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>>4468679
You’ve considered your next action very carefully. Helping Ceno, while not treaty- breaking, would still show you as a non- neutral party in this conflict. You bet that HN and possibly Etheans would not look fondly at your actions if you commit, but then again even if Ceno for some reason refuses to hand over the territories, you would just need to reconquer them similarly to what would happen if HN took them. HN has proved to be mostly a pain in your neck so you don’t feel too bad for breaking your neutrality in this case. As the last point, forts might dissuade the Holy Nation’s troops from attacking which would save lives… Well then, it is decided, you will be helping Ceno.

You fly over to the command tent and meet up with Ceno high command staff. Guards and the officers are startled, but they were expecting you to arrive at some point. The bloke in charge is 70-year-old balding man, the general of the Western Ceno Volunteer Army and aptly named Pyripus. Along with his other command staff you discuss where to build the forts and which ones are the most important. There you find out that between Ceno and HN there is a sort of military custom, once one of the sides doesn’t wish to fight anymore, they send messengers to request the return of prisoners and bodies which is essentially the admittance of the loss. Until then, there is a small possibility of a counterattack attempt, but the general thinks that it is unlikely. You, however, think that it is very much possible due to the relatively low losses sustained by the Holies, and you advise him to keep that in mind. The general accepts your position and says that he has placed contingencies for that case, the issue is that they are not sufficient considering the state of the army.

You don’t think that the general can be considered incompetent, he did display a pretty good grasp on the strategy as you were discussing the aftermath of the battle and he seems to be experienced. However, you believe that he doesn’t have the complete information of the state of both sides (or doesn’t believe the reports) and he seems to be slowly going senile. He is around 70, but he looks way worse for wear. Other officers seem to respect him a lot though, so you think that the general was a great leader in his prime, if not close to being legendary, but now he might need to look for a retirement plan…

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>>4468702
After leaving the tent, you sigh, fly over to your tools and dump them at the nearest forested area to start working. The giant monster’s body is still there, no longer glowing but still being an impassable obstacle for humans. You think that in the early stages of the battle it was even used by Ceno forces to cover their right flank from encirclement. The smaller tree ent monster corpses also litter the former battlefield area. You quickly find their wood to be porous and rotting at a high rate so you won’t be building anything out of their bodies, which is a shame.

You chop down a large swath of forest working all the way through the rest of the evening and the night until you’re sure that you have enough for the first fort. This would be the biggest fort from the group sitting at the highest hill in the area. Unlike HN castles, it won’t have the central keep, but it would have thick wooden walls complemented with moats, anti- cavalry stakes and extensive earthworks. Essentially, it is a very primitive predecessor to the famous star forts with plenty positions for siegeworks.

The entire assembly takes you just over a day of nonstop work, but it’s fine as it is the largest fort of those that are planned, it needs to contain the tents for almost 20 000 people. It’s kind of funny that the population of this fort would be nearing to a good chunk of the planned population of your own city, but it would be much more densely packed with close to no utilities, basically just a flat space surrounded by walls with some internal defensive separations. Once you’re done with this, the main fort quickly gets filled up with tents which are activity moved from the initial encampment. In the militaries of this era almost all soldiers participate in construction and after the fort was completed a lot of them were sent to chop down trees which somewhat sped up your work, even if not massively. In total, you’ve had just under a week to complete almost a dozen of smaller forts and an interconnecting grid of earthworks and additional defenses. After that a cloaked Cup Bearer notified you to stop, HN forces were moving out and if you continued, your involvement would be undeniable. Thus, you gave another look at your “masterpiece” of rapid construction and headed out of the combat zone. There is nothing else that you can really do now, it is all up to Ceno forces to hold this territory. You hope that what you’ve done would help you tip the scales in their favor.

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>>4468703

You return to Farsalos and luckily not much has changed. The metallurgic plant and gun workshop are steaming along and there seems to be a small group of traders who have arrived to Farsalos in your absence. It also seems that someone in Farsalos has also claimed a clear sport and a new building is slowly starting to take shape. You note the presence of that architect girl that you’ve hired and that the building plan contains running water and sewer access, looks like she was worth her wage. You then return back to your home and dump all of your gear in storage which allows you to finally make a sigh of relief.

You check up on Rheia who is diligently studying once again and you note that she looks very tired. You tell her to take a break and prepare some sweets and tea for her. She sits at the table looking sad, and you ask her what happened. “…I am not sure that I’d qualify for the exam, it is just on next Friday and I still keep making mistakes. Am I really worthy of studying in Elspen Academy?” You smile and tell her that it is most likely that she is too stressed out and tired which causes her to make mistakes. You tell her of how you also kept overworking yourself and now you just take mandatory breaks to keep yourself in check. However, in the back of your brain you tell yourself: “Oh balls, I completely forgot that the exam is in 6 days”. Coincidentally, Rheia has a birthday in the beginning of October, which is the next month. You haven’t gifted her anything last time since she wasn’t working for you back then, but now you should prepare something for her. But first, you need to arrange on how to get her to the exam on time.

>Ask Nike’ to give her a lift if she can
>Fly her in yourself, it won’t take too long
>Other ideas? You won’t get there on foot in time

Whom to take along:
>Yourself, Rheia is your responsibility after all
>Rheia’s mother, she is probably very worried
>Haven and/or Sig
>Mina, that way Rheia would be thoroughly protected
>Request someone from Cups to help out
>Someone else?

Also, present ideas are go

>>4468704
>Fly her in yourself, it won’t take too long
>Haven and/or Sig
again, voluntary based, not so much ask them to come but inform them that we will be going there and if they want to tag along they are more than welcome, let them know about the birthday too

as a birthday gift, if she passes the exams we can give her some excellent writing and studying materials, pens, tomes and whatnot, if she doesn't pass we can give her some other gift, like a mountain of sweets to cure the depression hehe

>>4468724
+1

>>4468704
Can we use those days to research psy circuit? If we can let's get started on that.


>Fly her in yourself, it won’t take too long

Let Nike know we are going,as a joke, tell her she better have a surprise ready for us, I was kinda hoping she would show up to fight that big monster together.

>>4468731
>>4468728
>>4468724
Support

>>4468731
I was thinking that we’d want to spend this time helping Rheia

>>4468753
I agree with helping her

take it easy for a few days, see how are the monster contreact availible and if there is anything on our mail box

Looks like I won't have an opportunity to make another update today, PC restoration took too long. I will do it tomorrow though, I hope it's fine.

>>4468792
Aaaaand the whole week was a mess, sorry about that. I'll try to make another post on Saturday if I manage, but if not we'll start with it on Sunday.

>>4475520
thanks for the heads up

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>>4475520
Well, you’ve decided to take Rheia in as your apprentice so it’s up to you to support her, it would be weird if you suddenly decided to delegate this to someone else. You don’t want to distance yourself away from her and you think that she needs your moral support and thus the least you can do is accompanying her to the exams. You’re still not sure why her mom doesn’t seem to be excited for her child getting some good education. For one, Rheia didn’t tell her about the academy until very recently, and once Xanthe learned about it, she has tried several times to talk you out of this idea. You can guess that she has also tried to talk her daughter out of it in private. You’re still not sure of her true reasons for that, all of her points felt contrived from pointing out the costs of such endeavor to how Rheia won’t be able to perform her duties for which you’ve hired her. What’s up with that, you wonder. Could it somehow be connected with the cult or is it due to some of her personal views?

You’ve also decided to take Haven and Sig, but you figured that it would be better if it is voluntary. Haven immediately agreed to accompany you and Rheia, she has been involved in helping Rheia study on a couple topics such as some obscure history and law. She is a noblewoman after all, they had to learn all of this. Sig didn’t seem too keen on going to the capital again though. When you asked her why, she said something about planning to go and visit some of her old friends. When you jokingly teased her that it’s better not be a euphemism for binge drinking, she blushed and replied that it is not, at least in this case. She just doesn’t feel like she wants to get her friends tangled up with you, or you with them, no offense intended. Well, none taken, after all you do get involved into some weird and dangerous shit, so you can understand her somewhat. In any case, it seems that it would be only Haven and you accompanying Rheia.

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>>4478769
Before you set off, you decided to make a call to Nike. It’s kind of funny that while Mina can communicate with her patron, the oracle girl still stayed in Farsalos. In fact, she is now living with Mina in the temple and sleeps in one of the guest rooms. The muse doesn’t seem to mind so you figured that it is ok. Still, it is a little unnerving how near emotionless the messenger is and how she instantly switches her attitude once Nika is on the “phone”. Still, you’ve chatted for a bit with the goddess of war, who was a bit embarrassed for not having an opportunity to help you last time. She thanked you for helping with the whole fort situation, with which she is welcome. After all, you are very grateful to her pantheon for a lot of what they’ve done for you and it is nice that you could somehow pay them back, even if only a little. You’ve notified Nika that you plan to take Rheia to Elspen for the exams and you jokingly noted that she’d better have a surprise ready for you. She laughs and says that there is actually something already prepared, but she would only present it after the exams are done. After all, as you’ve said, it is supposed to be a surprise.

With some effort, you’ve peeled Rheia from her desk and books and directed her to start preparing her things for the flight. She meekly resists with objections that she wants to cram in as much information as she can and that she is still doing mistakes. You counter it with the fact that according to Haven she has been doing all-nighters every other day for the last week and that’s not how you get knowledge. Studying is like gardening, you need to spend a lot of time for it to work. Just because you pour a bag of fertilizer into a pot and flood it with water won’t make the plant grow in a day. You also note that the vast majority of her mistakes were mostly due to the lack of attention, which is a clear sign of fatigue. Thus, you’ll be flying to the capital today and Rheia would spend most of the time before exams resting. In fact, you’ll strictly limit how much time she is allowed to access her notebooks. Rheia frowns and says “Okay…” and wanders off to start packing. She reminds you so much of… yourself. You’ve also kept cramming for weeks before exams neglecting sleep and sometimes even food while getting a subpar result in the end. Initially you’ve blamed yourself for the results and reasoned that with all of this effort you could only reach that mark, but with libraries worth of material on the subjects of efficient education in your head, you’ve finally understood that it was a combination of fatigue, stress and sleep deprivation. Amusingly, if you look at old statistics on education performance of your time, for high schools and universities there was an inverse relation between the time spent studying and the performance. That meant that counterintuitively, after a certain point the more the student studied the worse they scored.

>>4478775
While Haven and Rheia were packing, you’ve cooked up two meals and some snacks for the flight since you didn’t want to rush it for no reason and thus the flight would take about 4 hours at a relatively leisurely pace. Haven was ready first and thus she has helped Rheia to pack more books into the gondola that was parked on the roof. You are pretty sure at this point that she won’t physically have the time to read all of that material, but eh, whatever makes her feel better. From your side, you pack your armor and gear once again just in case you’d need them, but your “normal” outfit would consist of your under- armor. You figured that the chiton might be a little bit too official and the working clothes would display you more as a “peasant” than as someone who should be bringing a child to the most elite academy in the country. Damn, you might really need to think of more clothes to wear, but you don’t think that you’d have the “taste” for that. You’ve never really liked shopping for clothes before and you don’t really know what you might need.

The flight was uneventful, the “Pantheon’s air police” only made a flyby of you and didn’t even request you to stop, likely because you were expected. At the destination you’ve once again rented a barn at some farm beyond the furthest city walls to store your gondola and then the three of you set off for the city proper. You once again rent a room at one of the inns that are not insanely expensive and yet aren’t worn down and are placed in a safer part of the city. After dumping all of the stuff you didn’t want to carry, including a huge backpack full of Rheia’s books, first order of business was to get Rheia registered at the academy. After all, you can’t really walk into the exam room unannounced, right?

It was not the first registration, it was more like a confirmation that the contestant was there and was willing to attend the test. There was quite a queue to stand in, seems like close to last minute registrations didn’t die with your times. Most of the future students were with their parents, likely because it is a pretty momentous occasion. In comparison, Rheia felt almost too young to be here, her stunted development has left her looking around 15-16 years old when in reality she was almost 18 and it seems that this caused her to get a little anxious. There were a few youngsters, but the majority of applicants were between 17 and 23. You’ve heard a couple of girls standing slightly behind in the line over joking about that fact, but you don’t think that it would be an issue. Rheia would most likely catch up the next year. The registration was pretty simple, Rheia was given a paper card with a bunch of information on it and told that she is not to lose it, else she would not be allowed to participate in the exam. You were confirmed as her guardian for the sakes of the papers, considering that her mom refused to come with her.

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>>4478777
Once you were done with the paperwork, it was time to finally look around and see if there’s anything new around the city. For once, there is a festival of sorts around the Elspen Academy focused on the new students and the return of the old ones from the summer holidays. Basically, the local “university day”, not really the governmental celebration, but each place has their own unofficial holiday or two. It is focused almost entirely on the academy and it appears that it is one of the ways they get money, judging from the titanic quantities of merch being sold, from figurines of the spire and toys to surprisingly decent clothes with academy insignia. Of course, there are also food stalls of various kinds and… trustworthiness, some central restaurants and inns have discounts for students, and of course who could forget about entertainment which includes music, performances and what seems to be a “rap battle” analogue between two philosophers which has a surprising number of listeners.

Presumably feeling a bit robbed of attention, there is also the whole fact that an Ethean trading fleet is docked in the harbor which means that main market streets are also booming with activity. Exotic spices, foreign goods and even some unique things can be found for the right price. Also, by some cosmic coincidence, there seems to be some activity in the Pantheon District. From a couple rumors that you’ve picked up, the Teryian royal family is paying a diplomatic visit to the capital along with quite a few of the higher nobility. You also note the presence of some dark elf warriors among the elven guards so you wonder what’s that about.

These are the three main events in the city, but Elspen is a constant pot of activity and there are always other things to do. Let’s see what we’ll start off with…

>Academy Festival: let’s get some merchandize, sit in a nice restaurant and enjoy ourselves, after all Rheia needs to cheer up
>The Great Markets: Elspen is a center of commerce, even more so with Ethean fleet in the neighborhood. An excellent opportunity to snag something of great value, or maybe just to shop around for various goodies
>The Elven Embassy: you’re curious to know what the elven aristocracy and royalty is doing here, maybe you’d even meet the Teryian queen herself? Haven might also be interested
>The Docks: while the market is where most of the exchange happens, docks is where you go for bulk items. Also, it is not guaranteed, but you might bump into something that Etheans didn’t want to sell on the markets, but might give up for the right price…
>The Hall of Huntsmen: you think that there is a crowd piled up around it, so you’re curious of why, it even might be worth your time to get into
>Valhalla: it takes you all the 15 minutes to fly all the way to the Ceno pantheon’s HQ, so if you want to meet them, then why not?
>Other ideas?

>>4478779

>The Elven Embassy: you’re curious to know what the elven aristocracy and royalty is doing here, maybe you’d even meet the Teryian queen herself? Haven might also be interested
Annd also investigate those dark elves, they probably found empliyment and shelter with the elves but it might be good to check on their numbers and maybe invite them to our new city, maybe even see if the regular elves won't be interested in having en embassy there too

>>4478818
+1

But ask if Rheia wants to look around the college festival on her own, she might want to look at things without her godly guardian hovering around. But if she wants to accompany us to the elven delegation let her come too, this is probably a one in a lifetime opportunity for her so I think she might be interested in that too.
Take Haven along and keep an eye on her, see how she is reacting, make sure to make her feel at ease.

>>4478779

>The Elven Embassy: you’re curious to know what the elven aristocracy and royalty is doing here, maybe you’d even meet the Teryian queen herself? Haven might also be interested

This first, then festival and then Hall of huntsmen I think. But first let's see those cute elven ladies.

>>4478779
Aaaaaand looks like I won't have the time before meds kick in. The reply will arrive tomorrow... hopefully. Really sorry about the rate of updates, I'm going through some rough meds and times right now. In the meantime, please do discuss what Ag should present to Rheia, because I am very bad with present ideas. And feel free to ask questions, I should have a bit more time next week.

>>4478779

>Academy Festival: let’s get some merchandize, sit in a nice restaurant and enjoy ourselves, after all Rheia needs to cheer up

As a present for Rheia I was thinking of something she could use to defend herself on the big city, a magical thing maybe, something equivalent to a pepper spray.
Or we could try to find some long distance message thing so she can keep in touch with us.

>>4479766
>>4478865
>>4478836
>>4478818
Posting

>>4487611
After a moment of thought you decide that this is a good opportunity to take a look at the Teryian nobility and royal family as well as to potentially establish connection with the underground elves that fled to the surface. Haven also agrees with your reasoning, suspecting that someone important from Ihmisetian Remnant leadership is likely involved in this. However, she warns you that it is possible that we won’t be allowed too close to the royal family with her credentials. Teryian royal diplomatic visits are usually accompanied by representatives of the select few most influential noble houses, and house Elim, even though ancient, is far too down the list to be invited. In other words, her sigil and name won’t get you past the inner guards and you’d likely be stuck in the same pot as the other “tourists”.

And there are quite a lot of tourists, although a lot of them have already left as the delegation has already moved into the walled off area around the Capitol, the most important building of Ceno civilian government. It is essentially the combination of the highest judicial organ, the parliament and Ceno Pantheon representatives. There is no “president” in Ceno government, things are decided through two elected offices, the Senate (most influential Ceno citizens) and the Representatives (regional elected officials), with Pantheon having an advisory role and ability to use emergency powers to enforce or overrule any decision if the situation demands for it, although it is said to be a very rare occurrence. According to Haven, the Teryian royal court has an “embassy” of sorts there which relays information and decisions to and from the royal family and Teryian’s parliament. From what you understand, Teryian territory is mostly self-governing, sitting somewhere between a US state and a member of European Union in its self-governing freedoms. However, Ceno government itself demands certain universal laws (mostly on movements, taxes, rights, etc) and it has emergency powers over Teryia, who in turn are essentially a full-on functioning dualistic monarchy a level below the Ceno gov in importance.

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>>4487614
But before you make any decisions, you think that you should ask what Rheia thinks of this. After all, she might want to wander around the Academy Festival without her godly guardian hovering around. But then again, when does one get a chance to see a real queen? Rheia thinks for a while and says: “I’m not really used to the big cities yet, so I’m a bit afraid, to be honest. I know that I’m almost 18 already, but I don’t look like an 18-year-old yet and I doubt that I could protect myself if something happens. I’m also kind of curious of what the Teryian queen looks like, so I’ll tag along. Can I just grab something from the stall first?” You smile and nod, after which Rheia decides to get herself a couple of bakery goods that are essentially golf ball sized spherical bread bits with the core made out of blood sausage that barely pokes out of both ends of the ball. She also grabs a sour milk-based drink reminiscent of kefir and a roll of what appears to be a sheet of coagulated fruit juice with nuts in it. Well, her young organism must be hungry.

In any case, you head out towards the separated chunk of pantheon district where the government resides. The entrance into the outer gates is protected by a security checkpoint that is mainly manned by a bunch of Ceno human guards with one Teryian elf and one Ihmisetian elf guards left there to check if people are in the lists. They are likely waiting for more nobles to arrive or something. As you approach, you are stopped at this checkpoint and a weary man in guard uniform approaches you with a quill and a tablet that is holding a sheet of paper lined up into a grid that has names, date and signatures/stamps in three of the first columns. “Alright, if you want to go any further, you’d have to hand over your weapons into the vault in that tower, it includes boot daggers and other hidden implements, there will be a body search later” he says pointing at the door in one of the towers at the side of the gates. “I’ll also need your names, purpose of visit and any proof of your identity or other special circumstances, if you have it.”

>Purpose: tourism, hand over the weapons to the vaults
>Purpose: petition to meet the Ihmisetian representative. Requires some form of identification, but Haven’s name might work, hand over weapons to the vault
>Purpose is not important; you are a goddess. Just flash the halo.
>Let’s see how far your dwarven alliance stamp gets you…
>You know, you think that you’d pass, let’s go back
>Other (write-in)

>>4487619
>Purpose: petition to meet the Ihmisetian representative. Requires some form of identification, but Haven’s name might work, hand over weapons to the vault

>>4487619

>Purpose: petition to meet the Ihmisetian representative. Requires some form of identification, but Haven’s name might work, hand over weapons to the vault

While inside, could we flesh the halo to talk with the elven royals too?

>>4487619

>Purpose: petition to meet the Ihmisetian representative. Requires some form of identification, but Haven’s name might work, hand over weapons to the vault

Both the Ihmesians and the Teryian are probably going to discuss the situation of the first group at this meeting, we should probably participate since we have a viable option, and I want a look at the queen ;)

>>4487634
Yes, we can, we would be basically entering the courtyard and then there is another checkpoint to enter the actual building

>>4487695
And I'll be blacking out in about an hour, already feeling woozy, so next post will arrive tomorrow. Hopefully I'll get off that med soonish

>>4487695
Cosidering this.

>>4487619

>Purpose: petition to meet the Ihmisetian representative. Requires some form of identification, but Haven’s name might work, hand over weapons to the vault

Flash the halo later to the elves so we can avoid much noise and curious mobs for now

>>4487619

>Purpose is not important; you are a goddess. Just flash the halo.

But tell them we intend to speak with the royals

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>>4487619
“We would like to petition for the meeting with the Ihmisetian representative” you reply to the guard. His eyes narrow down and he says: “For that you should have the valid credentials, not just everyone is allowed to meet the Priestess.” The Ihmisetian elf nearby tenses up and starts watching the three of you closely, while previously he was just leaning on a wooden pole that supported the checkpoint’s tent. You glance at Haven who in turn recognizes your hint and takes a step forward, pulling out a metal piece with an engraving of a barn owl, the symbol of her noble house. “I am Haven Gwilherm Elim, the seventh daughter of Viscount Gwilherm Elim, the head of Venerable House Elim. I’ve come here to discuss certain newly available lands that would possibly fit the Ihmisetian Remnant on the behalf of the landlord. These people are my companions.”

As she has said that, the Teryian elf guard started flipping through a book in his hands quietly mumbling “Elim” repeatedly until he finds the required article. Then he carefully examines Haven’s sigil until he says: “haven’t heard of them for a while, but yes, she is legit. Not sure why they came all the way here instead of heading for Teryia, but I have no real reason for prohibiting entry. Whether the representative wishes to see her is a different question.” Then he turns to Haven and says “You’ll need to file an official meeting request once you are inside. Don’t forget to hand in all weapons and other potentially dangerous objects.” She nods and the first guard hands her a quill and the notepad for her to enter her name and signature. She enters your name as well and you sign for yourself and for Rheia, since you are considered her guardian and arguing that she is an adult is a waste of time.

After the paperwork is done, you head for the tower and enter into an underground room with rows upon rows of numbered “lockers”. The three of you are given a key and you dump all of your weapons into the respective lockers. It’s not like you really need them if push comes to shove. It is surprisingly modern, and the fact that they have actual locks is somewhat lavish, but not improbable. Locks in various forms existed for a very long time and it is the place where the richest and most influential people hang out so they can afford them. Although you can’t shake off the feeling that an SG recommended this arrangement, it reminds you of a locker room inside of a gym.

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>>4489285
Afterwards, a group of guards do a thorough search of you and Haven, and a bit less thorough search of Rheia. You are required to take off all but lower layer of your outfits, all of which is investigated, you also have to show what’s in all of your pockets, take off your boots and so on. This all goes on for about 20 minutes, at the end of which you just want to tell them “Go ahead, just do a cavity search, I know you freaking want it!” but you hold yourself. It’s not like they have those airport scanners after all, and they don’t seem to be overly excited about rummaging through your stuff. And the actual body search is done by a guardswoman, which was somewhat unexpectedly considerate of them. They, of course, find the halo, but as it is not actively hovering over your head, they consider it a tiara of sorts and leave it be.

As you pass this uncomfortable stage of entry, you put on your underarmor and ask Haven to tell you more about the royal family. “Well, the royal family’s current head is the Beloved Queen Amaria Khaleini, and she is the oldest reigning monarch in our history. She has reigned for 214 years and she still remembers when our pantheon was still around. In fact, we only had… three earlier kings in our history, starting with the royal family’s founder, King Khaley, who has started the Khaleini dynasty. She is a universally beloved ruler of our people, she was involved with the mutual integration between Ceno and Teryia, the several most recent and important alterations to our law system, establishment of the Commons Representatives to the Parlament and she has provided the Parlament itself with more measures to affect royal decisions. She has also established a more robust system of succession after… the “very messy decade” after the gods left us and her grandfather and both parents were taken out in a coup resulting in a bloody conflict over the throne. My father mentioned that she is a woman gifted not only with divine appearance, but also with incredible intellect, she is unbelievably fascinating to talk to. As the Great King Khaley himself, she has the royal family’s signature facial structure and shining silver hair. And I don’t mean “white” or “grey”, I mean it quite literally. It is hard to explain, you have to see it for yourself.”

You find this entire thing very amusing, in fantasy of your time, elves were often portrayed as extremely posh British, while now, thousands of years later, Teryians have a kingdom with a long reigning beloved queen. Luckily, they don’t have British accents, or you’d be thinking that you were in some kind of fiction-based simulation, and not a good one at that. In any case, you head out of the vault and into the courtyard.

>>4489291
The Capitol is impressively monumental, but still a building that could be conceivably constructed by mortals. Standing at 8 stories tall, if viewed from above, it is a large hexagon with an opening in the center and proportionally small domes on top of every single one of its angles. It is built in the style that mimics the rest of the city, being a very bastardized and somewhat altered mixture of Greco- Roman and Byzantian architecture with some of the local twists. The entire building is constructed out of marble, with impressive columns, stained glass windows and lots of statues that are colored and sometimes covered in metallic flakes. The building is surrounded by a small park area with a single wide paved path leading from the Capitol building to the entrance gate. The entire area is surrounded by the interior wall of the same type that surrounds the Pantheon District. There are quite a few people around, but very few appear to be tourists who are easy to discern by their lack of official costume.

The actual government workers wear a somewhat warmer and a bit richer version of chitons or togas, it’s hard to tell since it is technically Ceno’s own spin on the outfit. The basis of these clothes is white, likely symbolizing purity; however, it is quite obvious that the cloth used in them is on the whole new level of quality. Some of the presumably higher ranking or just richer officials have silver strands forming intricate patterns in the cloth. In addition to that, they wear a band of colored cloth that sits on their right shoulder and passes below the left arm somewhere close to the belt. This band appears to be color coded and displays an insignia. Judging by the limited choice of colors, you think that the color designates the branch of the government, while the insignia signifies the “rank”. Military officials appear to be wearing parade versions of their armors, some of which would not fit well on the battlefield such as the local analogue to a roman Musculata with ridiculously chiseled abs even on female variants. There are of course, other workers such as gardeners or janitors or guards, they all have their own and distinct uniforms that don’t involve richly adorned chitons.

>>4489293
The three of you make your way towards the main entrance to the Capitol, where you are met by another checkpoint. In this case, it has a quite obviously bored representative from the pantheon among the guards. Likely some lower rank cup from Tyrael’s cohort, judging by the insignia on his outfit. There are also armed human guards and a bunch of Teryian and Ihmisetian elf bodyguards twiddling their thumbs while waiting for their employers. You didn’t want to show off in front of a lot of people at the outer checkpoint, but you are a goddess, and your halo is the ultimate ID card. Few people can refuse a meeting with you. So, as you are approaching the entrance, you pull out your halo and fling it to a spot over your head where it locks in place. This causes a lot of eyes of those standing around you to widen, while the cup, who has been sipping something from his flask, coughs up on his drink. “I am Agatha, as the independent Goddess, I would like to schedule meetings with the queen Amaria and the Ihmisetian representative, if possible” you say and smile kindly. By the lack of movement from the guards you can tell that your visit was definitely not planned…

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And on this note we wrap up with today’s session. Once again, I’d like to say sorry for the awful schedule of the recent several threads and lack of posts during the week. I had a lot going on, from the university being dicks about attendance during the second wave of pandemic, to emergency home repairs, to health issues. There were some upsides, such as getting to the home base with my girlfriend for the first time (yay), but the main influence on my schedule was a medication that has a side effect. I take it in the evening to stabilize my sleep, but it stays in my system making it near impossible to wake up before midday. After that I’m usually covered in other issues and I get free closer to 6-7 pm, which is when I’ve been posting. It allows me maximum one- two posts per day, which feels like it slowed the story to a crawl. I would like to apologize for that, and add that if I won’t be able to fix it until December, it would become the matter of necessity anyway due to me getting a job, so the schedule should return to “normal” at that point at least if not sooner.

I expect this thread to die before next Saturday, so I’m closing the quest session for now. I will still be around during the week to answer to your questions and to participate in discussions. Feel free to do so as well. This week’s recommended subject is: things to discuss with the Teryian queen.

>>4489294
Thanks for running.

Damn, the queen looks fine as hell, can't wait for Ag to meet her and have some quality time with the royalty, remind to not stare too much but stare anyway lol.

I'm very interesting on talking to her since she was alive when the elven pantheon bailed, maybe she has some leads on where some of them headed or just the general direction or intention they had when they left. As well as talking to her about our new state and how we are planning to offer it as a home for the dark elves and how their people too would be more than welcome to settle there and help out or seek new opportunities, as entrerprises or people seeking new lands to settle. We have some elves already we can make room for some of them too.

>>4489294
Ok, when we talk to the queen try to be authentic and charming, no need for masks or pretend since she is more than 200 years old and deals with gods regularly so she probably has seen it all.

Let's say we hope to visit her lands some day if she wpuld have us and she is more than invited to pay us a visit when our city is done
Point the fact that Haven has been a wonderful companion that we trust and that she helped us immensely in adapting to this world, she is very special to us. And we would like to offer our help and council with watherever questions the Queen may have that she thinks we are capable of helping.

See if we can interest her in some trade, specially related to our new dark elven residents, her people and them should have different enough tastes and customs to make trade viable in the form of exotic goods

Discuss the matter of the dark elves and say we are preparing shelter to them in our lands.

If the mood is light and informal enough ask her what we should give to an 18 year old girl as a birthday gift, we are kinda lost on that front.

>>4489294
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