Aphonion Tales (New posts 6/13, 6/15, 6/19)

[Cerebral Paladin]

“A mindflayer?” echoed Dame Brionna in horror. “Can anything be done about it? Can you throw it out of her?”

“Oh, it would splatter me all over the high table,” said Princess Cecilia calmly. “And people would be upset.”

“Could it use her to attack the Archduke?”

“Oh, no. Let’s see...” The princess studied Kit more carefully. “The Didactic of Horloq--that’s its sect. It wanted a close up view, and it didn’t get an invitation. It’s just watching, observing… and enjoying the appetizers.”

“It crashed? That’s just rude!” After a moment, Dame Brionna returned to focusing on the security breach, rather than the etiquette of the situation. She sent a quick note to the Minister of the Mind asking him to have a psionic exorcist meet them in the powder room. With the preparations made, Dame Brionna hurried back to Kit. “Kit? We need to go powder our noses.” She grabbed Kit’s arm firmly and began pulling her along.

“What? Oh, alright, I’ll come with you if you need to go. I’ve just been enjoying the stuffed mushroom things… have you tried them?”

“Um, no, I’ve been busy…” Dame Brionna hustled Kit into the bathroom, where a very pale young male gnome psion met them. He fidgeted nervously, looking around like at any moment people were going to scream about his being in the women’s bathroom. Kit just looked at him a little--it was odd that there was a man here, but she was sure that it was fine. Dame Brionna pushed Kit towards him. “Good, you’re here. She has an illithid in her. We need it banished.”

“An illithid?” asked Kit, momentarily worried before the feeling of calm washed back over her and she relaxed again. “It isn’t Alvin, is it? If it is, tell him he’s fired…” By the time she finished that statement, Kit’s voice had gone completely back to the dreamy tones she had been using and her face returned to a placid smile.

The gnome nodded and murmured, “I see what you mean.” He slipped out a crown made of many crystals wired together--perhaps the ugliest piece of jewelry either Kit or Dame Brionna had ever seen. He put the crown on, pulled a small and inexplicable device out of another pouch, spun a wheel on the device, and concentrated.

Suddenly, Kit had full control of her mind again. “Ugh! Where is it?”

“It’s out,” answered the psion. “It’s quite upset-- I think it’s young.”

“Yes, but where is it?”

“I just ejected its astral form. It would now be back in its own body.”

“How did it penetrate the palace defenses? Can it come back?”

“I shouldn’t think so. The wards are quite strong--much too strong for even most adult mindflayers. It had to have ridden an artifact in.”

“Those blasted combs,” said Kit. “I knew they were dangerous, but it clouded my thinking after I examined them.”

“At least you’re free now,” said Dame Brionna. She thanked the psion, who rapidly fled the women’s bathroom. “We should get back to the banquet. We don’t want people noticing our absence or trying anything while we’re gone.”

Kit nodded, still seething. They returned, and the rest of the banquet passed uneventfully. Kit felt a little awkward as Alistair approached her, danced with her once, and then moved on, but she knew that that was the most that they could do at such a public event.

 

[Cerebral Paladin]

The following day, Abigail announced visitors to the Council from the entourage of the Ambassador of Dhoren. A mindflayer entered, dragged a very small illithid over to Kit, and gestured to the small one imperiously.

In a tiny mental voice the young illithid said, <<I am sorry. I took advantage of a free-willed person with the combs; we are of the Didactic of Horloq, and we don’t do those sorts of things.>>

“You’re very lucky,” said Dame Brionna. “We could have responded with violence.”

The adult illithid--possibly the young one’s parent--replied, “We are most grateful for your forbearance. Please, accept the apologies of the Didactic. I thought we had trained him better than that.”

Kit smiled, still a little angry but also amused. “We accept your apology. But please, don’t do that again.”

<<I won’t,>> the young illithid promised. <<But the mushrooms were very tasty.>>

After the illithid departed, they went over a couple of other reports. Most of the ambassadors and dignitaries who were not permanently stationed in Canberry were preparing to depart over the next few days. The one major exception was Lord Silverleaves, who had had such an exciting time that he was looking to buy a townhouse. He had informed the chamberlain that he was planning on staying for a short period to learn more about humans. Based on their prior experiences with his sense of time, the Council concluded that a “short period” was likely to be decades long.

 

[Cerebral Paladin]

Alistair turned to Dame Brionna. “Now that the coronation is over, there are several things we should discuss.”

“Yes, your grace?”

“First, I intend to grant you and Kit baronetcies in thanks for your service.”

Dame Brionna startled. “Thank you, your grace.”

“The second is a less happy matter. When I asked Reverend Canon Toddle about Princess Anastasia, I also asked him whether he could see anything about Sir Denro.”

Dame Brionna swallowed. “Is he dead, your grace?”

“No. He is enslaved by the ratmen.”

“But your grace, that’s good news. We can rescue him.”

“And we shall rescue him. But he has likely suffered greatly, and it may not be easy to bring him back. Also, you should know that some of what Father Toddle said was particularly worrisome. He saw Sir Denro rowing on a slave galley that carried a great stone device as they approached an island of black stone. He also said that the one near the stone device must not be allowed to have children-- I do not know if that referred to any who are near it or some specific individual.”

“We hadn’t particularly planned on children, anyway, your grace. My sister’s line will continue my family.”

“Ah. Then would you like the baronetcy to have a special remainder allowing Abigail to inherit?”

“Yes, your grace, thank you,” said Dame Brionna, surprised by Alistair’s thoughtfulness. “Do we know where this island is?”

“No, but I think we know enough that we will be able to find it.” He showed her the rest of the letter. “If you wish to take a leave to quest after him, we would be happy to allow it.”

“No… I have my duties here, and they must come first. I’ll find another way to arrange for his rescue. Unless you are displeased with my performance as guard captain and want an opportunity to replace me?”

“No, not at all. We would miss your services greatly. But I wanted to make it clear that you could go if you felt the need to.” Alistair paused. “I can’t promise that I will devote the full resources of the Archduchy to this--our military is needed too badly to deal with the Abomination of Shur. But I promise that we will find him and bring him back. One of my duties to you as one of my vassals is to protect you and your family, and I will carry out that duty. Once we know exactly where he is, we will send a rescue force.”

Kit added, “I’ll have my people start looking for the island. Don’t worry-- we’ll find him.”

“Thank you. Thank you both.”

 

[Orichalcum]

“We hadn’t particularly planned on children, anyway, your grace. My sister’s line will continue my family.”

Just to add a little bit of detail here - Sir Denro, as it turns out, is actually gay, and Brionna's just not very interested in being a mother or even sex in general (unlike Alistair and Kit!) They were childhood best friends, and when their parents suggested a marriage to unite the families, they happily agreed, as it was far better than most of the other possible options. But they are in no sense romantically in love, and any marriage would presumably have been one of duty and friendship.

 

[Quartz]

But they are in no sense romantically in love, and any marriage would presumably have been one of duty and friendship.

FWIW From a RW historical POV that makes no difference - indeed the latter would have been a plus. Indeed the dynastic element has always been strong, so if an opportunity to rid Sir Denro of his curse were offerred, it would be in (RW) character to follow it.

 

[GrandArchon]

Sir Denro, as it turns out, is actually gay...

Just a random passer-by whose been reading your story- but I mean to ask, what is the Glor’diadelian Church's opinion on homosexuality? I assume it must be different for every region and sect. And I take it that the Church in the Archduchy is probably more liberal than most?

 

[Cerebral Paladin]

Hi Grand Archon! Thanks for dropping by. I'll answer your question as best as I can below.

Quartz: There's a lot of truth to that, but remember that Dame Brionna is a younger child. But for the titles she's earning for herself, all of the family inheritance will go to her sister's children (presumably mainly to Abigail). Having penniless noble cousins is not necessarily a good thing...

Grand Archon: It's not entirely clear. My best guess is that the Church has no opposition to homosexuality anywhere, but I don't know for certain that's true. In general, Aphonion is highly heteronormative, in the sense that I have never seen a same-sex marriage in the game world or social conventions to allow for a noble to not marry a member of the opposite sex and yet still produce legitimate heirs. However, I've also never seen anti-gay bias in the game world. Mostly, the occasional gay characters have relationships on the sly, often with a fair amount of being closeted, but don't face condemnation for it.

It's worth noting that the DM is gay and out. He also typically has PCs randomly generate orientation and lust levels. (Thus, Alistair and Kit's characters are both meaningfully affected by having rolled high lusts, while Dame Brionna rolled low on lust.) But the social norms are fairly conservative in what's expected but without the condemnation that was historically present in the real world.

I would also draw a comparison to the treatment of sex (in the sense of male-female distinctions). There are powerful female characters and they can become monarchs and so forth, but there's a lot of implicit patriarchy and a general assumption that military officers, knights, priests, and so forth are male unless they happen to be distinctive for being female. It's sorta nominally egalitarian but without the deeper care and work necessary to make a game world fully egalitarian. (And of course with regard to sex discrimination, there is regional variation, with some very male dominated areas and some matriarchal areas, but with most in a sorta "egalitarian but with patriarchal assumptions.")

And now, on to the storyhour:
-----
[Session 21]

The following day began with a few routine but important tasks. Alistair used his new power as the Archduke to confer the protection of the palace wards on a list of trusted and important people, including the other members of the Archducal Council. Dame Brionna reported multiple requests for audiences. The Archbaroness of Mandrath, as representative of the Holy See of Paranswarm and the Council of Thirteen, sent a request for an audience with the Council and preferably with “His Divine Grace.” She had phrased the request in the most carefully polite manner and engraved it in cloth of platinum. The Council of Thirteen is the ruling council of hierarchs of the Temple of Paranswarm and consists of eleven ecclesiastical leaders, the Protector and Defender of the Faith, and the Archbaroness herself as the one secular member. Dame Brionna also reported that the Archbaroness had delivered the Temple’s official gift, a chest filled with 5,000 platinum. Alistair observed that that was a fairly standard gift from the Temple to a major non-Paranswarmian ruler, although also perhaps the least that they could give without being impolite.

A young male drow brought the second audience request. He was unarmed--from which it could be presumed he was in abject servitude--and carried a message requesting an audience for the Matron Mother of Dispania. He did not identify her as more than the Matron Mother of the house in a single city, but he also did not identify a specific city. The chamberlain had concluded that this was fully consistent with the usual pattern of a Matron Mother of Matron Mothers, because publicly announcing her position would encourage a host of assassins to attack her. It was all but inconceivable that the ruling Matron Mother of a drowan great house would not have a substantial price on her head. Even if the assassins all failed, they would be a nuisance and a distraction, so traveling incognito would make matters simpler and more efficient.

The Council resolved to deal with the audience requests later in the day. In the meantime, they decided that Canberry needed a means to fight the disinformation that its enemies were spreading. Kit asked her secretary who the best rumormongers in the court were.

Her secretary nodded thoughtfully. “You need to know who to pass news to so that it will spread. A wise thought. As with so many other aspects of the court, I’m afraid it’s a little unsettled right now. A couple of the matrons are still passable, but none are nearly as good at it as Lady Horskirt was.”

“But Lady Horskirt…”

“Was very close to the late Archduchess, yes; she followed her at the funeral. You will need a noble lady, of course. Mistress Tuttle, for example, is an excellent tongue-wag, but not noble, so no one takes her seriously.”

 

[Fimmtiu]

Just finished chewing through this thread -- marvellously done! Political games are tricky to run well, but this one is a real gem. The frequent update schedule is really impressive, too. Keep it up!

 

[Cerebral Paladin]

Thanks, Fimmtiu! I'm glad you're enjoying it.

----

“So who are the best gossips that are properly noble and still alive?” pressed Kit.

“I should think that the best options would be the Lady of High Pass and the wife of the Lord of Burleytown. Now, the Lady of Burleytown is…” The secretary paused as he struggled to choose his words carefully. “The Lady of Burleytown is a matron, in the strongest, least positive sense of the word, but the other women will take her seriously. The Lady of High Pass is more prominent, but her family is well known to be completely loyal to the Archduchy.”

“So she’s useful for spreading rumors, but only rumors that we want to be known as official.”

“Exactly, m’lady. I’m glad you understood.”

“I think we’ll need to cultivate them both then. The Lady of High Pass should be easy, since she will want to help the Archduke. I guess I’ll just have to let slip a few choice bits to the Lady of Burleytown.”

“M’lady, if you give her any reason to think that she can get interesting and fresh gossip from you, she will make a point of speaking to you at any function she can in an effort to pump you for more information. The only difficulty will be preventing her from realizing that the information is being deliberately planted.”

“So I need to ‘let it slip,’ and perhaps even seem annoyed or ask her to keep it quiet.”

“Precisely. Is there anything else, m’lady?”

“I don’t think so… things seem quiet around the court now that the assassins have been dealt with.”

“I agree,” replied Kit’s secretary. He shook his head with a frown. “It worries me. I am always happier when we can identify the threats and difficulties. Quiet suggests that the conspiracies are still in hiding and thus more dangerous.”

Great, thought Kit. Even the good news is supposed to make me worry.

 

[GrandArchon]

Ho! I see! Thanks for replying and explaining things to me. Rolling lust and orientation, that's nifty...