The Osage
09-08-2005, 18:31
On an certain planet in a certain system far away, a young man was walking through a library. It was no ordinary library, and even ordinary libraries have more power than can hardly be imagined. This was the library of a recently deseased lord, a mighty fleet-general of the Osage Empire, and the tomes it contained were legendary. Not legendary for any specific thing, just legendary because the killed general had been immensely powerful, and according to Thermodynamics, it doesn't come from nothing. The logical conclusion was that it had been converted from the vast stores of knowledge in his gargantuan knowledge. Knowledge is power, after all.
The man's name was Mon'hin Da'pa, and his robes, of the purest, purest white, shone like a pale star in the gloom of the library. It wasn't a dusty library, for the late general had kept it very well.
The man named Mon'hin had a dilemma, and that was: Where do I start?
He spied a smaller book on a stand and read the title: A catalog to the Library of Irul Kasaros. He picked it up and leafed through the pages, and I doubt very much if any man's eyes have ever opened wider.
For there was very much knowledge here. The man paced quickly to a section of the library that was much darker, murmuring about dramatic placing, and then pulled a book from the shelves called A History of the Necromantic Wars. That was what it was called, but it quickly became apparent as he moved through the pages that it was less a history and more a handbook on the exact methods the First Necromancer and his apprentices had used to rule the Empire. At this the man named Mon'hin laughed, as upon realization of some great truth. "Crusade against necromancy, indeed. The fool. Ambitious, underhanded...and he would've done it, too." He sighed a bit, and picked up a small book nearest to it called An Account of Contact with the Eldar. The word 'Eldar' was familiar to Mon'hin as the name of the necromancers (not true necromancers, but close enough for the dead general), but when he opened the pages and began to read, it wasn't at all what he expected. It was, in excruciating detail, an account of a secret operation feeding slaves to a race of unspeakable creatures in a far-off place called Raem, apparently still going on, in return for their cooperation and goodwill.
"So thats how he got onto the surface. And he didn't tell my fleet, just his." Mon'hin had to admit that Kasaros had been good. However, this was more a result of his position as tenth fleet-general giving him more opportunities than any inherent superiority. Mon'hin himself had been raised as a peasant, and had no access to such secret tomes as Kasaros had displayed here.
He moved on, to another book entitled The Treasures of the Bahi'xtsi. His eyes grew wide again as he read the correlations Kasaros had staked out. The Underworld and Earth...
"The Spider's artifacts..he was planning on getting them after this war." You had it all worked out, didn't you Kasaros? But you weren't smart enough not to put yourself in such a vulnerable position, and now you are dead, and your library is mine.
He moved around only a bit more, carefully taking down a few books with names like The Music, To the Center, and Wakonda and His Power, and then began to exit the door when he found it blocked by a ten-foot tall glowing steel statue with an axe in each hand.
"Hello," he said cheerfully, "I need to get out."
The ke'xtha'tse's words, programmed into it, went straight into Mon'hin's skull.
None may exit except the Master.
Mon'hin grinned. "I am the master now." And with hardly a second word, the golem's animating energy was ripped from him, and it fell to cold steel, which was recklessly tossed aside by the glowing form of the young man. The resulting barrage of fireballs, lightning, and general booby traps was carefully dodged or turned aside. At this point a message would have contacted Kasaros himself, who would have promptly intervened, but unfortunately, Kasaros was quite dead. And wasn't coming back.
And now, solidification. He began to draw symbols on the walls...
The man's name was Mon'hin Da'pa, and his robes, of the purest, purest white, shone like a pale star in the gloom of the library. It wasn't a dusty library, for the late general had kept it very well.
The man named Mon'hin had a dilemma, and that was: Where do I start?
He spied a smaller book on a stand and read the title: A catalog to the Library of Irul Kasaros. He picked it up and leafed through the pages, and I doubt very much if any man's eyes have ever opened wider.
For there was very much knowledge here. The man paced quickly to a section of the library that was much darker, murmuring about dramatic placing, and then pulled a book from the shelves called A History of the Necromantic Wars. That was what it was called, but it quickly became apparent as he moved through the pages that it was less a history and more a handbook on the exact methods the First Necromancer and his apprentices had used to rule the Empire. At this the man named Mon'hin laughed, as upon realization of some great truth. "Crusade against necromancy, indeed. The fool. Ambitious, underhanded...and he would've done it, too." He sighed a bit, and picked up a small book nearest to it called An Account of Contact with the Eldar. The word 'Eldar' was familiar to Mon'hin as the name of the necromancers (not true necromancers, but close enough for the dead general), but when he opened the pages and began to read, it wasn't at all what he expected. It was, in excruciating detail, an account of a secret operation feeding slaves to a race of unspeakable creatures in a far-off place called Raem, apparently still going on, in return for their cooperation and goodwill.
"So thats how he got onto the surface. And he didn't tell my fleet, just his." Mon'hin had to admit that Kasaros had been good. However, this was more a result of his position as tenth fleet-general giving him more opportunities than any inherent superiority. Mon'hin himself had been raised as a peasant, and had no access to such secret tomes as Kasaros had displayed here.
He moved on, to another book entitled The Treasures of the Bahi'xtsi. His eyes grew wide again as he read the correlations Kasaros had staked out. The Underworld and Earth...
"The Spider's artifacts..he was planning on getting them after this war." You had it all worked out, didn't you Kasaros? But you weren't smart enough not to put yourself in such a vulnerable position, and now you are dead, and your library is mine.
He moved around only a bit more, carefully taking down a few books with names like The Music, To the Center, and Wakonda and His Power, and then began to exit the door when he found it blocked by a ten-foot tall glowing steel statue with an axe in each hand.
"Hello," he said cheerfully, "I need to get out."
The ke'xtha'tse's words, programmed into it, went straight into Mon'hin's skull.
None may exit except the Master.
Mon'hin grinned. "I am the master now." And with hardly a second word, the golem's animating energy was ripped from him, and it fell to cold steel, which was recklessly tossed aside by the glowing form of the young man. The resulting barrage of fireballs, lightning, and general booby traps was carefully dodged or turned aside. At this point a message would have contacted Kasaros himself, who would have promptly intervened, but unfortunately, Kasaros was quite dead. And wasn't coming back.
And now, solidification. He began to draw symbols on the walls...