Walkers of Worlds

[Maharg67]

6 of 3 (058)

 

BENEATH IN CUBETOWN

 

Leslie was led down a secondary rampway, through an armoured hatch guarded by two sentries in power armour, and along a great wide hallway tunnel that she sensed was very old. It had been dug away by another people who had come to that world. Now it was dotted with cheaply printed government propaganda and warning posters. The warnings were against such acts as stealing rations, forging ration booklets, trying to escape from military or civil conscription and so forth. They were fairly typical of humans at war as were the meladramatic propaganda posters.

 

There was a constant light flow of people through the network of tunnels that they threaded through until they went through two more armoured doors protected by sentries in power armour. They entered a large meeting chamber that also served other purposes with rows of telephone cubicles, a line of desks were clerks attended mechanical typewriters, rows of filing cabinets, a single holoprojector on a table projecting a holographic projection into the air and such like.

 

This was a meeting place of thinkers, of scholars, of scientists, of those who wished to understand what was going on.

 

Leslie was made welcome by other 'VIPs' of the special investigations circles of three worlds. Professor Quatamass stood out amongst them, a British scientific adventurer of much renoun. He came forward to meet Leslie, a grey haired man with warm but strong eyes, and shook Leslie by the hand. She liked him at once.

 

He spoke. "Who would have thought we would have ended up in such an amazing situation?"

 

Leslie nodded. "Yes, it is not the sort of set of events that people would normally predict would happen. Where were you when the Aquatic Martians invaded?"

 

He shrugged. "In the Scottish Highlands doing some secret research project for the British Government. No point in trying to pretend such things did not happen, not now. As it was the whole project became irrelevant when the Brotherhood of Steel came into contact with us. There we were, trying to develop new body-armour, and then they came stomping along in power armour like... well like amazing medieval modern knights."

 

Mulder spoke. "The pattern of events has been woven by clever hands."

 

Scully nodded. "The truth is out there."

 

Leslie watched a four wheeled pedal device, a quadcycle, go past as a delivery vehicle ridden by a teenage girl; she seemed to be delivering food and drinks to the people in the chamber. "Oh there is more than one force trying to weave events and entanglements have taken place. Or at least so I have been told by reliable sources of information. Somebody wanted, needed, many people to come to Havenaedra of Oblivionaedra for a very strong reason. Some force created those teleportation gates to bring peoples from other places on their worlds to Centralia. That would have been a tricky operation even for a large, well resourced set of aliens."

 

Mulder frowned. "I knfow they helped us against the zetans, but those votans make me nervous."

 

Scully softly smiled at him. "With out the votans to counter the zetan flying-saucers, the zetans could easily have won. I do not think that they are an evil people though they seek always to gain something from what they do. Poor Mulder witnessed the taking of his sister by the zetans when he was young. Or at least we think they were zetans."

 

Leslie nodded, pulled out a stunpistol and shot the teenager on the quadcycle with a heavy stun-pulse plus EM-pulse. The figure collapsed back onto the floor but even as it did the deceptor-screen shimmered and was gone to reveal a twisted entity like a human with zetan style skin, being hairless. It was not a typical human-zetan abomination. The stunned creature was put into restraints and taken off on a special stretcher. Two powerful bombs were found in the delivery box of the quadcycle being hidden under genuine field rations and candy-bars.

 

If the explosion had taken place it would have been a major blow to the new evolving FreeAlliance.

Edited December 22, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

QUESTIONABLE HISTORIES OF OBLIVIONAEDRA

NATURAEDRA, THE NATURAL REALMS OF OBLIVION, AND HAVENAEDRA

 

There were many Realms of Oblivion, of Oblivionaedra, but perhaps the most oddest was Naturaedra, the so called Natural Realms, because they very much looked like, smelt like and otherwise were a striking duplication of natural realms of many worlds. This was true of the climate, the weather, the flora and fauna, the geography and much else. From icy north of the Great Ice Desert to the tropical and subtropical zones to the far south before one came to the Great Sand Desert, it was as if one was not in Oblivionaedra at all.

 

But this was a subtle, clever and dangerous falsehood.

 

There were monsters.

 

There were monstrous peoples.

 

There were sudden unnatural storms and other events.

 

The so called natural laws of Havenaedra could be twisted by hidden forces with horrible ease.

 

Yet these were not the worst threats. The worst threats were a slow and deadly influence on any peoples that attempted to dwell in Naturaedra for they became slowly infected by the dark influence of the Oblivion Realms, of Oblivionaedra, to become increasingly evil.

 

The one great exception to this was Havenaedra which was just a natural realm, a world, in its own right.

Edited November 30, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

37 of 1(059)

 

GAINING AND SORTING PRIZES BIG AND SMALL

 

The Gamefolk, the people who had come to live off the Testing Maze of Death and to create three settlements close to three of its emergency exit chambers, they generally welcomed Johnnie but when Johnnie went to obtain all of his valuable prizes and leave, there was trouble. He had gotten through part of the maze with two copper, a silver and a goden sphere along with a large amount of gamecoins and mazechips.

 

Johnnie stood facing a crowd of settlers and he gave them a mild grin. "So to win so many of the spheres is not so easy and to win a golden maze-sphere is rare. First you cheer me and now you wish to rob me."

 

A tall, angular man with scars running down both cheeks, stepped forward. He was damned tough, very angry and mean spirited. He was also damned jealous and more than a little too greedy. "We have to think of the settlements, of the good of our people. So we take the maze-spheres and you keep the gamecoins and mazechips, or at least half of them."

 

But then a short, slim woman in the same group looked startled and she turned to the man who had spoken. "Damned you, Brant, that was not the deal. You nasty piece of s****. You are not getting those clammy paws of yours on any of those maze-spheres. This is foolishness. If word gets out that we Gamefolk are robbing players, than nobody will bother to show up. We continue to take a fair share, no more and no less."

 

Brant grinned. "Fair share? Take everything I say and dump the dead bodies in the deathmoss. If you haven't got the braves to do what has to be done, Cashin, then I will be leader. Yes, the settlement needs a strong leader like myself..."

 

Johnnie cut the man off. "How long have you been listening to the dark whispering voices, Brant? That is the charming, reasonable voices that tell you that you are being wronged, that you must gain more, that you need to act to get true respect and ... well much more of the kind? Did you always listen to the voices eagerly and agree with them? Yes, you did! You are weak where true strength counts. You care for nobody but yourself. You have no clear plan or goals. You just want an excuse to throw your weight around and to cause some death and destruction."

 

Brant reached very quickly for the semiautomatic pistol holstered at his side but died as somebody behind him thrust a combat knife blade into his kidney. Johnnie cursed softly as the corpse was lowered to the floor. Then he spoke. "The real irony is that I am very happy to give you a majority of what I have earned because I can not use it. All you had to do was ask."

 

The woman leader laughed weakly and then shook his head. "Not your fault. That man was looking to die for a long time. It is no surprise that he started listening to the tearing demon voices. Lamplight Caverns are better than the open Wastelands in many ways but there are the tearing demon voices and other threats here, which is what we call them. We do not want or need your charity. We can make a good deal between us."

 

From dispensers and other machines Johnnie gained many small vital, useful, semi-useful and just enjoyable items. He packed more into his backpack than any backpack of its size should have taken but gave twice as much over to the locals. Then it came to the maze-spheres of which he had two copper, a silver and a goden one. The first copper obtained for him a gamebot, like an eyebot but about twice as big with better speed, armour and weaponry along with sensors. The second a gamebot given over to the Gamefolk who would use it for security work. The silver maze-sphere gained a 4x4 mazerover, that is a compact four wheel drive, four door, lightly armoured machine with a hatchback to a suprisingly roomy storage compartment. It also had a robotic weapon-sensor turret on its roof and was lightly amphibious. Johnnie loaned the mazerover to the settlers to use and gained the use of a room with facilities when ever he was visiting the settlement.

 

The golden maze-sphere gained a datachip that he sent straight to OrbisTransZia and would not discuss with the Gamefolk but most of them did not care for they had gained much. Indeed they had gained so much they chose to send some scouts to guide him through to the edge of Gamefolk Territories, which meant through some very difficult areas.

 

ATOMIC BOMBS AND DARKER SURPRISES

 

Two scouts led Johnnie through tunnels and cave chambers, up a rise of a tunnel and then into a big circular chamber that was partly artificial with great columns closer to the edge. There the scouts were happy to leave him and to get back to the greater safety of home or even the caves closer to home. Johnnie did not move on at once but, noting something odd about the chamber, explored it first. He soon found that hidden beneath large storage bins, all of them empty, were big circular hatches in the floor. There was one in the centre and eight others in the main compass directions. Yet that chamber and the hatches were not VaultTek designed or made but were of WW2 vintage.

 

Beneath each outer armoured hatch was an atomic bomb, an A-bomb, ready to use. Each A-bomb rested on a disk shaped elevator ready to raise it to where it coud be picked up. They were relatively small and primitive nuclear weapons but still deadly enough for him to be concerned. The central hatch led down to a large control chamber and utility tunnels to care for machinery. The chamber was dotted with half empty metal containers of equipment and supplies, workbenches, worktables and odd bits and pieces. There was a rack of semiautomatic rifles, a heavy machinegun on a tripod and even a big welding machine on rubber tired wheels.

 

What were they doing there, in the Lamplight Caverns? Why hadn't anybody found them before then? When the FreeAlliance had long ago fled to the ArkDomain, why had they not taken the A-bombs with them?

 

Then he found the small antechamber and in it the remains of some long dead soldiers stacked into a corner. On a table was a movie projector and a neat stack of reels in their cases. Like everything else in the Lamplight Caverns, things in that place were oddly well preserved, even the dead soldiers. He noted the numbering on the reel cases and began to put the first movie on.

 

:blink: Got bad feelings!

 

:down: Not good, something not good.

 

:sick: Very bad.

 

:ninja: Ninja the bad things.

 

Johnnie paused after the movie was ready and then he began to focus his thoughts, to ask himself questions that perhaps he should have asked himself earlier. Perhaps he had made too many assumptions.

 

Just what Alternate Earth was he on?

 

Was the past of that world, including the Martian Invasion, really so identical to that occurring on the Alternate Earth that Eddie was on? What of the history of that world, of its humanity? He realised then that he had assumed too much. He went back through what he did know of the history of that Alternate Earth that was up to World War Two, the Aquatic Martian Invasion, the rise of the FreeAlliance and the Enclaven, the Great Exodus to the mysterious ArkDomain, the betrayal of the Encaven and Martians by each other, the short lived Doomsday War ending in Doomsday and then the terrible times following Doomsday.

 

On the surface it seemed to be just like the historical direction happening on the Alternate Earth that Eddie was on. Then he reached out to Eddie and they compared notes, the urgency of the moment overcoming the reluctance the two had to communicate with one another. Soon it became evident that there were some important but subtle differences between the two Aternate Earth Histories that hinted strongly at much more important differences.

 

He turned off some lights and started playing the first movie.

Edited December 22, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

CLANSFOLK AND CLANSFOLK?

 

The Clansfolk of the history of Eddie's Alternate Earth and the Clansfok of the history of Johnnie's Alternate Earth will be called E's Clansfolk and J's Clansfolk.

 

J's Clansfolk were more progressive in that they had long ago crushed the Thirteenth Clan, the Imperial Clan, but then had supported that clan to return to some form of healthy form. The Thirteenth Clan became the Orderhood of many Orders that carried many progressive and necessary tasks for the Clansfolk such as the healers, artisans, bards and others. The descendents of the Thirteenth Clan formed the Clansguardia, the miitary forces of the Clansfolk. They helped form a new nation-state.

 

Yet the Thirteen Clan also survived as a break away group that fled into secrecy. The irony was that one group of descendents became the hunters of the other group and the two became great enemies.

 

E's Clansfolk were less progressive in that they not only crushed the Imperial Clan, the Thirteenth Clan, but took everything from it of importance and continued to show no mercy for centuries to come. The descendents of the Thirteenth Clan, forced to survive, became the powerful ClansGuilds that fought their way into power, wealth and influence. As the Twelve Clans declined in power, wealth and influence, the ClansGuilds fought a secret war with them to carry out revenge and to destroy them. Then the Twelve Clans turned to a dark, desperate plan to save themselves.

 

The Alternate Earth that the FreeUnion and Nuclaven came from, where zetans and votans had invaded instead of Martians, there were no Clansfolk or so it seemed to be.

Edited December 1, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

1 of 4 (060)

 

FIRST APPEARING IN CYRODIIL, TAMRIEL, RELATIVELY CLOSE TO KVATCH

 

Joannie appeared in an outfit much like that which Johnnie, Eddie and Leslie had shown up in but where she appeared her clothes and other gear were much more out of place. The bandits were all Cyrodillin Commoners, not the Imperials with their special ways. They came out of the trees and bushes with grins and looked at the beautiful young looking Joannie standing there in her RangerScout field fatigues and with her backpack, autocarbine and other gear. They were dirty, smelly and yet tough. Two were four men and one was a woman but Joannie sensed quickly that she would be offered no mercy from any of them.

 

Joannie sighed and stood up from where she had been examining an exotic, intricate flower on a bush. Then she spoke to them in fluent Cyrodilinic, the common language of Cyrodiil. "The city one can just see in the distance, what is the name of it?"

 

The short, skinnier man grinned at her. "Kvatch is its name, girl, but you will not be reaching there to enjoy its markets, its arena or any of its other delights. We will take you and yours. We will enjoy you and, yes, we may even eat you." Then he chuckled.

 

But one of the other men suddenly went pale and though he was big and hulking, he spoke quickly. "We have made an awful mistake, my lady. We will withdraw back to where we came from and will not impose trouble upon you."

 

Joannie was puzzled by this response but only for a moment. Then she laughed softly. The eyebot robot was rising up behind her, beside her, and to these folks would be most frightening. To them it would be magical-mechanical by nature, perhaps. There were, she suspected, such devices in that realm where magic was the driving force behind clever clockwork and other mechanical systems. The eyebot beeped warnings.

 

Joannie shook her head. "No, you stuck your necks out and now it is time for the chop. You will only do more violence against the next victims to come along as you have done against others of the Cyrodilin Empire."

 

The big man scowled. "Have it your own way, then, b****." He pulled out a low level made and powered arcane magical flame-longsword and activated it so that flaming energies sprang up weakly around its blade.

 

The other bandits raced at her except for one woman who turned and fled into the forest surrounding the area of road. Even as she did, Joannie knew for sure that the fleeing one really was no mere bandit but something disguised as one. The eyebot aimed its lasergun and drilled a hole through the forehead of a bandit so that he collapsed dead to the ground.

 

Joannie raised her hands into the air and chanted shortly before thrusting out her hands and hurling dozens of small magi-bullets of sparkling energy that honed in on the bandits' vulnerable spots. Other bandits ran into three shimmering sparkling entities that suddenly formed out of mid air being a big golden yellow flamecat, a small dragon and an oonkey, a big monkey like being with opposable thumbs waring armour and using odd weapons.

 

It was no real victory.

 

MOVING ONWARDS TO KVATCH

 

She called upon the Light and four of the bandits came back to the world as transformed entities seeking final redemption. One was a elementor of living energies, two were elementors of the psionic energies and the last an enhanced human of mind, body and spirit-psychich energies. That meant one Lifenicors, two Psionincors and a Humanicor. They were still individuals and they brought with them many more gifts than those mentioned.

 

So it was that the group set out for the great quasimedieval city of Kvatch. All the Redempticors looked like typical humans of that world but their appearances were changed enough so they woud not be treated like criminals for in the supposed short moment they had been gone, for them they had experienced much longer periods of trial, testing, judgement and othe processes.

 

The big city was a good distance off and the area was fairly wild. It seemed that ever since the Teleways had opened between the Imperial Cities of the Cyrodilin Empire, allowing both people and goods to travel almost instantly between them, that many outer and more isolated parts of the empire had become neglected, some more than others. This had increased when important rural areas of farming, plantations, mining and other services had gained their own TelewayGates. These Imperial Protectorates had soon become surrounded by patrolled walls and garrisoned round-tower forts.

 

Joannie did not like the feel of what she was hearing as the empire, the imperial court and the imperial government had come to be quite blind to much that was happening in large parts of the empire, as the empire became divided between those 'inside' and 'outside' of the Imperial Cities and Protectorates, as many Cyrodilins were basically left to tend for themselves. Yet it was not totally the case as there had always been those Imperials who were interested in all of the empire and it seemed matters were changing as the new Empress began to take up her imperial duties.

 

As it was, strange and disturbing things were happening out in the so called Forgone Provinces. The former bandits had heard disturbing stories that were increasing in number and in horror. It was said that monsters were prowling the Wild Provinces beyond even the Forgone Provinces but these were not traditional but of new kinds that battled with the local mythos creatures. The bandits had even seen proof in the form of the head of a lesser daedric scamp, one of the lowliest foot soldiers of Mehrunes Dagon and some other of the Sixteen Daedric God-Goddesses. Yet the reports had not all been about daedric intruders but other forms of creatures that seemed to fight the lesser daedra as much as they did local mythic creatures.

 

The bandits had arisen as survivors of collasped regional economies and other social structures. Imperial Highways and Roadways became neglected as did bridges and other structures. Many round-tower forts were abandoned and fell into disrepair to often become the home of monsters or shadowy groups but most bandits staid away from them. Yet there were people who struggled on to survive, gathering together to try to prosper and often turning their backs on the empire that had seemingly turned against them.

 

http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/tt9/Dragonpen61/Forum%20Additives/TamrielMap-1.jpg

Edited December 22, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

2 of 4 (061)

 

GREEN FOREST, FRESH AIR AND LEARNING

 

The group continued on along an Imperial Roadway that had seen far better days but Joannie stored away the eyebot in a special manner and sent the flamercat, aodragon and oonkay to a special pllace. She enjoyed the fresh air of that land and sensed normal flora and fauna out in the green forest that stretched in all directions. There was also the ever present subtle influence of wild magic that was a distant cousin to arcane magic but both more chaotic and more powerful. She paused the travelling group to gather up herbs at least once and at one point examined the skeletal remains of a young deer that had been savaged and then only partly devoured. Footprints and other clues showed that gobblers, scamp like lesser daedra with big jawed mouths full of fangs, had done the devouring but the deer had been killed by the ruthless swiping action of some great set of claws.

 

Yet the journey continued to be peaceful enough.

 

The former bandit and now Humanicor, the big hulking Uriac, spoke as he walked beside her. "What frightens most folk in the Forgone Provinces is that they face the unknown. When Martin died to cut off the Gates of Oblivionaedra once and for all, it was assumed that the daedra would never be able to come here again. Yet small groups of lesser and even mediate daedra have been observed out in the more isolated parts of Cyrodiil. The wildfolk appear to be fighting them. Stories say there are wildfolk in alliances once thought impossible. Goblins are restless. Gnomes are digging into their hills and dwarves into their mountains. Sprites, sylphs, brownies, nymphs, dryads and other such creatures have been spotted on the hunt. Elves, that is true elves and not those mer, are calling for gatherings of leaders of the wildfolk."

 

He shrugged. "Add to that mix hobgoblins, centaurs, dragons, elemental-animals and ... well just about anything you can think of incuding ogres and trolls. Yes, many of those being Clansfolk along with those Clansfolk humans who supposedly dwell down in the Underworld. Then there are creatures that are unknown, inexplicable and perhaps most terrifying of all."

 

Joannie looked up at a black bird, large and powerful, soaring through the sky way above. "We are being spied on. That up there is a shapermage in that bird shapeform. Very powerful nature linked arcane magic. I would say the Mages Guild but it has been a long time since I was last here, which was back in the years following the destruction of Mehrunes Dagon or at least one of his primary aspects that has weakened him greatly.."

 

Uriac frowned. "The Templedom of the Dozen Divines and the Mages Guild have lost power, wealth and influence since the mechane wizards and lesser mages came out of the Underworld and brought with the Nine Great Gifts, Nine Great Devices and the Nine Great Rings. Still tradition is strong and the faith of the Dozen Divines is still strong amongst many even though a few still worship the Nine Divines and will not accept the ascession of Martin, Eresa and Thoemas. The Mages Guild still has the arcane university and its lodges. The battlemages have their Battlemagic Academy in Kvatch. The Templedom of the Dozen Divines has the Great Temple in Imperiarna."

 

Joannie nodded and then taking out a small rubber ball from a pocket, threw it lightly into the air. She caught it and then frowned softly. "No, not good. About two seconds slower than it should have been in returning to my hand and slighty warmer than it should have been when it got there. So, tell me about the rise of Martin as a Divine."

 

Uriac shrugged. "I am no scholar. Even before things started going bad for many people of the empire, people like me did not gain much of an education. Yet I will do my best. Few thought that Martin would join the Nine Divines but about ten years after Martin turned into a great spiritual dragon and then a great stone dragon, the priests and priestesses began to speak of Martin as the Tenth Divine. Yet they also began to make pronouncements of the Goddess Eresa and the God Thomemas though it was unclear why. So now there are the Dozen Divines. Now also the Divines appear to be more flexible in their responsibilities and even more direct in their relationship to the mortal world."

 

He went on talking after a pause. "There was a huge backlash against all daedric worhsip after the death of Martin. The daedric shrines through out much of Cyrodiil were thrown down and the various followers killed, imprisoned or forced to flee into the wilderness. The rest of Tamriel shook off the empire in the hundreds of years following the end of the Third Age. Oh yes, necromancers faired no better. Arcane mages ceased to summon the undead or daedric entities and turned instead to quasinatural, elemental and wildfolk summonings. They did this partly because of new imperial degrees but mostly because they could no longer properly control either the summoned daedra or undead."

 

Joannie sighed. "I liked Martin very much. I was there back in the fight against Mehrunes Dagon and the daedra, along with those Mythic Dawn fools. What of the Blades?"

 

Uriac frowned. "The Blades lost favour with the Emperors and when the new role of Empresses came to be, the Blades became the bodyguard of each Empress or would be Empress in turn. They are fanatical followers of the new Empress. My mother and father used to tell me wondrous stories of the great adventures of the Eternal Champion and her role in the victory against Mehrunes Dagon. Did you ever meet her?"

 

Joannie shrugged. "I am the Eternal Champion. Tell me more about these amazing bringers of wondrous gifts from the Underworld."

 

He gave her a mild grin. "They came at a time of bleak crisis for the empire. There was a looming threat of invasion of combined forces from Skyrim, Morrowind and other former Imperial Provinces. That was back when Cyrodiil was considered to be just one province. There was plague, pestilence and other troubles and though none by themselves were major problems, together they were a threat to the empire, Imperials and Commoners alike. They saved the empire."

 

Joannie frowned softly. "Back when I was last here, all Cyrodilins of the old breed were called Imperials."

 

At that he shrugged. "Back then Imperials did not have new powers and Commoners were allowed into all of Imperiarna, into the Imperial Court City that was back then called the 'Imperial City'. Now there is the Undercity where anybody can go and the Middle City where only Registered Commoners can go and the High City where no Commoners can go. There is the White Gold Tower where the Empress and Empress Mother dwell. Yes, the old districts of the city are all in the Middle City now, below the platforms and towers of the High City but above the undergrounds of the Undercity. The old Arena is still there. Not much more that I can say. Oh yes, the Temple District and the Great Temple District are still there. The new districts together are twice as big as the older city that you once knew."

 

She put the rubber ball away just as the great black bird soared down to land on a wooden stump ahead of them, to one side of the road. Almost at once, with a sparkling shimmer, the black bird turned into a tired looking young woman wearing little more than a light leather leotard, some pouches and light leather boots. She had a canteen, some pouches, a dagger in a sheaf and some flasks on a leather belt.

 

The woman hurried over and spoke to Joannie. "You are the one we have been waiting for, the Eternal Champion returned. The empire is in danger but not just the empire. Many worlds are under threat and many peoples."

 

Joannie sighed. "I know, that is why I am here. I think I would like to go to Cloud Ruler Temple."

 

The shapermage looked surprised. "Cloud Ruler Temple is little more than a holiday retreat for the Empress and Empress Mother and has been for centuries."

 

Joannie smiled. "Despite that, that is where I would go with my companions. That is after we go to Kvatch. Last time I was in Kvatch it was a burned out ruins that had been destroyed by the daedric hordes of Mehrunes Dagon."

 

The former bandit nodded. "Except for some ruins left as a memorial, the city is not only repaired but is old now as it is."

 

Joannie nodded right back. Then she took a small glittering copperish ball out of a pouch and threw it into the air. It shot upwards, went suddenly horizontal and then shot off into the forest to quickly vanish. Again and again she did this, with each sphere darting off in a different direction, until she had sent off nine of them. The she did the same with three silvery glittering silvery balls and then one glittering golden sphere of the same size.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 22, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

3 of 4 (062)

 

AT THE RUINED INN AND MORE LEARNING

 

Now Joannie had five companions and the shapermage needed sleep for she had taken the shapeform of a great black eagle for many long hours. The Archmage of the Mages Guild had ordered her to come to find Joannie but she was not the only searcher. Yet she had not been told the identities of the others for security purposes. So when they came to the partly burned ruins of a long abandoned inn, they staid there in the shelter of a fairly sturdy chamber.

 

Joannie sat with her back to a brick wall and spoke to the others in the chamber. "Nine Great Gifts, Nine Great Devices and the Nine Great Rings, tell me of them."

 

Uriac looked up from where he faced the fire-bowl she had placed in the middle of the chamber. Dropping bits of wood and some special powder into it had meant a goodly fire had started burning at once. Uriac was cooking a frying-pan of pan-cakes. He shrugged. "We Foresaken Commoners, we have far more heard of such things than seen them. The Nine Great Gifts are the Teleways, the Teletalks, the Televiews, the Rejenoways, the Visiways, the Replicawants, the Transformowa, the Tubeala and the Bubblelata. The Nine Great Devices are the golems, the skelems, the manequelems, the rocketows, the platformics, the mentubands, the nisuitics, the wheelics and the orbistocs. As for the Nine Great Rings, they are worn by the Nine Guardians of the Mechanicus, the Energicus, the Elementacus, the Waywocus, the Opticacus, the Gravitocus and the Powertocus."

 

Joannie took a small, rather old looking notebook out of a pouch in a language that looked odd to the others, opened it and examined something. Then she laughed softly, a little sourly, before putting it away. "Yes, it is all starting to make horrible sense. It would be his way to do this. Any other items of interest?"

 

Uriac shrugged. "Some odd stories speak of things called robots that are of metal and march about the inner most city. They are called protectrons, I think. Oh yes, eyebots also like the one you first appeared with."

 

Robots? What else was on that world that should not be there?

 

Then the shapermage woman called Sarsha spoke. "Telephones, telegrams, thunderguns, steam-engines, cannons, balloons, slidelamps, camera-boxes and much else that supposedly delights, enlightens and makes one surperior to those who do not have such things."

 

"I hardly think that is true." Joannie sighed. "I have known of such things many times. They are but clever devices. What of arcane magic?"

 

Sarsha responded again. "Declined over the years but still strong in instrinsic and device magic, wards and emblems, emblem-scrolls and embem-books. Mechane mages have prospered since their appearance. Necromancers, wild-mages and daedric mages have vanished or at least from view. Like nearly all such explanations, the truth is more complicated than that. This part of Cyrodiil has many hedge witches, warlocks and even wizards, cottage healers, fire dancers and much else of the kind."

 

At that moment the small flying spheres began to return to her, zipping through the air but dropping gently into her hands at the last moment. So returned nine copperish, three silverish and one golden sphere. She touched each in turn to her forehead and then put it away. As she did Joannie was frowning more and more. Then she spoke of what she had learned. "Groups of Dark Brotherhood assassins move through the forest around us. The hunt for me."

 

Sarsha scowled. "Back in the time of Martin the Dark Brotherhood served any who could pay them but they have served the Mechane High Council and the Mechanedoriam for over a hundred years now. They have an exclusive contract and in return many perks and high pay. It is said that the Emperor, one Tavane Septim, also uses the Dark Brotherhood assassins often just as he is wrapped in the services of the mechanes. What would you have us do?"

 

Joannie smiled. "We are safe here for I have hidden our tracks and we are cloaked in more than one way. Sarsha, you must sleep. We others will take turns in sleeping and at least half of us will be awake at any time."

 

A quietness fell on the group and she heard a large rat scuttling through the ruins with her enhanced hearing. Some branches struck the side of the crumbling buildings as the wind caught them.

Edited December 22, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

QUESTIONABLE HISTORIES OF TAMRIEL

THE GIFTS OF THE MACHANE

 

NINE GREAT GIFTS

Teleways being teleportation transportation

Teletalks being telecommunications

Televiews being 'television'

Rejenoways being healing rejuvenation

Visiways being 'virtual reality'

Replicawants being replication of 'things'

Transformowa being the transformation of 'special things'

Tubeala being tube transporation

Bubblelata being protective safety bubbles

 

THE NINE GREAT DEVICES

jogolems being a hulking kind of servant, worker, soldier

skelems being a smaller, skinnier type of servant, worker, soldier

manequelems being a more human type of servant, worker, soldier

rocketows a type of projectile weapon being of different power-sizes

platformics a type of floating enclosed, semi-enclosed or open floating-flying platform type vehicle

mentubands a type of headband with special abiities having many sub-variants

nisuitics a type of energy armour suit having many sub-variants

wheelics a type of wheeled encosed, semi-enclosed or open vehicle with many sub-variants

orbistocs a special type of hovering, flying, swimming, teleporting vehicle with some sub-variants

 

NINE GREAT RINGS, as worn by the Nine Mechane Guardians

being of the nine Great Machanaeds that generate and serve-support all mechane magic

there are three of each kind being one primary, one secondary and one emergency

Mechanicus

Energicus

Elementacus

Waywocus

Opticacus

Gravitocus

Powertocus

Edited December 3, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

38 of 1 (063)

 

THE FIRST REEL OF THE DHARMA PUZZLE

 

Johnnie pulled a big container of buttered warm popcorn out of his backpack as the first movie reel began and began eating. The first scene showed a group of white clan scientists and techs, with grey coverall wearing workers assisting, putting the finishing touches to a rather complicated and exotic looking machine. The editing was crude and the quality of the vision and sound was only fair. A man with thick glasses and amazing white hair sticking out to the sides over his ears in two bunches, was supervising. He looked quite worried, tired and frustrated.

 

Then he turned and faced the camera and spoke in Austrian accented English but his language skills were excellent. "The Dharma Initiative was first ..." Then he stopped, sighed and pulled a crumpled piece of note paper out of a white labcoat pocket. "Perhaps I should try to start from the start. This is not easy. How can one describe the history of events that involve the distortion of history? All I can say is that from my point of view and from the point of view of the current taskforce, the story begins with a dangerous experiment that shoud not have ever been risked."

 

"This is the machine that began it all. We of the Dharma Investgations Taskforce are here attempting to reconstruct the machine which we found to be both partly dismantled and partly damaged. As yet we have only just begun to really understand its purpose and the nature of it."

 

Then the camera panned to the right and showed a row of capsules, each slanted and fused into a machine. In each was grenish blue swirling semitransparent gas. Inside each of the long row of capsules, there were fifteen of them, was a barely glimpsed humanoid body. Or were they humans? Johnnie felt a sense of disturbance, of familiarity that he did not like.

 

The man went on speaking. "As for the young people trapped in those terrible capsules, we have not been able to gain any real access to them, let alone to assist them. Outside of this underground complex that is quite deep inside Lamplight Caverns, out there history seems to be changing. The world seems to be changing. The ending of World War Two by the Americans dropping two nuclear bombs on two Japanese cities has ceased to be the end of Word War Two. Now there is an invasion of Martian tripods just as in HG Well's science fiction classic, the War of the Worlds, but with some noticeable differences. Those outside of this complex treat these changes in history, in the very fabric of reality, as if they are normality. There is, understandably, much tension amongst the taskforce here especially as some of us have begun having disturbing dreams and two have vanished with out good explanation."

 

Even as Johnnie kept watching, the ghost like phantoms began to appear and to sit quietly on other chairs. They were the members of the Dharma Investigations Taskforce. They seemed sleepy and sad as they, translucent and yet looking clean and new in their old gear, as they observed both the movie and Johnnie. He did not bother to offer them any popcar, which was actually made of highly nutritional stuff anyway, but sent them small pulses of energy that was like food to them. Each phantom fed by such a pulse looked suddenly less tired and more hopeful.

 

The man on the screen kept talking. "The original experimental research and development team had vanished by the time we came here but there were some signs of violence, of struggle. We found some blood stains, spent cartridges and damaged equipment but no bodies and no explanations to what had happened. There was this."

 

The camera turned, with some evident difficulty, and focused on a piece of machinery with great rending claw marks running down one side. The power, hardness and sharpness of the claw using creature must have been amazing for the metal was good quality thick steel and yet it was carved into as if it had been soft as butter. Johnnie studied the claw marks carefully and guessed them to be demonic in nature but considering the vast amount of demonic domains and subdomains, Hells and false hells, along with so called natural hells, that was no immediate answer in itself. Yet it did mean that some kind of transdimensional gateway had been opened or, worse, transdimensional rift had been created. A gateway would be more limited and safer, a rift more powerful and dangerous. It it was a rift and then from that greater complications could have flowed, especially if the rift combined and-or clashed with other troubling events.

 

The reels were of 16mm film and were not very big but there was another long scene. Time had passed and the machine was looking completed. The crazy haired scientist was standing at a big blackboard to one side of the machine and was busily finishing of what seemed to be a very big, very clever equation that seemed to combine what the man would have seen as both advanced physics and higher mathematics.

 

The man turned away from the platform to show a bruise mark on the right side of his face. "The madness has been spreading amongst the members of the Taskforce. There has been another suicide and two members have locked themseves into a bedroom together in what one could only consider to be an orgy of amazing debauchery. Another scientist has become convinced that cockroaches hold the secret to existence and that he must eat as many of them as he can in order to gain logical enlightenment. We used to wonder what was the true focus of the machine and now we know it is the older teenagers in the capsules. They are far from typical late teenagers. They appear to have enhanced physica and mental capacities. They... well they seem somehow to be more rea than real and yet, at the same time, somehow not quite here."

 

A cold shiver went down Johnnie's spine because he knew that the teenagers were him and others like himself, being more than the quins.

 

The professor went on speaking. "When we found the other capsules, the ones with the animals, plants and creatures that we could not find any easy definition for, we at first assumed them to be of lesser importance. I was one of the primary fools behind this idea. I was wrong, very wrong. The animals, the plants, the dragon and the other things, even what look to be robots, are seen now to be also both realer than real and yet somehow removed one step from reality at the same time."

 

The genius shook his head. "So what is the purpose of the machine. I can only form a hypothesis of sorts, an extrapolation, that it is designed to ater the very fabric of time-space itself in a specialised, specific manner. That is it is designed to alter reality but only in what I would call an isoated bubble. The machine is a tricky and dangerous concept and it should never have been tried. Somebody has been playing god and in the process has set off, or helped to set off, a very dangerous set of events."

 

The rest of the movie reel showed more shots of the amazing machine.

 

 

Edited December 22, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

ALL THESE WORLDS ARE CENTRAL

ALL THESE WORLDS ARE LINKED

ALL THESE WORLDS ARE THE SAME WORLD

 

THERE ARE THIRTEEN OF CENTRALITY

NINE MORTAL BASED

THREE ELEMENTAL BASED

ONE OF POWERFUL SPIRITUALITY

 

NONE OF WHAT IS HAPPENING IS BY ACCIDENT

ALL OF IT WAS PLANNED

BUT IT ALL GOING TO PLAN?

WAS THERE JUST ONE PLANNER AND ONE PLAN?