Tag: Lila Darius

#Lore24 – Entry #363 – Sci-Fi Month IV #28 – Breaching the Demon Barrier

Transcribed From the Personal Recording Implant of Andra Ganim, Chronicler of the Codex Infinitum

AG:  “How was it that Darius was able to create this Advanced TK-Drive?  Was this too the will of the draconic souls that are swarming about us again?”

RV:  “Indeed.  They know the secret, not only of how to breach the Barrier, but of how it was formed to begin with, most likely.  This collective unconscious will drove Darius towards the creation of this new drive, whether she realizes it or not.  It began before I had even become aware of her current incarnation, when she rented that ill-fated shuttle and visited the world over which she was found by the mercenaries.  She knew of the ruins there, that they had been previously studied, yet something drew her to them again.  Thanks to some rather hostile locals, she was unable to perform a proper search at the time, and had to retreat until she had help. 

Some time later, once she had her team firmly established and had proven a thorn in my side, she returned to these ruins and was finally able to piece together what it was she and many others had missed before, a key that only a handful of beings could have possibly activated.  It was tuned, you see, to the essence of a gold dragon.  When she activated this key, really another form of storage device, the knowledge of the A-TK was implanted within her mind, no doubt alongside other details that now drive her deeper into the Demon Sector.  This would not be the only such occurrence in recent years of a draconic soul resonating with keyed memories, but I’ll get to that momentarily.

Some would call it coincidence that Darius became such good friends with Releana Veylani, but I see a much more subtle hand at work.  With Veylani successfully fending off my attempt to obtain her company, her significant psychic power managing to turn even my best doppelganger agent completely to her will, she had already begun redirecting Veylani’s resources to finding a way across the Barrier.  When Darius provided what she had learned, the first A-TK was rapidly built and tested, though its first true test would be what is now referred to as the “Breach of the Barrier.” 

AG:  “The particular details of the A-TK drive’s functions have been kept under the most strict security.  Veylani has made certain that those drives remain under her company’s control for the foreseeable future and has prosecuted anyone attempting to discern their secrets to the fullest extent possible.  Have you, given your vast experience, determined the nature of the drives?”

RV:  “Of course.  It’s rather simple, really.  The standard TK-Drive is already a fusion of arcane artifice and modern technology, it simply requires some tweaks to produce the desired effect.  I’ve studied these drives up close; no matter how Veylani may have tried to stymie my efforts, she and her people, as good as they are, simply cannot compete with my abilities.  I’ll spare the technical details for now, but suffice to say, these drives combine a method of attuning the ship itself to the localized energy of the Barrier, adapting to its various frequencies, and creating something of a slight dimensional shift in addition the hyperspace shift, which allows the ship to pass through the barrier harmlessly. 

The legal quagmire Veylani and her supporters in the Big Four running Perihelion and Aphelion Stations and the whole UEF initiative have stopped competition in its tracks, officially stopped me from creating a DSM alternative until a period of one hundred years has passed.   Unofficially, I’ve already made and tested several variations of the drive and have traversed the Barrier myself many times.  It’s not the legal threats that stop me from creating a mass-market DSM alternative to the Veylani drives, simply that I would prefer access to the Demon Sector be restricted to a singular entry point for now so that  I may know who comes and goes, that my plans are not interfered with by random outside parties.”

AG:  “I see… There has been quite a bit of discourse regarding the Breach, and no small amount of obfuscation as to the nature of what exactly happened there.  I suspect that the truth lies somewhere in the middle of what is commonly reported.  The commonly accepted story is that an entire fleet of DSM ships were lost chasing after Darius when she and her team made the first trek across the Barrier, though DSM’s official statement says that no such event occurred.”

Note:  The storm outside has worsened again, and Rivalle’s aura has taken on a decidedly angry nature, causing her assistant to begin whimpering again.  I find myself feeling rather nervous and wonder if I may have overstepped myself.  I have been treading dangerous ground when mentioning Lila Darius.  This seems to be a rather fresh wound.”

RV:  “Though I do like strict control, I can’t possibly vet every single individual who is in my employ.  Inevitably, over time, some inferior intellects do slip by.  It was the commander of that fleet who was to blame for what happened.  I was aware that Veylani and Darius had planned something, that there was a new development deep in their R&D department, but thanks to her pilfering of my agent, all of my spies were purged, and protections added that prevented scrying upon them.  When Darius launched in her ship and made a break for the Demon Sector, I suspected what they may have done, having known of the draconic souls pushing us in that direction already.

I sent that battle group out to capture the ship and Darius, to see what we could discover, but in spite of the aged appearance of the vessel, it had been equipped with the latest technology Veylani had to offer, so it easily outpaced my fleet and arrived first to initiate the A-TK test.  My people witnessed the attunement as Darius approached the Barrier, didn’t understand what it was they were seeing when bands of energy leapt from the Barrier, enveloped the ship’s shields, and caused no damage.  I can only guess that the ship’s captain made the absolutely boneheaded decision that the Barrier, in spite of all sensor data to the contrary, had a weak spot, and so decided to follow Darius inside.

It was not an entire fleet that was lost, no, just a group of starfighters and the command ship; a few other cruisers were damaged when they came too close, but no other larger vessels were lost.  People simply interpreted what it was that Darius had shown during her transmission as the entire fleet going up behind her on her way through the Barrier.”

AG:  “That does make sense.  I suppose those who are in opposition to DSM made certain to play up the propagandistic angle of the transmission.”

RV:  “Yes, yes, as I’ve done many times myself.  All’s fair in corporate war, after all.  Any setbacks, stock losses, PR debacles, what have you, are ultimately negligible.  DSM remains, and shall continue to remain, the largest corporation in the galaxy for the foreseeable future, no matter what the public may think.  All tides rise and fall, and we’re simply on a falling motion that will ultimately correct itself in time.  I speak from experience, believe me.”

#Lore24 – Entry #362 – Sci-Fi Month IV #27 – The Darius Legacy

Transcribed From the Personal Recording Implant of Andra Ganim, Chronicler of the Codex Infinitum

AG:  “How could Lila Darius develop such a thing as the Advanced TK-Drive without knowing how she came to do so?”

RV:  “It is something of the nature of our draconic legacies, tempered by her more chaotic leanings.  The thing about we dragons is that we’re all unique, especially in this current state of our evolution; perhaps that was a driving factor in why we did so, a growing sameness that led to weakness as a species?  In my case, during my youth, I was described as a prodigy in the arcane studies, and I described it as something of an instinctual understanding.  The same is true for Darius and her development of the A-TK.  She instinctively knew how to enhance the devices, had unlocked some aspect of her ancient memory through her experiences, and simply plucked that knowledge out of the black box that lies hidden away within her soul.  You can’t really explain it otherwise; this incarnation is a fledgling arcanist at best, has studied only history in archaeology in her lifetime, nothing in her record that would indicate she learned advanced physics nor trans-dimensional theory.

One could call her legacy that of remarkable discovery through sheer dumb luck.”

Note:  I can see that this particular topic is something of a thorn for Rivalle by the frown she wears and the subtle way her demeanor has shifted from calm neutrality to a simmering anger.

AG:  “Did she perhaps steal some of DSM’s, or rather, your, thunder in discovering this method of traversal through the Barrier?”

RV:  “It’s not so much that she stole my glory, I would have discovered the secret eventually once I began focusing upon the problem.  No, it’s how events unfolded around the discovery that I find particularly irksome.  Speaking strictly on a cost analysis level, Darius has cost me a literal fortune, and though in my grand scheme, it is ultimately an insignificant amount, the losses were still mine.  And I am, by my nature, quite covetous and rather vindictive.  This is not the first time she has seemingly attained great things through luck rather than talent, and likely won’t be the last, unless I do something…drastic, shall we say.”

AG:  “For fear of poking the dragon, if you’ll forgive the pun, could you give me some details as to the chain of events leading to this particular slight against you?”

RV:  “I suppose so; it was rather bold of you to try to lighten the mood with a joke.  This particular chain of events began when I attempted to acquire the Veylani Transport Corporation and employed my best doppelganger agent to see the task done.  This situation was really no different than other acquisitions, simply more red tape that was best dealt with via a subtle approach due to various tensions that have grown in the last few decades.  It comes waves, the hatred against myself and DSM, and it is currently in a peak period. 

Releana Veylani was the target of my operation, a simple replacement until the acquisition was done and VTC’s assets were under my control.  At the time there was nothing that I particularly wanted from them, it was simply a matter of my greedy nature at play.  As Veylani was on her way to me, Lila’s luck would come into play.  The idiot may well have ended this incarnation without even a ripple in the timeline had it not been for that luck.  She had rented a ship and traveled into the particular system where the handoff of Veylani was to occur, visiting a draconic ruin, when the subpar maintenance resulted in an explosive engine failure that left her adrift in orbit.  My external agents, mercenaries, answered her distress beacon and took her in, thinking to make some amount of additional profit by doing so. 

Knowing my particular tastes in pets, the mercenary leader asked of my interest; the moment I saw her image, I knew who she was, for all of the old hatred started to boil up.  That was the first thing she cost me in her present form, for the mercenary saw my reaction and raised his opening price to a ridiculous amount.  Thinking that fate was finally on my side, I decided to pay it for a chance to study Darius as I had wanted to for so long. 

What I did not factor in was the strength of her personality and influence, whether she realized her nature or not at the time.  She easily won over Veylani’s loyalty, and that of my personal assistant whom I had sent to oversee the care of Veylani until my agent collected what was required from her and took her place.  Though my doppelganger would be successful in this, he did not realize that his psychic probe into Veylani’s mind would awaken her own latent psychic abilities, which were, as I would learn soon enough, remarkably strong. 

In short order, Darius had persuaded my assistant to help her and Veylani escape, and the three went on the run, where they would eventually encounter another pair of misfits, a pair of rattenvolk whom she likewise won over.  The male of the pair had a contact within DSM that he called for information as to what we knew of their location, which was just as quickly relayed to me, and I sent one of my elite security teams to retrieve my prize.  I managed to take the trio that had earned my ire, and for an ever so brief time, would have them well in hand to do with as I would.

Little did I know those space rats would prove more resourceful than I had accounted for.  It seemed that my former assistant had arranged for my prizes to be slipped away through a criminal group, and though the three primary targets were already in my clutches at the time, the space rats’ loyalty had been secured.  They would not only engineer a plan of rescue, but one that brought them onto my private holding facility.  It would have been doomed to failure but for Lila’s continued ability to win loyalty, for she had managed to convince one of my newer commandos to betray me as well.  Had I been at my facility at the time, they would not have escaped, but I fear I may have stretched myself too thin and had too many obligations, a flaw I have since corrected.

There is much more, certainly, for Darius and her loyal followers would prove a nuisance for several years, but we don’t have all day, and I suppose we should cover her development of the A-TK and what occurred at the Demon Barrier.”

#Lore24 – Entry #359 – Sci-Fi Month IV #24 – The Gifts of the Draconic Gods

Transcribed From the Personal Recording Implant of Andra Ganim, Chronicler of the Codex Infinitum

AG:  “To…become their creations?  You are implying something more than simple transmutation into a humanoid form?”

RV:  “Any sufficiently advanced idiot can perform a basic spell such as that; one of DSM’s subsidiary divisions sells such magic in pill form for use at parties, in fact.  It is well known in the records we have that dragons would often assume humanoid or animal forms whenever they wished, to mingle amongst their underlings, to fornicate with them, what have you.  Beings of such long life and great power often grow bored and must entertain themselves, after all.

I am indeed saying that the dragons sought a much deeper transformation, a fundamental reconstruction of their very souls.  For such as they who can manipulate and shape life however they may choose, such a feat would surely be simple enough, wouldn’t you think?  I have yet to uncover the reasons behind this movement within the dragons but am absolutely certain that a significant number of them altered their most fundamental essences, changed their state of being into something that transcends time and perhaps even space, allowing them to in effect live forever in one form or another.

Draconic souls, my dear.  They are still amongst us, and have been for thousands and thousands of years, some stronger than others, some aware to a limited degree of their higher existence, fewer still exhibiting a much keener awareness of their superior essence, the great rulers I’ve mentioned for example, and fewer still completely aware of what they are, what they once were, those who wish to awaken their full essence and reclaim what they once had.”

AG:  “…Individuals such as yourself.”

Note:  Rivalle’s presence has taken on a much more intense air of superiority, an almost palpable aura of command, of power unlike anything I have felt before.  Her assistant has gone to her knees, trembling as she cowers behind me.  I thought the light had caught Rivalle’s glasses, but no, that intense glow is coming from within them.  The storm outside has grown more intense, the thunder actually shaking the building, rattling the reinforced glass.  I feel myself trembling.

RV:  “Yes, individuals such as myself.  That is what drives me to do everything I have done, what I continue to do, and what I will do in the future.  I intend to unlock my full, unbridled essence and transcend back into my original state of being.  And for that, I needed others like me to study and manipulate, to see exactly how that is to be done. 

Note:  The intensity of her presence has begun to fade, as has the storm outside.

What I do is only seen as wrong because of the shortsighted nature of civilization at large, of the small-mindedness of the lesser beings that compose the bulk of those civilizations.  I am simply reclaiming what is mine, and I will not be denied my ultimate prize, whatever I must do. 

Am I acting selfishly?  Perhaps, but it is my nature, you see.  All of the traits I have admitted to possessing are simply part of my nature.  My ambition, greed, power, need to control others, all of the things I am derided for by my inferiors, all of it is simply who I am.  What I am.”

AG:  “I…see… So, this reaction you have to other individuals who possess this trait, other draconic souls, that is an ability to sense not only what they are, but their natures as well?  You can sense on an instinctual level if they have a nature that is aligned to yours, similar, or even in opposition?”

RV:  “Very good.  Yes, that is exactly what that feeling was, and why I simply cannot stand Lila Darius, though I would likely still feel the same regardless of her nature, given her actions.  I am a dragon of the most powerful of chromatics, the mighty reds, as you may have surmised given what I have described of my nature.  Darius is a metallic of the golden variety, the most powerful of their kind, and most often in opposition to my kind. 

Mind you, not all of our kind are driven by the baser nature of our original beings; in her various incarnations, Darius has displayed behavior that is markedly out of character for the traditional gold, her tendency toward chaotic behavior for example.  Even I have tendencies that are against my nature, as I enjoy a more ordered existence in lieu of the chaos I perhaps once preferred.  I find it most entertaining to create and manipulate systems, to watch as the little beings beneath me dance on the end of strings they do not even realize are there.  Everyone needs hobbies, even beings such as myself.

AG:  “You had mentioned this instinctive reaction relating to Marcon Shadowmist and his children.  Given what you have described…they are of the golds?”

RV:  “His children, yes, he…he has become something quite out of line with the typical gold.  His evolution to immortality took a far different path that tarnished his essence.  Though he is something orders of magnitude greater, basically you could say that he is a dracolich, perhaps the first of our kind to experiment with such a transformation.  You may be aware of tales of ancient adventurers encountering him as a black-scaled dragon, living in the swamps?  Tarnished gold.  Marcon does love a good joke, especially on zealous types, hence his collection of paladin armors and souls over the centuries.  He’s tolerable because he’s so amusing, really.”

AG:  “You had indicated that there has been a resurgence in the presence of draconic souls in recent times, due to a spiral nature in the patterns you have observed, and hinted that there could be a rather dramatic shift in civilization approaching because of it.  Where do you see this leading?”

RV:  “Into the Demon Sector, obviously.  There’s a reason why it has recently become of such intense interest throughout civilized space.  Our attention is being drawn there by the very will of the draconic souls themselves.”

#Lore24 – Entry #358 – Sci-Fi Month IV #23 – Seeking What Lies Hidden in the Sands of Time

Transcribed From the Personal Recording Implant of Andra Ganim, Chronicler of the Codex Infinitum

AG:  “I hope that I’m not delving into a topic I shouldn’t here, but what steps did you take to further your research once these special individuals began to show up again?”

RV:  “I won’t give you all the dirty little details, but will admit that I have used methods which most would find very questionable at best, downright ruthless and monstrous at worst.  I have faced no few attempts upon my life since I renewed my research, and I am something of the galaxy’s boogeyman because of them.  But as I’ve stated before, I don’t care what others think of me.  Most of them are beneath me and could not begin to fathom what it is I seek.

So, once I started to recognize these individuals again, I moved swiftly to secure them for myself.  You’ve heard rumors of some of the methods DSM employs, no doubt.  Some are completely true, others only slightly so.  I directed my AR&D division, in accordance with some of the secrets gleaned from the ancient draconic relics, to enhance the creatures known as doppelgangers, greatly enhancing their psychic abilities and their ability to duplicate their victims, without need for consuming them; all my particular breed of them require is a blood sample and time to psychically analyze and copy their targets innermost thoughts.  This made acquiring some of the more public and prominent test subjects much easier when I could simply replace them with versions that were loyal to me, and would further ensure that DSM maintained its position at the top of the power structure.

Don’t look so shocked, my dear.  In the grand scheme of things, this is on the minor end of the scale when it comes to the terrible things I’ve done in pursuit of my ultimate goal.  You needn’t worry about being replaced yourself, nor should you worry about meeting an untimely end upon leaving here.  Believe it or not, I do have a great deal of respect for what is you’re doing, however roundabout your methods are.  It’s a dodge worthy of Marcon himself, really.

Now, with a few new subjects to study, I would finally see my centuries of research bear fruit, would finally begin to unravel what it was that lay hidden within the sands of time by the dragons.”

AG:  “May I dare ask what it was that was so well hidden?”

RV:  “Why, the dragons themselves, of course.  Or, at the very least, their knowledge and experiences, stored in a way that only someone like me could manage to uncover.  There have been a few others over the course of the many millennia who have began to follow the road I have but have never taken the steps required to actually reach its end, for one seeking this knowledge cannot allow themselves be dissuaded by little things like common decency or a few lives along the way.  Take Lila Darius, for example; she has been something of a treasure hunter and historian in many of her incarnations, but try as she might, she is simply incapable of attaining the knowledge that she too seeks, because she has not allowed herself to see others as I do, to study them as I have.

I’m speaking of the very nature of advanced life as we know it, of the many sentient races who populate this galaxy.  At some time or another, we were all created, more or less in our current forms, by the dragons, our civilizations cultivated, changed, and ultimately left to fall to ruin in the wake of these beings who apparently vanished from whatever worlds they had played with, vanishing into time and space. 

But they didn’t vanish; no, they evolved.  Evolved into an existence that the pathetic little brains of the average being cannot begin to fathom.  That’s why most religions were formed, to make sense of these great beings that had evolved beyond common ability to understand.  Their evolution was what drove them to their experiments with the lesser races, what fueled their travels from one world to the next, trying something different each time, seeing what additional knowledge they could glean from their work.

Not all dragons were that way, certainly.  Some sought simpler existences, were content to continue ruling over their followers as gods in the flesh, while others seemed to grow discontent with their creations, attempting to destroy them only to find out that they had grown beyond their ability to handle, through various factors like the mastery of arcane magic and the formation of “divine” connections, and simple tenacity to survive.  Still other dragons would take different paths along their evolution, seeking to become more like their creations, to live amongst them or even to become them.”

#Lore24 – Entry #357 – Sci-Fi Month IV #22 – Vexations Along the Way

Transcribed From the Personal Recording Implant of Andra Ganim, Chronicler of the Codex Infinitum

AG:  “I must admit I’m a little hesitant to ask, but could you tell me more about those vexations?”

RV:  “You have absolutely nothing to worry about, my dear.  I assure you, though I may seem a bit angry at times, it’s not aimed toward you.  I consider this quite the honor, truth be told; a shame it’s taken you this long to seek me out, but I suppose all things come in time.

Now, my initial challenge in my study of this reaction was simply finding enough test subjects.  I had no way of easily identifying those who possessed this trait unless I could see them or interact with them myself, so given all my other duties, this proved quite troublesome.  Plus, the extremely low number of those that possessed this trait made it exceptionally difficult to find in general.  That was one reason I began expanding my search to other worlds when I was able to travel freely amongst them.

By the time of the Age of Legends, I would have an understanding of what exactly this trait was, what it indicated about the nature of those whom possessed it, and would shift the focus of my studies to attain a deeper understanding of what it truly meant, what other secrets may lay hidden around it and behind it.  Of course, my studies were delayed through war, threats to the entire world, and various other annoyances that would divert my attention.

Beyond the Imperium War, I had hoped to study the incarnation of Lila Darius of the period, but by the time I was able to return to my studies, she had died and been reincarnated elsewhere in the galaxy, and I could not locate her.  So, even without trying, she had caused me yet another delay.  With the spread of populations throughout the stars, one would think it would prove somewhat easier to identify the individuals I needed, but for a time, it seemed that my choices were very limited, had even seemed to have dried up for a few decades.  I through the drakonae of all people would have an abundance of these individuals, but they proved to be just as rare amongst them as any other species. 

I attempted to study this on myself over the years, of course, but ultimately could not find the data I needed without placing myself in greater risk than I deemed safe.  However, I would remain patient, learning what else I could about the pattern of draconic travel and details about their methods that were hidden deep within their ruins and relics.  Their newest creations that I could find, those only a few thousand years older than I, possessed some extremely fine details that were not present in older works, that had simply been lost to the ravages of time.  One could compare these small details to DNA strands, practically invisible and just as easily destroyed, almost as if they were coded into the very materials as they were forged by their draconic creators.

AG:  “What did these details reveal to you?”

RV:  “Unfortunately, nothing that I could immediately act upon for my own desires, but that would still prove useful in some form or another throughout DSM’s existence.  There were indications of methods that could be used to alter or influence the various aspects of life itself using magic and science that had been forgotten even before I came along.  Some small fraction of this knowledge I managed to extract and utilize, leading to some of the more significant contributions from DSM over the years, mostly in the form of advancing medical technology to the state where divine healing has become almost extinct in some areas of the core worlds. 

But that was research I mostly delegated to my underlings in the AR&D division, for it didn’t further advance the understanding of what lay beneath and beyond the flesh.  I would continue my studies of the patterns of draconic movements through time, though, and given their spiral nature, I arrived at a theory that would seem to be advancing to fact.  Even after their vanishing, the pattern continues, and after several more centuries, I was able to again begin to find more of the test subjects I required.  More of the individuals with this trait began to appear, several of which drove the further development of the corporatocracy as it is today, only this time I would not waste my time being subtle.  I would have what I wanted, whatever it took, whoever it was that I had to lay my hands on to study.”

#Lore24 – Entry #356 – Sci-Fi Month IV #21 – Following the Trail of the Dragons

Transcribed From the Personal Recording Implant of Andra Ganim, Chronicler of the Codex Infinitum

AG:  “…Are you suggesting that the dragons themselves in these creation stories are in fact the gods?  Or…rather, that the gods as we know them are in fact, the dragons?”

RV:  “See, I told you you’d get there.  Yes, I am quite certain that the various deities that we know of, through whatever means they may have created their various child species or the loyal followers they have cultivated over time are indeed the dragons of legend.  Aside from a handful of examples that we know of throughout history, based upon the standard Andyllion-centric views, there have been no encounters with living dragons, yet it seems our lives have been shaped by them consistently and seemingly at every turn as we delve deeper and deeper into our galaxy. 

I’m not suggesting that all gods are dragons, far from it, for we have multiple examples of the lesser races ascending to that lofty realm, your own goddess for example.  But I am saying that the majority of the gods as we understand them are or were, dragons.  The dragons themselves are, in spite of everything we know of them, very alien to common understanding, so the methods they use and the reasons they do what they do are still very much uncertain, even to me.  But in this, I am quite certain.”

AG:  “Could you elucidate upon this, please?  What have you learned that leads you to this conclusion?”

RV:  “It’s a very long trail, a most convoluted web, but I will endeavor to be as succinct as possible.  As I’ve said before, I realized fairly early in my existence that I was in fact different from the other elves, and began to search for others like myself that were…different.  Through the long course of my research, I did indeed discover others like me, for when I first met them, I experienced a visceral, instinctive reaction like what I described feeling for Lila Darius.  Though these individuals did not always possess the same understanding of the arcane as I did, they possessed certain other traits similar to my own:  greater ambitions, exceptional drive to accumulate wealth, the ability to instill intense loyalty, that sort of thing.  This is what would, at some points in history, be referred to as the “spark of rulership” or some such thing, that extra little something that made various rulers greater than others. 

I likewise felt this when I first met Marcon Shadowmist, and again when I met his various children prior to the Age of Legends.  Marcon aside, for he is an anomaly amongst anomalies, the reaction I felt inside me with his children was exactly the same as what I felt when I find myself thinking of Lila Darius, only slightly lesser, given our frequent clashes over time.  The thing about Marcon…he is always testing you.  Always.  When he sought me out for assistance in correcting the demon incursion problem, it was a test.  When we sat back and observed events during the Age of Legends, it was a test.  Though I have not met him since before the Imperium War, I’m certain he still tests me.

And what is he testing for?  Some would say character, others perhaps wisdom, or others simply how well one can maintain their manners.  It’s hard to say exactly.  But in this, I believe he was testing my awareness of myself and of my nature, for he knew what I was, though he never once hinted at my true nature.  I suppose you could say he didn’t wish to spoil the surprise. 

Once I became aware of this reaction, this resonance, with certain beings, I began my experiments, using the lesser beings, the ones who did not share my response to this resonance, as test subjects over the years.  I noted particular changes in the nature of the resonance between beings, some more visceral, others more muted, others something I could describe as a sense of familiarity, and since I could find no physical traits that would account for this, I delved deeper, all the way to their very souls. 

Of course, it wouldn’t be as simple as tearing down a soul.  No, there would be plenty of vexations along the way.”

#Lore24 – Entry #355 – Sci-Fi Month IV #20 – Musings on the Fate of the Dragons

Transcribed From the Personal Recording Implant of Andra Ganim, Chronicler of the Codex Infinitum

AG:  “Given the amount of time you’ve studied the dragons, you are likely the foremost expert on them in the galaxy.  Many researchers have previously attempted to access your research, and the one constant is the denial of access, which has fueled countless theories that you’ve made remarkable discoveries that you’ve used to get DSM and yourself to where you are now.  I suppose, since we’re moving onto the subject, that we should start at the beginning.  What started your admitted obsession with the dragons and their fate?”

RV:  “You’ll recall that I had always had an affinity for arcane magic.  Unlike others, I grasped the most complex concepts easily, and practically knew the draconic language used in arcana before I even studied it.  Most assumed I had simply been able to grasp the language easily, but no, I always knew the language.  I even gained mastery of High Draconic in the time it took normal arcanists to learn the basic form of the tongue.  Once I had gone to study the arcane, I quickly delved into what was known of dragon-kind, and quickly found it remarkably lacking and, somehow, instinctively, I knew much of it was wrong.  I always knew that I was different from my fellow elves, but I would begin to surmise that it was not simply the prodigy I had been named during this time.”

AG:  “Correct me if I’m wrong, but are you alluding to your very nature being different from other elves?”

RV:  “Yes.  My very nature is fundamentally different from that of normal elves, down to my very soul.  Taken at surface level, the traits which distinguish me most, my ambition, drive to gain power and wealth, mastery of the arcane, massive ego, my tendency to gain a remarkable loyalty from my lesser, even my lifespan.  Most elves tend to grow supremely bored and detached after a thousand years or so, perhaps two if they are particularly ambitious, and go off to die quietly somewhere.  I’ve never felt that urge, not even once, and I am just as spry as I was two, three, four thousand years and more ago.  Quite an anomaly, you would agree?”

AG:  “There are certainly no other known examples of elves as old as you.  Common belief is that you have preserved yourself through arcane methods, may in fact be a lich or making use of clones to extend your lifespan.”

RV:  “Lichdom is not for me, at least not for the foreseeable future, but there is precedent for it.  I have said previously that I mastered the arcane method of creating a clone.  That mastery has certainly been honed through practice when required.”

AG:  “So you have experienced death before.”

RV:  “Death of the body is trivial, my dear.  It is merely a vessel for the soul, which houses one’s true essence.  That is why I destroyed Halaxaes’ soul when he dared to cross me.  When the Hand of Mausolus was sent after me, I did not mean that I was lucky that he never caught me, rather that he did not slay my soul.  Had it been Korvalis Nightrunner who had come after me, then perhaps you and I would not be having this conversation.”

AG:  “Most would say that dealing in souls is a very terrible, dark art.”

RV:  “Most are beneath me and could not begin to understand how little I care about their opinions.”

AG:  “With all this talk of souls and your true nature, how does that tie into your draconic research?  Have you found a secret there as to the nature of souls themselves?  To our very existence, perhaps?”

RV:  “Not all souls, only a very small number of them, speaking strictly by the numbers.  But before I get into that, I should tell you the short version of what I have learned over these many centuries of study.  The proliferation of draconic ruins throughout the galaxy can be no accident, for their general construction and iconography are mostly identical throughout known space, with minor variations depending upon the tastes of the individual dragons who oversaw their construction.  As your order’s records indicate, there is a clear advancement in the age of the ruins through time; some ruins have been dated to be much older than those within the Andyllion core worlds, and others have been dated to be much younger, but the youngest of these is still thousands of years older than even I.  What most have not discerned, though, is the pattern of their construction, specifically a pattern which indicates an intentional and systematic expansion of dragon kind throughout space in a spiral progression following the spiral nature of the galaxy itself.”

AG:  “Are you referring to the draconic migration theory?”

RV:  “Yes and no.  The theory itself is flawed, you see.  The dragons did not simply advance from one world to the next as they grew bored or were vanquished by the lesser races or succumbed to some disease or calamity, to conquer the lesser races on a whim as is surmised.  No, the dragons themselves were responsible for seeding the worlds they visited, taking their loyal followers with them as they traveled, creating entirely new civilizations as they advanced, trying something new and different each time, studying how these civilizations flourished or died, then moving on to the next once they had satisfied themselves.  The shortsighted and self-absorbed nature of the various races throughout known space could never allow them to open their minds to the possibility that they or their gods were not responsible for their coming to their home worlds or perhaps even their creation. 

I can see that you’re going to need a few moments to process this and formulate your next question.  I can already guess what that question will be.  How does my version of events relating to the draconic seeding of worlds relate to the gods, to the various creation myths and commonly held beliefs that the gods were responsible for the creation of their ‘children’?  It’s really not a difficult leap in logic, my dear.  Think about it for a moment, have some fresh tea.  You’ll get there, I’m certain.”

#Lore24 – Entry #354 – Sci-Fi Month IV #19 – The Growth of the Corporate Empires, Power in the New Paradigm

Transcribed From the Personal Recording Implant of Andra Ganim, Chronicler of the Codex Infinitum

AG:  “So, Miss Volcarri, following your victory over Emperor Halaxaes and the dissolution of the Elvish Dominion, did you immediately return to your studies of draconic history, or did you immediately move towards forming DSM?”

RV:  “Now that my name was again on the stage, I was forced to involve myself with the political machine.  There were a multitude of obstacles to overcome relating to the former Imperium and specifically the Great Houses and the animosity many systems and countless peoples felt toward them.  My name had already been forgotten by most of the shorter-lived races save perhaps those who were chroniclers, but I changed it to its current form then, and pushed forward with an effort to rebuild, reform, and reemerge.  It helped that I had been witnessed to have slain Halaxaes by Lila Darius herself, for her word carried some weight, and though I couldn’t stand the woman, I am capable of putting my hatred of her aside for a time when there are larger concerns.  It was rather unfortunate that this particular incarnation would have a shorter life than some, so damaged by Halaxaes’ final assault was she.  I very much would have liked to have studied her; it may have advanced my research some centuries if I had the opportunity.

But, duty called, and I answered.  I began a push for reformation of the Great Houses into what would evolve into their current form, focusing each upon a different aspect of what would necessarily have to become the new paradigm in the galaxy if some semblance of stability and control were to be maintained.  Many of the systems which we had civilized and advanced were reluctant to become entangled with a centralized power, but still required some amount of support from other worlds for information and the supplies they could not provide for themselves. 

So, being the forward thinker I am, I first directed the Great Houses to offer reasonable reparations to some worlds that had been most severely affected by the Imperium’s actions, and, as a show of our willingness to participate on an equal level, oversaw the dismantling of the space citadels and disarming of most of the Imperium’s remaining warships.  Most would need to be refitted and repaired before they would be fully functional as vessels of war anyway, so it was little effort to convince the galaxy at large to allow us to keep a token defensive force while the bulk of the ships were recycled. 

It would take nearly two centuries, but with the good works I had directed the elves toward, and the heavy amount of propaganda I saw spread throughout the civilized worlds to regain some semblance of trust, about as much as most were willing to give my kind before the Imperium, anyway, I could once again return to something of my original plans.  I originally formed DSM as a transportation business, for interstellar trade was indeed booming during this period, but rapidly grew the company in a handful of decades to encompass multiple other companies that we had either formed through the Great Houses or had engineered to be taken over.  And thus you have what would become the DSM of today.”

AG:  “Did you meet with any resistance to the initial growth of DSM and the takeover of so many smaller companies?”

RV:  “About as much then as we have now.  When you’re the largest company out there, there is little that stands in the way of you getting what you want.  Once we had been firmly established, and others had started to follow our model, the members of the Big Four for example, and some others who have become institutions outside of the Andyllion Core, everything seemed to be moving exactly as I had wished it to.  There were bumps in the road, so to say, but they were relatively minor and dealt with via decisive action.”

AG:  “DSM is known to be the leading developer of arcane technology, and has been said to be responsible for the fact that arcane magic has survived to the modern day due to the efforts of your Arcane Research & Development department.  I take it the loyalty of the arcanists you bolstered during your and Ruvaen’s coup against Halaxaes remained?”

RV:  “Yes, that’s quite right.  Though it seems that many peoples are trying to push themselves to be rid of magic altogether, its never going away.  The underlying power that fuels sorcerous magic is literally everywhere, and has recovered greatly with its diminished use over time, and denying it is to our detriment as civilized peoples.  One doesn’t deny the power of the gods, so why deny the power of the arcane?”

AG:  “Some would say the power of the gods have diminished as well, for much of what once required their blessing to perform can be performed by science now.”

RV:  “True, their has certainly been a decrease in the faithful over the centuries, but that too is an inevitability.  They will simply have to seek out more uncivilized worlds in other regions of the galaxy that we’ve yet to claim if they want to cling to the old ways.  I’m sure they’re well aware of just how many of these worlds are out there.”

AG:  “Was a driving force in your creation and expansion of the AR&D division your interest in the draconic histories?”

RV:  “That’s accurate, yes.  I had much to decipher yet, and found myself a few centuries behind, so delegating some of my research was the next logical step.  I could not always trust those beneath me to do things as I wished, and when failures happened, those responsible were dealt with swiftly, but overall, I must say that bringing them into the fold was a marked improvement.  And with our prevalence throughout space, we could study even more sites and uncover more relics of the past.  I suppose we should move on to the meat of this conversation, my personal obsession with dragons and what remains of them.  I’m sure that’s what you’re really after, isn’t it?  Well, out of respect for the Goldeneyed Librarian, I will certainly indulge you.”

#Lore24 – Entry #353 – Sci-Fi Month IV #18 – The Imperium Falls, a New Empire Rises

Transcribed From the Personal Recording Implant of Andra Ganim, Chronicler of the Codex Infinitum

AG:  “As a follow up to a previous question, before I forget, do you know what it was that the rebels, and I assume, the FPC, managed to track down whatever it was that relic had hinted at?”

RV:  “It was another draconic ruin, an entire island nation, really, long abandoned like all of them, but in time it would be determined that this was amongst the newest of the draconic sites, something on the order of three to four thousand years younger than the next nearest site at the time if I’m recalling that particular study correctly.  Though I would not be as fortunate as Lila Darius, as I understand it, she found one of the last known living dragons in the galaxy and sought knowledge of the arcane that was once thought lost.  For a Chronicler of the Codex Infinitum, she was remarkably tight-lipped about what it was that she learned beyond that, though, having failed to record it as one would expect, much to my vexation.  By the time I would be able to study the site myself, the dragon she met was long gone.”

AG:  “Fascinating.  Did her knowledge impact the outcome of the Imperium War?”

RV:  “Perhaps it accelerated what had already been set in motion, perhaps it tipped the scale at some point along the line, but to say the FPC would have been unable to achieve victory without that knowledge would be overstating its significance by several orders of magnitude.  Lila Darius was and is but one person in an entire galaxy after all…though her current incarnation has certainly made waves much more significant than her previous ones…”

Note:  A shadow has passed over Rivalle’s features, and her secretary is looking even more anxious, her tail hasn’t stopped swishing for some time now, and it seems the storm outside has further intensified, as if sensing Rivalle’s dark mood.  I believe I have strayed into more current events that are still something of an open wound and will backtrack to the end of the Imperium War.

AG:  “To return to where we were before I diverted us, you, in the guise of Ruvaen, had attempted a coup and revealed that Emperor Halaxaes had indeed had a cloned body waiting to receive his soul.  Given what you’ve revealed before, was there a reason that you did not have a trap prepared to capture his soul?”

RV:  “Of course.  Upon his death, had his soul not been tuned to that cloned body, the clone would have awakened and, likely, proven to be just as capable a leader as the real Halaxaes, though with a much greater chance of becoming unquestionably psychotic.  As I had said before, cloning methods then were not as reliable as they are now, though they are typically limited to new body parts in the systems where it is allowed at all, and with what I would learn soon after, we did not need a psychotic emperor in charge of the power he would reveal.  Ruvaen, and thus I, was aware that Halaxaes had devoted much of his resources to building what we had assumed was a new fleet but had yet to reveal it.  As it would turn out, I had once again underestimated him, likely due to my fixation upon chasing Lila Darius.”

AG:  “So, the bunker that had been hidden away, and this mysterious fleet, were one and the same, the massive battle station known as Sentinel Prime?”

RV:  “Indeed, you’re correct.  Halaxaes had constructed the monstrosity in the shadow of the Demon Barrier, where long-range sensors could not detect him, and few but pirates and other outlaws would dare to tread.  Even though I had secured those loyal to Ruvaen for the moment, I was not prepared to deal with the appearance of Sentinel Prime and was forced into a hasty retreat.  Several of the capitol ships and two of the space citadels in my possession would be destroyed before they could evacuate the system.  For such a massive structure, the fact that he had managed to secure a functional TK-Drive assembly impressed even me.”

AG:  “Several worlds were devastated once Sentinel Prime had made its appearance by its planetary bombardments, many were those that were sympathetic to the FPC’s, but some were targeted seemingly for no reason.  I assume these were worlds that were used by the Ruvaen faction as bases or hiding places?”

RV:  “Yes, that’s correct.  In a very short time, we had been forced to follow the ways of the FPC and remain highly mobile and scattered.  Simply rejoining Halaxaes’ forces with a renewed vow of loyalty would not be enough to ensure their survival, for those that tried were immediately executed, no quarter given.  I suppose it was something of a race to see which of us would be decimated first at that point.  My plans had not accounted for something on the scale of Sentinel Prime at all.  Though for all its impressive engineering, it did have a weakness that we could exploit, namely that it had to frequently return to its support facility outside the Demon Barrier for repairs and recharging; no power source exists that could sufficiently power something that large, even today, arcane or technological.”

AG:  “What was the power source for Sentinel Prime?  How had he managed it?”

RV:  “Oh, I would think it’s quite obvious.  He had managed to tap into the greatest source of energy in the known galaxy:  the Demon Barrier itself.  It is essentially a mass of radiation and raw energy, after all, so it had been theorized for some time that it could be drawn upon given proper methods, methods which Halaxaes and his arcanists and scientists had managed to devise.  Much of the internal structure of the monstrosity was simply batteries and capacitors, really.”

AG:  “I see…rather simple in its complexity in some ways, then. Could you tell me of how the final battle against Halaxaes came and went from your perspective?”

RV:  “Given the rather desperate situation we found ourselves in, and with my plans thoroughly disrupted at this point, I reached out to the FPC for an alliance.  Through Lila Darius and her closest allies, for the FPC leadership certainly had no willingness to trust Ruvaen, even if he had become just as much an enemy to Halaxaes as they had.  As much as it galled me to do so, for it seemed that my hatred of her had only grown with her own power, an aspect of that instinctual antithesis which I had mentioned earlier.  She felt the same for me, but was much more capable of dealing with it, as much as I hate to admit it, and had not allowed herself to be distracted during our feud, nor had she allowed it to cloud her thinking, for she was quick to accept my aid, for she already had a plan, and just needed to find and then enter Sentinel Prime to make it work.

With the aid of my most talented arcanists, we devised the basis for the modern art of astral divination and managed to scry the comings and goings of Sentinel Prime during its attacks, eventually finding the region in which its support facility was located.  Our respective fleets would be mustered and prepared to follow Sentinel Prime upon its next return to the facility, with our combined forces set to deal with Halaxaes’ own defense fleet while myself and Darius would strike from the shadows, so to speak, infiltrating Sentinel Prime to sabotage its power systems and face down Halaxaes once and for all.”

AG:  “How could you be sure that he would have no other clones to return his soul to?”

RV:  “I had already taken this into account.  I had no doubts that his personal cloning facility was aboard Sentinel Prime, so my task would be to see to its destruction while Darius kept him busy, and our combined teams would work to sabotage the power system using what I thought was some of the same transplanar bombs that I had become so familiar with over the centuries.  As it was, Lila Darius would manage another humiliation.”

AG:  “If these were not bombs, what were they?”

RV:  “I had hoped to simply disable Sentinel Prime, you see, and use its power for myself once the war had ended.  Deal enough damage that it was no threat, but silently rebuild it during the coming years as a nice little base of operations for my revised plans.  I had anticipated massive damage from these explosions, but that is not at all what happened.  You are familiar with World Creation Engines?”

AG:  “Yes.  Arcane-technological devices that are used to terraform planets that are on the edge of habitability and make them fully useable.  They came about during the Age of Expansion that followed the Imperium War.”

RV:  “Almost correct.  They came about during the Imperium War, and were first used upon Sentinel Prime itself.  You could say that the ‘bombs’ Darius had devised were the prototypes for them.  How else could a world like Sentinel Prime exist today without the use of magic?  Certainly, it was not as the tales of scavengers and pirates and their like building it up over the centuries would have you believe.  There is no sun for it to orbit, though it maintains its own rotation and life-sustaining functions, still draws on the power of the Demon Barrier for those functions to continue in fact, even though it has become unsuitable for a battle station in the intervening centuries, for it would rapidly grow unstable and likely fall to pieces should it be moved from its proximity to its power source, assuming its TK-Drive could even be restored, of course.”

AG:  “Incredible.  So, how did the final conflict with Halaxaes go?”

RV:  “Our strike teams came in hard and fast, a dozen ships, loaded with these ‘bombs’ and the best soldiers on both sides, slipping through the chaos of the larger fleet battle.  For a bit of irony, we made use of aerian star sabers for this operation, for their adamantine frames and ramming tips made them uniquely suited for such a plan.  I and Darius came in on different ships but would reunite once she had seen to it that the power control center was secure, and I had seen to it there would be no more Halaxaes clones.  We would then make our push to Halaxaes himself, a smaller team cutting through his royal guard while I and Darius dealt with him ourselves. 

Halaxaes had prepared well for us, though, and had somehow managed to tap into the same power that fueled Sentinel Prime to defend himself.  It was a narrow victory, admittedly, for Darius was severely wounded, and I would have been killed but for Ruvaen and my golem armor.  In the final moments, with Halaxaes assured of his victory, he came in to slay his traitorous son, still unaware of me.  His blade pierced through the core of the armor, right through where a heart ought to be.  In that moment I teleported myself outside the armor and pierced my blade. Soulshatter, through Halaxaes’ heart, finally revealing myself in his final moments as it consumed his soul once and for all.  I allowed him to linger just long enough to tell him the quick version of my subversion before he was utterly destroyed.

I perhaps would have liked to have captured Darius then, for she had knowledge I wanted, but as we prepared to face one another, her wounded and mostly depleted of her power, and me still quite well off, the ‘bombs’ began to detonate, forcing us to abandon our feud for the moment in favor of mutual survival.  Ruvaen was more than willing to assist, still quite functional, so he carried Darius as I returned us to our nearest ship.  As we made our escape, I realized that her ‘bombs’ were nothing of what I thought they were, could already sense the transmutative power coursing through Sentinel Prime as our fleet retreated.  Halaxaes’ remaining forces, still outnumbering the FPC’s significantly, were severely reduced in number when they were caught in the ensuing detonation, being sucked into the transmutational maelstrom that had consumed Sentinel Prime and its support facility. 

Following this, in due course, the Imperium was officially dissolved by order of then Emperor Ruvaen, and any remaining Halaxaes loyalists eventually hunted down and dealt with by a united force if they continued their attempts to maintain the Imperium or form their own.  It was something of a chaotic time, my plans thoroughly in shambles by this point, but I’m nothing if not adaptable.  Given the fiercely independent nature of many worlds and peoples, the chances of a unified government seemed unlikely to be accepted, so I would attain the control and power I required in another way.”

AG:  “Regarding Ruvaen…what became of him?  Once the Imperium had fallen, there is very little mention of him.  Was his soul too…consumed by your blade?”

RV:  “Oh, of course not.  He had become a most loyal servant by this time, and I do like to reward loyalty.  Isn’t that right, Ruvaen?”

Note:  Rivalle turned her gaze toward the corner display of various artifacts, amongst them a large suit of armor, a unique, larger redesign of the battle armor used by the Imperium.  I had detected its magical nature when I had first entered, assuming it to be a relic of the period, but now the arcane energies grew stronger as its eyes began to glow.  The armor moved, taking one knee, closing its fist and crossing its chest plate with hits forearm.  I heard Rivalle’s assistant gasp and take several steps away from us, apparently unaware of the armor’s true nature.  It spoke then, a deep, echoing, mechanical voice.

RH:  “Yes, my empress.  Your eternal guardian remains ever vigilant.”

Note:  The golem armor that is Ruvaen Halaxaes then rose, returning to its former position, the surge of power fading as it once again resumed its semi-dormant, watchful state.

RV:  “When I build golems, my dear, I make sure they are built to last.”

#Lore24 – Entry #352 – Sci-Fi Month IV #17 – Getting Personal During the Imperium War

Transcribed From the Personal Recording Implant of Andra Ganim, Chronicler of the Codex Infinitum

AG:  “I could help but notice that you have something of a…fascination…with Lila Darius.  Did this begin during the Imperium War, or was there something going back to her incarnation during the Age of Legends?”

Note:  Rivalle’s assistant is looking rather uneasy again.  I believe I may be treading upon a very touchy subject.

RV:  “There was actually something during the Age of Legends.  I witnessed some of her exploits from afar, but since I never interacted with her myself, I didn’t realize the true nature of the subtle feelings I had about her then.  There was always something about her that rubbed me the wrong way, some little thing that just made me dislike her.  Not simple envy or jealousy over her looks or personality, or any other such drivel, but something on a more instinctive, baser level.  I had experienced the same feeling with Marcon to an extent, but given his rather unique nature, the effect was greatly lessened.  It was when I finally met Marcon’s children, felt that same kind of unexplainable dislike as I had toward Lila Darius, that I realized there was a much deeper meaning to my obsession with studying draconic history.  During the Imperium War, though, that innate dislike was magnified by her constant interference in my plans.”

AG:  “How did your first encounter with this incarnation of Lila Darius start your rivalry?”

RV:  “This was a year or two after the Auralus incident.  I, or rather, Ruvaen, had been tasked, as he typically was, with hunting down yet another rebel cell and crushing them under the might of the Imperium.  In this particular case, the rebels had actually managed to acquire knowledge that I personally was quite interested in, relating to a draconic ruin that was unknown to me at the time.  There was potentially something there that had drawn their interest, enough so that this particular group had devoted a significant amount of their time and resources to locate. 

I, in the guise of Ruvaen, pursued the rebel courier who had come looking for one of the many Chroniclers who had gone into hiding, hoping that the Chronicler could decipher the mysterious artifact they had.  The courier had brought the artifact with them, and I intended to have it.  They proved to be quite a wily opponent, however, and would evade capture for some time.  Eventually, though, their luck would run out, and I would have them, though before their capture, they managed to hide the artifact on some backwater world, which, it just so happened, placed it within the hands of Lila Darius. 

As it turned out, Darius was a most talented arcanist during this incarnation, and nearly as skilled with a blade as I was.  Once I had discovered where the courier had hidden the artifact, I would return to the world only to discover it gone and would begin my hunt for Darius.  She would prove quite elusive, managing several vexing defeats of my soldiers through her own wits and luck, and those of the courier and a defector who had managed to escape with the courier while I was searching for the relic.

It was some time later that we had tracked the rebel cell down to a mustering point for their tiny fleet that I would first face Darius in combat, aboard one of our space citadels.  Though I had her defeated in our personal battle, that defector managed a lucky strike with a missile launcher, and they escaped.  It turns out the courier had managed to steal Ruvaen’s personal starfighter and led the rebel group into the depths of the citadel, destroying its power core and setting up a destructive reaction. 

I must admit, I was rather angry to have been foiled in such a way, and my frustration would only deepen as Darius and the rebels would continue a series of unprecedented victories against the Imperium.  Granted, our goal was ultimately the same in the end, but my own foundation had not yet been settled, so these losses were detrimental to my ultimate success.  I would say that the setbacks Darius and her FPC allies caused set back my plans at least a decade or more, and extended the Imperium War further than I had originally intended by perhaps another five years.”

AG:  “How many times would you face Lila Darius in battle during the war?”

RV:  “We fought personally on half a dozen occasions.  Each time but one, it seemed that the fates would favor her, and though I had carefully planned how I would entrap her, she would find a way out, through her own guile, her allies, or in at least one case, pure luck.  I’m not too proud to admit that I may have lost sight of my goals for a time during this period, so focused was I upon seeing that woman defeated.  She, and further incarnations, would be the only beings that would confound me so over the centuries.”

AG:  “In spite of the defeats the Imperium suffered, they remained firmly in control of the core worlds surrounding their capitol of Anyllion, and would prove most resilient to the FPC’s efforts to eradicate them.  Can you elaborate on the use of cloning technology during this time to bolster the Imperium’s armies?”

RV:  “Though I was quite familiar with the arcane technique for creating clones, Halaxaes’ scientists had indeed developed a method for creating clones that did not result in immediate attempts to kill the original, though the effectiveness of these clones was never especially great when compared to the originals.  Though they were certainly capable of serving, they were simply inferior to the originals, lacking their abilities to adapt quite so well and to think as quickly.  They made excellent fodder, though, and in the numbers they were eventually produced, would serve the Imperium quite well. 

The locations of these cloning facilities were a secret known only to the Emperor, Ruvaen, myself, and a handful of others, and were always at the top of the FPC’s list of targets.  I would again face Darius during one of the rebel’s assaults on one of these facilities, and it would be the one occasion I would best her in combat, though I have since questioned whether it was her plan to be captured in the hopes of doing exactly what we did later.  Though we are most often against one another, occasionally we seem to align in a strange way.”

AG:  “So you’re saying that you allied with Darius?  Could you explain?”

RV:  “The enemy of my enemy is my friend, as the old saying goes.  I took a chance that had to be taken.  I had learned some time before this that Halaxaes had a private bunker somewhere that Ruvaen was not even aware of.  The Emperor’s growing paranoia had led him to secret this away even from his own son, and I suspected that he had a reason for this.  I suspected that he had a clone body waiting, and that he had already made preparations to transfer his soul to that body should he die.  It was exactly what he had originally wanted for Ruvaen, but he had grown wary of Ruvaen by this time, sensing perhaps that all was not as it should be, that perhaps the golem body his son possessed was exerting a negative influence upon him, or perhaps, spite of the loyalty that had been displayed, there was an underlying threat there.

His instincts were quite correct; we elves are rather talented when it comes to our scheming, after all.  So, I made the decision to test my theory as to whether he did indeed possess a clone.  At the time, either it would be proven true and I could use the various methods at my disposal to find this secret bunker, though it would be somewhat complicated by the fact that Ruvaen would be seen as a traitor, or Ruvaen would be elevated to be Emperor of the Imperium, thus allowing me to advance my original plan by some many years, should there be no clone.

So, when Halaxaes had Darius brought before him, I gave her a few subtle hints that she managed to pick up on, and, though she did not trust me in the slightest, she too saw the potential gains.  When the time was right, I sprung the surprise, allowing Darius to deliver a surprising, fatal blow to Halaxaes, before I would aid her in her escape. 

As it turns out, Halaxaes indeed had survived, his soul transferring to a cloned body; within the hour he would be in command once again, though the Ruvaen faction of the Imperium was firmly in my control.  However small it was in comparison to the rest of the Imperium’s forces, it was quite powerful, for I had the bulk of his arcanists on my side.  This fracture would be the beginning of the end for Halaxaes’ empire.”