TEST DRIVE #6

[fairyfoes]

TEST DRIVE MEME

Considering apping to EACHDRAIDH? Why not give the setting a test run here! OPTIONAL SCENARIOS 01. ARRIVING IN THE DRABWURLD. The Seelie and Unseelie courts welcome you with mirthful revelry and hearty food. After you have been briefed on your purpose here, you will find an endless feast and a night filled with entertainment to placate your concerns. Mingle with new arrivals, sneak down the castle halls and make sure your eyes are always on your glass; fairies and imps have no bias when it comes to tricks! 02. THE STATION. Looking for a little slice of home? The Station gives you all that and more. Take advantage of the wifi, have a cup of fairy-brewed coffee (the one they didn't spit in) or sit back and relax on the patio. You can even move your things into one of the available rooms! 03. WILDCARD. Your own scenario! Explore the Drabwurld or simply take advantage of your Locket!

Comments

[lyorning]

[he nods]

If these fairies are servants, that implies they have a master.

[sweetestsmile]

I managed to get out of them that there is a Queen, and by process of elimination, figured out that she's not my Queen, but most of the other things they've said made little sense. Talking about gems and shards and brave warriors.

[lyorning]

As my own country has an Empress, and, moreover, she has other means to ask my service, I infer that the queen of this land is foreign to us both.

[sweetestsmile]

It's a shame that my--

[He cuts off very abruptly, expression flickering into a wounded, lost look for a split second, before settling into a stony one. Tara would indeed be bold enough, and have the power to back herself up, to go to this foreign queen and negotiate their return to their forest, but she's gone.]

There must be someone less flighty than these fairies that could arrange a meeting with this queen. If nothing else, she can explain why and how we were brought here.

[lyorning]

[if Aerich noticed, he didn't say anything; given he was hiding his own grief under good manners, eh could sympathize]

No doubt. A queen implies a court, though its structure may be foreign to us both.

[sweetestsmile]

Probably very foreign. I know almost nothing about stompers.

[Which he probably shouldn't have said. Oops. But Ronin shrugs.]

Not even what they call themselves. Human, I think?

[lyorning]

I believe use the same word for themselves as my people use for ourselves, a state of affairs that can lead to much confusion in diplomacy, you perceive. It is rendered as 'human' in my tongue.

[it might not be obvious to Ronin that Aerich is not human, given his most distinctive feature is that he is about 2 ft. taller than a normal human. But he has slightly pointed ears.]

[sweetestsmile]

You do look different from the humans I've met, but not that different. A little bigger, maybe.

[A little might be an understatement, but to someone barely two inches tall, ridiculously huge really doesn't make much more impact than merely huge.]

Are there different kinds of humans?

[He's slightly curious. After all, there are plenty of different kinds of Jinn, not to mention the Leafmen. ...And then there's the Boggans, which is a whole other forest of difference.]

[lyorning]

My own people, or those you have met in the past? I could answer the former, but as for the latter

[he shrugs]

I have not spent time in their company.

[sweetestsmile]

Your own, of course. I wouldn't ask you to talk about something you don't know.

[He mirrors the shrug, curious but not enough to really push for it.]

[lyorning]

[it is a very useful gesture]

In my home, there are the Houses, which number seventeen. While all of us are human, the House of one's birth is a measure of one's native talents and inclinations.

[sweetestsmile]

[He nods along, listening intently.]

That sounds a little bit like the different Jinn. If you want to, I'd like to hear more about these Houses.

[lyorning]

I do not object, but if you would offer me some knowledge of these Jinn in exchange, it might prove instructive.

[sweetestsmile]

I'm happy to.

[He thinks for a moment on how best to phrase it.]

The Jinn are caretakers of the forest. Their shapes tend to resemble what plants they specialize in the care of. A Pinecone Jinn cares for the pines, and so on. So there are as many kinds as the plants in the forest. And then we Leafmen protect the Jinn and the forest both.

There are also others who live in the forest with us that are more animal in form. They are not quite Jinn, but close enough, and take the form of insects and frogs and the like, but with the power of speech and hands.

[lyorning]

[Aerich may or may not know what a 'frog' is, darn canon set on alien planets, but it gets the general idea]

My own people's Houses would likely not be as recognizable to you as your Jinn would be to me. There are physical differences -- all save the Yendi and Jhereg have distinctive features -- but they are more in the matter of the shape of certain features of the face. Many accent this by choosing to wear their heraldic colors, though there are exceptions.

[sweetestsmile]

[He listens quietly, and makes a go on gesture, because he's sure there are more. Aerich mentioned talents after all.]

[lyorning]

As I was saying, one's House determines one's inclinations, which suggest one's place in society. My own, the House of the Lyorn, are tasked with the preservation of the Empire's traditions and custom. We are very attached to... the proper way of conducting matters. Other Houses attach themselves to different virtues: the House that follows Lyorn in the Cycle is the House of Tiassa, whose members are known for their ability to derive plans and novel ideas.

[sweetestsmile]

That seems very organized, and useful. It wouldn't be hard to know who to go to if a specific talent was needed. I take the Cycle you mentioned is how your Houses are arranged alongside one another?

[lyorning]

It is. There is some sharing of interests: the House of the Issola also has a skill for proper behavior, as they are known for their diplomatists. But one would not seek, for example, a Dzurlord on a delicate matter.

[a flicker of sadness there, as if that brings up memories]

The Cycle is... one can say it is how it is decided which House holds the Orb, and, thus, rules the Empire. That is a simplification, however.

[sweetestsmile]

[Ronin carefully doesn't comment on the flicker, and asks another question.]

Is the Orb a magical object then? It must give a measure of comfort to know who will rule next, though.

[His own expression dims for a moment, not quite sad, but more lost in memories. He hardly remembers Tara's coronation, and of course there were all the complications to the choosing of the new Queen after her, but there had been that little bit of wondering who would be next, even before the ceremony to choose the Pod.]

[lyorning]

[yes, let us pretend I am cool and composed]

It nearly is; it was created by Her Majesty Zerika the First at the dawn of the Empire. As for the comfort, it has some. One knows who will receive the Orb, and some manner of their character.

[sweetestsmile]

[Ronin remains thoughtful for a moment.]

In some ways, knowing is easier. But, I suppose, in some ways, not knowing who, but knowing that whoever they are, they will be the best suited is its own comfort.

[If it sounds like a round-about invitation to ask questions, that's because it is. Ronin is thinking about it, so he might as well share, but it's easier to share after a prompting to.]

[lyorning]

Then your own country has a different manner of choosing its monarch?

[He knew some countries in the East treated kingship as another title, passed from parent to child.]

[sweetestsmile]

We do. A new Queen can be chosen only when the full moon and the summer solstice coincide. The current Queen travels to the appointed place and selects one of the specially grown pods, and once selected, that pod will be filled with magic and bloom in the moonlight, when the full moon is at its zenith. That magic passes the Life of the Forest into the new Queen, whoever she might be. Though, I'm not certain exactly how the new Queen, or the pod itself, is really determined.

Apparently it's "all about the feeling."

[Though he's smiling, there's something heartbreakingly sad in his eyes.]

[lyorning]

May i assume that you are sworn to your kingdom's queen?

[because that sounds personal]