[NPC | CONSOLE] NEWS FROM AFAR - VIDEO;

[ironwood]

[ The video feed will begin with a burst of static and a scrolling of strange numbers and symbols up both sides of the screen, like an old film that's being wound right from the start. The feed will blink dark for a moment, and then come up to display the chest-up image of an unknown male. He faces the camera confidently, lights from overhead playing on the intricate bony crest sweeping back over the crown of his head, and his tribal-like markings clearly visible. He does not appear to be of a race that any of the Foreigners would have seen in their duration upon Konryu. ]

Greetings, Foreigners.

[ There's confidence in the title as if he seems accustomed to the term, whereas even the natives of Tavimbi still pronounce it with a slight hesitation, like they're not sure if it's actually offensive. ]

My name is Turchight. Like all of you, I was once a victim of Eshai's abduction. Over three hundred years ago, myself, along with with my egg-mate Kethgha and my brood-sister Jehskel, found ourselves cast into the seas at the edges of Tu Vishan's shell.

We were carelessly used by that woman -- [ and it sounds like he'd rather be using another term, but is holding his temper ] -- just as, I assume, all of you have been.

But we escaped.

Whether any of you can be trusted either, however... that remains to be seen. You might be no better than her, or than Ma...

[ Old habits die hard? Turchight seems unwilling to speak Malicant's name, even now. ]

I will answer ten questions of yours -- no more, no less. Be warned that I will judge you by these questions, and while I will answer them if they are sent, they will also determine whether I contact you again or not.

Turchight, out.

---

OOC: There will not be any NPC replies by Turchight, as this is a pre-recorded message, but characters can talk amongst themselves in the comments, including discussing what questions they wish to send back. A final list of questions should be added OOCly to the comment on the itinerary prior to the end of April, when the next Xojan courier is headed back to Zirot.

Comments

Video

[ten_zero]

'That woman'? Was he talking about 'Eva'?

[ Pepper mentioned her. ]

Who was she, exactly?

Video

[solo_patria]

Our Empress Eshai, I believe. She is the reason that we were pulled here and the kedan were...as they were for a time. A long one. It seems that in her desire to stop the spread of evil, she did not make many friends and her means were...


Well. I've been forced to take on some means I do not like to justify the ends but her use of them was extreme let us say.

[ten_zero]

Oh, I had assumed the state of the Kedan was part of Malicant's role?

The history of this place is certainly more complicated, perhaps unsurprisingly, than I believed.

What happened to her?

[solo_patria]

Well, yes and no. The role that he played IS what shaped things, if we are speaking broadly, but Eshai's magic is what brought us here, and seemed to keep things peaceful for a time. He did dull their minds somewhat, but I was under the impression that a portion of that had to do with the same spells we had been brought here with. It seems, given what our speaker says of Eshai, that this is to do with the blame he casts now. And I would not, sadly, be surprised. Much as her choices were...well, she certainly made them with all of the island's interests as she saw them at heart...they did benefit her to a great deal.

[If there's a hint of disgust in his voice, well, Enjolras is due that much. He'd never wanted to trust rulers who appointed themselves with no consent of the people, and it took him time to warm up to Eshai, only to feel betrayed when the truth appeared. This, yet again, is another reminder, that, necessity or no, they've all been used to some degree, and he hates it, and can only treat it with a degree of scorn, despite the ultimate good that's come about.]

She was murdered, actually. [He sobers a bit from his anger here. ] By a mad foreigner who had run rampant for a few weeks' time. It was, strangely, not seemingly politically noted so much as a madman wanting to see how far he could go. Quite sad despite her actions. There are, after all, more appropriate ways that one could be punished, even if only by karma.

[ten_zero]

[ Bisi idly rubbed the beads of her soul gem bracelet between her fingers. ]

What stops a Kedan from being able to tie their soul to a gem, like the foreigners do?

[ Ooops, perhaps a non sequiter. ]

[solo_patria]

Now THAT, I have absolutely no idea about, actually. Do you suppose that would tell us something important? [He's leaning forward in the video, interested.]

[ten_zero]

I'm just curious, because from what you describe of this Eshai, they were a very powerful and at least a little self-invested Kedan, but they made no use of a mechanism for immortality that seemed to be at their fingertips?

What happens to a foreigner if they are 'killed'?

[solo_patria]

Oh not a kedan. She was a foreigner...one of the very few before all of us came. Human, I BELIEVE, but I may be wrong about that. She had been ruling here for some time before the rest of us came about to fight.

And oddly enough, it seems that, most times, we are able to return here, due to the dreamlike nature of the place. Since we are here because of our souls and our bodies are actually on another plane... We CAN return. It's not always happened, but I do not know the first about the differences to explain why.

[ten_zero]

[ Bisi replies later that day. ]

Hello, you seem be mistaken about a few details. [ Blush. She talked to Raine in the interim. ] Eshai was the emperor. Evastelei was a different person.

[solo_patria]

To tell you the truth, I am hardly surprised I am at that. The war years were...not good to me and I was not in my right mind for some of them.

[There's a small duck of his head at that.]

Our speaker refers to Eva, then? And the spells that bound the kedan were hers? I knew that the one that sent us into the Dreaming itself was one of those.

[He looks interested, alert, and ready to hear more.]

[ten_zero]

Maybe he isn't - perhaps he refers to someone different.

Who would have 'used' the foreigners if not for Eshai?

[solo_patria]

Well, the possibility that she was working WITH Eshai is there, of course, Alliances, perhaps. Or had an agenda but presented it another way? Or that it was another sort of spell to bind the kedan. I suppose it comes to who would have the most to gain.

[ten_zero]

He wouldn't mean Milyn, would he?

She seems to be a controversial figure, after the woman Valdis' declarations.