Eternal
This adventure has drained you physically, mentally and even emotionally. Attacking a powerful necromancer in his homeland might not be the best idea right now. Another day perhaps…
You approach the portal and give one last look at Nicodemus who stands by watching you. You can't figure him out. A lot of what he said was very condescending yet he seemed to pity you rather than be angry. He was also very nihilistic in his views on how achievements don't matter, not even life, though at the same he seemed to be trying to give you advice and help you in some strange way.
You step into the portal and find yourself transported back to the Emperor’s chambers. Chambers that seem so empty now. Empty as you feel. Something is bothering you and it’s a strange thing to worry about considering it would’ve lead to your death, but you can’t shake it.
Why did the Emperor’s ritual fail? Nicodemus said you were not a suitable vessel for the transference spell, but if you weren’t, what does that mean? Would one of the other Eternals been a better choice, or was the plan always destined to fail?
You believe there have to be some notes on the subject of your alterations somewhere. Jacob probably has several papers about the Eternal Project in his office, but you search the Emperor’s rooms first.
After hours of searching you manage to find several bits of private writings about various subjects. You don’t have time to read all of them now, but you focus on anything to the Eternal Project.
One of the major things you discover is that the pregnant mothers had a specific ritual cast over them while the Eternals to be were still in the womb. This ritual, while elaborate and probably quite frightening to the woman in question didn’t harm her in any way; it was more of a “prep” spell. (You also read that it took several attempts to get this ritual “right” too. The number of dead pregnant women is quite sizable)
Apparently this initial ritual was a big key in whether or not the final ritual was going to be successful. You can’t find any other information besides how the Emperor was REALLY betting everything on this plan as he’d run out of ideas on to extend his life any further short of going back to Mortos and apologizing to Nicodemus for his behavior.
Still wanting more information you go search through Jacob’s office. It is actually easy to find everything since he kept everything in immaculate order. Naturally he had everything locked, but you easily remove such annoyances. Nothing is going to stop you from seeking out your origins.
And after hours more searching you find more than you ever wanted to know in Jacob’s journal…
I can’t believe those idiots! Trent and Stravid grabbed the wrong fucking infant! We only found out just yesterday when I found their list on the floor of the privy room covered in piss!
I went back to check the Empire nursery numbers hoping that MAYBE they grabbed the correct child anyway, but no such luck. The infant that was supposed to be selected was already disposed of as a rejected candidate. Meanwhile the wrong infant is already going through his magical alterations.
I’m not exactly on the Emperor’s good side at the best of times, and I’m not getting into fucking trouble for this. Those two morons are going to be executed. As for the baby I’m going to have to grovel to get that svelk bitch to help me with this. She can probably perform the same ritual over this new brat so the Emperor won’t be able to detect anything is amiss with it. I don’t understand why the Emperor doesn’t just perform this ritual in person rather than relying on the svelk to do it anyway.
And HOPEFULLY that will work. It has to work. Maybe I’m worrying about this too much, what are the chances that this kid will live through training and meet the Emperor anyway?
And there it is, your “origins.” You weren’t even meant to be an Eternal. You were a clerical mistake, a bureaucratic mishap, and the Emperor’s death was caused by it. Hell, it’s almost like you went through with Jacob and Semra’s plan to assassinate the Emperor anyway.
One might think something like this would cause you to doubt the meaning of your entire existence and drive you into depression. Possibly even suicide. An end to this life of misplaced duty, obedience and blind devotion to ultimately an ungrateful master.
Just like Nicodemus said.
But you don’t really think about any of that. Instead you start to laugh. You laugh for a very long time.
“He…he didn’t even know I wasn’t originally chosen! What a fool! Why the hell did I ever follow this man? Because I’m an even bigger fool!” you say to yourself in between the guffaws.
Perhaps you’re still being a fool. Casimir lied to you and deep down never really cared save for what he thought you were, but none of that nor his death invalidate your beliefs in the Empire. His idea that the world needs order, that the masses need to be kept in line, that some elements are better off exterminated for the overall good.
Maybe part of you still can’t quite shake being the “dutiful” son, but you fully intend on continuing in your “father’s footsteps.” Of course the difference now being that your life is truly your own now. Since destiny has conspired to thrust you into the position of a ruler, you will play the role that it would have you play.
Now you just have to convince everyone else.
Within the week you call for a meeting of the most important leaders of the Empire. Ranging from generals to economists to advisors and other infrastructure types you’ve had little to no contact with before. Everyone is told to gather in the throne room, which is a room that hasn’t been used in centuries; or rather Casmir stopped using it after he decided to become a recluse.
You won’t be doing that. You’ll be leading from the front rather than hiding in the shadows causing people to wonder if you exist at all. This is your time now.
When everyone finally arrives they naturally all wonder what’s going on, you get right to the point.
"The Emperor as most of us knew him has moved on from this world. As his only logical successor I will be taking his place. If anyone has a problem with this we can have a civilized discussion about it on the battlefield which I have no doubt I will be seeing a lot of when several pretenders, dissidents and outright anarchists attempt to dethrone me. They will fail. The Empire will not fall today or anytime soon. This is just a new era for it and one I fully intend on making successful. The Empire currently is doing well, but I'm confident that with your loyalty and obedience we can make it even stronger."
You take a pause in your speech and scan your audience. None of them are interrupting. They all seem to be captivated, of course maybe some are just planning on trying to assassinate you later, but for now you’ll take their attention as a positive sign.
"Join me and the Empire will live forever. YOU will live forever! Who's with me?"
No sooner have you finished your statement, several of the advisors bend their knee and bow towards you. The soldiers draw their weapons and raise them in air pledging their loyalty.
"Hail to the new Emperor!"
"Long live the Empire!"
Well that went better than you expected.
The only “important” person that didn’t attend your meeting was Marik though you didn’t really expect him to being a derro and all. Not to mention you didn’t invite him anyway and had planned on meeting with him personally.
You have no idea how he’s going to react to the news and he’s erratic at the best of times. You and he weren’t exactly getting along the last time you saw him, so for all you know he may just attack you. Part of you hopes he does, just so you never have to deal with him anymore. Besides Semra, Marik was the next one you never liked dealing with just because his demeanor irritated you.
When you get to his personal factory, it’s as silent and as empty as it was when you had to clean out those escaped trolls. You hope that isn’t the damn problem again. On your guard, you cautiously walk through the factory and make your way down to the underground portion and continue to find nobody around.
“Marik! If this is an ambush, let’s just get this over with now because I don’t have time for it!” you shout.
You see the door to the tank baby room open up, but it isn’t Marik, it’s a young girl. In fact it’s the tank baby that you spared before your trip to Mortos. She looks like she’s been healing well.
“He…he’s not here sir. I mean my Emperor. I apologize for not addressing you properly.” She remarks nervously.
“That’s fine…so word of my ascension has reached down here eh? Wasn’t sure if it did, so where’s Marik? In fact where is everyone? I know there’s still usually a skeleton crew that works in the factory above and there are usually derro guards wandering around down here. In fact shouldn’t there be more of you tank babies running around training?” you ask.
“Marik killed them all. He shut down the machine that was keeping the rest alive inside the tanks. Said if the Emperor was gone then his debt was paid and he wasn’t going to spend the remainder of his years toiling for the likes of you and called you a…uh…um…”
“Oh just say it, I’m pretty sure it isn’t going to surprise me.”
“He called you a svelk fucker.”
“Is that all?”
“Well then he sort of ranted. He said that you had a svelk lover that would strap on a…uh…sexual device and made you bend over like a woman when you would have relations.”
“Sheesh. Can’t say Marik didn’t have a colorful imagination.” You remark shaking your head.
“Then he said the pair of you fellated kobolds and ate the dung of…”
“Okay, I think I got the idea.” You say holding up your hand.
“He was very angry at you my Emperor.”
“Mmh, sounds like. So why did he kill all you tankies?”
“Oh, well he also said he wasn’t going to waste any more of his genius for you to use, so he decided to kill all of us in the tanks. He tried to kill me as well by having his men shoot at me and lob several firebombs at me.” She says and points over to a partially collapsed bit of the room where blacked equipment and fallen rock now lays.
“Guessing it didn’t work.”
“I managed to duck under one of the desks and made a blood curdling scream as the explosions went off and the rocks fell down around me. After they let up, I heard Marik laugh at how I feared death in my final moments and after a few minutes I heard them leave at which point I started digging myself out of the rubble.”
“Hrm, I see faking your own death actually worked for you this time, good. You shouldn’t disregard a tactic just because it fails in one instance.” You say as you glance over a pile of papers lying on another table in the room.
“Marik was brilliant in some ways, but he was an idiot in others. The fool left all his notes behind. I can easily restart all the work he did.” You add.
“You’re going to restart the Eternal Project? But I thought you didn’t like…tankies as you call us.”
“Well, I was in a different state of mind at the time. Now that I’m Emperor, I’m thinking that I’m going to need dedicated loyal soldiers to help in the expansion of the Empire in the future. Just need to rebuild the factory, get some babies, throw them into the tanks and grow my new army. Of course I’ll be overseeing it and making my own alterations to whatever Marik’s original design was.”
“What about me, my Emperor?” The tank baby asks.
“Yes, what about you? Well considering you managed to survive not one, but two major attempts on your life within weeks of being out of your little tank, I suppose you deserve a place somewhere. To be honest, I did spare you in the first place because you showed more promise and strength than your siblings by merely surviving my assault. You know I was singled out too, on several occasions. I grew stronger from the challenges. You will have the same opportunity I did and I’m going to personally train you. Then depending on how well you do, I’ll decide where you’re best needed.” You tell her.
“You’re…you’re too kind my Emperor.” She says with a gratuitous expression on her face.
You start laughing.
“You won’t be thinking that when we actually start training. Let’s go. By the way it’ll be useful to have something to call you other than tank baby, so what’s your name?”
“Name? I don’t have one, my Emperor. Marik never saw fit to give me one. I do have a number though. Ten.”
“No, I’m not going to call you ten. That’s silly, especially since there’s only one of you now. Let’s see…I’ll call you… Decena. You like that name?”
“I don’t have any objections to it, my Emperor.”
“Good. Let us be on our way.”
With this last bit of business out of the way, you feel you’re getting off on a good start as the Empire’s new Emperor.
You just wish Alison were here to share it with you.
You approach the portal and give one last look at Nicodemus who stands by watching you. You can't figure him out. A lot of what he said was very condescending yet he seemed to pity you rather than be angry. He was also very nihilistic in his views on how achievements don't matter, not even life, though at the same he seemed to be trying to give you advice and help you in some strange way.
You step into the portal and find yourself transported back to the Emperor’s chambers. Chambers that seem so empty now. Empty as you feel. Something is bothering you and it’s a strange thing to worry about considering it would’ve lead to your death, but you can’t shake it.
Why did the Emperor’s ritual fail? Nicodemus said you were not a suitable vessel for the transference spell, but if you weren’t, what does that mean? Would one of the other Eternals been a better choice, or was the plan always destined to fail?
You believe there have to be some notes on the subject of your alterations somewhere. Jacob probably has several papers about the Eternal Project in his office, but you search the Emperor’s rooms first.
After hours of searching you manage to find several bits of private writings about various subjects. You don’t have time to read all of them now, but you focus on anything to the Eternal Project.
One of the major things you discover is that the pregnant mothers had a specific ritual cast over them while the Eternals to be were still in the womb. This ritual, while elaborate and probably quite frightening to the woman in question didn’t harm her in any way; it was more of a “prep” spell. (You also read that it took several attempts to get this ritual “right” too. The number of dead pregnant women is quite sizable)
Apparently this initial ritual was a big key in whether or not the final ritual was going to be successful. You can’t find any other information besides how the Emperor was REALLY betting everything on this plan as he’d run out of ideas on to extend his life any further short of going back to Mortos and apologizing to Nicodemus for his behavior.
Still wanting more information you go search through Jacob’s office. It is actually easy to find everything since he kept everything in immaculate order. Naturally he had everything locked, but you easily remove such annoyances. Nothing is going to stop you from seeking out your origins.
And after hours more searching you find more than you ever wanted to know in Jacob’s journal…
I can’t believe those idiots! Trent and Stravid grabbed the wrong fucking infant! We only found out just yesterday when I found their list on the floor of the privy room covered in piss!
I went back to check the Empire nursery numbers hoping that MAYBE they grabbed the correct child anyway, but no such luck. The infant that was supposed to be selected was already disposed of as a rejected candidate. Meanwhile the wrong infant is already going through his magical alterations.
I’m not exactly on the Emperor’s good side at the best of times, and I’m not getting into fucking trouble for this. Those two morons are going to be executed. As for the baby I’m going to have to grovel to get that svelk bitch to help me with this. She can probably perform the same ritual over this new brat so the Emperor won’t be able to detect anything is amiss with it. I don’t understand why the Emperor doesn’t just perform this ritual in person rather than relying on the svelk to do it anyway.
And HOPEFULLY that will work. It has to work. Maybe I’m worrying about this too much, what are the chances that this kid will live through training and meet the Emperor anyway?
And there it is, your “origins.” You weren’t even meant to be an Eternal. You were a clerical mistake, a bureaucratic mishap, and the Emperor’s death was caused by it. Hell, it’s almost like you went through with Jacob and Semra’s plan to assassinate the Emperor anyway.
One might think something like this would cause you to doubt the meaning of your entire existence and drive you into depression. Possibly even suicide. An end to this life of misplaced duty, obedience and blind devotion to ultimately an ungrateful master.
Just like Nicodemus said.
But you don’t really think about any of that. Instead you start to laugh. You laugh for a very long time.
“He…he didn’t even know I wasn’t originally chosen! What a fool! Why the hell did I ever follow this man? Because I’m an even bigger fool!” you say to yourself in between the guffaws.
Perhaps you’re still being a fool. Casimir lied to you and deep down never really cared save for what he thought you were, but none of that nor his death invalidate your beliefs in the Empire. His idea that the world needs order, that the masses need to be kept in line, that some elements are better off exterminated for the overall good.
Maybe part of you still can’t quite shake being the “dutiful” son, but you fully intend on continuing in your “father’s footsteps.” Of course the difference now being that your life is truly your own now. Since destiny has conspired to thrust you into the position of a ruler, you will play the role that it would have you play.
Now you just have to convince everyone else.
Within the week you call for a meeting of the most important leaders of the Empire. Ranging from generals to economists to advisors and other infrastructure types you’ve had little to no contact with before. Everyone is told to gather in the throne room, which is a room that hasn’t been used in centuries; or rather Casmir stopped using it after he decided to become a recluse.
You won’t be doing that. You’ll be leading from the front rather than hiding in the shadows causing people to wonder if you exist at all. This is your time now.
When everyone finally arrives they naturally all wonder what’s going on, you get right to the point.
"The Emperor as most of us knew him has moved on from this world. As his only logical successor I will be taking his place. If anyone has a problem with this we can have a civilized discussion about it on the battlefield which I have no doubt I will be seeing a lot of when several pretenders, dissidents and outright anarchists attempt to dethrone me. They will fail. The Empire will not fall today or anytime soon. This is just a new era for it and one I fully intend on making successful. The Empire currently is doing well, but I'm confident that with your loyalty and obedience we can make it even stronger."
You take a pause in your speech and scan your audience. None of them are interrupting. They all seem to be captivated, of course maybe some are just planning on trying to assassinate you later, but for now you’ll take their attention as a positive sign.
"Join me and the Empire will live forever. YOU will live forever! Who's with me?"
No sooner have you finished your statement, several of the advisors bend their knee and bow towards you. The soldiers draw their weapons and raise them in air pledging their loyalty.
"Hail to the new Emperor!"
"Long live the Empire!"
Well that went better than you expected.
The only “important” person that didn’t attend your meeting was Marik though you didn’t really expect him to being a derro and all. Not to mention you didn’t invite him anyway and had planned on meeting with him personally.
You have no idea how he’s going to react to the news and he’s erratic at the best of times. You and he weren’t exactly getting along the last time you saw him, so for all you know he may just attack you. Part of you hopes he does, just so you never have to deal with him anymore. Besides Semra, Marik was the next one you never liked dealing with just because his demeanor irritated you.
When you get to his personal factory, it’s as silent and as empty as it was when you had to clean out those escaped trolls. You hope that isn’t the damn problem again. On your guard, you cautiously walk through the factory and make your way down to the underground portion and continue to find nobody around.
“Marik! If this is an ambush, let’s just get this over with now because I don’t have time for it!” you shout.
You see the door to the tank baby room open up, but it isn’t Marik, it’s a young girl. In fact it’s the tank baby that you spared before your trip to Mortos. She looks like she’s been healing well.
“He…he’s not here sir. I mean my Emperor. I apologize for not addressing you properly.” She remarks nervously.
“That’s fine…so word of my ascension has reached down here eh? Wasn’t sure if it did, so where’s Marik? In fact where is everyone? I know there’s still usually a skeleton crew that works in the factory above and there are usually derro guards wandering around down here. In fact shouldn’t there be more of you tank babies running around training?” you ask.
“Marik killed them all. He shut down the machine that was keeping the rest alive inside the tanks. Said if the Emperor was gone then his debt was paid and he wasn’t going to spend the remainder of his years toiling for the likes of you and called you a…uh…um…”
“Oh just say it, I’m pretty sure it isn’t going to surprise me.”
“He called you a svelk fucker.”
“Is that all?”
“Well then he sort of ranted. He said that you had a svelk lover that would strap on a…uh…sexual device and made you bend over like a woman when you would have relations.”
“Sheesh. Can’t say Marik didn’t have a colorful imagination.” You remark shaking your head.
“Then he said the pair of you fellated kobolds and ate the dung of…”
“Okay, I think I got the idea.” You say holding up your hand.
“He was very angry at you my Emperor.”
“Mmh, sounds like. So why did he kill all you tankies?”
“Oh, well he also said he wasn’t going to waste any more of his genius for you to use, so he decided to kill all of us in the tanks. He tried to kill me as well by having his men shoot at me and lob several firebombs at me.” She says and points over to a partially collapsed bit of the room where blacked equipment and fallen rock now lays.
“Guessing it didn’t work.”
“I managed to duck under one of the desks and made a blood curdling scream as the explosions went off and the rocks fell down around me. After they let up, I heard Marik laugh at how I feared death in my final moments and after a few minutes I heard them leave at which point I started digging myself out of the rubble.”
“Hrm, I see faking your own death actually worked for you this time, good. You shouldn’t disregard a tactic just because it fails in one instance.” You say as you glance over a pile of papers lying on another table in the room.
“Marik was brilliant in some ways, but he was an idiot in others. The fool left all his notes behind. I can easily restart all the work he did.” You add.
“You’re going to restart the Eternal Project? But I thought you didn’t like…tankies as you call us.”
“Well, I was in a different state of mind at the time. Now that I’m Emperor, I’m thinking that I’m going to need dedicated loyal soldiers to help in the expansion of the Empire in the future. Just need to rebuild the factory, get some babies, throw them into the tanks and grow my new army. Of course I’ll be overseeing it and making my own alterations to whatever Marik’s original design was.”
“What about me, my Emperor?” The tank baby asks.
“Yes, what about you? Well considering you managed to survive not one, but two major attempts on your life within weeks of being out of your little tank, I suppose you deserve a place somewhere. To be honest, I did spare you in the first place because you showed more promise and strength than your siblings by merely surviving my assault. You know I was singled out too, on several occasions. I grew stronger from the challenges. You will have the same opportunity I did and I’m going to personally train you. Then depending on how well you do, I’ll decide where you’re best needed.” You tell her.
“You’re…you’re too kind my Emperor.” She says with a gratuitous expression on her face.
You start laughing.
“You won’t be thinking that when we actually start training. Let’s go. By the way it’ll be useful to have something to call you other than tank baby, so what’s your name?”
“Name? I don’t have one, my Emperor. Marik never saw fit to give me one. I do have a number though. Ten.”
“No, I’m not going to call you ten. That’s silly, especially since there’s only one of you now. Let’s see…I’ll call you… Decena. You like that name?”
“I don’t have any objections to it, my Emperor.”
“Good. Let us be on our way.”
With this last bit of business out of the way, you feel you’re getting off on a good start as the Empire’s new Emperor.
You just wish Alison were here to share it with you.