EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Well, our patrols are not going to be made up completely of automatons, but we do have some spheres that are assigned independent tasks." Ri'vashi clarified. "For example, there are a few spheres we have that just roll up and down the road from the Silent City to Raldbthar. Evidently, the Falmer avoid the Dwemer machines, so merely having them there can prevent attacks. They can operate continuously, without rest. This one does not know how, or if they will ever need their power source replaced, but it has been useful."

Brenann scratched his head in thought. "It is...somewhat difficult to describe. The dynamos provide the source of their steam power through means we do not entirely understand. Or, really understand at all, actually. The Aninonculory creates the dynamos on its own as long as we provide the raw inputs, so we have not needed to understand them."

Brenann could not help but to smile when Ariel actually seemed to be impressed by the automatons. Meesei was far more reserved in her reactions, so it was refreshing to see obvious, visible appreciation for his work. "They...should work up there. We don't have too much of a reason to think they won't. We've already brought them just outside Raldbthar and they were able to function, but we haven't yet been approved to test them farther away. Too much of a risk, I believe. It is well-known that the automatons in Morrowind will stop functioning if they are brought away from their strongholds, but the automatons in Skyrim work differently. We have not seen anything to suggest that our machines rely on something here to keep working, but it is not yet proven for certain. Regardless, I agree on how amazing they are. You are going to be doing important work here; do you need an assistant? All I would need is a sample of your blood."

Since Ariel was interested, Brenann looked to his spider, then pointed to the spot on the table directly in front of Ariel. It obediently walked over in front of her and stopped in place, its only movements being a slight swaying and the spinning of its gyro.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"I intend to reserve Ariel a chamber of her own, and give her any tools and resources she needs for her research." Meesei continued. It was the same offer that she had made for Marcaille, so it was not likely a surprise to others on the council. "We may have to relocate one or more people, but I have no doubt there will be volunteers, and we can make up for the inconvenience. Otherwise, there is not much else to say. There were no complications to note during our journey, and Ariel should be able to get to work immediately."

Marcaille gave a quick motion towards Ariel as she started to speak. "I can educate her on our rules and procedures after we're done here, if her sister hasn't already. There really aren't many." She said, looking more directly towards Ariel. There were hardly any rules among the clan that would not be expected of any civilized place. Most of what Ariel would need to adapt to would be how the clan handled the rationing of resources, as well as the cultural differences that were common among lycans compared to the lifestyle she was accustomed to. When they had traveled together previously, Meesei's pack had, for the most part, respected the norms that Ariel was familiar with. Now, Ariel would have to be the one to adapt.

Meesei nodded. "Very good. Now, I understand there have also been some developments in a few of our long-term projects while we were away. I have seen the Dwemer machines patrolling our home, so I presume that you and your peers have discovered how to command them, Brenann?"

The Breton scholar was sitting in his plain brown robe, wearing an abundance of satchels and bags containing papers and other resources related to his research. He always tended to be over-prepared for most everything he did, meetings in particular. He had one of the Dwemer spiders standing at the side of his chair, presumably for demonstration purposes. "Uh, well...sort of." He answered. "Over the past few months of study, we have learned more about the aninonculory. We are still nowhere close to understanding completely how it functions; I doubt we will ever get to that point, but we do know enough to be able to manipulate the process in some ways. We know that it is the soul gems that provide...life, for the lack of a better word, to the machines. They do not provide power, they provide the ability for the machines to act autonomously. We were able to use a unique feature of lycans in order to mark you as allies that they are meant to serve. In this case, lycan blood. Fortunately, the automatons do seem to possess the cognitive ability to understand context, so they will not attack something that their masters treat as an ally, such as non-lycans like myself. But, that alone did not make them listen to us. They did not attack us, and they would perform some default autonomous functions, but they wouldn't obey commands. Control rods could be linked to them and be used to give them fine, detailed commands, but we, uh, don't know how to make those yet. We were just able to take the control rods we found here and link them to the machines we produced."

Pausing a moment, Brenann looked down at the spider beside him and tapped his hand on the edge of the table. "Up, sparks."

As commanded, the Dwemer spider jumped up from the floor onto the table and stood still, waiting patiently for another command. As Meesei was observing it, Brenann continued his explanation. "Our greatest breakthrough came somewhat recently. Using a person's blood, we can bound an automaton to that person at its creations. But, only that person. It will listen to any verbal commands that the person gives, but even though they can understand context, that authority cannot be transferred to anyone else. It will only ever listen to that one person. If that person dies, it will just perform its default functions and never listen to anyone else again, except for a control rod. We are currently trying to work out a solution to that problem, but until then, we have been making automatons and assigning them to people based on the requests of the council. The spheres are mostly assigned to our soldiers and scouts. The spiders can perform maintenance and construction work, and I personally find them to be good assistants. They have surprisingly fine motor control with their pincers."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

In addition to being an introduction for Ariel to the council, and vice versa, Meesei also called the meeting to catch herself up on events in the clan since they departed. As such, anyone with news of relevant importance was also asked to attend. Namely, both the Dwemer scholar Brenann and the beast tamer Peralain were both in attendance once again. Their meeting chamber was far cleaner than the first time they had made use of it. They had more torches for better lighting, and they already had written reports at the table in front of several of the seats. As usual, Vera and her lieutenants were in attendance, as well as Ri'vashi and Saras, Meesei's selected spymaster for her council, and Marcaille. Although Sabine was not a leader of any part of the clan, Meesei had also been sure to invite her to attend, since she would be working closely with Ariel and Marcaille. Rukeewei had wanted to stay by Ariel, but Meesei could not permit him to attend a confidential meeting. As such, he had settled for closing himself into the room that he had slept in that night.

Once everyone was seated, Meesei started them off. "It is good to be back, and to speak with you all again. I suppose we should start with the most obvious piece of news. As you can see, Ariel, the original creator of the suppression gas, has agreed to help create an antidote to the weapon Vile's forces now use. She will stay here for a period of at least a year, or until an antidote is found. Her husband has also accompanied her, but he will not be privy to clan secrets."

Pierrette spoke up first. "So you are the one we have heard so much about. I certainly do hope that your knowledge will be as valuable as predicted. I have...seen the expense reports for your recruitment."

Tola turned her head to her right towards Pierrette, crossing her arms. "Have some respect, Pierrette. You've heard the stories of how she helped the Champion. I'm sure she knows what she's doing. Good to finally meet you, Ariel."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Marcaille was surprised that Sabine had spoken up about joining in on her lessons. However, she was not entirely certain on how to answer her last question. "Honestly, I'm not sure I can answer that. It would really depend on why I left and where I went. If this war ends and I decide to go back to Orcrest, you'd find me there. But, on the other hand, if something goes wrong in the war and we end I end up fleeing this place, I'd be doing everything possible to make sure no one can find me. So I guess my answer is 'maybe.' If you want a guarantee of being able to learn, you'll need to learn now."

Another thought came across Marcaille's mind as she thought about what Sabine said. Before anyone could respond, she continued. "I should point out, if you only know some conjuration, you'll need to seek help outside my lessons to improve your skills there. What I am teaching does require a lot of conjuration ability to perform, so you'll need to catch up. Your friend Ahnasha might be willing to help you."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Also, you can take us to that meeting if you like.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Well, the overarching time lapse would probably go into adolescence for them. I think I said before that it was a 10 year period we're going through right now. Although...some of the scenes have ended up a bit longer than I intended. It really was meant to be quicker, individual scenes to show a progress. After that, it's basically the final act.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Actually, the wiki doesn't seem to specify. Not sure why I thought it was adolescence. It can be any time, really.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I think the naming day would happen somewhere around adolescence.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Marcaille nodded. "Yeah, somewhere around there. A hundred and ten, a hundred and fifteen. You stop keeping track after a while. There's a few different ways to manipulate a lifespan. You can strengthen the body and soul, or even manipulate time. Though that is more of a...Psijic specialty. Giving your soul to Molag Bal is also an option, like many of my former sisters, but not one I would take. Forms of the Old Magic relating to conjuration, that was my interest in my younger years. There are some things that can really blur the lines between living and dead. Or, you can just take the basic route with necromancy. For that, you just need a lot of soul energy and talent. I figure I'll stick around on Nirn until something kills me, or I get bored with it. Did your coven even bother teaching you the secrets of immortality? Do you want to learn? I'm already teaching Ahnasha, and it wouldn't bother me if someone else attended the lessons."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I think it might be valuable to go straight to that meeting the next morning, just to establish what the clan has been doing and what they will be doing going into the future. After that, though, it would probably be time for a more substantial timeskip to something. I don't actually have anything in mind for events while Ariel is there, but I do have an outcome in mind for her research.