”Trading knowledge. Maybe some materials. And if they piss us off, we’ll flood the market with cheap aluminum and crash their economy.” The sarcastic grin audible in Vigdis’ voice. ”It’s expensive here, for obvious reasons. For a world where a portion of the population can summon lightning from thin air, they know jack shit about electricity... In addition to a lot of other things. From an earlier interaction it seems like geocentrism is still the name of the game here.“ She made a face, a silent condemnation of K-A scholars everywhere. Ancients Greeks figured that out 2500 years age for fuck’s sake. ”More knowledge we can trade I guess, if we can figure out how to do it without throwing the balance of power out of the airlock. But if we want to teach them stuff, we’ll have to get the electron microscope working because if we start telling them that everything, including them, is made up of tiny particles held together by forces generated by even tinier particles making those up, they’re gonna think we’re making shit up as we go to sound smart.”

Several people departed the party, following in the tracks of the out of control Life Mage. ‘Lightweight’ she thought, raised on the ethnically Russian Venera where rye bread was the norm because most of the imported wheat ended up in bottles. And rye bread was a key ingredient of kvass… ”Curious to see what kind of friends Kerchak has. If he has friends like I did at our graduation party, poor fucker. And we’ve given them markers, too.”

”What’s the mood like among the civvies?” As much as he was out of the loop on the alien front, she was just as out of it as far as the civilian mood was concerned, being either asleep, outside or working. Or working outside. ”A week cooped up inside a metal can is nothing for a crew, but a bunch of people who didn’t want to be there, injuries, kids… Can’t be good, can it?”

Zey’s boots crunched on debris and rocks through the clearing her ship had made on landing. Vegetation had already begun springing up from the ashes in places; vibrant green, red and purple growths in the dirt.

She eyed up the S’tor prisoner first - Sh’vetza was the name she’d heard for it. Their wrists were manacled pointing in opposite directions, forcing their arms to cross and making it very tricky to use their hands for anything. They were diminutive by the standards of the other lizard-esque people in the group, and wore simple clothing. A shapeless sackcloth gown underneath a tired grey tabard with black eyes stitched on it in various locations. They kept their eyes trained firmly on the ground in front of them. It was like they were trying to attract as little attention as possible.

Two of the other S’tor soldiers stuck close to this manacled person. They reminded Zey of those ancient Greek warriors with minimal body armour and round metal shields. She wondered if that was so they could travel easier on those horrible screeching monsters. The exception to their armour was the helmet, which appeared to be made from plate metal and covered their entire head.

The last two S’tor soldiers were heavily armoured in a similar way to Esedel, but with less embellishment. They carried a square shield and broad sword on their backs with ease. These bodyguards took the lead as they reached the edge of the clearing, using their massive heft to push through the heavy undergrowth.

It wasn’t long before the sounds of gagging and liquid splattering met Zey’s ears. Without eyes on the source, it was quite a disturbing set of noises.

“Let me go first, Captain.” Ezra stated plainly, pushing in front. His gun wasn’t up, just ready.

Darnell peered over Zey’s head, clutching the heavy beer mug ready to twat anything that moved suddenly.

After a few moments the S’tor broke through to where a stocky pink shape was crouched in his Kriliteran form, and the Humans joined them soon after.

Zey recoiled at Kolvar’s original form, unnerved by the bulging lumps and eyes of various sizes dotted around its squishy pink face.

“What are you? I’ve never seen your kind before.” One of Esedel’s guards asked with a gruff tone of voice, poking Kolvar’s prone with its boot.

“Please, help him up. He is surely unwell. Friend, are you the one who ran from the feast?” Sh’Vetza asked, more kindly. The guards grudgingly complied, bending down to try and haul Kolvar to his feet.

“Ugly fucker isn’t he?” Darnell whispered boozily into Zey’s ear from behind. The Captain swatted him away and moved forward slightly.

“Kerchak?”

---

“Aye, brother. The stream of desperates at our gates has become a torrent. The North lands are becoming more dangerous by the day. I hear more stories of demons that attack caravans at night…But that is besides the point.”

Esedel lowered her voice, though S’tor weren’t good at not being loud. A nearby observer like Shirik may still be able to eavesdrop if they concentrated.

“How do we address this chaotic cavalcade? Squabbling over a bunch of scrawny ‘Humans’ and a patch of forsaken hillside of no value to anyone… I say we let our new neighbours have it. This thing…” Esedel gestured vaguely towards the Jotunheim.

“...cannot house more than fifty, surely? They won’t need more space than has already been cleared. My Lord has mobilised enough engineers and materials to build a wall across the ridge. Can you do the same for your side? Then these Humans can feel safe in their own kerak and we can be sure both sides have equal access.”

---

“Get the reactors back online and we can do much more than make alu.” Danny smirked.

“Jo can plug straight into Tamerlane mills and mining modules all the way up to grade 5 if needed. Give me time and a 3D printer and I can jump start an industrial revolution in any shithole city on this rock.”

Varen laughed, stuffing the rest of the fish he’d been given while watching the Captain depart.

“What I'd give for a cold one right now. I reckon we have the parts for a home brew, no?”

Varen shrugged at Vigdis’ last question.

“Pretty shitty. I keep hearing them whining at Cap and XO. They’re going crazy inside, but some still don’t wanna come outside on account of the killer aliens. They don’t like the new work parties either. Have you sorted yours yet? Mine were fokken useless on first shift! Now Cap has got a gun sim set up indoors, its a recipe for disaster in my opinion.”

”DON’T. Drink. The local brew. It‘s hard to describe the taste, but the word ‘despair’ comes to mind.” She quickly warned him.

”Oh, fuck, you had to remind me.” Vigdis sighed when Varen mentioned the working parties. ”Don’t really care what they like or don’t like. I don’t mind yelling at them if that’s what gets into their heads that we’re marooned and we can’t afford to coddle people. Right, you got the solar farm salesman in your party, you poor soul!” She was suddenly struck with realization, genuinely sympathetic to his plight. ”They gave me the mining equipment mechanic and one of the cargo haulers, so I might be good. I’ll let you know how it goes and if they’re decent, I’ll trade you one good one for one bad one. If not, we’ll have to get that still running fast. Good boss points for Zhao though, she could’ve taken the good ones and left us with the idiots. Still, were it not for them being pissy enough as is, I’d recommend cutting down their liberty time for more training. I’m gonna go ballistic if we start losing resources to dumb mistakes and god save us from the plebs if one of them gets hit by an ND.” It was times like these that made mandatory military service sound like a really good idea.

Bidding farewell to Varen for now and returning back to her seat beside Kareet, she waited for a break to rejoin the conversation. ”So, feasts, get togethers with music… Is this a common thing to do in the Ascendancy and Mythandia when two groups of people meet?” Vigdis continued to quiz the scholar, oblivious to or uncaring of any social awkwardness. ”What else do you do, at least when war doesn’t loom on the horizon? Board games, sports…? Any that require magic to be played?”

---

General Kvarr ripped off a piece of meat about comparable to the size of a small cooked chicken, swallowing it all whole. Outwardly, he was seeming quite relaxed. He leaned forward on the table, bringing him a bit closer to Esedel so he could speak more softly. “I thought we might be of the same mind. The arrival of these Humans…who knows how our kin up north will respond? It would not suit us to become so distracted with each other that we lose sight of the real threats.”

Kvarr shifted his gaze slightly in the direction of the Jotunheim. “They do not have any more than a village’s worth of people here. And a small one, at that. Yet, I can’t help but to wonder, if they could arrive here, could not others? I think it would be wise for both of us to get to know them well. It may also be wise to ask them if they want a wall or two.”

---

---

Kareet was rather absorbed in the book she was reading when Vigdis found her, and was rather reluctant to pull her eyes from it even after being questioned. She had an interesting question before her, and she believed the answer was close within her reach. In that situation, she simply could not bring herself to avoid trying to answer it. She did not ignore Vigdis, but she was half looking to the Human, and half to the book in her hands.

“Hmm? Oh yes these…um…events.” She turned another page. “It is a nice show of courtesy. Respect. Something of that nature. For setting the tone of negotiations, I believe.”

For a short while, it was not certain if Kareet had even registered Vigdis’ second question. She was continuing to scan the pages in front of her, though she did speak up before Vigdis could. “Are you asking about entertainment? I know there are an abundance of options in Arcaeda. Sports, theater, art, music, tournaments, competitions, many bearing influences from most cultures across Kanth-Aremek. The Ascendancy’s culture was built up from a collection of all the people that formed it. Tekeri culture before the Ascendancy was…primitive. Small, scattered tribes in the mountains. They hunted, had some limited farming, and mostly just lived in their superstitions with little ambition to grow. Worthless." She muttered, with no small amount of scorn in her tone. “Through much of its early history, the Ascendancy grew from the immigration of the outsiders Archmagister Vyana sought to attract to her nation.”

Itxaro rushed through the party and slipped past attendees. It seemed to her some grotesque masquerade now, as the aliens shared their games and traditions with the humans, who did so likewise. She watched a Tekeri perform some crude magic trick with a cup and small metal ball and she couldn't tell if it was slight of hand or something else. Elsewhere cards were being dealt, games of chance or games of skill with personal items used as stakes. Guitars squelched and tuned on the improvised stage mixed with native drums bound with the skins of some unknown creature. All the forms spanned the gamut of biology and geometry, an uncanny parade of entities that defied the natural order that she knew from her home. Strange, stilted conversations surrounded her, disjointed and fragmented with her brief passing. She was glad for the escape Kerchak's drunkenness offered. Things were getting... Surreal.

She slipped into the grass after Zey and her companions, following the broken trail they left behind. Itxaro stepped carefully, aware she was slightly intoxicated, and wondered if the ship's medbay had any hangover enzymes in their medical supplies. The drug, a sort of prophylactic, replicated the liver's metabolic breakdown by dumping enzymes into the stomach which rapidly expedited the body's digestion of alcohol, leaving one with a slight hangover an hour later and nothing more. The drug was heavily regulated in the USASR, thought to promote alcoholism and used only to treat it, but Itxaro knew you could pick it up at any corner store in many countries on Earth. Ugh, I'll have to check with Dr. Feng though. Might just want to suffer whatever hangover this horse beer gives me.

Itxaro caught up to the others now, the only sounds out here the rustle of grass in the wind and distant voices from behind. Also, vomiting. As she laid her eyes on the retched figure laying in the grass, she felt more sympathy than disgust. It'd been a while since she'd been that drunk, sure, but the feeling was not one you quickly forgot. She couldn't exactly empathize with the shapeshifting element though. The Tekeri was no longer a Tekeri, but something else entirely, his flesh warping and roiling like a rough sea, a pinkish mass of limbs and eyes.

"Just too much to drink, is all," Itxaro said to the group that formed a semi-circle around him, putting on her best impression of a sober person, which honestly, wasn't too bad. "Nellara told me this can happen with life mages. Too much to drink, and they kind of... lose control of themselves." She gently put her hand on the barrel of Ezra's gun, as if to keep it there.

The others were working to get Kerchak, or what seemed to be Kerchak, onto his feet while Itxaro watched from a distance. "I've been drunk before, but never that bad," she said to her human companions. She cast a sidelong glance at the two S'tor bound in chains. It was the first time she'd noticed them. Itxaro wondered if they were prisoners, slaves, or something else. "Any idea what their deal is?" Itxaro tilted her chin to the pair, her translator switched off. She felt a surge of anger at the thought they might be slaves. We'll have to change that.

"A universal truth indeed." Nellara said, raising an eyebrow as she watched, amused as the glen Ixtaro was looking at struggled to stand upright as he continued drinking.

Regardless of the offenses that were committed by Silbermine and his 'loyal knights', the common glen soldiers weren't at fault for what was happening and Nellara knew that. No matter how badly was her impression of Silbermine or how the Mythadian forces disrespected the Ascension territory, the common soldiers had simply nothing to do with their superiors' choices. Softening her gaze would probably be a good idea, not only out of consideration to the common glen soldiers, but more importantly, since it might make the very Tekeri soldiers feel uncomfortable.

"Hm... Considering your species seem to be the dominating one on your home, it is understandable that regional differences might appear. Different cities, different kingdoms, different cultures..." Nellara said, thinking about Ixtaro's answer, still a bit amused on how she was using words from different languages.

While such cultural differences between members of a single race could be quite interesting, Ixtaro would soon explain that it also brought much strife and many wars over the centuries. Conflicts that seemed to almost be, as Ixtaro suggested, part of human nature, seeing as how those continued to hold them back from creating a paradise for their own race to inhabit, despite having such advanced technology.

"Perhaps the introduction of a common foe might have been the first step towards escaping such 'violent nature'. The sense of unity that the despair of a common foe might have brought. The new heights humans were able to attain due to uniting themselves and forgetting their previous differences..." Nellara replied.

When Ixtaro mentioned the Jotunheim itself was a weapon, Nellara raised an eyebrow, surprised. While her reaction was rather mild, internally, she was quite shocked. Knowing that the entire ship was a weapon made her quite relieved that her first choice was to establish friendly relations with the humans instead of showing any hostility. A race of beings that seemed to be eternally engulfed in war with themselves, since the beginning of times, undoubtedly had developed very powerful instruments of war.

The very idea of such 'ships' seemed to be one intimately linked with violence and war, as Ixtaro mentioned when talking about what happened to the people from her homeland after other humans arrived on wooden ships. What was perhaps most alarming about the story Ixtaro told was that Nellara herself could imagine very well a similar situation unfolding in Kanth-Aremek, should other 'groups' of humans, ones that weren't as amicable as Zeynep's crew arrived. Such concerns would definitely be written in later reports to the Ascendancy, once the current situation was dealt with.

"I see..." Nellara said, with a serious expression flashing over her face for a brief moment.

"The reason for such extreme cautiousness over sharing human knowledge and technology seems to be much clearer and justified now." Nellara said, certainly relieved on how seriously the Jotunheim crew seemed to take the act of sharing their technology. Not out of selfishness but out of concern of what it could do to Kanth-Aremek.

The emotions invoked by the matter they were discussing quickly became apparent in Ixtaro's voice and expression. Nellara herself noticed how she seemed to change matters as soon as she realized that she was losing her composure and respectfully moved on as well.

"In these cases, respect seems to be the key word. For both sides, coexistence isn't impossible, as long as both sides respect each other." Nellara said, agreeing with Ixtaro as she talked about how even for the humans, religions were remarkably hard to deal with.

With other humans going to check up on Kerchak, Nellara started getting a bit worried that things might quickly get out of hand, considering how quick some of the humans were to resort to violence. Due to that, the moment Ixtaro mentioned she would go after Kerchak, Nellara was a bit relieved, knowing she was a bit more... sensible than a few of the other humans she had briefly met earlier.

"Some of the humans might have a rather... excessive reaction to the scene but just remember, it might look quite unsettling, but he probably had a bad reaction to the alcohol." Nellara said, nodding towards Ixtaro as she started making her way.

Just before she turned away though, Ixtaro had one more thing to say to Nellara, her tone visibly more serious as she talked about making peace with Mythadia, using her own race's story about how bigger threats would destroy them should they keep warring against each other.

"Thank you for the advice, Ixtaro. Although, as I mentioned earlier, respect is the key to the relationship between our kingdoms. The way our societies work might be incompatible with each other, but as long as respect is maintained, coexistence should not be a challenge. Once again, it is not mine or the Ascension's desire to start a war against Mythadia." she said, her tone, posture and expression quickly suggesting she was talking not as 'Nellara', but as a Castigator, before her expression quickly went back to normal.

It was only after Ixtaro was gone that Nellara noticed that humans were the majority that went to check on Kerchak. Suddenly, the idea of having Ixtaro go wasn't enough to make Nellara relaxed about the situation. Not enough for her to go after, but enough for her to keep an eye on the direction where the group of humans went soon after.

While paying attention to any commotion from the humans and Kerchak, Nellara ended up also noticing how close General Kvarr was from the Warden... Their closeness made even more apparent since they were from the same race and from the fact that both of them attained positions of extreme importance in other kingdoms... Suddenly, Ixtaro's warnings about other enemies became a bit more relevant...

Jack sighs, resting his face in his hand. Wodan, for all its intelligence, didn't get it. And if a machine sentience couldn't work it out, there was little chance the other crew members or the passengers would.

"No," he said quietly, "We shouldn't depend on our human experiences alone in this."

He glanced up at the screens, noticing a commotion. "What's going on over there? Someone have an accident?"

Or perhaps this was the local custom of standing around the bushes?

Priorities:
1. secure the ship
2. restart the generators.
3. restart the engines.
4. move to a location higher up where the oxygen was at 21% and safer for the crew.
5. work on expanding their food supply.

That would be hardest. They'd need to find a patch of ground and sterilize it, then mix the sterilized soil with samples from their stores and makeshift gardens so they could start growing crops to feed all the extra mouths. Maybe, if there was left overs, they might start producing booze the locals would enjoy - a revenue stream that wouldn't be quite as dangerous as explaining how their weapons worked.

@EliteCommander @Cath

Kolvar Stilmyst

Kolvar glared at the guard who had poked him with his boot. He didn’t like being treated like an animal. Being helped up onto his feet by Esedel’s guards, he felt a little better vomiting out the toxic elements from his body. Holding onto one of the guards so he would not fall over. Looking over at the S’tor slave not surprised they would enslave their own people. He used the shelve of his robe to wipe some of the bile from his mouth. Slowly figuring out what was going on. The armed presence did not help his situation, now he would have to be careful or he would be brutally murdered. Looking over at the people now surrounding him, he felt stupid for putting himself in this situation. However, he was tired of the charade he had been putting on for the last couple of days. And perhaps he should drop the disguise and let them know who he really was.

The scholar took a deep breath before continuing to speak. “My name is not Kerchek that was a false name I used. My real name is Kolvar Stilmyst. And this is my true form, I apologize for the deception. I only wanted to learn more about your people, and I could not do so without being in disguise. My reasoning is because of the rather unpleasant history between my people and their people.” He said now pointing towards the S’torians in the group.

While Kareet was speaking to Vigdis she would notice something interesting in her book. A section mentioning the god Niftari being worshipped by the Kriliterans. However, that wouldn’t make sense to her since the Kriliterans have been extinct for a few centuries now. Unless there could be a possibility of the Kriliterans still being alive and roaming around unnoticed.

The band of musicians who’d sought refuge on the Jotunheim had left most of their equipment at port in Stavanger. The drummer had only a backup set of telescopic sticks, the lead guitarist only had the acoustic piece he strummed idly in between gigs. The vocalist had a dinky mixing device which could piece together thousands of pre-recorded sounds from their past. None of this stopped them from trying to join in with the Glen musicians who were playing classical tunes to please Lord Silbermine.

The drummer was the woman of the group; pale with tattoos covering her arms and a dishevelled bob of black hair on her head. Like the rest of the band, she wore black clothing. By passenger standards, she appeared fearless. Moving in between curious aliens, she tested the multitude of objects littered around the feast site for their percussive qualities.

After a little while, she bumped into Shirik.

“Woah, nice flames…do you play? You look very…metal.”

She was of course referring to the aesthetic relating to a genre of music that had clung stubbornly to life in the Nordics.

The vocalist, a tall man with long mousy brown hair and a beard, ambled over to where Vigdis sat with Kareet.

“Sorry to interrupt, you have a radio? Can you ask Bridge if there is a way to amplify our instruments?”

---

"We are no ssstrangers to migration in these turbulent times. The nobility are divided on the issue. Some cling to the ways of Kolodon, others are embracing their nomadic roots. None of it will matter though if the balance of power is disssrupted as you say…I must speak with my Lord, then let us strike at the meat of the problem together. Are you sure the Castigator will stand in line?”

---

Ezra twitched his gun out from under Itxaro’s hand and scowled angrily at her under his helmet. That sort of thing got people’s limbs torn up.

“Don’t they look a little like the ones who guarded the lizard who could read minds? The decorations…” Zey responded quietly before turning her attention back to this new lifeform.

“Your people? Who are your people? S’tor embrace others with open arms.” The S’tor guards holding Kolvar laughed.

“We have no quarrel with you. Please, let's return to the safety of the clearing. Do you feel well enough?” Sh’Vetza glanced nervously around the bushes. His own guards just stared directly at the Thought mage.

“Who are you here with? Are there more of you? Who sent you?” Darnell asked, talking over Zey’s shoulder.

---

“This Castigator is a bright one, I would say.” General Kvarr answered. “Besides, despite how others may see us, rank and order still rule in the Ascendancy. She would not defy the wishes of the Archmagister.”

Kvarr gave a glance off towards the woods, in the direction the intoxicated Life mage had stumbled off to. “I know what to expect from you, and you know what to expect from me. We are prepared to deal fairly with Mythadia. The greatest uncertainty we have is with our new visitors. Once their leader returns, I believe we should get down to business. As nice as these festivities are, I think there are some questions we should not leave unanswered for too much longer.”

---

---

While speaking with Vigdis, Kareet went silent for a few moments. After finding Niftari in the index and searching back through the book to the relevant section, her gaze focused down on the text. It was in a section on S’toric history, of all things, though the deity was not one that pertained to the S’tor. Rather, it was associated with a people they had conflicted with ages ago. Kareet had an answer, it seemed, but it was one that created far more questions for her to investigate.

“Why would he invoke the name of a Kriliteran god…” Kareet said aloud, though she was mostly speaking to herself. With this new, and fairly intriguing, revelation, her focus in the moment was shifted. She simply could not let a good mystery lie without attempting to address it, and more than that, she had information that might be relevant to the others.

“I…must go, must…see what is happening.” Kareet spoke up, clearly half-distracted in her own thoughts. She kept her thumb on the proper page, then closed the book and stood up to rush off after Kerchak and the others.

Kareet came upon the scene just after Kolvar explained himself to the others. For a brief moment, she took note of the unusual appearance he had taken on. Off the top of her head, it was nothing she recognized, but she did her best to memorize every detail she could see. Regardless, it only made for a short delay before she started to bring up her findings. “Why is it that you told one of the Humans of your reverence for a Kriliteran deity, Kerchak?”

Itxaro stared at Kerchak - no, Kolvar - searching for any sign that this even was the same creature she'd known before. Whatever he was, it was totally alien. The other species of KA were vaguely familiar forms. Avian, reptilian, equine, but his new shape reminded Itxaro they were on a new world, and life might evolve... Unexpectedly, here. She wondered how they could even be sure he was the same Kerchak they knew before, and not some imposter, though she assumed the locals would know the dangers of this better than her. Itxaro thought of her earlier conversation with Nellara, of civilizations across the world from them that might invade one day. She had meant humanity of course, but here before them was an unknown creature who admitted to spying on them. Maybe the Ascendency and Mythadia were threatened by both terrestrial and alien species now.

The locals didn't seem worried by this interloper, though. The humans, on the other hand, seemed less forgiving of Kolvar's intrusion. Itxaro couldn't connect the dots with Zey's reference to lizard mind readers, thanks to the alcohol, but she kept quiet; they could solve that particular mystery later.

The prisoner, Sh’Vetza, seemed jumpy, along with Ezra and Darnell. Itxaro wouldn't admit it, but she was becoming unnerved as well. They were far from the ship's safety, with a shapeshifting alien, and the humans were nervous and toting guns. Not a great mix, in Itxaro's world. She was on edge now, and her spine tingled as she heard something moving through the grass. She slowly positioned Ezra between herself and the new arrival, be it man or beast. Better he take the brunt of any wild hunter than her.

Luckily, it wasn't some stalking predator, just Kareet. Itxaro let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. The scholar seemed to have an idea of what was going on; certainly more than what Itxaro could piece together. However, she'd prefer to puzzle everything out by the ship, rather than in the middle of a field with grass twice as tall as her.

"Think we figure this out, ya know, back at this ship?" She looked nervously at the others.

@EliteCommander @Cath @Quest Abandoner

Kolvar Stilmyst

Kolvar laughed as he looked over at the other S’torian especially the one S’tor in chains. His laugh sounded like a mix of someone trying to clear their nose and a wheezy laugh. “That seems very obvious to me.” He said in a noticeably sarcastic voice. Kolvar took a few steps from the S’torian that was holding onto him.”I should explain the reason for my ruse. A long time ago my people the Kriliterans were enslaved and our land annexed by the S’torians. The S’torians had killed a lot of Kriliterans trying to take our land. More were murdered when we tried to rebel to gain our freedom. But we were able to gain our freedom by faking a mass suicide. The reason I was in disguise was so I would not be interrogated for the other’s locations.” His elongated fingers point to all of the S’torians in the group.

Kolvar had a small hint of anger in his voice and face when bringing up the great tragedy of his people. But he took a few deep breaths before speaking again. “But it was selfish of me to hide my identity, but I assume you would understand the reason for the deception. I could not be interrogated and my people once again enslaved.” He felt that the S’torians would still want to enslave the Kriliterans. “Unfortunately I have made a grave mistake and now our secret has been revealed. I am sorry for the deception, I cannot let my people be enslaved again, my soul would be dragged into the abyss if that would happen.” He turned his arm into a sharp blade, placing the blade to his neck in an attempt to decapitate himself.

---

Provided the most direct explanation was the correct one, and there was no further deception afoot, the notion of one or more Kriliterans still being alive was a significant discovery that would make for a notable report back to the Order of Sages.

And it was only the fourth one this week.

Still, there was something to be learned here. Some of Kerchack’s, or rather “Kolvar’s”, general awkwardness made more sense now. The arrival of the Humans was still a far more valuable subject for her to investigate, and even had the potential for her to produce an entire encyclopedia. Any substantial, detailed investigation into the Kriliterans would have to wait until she had learned what she needed from the Humans. Which, of course, made his apparent intention to kill himself all the more inconvenient. His corpse would tell her much less than he could.

“Hmm, what purpose would this death serve, Kolvar?” Kareet asked. “Thusfar, you have not encountered any representative nor servant of a S’toric state. The Warden, this Thought mage, General Kvarr, all are in service of Mythadia or the Ascendancy, respectively. Slavery is a forbidden practice in both nations.”

At first, Nellara didn't think that the issue with Kerchak was something particularly worth her attention. After all, she had seen some other mages getting a bit carried away with alcohol and trying to use life magic... often to disastrous results, but more often than not, they just returned to normal after calming down and getting sober. But when she realized after a few minutes that regardless of how many people went to check-up on Kerchak, only more and more people started to gather, she knew there was definitely something going on.

Nellara ended up arriving just a few minutes after Ixtaro did and the scene she saw was a rather surprising one. In the middle of the commotion, she couldn't see the tekeri named Kerchak. Instead, the creature that was there, with three eyes and multiple arms and legs, didn't appear like any other creature she had ever seen before. Nellara approached in silence and merely heard the creature's explanation from behind the commotion. Kerchar, or better, 'Kolvar', was from a different race, a Kriliteran. According to his explanation, the reason for him disguising himself was due to fear the S'tor would enslave him again, like they had done to his people in the past. The slaughter and enslavement of his people also seemed to be the reason why Kriliteran often disguise themselves and are so closed to the rest of the races.

Kolvar seemed to be quite nervous as he spoke, which was definitely understandable considering his position, the amount of people that gathered near him (particularly the S'tor guards and the thought mage they were escorting) and especially the weapons the humans seemed to love carrying so much. The moment the tensions hit their peak and Kolvar transformed his arm into a blade, determined to end his own life rather than have himself interrogated and his race enslaved once again, Nellara decided to finally intervene.

"Captain Zeynep, with all due respect, I need you to ask your subordinates to lower their weapons." Nellara said, her words carrying a palpable seriousness and weight to them, despite her politeness.

"The act of pointing weapons to things one does not understand has already caused enough misunderstandings for a single day." she said, particularly towards Darnell and Ezra, clearly referring to the first contact they had with the humans.

"As... 'unusual' his appearance looks like, Kolvar is more willing to end his own life than to resort to violence, despite clearly being able to. I believe that is more than enough proof that he means no harm to any of us." Nellara said, looking towards the humans who still had their weapons on hand.

"Kolvar, I heard your explanation and I can assure you it is exactly as Kareet said. The Ascension has no desire to interrogate you, do you or your race any harm or enslave you. Since the very beginning, the Ascension has always welcomed anyone with skills, regardless of their blood, family, age or race. Slavery is against the very foundations of our nation." Nellara said as she looked at Kolvar.


"I will make you the same request I made to Captain Zeynep. Kolvar, please lower your weapon. There is no reason why we cannot sit down and solve this situation without threats or violence." Nellara said, hoping to tranquilize him and defuse the entire situation, both making Kolvar lower his weapon and make the other humans stop pointing their weapons and interrogating him.

Vigdis looked up at the civvie from her seat. ”You don’t know who’s on the bridge. I do. He’s not gonna help.” In the unexpected festive mood, she let slip an opinion she probably shouldn’t have in front of a civvie. Keep up the Potemkin Village facade of a well-oiled crew, Vigdis... ”Let’s see if we can find something you can use.” Excusing herself from the table and leading the metalhead back into the ship, she let him go through the list of equipment on board that could possibly work for him, audio engineering being a complete enigma to her. In an unguarded moment, she also grabbed a pair of noise-canceling headphones. Just in case. Coming back outside, she nudged the musician with her elbow. ”Looks like the party’s breaking up a bit. Giddy up before you lose all of your audience.”

Curiosity getting the best of her, she started making her way to where everyone else was scurrying off to. Maybe some of the soldiers were handing out some food or booze from their private supply and didn’t want their commanders to see. Well, that was a nice thought, anyway. Catching the tail end of Kolvar’s explanation and seeing a… thing…? About to unalive itself, Vigdis turned right back around. She didn’t have to be everywhere and see everything. But something Nellara said made her stop, like a weak reading on a bullshit detector.

”You mean like you didn’t point a row of metal balls at me with magic when we first met? It’s natural to point weapons at that which you fear, and it’s natural to fear that which you don’t understand. That,“ She pointed at the Kriliteran, ”whatever that is, fits that description.” If she had a Krone for every time something that vaguely resembled Kolvar brutally murdered a person on the silver screen, she wouldn’t have had to take the Stavenger job. Humans being uneasy about something that looked this weird might as well have been a Pavlovian reflex by now.

”Besides, if he wants to off himself, having weapons that can do that faster and painlessly pointed at him is the least of his problems.” The engineer grumbled to herself.

"Wodan," Jack asks, an idea stirring in his mind, "Are you analyzing this music? Do you think you can bring up the ship's entertainment database and find something close to this style of music?"

The Ascendancy valued skills. Did they value music as well?

There was, of course, risks. What if they had some restriction in how music was to be played? Might they see their music to be a heresy? Especially if they could not see any musicians?

"I wish the autofacs were up," Jack sighs. "It would be interesting to see the locals reaction to a hand-cranked music box."

They could break out one of the projectors and show movies... but that might make Silbermine want them all the more.

“Right on. Strings, I will find for you.” The drummer flashed a smirk, then left the table again. She slinked over to the Glen musicians to ask about different instruments. She didn’t have a translator or anything sensible like that.

“Your talents know no bound, stranger. Do you know the Red Run to Rivenfrossst?” Esedel mentioned a song from the old empire, lamenting the firey destruction of the Myriad from the great city of Valor to the fortress of Rivenfrost.

Esedel promptly looked back at Kvarr. Her voice quietened somewhat

“What do you know of this cursed Iriad?”

---

“I see nothing I can use right now. Unless…maybe the intercom play outside the ship?” The vocalist asked. He tried playing around with one of the interfaces by the telescopic ramp door.

“Hello? Does this work?”

---

“When my weapon is raised, you’ll know about it.” Ezra muttered.

“How about these aliens stop wriggling and throwing up and shit first?” Darnell chimed in.

“It's ok, we’re playing nice. Aren’t we? We’re putting our weapons away and putting the past behind us.” Zey said firmly, eyeing up everyone in the group.

When Kareet mentioned slavery, the Captain glanced at the manacled S’tor. It wasn’t paying any attention - it was instead scanning the undergrowth and hills in the background. A distant sound rumbled over the crash site; it could’ve been rocks falling, or some large creature’s gravelly hunting call.

“Kercha-...Kolvar. We want to hear you out. Just not here. Come back to camp with us now; it's not safe here. You don’t like these S’tor people? Maybe Itxaro and Vigdis will let you lean on them instead. Perhaps the Castigator could help. How about that?” Zey was aware that she was using her patronising talking-to-drunks voice, but doubted the aliens would know that.

@EliteCommander @Cath

Kolvar Stilmyst

Kareet

Captain Zey

Kolvar shook his head before walking over towards Sh'Vetza. “Even though your people had enslaved and killed many of my people a long time ago, I cannot stand to see anyone being enslaved. Not even the sworn enemy of the Kriliteran. What was your crime?” He asked while having his bladed arm at his side.

Sh’Vetza stopped studying the undergrowth around them and peered down at Kolvar.

“I used Thought magic unaided for a long time. In doing so I betrayed Mythadia, and so seek to atone by serving the gracious Warden of the Northern Passage.” The scrawny S’tor glanced over each shoulder at the Inquisitors watching him closely. They may as well have been statues.

“But have you committed any crimes with your thought magic? If you have not I do not understand why you would voluntarily enslave yourself to these people.” Kolvar also looked over the inquisitors behind Sh’Vetza.

The mage made a dry clicking and gurgling sound in his throat, like an imitation of his master.

“Unsupervised Thought magic is treachery. Many before me have been hung for this transgression.”

“That does not sound like a serious enough crime to be executed for. There probably is no way for me to free you from your enslavement. Of course not without meeting the ire of these Inquisitors.” He looked behind them with a slight glare. “I am uncertain my people’s government will be able to protect you and others like you without repercussions. But like I said before I do not want anyone to be enslaved.” He added now looking back at the thought mage. This situation seemed to be quite a conundrum he had found himself in.

In all of this, Kareet had been taking a few notes on Kolvar’s curious behaviors. His reaction to the Thought mage prisoner was particularly unusual. The Inquisitors’ Guild had a strong presence in every nation, even the Myriad, for good reason. If Kolvar was unaware of those reasons, then either the Kriliterans did not have Thought mages, or their people were under the thrall of Thought magic. Without Inquisitor protection, such a fate would be inevitable over enough time. If she were to explain this to him, then his reaction could well provide some insight into where he came from.

“Imagine…for a moment, Kolvar, your home. Your people, the Kriliterans. It is easy to see how much you care for them, given that you are willing to give your life for them. Imagine going back there, to these people you’ve known so well all your life. Friends, family, these people who have all come to trust and care for you. Imagine going back to their smiling faces and handshakes, maybe hugs from family who haven’t seen you in months or years. Then, as night falls, you go to their beds, take a knife, and slit each of their throats. You personally drain the life out of all of these people who loved you, and you feel happy while you do it…all because a Thought mage got their hooks into your mind, twisted your thoughts and cares and memories, until you were nothing but a thrall to their whims.”

Kareet let the words hang in the air for just a moment, feeling them to be just shocking and personal enough to bring up the correct feelings for her final point to have the right sort of impact. “That is why we have the Inquisitors, and why Mythadia is perhaps exceedingly merciful to have allowed a criminal Thought mage to keep his life. He would be dead anywhere else.”

Kolvar turned to face Kareet and seemed to be staring her directly in the eyes. “But is there a way to filter out the criminals who use thought magic and those who do not?” He thought for a moment before looking over towards Sh’Vetza. For a brief moment, he pondered if the S’torian had somehow messed with his mind. But that seemed impossible since the Inquestiors would have killed him if he tried. “I can see why you would be afraid of them. But I want to give you a hypothetical situation. How would you feel being enslaved because you are a practitioner of another school of magic, or because you are of another race. As I said before my people were enslaved for four hundred years, I would exercise putting yourself in the shoes of others and considering if your actions are morally correct.” His bladed arm turned back into a normal arm.

There was not any particular emotion to Kareet’s words, nor any hesitation in her response. In her mind, though, she was definitely taking note of how Kolvar was answering her. “No one is forced to be a Thought mage. It is a practice like any other domain that must be trained and developed through years of effort. A freshly-awakened novice might pick up a few trivial abilities in Thought magic, but Inquisitors do not kill or imprison for that. They will take the novice, instruct them on the law, and have them make the choice of pursuing the Thought domain, or forsaking it for another. If someone has trained and developed themselves as a Thought mage, then they did so on purpose, knowing the kind of life it would give them.”

Kolvar thought for a moment thinking of what he could say next. There seemed to be no way to convince her to change her mind and break the status quo. “You make a fair point, and there are more pressing matters at hand. I apologize for being so dramatic. It seems the alcohol had negatively affected my behaviour. Perhaps we should go back to the human’s ship so they may be in a safer area.” Kolvar bowed as a sign of apology. Standing back up and looking over at Zey and the other humans.

Zey listened carefully to this bizarre and awkward exchange. She’d learned a lot of useful information that somehow made her even more worried about this new world they’d landed in. It felt like the right time to try and take back control of this situation.

“Yes, great plan. Let's go, everyone.” Zey turned and shooed her crew back through the gap they’d made in the undergrowth towards the Jotunheim. She stared intently at the ground for a minute as they moved, processing.

Once they arrived back in the clearing, she went back to her place at the head of the table and clapped her hands together.

“Thank you all for making this a nice, informative lunch. Now, shall we understand where we go next?” Her voice was clear and authoritative.

Kolvar during the walk was behind the group. Eyeing the inquisitors in the group with caution. He was worried that his revealing himself would make the humans trust him less. So his plan would be to keep the trust with the humans to help them escape. He knew some of the Kriliteran engineers would be able to help fix their ship. But it was quite advanced so they would be no help in fixing the ship.