A totally legit announcement

[breakaleginhalf]

Okay, so, what even happened on that one?

Besides, like. Everyone getting mad at Fuckface McGee and proving Jean-Paul Sartre right on the whole "hell is other people" thing. Or one of the Princes knowing about Travelling and Arcana now.

[Gil you can't just slide that in there like literally anyone except you and Raidou knows that--]

Oh, actually - don't go busting in on Arcana spaces without knocking first right now, 'cos apparently you're at a very real risk of being turned into flash-frozen helium, according to Magician.

Comments

[dragoonrouge]

I do have a theory as to why we ended up in such a place.

The fuel for the Bonfire, 'Twas a harp that could discern truth from falsehoods.'Tis clear between that and the truth wine that they still seek answers about what happened before Starlight.

[There is a pause.]

What do you mean one of the Princes now knows of Travelling?

[breakaleginhalf]

Does that mean they got the harp, or that you just know that there was a truth harp?

[/gently ignores the second part of that.]

[capital_asset]

I think if they had the Harp, they'd have used that instead of the wine.

[Raidou actually knows exactly where the Harp is, and more importantly who has it, but he's not about to say so without that person's approval, and certainly not over the network where the Arcana might be monitoring it.]

[capital_asset]

That wouldn't be surprising - the wine can only accomplish so much, and only if people actually drink it. And there are enough people here who remember the last time Justice filled a Liminal Space with truth liquor that the best they could hope for is getting us by accident and then hoping the subject comes up somehow. Although as ever, that raises the question of how they learned about the Harp in the first place.

[And this is really not how Raidou would have preferred for this to come out, but it's his own fault, so...]

And I'm not going into how or why, save to note that torture was not involved, but yes, Hell's Prince of the Market now knows about Traveling in general, the Arcana, and Infiltration as a concept, and is aware that the use of the Name in Melasurei was also our doing. He will likely be sharing that information with as many of the other factions as possible, once he can figure out how to do so in a way that doesn't compromise either the Market and its new Princes or the cease-fire between Heaven and Hell.

[tookashirototheknee]

Clearly my overlay was paying no attention to anything, holy shit. I have... no memory of any of that.

I'm pretty sure that there are other Jaunts where people have been made aware of us. There was also that time we showed up with 'welcome Travelers' banners. That was weird.

[desperate_times_right]

I notice they didn’t do that weird pop up book thing this time, so maybe the Arcana don’t care whether those guys know or not.

[capital_asset]

It's not so much an issue for the Arcana as for us, assuming we're ever sent back there again - at the very least, he'll be looking for ways to detect Infiltrators and eject them from the people they're inhabiting, and passing that information on not only to Hell but other factions as well, assuming he can do so without compromising the Market Princedoms or the cease-fire. There's an outside chance they might be willing to work with us against the Arcana, since they'd know we aren't serving them by choice, but I don't think any of the factions will be pleased about the Arcana using their world for a literal game round.

[capital_asset]

There have been, but results have been... mixed. Newport and Nova Venezia were not at all happy to see us back, and Newport went so far as to deploy exorcists to expel Travelers from any Infiltrators they happened to be inhabiting. Purgatory, Hell, and the others might be kinder to us - although I know for a fact that Vulpe is also looking for ways to detect Infiltrators and expel them from the bodies of the people they're possessing - but the Arcana will likely be seen as a threat.

[desperate_times_right]

As well they shouldn’t be, considering the chaos it seems we caused there.

My understanding was that these types of creatures - angels and whatnot - are powerful enough to cause problems for our hosts, and it seems strange that they’ve less concern for them than they had for the faeries. Especially since some among our number have recently proven more eager to fight back than expected.

Do you think we’d really be sent back there again? I understand we’d already been to that world before this.

[breakaleginhalf]

I mean, they probably can, but the Arcana setting off the weird shut-down thing is because they have really good reason to suspect that someone at least as powerful as them is gonna try and break in to Liminal Space. Which has happened once or twice before, and they were super suss about the Gentry trying it back at Elsewhere U. So until they actively try fucking the Arcana up, I think they just ignore it.

We won't be sent back any time soon, probably.

[capital_asset]

They've sent us to one particular set of worlds at least seven times that we know of - eight counting the mini-Jaunt from Fortune's revival - and a few other worlds at least three times, so it's not impossible that they could send us to Purgatory or its adjacent realms again, especially if they decide there's something else there they want.

As for why the Arcana haven't treated them as a threat in the same way they treated the Fae or the eldritch... it's hard to say. Maybe they figure the infighting between the various factions keeps them weak enough to not be an issue, or perhaps the Arcana really are that much stronger. Or perhaps they just haven't proven themselves to be a threat yet the way the eldritch have.

...Although that raises questions about how the Fae might have proven that.

[desperate_times_right]

We aren’t the best at the whole subtlety thing. I’m pretty sure people Elsewhere know about us too. Though in the end, I suppose they had greater concerns than doing anything about it.

Oh, the angels and demons there couldn’t make portals, then? I’ve spent decades now actively forgetting Christian folklore, but I thought that’d be a thing. Lucky for us, I suppose.

[desperate_times_right]

Holy shit, I keep forgetting how long most of you lot have been here. I’d say the Arcana would want to let them cool off first, before sending us back, but who even knows if they’d understand why the locals might be upset about this sort of thing.

I’d kind of assumed the threat at the university was the creatures who could make their own interdimensional portals, like Anna Monday. If they’d figured out where liminal space is, dimensionally, maybe they could have popped over here and caused some trouble. I don’t know who else could do it, but poor Anna was pretty unstable. Though I don’t know whether all that glass could have done much appreciable damage to them. Or perhaps they’re just scared of Royalty and figured they might try and hijack the Jaunt. Eldritch might be the right word there, too.

Though you’d still think a demon could potentially be worse.

[capital_asset]

They do tend to space visits out, but I'm not sure how much of that is consideration for that particular world, or for us, and how much of that is a desire for variety.

My overlay specialized in crossing boundaries, so in theory he might have been able to manage it at some point; fortunately, he still doesn't know about Liminal Space's general existence.

[That and he'd let someone else 'borrow' the ability, although he'd already been considering how to develop something even better even before he'd learned about the Arcana.]

Anna might not have been able to cause as much damage, but more powerful entities could have potentially either learned to emulate its ability or even followed it in. Granted, the latter wouldn't be an issue on a hypothetical return trip, but...

Demons, and Angels and Sithen for that matter, have a very wide range of power. Some might be that strong, but that doesn't mean they all are.

[tookashirototheknee]

... well, that would be awkward.

I'm not very good at politics, so I probably should keep my mouth shut, sorry about that.

[Matt comes from a long line of people who have yelled at Admirals.]

[desperate_times_right]

I wonder if they could come here at any time, if they figured out how, or if we’d have to have boots on the ground there. Some people can open portals to locations we’ve been to previously, can’t they?

I have to say, nothing I’ve heard so far about this Jaunt is making me feel sorry I missed it, but I have heard about some pretty crazy displays of power. Though I suppose Arcana might not have souls in the traditional sense, so some of that stuff might not even work. That might be why other magic bothers them more.

[amadine]

At this point, it might be worth our while to start keeping track of worlds in which someone hasn't blown our collective cover spectacularly.

[prince_of_pain]

You're gonna have to tell me. I was literally out for the whole thing. I think I even talked to you?

Also what would you even go to the Arcana guys for?

[breakaleginhalf]

Oh yeah, you were high as fuck. Congrats on getting better or whatever.

Sometimes prisoners like going to harass their keepers and see if they can't get any new info out of it. I got marked by Magician, she's usually good for a straight answer.

[breakaleginhalf]

You know what, that's legit.

[prince_of_pain]

I still don't quite get what the Arcana are useful for, and Judgement, I guess, didn't give me a straight answer either.

[razorblade_empress]

Judgement expects their chosen to understand what they mean via osmosis, near as I can tell. And we're the ones they actually like.

[capital_asset]

In fairness, we weren't immediately aware that Newport and Nova Venezia were repeats, because they both took place pre-Moebius.

A lot of people aren't good at politics.

[capital_asset]

I want to say there'd need to be a connection between Liminal Space and their world, but on the other hand, we had one of Harrogate's eldritch horrors poking at Liminal Space for several Jaunts after the first trip there. But that was after it had cut us off from the network and Liminal Space for much of the Jaunt, so that probably gave it a foothold. The Arcana hadn't thought to restrict our access during that Jaunt, so it essentially had free rein.

The Arcana's state of existence is... hard to quantify. Magician compared them to constellations.

[canbebrave]

Everyone has completely lost their minds.