Session 146 (July 27, 2022)
8 O-Tar
Kit has a report from one of her people in Ecsilias. [Attached] There are ongoing assassination attempts against what is left of the royal family of Ecsilias. (Kit believes there were some messages that have not arrived. She thinks they need to improve their intelligence operations in Ecsilias.) Kit’s agent believes that this has to be an inside job—either someone in the palace corrupted by the great enemies, or one of three noble families high enough and ambition enough to try to overthrow things. (Kit notes that it could be both.)
Dame Brionna comments, "The timing of this is very worrisome. A second attack on a major Paranswarmian power at nearly the same time?"
Alistair nods. "We should warn Masque, Princess Anastasia, and especially Tarsh."
"And the Patriarch for that matter," Dame Brionna adds.
"You mean the 'First Mouth,'" Alistair corrects. "Horrifying titles, but nonetheless."
"Excuse me," says Kit. "Nothing wrong with the title 'mouth.'"
"I apologize. Kit, I would never say anything bad about your mouth," says Alistair with a saucy smile. "But yes, let's have the duty psion join us to pass on these warnings."
Once the duty Farsensor enters, Alistair asks, "Do you have a psion attached to the Court of the Emperor of Tarsh that you are capable of contacting?
"We have contact to the Society there in the capital of Tarsh, Your Majesty. King-Emperor Jazriel does not keep a psion particularly close to himself under normal circumstances."
"Send a message to your contact in the Society, then, informing him we have reasons to presume, though not to know, that there is currently an ongoing assassination attempt against the King-Emperor, and that it is directly contrary to the interests of the Ecumenical Council for that to succeed."
Kit adds, "And they need to know that this will likely involve [unscribable gates--can't figure out what this meant--unscryable gates?]."
"We also want to delicately inform them, without offending, that we don't know what the ward situations are like at the palaces of Paranswarmian rulers. We believe ours to be protected against such things, and have substantial evidence now that they are given the number of creatures who have showed up at our gates attempting to break in and failed."
"Which is probably why my person in Ecsilias thinks its an inside job, because they must have some kind of wards on that palace that they were able to bypass. We should warn them about the likelihood of possessed or replaced people and the blood test."
"The blood test won't work if they used the right sorts of things. It's less reliable than true sight."
"Yes, they may not have much in the way of true sight, but they may have some, and we want to pass on that there may be seen-unseen or even harder to detect enemies as part of this."
The duty psion reports. "They are sending someone to the palace. Apparently direct psionic communication is not something that is normally permitted."
"As long as they understand this is urgent. I think the next most important one is in fact the Princess Anastasia, or rather the Queen-Empress of Hanal. She's very explicitly not in the palace cause that would create issues."
"Should we move her?"
"That creates other issues."
"I suppose the cathedral doesn't work well either for that. What about Paranswarmian churches?"
"I believe the chapel in their embassy is the best thing in that regard."
"But they can still lock down, and presumably they've been expecting assassination attempts."
They have the psion reach out to the Queen-Empress's bishop to inform her that there are current ongoing assassinations attempting to destroy the royal families of Ecsilias and Mandrath, and that we expect that this is part of a coordinated assault against the royal families of the various kingdoms and empires of her co-religionists."
The psion makes a quick mental contact, then says, "He wishes to call upon the Court at your convenience."
"Our convenience would be immediate. And now, do you have someone in the Empire of Masque?"
"A Society tower. There some members of the court may have psionics, but they're not members of the Society."
Over the mindlink, Kit sends <<I've got someone Masque. I have someone on the fan.>>
<<So send it through that route, but we'll still send it through the the Society to maintain appearances.>>
They send to the Society in Masque the same message that was initially sent to the King-Emperor of Tarsh, but not the additional information.
A page knocks at the door. "A bishop of Paranswarm wishes entry."
"Send him in, please."
Dame Brionna steps one step closer to and in front of Alistair, who is still basically in a dressing gown at this point.
The same very thin man that they remember, dressed in his vestments of black on black on black, enters and performs an obeisance that's very appropriate.
"Your Venerable Excellency, how may we help you?"
"Upon receiving your message, I thought that it was appropriate to bring the concerns of the Council directly to you. The Council of Thirteen has been concerned that something was reducing the fertility of Paranswarmian lines across the entire globe. For example, the only person who could have children with the Archduke Fenris was Sharra Rufus, and it was not for lack of his trying for many years, and unfortunately becoming very short with some of those with whom he tried and failed."
"Do you know why she was able to succeed where other had failed? I would not have expected, based on her Drowan ancestry, that she would have been naturally endowed with those gifts."
"We discovered, though this must not be revealed outside this room, that she sought special charms of the servants of Gunnora. Of course, better to do that than the Ram, and otherwise he would have died without issue. There is no heir in the Black Mountains nor the White Mountains. Let me not confuse my mountains--there's no heir in the White Mountains at all, and that is far more powerful kingdom."
"I thought the White Witch had children."
"She has adopted children who will never be allowed to inherit. If we do not do something, the kingdom will tear itself to shreds."
"Why can her adopted children not inherit? Is it because they don't recognize adoption?"
"Their nobles will never recognize it. We've already explored that. Even with the support of the church it would be extraordinarily difficult for any of them to live more than a few months, and even if they were to gain the color pool's favor, most of the nobles that will try to kill them also belong to White. Now, the Black, that kingdom is going nowhere."
"Her granddaughter is among our fosterlings."
"Yes, I do not know if they simply couldn't reach her under the sea, where she often spends her time or if her stock is hardier."
"The sea is a barrier to some of our enemies. They can't teleport across the sea, though the sea does not in general block teleportation magic, so perhaps the sea protects her."
"It is not dissimilar of course to the pattern that we've noticed with the shadow lands in Zest'qua where there's no need to maintain a barrier along the shoreline, because the sea forms its own barrier. As you know, the King-Emperor of Tarsh is very young."
"I assume he has no heir-presumptive."
"No, he has been remarkably unsuccessful at --I believe it's called spreading his wheat? You know what I mean."
"I do," replies Alistair, resisting the urge to describe how he knows exactly what the bishop means.
"Despite his best efforts, there's been no issue, which is concerning to us as well. The Council literally had a priest following him around to see if any of them became with child. He never noticed, but as yet none of them have."
"But he has not yet contracted a proper dynastic marriage."
"No, though we would have settled for knowing there was someone in the wings. The church would have spirited them away as soon as he did. Tarsh is, after all, for the continent of Khamista, the most powerful of our kingdoms."
"Yes, and they would have either quietly taken holy orders or not at all quietly emerged when necessary."
"Correct. Here, it is impossible to interrupt the succession in Tang or Thar Ingmath, because no one knows who will bear a One, and as long as there are any Ones, the Ones will figure out who is senior, and all the threes will fall in line."
"Yes, so they are safe. But with regard to Masque..."
"Yes. Masque is already unstable. If the Queen-Empress Flana dies, there would be no heir. Unless her former paramour takes power, which I find doubtful. I think the Mantis would kill him if he attempted it. In that case, there would be no heir at all."
"Then, presumably, the orders would hack each other to pieces, trying to determine which one was the new imperial order."
"Wolf would certainly attack the palace. Mantis would respond. Then they would attack each other. The other orders would become involved. Masque would fall into Chaos."
"Masque is always a little bit closer to Chaos than is comfortable even at the best of times."
"Indeed. You see with clear vision, Your Majesty."
"May I ask a question? Theologians of our faith have speculated, although I believe it is only speculation, that the unusually abnormally long stability of the Imperial Family of Canberry is the result of, shall we say, a direct interest of the Lord of Light in maintaining the stability of His greatest empire. Many of the people who engage in those speculations also suspect that the same thing has been true in Ergmoth, which has also had a remarkably smooth succession until lately."
"And there certainly was a time when it was the strongest Paranswarmian kingdom. The Kingdom-Empire of Tarsh has recently come into its full power, and that at least is in part because of its merchant fleets. They pay for the armies that it uses to expand its land holdings."
"If that were the case, it would seem that the late Grand Duke Fenris's fertility problems would represent a disturbing deviation in Paranswarm's plan. I, of course, do not mean to cast any aspersions on Paranswarm's power and authority, and such. But can you think of any reasons why that might have taken place, or what might be going on there?"
"I suppose it's possible that this should be understood the other way, that this was a deliberate effort to advance the late Grand Duchess's line to its current prominence. But if the child is not found, that would have been futile. However, it is true that it was roughly at the time that Tarsh finally did take preeminence that the Grand Duke started having his difficulties. I do not claim to know the mind of my Lord Paranswarm, but either of those possibilities is worth considering. As well, the Holy See was moved to Ergmoth under the Grand Duchess, and if the line failed now, the stability of the country would be assured by the presence of the First Mouth. And so it could be that that there is a certain balancing going on."
"So Paranswarm may have thought that they would be all right because of that, and he can help someone else. Also, if you'll pardon me for what I'm saying, your excellence, it might be in Paranswarm's interest to maintain a balance between a faithful and powerful secular Paranswarmian kingdom and the power of the temple, such that either can move to address any problems of corruption that arise within the other."
"That is very reasonable. Had the Grand Duchess not arisen when she did, Hanal's fall would have caught us completely by surprise. As badly as we may have reacted, it could have been much worse."
"I also wanted to ask your opinion on another matter as a Paranswarmian religious authority. As I'm sure you're aware, nobles who are in need of heirs will go to almost any lengths to achieve such things."
"Yes, and this has led to vulnerabilities to the Order of the Ram and a willingness to make promises at costs that no one should ever accept."
"But that nonetheless people do. In light of this, the Holy Church has adopted, shall we say, a position of benign ignorance about the decision of various nobles to provide certain signs of respect, but not worship, to an archfey, who has a strong interest in fertility and virility, and in exchange, this archfey provides a bountiful home life to his friends. Of course, the order of friends of this archfey, as it were are resolutely committed to opposing the Ram, and all of his works, and to maintaining clear succession lines and loyalty to, for example, the Empire of Southern Drucien. Would the Temple of Paranswarm be willing to provide a similar, as I said, benign neglect were this fraternity to spread beyond Glordiadelian countries?"
"I don't know why we would not, but I will consult the Council to make certain. We are a bit more hierarchical even than your temple."
"I understand. We were able to arrange this simply with a conversation with our local archbishop, but of course we are not situated in the same way as people within your kingdoms are. If there is not a problem with your temple, then one of the possibilities that might allow the Archbaron-Consort of Mandrath to address his concern might be through the assistance of the Stag."
"It sounds promising, definitely."
"I must admit that simply as a matter of maintaining the affection between the archfey and my house, I presented him with the results of some successful hunts of my own after the births of each of my children."
"I will bring this recommendation forward. It may help and can't hurt."
"I believe that that as with with our Church, there are no true male fertility figures among your saints and angels and whatnot."
"No, not to put too fine a point on it, there are certain things that can cause the death of any infant within a certain number of feet of them, but no, there are no male fertility figures. I suppose there's probably some female fertility consideration among the Weeping Woman's followers. I'm not very aware of any particularly strong association, but there are many people who pray to her for fertility, and they seem to be answered. But then, perhaps, if there were a masculine side of things to supplement the ladies' praying to the Weeping Woman, as I said, it cannot hurt. When I report in to the council, I will speak to the Mouth. And let me say, from the perspective of the Society, we heartily approve."
"Are you, then, of the SHH?"
"Oh, of course. That's intentional in a position like this--you're either in the Inquisition or the Society. Or in some cases both. I will now return to the court in exile."
"Of course. I'm sure that you already maintain tight security, but we wanted to make sure that you were particularly aware of the need."
"Yes, we maintain as tight security as we can, but compared to the wards of this place, they are like nothing."
"If you wished, I suspect that the Noldor of Zorplona-Moriquendarim would be more than happy to, for a reasonable price, place additional or new wards upon the embassy."
"I would welcome wards of that level of competency. We do the best we can, but compared to them, that's not necessarily much."
"From their perspective, building great wards is simply a matter of ordinary commerce. If you send someone over to speak with them, they'll be seen about it directly."
"I will. I'll do that personally."
After he departs, Kit asks in shock, "What was that business of things that need to stay away from infants?"
"Oh, devotees of the Empty Room and the Order of the Arrow have a certain number of feet they have to be from pregnant women."
"That's terrible."
"They are not the nicest people."
* * *
Kit reaches out to her agent on the fan in Masque.
<<Oh, greetings, excellence.>> The great advantage of masks is that when you're startled, it doesn't show on your face, but it can still be felt in the mind.
<<I apologize for the suddenness of this contact and for not having contacted you for some time before this. I'm reaching out now because it is urgent, which you could probably guess. We've received word of attacks against royal families or ruling families of several major Paranswarmian powers. Has there been any strike against the rulers of Masque?>>
<<There were three incompetent attempts against the Queen-Empress. The Mantis foiled them easily.>>
<<What do you mean by incompetent?>>
<<They were attacks by the Goats. If anyone were to expect an attack one would expect to be from the Goats. The Goats were being watched. But they had the foolishness to attack in the throne room. There are 5,000 Mantis on guard with flame lances whenever the Queen-Empress is in the throne room.>>
<<That throne room must be very large.>>
<<It's a huge throne room. It truly is amazing. Panels of every metal on earth woven together by the magic of the sorceror-scientists of Snake and Serpent.>>
<<That does sound marvelous, but maybe focus. I would like to know more about the assassination attempts first.>>
<<If you were to attempt to assassinate someone, and you sent an assassin, and they were killed, would you then send his brother, and then, after he was killed, would you then send another brother? No, neither would I. As I said, incompetent. It had the effect of getting the Lord of the Goat killed. After the third effort, the Queen-Empress could ignore it no longer. She had the Lord of the Goat brought before her and dismembered.>>
<<When you say, brothers, do you mean brothers in the same order or actual blood relation?>>
<<No, they were brothers born of the same mother. But they were all Goats. They could have joined another order, I suppose, when they were younger, but once the oldest one joined the Goats, they all joined the Goats.>>
<<What can you tell me about that family?>>
<<They were all children of the same mother. She was of course of the same order as all of the wives. Their father was of the Wolf, but they were too crude—you need to have a certain finesse to be a Wolf. You know how it is.>>
<<Yes,>> responds Kit thinking sure, I totally knew that. <<Did that bother them?>>
<<Oh, I'm sure it did I mean after all, Baron Maliadus was at that time the consort to Flana, who is now Queen-Empress.>>
<<So a very ambitious family.>>
<<Oh, very ambitious! So they took Goat, because, you know, Goat is certainly better than, for example, ending up to be a Horse or a Fly. They would kill themselves before they became Horses. Instead, they joined the Goats.>>
<<But that meant that anybody who was looking for willing agents would have found them, and they would be eager for advancement.>>
<<Oh, they certainly would, I'm sure. The youngest boy joined the Serpents, but he had that tendency.>>
<<Is he still alive?>>
<<Oh, yes, yes, the serpents take care of their own and the Order and Baron Kalan are known to be very, very loyal to the Queen-Empress as they were to her uncle.>>
<<When was the first attack?>>
<<About two months after Flana took the throne. When her uncle disappeared—and the Throne-Globe with him—there was some talk about a general revolt by the Goat and some of their allies. But the Mantis put their foot down. Even though they didn't have a warlord, they said there would be no question that Flana—who was in their protective custody by then—would be the new Queen-Empress. There was some grumbling among the orders--I have to say, I mean among my own order as well-- but as she assumed power and set up a new throne and began to hold audiences, there was acquiescence after that. Then the first attempt happend and everyone just thought, "Well, the Goats were the ones that we're going to rebel, anyway." So you know it was to be expected. The second was a little more suspicious, and that was about six weeks later. But then the third one, he tried an entirely new tack.>>
<<What did he do?>>
<<Oh, instead of just simply requesting an audience and then attempting to run her through with a sword, he went so far as to attempt to release poison in the throne room.>>
<<I would imagine you have some defenses against that.>>
<<We do. He seemed absolutely stunned when the defenses worked. I don't know why. The sorcerer-scientists have always been highly competent, and when they did work, with the Mantis there, there wasn't anything left except a lump. That's when the Queen-Empress sent for the Lord of the Goats, and had him executed in front of her, as an object lesson to any other warlords who were willing to contemplate treason. Not really her way of doing things, but sometimes necessary.>>
<<Was anything odd found in his body when he was executed?>>
<<The warlord?>>
<<Or any of them really, but particularly the warlord.>>
<<Oh, the warlord, no. I don't think he had anything to do with it. As for the others, when your body has been struck by several dozen flamelances...>>
<<Alright. So who benefits from all of this if they're not actually causing any harm to the Queen-Empress? Any who might want to discredit the Goats?>>
<<Oh, lots of people hate the Goats. You have the Hounds. I wouldn't put it past the Pigs. The Spiders hate them, but they're busy at the front with the Brown Lands.>>
<<It sounds like it might actually be unconnected to the assassination attempts on the other ruling houses of Paranswarmian powers.>>
<<Why would anyone attempt to kill off the Paranswarmians? We're nice and organized.>>
<<That is precisely why they would, so that they could cause chaos throughout the world. Anything from the Order of Man? They're the priests, right?>>
<<Their masks look like people. It's such a scandal, but they are the priests.>>
<<So they're people dressed up like people.>>
<<Correct. I understand your discomfort. Some of us are discomforted by it, too.>>
<<I am.>> She thinks, I am uncomfortable with all of this, but not for the reasons you think. She fills him in on what they've heard from Ecsilias. <<Because of that we fear there will be attempts on other Paranswarmian leaders. But this doesn't fit the pattern that we've seen before. This seems like somebody trying to make an attempt in order to fail.>>
<<Why would any do that? That would be stupid.>>
<<That is exactly what I'm trying to figure out. That was why I asked, who benefited, who comes out looking like a hero?>>
<<From this, I don't think anyone benefits. I don't know what the Mantis will do if she's killed in office. There is no one to replace her. I mean, mind you, she swears she will not go into another throne-globe, but it wouldn't surprise me if when she starts getting old, if the Man would force her into a throne-globe.>>
<<Who is the new Lord of the Goat?>>
<<General Cornelius. Solid military man. Leads the charge himself. Not much of a scholar though. Keeps a scribe around to read him things. Very loyal. Was originally maskless, but climbed because of his loyalty and his ability.>>
<<Get that general a new scribe right away. I don't even need to ask any more questions.>>
<<Believe me, you need to be able to count on your scribes.>>
<<Oh, yes, absolutely, and don't let the scribe know that you're coming for him to arrest him.>>
Kit immediately tells him to arrest the scribe. After some discussion, her agent decides to go with an Inquisition priest to take him in for questioning with the Inquisition, in part because while he is fairly high ranking, he can't arrest someone without a clearly established reason--but an Inquisition priest can.
<<Very good. I salute you, my lady. You're nothing if not exciting.>>
<<I salute you back. I will come to you again, this time tomorrow, to check on this.>>
* * *
Dame Brionna observes that the enemy is probably running a parallel operation among the Paranswarmians to infiltrate the scribes and the schools in which they are trained. They agree to follow up on this with the Inquisition.
"You know, our enemies are not terribly creative. When they come up with one plan--like the fertility thing--they keep running the same plan."
"They're not original, but they haven't needed to be because before now nobody was talking to each other. That also means is that in addition to our warning the Inquisition about the plots within the Church that we have uncovered, because there are likely similar plots within their temple, we should also ask the Inquisition about the plots within their temple that they've undercover uncovered because they're probably similar ones in the Church that are parallel."
"That makes sense, but the problem is, we need to be careful about how quickly we spread the message. Because if we send a general message to the Ecumenical Council, it will get leaked to the enemy."
"But if we ask the Inquisition about the scribes, they're going to know where the scribes are trained, most of them."
"There was also corruption within the scriptoriums, and deliberate production of flawed scrolls."
"I think that was part of the same plot--they taught people to do it wrong and then that propagated. The scribes weren't all corrupt, they were just taught by corrupt people."
[cont'd]
8 O-Tar
Kit has a report from one of her people in Ecsilias. [Attached] There are ongoing assassination attempts against what is left of the royal family of Ecsilias. (Kit believes there were some messages that have not arrived. She thinks they need to improve their intelligence operations in Ecsilias.) Kit’s agent believes that this has to be an inside job—either someone in the palace corrupted by the great enemies, or one of three noble families high enough and ambition enough to try to overthrow things. (Kit notes that it could be both.)
Dame Brionna comments, "The timing of this is very worrisome. A second attack on a major Paranswarmian power at nearly the same time?"
Alistair nods. "We should warn Masque, Princess Anastasia, and especially Tarsh."
"And the Patriarch for that matter," Dame Brionna adds.
"You mean the 'First Mouth,'" Alistair corrects. "Horrifying titles, but nonetheless."
"Excuse me," says Kit. "Nothing wrong with the title 'mouth.'"
"I apologize. Kit, I would never say anything bad about your mouth," says Alistair with a saucy smile. "But yes, let's have the duty psion join us to pass on these warnings."
Once the duty Farsensor enters, Alistair asks, "Do you have a psion attached to the Court of the Emperor of Tarsh that you are capable of contacting?
"We have contact to the Society there in the capital of Tarsh, Your Majesty. King-Emperor Jazriel does not keep a psion particularly close to himself under normal circumstances."
"Send a message to your contact in the Society, then, informing him we have reasons to presume, though not to know, that there is currently an ongoing assassination attempt against the King-Emperor, and that it is directly contrary to the interests of the Ecumenical Council for that to succeed."
Kit adds, "And they need to know that this will likely involve [unscribable gates--can't figure out what this meant--unscryable gates?]."
"We also want to delicately inform them, without offending, that we don't know what the ward situations are like at the palaces of Paranswarmian rulers. We believe ours to be protected against such things, and have substantial evidence now that they are given the number of creatures who have showed up at our gates attempting to break in and failed."
"Which is probably why my person in Ecsilias thinks its an inside job, because they must have some kind of wards on that palace that they were able to bypass. We should warn them about the likelihood of possessed or replaced people and the blood test."
"The blood test won't work if they used the right sorts of things. It's less reliable than true sight."
"Yes, they may not have much in the way of true sight, but they may have some, and we want to pass on that there may be seen-unseen or even harder to detect enemies as part of this."
The duty psion reports. "They are sending someone to the palace. Apparently direct psionic communication is not something that is normally permitted."
"As long as they understand this is urgent. I think the next most important one is in fact the Princess Anastasia, or rather the Queen-Empress of Hanal. She's very explicitly not in the palace cause that would create issues."
"Should we move her?"
"That creates other issues."
"I suppose the cathedral doesn't work well either for that. What about Paranswarmian churches?"
"I believe the chapel in their embassy is the best thing in that regard."
"But they can still lock down, and presumably they've been expecting assassination attempts."
They have the psion reach out to the Queen-Empress's bishop to inform her that there are current ongoing assassinations attempting to destroy the royal families of Ecsilias and Mandrath, and that we expect that this is part of a coordinated assault against the royal families of the various kingdoms and empires of her co-religionists."
The psion makes a quick mental contact, then says, "He wishes to call upon the Court at your convenience."
"Our convenience would be immediate. And now, do you have someone in the Empire of Masque?"
"A Society tower. There some members of the court may have psionics, but they're not members of the Society."
Over the mindlink, Kit sends <<I've got someone Masque. I have someone on the fan.>>
<<So send it through that route, but we'll still send it through the the Society to maintain appearances.>>
They send to the Society in Masque the same message that was initially sent to the King-Emperor of Tarsh, but not the additional information.
A page knocks at the door. "A bishop of Paranswarm wishes entry."
"Send him in, please."
Dame Brionna steps one step closer to and in front of Alistair, who is still basically in a dressing gown at this point.
The same very thin man that they remember, dressed in his vestments of black on black on black, enters and performs an obeisance that's very appropriate.
"Your Venerable Excellency, how may we help you?"
"Upon receiving your message, I thought that it was appropriate to bring the concerns of the Council directly to you. The Council of Thirteen has been concerned that something was reducing the fertility of Paranswarmian lines across the entire globe. For example, the only person who could have children with the Archduke Fenris was Sharra Rufus, and it was not for lack of his trying for many years, and unfortunately becoming very short with some of those with whom he tried and failed."
"Do you know why she was able to succeed where other had failed? I would not have expected, based on her Drowan ancestry, that she would have been naturally endowed with those gifts."
"We discovered, though this must not be revealed outside this room, that she sought special charms of the servants of Gunnora. Of course, better to do that than the Ram, and otherwise he would have died without issue. There is no heir in the Black Mountains nor the White Mountains. Let me not confuse my mountains--there's no heir in the White Mountains at all, and that is far more powerful kingdom."
"I thought the White Witch had children."
"She has adopted children who will never be allowed to inherit. If we do not do something, the kingdom will tear itself to shreds."
"Why can her adopted children not inherit? Is it because they don't recognize adoption?"
"Their nobles will never recognize it. We've already explored that. Even with the support of the church it would be extraordinarily difficult for any of them to live more than a few months, and even if they were to gain the color pool's favor, most of the nobles that will try to kill them also belong to White. Now, the Black, that kingdom is going nowhere."
"Her granddaughter is among our fosterlings."
"Yes, I do not know if they simply couldn't reach her under the sea, where she often spends her time or if her stock is hardier."
"The sea is a barrier to some of our enemies. They can't teleport across the sea, though the sea does not in general block teleportation magic, so perhaps the sea protects her."
"It is not dissimilar of course to the pattern that we've noticed with the shadow lands in Zest'qua where there's no need to maintain a barrier along the shoreline, because the sea forms its own barrier. As you know, the King-Emperor of Tarsh is very young."
"I assume he has no heir-presumptive."
"No, he has been remarkably unsuccessful at --I believe it's called spreading his wheat? You know what I mean."
"I do," replies Alistair, resisting the urge to describe how he knows exactly what the bishop means.
"Despite his best efforts, there's been no issue, which is concerning to us as well. The Council literally had a priest following him around to see if any of them became with child. He never noticed, but as yet none of them have."
"But he has not yet contracted a proper dynastic marriage."
"No, though we would have settled for knowing there was someone in the wings. The church would have spirited them away as soon as he did. Tarsh is, after all, for the continent of Khamista, the most powerful of our kingdoms."
"Yes, and they would have either quietly taken holy orders or not at all quietly emerged when necessary."
"Correct. Here, it is impossible to interrupt the succession in Tang or Thar Ingmath, because no one knows who will bear a One, and as long as there are any Ones, the Ones will figure out who is senior, and all the threes will fall in line."
"Yes, so they are safe. But with regard to Masque..."
"Yes. Masque is already unstable. If the Queen-Empress Flana dies, there would be no heir. Unless her former paramour takes power, which I find doubtful. I think the Mantis would kill him if he attempted it. In that case, there would be no heir at all."
"Then, presumably, the orders would hack each other to pieces, trying to determine which one was the new imperial order."
"Wolf would certainly attack the palace. Mantis would respond. Then they would attack each other. The other orders would become involved. Masque would fall into Chaos."
"Masque is always a little bit closer to Chaos than is comfortable even at the best of times."
"Indeed. You see with clear vision, Your Majesty."
"May I ask a question? Theologians of our faith have speculated, although I believe it is only speculation, that the unusually abnormally long stability of the Imperial Family of Canberry is the result of, shall we say, a direct interest of the Lord of Light in maintaining the stability of His greatest empire. Many of the people who engage in those speculations also suspect that the same thing has been true in Ergmoth, which has also had a remarkably smooth succession until lately."
"And there certainly was a time when it was the strongest Paranswarmian kingdom. The Kingdom-Empire of Tarsh has recently come into its full power, and that at least is in part because of its merchant fleets. They pay for the armies that it uses to expand its land holdings."
"If that were the case, it would seem that the late Grand Duke Fenris's fertility problems would represent a disturbing deviation in Paranswarm's plan. I, of course, do not mean to cast any aspersions on Paranswarm's power and authority, and such. But can you think of any reasons why that might have taken place, or what might be going on there?"
"I suppose it's possible that this should be understood the other way, that this was a deliberate effort to advance the late Grand Duchess's line to its current prominence. But if the child is not found, that would have been futile. However, it is true that it was roughly at the time that Tarsh finally did take preeminence that the Grand Duke started having his difficulties. I do not claim to know the mind of my Lord Paranswarm, but either of those possibilities is worth considering. As well, the Holy See was moved to Ergmoth under the Grand Duchess, and if the line failed now, the stability of the country would be assured by the presence of the First Mouth. And so it could be that that there is a certain balancing going on."
"So Paranswarm may have thought that they would be all right because of that, and he can help someone else. Also, if you'll pardon me for what I'm saying, your excellence, it might be in Paranswarm's interest to maintain a balance between a faithful and powerful secular Paranswarmian kingdom and the power of the temple, such that either can move to address any problems of corruption that arise within the other."
"That is very reasonable. Had the Grand Duchess not arisen when she did, Hanal's fall would have caught us completely by surprise. As badly as we may have reacted, it could have been much worse."
"I also wanted to ask your opinion on another matter as a Paranswarmian religious authority. As I'm sure you're aware, nobles who are in need of heirs will go to almost any lengths to achieve such things."
"Yes, and this has led to vulnerabilities to the Order of the Ram and a willingness to make promises at costs that no one should ever accept."
"But that nonetheless people do. In light of this, the Holy Church has adopted, shall we say, a position of benign ignorance about the decision of various nobles to provide certain signs of respect, but not worship, to an archfey, who has a strong interest in fertility and virility, and in exchange, this archfey provides a bountiful home life to his friends. Of course, the order of friends of this archfey, as it were are resolutely committed to opposing the Ram, and all of his works, and to maintaining clear succession lines and loyalty to, for example, the Empire of Southern Drucien. Would the Temple of Paranswarm be willing to provide a similar, as I said, benign neglect were this fraternity to spread beyond Glordiadelian countries?"
"I don't know why we would not, but I will consult the Council to make certain. We are a bit more hierarchical even than your temple."
"I understand. We were able to arrange this simply with a conversation with our local archbishop, but of course we are not situated in the same way as people within your kingdoms are. If there is not a problem with your temple, then one of the possibilities that might allow the Archbaron-Consort of Mandrath to address his concern might be through the assistance of the Stag."
"It sounds promising, definitely."
"I must admit that simply as a matter of maintaining the affection between the archfey and my house, I presented him with the results of some successful hunts of my own after the births of each of my children."
"I will bring this recommendation forward. It may help and can't hurt."
"I believe that that as with with our Church, there are no true male fertility figures among your saints and angels and whatnot."
"No, not to put too fine a point on it, there are certain things that can cause the death of any infant within a certain number of feet of them, but no, there are no male fertility figures. I suppose there's probably some female fertility consideration among the Weeping Woman's followers. I'm not very aware of any particularly strong association, but there are many people who pray to her for fertility, and they seem to be answered. But then, perhaps, if there were a masculine side of things to supplement the ladies' praying to the Weeping Woman, as I said, it cannot hurt. When I report in to the council, I will speak to the Mouth. And let me say, from the perspective of the Society, we heartily approve."
"Are you, then, of the SHH?"
"Oh, of course. That's intentional in a position like this--you're either in the Inquisition or the Society. Or in some cases both. I will now return to the court in exile."
"Of course. I'm sure that you already maintain tight security, but we wanted to make sure that you were particularly aware of the need."
"Yes, we maintain as tight security as we can, but compared to the wards of this place, they are like nothing."
"If you wished, I suspect that the Noldor of Zorplona-Moriquendarim would be more than happy to, for a reasonable price, place additional or new wards upon the embassy."
"I would welcome wards of that level of competency. We do the best we can, but compared to them, that's not necessarily much."
"From their perspective, building great wards is simply a matter of ordinary commerce. If you send someone over to speak with them, they'll be seen about it directly."
"I will. I'll do that personally."
After he departs, Kit asks in shock, "What was that business of things that need to stay away from infants?"
"Oh, devotees of the Empty Room and the Order of the Arrow have a certain number of feet they have to be from pregnant women."
"That's terrible."
"They are not the nicest people."
* * *
Kit reaches out to her agent on the fan in Masque.
<<Oh, greetings, excellence.>> The great advantage of masks is that when you're startled, it doesn't show on your face, but it can still be felt in the mind.
<<I apologize for the suddenness of this contact and for not having contacted you for some time before this. I'm reaching out now because it is urgent, which you could probably guess. We've received word of attacks against royal families or ruling families of several major Paranswarmian powers. Has there been any strike against the rulers of Masque?>>
<<There were three incompetent attempts against the Queen-Empress. The Mantis foiled them easily.>>
<<What do you mean by incompetent?>>
<<They were attacks by the Goats. If anyone were to expect an attack one would expect to be from the Goats. The Goats were being watched. But they had the foolishness to attack in the throne room. There are 5,000 Mantis on guard with flame lances whenever the Queen-Empress is in the throne room.>>
<<That throne room must be very large.>>
<<It's a huge throne room. It truly is amazing. Panels of every metal on earth woven together by the magic of the sorceror-scientists of Snake and Serpent.>>
<<That does sound marvelous, but maybe focus. I would like to know more about the assassination attempts first.>>
<<If you were to attempt to assassinate someone, and you sent an assassin, and they were killed, would you then send his brother, and then, after he was killed, would you then send another brother? No, neither would I. As I said, incompetent. It had the effect of getting the Lord of the Goat killed. After the third effort, the Queen-Empress could ignore it no longer. She had the Lord of the Goat brought before her and dismembered.>>
<<When you say, brothers, do you mean brothers in the same order or actual blood relation?>>
<<No, they were brothers born of the same mother. But they were all Goats. They could have joined another order, I suppose, when they were younger, but once the oldest one joined the Goats, they all joined the Goats.>>
<<What can you tell me about that family?>>
<<They were all children of the same mother. She was of course of the same order as all of the wives. Their father was of the Wolf, but they were too crude—you need to have a certain finesse to be a Wolf. You know how it is.>>
<<Yes,>> responds Kit thinking sure, I totally knew that. <<Did that bother them?>>
<<Oh, I'm sure it did I mean after all, Baron Maliadus was at that time the consort to Flana, who is now Queen-Empress.>>
<<So a very ambitious family.>>
<<Oh, very ambitious! So they took Goat, because, you know, Goat is certainly better than, for example, ending up to be a Horse or a Fly. They would kill themselves before they became Horses. Instead, they joined the Goats.>>
<<But that meant that anybody who was looking for willing agents would have found them, and they would be eager for advancement.>>
<<Oh, they certainly would, I'm sure. The youngest boy joined the Serpents, but he had that tendency.>>
<<Is he still alive?>>
<<Oh, yes, yes, the serpents take care of their own and the Order and Baron Kalan are known to be very, very loyal to the Queen-Empress as they were to her uncle.>>
<<When was the first attack?>>
<<About two months after Flana took the throne. When her uncle disappeared—and the Throne-Globe with him—there was some talk about a general revolt by the Goat and some of their allies. But the Mantis put their foot down. Even though they didn't have a warlord, they said there would be no question that Flana—who was in their protective custody by then—would be the new Queen-Empress. There was some grumbling among the orders--I have to say, I mean among my own order as well-- but as she assumed power and set up a new throne and began to hold audiences, there was acquiescence after that. Then the first attempt happend and everyone just thought, "Well, the Goats were the ones that we're going to rebel, anyway." So you know it was to be expected. The second was a little more suspicious, and that was about six weeks later. But then the third one, he tried an entirely new tack.>>
<<What did he do?>>
<<Oh, instead of just simply requesting an audience and then attempting to run her through with a sword, he went so far as to attempt to release poison in the throne room.>>
<<I would imagine you have some defenses against that.>>
<<We do. He seemed absolutely stunned when the defenses worked. I don't know why. The sorcerer-scientists have always been highly competent, and when they did work, with the Mantis there, there wasn't anything left except a lump. That's when the Queen-Empress sent for the Lord of the Goats, and had him executed in front of her, as an object lesson to any other warlords who were willing to contemplate treason. Not really her way of doing things, but sometimes necessary.>>
<<Was anything odd found in his body when he was executed?>>
<<The warlord?>>
<<Or any of them really, but particularly the warlord.>>
<<Oh, the warlord, no. I don't think he had anything to do with it. As for the others, when your body has been struck by several dozen flamelances...>>
<<Alright. So who benefits from all of this if they're not actually causing any harm to the Queen-Empress? Any who might want to discredit the Goats?>>
<<Oh, lots of people hate the Goats. You have the Hounds. I wouldn't put it past the Pigs. The Spiders hate them, but they're busy at the front with the Brown Lands.>>
<<It sounds like it might actually be unconnected to the assassination attempts on the other ruling houses of Paranswarmian powers.>>
<<Why would anyone attempt to kill off the Paranswarmians? We're nice and organized.>>
<<That is precisely why they would, so that they could cause chaos throughout the world. Anything from the Order of Man? They're the priests, right?>>
<<Their masks look like people. It's such a scandal, but they are the priests.>>
<<So they're people dressed up like people.>>
<<Correct. I understand your discomfort. Some of us are discomforted by it, too.>>
<<I am.>> She thinks, I am uncomfortable with all of this, but not for the reasons you think. She fills him in on what they've heard from Ecsilias. <<Because of that we fear there will be attempts on other Paranswarmian leaders. But this doesn't fit the pattern that we've seen before. This seems like somebody trying to make an attempt in order to fail.>>
<<Why would any do that? That would be stupid.>>
<<That is exactly what I'm trying to figure out. That was why I asked, who benefited, who comes out looking like a hero?>>
<<From this, I don't think anyone benefits. I don't know what the Mantis will do if she's killed in office. There is no one to replace her. I mean, mind you, she swears she will not go into another throne-globe, but it wouldn't surprise me if when she starts getting old, if the Man would force her into a throne-globe.>>
<<Who is the new Lord of the Goat?>>
<<General Cornelius. Solid military man. Leads the charge himself. Not much of a scholar though. Keeps a scribe around to read him things. Very loyal. Was originally maskless, but climbed because of his loyalty and his ability.>>
<<Get that general a new scribe right away. I don't even need to ask any more questions.>>
<<Believe me, you need to be able to count on your scribes.>>
<<Oh, yes, absolutely, and don't let the scribe know that you're coming for him to arrest him.>>
Kit immediately tells him to arrest the scribe. After some discussion, her agent decides to go with an Inquisition priest to take him in for questioning with the Inquisition, in part because while he is fairly high ranking, he can't arrest someone without a clearly established reason--but an Inquisition priest can.
<<Very good. I salute you, my lady. You're nothing if not exciting.>>
<<I salute you back. I will come to you again, this time tomorrow, to check on this.>>
* * *
Dame Brionna observes that the enemy is probably running a parallel operation among the Paranswarmians to infiltrate the scribes and the schools in which they are trained. They agree to follow up on this with the Inquisition.
"You know, our enemies are not terribly creative. When they come up with one plan--like the fertility thing--they keep running the same plan."
"They're not original, but they haven't needed to be because before now nobody was talking to each other. That also means is that in addition to our warning the Inquisition about the plots within the Church that we have uncovered, because there are likely similar plots within their temple, we should also ask the Inquisition about the plots within their temple that they've undercover uncovered because they're probably similar ones in the Church that are parallel."
"That makes sense, but the problem is, we need to be careful about how quickly we spread the message. Because if we send a general message to the Ecumenical Council, it will get leaked to the enemy."
"But if we ask the Inquisition about the scribes, they're going to know where the scribes are trained, most of them."
"There was also corruption within the scriptoriums, and deliberate production of flawed scrolls."
"I think that was part of the same plot--they taught people to do it wrong and then that propagated. The scribes weren't all corrupt, they were just taught by corrupt people."
[cont'd]