Chapter 520: To Testing
Tala shook her head, feeling only a bit embarrassed by Lupe’s incredulity. “I know about dasgannach, but stating what one is?” She gave a helpless smile. “It’s like I’d have trouble succinctly stating what a human is.”
Lupe hummed in understanding, the sound coming from the entirety of her being. “Well, then. I suppose that I don't have a simple definition for you either, but I can summarize in broad strokes. We are creations of aggregation and sequestering. The only use that our most basic individuals can put to what we acquire is in the acquisition of more. We don’t even defend ourselves in our most basic states.” She gave a tinkling laugh. “Not that most things can harm us.”
Rane frowned, interjecting from the side. “Really? They are quite deadly and harmful… right?”
“Oh, make no mistake, we will fight to keep what we have taken or to re-acquire that which was ripped away despite our efforts. We will even fight to take from you, if you have what we are composed of. That can look quite a bit like defending ourselves or aggression, but imagine if a dasgannach actively tried to shred any host that it was in? Imagine if it tried to destroy that which it infested if any attempt was made to remove it. Even your own situation, if I understand correctly, would have been infinitely worse if the dasgannach had been trying to harm you.”
Tala gave a slow nod. “I see. So, this thing that we just saw… it was an information dasgannach? How does that even make sense?”
Lupe shrugged. “I can’t say that I’ve ever encountered such a thing personally, at least not in my current state so that I’d have memory of it. But the Mages of ages past whom I submitted myself to, made mention of all sorts of esoteric types of my kind. Though, in truth, I don’t know if they spoke from experience or about theoretical existences.”
Lyn gave a half smile. “It sounds like at least one such exists.”
“Indeed. I believe that they were working on a… disabled version of my kind, oriented toward magic but passive in nature and unable to do more than take in power, acting as a reservoir for whatever conscious mind was given charge over it.”
That tickled the back off Tala’s mind, but she would consider it later.