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[Dealthagar]

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OOC - This was a 5 part story written primarily by myself with interaction from both Anna and Greypawn. The idea behind it was that through the power of Technomancy, Dealthagar and Anna were going to recreate the Three Prime Relics (Bell, Book, Candle) but instead of being dedicated to Courage, Love and Truth (the Three Pillars of Virtues) they would be dedicated to Dilligence, Passion and Control (the Three Pillars of the Path of Singularity, also called the Gargish Virtues.) This was dated in late fall of 2002, so bear in mind some of the names and organizations may be long passed from current memory.

Other than being a good piece of game driven fiction, even if i do say so myself, it also was really good at highlighting and showcasing some of the RP behind Technomancy.

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PART ONE

"Are you sure about this, Dealthagar? This sounds risky." Anna looked across the table to her fiancée. "Even with everything we've been able to dig up, there is no mention of how they were made."

The Ancient Technomancer smiled. "I am certain of nothing."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Anna sighed and rolled her eyes.

"No, but then again, everything we have done so far is a gamble. What is one more?" He slid the collector and the modulation crystals across the table to her. "I am not even certain we can fully duplicate them. But...” A look of satisfaction crossed his face. "Using the power of Technomancy, we may be able to create reasonable facsimiles that will serve our purposes. Even so, the Path of Singularity will have its own hallmark artifacts to go with our shrine. How goes the examination of the readings we took at the justice shrine?”

“Slow, but not very far from what you predicted.” Anna shook her head. “It appears that Sosaria doesn’t have the power to fuel anymore of them. If we wish a shrine to Singularity, we may have to convert an existing shrine.”

“Easily done…but not a primary concern right now.” He wrung his hands. “The artifacts are our chief issue now.” Dealthagar closed his eyes and smiled. “We will have our own heralds f the pillars. We will have the proof and validation of our philosophy that can be easily seen by all. We will begin a golden age….an age of Singularity.”

To be continued…


PART TWO

“Did they actually think they could keep us from finding the Bell by putting it out of reach?” Dealthagar chuckled as he set up the collector and the modulation crystals up around the Bell of Courage.

“After GreyPawn’s ritual, you would think they would keep them under greater security.” Anna calibrated the input reader and handed it back to Dealthagar, and he snapped it into the back of his hand. “How long do you think the readings will take to gather?”

“I would hope no more than a few minutes.” Dealthagar closed his eyes and felt the readings begin coming in. “Ahhh. Mid-band readings are exactly where I expected them to be.” He tapped the pad on the back of his hand and began recording the readings to a specially prepared arcane gem. “Actually, after what happened, I’m not sure they think they need security on them. I’m beginning to think they put it out of reach to keep anyone else from being harmed.”

“Harmed?” Her brow furrowed and she looked over at the dials on the collector. “High output. A lot of power went into making these.”

“Nothing the facilities in the castle cannot handle. If you’re concerned, we can perform the construction process in our new facility.” He adjusted the flow input dial on his hand. The readings were spiking, but the pattern was becoming clearer. Dealthagar didn’t want to worry his general needlessly. “We can have the men begin the conversion in the morning.”

“No rush. We haven’t determined if they can be duplicated yet.” The two looked at each other and smiled mischievously. “Shall I send the men to gather more workers for drone fittings?”

“The Regent’s men will be in the larger cities preparing for Blackthorne. Send them to Cove. The workers will never be missed.” A small “ping” rang in Dealthagar’s ear. “Pattern record complete. We are done here.”

Anna opened her runebook as Dealthagar collected the equipment. “How will we get into the abbey with the Regent’s men all about? The See us, and we’ll be apprehended at once.”

Going into his pack, Dealthagar tossed Anna a healer’s robe. He quickly donned one of his own and cast an incognito spell. “We are simple monks, nothing more.”

She quickly cast incognito then opened the gate inside the abbey. “Follow me. When I was under the effects of that…whatever you would call it, I found out where the candle was being hidden. I don’t think they would move it.” The General led the Technomancer to a small upstairs room and opened a false panel. “Just as I thought”

They quickly took the readings as they had from the Bell. He was receiving the same spikes in power, but at different intervals. “The pattern is nearly the same as the Bell, but in an opposite sine.”

Anna grimaced. She understood much of the mechanical aspects of the art, and at Dealthagar’s direction, excelled in the construction and conversion of drones. Some of the odd theoretical aspects of Technomancy still eluded her. It was one of the things that she admired about her partner. He had taken the plunge from Necromancy to Technomancy without losing an inch. He did tend to forget that everyone did not understand the higher mysteries as he did. He had been teaching her, though. Unlike the Necromancers she had once allied with, Dealthagar’s love of Technomancy nearly forced him to teach it and practice it as openly as he could. If one would listen, he would teach and explain every aspect of what he did. There was no fear of others “stealing” his work or uncovering hidden mysteries. She had heard him say on numerous occasions that he hoped for all magi to be technomancers someday. “Opposite sine?”

He smiled and waved her over. “As you know, all magic follows patterns. It is the power, intensity, complexity and structure of the pattern that determines the magic. In the case of the artifacts, there are thousands of strands to the enchantment, but it overall follows a very deep sine wave.” He held up his arm so she could see the crystal panel. “The Blue line represents the general pattern the Candle follows. Now look when I superimpose the Bell readings on top.”

Anna’s eyes widened in surprise. “They mirror each other.”

“More correctly, they perfectly mirror each other. Given their nature, I am not entirely surprised. I’m curious to see how the Book fits in.” Dealthagar heard the “ding” and began to collect the equipment up again. “Send the mayor a pigeon and let him know we are on our way.”

To be continued…


PART THREE

Dealthagar rolled his eyes. “You must be joking.”

The mayor of Moonglow set his jaw and leaned forward on his desk. “I have never been more serious.”

“It’s a book. I’m even granting that it is a powerful one, but it is still a book.” Dealthagar shifted in the uncomfortable chair. “To even insinuate that it is intelligent is…”

“The truth.” GreyPawn straightened himself. “All of the artifacts are powerful, but the book dwarfs the other two. I have conducted extensive research on it, and I believe my findings to be sound.”

Dealthagar and Anna looked at each other. No words were needed. Neither of them saw his statement as remotely conceivable. The magics of Sosaria simply did not contain the power levels needed to create magical intelligence. The few objects of such power on the orb did not originate from this plane of existence, and the book was innately tied to Sosaria. “My readings will tell me what I need to know.”

“That is, if the book allows itself to be gauged in the manner you speak of.” The mayor of Moonglow steepled his fingers. “The book may not allow itself to manifest out of the Lycaeum.”

“Ah, yes. The Lycaeum. You believe it to be an extension of the book? Myself, Rune Artisem and a few others have entered the Lycaeum and suffered no effects. We are obviously not of the virtues. Why would it allow it?” Dealthagar was beginning to grow impatient.

“No, I believe the Lycaeum is part and parcel of the book. An expression of the truth contained within. The book does what it does and allows what it allows for its own reasons. I have studied it, but I would deign not to assume I know its intentions.”

“Regardless, I need not even touch the book.” The Technomancer looked over to his companion. She shared his frustration. This was their second visit to the mayor’s home about seeing the book, and he still seemed hesitant. “My equipment will take all the readings needed in a few minutes and we will be done. The process is easy and not invasive in any way.”

GreyPawn sat back in his chair and pursed his lips. “I am still not comfortable with the idea. I do not know how the Book will react to being poked and prodded. The concept of making a duplicate is ludicrous.”

“Never-the-less, I will try. Technomancy is capable of far more than anyone imagines. As I said the book will not be touched in any way. The readings will be taken remotely and no harm will come to the book. I assure you of this.” He was beginning to lose his temper.

“Your assurances are unneeded. No harm CAN come to the book, but fine then. I will allow you to take these readings, but I must be present when you take them, and I want a full report of anything you discover.”

“Of course!” Anna smiled. “We would be honored to share our findings with an ally.”

“When would you want to do these…readings?” GreyPawn looked over his allies nervously.

“What better time then now. It will only take a few minutes and then you can put your nervousness behind you.” Dealthagar stood. “Shall we?”

GreyPawn’s mouth went tight. “Hrrmph. Very well. Follow me.” They were led on a short jaunt to the teleporter in the south, taking them to town. Another few steps and they were in front of the majestic Lycaeum. GreyPawn led them to the hiding spot of the book, and opened it. “Now what?”

Dealthagar began to set up the crystals to receive the data they would be scanning and powered the arcane gem begin recording. He handed his general a golden cylinder covered in runes and sprouting dozens of wires. “Anna, would you be so kind as to place the collector next to the book?”

As she placed it, GreyPawn became very visibly nervous. “Collector? I thought you were just taking readings? What will you be collecting?”

The technomancer chuckled. “Nothing to worry about. It will be collecting the energy that the book gives off and sending the readings to the control crystals on the ground.” He tapped the sequence on his hand to begin the recording process. “Hmm. Odd.”

“What?” Anna looked up with a look of concern.

“Check the collector and set the band feed to the high range. This is odd.”

Looking over Dealthagar’s shoulder, GreyPawn tried to get a better look at the dials on the technomancers arm to see if they made any sense to him. “What’s odd?”

“The first two artifacts were a conforming pattern. The power output was immense, but it made sense. This is all over the chart and I’m not seeing any pattern at all.” He adjusted a dial on his wrist. “Anna, boost the feed from the collector, I’m going to change to a low-band sweep.” Anna nodded and moved a small slide on the golden object.

“Feed? I’m not sure I understand.” The mayor crossed his arms and began to look worried.

“Worry not, I’m just trying a slightly different scan to see if I can get a better reading. Damn. Nothing. Anna come look at this.” He held his arm out and showed her the dial.

She looked for a moment and then raised an eyebrow. “It looks like nonsense. What does it mean?”

Dealthagar smirked to GreyPawn. “It means it’s more than just a book. I’m not sure what it is, but it’s not just a book.” Dealthagar rubbed his chin scrambling mentally. The crystals only had so much power left, and he still didn’t have a clear reading. Suddenly an idea gripped him. “Both of you step back if you have any magical items on you. They might get a little hot.” He reversed the input and output feeds on his hand and began to send direct feed from his own bio-systems into the crystals and collector. He hoped the reverse signal would get him a reverb effect. He may not be able to see the pattern itself, but the process should have been able to give him a footprint of where the footprint wasn’t. “Yes! Excellent! Finally something I can work from.” The crystal’s “ding” echoed in his ear as it finished recording. The pattern was far too complex to fully record, but it would give him months of research material. “Damn!” As he shut down the unit, Dealthagar jumped in pain. One of the capacitors in his hand had blown from the residual charge, causing it to go limp.

GreyPawn jumped as well. “What happened.?”

Dealthagar removed the hand and peered inside. “Faulty capacitor. The entire unit is fused. Damn.”

“I can help you make a new one when we get home. Did you lose the data?” Anna took the hand and looked it over.

Dealthagar removed the arcane gems from his forearm and handed them to Anna. “No, they look fine. Just the hand.”

“I’d be interested in your findings once you have them.” GreyPawn closed the hidden chamber.

Dealthagar waved him off. “Of course. It may take a bit of time, but anything we find we will make available to you.”

As the Mayor recalled away, Anna opened a gate. As he stepped through, a wave of exhaustion covered the Dealthagar. Perhaps building a new hand could wait until the morning.

To be continued…


PART FOUR

Dealthagar stumbled. The air around him felt like syrup and his senses began to cloud. As he tried to right himself, a wave of vertigo washed over him and he crashed into the stone wall of the castle.

“Dealth! Are you alright?” Anna quickly turned back to the technomancer and helped him to his feet.

“I’m fine. Just a little fatigued.” Dealthagar blinked. He was still on the grand lawn before the castle, only few steps from the moongate he had just exited, but it felt like he had been there for hours. His right hand began to spasm uncontrollably and he looked down at it, bemusedly. “I’m fine. Just a little fatigued.”

“You just said that. Dealth, you don’t look well.” Anna’s face began to go from concerned to a small panic.

*click* *click* *whirr* He looked down at his legs and commanded them to move, but they did not respond. Focusing all his will, he stumbled forward in a clumsy sprint. Reaching the front steps of the castle, he suddenly realized he did not know how to stop. Crashing through the doors, he collapsed in a heap in the entry hall. The shock cleared his head for a moment. Mentally checking each of his implants, he learned most were shorting out or erratically surging in random patterns. Looking up at his nearly hysterical general, he struggled to speak. “System failures…outages…power flux….take me to lab…”

Supporting him with one of his arms over her shoulders and one of hers around his waist, Anna took him to the laboratory as quickly as she could. She called out for assistance, but the castle was empty. Setting him down in the seat in front of the primary controls, she took his face in her hands. “I’ll go run and get some help. Perhaps Dark Warlord or one of the other Technomancers can assist.”

“No…need.” Struggling, straining, he activated the console. His remaining hand shook as he passed it over the controls. “Activate…primary bath. Initialize sequence… zero…. zero… four… Dealthagar.”

The control screen flashed and a small green light marked “Tank prep” lit up. On his hands and knees, the Technomancer Primus crawled across the stone floor. At the end of the hall was the “tank”. A black metal and smoke colored crystal contraption, it was the key to the process of restoring life to the dead and undead. His grandest creation, Dealthagar often called it “The Womb”. Hauling himself into the harness that would support him, he closed his hand over the red crystal that activated the final sequence. The technomantic “Womb” began to fill with the greenish fluid that would suspend his life until the repairs to his systems could be completed. He smiled as the warmth washed over him. Technomancy would save him. It would restore him. It would make him whole once again. Thus was the power of technomancy.

To be continued…


PART FIVE

Dealthagar floated in his mechanical womb. There was a vague sense of time passing. Drones had repaired his faulty implants. In his haze he was beginning to understand. The three patterns had somehow caused some sort of feedback in his internals. The hand shorting out was a trigger. Nearly all of his systems had failed. Had he not gotten into a vat as quickly as he had, his death would have been an academic fact. As it was, the amount of healing he had required had been phenomenal. Several minor systems had been fully rejected after the tissue connecting them to his body had died. Several of the improvements had been replaced with organics instead of Technic implants simply to save his life. Once the affected organs had healed enough and strengthened themselves, they could be replaced. For now he would have to rely on the "original parts" performing as they were intended.

The sound of the drain opening woke him from the stupor. As the goop drained out, he began to feel cold. After a moment, the water came on and a warm shower washed the rest of the regenerating fluid from his skin. His hand had been replaced, as had several other parts. Quickly checking, he opened the storage compartment in his leg, and opened it. All three recordings remained.

Pulling a robe around himself, he stepped out of the tank and into the lab. He retrieved the three crystals and gazed at them. The power they represented was immense. He placed the three onto the table. Removing his hand, he saw that they stood in a triangle, the same way they laid in the symbol of the virtues.

He moved them apart and set them several hand's breadths away from each other. After a moment, they rolled together and formed the triangle again. Rearranging them a third time, they returned to their destined placement. His jaw set hard. There was no explanation for it.

Then it dawned on him. The energies were linked. Linked in a way even the most casual observer of the virtues could see. Based on the gargish virtues, they might be, they still wielded much power. Enough power that a simple recording still reacted.

The shorting of his system. it made sense. Far more sense than he would admit. Far more than anyone need know.

Taking a sledge hammer from the tool cabinet, he powdered the three gems in three swift blows. Gathering the dust, he poured it into the blast furnace the smiths in the castle used. He had learned all he needed to ever know. And that was enough.

-Fin-
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The Three Truths of Singularity
Do something to the best of your abilty or don't do it at all
Feel to the fullest of your ability, cutting yourself off from your emotions leads to spiritual death
Control your being, your existance, your destiny.
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