Muttonhawk

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Siloune's brow pinched. "I shall pretend, only this once, that I did not hear implications of lycan clans harbouring deserters from the Dominion military. But, even as I give you as much charity, you would presume to challenge the best the Dominion has?" She held her head back and quietly scoffed, still somehow remaining subdued in expression. "I was under the impression, Champion of Hircine, that you were petitioning for military intervention, not for making enemies."

With utmost gravity, Siloune bowed her head forward and bored into Meesei's eyes. "Need I remind you of the agreement you signed with the Dominion regarding your clans within our borders? Their existence is purely continued by our lenience. I advise you to tread carefully."

"Commander," Calad's surprisingly high voice finally sounded in the pause before Meesei could speak.

Siloune's shoulders lowered as if reminded that her temper's limits were showing. "Speak, Calad," she said without looking at him.

"May we discuss this outside?" He said, looking pointedly at Meesei. "Without our guest?"

After a second, Siloune's lips curled in and she stood up. Her two companions followed as she paced outside. The door shut loudly.

Meesei was left alone, once again, with the two door guards. Both watched her like a hawk. One crossed his arms.

Outside the meeting room, Meesei could hear an argument rapidly growing loud and impassioned between her three liaisons. Whether by magic or the thickness of the walls, she could not make out the words themselves. She could only hear the conflict that quickly flared up.

During the few minutes, the talking outside the room grew and lowered in volume. Siloune's voice cut through each of Calad and Teoriah's words if they spoke too loudly. The last half-minute was more amenable, with even speech and a long clarification by Siloune.

The door opened again with a distinctly crisp clack after listening to all the other muffled sounds. Calad, Teroiah, and Siloune walked in and resumed their seats. Calad leant back and crossed his arms. Teroiah's face was fading from a beet red to her natural fair tone, but her lips and eyes were more neutral than annoyed, unlike before. Finally, Siloune was just as composed as ever. She weaved her fingers together on the table and resumed immediately.

"Let it not be said that the Dominion provides no compromise. In spite of your dangerous assumptions, we wish to extend an offer contingent for the Dominion's involvement in this...incident." She lifted her chin a touch. "Here in Alinor, exactly two days from the end of this meeting, you will arrive to answer a trial by combat -- a duel to first blood -- with Teroiah. Teroiah is the commanding officer of the force slated to invade Oblivion to stop Clavicus Vile. Should you prevail against Teroiah, the Rueful Axe shall remain under your discretion and Teroiah will cooperate and coordinate with Imperial and lycan leadership in this mission. Should Teroiah prevail, you and all the fighting forces at your disposal shall obey her orders to the letter for the duration of this mission, and all lycan clans in Dominion borders shall be subject to investigation regarding deserters from the Dominion military and other criminals at-large. We shall be invading Oblivion whether you accept these terms or not, but we shall not provide military assistance alongside your forces under any other agreement." Her face levelled. "Any questions?"

As usual, the Dominion was making it clear who was in control. With Siloune putting her foot down, Meesei had little room to move. Nevertheless, the room she had was the room she planned for; her magical prowess versus the Dominion's.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The military woman, Teroiah, audibly exhaled from her nose while Meesei offered to cooperate. Her scowl pursed as if her mouth was full of needles. The bodyguard, Calad, only blinked. Siloune tilted her head and looked at the wood of the table in an indication of her wanting to speak, though she did not interrupt Meesei at any point. In fact, she let Meesei's words hang in the air long enough to make her displeasure implicit, even in spite of her completely contained expression.

"Champion, I had hoped Justicar Lunise would have relayed to you the necessities of Dominion doctrine," Siloune said patiently. "Our command structures simply do not allow the even-ranking of civilians such as yourself with our commissioned officers. You will find that our commanders have centuries of experience, not the least of which involves organising local militia. You need not want for competence in their adaptability, even under the most unique of circumstances, such as with your forces."

Teroiah flicked her eyes to Siloune. "Commander," she quickly muttered. "Why are you entertaining this inso-"

Siloune's hand shot up with her elbow still on the table, cutting off Teroiah so suddenly the silence was jarring. Teroiah slowly leant back into her chair, no less annoyed, while Siloune did not take here eyes off Meesei.

"While their tactical prowess is unmatched, I feel the need to mention that Dominion commanders are required to display skill in battle magic exceeding the threats that lesser Daedra pose." Siloune spread her hands. "We simply cannot depend on a commander who has not faced the same trials our commanders do. That has not demonstrated themselves capable of facing any threat that Clavicus Vile may present them. Such a process takes fifty years at a minimum, and we neither have the time nor the obligation to train your commanders -- and you -- appropriately. There are simply no acceptable alternatives, Champion."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The dusty-haired military official twitched at the eye when Meesei spoke a question back to Siloune. The tall Thalmor agent crossed his arms in a way reminiscent of Lunise, or any agent of the Thalmor for that matter.

For her part, Siloune was blank to the question. At first, it appeared as though she was ignoring Meesei when she sat down on the opposite side of the table in between her two companions. She made herself as comfortable as she could be while maintaining her posture. She looked at the table and, with care, floated her hands up onto the table, together such that her fingers weaved and shut. Her head shot up to make eye contact once more.

"Daedric threats are a matter that we have personal experience with," Siloune said. "Myself, my bodyguard Calad here, and the Battlemistress Teroiah next to me, we have fresh memories of a time before you ever existed, Argonian. Hundreds of years ago, Mehrunes Dagon invaded Tamriel through portals dotted all around the continent and surrounding islands, pouring out lesser daedra and doing untold damage. This is a time you may have heard of; the Oblivion Crisis."

Whether or not Siloune doubted Meesei's grasp of history, she certainly spoke like she would to a wide-eyed child.

"Such an event has not occurred since," Siloune continued, her eyes narrowing. "Not in any living Imperial memory, nor in any Argonian one. To put it in simple terms, Champion of Hircine, you are out of your depth."

For all her condescending approach, at least Siloune was not lording her superiority over Meesei through a self-righteous smirk. The dark-haired woman was deadpan and blunt. Only her false assumption of Meesei's capabilities and knowledge told of her biases.

"Your best course of action is to follow our directions to the letter if you wish this threat dealt with. Do you understand?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The open parts of Altmer-made helmets allowed Meesei to recognise the guards before her as the same she saw the last time. Even with prior warning, they had evidently flinched when Meesei's portal opened. She could sense conjuration magic gathering in their palms to bring bound weapons to their hands at a moment's notice. Thankfully, they somewhat relaxed when Meesei's portal closed behind her.

The room itself was pleasant enough at first glance. It was well lit with yellow magelights in decorative sconces around the walls. A broad table dominated its centre with plenty of seating, and portraits of important-looking High Elves broke up the flat-coloured walls surfaces. The mild smallness that one felt in spite of the area was the lack of windows. This was clearly a room meant for discrete meetings. Unseen enchantments, likely to muffle sound heading outwards, all but confirmed it.

"You're late," one guard lied. "Sit and be still. We shall inform your liasons." With no effort to hide his disapproval of Meesei's presence, the guard kept his eyes on her while stepping to the door and knocking twice.

Confident footsteps clapped against hard tile floors outside, growing louder. There was more than one person approaching. Meesei did not have to wait long before a particularly tall Altmer threw the door open and bowed under the already high door frame. He was in a dark Thalmor uniform tailored for the drier climate of Alinor. Behind him was an Altmer woman with dusty brown hair and an almost permanent wrinkled pout. She, was in the dress uniform of the Alinor military -- not often seen outside of the Dominion. Finally, one more Altmer woman in a Thalmor uniform emerged. She wore a thick application of eye black liner to match her shining black straight hair that was braided tightly into a bun on the crown of her head. She was the leader, evidenced by her chin being at an angle higher than anyone else present.

The trio spread to stand before Meesei in a row in various states of judgement.

"The Champion of Hircine?" The black-haired woman asked, unimpressed. Her voice reverberated off the back of her mouth in an awkward manner, though she did not lack any gravitas that her rank provided. "I am Siloune, the one with the authority and resources to fix this problem that you have reported. Justicar Lunise has made me aware of the situation. Have circumstances changed since you last reported to her?"

Mid/High Casual - Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk.II

@KabenSaal

Legio is sounding pretty alright so far. You'll have to get approval from all of @BBeast, @Antarctic Termite, and me, but I only have one question for right now. Do you have an initial direction to take your character once created? Like a place you want Legio to go to? A quest? A story arc? I just need one thing like that, and you don't have to give all the details. It's like I said before, just to keep you playing :)

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"We will just have to keep our wits about us," Lunise said. She let her hand slide from Meesei's back and returned to her usual tone. "I was told that I would have a definite date for the Thalmor response on my next liason. I doubt they shall give you more than a day to prepare. Perhaps they will give you less. We shall see."

They all stood in mostly worried silence for a few moments. The future was somehow even less certain than before.

"The council is probably ready to hear about what happened by now," Sabine said. "I think I would like to go to talk to Karl. Should I tell him what I saw?"

Lunise's eyes darted to Sabine's. "Is he likely to try to interact with Hal-Neesa?"

Sabine held her breath. She slowly shook her head.

"Good." Lunise held her hands to her hips and peered up at the golden orb above the city. "The knowledge won't kill him, at the very least."

Mid/High Casual - Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk.II

Wait, shot down? I thought the spiritual soup idea just needed a bit of work. Not entirely shot down....

@KabenSaal

It's not been shot down. @Kho, stop being a silly billy.

A large group of Shaman want more, for their people. Dealing and binding with Djinn does not cut it anymore, and so they all gathered around a ritually prepared girl and sacrificed themselves so their essence was siphoned into the woman. Some Shaman had Djinn, some had just dealt with Djinn for a long time. the large number of Djinn-touched souls mingled inside her and condensed into a strange spirit of great power, making the woman host a Demi-God.

@KabenSaal

This can be made to work. We're generally pretty encouraging of expanding upon the lore of the world, but if you'd like to tie it into existing stuff, you've got some points to work from:

Djinn, as they exist right now, haven't been known to mess around with souls. Changing that would alter their flavour a bit, but it's certainly not impossible, especially if you add in a dash of other power sources. The most obvious one for making a demigod is for one or more actual gods to be in on the ritual. Then you would have a character actually identifiable as a kind of parent. Alternatively, you could find an artefact lying around to tie you to some power, or even some weird occult ritual. Any good contrivance will do.

Basically what I'm saying is your origin story doesn't fly in the face of the established lore. However, it's a bit difficult to help you make it work for your character in particular without a CS to work off to get a feel for it.

As for what BBeast was referring to with where you intend to take the character, we just want to make sure that you won't disappear after completing your first post due to not knowing what to do next. It's worth thinking about a general direction to take your character, no need just now for anything too complex or deep.

Let us know once you're ready to show us more :)

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Lunise sighed through her nose and shook her head. "I know very little of CHIM. Too little to reasonably judge Hal-Neesa's knowledge. What you mention does provide a silver lining, however. We can at least say she has a goal beyond pure hedonism. That puts her at least partially out of risk of doing awful things while she is here for the fun of it."

"Do you really think she could attain godhood?" Sabine asked. "Or...surpass it, like she said?"

After blinking so slowly every ounce of deductions could have been flashing before her eyes, Lunise shrugged. "If she can, there is very little we can do to stop her. However, she has evidently been working upon that project for longer than I have been alive. I doubt it is worth the worry in the relatively short time we may have to suffer her presence."

Lunise fidgeted in place. Then, somewhat hesitantly, and most uncharacteristically for her public persona, she reached a palm out to place on Meesei's back. "It may be helpful to see this episode as a won battle in a declared war of information, Meesei. We learnt much about her. And with that, her little display of knowledge was to our favour, relatively speaking."

Mid/High Casual - Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk.II

<Snipped quote by Muttonhawk>

Well, looks like we just found a use for Fate's Might Pot.

@Antarctic Termite

This a legit thing.

Attention everyone demigod player who wants to do something cool but doesn't have the might! PM us GMs, we'll throw you some for fun.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Lunise let her breath out after the last of Neesa's violet magic had her disappear somewhere else.

Meesei's first comment in the aftermath made Lunise's eyes light up somewhat. Not in any excitement, but in thought. "She is...deceptively easy to read on the surface. I expect she is hiding more plans behind her words." She folded her arms again and frowned at the floor. "But on face value, I would even dare say that was a gesture of respect towards you. The manipulative snake."

"She kept saying things about you that weren't true," Sabine said to Lunise. "Why did you not correct her?"

"Sabine, the answer is simple," Lunise said as a matter of fact. "I prefer that she sees me as a gormless drone of the Dominion than pursue any realistically informed manipulation of me. Hal-Neesa is an incredibly dangerous woman, and not just for her magical power, I could tell the moment I first met her."

Sabine paused. She eventually nodded in agreement. "She knows a lot. She could really advance the knowledge we have in this clan."

"If she is even interested in doing such a thing," Lunise added. "I have not heard word of CHIM since my days living at the university in Alinor. It is quite esoteric. And her true motives for it...I cannot rightly guess them. What do you make of it, Meesei?"