video | r u freakin kiddin me

[takehisplace]

Who: Luke fon Fabre
Broadcast: Yes
Action: The Marsiva
When: The late morning

[video;]

[Luke is already up and running around when the feed snaps on. He's got bright red hair and a long white coat, opened to show a red gem at his collarbone.]

Hey! Is anyone here? Can anyone hear me? I'm-- uh, I think I'm trapped! Hello?

[Wait, there's a red light and some kind of screen! He rushes over, not really recognizing this kind of technology but he'll take it. The stuff in the ranches was a lot like this, just less polished.]

There has to be a way... Maybe I can pull up a map? What would Jade do... Wait, I know! [He smashes a LOT OF BUTTONS. And turns the feed off in the process.

Oops.]

Comments

[nerdeology]

Out of curiosity, what part of society were the hero and his companions from? Humans, elves, or a mixture of the two? Or something else entirely? And what are the Summon Spirits?

[It all sounds very interesting - and Sorey would probably flail about how romantically tragic it is - but he's all about the fine details.]

[takehisplace]

[Very good questions. Unfortunately, he hasn't met the Storyteller yet...]

The legends never said. I really doubt they were half-elves, though. Half-elves are hated and chased out wherever they go, but the hero Van is revered and known all over.

[Summon spirits, though! He knows them.]

Summon Spirits are-- well, they're powerful elemental spirits. They watch over the flow of the world's mana. There's one for each kind of magic, so... water, fire, earth, wind, lightning, ice, darkness, and light.

Their names are... Shadow... uh... Gnome... Celsius... Volt... [Crap, what were the others?] Efreet, Sylph... sorry, I never learned a lot of this until we met them in person.

[nerdeology]

[Elemental spirits making pacts to protect the world, huh... so they must be that world's seraphim equivalent. Interesting...]

It's alright. Better than nothing, right? Sorry for the interruption, anyway. Please, go on.

[takehisplace]

Right, sorry!

[He's kinda surprised that Mikleo has so much interest in this but he'll take it.]

Where was I? Oh, right... so the hero made his sacrifice to keep the world alive, but the Goddess was so distraught that she wept for seven days and seven nights. The hero's companions tried to reason with her, but they were struggling with her own grief.

On the eighth day, she disappeared into the heavens. She gave the angels one final command:

You must wake me, for if I should sleep, the world shall be destroyed.

And that was when the regeneration of the world began.

[nerdeology]

Do the stories explain why the world will be destroyed if she sleeps?

[He's wondering also if it's based on reality, or if it's all an elaborate metaphor. Some histories are like that. Entire societies hinged on metaphors, depending on how believable the truth is. History is weird.

And wonderful, but that much is obvious.]

[takehisplace]

[Six of one, half-dozen of the other.]

Yeah, that's part of the Journey of Regeneration. When the world begins to die, it means that evil is breaking free of the seals. The Chosen undergoes the trials and-- and wakes the goddess, and then the world is renewed.

[Or so they thought.]

[nerdeology]

Renewed how? What happens to it?

[takehisplace]

The mana comes back.

[nerdeology]

I see... so, what are the trials?

[Because that sounds kind of familiar.]

[takehisplace]

Fighting monsters, solving puzzles, and fighting a guardian of some kind at the end. [A pause.] The Chosen also, uh, becomes an angel.

[DID HE FORGET TO MENTION THAT? YUP.]

[nerdeology]

[WOW THAT SURE DOES SOUND FAMILIAR YEP]

Is that what the hero's sacrifice was? Becoming an angel?

[takehisplace]

[Oh, good. Mikleo isn't interrogating Luke on that particular aspect just yet.]

Yeah. And that's why an angel is needed to wake the goddess.

[nerdeology]

[Yeah, give him time.]

How are angels different from humans? We don't really have them on my world, but people here keep mistaking me for one, so I'm interested in knowing more about what they are, exactly.

[takehisplace]

They're stronger, faster, and they have holy magic. [A pause.] And wings.

Why do people think you're an angel?

[nerdeology]

I'm a seraph. Apparently, to some, the words are interchangeable, but I wouldn't call my magic holy, and I definitely don't have wings.

[takehisplace]

Seraphim are supposed to be the highest order of angels. But it sounds like you're not the same kind that's in the stories. Maybe that's a good thing.

[A while ago, he might have been in awe at the very term, but now he is cautious. Cruxis isn't what they seem. Granted, people trying to kill you and use your body for shenanigans is bound to make anyone cautious.]

What kind of seraph are you? If you don't mind me asking, that is.

[nerdeology]

I don't mind. Though I'm not sure if I can offer you a satisfactory answer- where I'm from, a seraph is a seraph. We don't have angel-types.

[There's a hierarchy, but he suspects it's not the same thing.]

Seraphim are like elemental spirits. My element is water. Being a seraph doesn't guarantee that we'll be stronger or faster than humans, really, but we do have seraphic artes. Or magic, as you called it.

[takehisplace]

I see...

[This is definitely interesting, and very different from what he's grown up with in the Church of Martel.]

Humans don't have magic, but elves and half-elves do. Other than that, they're about the same... aside from the lifespan thing.

[nerdeology]

I've heard a little about elves... they live for a very long time, don't they? The one I met had been alive for thousands of years.

[takehisplace]

I'm not sure how long they live since I've never met one. Half-elves can live for a few hundred, maybe longer.

Where did you meet an elf?

[nerdeology]

On the Huntress. He's part of my crew.

He might be a different kind of elf, though. A few hundred years seems too short, going by what he was saying.

[takehisplace]

I can't imagine living that long. Is he really old and wise? Does he have a beard that reaches the floor?

[LUKE NO]

[nerdeology]

[PFFFT]

He doesn't right now, though one's fashion can change a lot over the course of thousands of years, I bet. Maybe I'll ask him.

But actually, he didn't look older than thirty or so.

[takehisplace]

[Meet Luke, he's embarrassing as hell.]

Oh, yeah! Maybe he used to have a big bushy one and he shaved it off when it was out of fashion.

I guess that's to be expected, even if he's a really old elf.

[nerdeology]

I have a feeling that once you reach a certain age, fashion becomes less of a priority.

[Though Lailah fussed about it plenty when the subject came up... maybe she was the outlier. A lot of things about her were pretty unique.]