eachdraidh | Backdated to early 8 Feb | Text

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Backdated to early 8 Feb | Text | Unseelie locked

By now I think everyone knows that the monarchs are asking us to run after the Jabberwock to try and return it back to them. We know that it responds to touch, that it likes puzzles, and that lavender will help soothe it.

But there are problems with what we’ve been told that need to be solved now.

1. It’s the middle of winter. We need sources of lavender, and I do not imagine that this will be easy. If anyone knows where to begin, and can say so on an open post here, you’d be doing everyone a great favour.
2. The Jabberwock isn’t small. Making puzzles that will be the right sie will be a struggle. Thoughts on how to go about that are welcome. I’m not imagining that it is going to be possible to walk up to this thing and ask it why did the chicken cross the road?
3. Touch. If this thing’s aura of rot is as true as old accounts have presented it, we need to find ways to deal with that. Quickly.

I’m encouraging brainstorming on this network post because anything that can be thought up together will have a greater chance of working.

Chime in if you can and for the love of whatever is dearest to you, stay safe.

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I have magic that could protect me so I can get close enough to it. I could cast it on others close by to protect them as well. It won't last - I'll need to keep casting - but it's doable.

What's the average length of duration?

A few minutes each cast.

I think that'd be just enough time. Do you tire easy when casting it?

No, not especially. If that's all I'm focusing on, I can do it. But that assumes we won't be in the thick of defending ourselves simultaneously.

It's possible the Seelie are going to try and destroy it if they can track the thing - not too hard, given the rot - so I would presume defense would be possible.

Lady Grell Sutcliffe is attempting to get near the thing, thanks to natural abilities, and I believe she is in touch with one young man named Zuko who has a lasso that can bring almost anything to heel. With your spells, you three might make for a successful team.

That wouldn't surprise me. If and when we find it, I'm anticipating a contingent of soldiers in its wake.

I'll contact them immediately. With any luck, we'll be able to track it and catch up to where it is before the Seelie have a chance to put it down. If we're even luckier, we'll be able to calm it quickly and bring it back before this escalates even further.

You can hardly blame them. Of course the entire situation is a mess, and it's a matter of pointless give and take.

I'll let Grell know to expect you, and if you know anyone who can get eyes in the skies, then that'll make tracking plausible. From research, I know the Jabberwock can cause famine in its wake, so whatever trail of dead things it leaves behind might be the other way to handle it.

Of course it's a mess. None of us expected a giant monster to go rampaging, destroying everything in its wake. No one was warned.

[ Not that she had expected a warning for something like this. ]

A shame I don't have some of my contacts here with me. I'll see if there's anything that can be done to get a bird's eye view of where our Jabberwock might be. Otherwise, I'll follow the rot and see where it takes me.

Are you on the front lines?

I'd say hopefully those contacts show up with the next court summons, but with Caer Scima in the state it's in, and with everything going as it is? I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

I'm far removed from everywhere right now.

I don't know if the monarchs would lead anyone into this chaos, not as it is now. And we haven't come close to ending this conflict.

You're lucky.

[ Or perhaps not. But seeing Caer Scima in the state it's in, even if it isn't her home, is like watching Haven go up in flames all over again. ]

The conflict's gone on for centuries. This just inflames tensions. Galvanizes people to hate the other side and be so much more willing to take vengeance for injuries done to loved ones.

Perhaps. But I've never lived in Caer Scima enough to get attached. Out where I am in Nimh Gleanne's already been impacted. I evacuated the whole village where I lived, and I'm not counting on the place I built surviving the armies that are near by.

And if loved ones are on the other side? What then? I've heard enough from others to know that they have friends and family behind enemy barriers, separated from them. They have no comfort here. No matter what happens, no matter who triumphs, they will lose everything.

For your sake, I hope it does, though I know better than to wish for such miracles. How far has the damage spread so far?

You speak truer words than I think you know. It's a given that for either court to truly win in the end, they must take the life of every shardbearer in the losing court. A mass slaughter. A loss, no matter what.

From all the reports I've gotten in, the front lines are still battling it out, with no real gains or losses. With Caer Scima's destruction, there's only two outcomes: the Unseelie will be demoralized, or they'll fight back stronger than ever. But that won't make up for the destruction.

Every life?

[ That part hadn't been put so bluntly before. But she knows no one in Caer Glaem from her world. She can only hope it stays that way. ]

If half of Caer Scima is anything like General Saber or Lord Ganondorf, I think they will come back tenfold to send the Seelie back to the Void. But that won't fix the damage and it won't bring back the lives already lost to this madness. The Unseelie will be able to count this as a victory in name only should they return with more Shards and nothing else. Otherwise, there will be nothing but ashes for us.

Mmhmm. It was one of the first reasons I objected to the war, and my hunches were confirmed as I've spent time here. No war should result in deaths like that.

[There's more at stake than just lives, but Waver won't say so over the network.]

Actual note: don't feed the void, that just makes it grow and devour.

That said, Saber and Ganondorf are two exemplars of decisive action here. Always have been. But they do, and I do not know how much damage control will need to be done by the end of this. We're already at ashes as far as Caer Scima goes.

It feels like even this engagement, both sides have lost. What becomes important is how they rebuild after.

Yet here we are, contributing, even if in some small measure. Still, I would rather help the refugees and defend people than sit idly by while the body count rises.

[ It's impossible to tell via text, of course, but he manages to coax a small laugh from her. ]

Duly noted.

Someone has to be. It should be those who have the conviction for it. I simply hope that very same conviction will be enough to kindle the hope of rebuilding into something greater, something more defensive.

[ And not simply something powerful. ]

You and I are in agreement - both in regards to acknowledging that no matte what is done, one is complicit in this battle, and that trying to soothe the damage that's been done is what's most important right now.

[It isn't too often that Waver's heard someone acknowledge their own complicity before bringing it up in conversation himself. A good sign, to be certain.]

We might live in hope that people see defense as the best thing to focus on right now, rather than having a weapons race out of vengeance. I have a feeling that the second one will win out though.

I don't see what else can be done until the battle is over and we can truly assess the damage, and see what becomes of the aftershocks. We will be feeling the effects of our monarchs' choices for months - and possibly years - to come.

[ And she says that as someone who is cleaning up the mess from a war still raging, while inciting a sort-of-war of her own. ]

Then there needs to be people who remind them of what's happened and what's worth fighting for. This will come to pass, again and again and again, until things change. Until we learn.

Years, lifetimes for some of the natives here, I'm sure. I don't know how new you are, but things change here in a moment, and the actions of shardbearers alone can ripple out into places that no one can foresee. A battle like this is just amplification of so many wills.

This war's been going on for centuries though. The learning part is...well, it seems to need remedial lessons.

I'm laughably new, I'm afraid. And yet I believe you, despite how my heart sinks to hear this. I knew we would make a difference, but did not think we could create such drastic and terrible change in such a short amount of time. I imagine we are not very well liked by the natives.

Do you have the patience to continue to remind them, ser?

The monarchs, I believe, have wanted to speed things up to confrontation for some time. Having enough of us here makes it easier for them to do so, because we change so much. But as for the natives, there have been reprisals against shardbearers of late. Violent ones, instigated by an organization known as the Cult of the Fox. It's hard not to understand their anger. It is painfully justified.

I don't have a choice, now do I?

[ Now that has some curious implications. ]

What's so special about us? Is it the shards? How can we change so much when the monarchs have been waging this war for hundreds, thousands of years? And as for their anger... Well, I can certainly understand it. We are foreigners in another land, changing what they have known to be normal for so long, and this is not even our home. I would be distraught were it my home to say the least.

You needn't do it alone, you know.

[ It's...something of an offer, she supposes. ]

It is the shards, yes, and the energy within them. They're like...hm. I feel like the best way to put this is that you can think of each court as an ocean, waves crashing. Those are the monarchs. Shardbearer actions are if you chuck a stone into the ocean, and watch the ripples. You might knock into something and make a sizeable difference, but it is the monarchs that erode at the beach and change the landscape.

Exactly so as far as the locals go, and with things churning apace, that anger is even more justified. And worse yet, you can't counter the arguments, because individually you're fine, but on a whole? Shardbearers are a massive problem.

If that's a genuine offer, then we best speak face to face when all is said and done.

And the more shardbearers one court has, the stronger the ripples; when one court loses their shards and shardbearers, the smaller the impacts are on the world beyond the court. I suppose it would be too much to hope that the monarchs could fight each other and leave the rest of the Drabwurld out of it.

It will be difficult to gain their trust, even if we try to help them in the aftermath. But I hope some will be open to our efforts.

I would be amenable to that. ...I'm sorry, I never asked for your name.

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gordianknots - 2015-02-15 01:50 (UTC) - Expand

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