synopsychic | [Week 2] Early morning day 320

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[Week 2] Early morning day 320

[Chloe’s mental voice sounds weak and disoriented, as if she’s in shock]

Can someone come to the caves? I need help.

I think Hana’s dead.

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He used the battery on him. Magnator powers.

...Of course he's a Magnator. Then again, if he's a descendant of the last god-king, I suppose that follows.

What, seriously?

Mayuzumi Yukino did a perspective-read on Thorne's overlay, Chara. She and Ghalib are descendants of Malion, the last god-king. According to Chara's perspective, Ghalib is the rightful Protector of the Umbrian Vale.

Christ, I should have stabbed him when I had the chance.

Is that why he did that to me? Hana barely knew him.

He's definitely planning something. He might have figured she was expendable, or at least wouldn't be missed by many.

Edited 2019-12-16 18:34 (UTC)

Yeah, he said that ... he followed her to see if she lived alone.

I wonder how many times he's done this before.

I think this might be the first time. He seemed surprised afterward.

...I suppose that's some comfort.

Still, the fact that he's trying to create cavosophics at all when he's already using brainwashing tactics is... disturbing.

[He understates.]

Chara’s always been starry-eyed about old technology, maybe he is too.

Old technology, or old power?

If they’re really royalty, is there a difference?

For her, there might be. For him, I'm not so sure.

I don’t know much about him. Hana thought he was a creep.

He certainly seems to be living down to that impression.

[Gil is going to be horrified.]

He was trying to control who his sister could date, which I guess makes sense if they’re royalty.

And he’s got those weird guys Dreampushing for him, but they’re not like this.

No, this is several steps beyond.

She feels part of her purpose is making sure the line doesn't die out. And to support her brother in every way.

What an awful way to live.

You think they’re planning a coup?

Yes.

[And Thorne is likely to be horrified by it after the fact, too. It reminds Raidou all too much of what he knows of her time with Dr. B, in terms of the mindset he forced onto her.]

It wouldn't surprise me. Ghalib and Chara likely were brought up on stories of a very idealized version of Malion's reign, and I could see them coming to believe that a return to rightthink and the Overmind could stave off or even reverse the decay of their world.

[This is an absolutely weird commonality but a nationalist paramilitary group in India has spent actual decades trying to kill Chloe for the crime of being descended from a king they don’t like, so in some ways she kind of gets it]

Yeah, that’s definitely the impression Hana got from Chara. Lots of gushing about trains and centuries old dresses, very little acknowledgement of why the god-king fell in the first place.

The version of events that they know is probably... judiciously edited.

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desperate_times_right - 2019-12-17 00:38 (UTC) - Expand

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capital_asset - 2019-12-17 00:40 (UTC) - Expand

In truth, I believe Qabil would prefer to use her instead of her brother, given that Cabal no longer has the time to see her with child and to raise that child to be less flawed than Ghalib. I believe Anaf, specifically, was to have charge of that child's upbringing--he was to come to Fallenheart with Faris if Qabil decided it was time to cut the Cabal's losses with Ghalib. They did not anticipate the Nation-eaters returning.

What is Qabil hoping to accomplish?

What all of Cabal is trying to accomplish: to unite the Vale before the slow death of its people becomes irreversible. A royal figurehead was deemed a useful enough tool for this... but I suppose a return to the High Tables might do as well, if something productive comes of Hypatia's quest.