((3 Points, one point off for late. Still people haven’t said anything about the short story idea for the year mark. If there are no objections in people’s OCC for this month, I’ll assume everyone loves the idea and that is what we will do for the January entry. Which is honestly just fine with me, because I really would like to do the short story idea.))
Hello everyone. Christian coming to you again from the Twin Dragons hotel on 10 Capital. You might very justly ask what I’m still doing here while all of you are struggling to survive in your various near-war-zones. Honestly I am almost as surprised as you are that I am still here, and even more so that Asia has remained so stable in the wake of all that is going on. You would be surprised to hear that the bosses of organized crime are the ones keeping everyone in check. I'm pretty sure at least Kazamagi (of the Yakuza) is a vampire, and probably several more of the other leaders we aren’t sure of. They do a very good job keeping the streets clear. I have seen the chaos in the united states: All those little wilderness towns turned into war grounds. Hundreds of lives lost on the sidelines, but not here. Here when the police are too afraid to do anything about something, the Yakuza are not. I suspect they have been dealing effectively with for a great many years. There is already an intimate understanding between them and the Mages here, so they do leave us alone. The situation is stable. I say stable, but in reality, it is far more than stable. But before I go into detail about the efforts of my fellows, I will talk about what has happened to all of you.
Austin, I’m sorry to say things have come to blows with the Free Council down there. I have always loved them and their ideals, and as we speak we are negotiating a tentative allegiance between the Silver Ladder and the Free Council, the most adversarial pairing of spellcasters in the world. This is the most critical juncture of the unification, because on some level the other orders already /are/ united under the leadership of the Silver ladder, though the bonds are only symbolic in most parts of the world. Still, if we can get that odd body to fix within the mix, that would be absolutely ideal. I think it's possible. President Layton is a very open-minded man. But I‘m getting ahead of myself. If we truly are the tumor of the universe, the unnatural growth, I see no reason that we should not struggle with equal energy for survival.
We CANNOT negotiate with the Outside, Austin. whatever else you might believe, you really must understand that simply cannot happen. You are looking at them within the context of human sanity. You must strip away your assumptions about what sapient life is. They do not understand communication as we do. Remember those friends? They are fundamentally alien to us. The only way we could have succeeded was discovering and conforming to their ideas of communication and power. This is the only way we could communicate with the Outside. It would mean giving in to all their desires for us. Becoming utterly mad and subservient. That is the only communication they understand. To me this is unacceptable. It is a good idea, but not good enough. Really what we need to do is... somehow distance ourselves from the greater multiverse. I think we can agree that trying to vanquish a near invincible foe in a world far greater than our own is not feasible. But somehow I suspect that they would be unable to do anything to attack our universe as a whole. Honestly I don‘t think they would even care to, if we had somehow banished them all. If we could do that... that is the answer.
Ricky - I‘m glad you've decided to take action and get into the fight. I wish you well in your attempt to pick up magical learning. I would offer to tutor you, but somehow I don't think that we are considering the same types of magic. Another one of those mysteries I guess, all the different abilities? different sources. I do not know what can be done to unify our ideas about how all this stuff works, but... I wonder. Just how different is my magic than the spiritual gifts of werewolves, really? Or... what you do, or Lizzy, or... so Ricky, the Void is not the higher dimension, but the people from it. "people" here used very liberally. They are not the whole multiverse, just citizens from it. Probably from their own universes at one point, who developed or simply had the ability to travel between, that's my guess. We don’t have to "kill" them, and trying to do that is stupid. If we can just banish them from our universe, that would be all we had to do. So long as we could somehow stop them from waltzing right back in again. Therein lies the challenge. The universe is an awful big place, how can we patrol the whole thing at once? I think it would take powers I sure don't have. Do you? Of course none of us does. I feel like I‘m writing the Outcast again, but really the only way to "beat" than is to change the structure of the universe so they can't get in again. And I suppose if we did, we would have to kill any of them that weren't out at that moment, or else they'd run around ruining our universe like a cat stuck in a very tiny box. How would you feel if you were in a tiny box, Ricky? Inside opinion there. (rimshot)
You have a very valid question Darrel. Why aren't the Gods helping us since it's their world that is in jeopardy too? I think in some ways the answer is twofold. Allow me to explain. First, we must accept the following rules:
1. The Godlike Spirits desire to survive.
2. They have the intelligence to realize the destruction of the material means their end.
3. They have the ability to render aid in their defense.
Given those facts, we must realize that they are, in fact, helping us as directly as they can. Chances are, they are being somehow prevented. There is a Spiritual outsider, Yog-Sothoth, who I imagine is greatly restricting their ability to help. I‘m sure you know that the Shadow is as much a battlefield right now as our world, and the battle is only just getting started. How much worse might things get before the end? Somehow I have faith that the greater spirits are doing all they can, and are probably saving their resources for the moment when their aid will be most useful. Like the night we fought Cthulhu. we had their help then, and I suspect we will have it again.
So you all will no doubt want to know what has been happening here. Things have not been easy, though I suspect they have been easier for me than for any of you. It might be a luxury hotel, but that does not mean living here does not come with its own dangers. The foremost on my mind is assassination. Unlike many of the other races, the Mages have a system in place that someone might actually use to unite them. This is why I took the vow in the first place. I wish it meant that I would be in some sort of leadership position, but things are not so simple. The combination of my position among our company and someone of high standing in the Master’s order means that people must let me sit in council with them, and by extension, makes me someone who would help orchestrate the unity of orders in the awakened nation. A noble goal at any moment in history, but now the completion of the goal is critical. I’m sure you all can see the signs that I see. It is perfectly clear to me that this present situation is going to culminate with the dissolution of all the earthly powers currently existent. Austin, I somehow doubt any action from you will be required to bring it about. When that happens, we will be grateful for every friend, we have when, the time comes. Somehow I doubt that your spontaneous ideal anarchy is going to develop in the environment that we'll find at the end of western civilization.
Lizzie, I look forward to your arrival: The suite has two bedrooms! And yes, I am still single. No, those two statements are not related. I’m not the least bit surprised that you’ve got your own team: for better or worse each and every one of us is meant to be leaders within our own domains, such as they are.
As for my own efforts, I have been diligently engaged in the forging of alliances between the orders of the Awakened. So far only two of the orders have answered the call: The Silver Ladder who is obligated to heed my council by their own law, and the Arrow, who has I very much suspect been waiting for any valid excuse to martial for war. As we speak that marshaling has begun! I have requested that some of those resources be provided to you, Austin. I did not know how to find you, so look into the basement of that hotel you told Rick about. I have ordered an interesting relic be transferred there, and by the time you read this, it should have arrived. It‘s basically an Atlantean anti-aircraft gun, meant for large targets. Use it how you see fit, but do not test it on anyone you like. In the Arrow it is called the Fist of Zeus - a name not undeserved from what I hear.
As to the rest of you: Keep the faith. I look forward to correspondence with you soon. Enjoy your party together.
PS: Rick, you have no right to complain about bad memories about Lizzie! You dumped her, remember! That is all.
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