(a few hours into the Jaunt, open broadcast)

[protect_and_serve]

[Joscelin's voice, sent across the network, is warm, dry, composed - instilled with enough confidence, he hopes, to reassure the new and uncertain.]

A calm beginning makes for a welcome change. We should still start sharing what we know. Who's with us, and who is missing? Who is infiltrating? What do we know about this world?

If this is your first Jaunt - and there were many new faces in Liminal Space - ask for assistance, and we'll give it.

I'll begin. This is Joscelin Verreuil. We're on the coast of an island, somewhere between Alba and Terre D'Ange- England and France, I think, locally. Magic of some sort appears to be open and commonplace. I can't make sense of their calendar, but we're in or just after the Twentieth Century, as.... Christians... reckon time. This is a port where foreigners are common and unremarked. I have clothes that fit the era, and in my pockets were ten five-pound notes. The Trumps don't mean for us to be spotted immediately, or starve, but I can't guess more than that.

Comments

[asinisterkid]

Jason Todd. I've infiltrated on two Jaunts before this, but this is my first time investigating.

Tim Drake's infiltrating, in case anyone's looking for him.

And there's been some talk about a Solomon Ring. Now, it could just be another Pokemon reference I'm not getting, but I'm thinking not. And if not, it sounds important. Like, capital letters important. I'm gonna be hitting the library myself, probably tomorrow. If anyone else wants to beat me to it, though, feel free. The more research, the better.

[ He'll still go to the library, but he'll be able to dig deeper if someone else does the preliminary info-gathering. ]

[taiyny]

What kind of talk?

[asinisterkid]

"This is only going to get crazier once they put up that ring thing," "The Solomon Ring's going to ruin everything," "What these people aren't thinking about are the possibilities of the Solomon Ring, and what it's going to do for trade, they're just running 'round like chickens with their heads cut off, too scared to know a good thing when they see it..."

More in-depth eavesdropping to come.

[highsteaks]

[... she's still kind of grumpy about you and your stupid killing people thing. However:]

That sounds a lot more like something we're supposed to deal with then a fancy phone game.

[asinisterkid]

[ Well, this is awkward. Still, he can be civilized about this. ]

Yeah, that would be my guess.

I mean, there could be a supervillain out there with a plan to use Pokemon for evil, but there could be a supervillain out there with a plan to use liquid dish detergent for evil, too. You can never tell with those guys.

[highsteaks]

Probably there's a lot of supervillains who use, um, Pokemon for evil in the game.

[asinisterkid]

Yeah. But I'm pretty sure that's something that this world's heroes are equipped to handle, so unless I start seeing mindless Pokezombies coming after me, I'm gonna assume that Solomon Ring thing is more likely.

If I do see mindless Pokezombies, Malik gets to say he told us so.

[highsteaks]

... oh great.

[taiyny]

Sounds dangerous. We might not want to let that fall into the wrong hands. Any idea where it's going to turn up? I'd like to keep an eye on it.

[protect_and_serve]

Solomon. Like the Habiru king, who could command angels and demons with a ring given to him by the One God?

[asinisterkid]

I'm not that up on my religious studies, but if that's the reference, then hell yeah, we need to be doing research on this.

Unless someone here thinks people trying to command powerful supernatural beings in an urban area is a good thing... In which case I'm going to need you to go sit in the corner and think about your choices.

[protect_and_serve]

I think that, for Travelers, what it may sound is familiar. Were you with us in Melasurei?

[asinisterkid]

Nah, this is just my third Jaunt.

[protect_and_serve]

When we were there, we contested angels and demons over the Name of God. Command was one power ascribed to it.

[awitchdidit]

I can confirm that Solomon is the name of an ancient king and famed summoner and binder of demons - his ring and seal captured even Asmodeus, who at the time was considered the strongest of all demons (even if she's actually kind of a brat) and his writings form the basis for all modern demonology. His magical power made the ancient kingdom of Israel the wealthiest and most poweful nation in the world before he was eventually cast down for his hubris and idolatry.

Based on context, he may be just a namesake for this Ring, but given that the magic here purportedly relies on spirits very similar to demons, my guess would be that it's some means of controlling the Spirits and those the Empower.

[claudiometer]

...The more everyone weighs in on this, the more this sounds familiar. Goddamn do I wish this was my home world now.

I think I'm gonna need to find somewhere with free wifi in the next couple days. What I have in mind will take longer than the library can probably spare. [Why yes she's going to see if there are any traces of an organisation like the one she works for, why do you ask?]