, are corrupted angels not things it has itself created. Louhi was killed by mercenaries over the Dawn when Salas of the Deep’s avatar attacked (not at all sorry), and later restored by Achramas, whom he then tried to kill.

Achramas restored him with a physical form, and he is really angry about this – whilst it is trite to say he’s really pissed off because he has lost his permanent spiritform miracle, there is something in that – more likely I’d imagine he’s lost the token of his god’s approval and there’s all sorts of rejection going on there, but I don’t imagine any of us care much about his feelings by this stage. He was very interested to know at some point how Achramas had been restored to her original form after being the Spear, luckily I think he’s moved past that now. He’s been killing his family, the other Chosen Five, to regain his power.

In the future, after he’d killed Tapio and Achramas, he beseeched Certizal for something, didn’t get it, and then went on a rampage through Port Miere, fighting Certizal and everyone else, and the outcome of that conflict would eventually be Certizal slapping him down like he was an angry small child. I think this was Louhi asking for his ascended form back and not getting it. I’ve said before that I think Certizal is forcing Louhi to corrupt himself further by killing those he loved for power, when it could quite easily (being a god) repeat whatever act it performed to transform Louhi originally. I suspect Louhi’s rebellion comes as a result of finally realising this, and just not getting what he wants. Whether that knowledge is something we can use, I don’t know – but if it gives us a chance to make him pause when we finally confront him so that we have a bit more time to kill him, that’s all to the good.

The Reaver God

I theorised that the Reaver God worshipped by Ian Misserloe, the so called “Bladebreaker General” and Master of Primus of the early Second Age, and the Reaver God Primal Deity whose mantle was lately worn by the Trickster Asa Volki and is currently worn by no-one, might be the same. I’ve confirmed that they are, and that Misserloe was wearing the mantle at that point. This is probably of historical interest only but worth bearing in mind, not least as it indicates that the Reaver God has always been a dick. I don’t know whether Ian Misserloe’s attempt to take the Throne of Glass at the end of IM1015 involved the Reaver God at all, I wasn’t involved with the mercenary part of that particular horror, but it seems unlikely as at that point the mantle was worn by Asa who as far as we’re aware had no role in all of that. So at some point Misserloe lost it (on his murder by the Ghost in the North?) even though he came back from that / didn’t really die. All of no likely present relevance, but interesting.

On which note, next time someone (Dusk, looking at you, sure you have lots of lovely free time) has a spare question, can we find out if anyone is currently trying to obtain the vacant mantle of the Reaver God? When we removed it from Asa, we could have tried to claim it as we had completed the challenges of the Halls, or let it remain to be claimed in the future, we chose the latter on the basis that none of us were really keen or suited for reaving. Since as discussed, the Reaver God is a dick, it follows that anyone trying to claim the mantle is likely a dick too, or really wants to be one, so we might want to keep an eye on them.



Congratulations on getting to the end, I’m afraid there is no prize, although I did discover a rather aged chocolate egg in my bag if anyone wants to claim it next time we are out.

Liara

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dnsmantra
post Aug 16 2017, 10:22 AM
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Nobody in Miere is currently trying to claim the mantle. There are a whole host of people interested in claiming it, but that would be the case with any such mantle left unclaimed. Interestingly, Terry wasn't one of those people. I'm shocked.

Dusk
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Christine
post Aug 16 2017, 10:44 AM
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I'm not, he doesn't strike me as the nautical type. Not sure hats are his thing.

On a more serious note, what is the point of Reavers? Conceptually, what actual useful positive benefit do they bring to the world as a whole? Do they do anything at all, fulfill any basic Primal need, other than take and destroy other people's things, killing and bringing misery to people weaker than them? If we assume we ignore the importance of people's cultural heritage and noble tradition of attacking people whilst in ships and causing death, havoc and destruction, what is the point of Reavers?

It's a serious question, and the reason its a serious question is because Morgan mentioned the other day something about trying to change the nature of the mantle of the Reaver God. So there wouldn't be a Primal Deity of Reavers, because Reaving wouldn't be a thing that Primus recognised as being so important a concept to require the protection of a deity, which by its existence allows that concept to be recognised, worshipped and perpetuated.

Could we, and should we, just get rid of the Primal Mantle of the Reaver God?

Discuss (maybe should have saved this until Fireday). I am sure Achramas could explain, but leaving aside that I wouldn't want to bother her at the moment with anything, let alone this, I rather think that Asa Volki is the reason any of the Reaver are less malign than the concept of Reaving suggests they should be.

Liara
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giles
post Aug 16 2017, 11:35 AM
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Ma'am,

to expand on what I mentioned earlier about changing the mantle of the Reaver. Primal mantles/deities call them what you will reflect certain archetypes, or are the personification of that thing. Yet the individual who takes on the mantle doesn't become the Mantle, rather it becomes them.
There have been a number of different Forges - each of them retained their identity. Also and I don't think the answer is known, but it is something that can be speculated on: are there a limit on what primal mantles there are. Ie. there currently exist The Murder, The Trickster, The Reaver, The Forge, The Empress, The Tranquil, The Soldier (Milo). There may well be others - The Robber Baron and the Mouse Lord for example. Are there others and are there a limit? We do not for example - to my knowledge, have a Primal deity/mantle of The Baker. Or less mundane - the Mage (though after this message, give it a couple of days) - though perhaps Elemental Lords fulfil a similar function (maybe not). Also the mantle can remain empty for many years with no discernible ill effect to Primus - any of the above have not always had an incumbent. Also some have been created - the Empress being the most obvious example. And they can presumably be destroyed (the Spiter). So presumably it is possible to either destroy the mantle or repurpose it and transform it.

Morgan
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