Chapter 18-3 Playing God

Chapter 18-3 Playing God

New Vultun will be made up of 35313 districts by 288 P.G. That is 4414 trans-polity post-mortem taxable zones. Sovereignties, in a word.

At the rate things are currently progressing, we will only reap 12% of the total taxable deaths, placing us as the lowest profiting Guild in the city.

This is not acceptable.

As of present, Project Alloyed Revival and the Return From Ashes Initiative are concluding their start-up phases. Breakthroughs in negotiations with Voidwatch and the Agnosi have granted us additional leeway in the Hellsinks we can produce and spiked our heavy golem industry and anom-metallic fabrication production. By the end of the next month, we should be able to expand and establish a foothold through the Spine into the gutters.

The greatest difficulty remains the Syndicates. Though we have a foothold in Hasanastur-South, our assets are flanked by the No-Dragons Hundred-Eighters in the adjacent district of False Oasis and the Thunderwargs supported by Stormtree. The former is understandablethe No-Dragons have their interests and we have ours. Increased funding to their dissidents and the establishment of our own organizations in the Warrens can serve as a necessary bulwark, though we may need a few Chainbreakers on scene due to suspected enemy Godclad presence.

The Thunderwargs are an ongoing concern. Outright engagement against an allied supported Syndicate will inevitably damage relations between Ashthrone and Stormtreea strain we cannot afford due to the percentage of combat power they occupy in the alliancebut diplomatic overtures have proven fruitless as their subsidiary runs wild, conducting border raids and committing atrocities.

For this, I would like to bring forth a proposal. Perhaps it would be unpopular, but I implore that you listen, brothers and sisters.

Tensions between the Thunderwargs and Hundred-Eighters have been historically cool in the locality. Since the hardening of borders with the end of the last war, both sides have been content to remain within their own boundaries.

This can be changed. All it takes is a simple transgression to occur. I do not believe it will be hard to manufacture an engagement between them, nor will we need to dirty our own hands in such a vile endeavor. There are multiple qualified squires for hire that can lure the Thunderwargs astray. The funding for such an operation is also negligible.

Risk assessment shows that the greatest danger remains mem-data leakage for such an operation, but such is easily countered by deploying the information to a third-party middler with no direct relations.

I understand that the act of inconveniencing an allied Guild worries many present, but I assure you, the odds of uncovering our operation are below a single digit on the percentage scale.

And for further incentive, I bring this presentation back to the beginning. We are being outpaced. We are failing our people and the word of Jaus.

How are we to stand for humanity's liberation from the coil of existence if we are too weak to support ourselves?

-Manor-Brother Helmsteed, Ashthrones Ministry of Developmental Labor

18-3

Playing God

Good Christ, Avo. I thought you were going off to talk to the girl? Not start a drag-out brawl against the single most famous Ori-Thaum Godclad there is. And is that Quail Tavers? What the hell happened out there?

Cas continued to speak at him even as the Cloning Pools came into view. The stress radiating from the mans mind was enough to drive a normal person into psychosis. An agonizing tug accompanied each of Cas thoughts as his blood screamed through his veins. His pupils were dilated, and he was flicking one glance too many at Tavers.

An understandable reaction for someone who valued secrecy, though Avo felt there was something more to the panic attack he was suffering.

{Operative Cas is not suffering from emotional compromise, but memories of past experiences.} Calvinos words seeded instant comprehension. {There is only one fate that awaits most cults in this city. And it is all too easy to be discovered and purged. Such martyrdom graced countless of his ancestors who died liberating countless slaves from death-farms during the final days before the Godsfall. Such a martyrdom befell his parents during the massacres of the second Guild War. Such martyrdom is what he believes to be awaiting him at the end of his path. A final death is not his fearbut an abrupt end before he has done enough good in the name of his lord of old.}

Avo studied the Columner again and noted the agitation behind his eyesnow a soft hazel. He had undergone some grafting while they were gone. Begun the process of adapting his shape for subterfuge. Wont be a leak, Avo said, trying to reassure his comrade in this conspiracy. Shes tied to us. More ways than one.

So you say, Cas said, spittle landing Avos shoulder. You should have told us about White-Rababout everything you were doing up in the Tiers.

No.

The bluntness of Avos response made Cas throw up his hands. Then hows trust supposed to live between? How am I supposed to know that your contact isnt going to sell us out to the Guilds?

We trust each other in moderation, Avo answered. And I give something the Guilds cant. And I can hurt Rab in ways no one can.

So whats your solution? Tyranny? Avo, people are used to getting squeezed. What hurts you now supersedes what might hurt you later, all it takes for him to betray us is a single mistake on his part. One fuck-up.

Something that White-Rab proved to be good at avoiding. Avo looked down to meet Cas stare. Met Zein while I was in the Tiers too. Question has been swimming in my mind. Something I didnt want to ask: trust. Would you trust me over Zein? Would you choose me over Zein?

Quiet. No response. Well, thats a pretty situational question, isnt it?

Your lack of answer means you understand. We have trust. But there are thresholds. We exist on a spectrum of interest to each other. I must maintain my own as well.

Cas grunted a humorless chuckle. Damn. There he is again. Your father. Despite building you out of other peoples minds, you sure take after him a lot.

Seeing the Columners growing frustration, Avo rebuilt his mind and sought a smooth amelioration. He needed to quell this spat before it became a problem. Weaving aspects of Benhata and Kare into his cognition, Avo immediately felt a spike of shame pierce him as he realized the betrayal he was inflicting. Words were likely not going to solve this. He needed to offer actionable recourse. Material manifestations of good faith and progress.

Will loop you into the next meeting with him, Avo said. Keep you updated on what I do. Show you my memories too. Hm. Might not trust that. Give you something better. Mem-data to access Paladin lobbies. Eyes on the inside. A new contact to protect your asset from Exoricsts and public safety departments.

A bit of ire bled out from Cas. What are you talking about?

Turned two Paladins. One is connected to Shotin. His niece. The other is a rapid response officer for the Spine. Kassamon. Ill have Chambers cast you the details.

...Alright, Cas said, after a moments deliberation. But we dont do this, Avo. Not again. Cells live and die

Cells die, Avo said, interrupting. Too many eyes. Cant hide forever. You know this. Cas stood silenced. But we can engineer the deaths. Mask ourselves by putting assets in key positions. Hunting ourselves. Burning cults are easy. Burning cults already targeted by another Guild risks conflict.

Cas was now empty of tension. In its place swelled curiosity and promise. Yeah yeah, that might work. His posture sagged. At least something came out of that mess.

It keeps my soul clean. Not this cage that keeps us from a final embrace. Thats just a means. An end. When all this is done and everything is made right

You will return your god to its righteous place? Avo asked. Or grant him sovereignty over all things and usher forth an age of virtue?

Cas breathed. Neither. God is the absolute. Were just demiurges. Fallen things playing in the garden he made. You can strip omnipotence from its throne or conceive the shape of omniscience. He is the shepherd and I am his hound. It just pains me deep to watch the lambs bleed.

Avo tasted the belief in Cas words, and the first inklings of true understanding began to kindle.

This wasnt about him. This wasnt about him at all. He was crusading for others, and so his Ensouling was a means to an end.

What agony living in New Vultun would inflict on such a man.

Shepherd and hound, hm? Avo said.

Yeah, Cas replied.

I suppose that I have a duty to Chambers then. To give him a better path. And to see him better at preserving life than wasting it.

A choked laugh of pure disbelief sounded from Cas. Avo, did you just liken yourself to the lord?

The ghoul blinked. Poetic?

Blasphemous, Cas replied.

Ah, Avo said. Well. I have the ego.

Yeah, thats pretty damn obvious. Cas shook his head. So. Now what? You train him to be better. Fine. What about the girl? Dice? What about her?

Avo glanced at the waif seated upon the dais behind him, petting the cat as she continued to look around. Citys dangerous for her. Not used to it. But she has talent. Potential. More than just a distraction. Going to give her choice. Think I already know what shes going to choose.

Because you have her template living in that fire you call a mind, huh?

Yes, Avo said. Will be releasing our infiltrators next. Elegant-Moon. Kare. Proceedings will begin soon. Abrel will be coming back planetside. Should claim someone else from Highflame as well. Meritocrat preferably. Need more points for my flame to spread. But while we breach the top, also need to claim the roots of the city. Force the Low Masters out of hiding. Consume the smugglers and Syndicates. Open a path out from the city. Ways the Paladins and Guilds cant stop.

Cas understood. Youre going to use the girl as a wilder operative? Is that it?

More, Avo said. Need a seat of power beyond the gaze of the Guilds. Places they cant see. Places where we can amass greater forces in the open.

The Sunderwilds? The Ruptures?

Yes. Other Fallwalkers have been unpunished. Commit sins. Depravity. Think their Souls shouldnt be theirs. And I think the deaths that fuel them will be worth more to us.

Your scopes growing too fast, Cas said.

So are my templates. And deaths. Time is not our luxury. But power soon will be. Power and knowledge. Power. Knowledge. Initiative. Guilds are preparing for the next war. But they dont see us. Experiences have taught me things. Given my understanding. Our Spheres must grow. But Heavens alone are too limited. The Nether, the physical, the metaphysical. Must dominate them all. All spectrums. So we will need militaries. Relations. Money. Political influence. And all of this can be consumed from the flesh of our enemies. We grow inside them. We grow beyond them. We grow. They wither. We decide in the end. Our flame. Not theirs.

This is getting to be more than just a cult, Avo, Cas said. Youre trying to build a hidden empire.

{Oh. Nice ring to it. Ask Operative Cas if he needs a new bass player.}

Avo ignored Calvino. Perhaps. Or perhaps just a boiling flame.

Alright! Chambers shouted! Throwing his fists up. Phantoms leaped from his mind and projected growth percentages across each pod. Only one metric mattered.

SUBJECT ONE - 100%

READY FOR ADDITIONAL GENETIC THERAPY

We should gather the others, Avo said. Want to speak with you. All of you. Benhata compelled him to place a hand on the Columners shoulder. Talk to them like I spoke to you. Honestly.

A startled, blank expression passed through Cas face. Iyeah. Sure. I glad I could

He didnt finish his words.

It wasnt a week ago that Avo would have struggled to understand the man. Struggled not to mock his faith or fight the urge to eat him. Now, so much of what he did was clear. Too clear even. Avo thought he understood the mans actions and wants better than himself in some ways.

The Conflagration was just freedom. It was a change. Change unfettered. Change of the ego with a change of the mind.

The weight of what he was becoming pressed upon his shoulders.

If he was capable of so much alreadyso different than he was before.

What was he to be when the Ladder finally arrived?