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[ZEITGEIST] The Continuing Adventures of Korrigan & Co.
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<blockquote data-quote="gideonpepys" data-source="post: 7453046" data-attributes="member: 79141"><p><strong>Session 58, Part Four - Q & A</strong></p><p></p><p><strong>NB: The section in italics is a repeat of info. already published here, but it was news to my players.</strong></p><p></p><p>While Alden Wondermaker and his wererat assistants fitted Quratulain with her new armour, Wondermaker gushed about how privileged he felt to have discovered that the legend of the Mechanical Devil was real – and not only that, but a person to boot. Quratulain was surprised to learn that she was so well known. Wondermaker was able to tell Quratulain things about herself that she did not even know, or had forgotten.</p><p></p><p>It was even more exciting for Wondermaker to discover that she was part flesh, part machine, than if she had been entirely artificial, as the legend purported. He was also surprised to learn that there was no such person as 'Kurat-Ul-Ain', and that the inventor of ‘devil’ was Quratulain herself. Quratulain explained that the ‘calculating automaton’ she had created was in fact a ruse which enabled her to disguise her own mathematical genius, at a time when gifted women were viewed as a threat – even as ‘witches’ – by the clergy. While Wondermaker worked, she told him of her past:</p><p></p><p><em>Quratulain hails from the region of Lanjyr east of Saha. At the height of the clergy Empire, well over five-hundred years ago, that land was conquered and subjugated – native gods driven out; heresy perceived everywhere. Quratulain's father was an inventor of clockwork machines far in advance of their time. He was bullied by the clergy into building new weapons to help them the eladrin. Unhappy with his progress (as he deliberately dragged his feet), the clergy accused him of heresy and when he refused to cooperate further, threatened to execute him. </em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>A second motive lay behind this mock trial: The leader of the governing hierarchs had become smitten with Quratulain - "bewitched by your beautiful blue eyes; so piercing against your olive skin" - and promised to free her father if she submitted to his lascivious designs. Her horrified father learned of this, and forbade her from doing so, as he could not live with himself if she did. Quratulain obeyed her father and he was burned alive.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>Unbeknown to the clergy, the real genius behind these incredible inventions was Quratulain herself, who hid her talents from a patriarchal society. Full of anger against the hierarchs who killed her father, she travelled to Crisillyir with an incredible new machine: a clockwork, counting automaton that was so mathematically adept it could deduce extraordinary facts and even predict the future. (In fact these abilities were all Quratulain's, and the machine a mere toy.) She used the machine as a 'fairground attraction' at first, before its fame (or notoriety) brought it to the attention of the same hierarchs who had persecuted her father - engineering the circumstances to suit her scheme. Once in their public presence, with her own face disguised by a porcelain mask, she had the machine reveal each of their darkest secrets (corruption, murder, and worse) and caused an enormous scandal.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>But the priests weren't to be fooled twice: They arrested Quratulain, sundered her automaton, tried her for witchcraft and, on finding her guilty, threw her into a freezing river in winter time - in a perverse, vengeful joke - for her name means ‘consolation or coolness of the eyes’ and it was her eyes that had so bewitched their leader.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>This might have been the death of her, had she not already programmed the automaton to rebuild itself and come and find her. It did so, and pulled her out of the ice and snow where she had come to rest. Almost dead, horribly frostbitten, she used parts of it to rebuild her broken body, then gradually augmented herself to become a fearsome war machine - still wearing her porcelain mask to hide her blackened, disfigured face. One by one she tracked down and killed the hierarchs, before the clergy succeeded in capturing her and placed her in stasis in the Crypta Hereticum - unable or unwilling to destroy her, hoping one day to control the technology themselves.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>It was in this condition that Nicodemus and Kasvarina found her and the rest, as they say, is even more complicated history. (Ashima-Shimtu's choice to bury her in ice was another cruel joke she had to suffer.) Now the hierarchs are all long dead, and she has transferred all her vengeful ire to Nicodemus.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p>“Our stories share so many similarities,” said Wondermaker. “Abandoned, persecuted, vengeful. The object of my vengeance was an ally of Nicodemus for a time, but he is dead now – thrown into a fire. They say that revenge solves nothing. But I can tell you from experience that it is a very worthwhile goal. I hope you achieve the same peace of mind it brought to me. If anyone can help you do that, Korrigan can. (Or should I call him ‘King Baldrey’ now?)”</p><p></p><p>The mere process of talking about her past helped to ease the panic that had gripped Quratulain in the Thinker’s cave. Replacing her armour was reassuring too – especially since this armour was far superior to the heavy carapace she had crafted for herself. It was lighter and more finely articulated. What’s more, Wondermaker had equipped it with rockets sufficient to allow directional flight for a short distance – something more akin to assisted jumping. Quratulain practised a few times and found the capacity exhilarating.</p><p></p><p>She thought about what had been said. Quratulain now harboured the hope of fully recovering her humanity, experiencing a pang of guilt at the thought of how close she had come to harming those who had been kind to her. Her calculations suggested that Korrigan would need a new bodyguard soon. This ‘Green Knight’ had already proven herself unworthy, and might soon be incapable even of that. When Wondermaker fitted her breast plate, she asked him a favour, and had it engraved with a stylised insignia of her own design: two K’s for Kai and Korrigan, protected by a much larger Q, though the letters could not be immediately perceived, and appeared to part of an abstract, baroque design.</p><p></p><p>As a finishing touch, Wondermaker provided her with a mask in the form of dark, frosted metal, burnished in places – featureless but following the contours of a human face. He told her it could project whatever image she chose, and perhaps she might choose her own, true face. But Quratulain had not seen herself for so long, she could barely remember what she looked like, and chose instead to leave the mask blank for now. Only later would others tell her that they could see a pair of very real, piercing blue eyes reflected in it, the only part of her true face she could recall.</p><p></p><p><strong>End of Session</strong></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="gideonpepys, post: 7453046, member: 79141"] [b]Session 58, Part Four - Q & A[/b] [B]NB: The section in italics is a repeat of info. already published here, but it was news to my players.[/B] While Alden Wondermaker and his wererat assistants fitted Quratulain with her new armour, Wondermaker gushed about how privileged he felt to have discovered that the legend of the Mechanical Devil was real – and not only that, but a person to boot. Quratulain was surprised to learn that she was so well known. Wondermaker was able to tell Quratulain things about herself that she did not even know, or had forgotten. It was even more exciting for Wondermaker to discover that she was part flesh, part machine, than if she had been entirely artificial, as the legend purported. He was also surprised to learn that there was no such person as 'Kurat-Ul-Ain', and that the inventor of ‘devil’ was Quratulain herself. Quratulain explained that the ‘calculating automaton’ she had created was in fact a ruse which enabled her to disguise her own mathematical genius, at a time when gifted women were viewed as a threat – even as ‘witches’ – by the clergy. While Wondermaker worked, she told him of her past: [I]Quratulain hails from the region of Lanjyr east of Saha. At the height of the clergy Empire, well over five-hundred years ago, that land was conquered and subjugated – native gods driven out; heresy perceived everywhere. Quratulain's father was an inventor of clockwork machines far in advance of their time. He was bullied by the clergy into building new weapons to help them the eladrin. Unhappy with his progress (as he deliberately dragged his feet), the clergy accused him of heresy and when he refused to cooperate further, threatened to execute him. A second motive lay behind this mock trial: The leader of the governing hierarchs had become smitten with Quratulain - "bewitched by your beautiful blue eyes; so piercing against your olive skin" - and promised to free her father if she submitted to his lascivious designs. Her horrified father learned of this, and forbade her from doing so, as he could not live with himself if she did. Quratulain obeyed her father and he was burned alive. Unbeknown to the clergy, the real genius behind these incredible inventions was Quratulain herself, who hid her talents from a patriarchal society. Full of anger against the hierarchs who killed her father, she travelled to Crisillyir with an incredible new machine: a clockwork, counting automaton that was so mathematically adept it could deduce extraordinary facts and even predict the future. (In fact these abilities were all Quratulain's, and the machine a mere toy.) She used the machine as a 'fairground attraction' at first, before its fame (or notoriety) brought it to the attention of the same hierarchs who had persecuted her father - engineering the circumstances to suit her scheme. Once in their public presence, with her own face disguised by a porcelain mask, she had the machine reveal each of their darkest secrets (corruption, murder, and worse) and caused an enormous scandal. But the priests weren't to be fooled twice: They arrested Quratulain, sundered her automaton, tried her for witchcraft and, on finding her guilty, threw her into a freezing river in winter time - in a perverse, vengeful joke - for her name means ‘consolation or coolness of the eyes’ and it was her eyes that had so bewitched their leader. This might have been the death of her, had she not already programmed the automaton to rebuild itself and come and find her. It did so, and pulled her out of the ice and snow where she had come to rest. Almost dead, horribly frostbitten, she used parts of it to rebuild her broken body, then gradually augmented herself to become a fearsome war machine - still wearing her porcelain mask to hide her blackened, disfigured face. One by one she tracked down and killed the hierarchs, before the clergy succeeded in capturing her and placed her in stasis in the Crypta Hereticum - unable or unwilling to destroy her, hoping one day to control the technology themselves. It was in this condition that Nicodemus and Kasvarina found her and the rest, as they say, is even more complicated history. (Ashima-Shimtu's choice to bury her in ice was another cruel joke she had to suffer.) Now the hierarchs are all long dead, and she has transferred all her vengeful ire to Nicodemus. [/I] “Our stories share so many similarities,” said Wondermaker. “Abandoned, persecuted, vengeful. The object of my vengeance was an ally of Nicodemus for a time, but he is dead now – thrown into a fire. They say that revenge solves nothing. But I can tell you from experience that it is a very worthwhile goal. I hope you achieve the same peace of mind it brought to me. If anyone can help you do that, Korrigan can. (Or should I call him ‘King Baldrey’ now?)” The mere process of talking about her past helped to ease the panic that had gripped Quratulain in the Thinker’s cave. Replacing her armour was reassuring too – especially since this armour was far superior to the heavy carapace she had crafted for herself. It was lighter and more finely articulated. What’s more, Wondermaker had equipped it with rockets sufficient to allow directional flight for a short distance – something more akin to assisted jumping. Quratulain practised a few times and found the capacity exhilarating. She thought about what had been said. Quratulain now harboured the hope of fully recovering her humanity, experiencing a pang of guilt at the thought of how close she had come to harming those who had been kind to her. Her calculations suggested that Korrigan would need a new bodyguard soon. This ‘Green Knight’ had already proven herself unworthy, and might soon be incapable even of that. When Wondermaker fitted her breast plate, she asked him a favour, and had it engraved with a stylised insignia of her own design: two K’s for Kai and Korrigan, protected by a much larger Q, though the letters could not be immediately perceived, and appeared to part of an abstract, baroque design. As a finishing touch, Wondermaker provided her with a mask in the form of dark, frosted metal, burnished in places – featureless but following the contours of a human face. He told her it could project whatever image she chose, and perhaps she might choose her own, true face. But Quratulain had not seen herself for so long, she could barely remember what she looked like, and chose instead to leave the mask blank for now. Only later would others tell her that they could see a pair of very real, piercing blue eyes reflected in it, the only part of her true face she could recall. [B]End of Session[/B] [/QUOTE]
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