eachdraidh | Video // Unseelie Locked

Greetings. For any recent arrivals who I haven't introduced myself yet, I am Baron Balem Abrasax. In the wake of recent events, I have decided to open the doors of the Military Academy to any Unseelie who wish to use its resources.

[Yes, for free, no tuition or anything, bargain!]

All I ask is that you aid or teach the native students as you would fellow shardbearers, if you can.

[He pauses for a moment.]

...And one more question. I've been alive for many thousands of years, but my eternal youth was made possibly only by technologies which don't exist here. I will wither and die in this world, if I am here too long. Yet, I have encountered many of you who don't age, without any technology at all, presumably through magical means.

How would one achieve such a feat? I've heard of the Philosopher's Stone, the Elixir of Life, and the Great Panacea, if you know anything about any of those and where to find them. Otherwise, any other leads are appreciated and I will look into researching them on my own when I have less immediate matters to attend to.

[He falters for a moment. There is fear in his voice, as much as he tries to disguise it. Fear of death looming over his shoulder, fear of every ache and pain and wrinkle and any other sign of aging he checks meticulously for every single day.]

Please, I will reward you generously for this information. [He clears his throat.] But yes, come and train at the Academy if you wish, and any other aid that can be given to my Spire will be greatly appreciated as well. Thank you.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Yes, change of subject is good. Balem is a bit touchy about immortality, and about the thought that it won't simply be handed to him on a silver platter.]

All the basic training facilities, a bit of literature, and an armory if needed. Feel free to send anyone you wish.

Can the literature be borrowed? I'm a little rusty, but it turns out that I could use the refresher. [Oh, before that can be taken the wrong way.] On the subject matter. I'm very well-read.

Yes, as long as you return it in the same condition you took it out in.

Wow, you know what you sound like?

A librarian.

Oddly fitting, actually. If you were more into cardigans.

You don't have to be a librarian to know that you ought to take care of borrowed items.

There will be a fee if you don't.

[Yeah he's not even trying to shake the librarian image now.]

Aw, you're playing along.

I'll make sure to send you a trio of cardigans for Yule.

It would be a practical gift, if this world gets cold.

[Is he playing along or is he just that much of a stuffy old curmudgeon?

No one knows.]

We're in the north.

It gets old. Sometimes, really cold.

But you can blame asshole birds if it gets too bad.

How do birds make it colder?

...Never mind, I'm not sure I want to know that.

By getting mad at shardbearers, apparently.

[Or whatever the explanation was. Jason hadn't cared at the time.]

I'm no longer surprised by any of this.

[Congrats, Drabwurld, he's given up on logic.]

Y'know, the lucky thing is that as much as I actually hate the whole war deal, I came from somewhere that prepared me for this.

Kinda makes me wonder about ... well. People like yourself. How does the adjustment period go?

It's...difficult. In my universe, we have advanced so far that the only real unknown is death.

[Which would explain why he's so afraid of it.]

Here...there's so much that is strange to me. It makes me feel young again, not in a good way.

I'd hazard a guess that your universe isn't as advanced as you thought it was. [Jason thinks of some of the metahumans in his world. He's fairly confident in this assumption.]

But at least it doesn't make you feel old. Which, given your predisposition for certain things, is probably a good thing.

Oh, yes it was. There were very few corners of the universe left unexplored. We didn't have magic - but we had science beyond anything this world could comprehend.

I am old. I'm not aged. An important distinction.

"This world." You're thinking rather narrowly again. [As he had before. Jason is not surprised.]

And it's a turn of phrase where I come from. It has to do with messing with someone's heart.

How am I supposed to think, then? This world is all we have access to for now, is it not?

Yet if you combined the greatest minds at the Station ... you've gotta wonder what we could come up with. ["We," even if Jason will admit that's a little incorrect. He's no genius scientist or anything.]

I know how to build a spaceship, but we do not have the resources here to make one. All the great ideas in the world are worthless if you cannot act on them.

A spaceship is just one thing. We've got spaceships back home. Hell, guy I know—he was in a long-term relationship with an alien. That's probably nothing to you, but the means were there, trust me.

I'm thinking creative weapons. Or, hell, ways to change ourselves beyond runes. But they're always tricky.

Ever heard of a metahuman?

Metahuman? We have splices and other genetically enhanced individuals. Something like that?

[He says 'enhanced', but truthfully they occupy a lower caste than humans.]

Precisely that. Some were aliens, of course, and others were just born that way. It's a huge category. It largely applies to the "born that way," but there were individuals who could tap into different kinds of power. Speed, flight, gifts from gods—[The list goes on.]

They called themselves superheroes, dressed in in tight suits meant to give them the ticket to help.

Well, the point is, if we could mass manufacture that, which isn't my goal, and do it tidily, we'd be hard to beat. That, plus magic ... [He shrugs. At this point, Jason is just talking. None of this is meant to be followed up on.]

Do they still age like the rest of us?

[That's really the only thing he was concerned about.]

I do not deny that there is power in this world. Immense power. And I encourage anything that will help us win the war, but winning is my only concern here. If we win, I shall return home, whether my universe is more or less advanced. It is my home.

Not all of them. It varies. [The fact that aging is Balem's largest worry is odd.]

But returning home really is the ticket. And saving it. And having the means to do so. It all runs together. 'Course, if this world gets screwed after you left ... [Not that he thinks that's likely if they win, but he likes throwing it out there. Why not.]

If we win the war, and the void is gone, then this world will be safe, won't it?

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