BECMI Chapter 416 – Karmic Sinks
I nodded agreement with that. “Both of you know it’s a long slog for you with your Racial Class being what it is. The Legendary Pricing on those Stat buffs you get is no joke. You’re going to be Karma whores for a very long time trying to satisfy all of them… but you also have the lifespans to get there, and the talents to do the job. By the mechanics of this world, you could just sit there and smith your way to the Apex steadily, as long as you could get people to buy or use what you make.
“You WILL get there. You are NOT in a rush. That said…” I sighed and folded my fingers together. “You can’t take a dozen Classes here. You know that. You can take the Fighter Class here, and overpay for Feats and Weapon Training and all the Class benefits you are used to, and you can Secondary-Class to Rogue or Thief or whatever it is. You can access ki and open hand damage with Superior Unarmed Strike and the like.
“But that’s it. No Expert, Noble, or Vizard here, no Runesmith Class for you. You have to do it all with your Fighter and Thief Levels, and your Racial Class.”
“So, 20 Rantha Levels, 36 Fighter Levels, 19 Rogue Levels, in the end,” Thor mused aloud. “That’s still a LOT of room to buy Feats and Masteries, Aunt Edge,” Thor calculated. “Just not as many as going full sideways allows...”
“Benefits of the Fighter Class here being so, well, stripped,” I agreed. “You only get nine Levels of Soak, you know.”
“Yeah, but no normal human here is going to have anywhere near our Health, because of our very over-powered and extremely over-priced Rantha Levels and all their Stat-abusing goodness,” Sif chortled in response to that. “We just need an unrelenting Karmic Buffet to pay through all that crap!”
“Pretty much guarantee you that all those Annelids will get you to Rantha/20, given what Sama and Briggs reported,” I nodded. “So you can get your Class Levels the normal way, and build your legend while you do it.”
“Warlording for purpose and profit, once it’s time to build an empire,” Sif nodded, her pale green eyes narrowed thoughtfully.
“Somewhere well outside where the Crimson Cataclysm is going to blow, thank you. And before you go empire-building, we’re going to need to go to the Delphan Skyworld.”
They both raised eyebrows at me together. “Where’s that, and why?” Thor asked automatically.
“It’s a world dominated by powerful wizards favoring air magic, other powerful wizards favoring fire magic, and an underclass of non-Casters, who also include a whole lot of Null Forsaken.”
That definitely earned their interest. “That definitely sounds like someplace we need to go!” Sif nodded quickly. “Do they not have other Forsaken here?” she asked urgently.
I slowly shook my head. “None of the native humans have Forsaken genetics. From what we’ve seen in the future, you actually need a population with a very strong magic bias to generate Forsaken, who really, really can’t use magic. The natives of this world have only average magical potential, maybe one in twenty on average, rising to one in ten if the society starts really using magic and teaching everyone who can use magic. The rest are just Primos, normal folks.
“The Other Shore has some emigrated populations from both Delpha and alternate Earths. All had strong magical biases. Delpha, for instance, has nearly a fifty percent incidence of Powered.” Both of them blinked in shock at the number. “Yes, the magic of their skyworld Meandral is that pervasive. Potential wizards are more common than warriors are. Even after they emigrated here, with the lesser magical field, it’s still a good twenty percent on average, two to four times that of natives who don’t come from a wizardly bloodline.
“But those who can’t use magic? About half can become Forsaken.”
Both of them nodded slowly at the implications. “You want us to build up a population of true Forsaken here on our world?” Sif stated more than asked. “We can do that. Any particular reason why?”
“In about a thousand years, Delpha might be going to collapse under philosophical conflicts driven by Entropic Immortals. The Followers of Air are going to leave the homeworld they rip apart in a Worldstorm, and they are going to eventually come here.
“At least, that’s what happened on the Far Shore. What may change now is yet to be seen.
“When they arrive here, they are going to have their council of Overmagi with them, and set up a magocracy that is going to be the most powerful entity on the planet for a good two thousand years or more.
“I would like to have a non-magical alternative to their power that can defy them, temper them, and alter their points of view. It would probably be best to be built up and waiting for them when they get here, to feed them and their magical arrogance their teeth right from the get-go.”
“If you were anything but another Power of Ten gamer, I’d suspect you of having your head not turned on right,” Sif smirked at me. “An elf, no less, saying something like that!”
“Yes. I inherited a whole lifetime of what it is like to live without magic and with science, things you also have, if far less detailed than I. It is my foundation, and I don’t apologize for it, even as a member of a species who will basically wither and fade away without magic.”
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“That bad, eh?” Sif asked, an eyebrow arched.
“Back home, there is an idiot who used the Nucleus of the Spheres and its gammathaumic power to bootstrap himself into Immortality. Doing so ate up a significant chunk of the world’s magic.
“The last and shortest day of the year there is now a day with No Magic. Elves and magical beings are lethargic and rather ill, spellcasting is impossible, temporary spells expire, and it’s just exhausting to do anything. Even the dwarves get weary and call for a day of rest on that day. It is simply horrible, and a clear indicator of what it would be like for us in a realm without magic.”
“We’ll endeavor to make all that not happen!” Sif assured me firmly.
I nodded. “In the end, I think it would be just too sweet if the pair of you were the Imperial family ruling over that collection of Delphan wizards, but we shall have to see.”
They both pursed their lips thoughtfully, but didn’t say no to the idea. They were templates of Allegiance masters, and definitely knew the power of ruling a collective!
“Well, you’re definitely giving us things to work toward. What about the Immortals and the problem they represent?” Thor asked, considering the implications of all that.
“That is a matter of faith and power, and something else we are going to be working on. The philosophy of the Morning already has roots all around the world, and there are two Immortals working with me who can help gather the Faith of it. It’s already at work, just needs some accrual time and Immortal Power.”
It was Sif who slowly leaned forward. “You’re going to kill one of them, aren’t you?” she hissed quietly.
I looked her right back in the eyes and replied, “I’m certainly going to try, and more than fucking one of them, too.”
Eight canines gleamed. “Can we help?” she asked eagerly.
“Ask me in a century when you’re at the Apex and knocking on the door to Eternity.”
“Damn right.” Thor offered his big palm, Sif put hers on top, and I slapped my down smoothly.
“To the deaths of Immortals!” Sif swore in anticipation, and Thor and I repeated it with gusto.
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In the Thisbean Inn, later…
“Sif and Thor are primed, but they’ve got some growing to do. Anything special on our end?” I asked my dinner companions deep under Castle Doomrose.
“Exploration of the Dungeon is continuing, but the expansion is happening nigh as easily as they discover the new chambers,” Captain Emeril, ‘Doro the Explorer’, related. “I’m gaining about 5 IP a day from basic activity with the teams in there now, which is easily keeping pace with the Summoning Point demands as I reinvest every other day. The Avatar I’ve got watching over it is growing nicely just from this one investment. He’s being kept busy as the Dungeon Master, but that only makes it more fun.
“The first Immortals of Energy came sniffing around the core today, too.” I lifted an eyebrow at Emeril’s words. “They were veeeeeery interested to see how much magical energy has infused it. Ah, the plans and the potential they have…”
“Identify them?” I asked neutrally. I really wanted to know who to blame for this shit.
“Gulguz and Rathaseid were definitely present. They mentioned bringing in Ealichi and Tchondre to help with matters and spread the cost of the project around a bit.”
“Ealichi is an artificer-type associated with volcanoes and forging on the continent of Machai. Tchondre is actually of Thought, but associated with stars, meteors, and the fires of creativity.” I considered that. With Sims all over the world now, my information network was quite well developed over the last sixty years. “There were at least half-a dozen others of Energy involved on the Far Shore, but they kept their involvement very quiet, as did everyone involved. If things went south, they didn’t want anyone able to point fingers at them.”
“Like the Crimson Cataclysm when Thanatos discovered what they were doing and decided to poke it?” Master Lalo asked disparagingly.
“Exactly so. And the Day of No Magic when Thaum bootlegged his Ascension. They had no idea it would have that effect, and only discovered the tampering by the other Spheres after the fact. They weren’t as clever as they thought, and other Immortals came in and messed up what they wanted to happen: a clean and easy jump into Immortality for wizards, not needing an Immortal sponsor. Quick and clean manufacturing of Energy Immortals, rapidly tilting the balance of power their way.”
Captain Emeril leaned on his interwoven fingers, contemplating the situation. “The balance between the Spheres is delicate and requires work to maintain. Obviously there are agreements between the Hierarchs to keep it in force and avoid an all-out war between the Immortals that would devastate mortal worlds.
“The lesser Immortals are squirming beneath this repression and their desire to enforce their will upon reality. Any Hierarchs involved in this will be keeping their involvement very secret and working through one of the other parties, but there is no doubt they are aware of the focal points of what is going on. They just aren’t bothering to move themselves. The orders would be filtered down and taken care of by others.”
“I can blame them without any guilt. Not a single one chose to intervene in an Immortal-powered strike against Darkmoor, initiated by a creature empowered by things Outside Creation. I consider it a highest-order betrayal of mortals attempting to strive for greater things, keeping them enslaved to random, competing mortal paths.” I had to frown at the implications. “They must hugely value magical worlds to act like total idiots over this matter.”
“What IS the final play here, then?” Captain Emeril asked earnestly. “I’ve made several tries, and am unable to leave the planet and return to anywhere in the Federation that I know of, even now. If there isn’t an active magical field, the only way to get there would still be by starship. I can only assume Immortal involvement in the Federation is minimalized because of this, they can only go out into the broader universe on starships and basically leave the Avatars to their own devices. All the true exploring that I am doing is in the Astral Plane!”
“I trust your fellow Immortals think you are a non-native now, given you’ve no interest in the planet with your primary,” I asked drolly.
“That’s correct. My primary body is tracking some of the dimensions leading to areas under the influence of the Sphere of Entropy right now, following up on information from your Sims on the Far Shore and tips from the Immortals around Nown. I’m earning a good reputation for sharing information. They have no idea I’m ‘Doro the Explorer’ here on Nown, as I keep the duties very separate. Captain Spock and his logical behavior and tireless search for new realms of interest is right in line with the kinds of obsessions and erratic personalities of these beings. Were I a psychologist, I could make so many case studies of the tropish extremes of these beings…”