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Eschton [mature] IC - Calling Arabesu
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<blockquote data-quote="Shayuri" data-source="post: 3307921" data-attributes="member: 4936"><p>There were no mild terms that could be applied to the Palace of Summer. Long before it had held that name, it had been designed so that only superlatives came to mind on seeing it. It was the -most- beautiful, the -most- awesome, the most intimidating, the tallest, the proudest... Legends ancient when most races were young told that a great sky-climbing tree had been planted in the palace's foundation...and that as the tree grew, the palace was built in it, and around it, and through it. The work of centuries. And this was certainly how it seemed to have been done, for the tree's mighty branches supported wings and annexes. Struts and buttresses of gilded marble held questing tendrils of wood aloft. Windows peeked out of burls and knots. And above it all rose the great Spire, the tower that the tree itself spiraled up around like an unspeakably vast tentacle of ivy. Made of radiant <em>lathenum</em>, a semi-translucent stone that sparkled with multicolored highlights, and each block of stone in an orichalcum molding, on a clear bright day the Spire could be seen for miles, with only the rolling horizon finally blotting it from sight.</p><p></p><p>On the tip of the Spire, as far above the ground as the ocean floor was below, there was a sitting room, with a balcony. And on the balcony was a solitary figure; the only one routinely allowed to go so high. She had many titles. She was The Sigil, The Queen of Summer, Queen-Protector of Kaydia, most commonly. Once she had been human, and mortal. Now she was neither, and her mortal name was forgotten even to her. On rising to Citizenship, she had learned much...not only of the world she had inherited, Kaydia...but of the countless worlds beyond. The truth seared her now as it always had. Beautiful Kaydia, proud Kaydia...the world she loved with all of her heart, and had sacrificed so much to make free...was a pinpoint; a tiny dot in the sky. So long closed off from other worlds that it had been all but forgotten by all but the most conscientious of mappers. And more, it was fearfully backwards...living in an age of superstition and ignorance that most worlds had shed millenia ago. Only in the field of magic was it even close to par, and even that had suffered with no trade, no flow and exchange of ideas.</p><p></p><p>The Sigil was spending this rare moment bereft of glamour, shorn of the magic she used to assume queenly regalia. The fey spirits she had inherited mastery over were chaotic beings, subject to their whims. Asserting rulership meant regular displays of power and grandeur. For all their immortality, the fey were at their hearts childlike and easily impressed. They loved spectacle, and as Queen, she was obliged to provide it whenever she appeared in public. She didn't mind. It was fun...if a bit hollow at times.</p><p></p><p>The years had changed her, as had her embrace of that which was fey within her. A blue-green tinge marked her flawless skin, and her eyes had assumed a hue like that of expertly cut emeralds; a green more intense than any human eye could achieve. Her ears came to graceful points, though they did not stick out, and were not of ridiculous length, as was the case with many fey. She was clad in a simple silk gown of midnight blue that clung to her shape without being shamelessly revealing. She was, of course, quite beautiful, if a bit alien, and distant of demeanor though that was a conceit she reserved for these quiet moments alone...alone with her thoughts.</p><p></p><p>Sigil realized that the paranoid former Queen of Winter had struck Kaydia a blow that went far beyond centuries of oppression and rule by fear. Uninterested in competing with other worlds at first...and later succuming to abject fear that those other worlds would one day invade, the Solstice, the Bitter Queen had seen to it that all her formidable power was bent to isolating Kaydia.</p><p></p><p>Was it too late now to undo the damage?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Shayuri, post: 3307921, member: 4936"] There were no mild terms that could be applied to the Palace of Summer. Long before it had held that name, it had been designed so that only superlatives came to mind on seeing it. It was the -most- beautiful, the -most- awesome, the most intimidating, the tallest, the proudest... Legends ancient when most races were young told that a great sky-climbing tree had been planted in the palace's foundation...and that as the tree grew, the palace was built in it, and around it, and through it. The work of centuries. And this was certainly how it seemed to have been done, for the tree's mighty branches supported wings and annexes. Struts and buttresses of gilded marble held questing tendrils of wood aloft. Windows peeked out of burls and knots. And above it all rose the great Spire, the tower that the tree itself spiraled up around like an unspeakably vast tentacle of ivy. Made of radiant [i]lathenum[/i], a semi-translucent stone that sparkled with multicolored highlights, and each block of stone in an orichalcum molding, on a clear bright day the Spire could be seen for miles, with only the rolling horizon finally blotting it from sight. On the tip of the Spire, as far above the ground as the ocean floor was below, there was a sitting room, with a balcony. And on the balcony was a solitary figure; the only one routinely allowed to go so high. She had many titles. She was The Sigil, The Queen of Summer, Queen-Protector of Kaydia, most commonly. Once she had been human, and mortal. Now she was neither, and her mortal name was forgotten even to her. On rising to Citizenship, she had learned much...not only of the world she had inherited, Kaydia...but of the countless worlds beyond. The truth seared her now as it always had. Beautiful Kaydia, proud Kaydia...the world she loved with all of her heart, and had sacrificed so much to make free...was a pinpoint; a tiny dot in the sky. So long closed off from other worlds that it had been all but forgotten by all but the most conscientious of mappers. And more, it was fearfully backwards...living in an age of superstition and ignorance that most worlds had shed millenia ago. Only in the field of magic was it even close to par, and even that had suffered with no trade, no flow and exchange of ideas. The Sigil was spending this rare moment bereft of glamour, shorn of the magic she used to assume queenly regalia. The fey spirits she had inherited mastery over were chaotic beings, subject to their whims. Asserting rulership meant regular displays of power and grandeur. For all their immortality, the fey were at their hearts childlike and easily impressed. They loved spectacle, and as Queen, she was obliged to provide it whenever she appeared in public. She didn't mind. It was fun...if a bit hollow at times. The years had changed her, as had her embrace of that which was fey within her. A blue-green tinge marked her flawless skin, and her eyes had assumed a hue like that of expertly cut emeralds; a green more intense than any human eye could achieve. Her ears came to graceful points, though they did not stick out, and were not of ridiculous length, as was the case with many fey. She was clad in a simple silk gown of midnight blue that clung to her shape without being shamelessly revealing. She was, of course, quite beautiful, if a bit alien, and distant of demeanor though that was a conceit she reserved for these quiet moments alone...alone with her thoughts. Sigil realized that the paranoid former Queen of Winter had struck Kaydia a blow that went far beyond centuries of oppression and rule by fear. Uninterested in competing with other worlds at first...and later succuming to abject fear that those other worlds would one day invade, the Solstice, the Bitter Queen had seen to it that all her formidable power was bent to isolating Kaydia. Was it too late now to undo the damage? [/QUOTE]
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