[color=7bcdc8][h3][center]Standing Lunaticism[/center][/h3][/color]

The Mirror Marches had gained their name in part for how desolate they could be, villages of ice fishers existed in the frozen lakes of the highlands and the greener valleys housed Tsillara, one of the gemstones of the Dusklands, with a textile industry kickstarted by [i]night cotton[/i], but now home to workers of silk, tsillo, and much more, the core of the node, the plains, however, had so far only housed llama herders and some minor mining communities.

But that had suddenly changed.

Countless tents were now spread at the 'shores' of the salt flat, the light of bonfires lighting up the night sky. Men and women with stern faces walked about, most wearing armour or uniforms but even those in normal clothing lacked the typical flair of dusklander fashion, metallic sounds echoed from makeshift forges while servants walked about carrying bowls of a red-ish type of honey, known to induce dreams upon those who consumed it.

Nearby the tent city stood the totem called Mirori, Magistrates and officers swarming around it, most guiding people near and away from it while a few stayed taking notes on the matter. The introduction of paper and writing from Node 12 had been a blessing to the endless bureaucratic sector of the dusklands, even if the mind of the average Magi was trained to hold numbers as accurately as the written word, the added practicality only helped their work to be more efficient.

Most of them stood in a central larger tent, fancier with symbols in black and turquoise, which slowly crept as the main colours of the goddess' reign. At the back, the goddess and her family sat trying to paradoxically be 'comfortable' and yet imposing at the same time. Against her bosom, Dzallitsunya held her son Llohar while her daughter Dzillikiri rested on a blanket spread over the ground, right by the fur of the nameless wolf king. One would guess she was insane for letting her infant so close to a chaos infused beast that was able to devour a child whole, but the goddess had taught the beast already that its thoughts were not as fast as her sword hand, even if she was distracted with breastfeeding and reading the latest military reports. Zed stood by her side, the actual "leader" of the house, but well aware that was as much of an illusion as the idea Tsunya would ever love him as much as he loved her, still, she was happy and he was content enough with that, though this talk of travels to far lands did put some doubt in his heart.

[color=7bcdc8]"One to five, hmm?"[/color] the goddess whispered while staring at the paper notes and the paper white-skinned Magistrate. [color=7bcdc8]"Topami while leading the archers managed one to seven, but I am not giving up on Llotir yet, next time, let's induce a more defensive scenario, see how he handles the troops when he is not worried about flanking."[/color]

The Magi nodded and moved back with a few more to Mirori. The totem, initially made to train the goddess, was now being used en masse to simulate battle scenarios with entire squads of troops. Dzallitsunya was in a rush to reconnect with the south and claim her far off node, but she could not leave her people unprotected for so long.

"My goddess." Zed started, still not understanding the sudden turn on doctrine. "When you said that you had the Magis record everyone living in the dusklands and aimed at having all able-bodied youths come here to train, I thought you were exaggerating... but wow, now I see that was no joke." he outright whistled at the constellation of lights from lit fires in the campground.

Tsunya chuckled. [color=7bcdc8]"It is not that many people in here right now, you are also confusing my words."[/color] she shook her head. [color=7bcdc8]"Everyone of age will have to come here sooner or later in the incoming months, but most will just turn back and go home, the actual size of a military we can logically support is not that big, in fact, right here and right now, we are already overstretched."[/color]

"We are?" he questioned, surprised at that. "So far it seemed to be running smoothly."

[color=7bcdc8]"More people were retained for further training than I expected, see, I am not only picking soldiers here, I am picking the military leadership of said soldiers. Through tests in and out of the dream, we picked those who can lead and have been testing them on integrity and strategy. Furthermore, even the common soldiery needs further screening, to see who goes back home, who becomes a normal soldier wearing the iron and bronze, who gets to be the elite clad in Tzurkortze."[/color] she sighed. [color=7bcdc8]"Add to that the people I am picking to be sailors, and we have quite a crowd, a crowd that will need to stay in here for months probably."[/color]

"Truly?" Zed gasped. "Will we have to live in this cold tent instead of our palace back home? Our little, warm, perfumed palace?" common sense said no, but knowing his wife, he was never sure.

[color=7bcdc8]"We will only stay for this initial period. I need to be here. Soon there will be more people elected officials oh... and there is the fact I had to re-organise so many Magistrates to this task...[/color]

"Because the Magis work like your eyes within the dream battles, right?" Zed said proudly, for once he understood and remembered her explanation, sort of.

[color=7bcdc8]"Errr. Sort of."[/color] the goddess seemed dismissive and distant, Zed's face turned with suspicion. [color=7bcdc8]"You are right, unlike most mortals, I can read their memories, they are also great at initiating the dreams perfectly to my request, but... well... their qualities you see, they would be good for many tasks involving strong sharp minds, but the people made to turn into priests and bureaucrats are not exactly the people good in active situations..."[/color]

"You mean combat? Is every aspect of our society militarised now, my goddess?" Zed asked with suspicion. "Feels a bit excessive for merely defending ourselves, no?"

Dzallitsunya turned with a soft expression, smiling and shaking her head. [color=7bcdc8]"No. I could have meant Navigators for when my ship sets off, yes?"[/color] she explained and yet she stood up, giving both of her babies to one of the nurses before wandering off the tent, into the water and salt fields where a perfect image of the moon was reflected, the starry night sky always calmed her spirit and from where she was it almost seemed like she was standing on the moon, as if she could dive and reach far off lunar lands, away from the crucible, away from the chaos and hostile gods. Of course, actually diving would just have one meet the hard bitter reality of things, in this case, a layer of salt rock dense enough to break a nose.

So she closed her eyes, clenched her hands, and turned back to face her husband, who was predictably following her out of the tent. [color=7bcdc8]"We do not struggle with banditry in the Twilight, so you probably don't know them, but my magistrate spy on foreign lands and I know how marauders act, do you want to hear?"[/color] he was startled by the sudden stern words, it didn't matter, she continued.

[color=7bcdc8]"They start with nothing, 0%. They find a nice village full of nice and lovely people and they start raiding its edges, words are exchanged, the village wants to seek peace, but the bandits ask for 100%, ludicrous things, and threaten equally unrealistic danger, that they will go on a full-on assault and leave no one alive. Now, most bandits cannot actually do that without losing most of their numbers, but they don't have to do it, because the village will start offering them, hmm, 25% of what they requested, bargain it down to even 10 or 5%. The village will think they won, they saved themselves and avoided the battle, but 5% is more than 0%, and the bandits can just go and attack other places, maybe in ten years they come back, and since their predecessors gave something, the village gives them yet another 5%, or more. Because stealing a bit here and a bit there, the bandit group has only gotten larger, fatter, overwhelming others like the sun overwhelms the stars."[/color] she shook her head.

[color=7bcdc8]"We love our lands, we love our peaceful people, we are not greedy or violent, if given the chance, we would raise no army. And that is why we must, otherwise, those with weapons will be the sociopaths, thieves and warlords. Love can induce respect but fear guarantees it. So when the bandits come, they will learn those who threaten our village will not be granted even 1% of their demands, instead, the only decision we will be forced to make will come when they fall on their knees and beg for our mercy."[/color]

She thought she was perfectly logical, she had tamed a chaos wolf with such a mentality, surely Zed, smart as he was, would follow her. But he seemed to be more bothered than in the tent. "Those are harsh words my love. And I am not sure I follow you, as you said, I have not seen most of the danger this world has to offer. Just tell me if this army and if these soldiers are truly just here to protect ourselves."

Dzallitsunya smiled. [color=7bcdc8]"Most of the training dreams are of defence scenarios, most soldiers are archers and slingers, best at defence, and who are less likely to die in the clash of swords. Our elite tzurkotze troops are led by the lovely Hatzur and her wife Marana, you know them, right? They carry spears and shields, being a stern and dense wall. All of this training is to give the soldiers a veterancy without a fight, so they will know how to survive in battle. Most of the people here will go home with little more than a small defence training to protect their villages and evacuate their families should harm pierce into our lands."[/color]

She seized his hands, continuing to smile. [color=7bcdc8]"I know it sounds scary, but you believe in me, right? Just imagine it like, if you lived long ago. Before we existed, when the stars were born. You'd think anything in the sky becoming larger than a star would surely be another sun, so when at night you saw something growing larger, you'd think, oh for sure now there will be two suns and what was gentle night will now be a second day. But, then, that would grow into the gentle moon, shepherding the stars in the sky. So think of me like that, I know this makes me scary, but it is to scare away the troubles, not you, not any other of my beloved dusklanders, nor our friends abroad."[/color]

Finally, the man sighed and kissed her forehead and then her nose. "Fine. I never doubted you, I was just confused." he held her back. "Shall we go back to our base then?"

Dzallitsunya shook her head. [color=7bcdc8]"I still have more bureaucracy to deal with. Go ahead, take care of the kids and warm up the bed for me, yes?"[/color] the man nodded and left, leaving the goddess standing there, standing on the mirror image of the moon, wind blasting, making her cape flow and her sword and knives clink against each other.

She sighed.

[color=7bcdc8]"Halla Miradja."[/color] she whispered at nothing.

"Yes my lady?" the nothing answered back, revealing itself, a figure clad in black cotton and gold symbols, a umbrium tinted mask of a canine over her faceless head. Sure, she had been training magistrates to be navigators in dreams of sea journeys, but she had been aiming for something more practical, an active solution finder to her issues.

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/ekIoJtH.jpg[/img][/center]

[color=7bcdc8]"Thanks for serving me as my guard, you were as discreet as I expect, I doubt anyone but the wolf even noticed you."[/color]

"Thank you my goddess."

[color=7bcdc8]"But I need you to do something else now. Tellum'Vellik mocked me. I sent them resources to build defences southward, towards the hive, and they built them north and east, towards Benea. They also continue to give support to brigands striking at the paladins."[/color] 

[color=7bcdc8]"So I need you to do a covert action for me. Break down all gates but the south one, destroy all ballistas but the south one, break the carts, arrows, and tools being used to dig ditches and prepare for war. Then pick a guard of your choosing, drag him to the dark, and remind him that the city is allowed safety under my word, and that Anak'Thas should hurry and answer my message, holding no delusions of making it to the city before setting up a deal with me."[/color] she stared at an angle, eyes fixated under the mask, even though invisibility and a light cotton weave did not make it possible to find the exact face of the Magistrate, the goddess could feel them. [color=7bcdc8]"But do not actually harm anyone under any pretext. Be gentle with the poor lad you will deliver the message to."[/color]

"What tools should I use for the sabotage of the gates? Has the Halle Kemiha found the burnable oil she sought?"

The goddess seized her hand and focused, infusing the agent with an amount of godly power, making her strength far greater than her thin body would suggest. [color=7bcdc8]"Kick it down to the ground."[/color] That and the arrival of far more dusklander peacekeepers to the region ought to make the message clear, the goddess thought.


[hider=Summary]
Using the battle dreams of the relic Mirori, the extensive bureaucracy of the Magistrates and dream-inducing honey from the special bees, Dzallitsunya has set a massive program to expand her military. Not only training them in realistic dream battles, but being able to test the people to see who can be soldiers and generals, and who goes back home. She promises Zed though that this sudden militaristic drive is very peaceful, she is not the pesky violent sun but the gentle moon.
Also, she picks a few magistrates to train into 'special agents' but since they are all bureaucrats she had to bless her agent with the power to be strong enough to kick down city gates, then sending her south to Tellum Vellik to make it clear she isn't just going to allow Anak to make it home without talking to her first.
[/hider]

[hider=might]
+4 from quiz + drawing.
- 1 to bless the Halla Miradja agent with great strength.
3 remaining
[/hider]