EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"It does not surprise me that you heard the word before; the 36 Lessons of Vivec was a prolific book series, particularly in Morrowind. But, few ever understood it. It is cryptic, like everything concerning the warrior-poet. Makes sense, considering that it wasn't meant for the people. It was meant for Nerevar, but that does not mean there is not wisdom within. Vivec was an authority on the Walking Ways. I doubt you could begin to imagine how many years I have spent studying his writings alone. You seem like at least a somewhat bright girl, perhaps you remember the sermon where Vivec first learned of the secret syllable? His meeting with Molag Bal." Neesa replied, though Lunise's comment gained only a quick, passing glance from her. "Hmm? Oh, it doesn't at all. You kept asking questions and I was bored enough to answer them. You should be honored to receive some fraction of my knowledge. Though I imagine my knowledge is more likely than not to just get you killed. The path to CHIM is the most dangerous undertaking in all of existence."

Finally, Neesa stood up from kneeling next to the spider and looked to Meesei. "As I thought, this machine is newly made, but according to the default Dwemer templates. My guess is that you just managed to reactivate an Animonculory and learned just enough to make its creations obey you. Understandable, since it would take a tonal architect for you to do any more with them. I shall be taking this automaton with me for my own purposes."

Meesei crossed her arms. "I am sure we can spare a single spider, but it may be difficult for you to take that one. The automatons we create only obey those with lycan blood. But, if you give some of your blood, I am sure we could..."

Neesa cut Meesei off mid-sentence. "Is that so?" She said, looking down at the spider. "Bcharn chal, fahlbthar."

Suddenly, the spider straightened up and let out an odd, bell-like tone, then returned to its resting position and stopped moving entirely. Meanwhile, a grin crept across Neesa's face when the machine seemed to respond to her. She pointed to herself as she spoke once more. "Bcharn chal, bthar."

Again, the spider let out a tone, then walked up next to Neesa's feet once she beckoned it over to her. Her expression was as smug as they had come to expect from the vampire. "As I thought, you have little real understanding of the machines you children are playing with. You don't understand how the animonculory functions, so you certainly don't understand how to remove the factory commands. The Dwemer would not have left them active."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Neesa grunted, not so much as glancing away from the spider. "Well, even I can admit that Septim was exceptional. Anyone with the eyes to see could tell. His supporters saw it, Vivec saw it, and even your leaders, Thalmor, know it to be true. No matter how much they deny it to the world. Indeed, it is why they deny it to the world. Even in life, his power reached beyond the gods. You see, girl, he did not just reshape the jungles into forest with his voice. No, that would not be nearly as impressive. He rid Cyrodiil of its jungles retroactively. With his voice, he spoke the jungles out of history entirely, so that they were never there."

Meesei stood with her arms crossed, transparently skeptical of Neesa's claim. She could think of several holes in the story with hardly a few moments of thought. "Forgive me, but assuming that was even possible, how would we even know about it if it happened? If the jungle was never there, then history would not claim that it ever existed."

Nessa grinned and hardly skipped a beat before responding. She had obviously anticipated the question. "Oh yes, it does not make sense, does it? Removing it from history would surely remove it from the records, yes? And yet, with but his voice, he removed the jungles from history so that only their song remained. The ability to reshape not only the world, but the rules it abides by. The ability to change the world in ways that defy all rationality, even the Earth Bones themselves. Sound familiar? It is the power the Dwemer sought, with the wisdom to use it. And that, children, is what I seek: CHIM. The Ehlnofex syllable of royalty. A state of being that transcends divinity; one that only mortals can obtain. And that, Thalmor, is why your masters are such idiots. The Aedra, by their nature, are imperfect, and becoming Aedric spirits once more would render us incapable of attaining it. Our potential, yes even yours, is greater than the gods."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei commanded the Dwemer spider to stop in place so that Neesa could examine it more thoroughly, though Meesei still could not tell what she was looking for. If Neesa was being truthful about her past experiences, then she would likely be more familiar with automatons than anyone in the clan, so Meesei could only guess that it had something to do with the clan's usage of the machines. However, she could not think of anything that Neesa would be able to determine just by looking at a spider.

Meanwhile, Neesa stopped examining the machine only for a moment to give a seemingly genuine look of curiosity towards Sabine. She gave her the same analytical look as before, without expanding upon the reason. Though, she did certainly have a reply for Lunise. "I would think that question would answer itself, even for a Thalmor. Your group does seek to restore Mer to their 'divine' nature as Aedric spirits, yes? Rejoin the gods and waste our potential? But if you really need it spelled out for you, I just want to claim the destiny of all mortals. Lorkhan created Mundus so that the created could surpass their creators; to do what the divine cannot. Only two mortals I know of have ever attained true royalty, and I would think you would be intimately familiar with one of them, Thalmor. Oh, what was that quote the priests like to put in their sermons?" She said to herself, clearing her throat before delivering a monotone quote. "'You have suffered for me to win this throne, and I see how you hate jungle. Let me show you the power of Talos Stormcrown, born of the North, where my breath is long winter. I breathe now, in royalty, and reshape this land which is mine. I do this for you, Red Legions, for I love you.'"

"It was the most...obvious display of the power in history. It amazes me that more have not managed to see the truth of what happened. Perhaps you just would had to have been there to see the impact of it." Neesa added.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Hmph, you want to know if I have long lost, ancient secrets at my fingertips?" Neesa replied, now giving Lunise her judgmental gaze. "Well I do, to be fair, but not those secrets. At least not in the way you are thinking. The tonal manipulation of the Dwemer requires tools, resonators, attenuators, their great machines and inventions. It is not like casting a simple spell, though I suppose it is possible for a being to manipulate Aurbis' song under one's own power. The Nords of old did it. Unknowingly, of course. Their Thu'um, their 'gift' from Kyne, is a form of tonal manipulation. A primitive, inelegant form, but a form nonetheless. A bit like trying to chisel a sculpture with a warhammer. Unlike the Nords, the Dwemer actually understood the forces they were meddling with. Regardless, I meant what I said about the power of the Dwemer: it is something that should remain buried. It is foolish for the limited mind of an unenlightened mortal to try and claim power surpassing the divine. The fact that Dwemer cities are now filled with nothing but ghosts, metaphorically, should drive that point into your skulls. It would be less worrying if they were literal ghosts."

Neesa paused when they finally spotted one of the Dwemer automatons. It was a simple worker spider, moving between two of the pump stations, but it was enough for her, though she did continue as she now lead the way in front of them. "Of course, that isn't to say the power shouldn't be claimed at all. No, I believe it is the right and destiny of mortals to surpass our original creators. But I am not enough of an idiot to follow the example of the Dwemer. I do not follow history's failures; I seek to emulate the two beings who have actually transcended the gods. I seek Royalty."

As they reached the spider, Neesa simply walked alongside it, observing it with a detail-focused eye. Although, it was impossible to tell exactly what details she was looking for.

Star Wars - Lawless Galaxy

Everything was moving quickly, and Delni frantically had to wake up Boqo again. He did awaken, but while he was not in terrible condition, he also was far from at his best. She worried that he might have a concussion, and she did not really know how to treat that properly. Hopefully one of the others did, but they would need to get themselves to safety first. She had hoped it would be over once they got indoors like the Cartel had commanded, but she supposed they had ducked into a building that was a bit too close to the site of the battle.

Delni let Boqo lean onto her shoulder after he got up, then she helped him through the hole that Willoh had made in the wall. She was following the others’ lead, but she could not help but to have plenty of worries going through her mind. They still did not have any good plan for escape. Just the vague notion of “getting through the Cartel blockade” did not constitute an actual plan. Not to mention, Boqo was in no position to be involved in a fight.

“Look, um, I don’t think we can just…escape right now. Boqo is an excellent pilot, one of Koren’s best, but he’s in no position to fly right now. He needs medical treatment. Can we try to find somewhere safe for the night? Maybe a…hotel or something? Just somewhere ‘legitimate’ to hide, instead of an abandoned building.” Delni suggested.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Neesa grinned, raising her brow somewhat as her eyes looked over Sabine almost analytically. She was judging her, and made no effort to hide it. "Ah, so now your mind starts to touch on the truth. The Altmer have always placed the Aldmer on a pedestal, but it was the Dwemer that surpassed their ancestors, at least based on everything that is known. I suppose it is possible that the inhabitants of Aldmeris had mastered tonal manipulation, which might explain why the whole continent was destroyed. At any rate, complete mastery of tonal manipulation would allow one to reshape reality to their will. What the other races saw as hubris, the Dwemer's goal of surpassing the gods, was a real possibility for them. No Aedra nor Daedra would have been able to stand against their tonal architects. Have you never looked around these cities, these caverns, and wonder how they were created? If you think they got together a bunch of people with shovels and pickaxes to dig their caverns, you are sorely mistaken. No, they rewrote the ground's song so that the stone was never there. Everyone always wonders of what secret metals the Dwemer alloyed together to form their metal; the metal that never rusts, never decays, never loses its edge. But there is no secret of smithing that will forge Dwemer metal, because it was tonal manipulation that created it. They modified the tones so that time itself could not touch their metal, which is why it is all in perfect condition today."

By this point, they had left the building and were on the streets, though Meesei was trying to keep them away from any crowds. It would not take more than a minute or two to come across at least a wandering Dwemer spider. In the meantime, Neesa seemed to have no problems continuing her explanations. "Of course, for all of their intellect and understanding, I do not believe the Dwemer ever came close to mastering their craft. Some might argue with me on it, but they had a long way to go yet. They were never able to make their resonators and other machines small enough to use directly in combat. They could only use them to make armor and automatons. I think their lack of mastery showed when the Chimer forced Kagrenac's hand, made him desperate. He tried to use Lorkhan's song to elevate the Dwemer, then they all disappeared. Ended my first marriage. I've heard some try to argue that the caused the entire Dwemer race to zero-sum, but if that were the case, we wouldn't remember them at all. Maybe that's just what happens when one tries to approach the ultimate power without first attaining Royalty. Or maybe they did succeed, and he brought his whole race to some higher plane of existence. If you were hoping that I had the answers to the mystery of the Dwemer, then I'll have to disappoint you."

Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past

Ssarak Dyreackthanose

---

At first, Ssarak did not pay too much attention to the conversations of the others as they finally stepped out of the carriage. The city was too much of a sight to take in, especially for a first time visitor. He shared some of Annebeth’s enthusiasm for being here, albeit for different reasons. Shimmerstone’s fame was world-reaching, even if it was not universally believed. Some, especially in Djarkel, might think its reputation to be overblown, if not outright fabricated. But, the rumors were known regardless. Having just arrived, Ssarak supposed he could not make any accurate judgments about the merits of its reputation, but he could at least see that its beauty was not a lie. Perhaps it was just because of the festival, or the part of the city they were in, but the streets were cleaner than in many cities he had visited.

Of course, Ssarak could not ignore his companions forever. Hardly a few steps into the city, and there was already an argument. Althalus was not happy with Henri, to put it mildly. Granted, there were many good reasons for him to take this trip so seriously. They may not have been on an official mission, but the weight of representing the College was still on them, and they would be likely to meet some important people in the city. Ssarak was quite cognizant of the fact that this was the first time College mages had been invited to the festival. Still, Althalus was not the most…diplomatic of individuals, so Ssarak doubted that their issues would suddenly be gone just from some strong words from him.

Deciding not to escalate anything further, Ssarak elected to wait until after Althalus and Henri had separated to stop observing the city. Althalus eventually stormed off from the argument, and Ssarak sauntered up to him and Mar soon after. ”Perhaps I am being cynical, but I doubt that will work on him. Maybe there is some hope that Lyn might influence him to be more patient, instead of…the other way around.” He commented to the two of them. ”Is everything else well with you, aside from the obvious?”

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Neesa huffed. "I can only hope. Most Dwemer 'scholars' don't have as much understanding of even the Dwemer language as they think they do. It is hard to understand a written explanation nuanced mysteries of reality when you can't even comprehend the words that are written. I mean, just look at you all: still thinking that the Dwemer relied on something as mundane and limiting as 'magic.' It's cute, almost. You're all like children who just started trying to read the books with bigger words. Ah, how to even begin explaining tonal manipulation? Let's see...well first, do you at least understand the fundamental nature of reality?" She asked, as if it were an average question.

As much as Meesei felt as if Neesa's questioning was just meant to mock them, she decided to play along for the moment. "I would say that is a rather vague question, in truth. And I would not know if my notion of reality was correct. The Dwemer had an exceptional understanding of the world, yes, but even those records that are complete are written in a way that seems vague, or perhaps just hard to understand without knowledge of their culture."

Neesa was, as expected, unimpressed with Meesei's answer. "Well, of anything you could study, the Dwemer would lead you the closest to the correct answer. Looking around, it seems like you have lived in the Dwemer's capital for quite a while, yet you apparently have not even recognized the hints. My question was not vague; I would say it was rather straightforward. What is the fundamental nature of reality? If you reduce everything you see around you, the stones, dirt, flesh, magic, energy, all of it, down to its most basic component. If you were to break everything down into its parts until there was nothing left to separate, what would you be left with? Bah, I can see you haven't the faintest idea. It is tones." She explained, ending rather abruptly, and smirking at the inevitable confusion her answer brought.

"Tones? Do you mean the world is made of sounds, or was that their name for something else?" Meesei asked.

Again, Neesa gave a huff. "Is it really not clicking into place yet? Tonal architects, resonators, attenuators, harmonic stability; did you think that the Dwemer simply picked these names because they had a fondness for music? No, the basis for everything in Aurbis, all of reality, are tones. Our world, our bodies, our spirits, are all, at their core, tones. And the Dwemer were the most skilled people in history at manipulating them. It is not exclusive to the Dwemer, but they were the only ones who understood what they were doing. Calling it magic is so laughably incorrect. Magic no matter how powerful or incredible, follows the rules. Magic is a part of Aurbis' song, while the Dwemer could write their own songs. Spells, like creating a fireball, for instance, can be imagined like a song on a page. When you cast a fireball, you play the tones in the right order, expend a bit of magicka, and just like that, you have a fireball. Now, if you were to use tonal manipulation to light a fire, it would be like taking the sheet music for the world in front of you and writing in some new notes of your own that call for fire. Then, Aurbis reshapes itself to match your new song. No magicka is needed, because a spell was not cast. Naturally, tonal manipulation is not limited to copying the effects of spells. With complete mastery, it can re-shape the world according to any song you feel like writing."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Met them?" Neesa replied, a chuckle following a grin that formed across her face. "I married one. My first husband, Curac. I believe I mentioned him before? He was a passionate, brilliant man; a full-fledged tonal architect. Though, he was something of a black sheep to his fellow Dwemer. He would have to be, to run off, become a scion, and marry an Argonian. He never rejoined them after running off with me, not that they would have given him the option. But, he did not stop his research, and I put my best effort into helping him. The man was too kind to admit to me how useless I probably was working on a subject as daunting as tonal manipulation. I was still a young, naive little lizard, hardly a few hundred years old. One who had her sights set on learning the power of the Dwemer. At least until my husband disappeared, at which point I, uh, re-evaluated my priorities." She explained, adding another chuckle at the end.

Meesei had to make some effort to hide her skepticism. The story she told seemed fantastic, not even the least reason being how ancient it would make her. It was true that vampires were immortal, but it was still highly unlikely for one to survive for so long. Even without disease or hunger to concern her, Neesa would certainly have encountered many dangers in that time. Granted, they had all witnessed firsthand how difficult she was to kill.

Meesei did her best to keep her tone neutral. "So you say you walked among the Dwemer at the height of their Empire? And not only that, you studied their magic with a tonal architect?"

Neesa glared at Meesei and scoffed. "Magic? It is an insult to even call it that. Do you have any concept of what tonal manipulation even is? Any hints from all your 'research'? Anyone?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

As they spoke, Hal-Neesa walked around the room, sorting through all of the items she found and levitating those she did not want into a pile on one of the tables. She used her hands or magic interchangeably, and with apparently equal effort. "It is no palace right now. At their height Dwemer cities were the envy of nearly every other place on Nirn. They had more of a taste for stone than suits my taste, true, but their power, their technology, granted the Dwemer a standard of living unmatched by any civilization of their day. They held greater power over the the Earth Bones than any people before them, or any that have lived since. Had they mastered tonal manipulation to enough of an extent to bring it to bear in combat, they would have dominated all of Nirn, without question. Massive underground cities, automatons to serve their whims, they were a people far ahead of their time."

Suddenly, Neesa stopped in her thoughts for a few seconds, setting down the last of the items she was levitating and settling her gaze onto Meesei. "And on that topic, I know I saw non-hostile automatons on the way here. Have you...no, why would I even ask? You have not unlocked the secret to their creation; that would require at least some mastery of tonal manipulation, and you certainly have not approached that level of knowledge. Far more likely is that you managed to find some of their control rods, though that would require some luck to find the automatons they are bound to. Perhaps...you reactivated an animonculory, then? That would not be beyond your capabilities, if it were not damaged. Of course, with your level of knowledge, that would mean..."

Neesa's voice trailed off for a moment, though she spoke again before anyone else could get in a word. "I demand you take me to one of the machines."

Neesa's demanding tone was, as ever, far from endearing. Meesei gave a wary glance to Sabine and Lunise, unsure if there would be some danger in giving her what she asked for. Of course, if she was going to stay in the city, then it would be quite impossible to keep her away from the automatons. With that in mind, there was no point in denying her. "Very well, it should not be difficult to find one on patrol. Just follow us." She replied, motioning for the others to follow her out the door.