Eternal

Year 45

“…and even with your natural gifts and after your training is over in six years, your true service to the Empire will have only just begun. You will all be expected to perform to your fullest capabilities because as Eternals you are to be the very best that the Empire has to offer. And out there you will need to show that to our many enemies so that they never forget it. Duty, loyalty, valor and the will to survive, these are traits I expect to see in all of you for I am always watching. Remember this.” You say as your parting words to the new Eternals.

“YES EMPEROR! LONG LIVE THE EMPIRE!” they all say in unison.

Brenda tells them to take a brief break while she follows you out of the training center.

“You’ve done a very good job with them Brenda.” You say.
“Thank you.” Brenda remarks.
“No, really. I know I sort of dropped this in your lap, but you’ve really taken the reins on this. I mean I couldn’t have done it better. From what I’ve seen they’re well on their way of becoming an effective fighting force AND you’ve managed to keep most of them alive in the process. Had it been me two thirds of that class probably would’ve been dead by now under my harsh training.”
“Ah, but those left alive would probably be more lethal than the ones I’ve trained.” Brenda points out.
“Perhaps, but they don’t need to be put through similar rigors that I faced, I just need them to be better than our enemies and loyal to the Empire. From what I’ve seen, I have no doubt that will be the case when they finally come of age.”
“Well despite my less unforgiving and more cooperative training methods, I can’t take all the credit for keeping most of them alive, their increased regeneration rates help in that regard. There was many times where I even thought a few of them had suffered fatal injuries only for them to get better given enough time. I believe whatever magic you infused during their tank time increased their regenerative abilities greater than our own.”
“Their reflexes are definitely better too. Even at this age, I could see that during the training demonstration. At the very least, they should be on par with Decena in that aspect when they grow up.”
“How is your one time pupil doing anyway?” Brenda asks.

You hesitate a moment, since you’ve sort of wondered that yourself. You no longer get the letters you once did from Decena which were more expressive. Now she only sends you official battle reports. Obviously she’s dealing with the termination of your intimate relationship in a professional manner and is keeping your current relationship that way.

That being the case, you give Brenda the safe answer because that’s genuinely all you know.

“Oh, she’s still mostly combating the Torites. While the Battle of the Beasts three years ago pretty much broke their strength in the area, they still aren’t out of it yet. I’d push forward to eradicate them, but with the need for consolidation of our winnings as well as last years purges, we’ve had to halt expansion for the time being. That’s not even counting that the next place I want to turn my attention to are the city states south of the Broki province. I’ve had Eyes infiltrate most of them and they’re infested with svelk.” You say.
“Really? Like entire cities of them? I thought they were nomadic.” Brenda says.
“Not anymore apparently, but it isn’t actually entire cities, more like key positions of importance in the cities, but even one svelk is an infestation as far as I’m concerned.” You answer.
“Surprised you’re not just sending airships to bombard them.”
“I’m fairly sure I wouldn’t get them all if I did that. Airships while powerful are slow enough that any svelk would probably get the hell out of there before they even arrived. Besides, I’m not really looking to level the cities. Bombing one perhaps as an example, to get the rest to fall in line, but not all of them.”
“Assassination?”
“Assassinations would probably work better since the svelk direct such actions against each other on a semi-regular basis, would take a bit of time though since if a lot of them start dying suddenly, they’re going to know something is up and they’ll relocate from the cities. Still, I suppose if we timed it right…hmmm, maybe I’ll talk to Warrick about setting something up; in any case we still need to track down Eldolith. We know she is making her home in the cities, but she is proving to be completely elusive as far as pinning her down. Probably using a system of secret tunnels. Might be time to send in the kobold commandos to start digging around.”

You and Brenda finish up your conversation with a couple of off topic subjects, but before you leave she says one last thing.

“I know you already thanked me for my work with the new Eternals, but I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you. Thank you for giving me a new sense of purpose. I know these Eternals’ purpose is to loyally serve the Empire, but I feel like…I dunno…it’s silly.”
“No, what?”
“I sometimes feel like I’m their mother. I mean I’m not developing attachments to them or anything, but I feel like I’m doing all I can to make sure they survive in this world, because I really DO want most of them to survive. They represent the future of the Empire, and it will fall to them eventually to defend it.”

You nod at Brenda’s remark and touch her arm.

“And that, is why you were the best one for this job.” You say.
“I suppose another reason I’ve been feeling a little more positive lately is the fact that there are now more of us. Eternals, I mean. Our numbers were always so few, but now with these new ones, I don’t feel so alone I guess.”

Brenda’s feelings on this are probably related to the loss of her husband as usual, but you can’t fault her for it. If this is something that helps her through the pain, then more power to her. Really you never gave it too much thought that there would be more of “you” around because as far as you’re concerned, “you” were always unique to begin with. You weren’t even supposed to be an Eternal, but here you are.

The next bit surprises you though.

“Oh and one more thing, the next time you see Warrick tell him, I’m sorry for being angry at him.” Brenda says.

You smile.

“I’m sure he’ll be glad to hear it.” You answer and leave.

The next few days are actually spent working alongside Warrick to see if some sort of mass assassination attempt of the svelk would actually work. (You also relay Brenda’s message and just as you figured, he’s glad to hear it)

“Wait, so some of the inhabitants in these cities are actually former Felkan citizens?” you ask Warrick.
“Yes and it looks like some of them have been willingly working with the svelk out of revenge. In fact I now believe that the saboteur that tried to destroy the old Storm was from one of these cities. A couple of the other tight-lipped dissidents we’ve had killed during the last purge I believe were from there too originally.”

You shake your head.

“Maybe I should just have the cities bombed out of existence after all.” You say with a sigh.
“What I don’t understand, is why we’re bumping into them only now. I mean these cities are so far away and the refugee Felkans would’ve not only had to travel through gnoll AND Torite territory at the time, but also the Broki Kingdom. Surely it would’ve been easier to put down roots there.” Warrick says.
“Well, who is to say some of them didn’t? You’re only coming across the more radical ones obviously. There may have very well been Felkans that just wanted to get away from the Empire and live a normal life. Granted if those individuals had just accepted Empire rule in the first, they could’ve done so anyway with little change, but that’s a different topic.”

You continue.

“Also the Broki Kingdom was fairly backwards and having strife of its own, I get the impression that the Felkans just wanted to get as far a way as possible from such things. This journey probably wasn’t without its hazards. Combine that with losing your homeland and anything else that might’ve been personal, it’s not hard to see where their hate would’ve festered to the point where the svelk took advantage of it. The ex Felkans are the tool that the svelk are manipulating. Maybe they don’t have a nation proper anymore, but it’s obvious that the svelk are definitely building the skeleton of one out of these cities states and they see us as the biggest threat to their new endeavors.”
“It isn’t just the svelk and these militant ex-Felkans we’ve discovered though, we recently came across something new. Something I know you’re going to want to hear before proceeding with any plan.” Warrick says.

Warrick tell you that there is another community but far enough away to be fairly isolated from the rest of the city-states in the area, in fact the community makes its home in a lone mountain.

“So…what they live in a cave?”
“Well not exactly. The Eyes have not been there, but apparently there is a whole city built into the mountain. Basically similar to what the derro do underground I guess, but they aren’t derro. They’re gnomes.”
“Gnomes?”
“Yes, and from what information we have gathered, they’re also from the former Felkan Kingdom. The funny thing is, they don’t seem to have much contact with the rest of the city states. We know that the gnomes trade with the various cities from time to time and we know that there must be humans living in this mountain since those are the ones that do the trading. The place is called New Dessle.”
“Hrm. Name of the former Felkan capital. So do you think they’re working with the svelk in this conspiracy?” you ask.
“We don’t know. Like I said, all we know is that they trade sometimes, it seems to be mostly minerals and it’s fairly infrequent. If they are in league, they’re keeping it fairly secret from anyone.”

Gnomes. That puts a slightly different spin on everything. Between the svelk and the gnomes, you’ve got two of the most manipulative and smartest races working together to possibly destroy you.

Regardless of whether or not the gnomes are actually involved, it still would be best to gather more information, perhaps even more so.

“Until we’ve got more information, we’re going to assume the gnomes are just the occasional trading partners. While MAYBE they’re indirectly helping by trading material to these svelk influenced cities, I’d rather we deal with the immediate suspects first. Besides attacking a damn mountain isn’t exactly in the budget right now.” You say.

So you proceed with your plan. You keep the Eyes spying and gathering information and keep your own internal security tight. You also start having kobolds digging tunnels under the cities.

A few weeks pass and you receive a message. A human rider dropped off a box in a village in the Broki province. Before riding off he stated to the nearby peasants that they needed to deliver that to their Emperor. The box was obviously leaking blood and when one of the braver soldiers opened it, there were several eyes inside. A bloody note attached stated a warning from “Domina” Eldolith that all spies from the Empire will be killed and any further unwanted aggression on the “Confederacy of Free Cities” would be an act of war.

Never mind the fact that Eldolith started this by trying to assassinate you in the first place.

“She can’t possibly be serious in taking us on. She may have discovered some of our spies, but we already know full well what her strength is and even with our reduced manpower right now we could take on the entire force of this so called Confederacy of Free Cities.” Warrick remarks.
“Oh I’m sure she know that. She’s backed into a corner and is doing typical svelk grand standing hoping it will work. To be quite honest I figured she’d eventually discover some of our spies eventually. The svelk aren’t stupid, but they served their purpose in information gathering and they probably distracted the svelk from possibly discovering our kobolds running around underground. You can start pulling out the rest of your Eyes, we’ll be attacking the cities soon. With any luck we won’t let a single svelk escape and we can wipe out the remainder of the ex-Felkans as well.” You say.

Kivan is nearby probably waiting to get your attention for some domestic issue. Normally he just waits patiently, but this time he speaks.

“Forgive my presumption my Emperor as I know war is your area of expertise, but what about the gnomes?” he asks.
“What about them? Our spies still have not uncovered anything that would suggest that they’re helping. Even the material that they’re trading couldn’t be considered dangerous for the most part.” Warrick answers.
“The gnomes will be dealt with later, Kivan. No need to worry.” You say.

Kivan puts aside his scrolls and addresses you directly.

“I have no doubt that will be the case my Emperor, however it is my concern that the Empire not take any more potential unnecessary losses. The Felkan War took a heavy toll on the Empire. A toll that was not necessary had our former Emperor acted more quickly on the matter. The same could be said for the Shadow uprising.”
“Watch your tone! YOUR current Emperor AND I both served to quell those incidents! Where were you? Counting beans? I suggest you stick to what you know advisor!” Warrick says raising his voice.
“You are correct Sightmaster, I AM an advisor. And as I said it is true, I am more of an expert in the mundane domestic affairs that keep the Empire running, I also have to deal with the effects these wars have on such things. If you attack now there will be hardship on the people, BUT our people are used to such things. What is a little more troubling is when unexpected problems pop up or long drawn out affairs.”
“So what are you exactly saying Kivan?” you ask.
“I’m saying that the gnomes can’t be trusted to live. When they rebelled against the Empire and ran away they managed to manipulate a collection of simple villages and towns and turn it into the Felkan Kingdom. Not only that, but they managed to build it up to the point where it actually surpassed the Empire technology wise and all of this was done in a fairly short period of time.”

You continue to listen while Kivan expresses his point of view on this matter.

“Perhaps the gnomes aren’t working with the svelk, but that’s not to say they aren’t still working against us. I can’t believe that they wouldn’t harbor some sort of revenge. I mean the ex-Felkans obviously do and all they lost were their homeland. The gnomes were systematically exterminated. I just believe that leaving the gnomes for later is going to give them more time to build up their defenses and just make it harder for the Empire to wipe them out in the future. Why take the chance?”

Kivan does actually make a pragmatic point. While taking the city-states isn’t going to be too much of a problem, it’s still going to take time and manpower. Your main concern with them is making sure you get all the svelk (especially Eldolith) inside. Consolidating, settling, and rooting out problem people will all take time as well. And while you’re doing all that, the gnomes could be sitting in their mountain building some weapon (or weapons) of imaginable power.

They already built an entire city in a mountain, who knows what the escaped gnomes have been working on since their exodus?