(no subject)

[nicotinized]

So. We had another one of our captors show up on the Jaunt. I spoke with him - he gave me the name Hakan Ceasar, but now that I'm myself again, I think it's pretty safe to say it was the Emperor. He told me he was there to 'ensure the orderly transference of power', which as far as I know was the shift in government in Sarmatia. Why that specifically was important, I don't know, but it seems like it was.

For the newbies - you've probably at least been given the bare bones of who and what the Trumps are, but I thought it might help some to have an idea of the timeline, given how frequently people arrive and vanish. To my knowledge, the first Trump to make themselves known to Travellers was the Fool, somewhere around a year ago, in the ocean world. This wasn't the first Jaunt ever, mind - I know of at least six that took place before that, and nobody can remember earlier than that, so there may have been more. The Jaunt after that, with the crazy zombie shit - no Trumps anybody knows of, but that glitched out somehow. Fuck knows what was going on there. The fancy solstice ball had the Sun and the Moon. Harrowgate, no Trumps again, but the first appearance a figure called the King in Yellow. Other people can probably tell you more about that, but my understanding is that... he? it? isn't a Trump, but may be as powerful as them, and is bad fucking news. His sigil has showed up a few times in Liminal Space. [There's a brief image of the triskelion symbol blocking the drain in an industrial sink] If you see it, mention it psychically so someone who knows what they're doing can deal with it.

[A pause, then he continues]
Anyway, after that - the Lovers appeared at the school, in the form of an AI system. Before that, the Trumps had appeared as humans - on the outside, anyway. The GRID is where shit started to get really crazy, though we got some answers, too. The Magician, under the guise of ROSE, appeared to be attempting the revival or freeing of the Hermit, known there as SAGE. The Devil and the Lovers attempted to influence travellers to prevent this - the Devil called SAGE a criminal, and said that his execution was 'within the rules', whatever the rules are. He also said that our excursions were 'sanctioned'. The High Priestess spoke with and marked one traveller, but did not manifest.

At some point, the Magician told people that four Trumps were dead - the Hierophant, Fortune, Temperance, and the Star. In liminal space afterwards, there was a phone that allowed calling any of the Trumps that had previously made themselves known, and one said that of the four dead, one was killed by an external force of some sort, and the other three were due to internal conflict. Which is which, I'm not sure. I spoke to the Sun briefly, who was polite but not forthcoming. As far as I know, nobody was marked for speaking to them over the phone.

In Questing Country, the High Priestess appeared, though I have no details about it. Nobody mentioned seeing any Trumps in the Jaunt after that, Melasurei, though from what I gathered, things didn't go well in general there. In Nova Veniza, both the Chariot and the Hanged Man appeared, and the Chariot was apparently fairly affable. And that's everything up to now.

The Trumps work under some sort of set of rules, though I don't know how closely bound by them they are. We're pawns, and the purpose of whatever little game they're playing at isn't clear. It may just be a game, to them - but what the Emperor told me made it sounds like there were higher stakes involved, and that he was aware of these. They're apparently limited to marking five travellers each, though I don't have a record on who's been marked and who hasn't. Some people have been public about it, while others have not. There's been speculation that once every traveller is marked, the nature of what we do may shift to something other than the Jaunts. But there's a lot we don't know.

Comments

[detectivewonder]

I keep thinking about how one Trump died due to 'external influences.'

How many things like the Illuminants or the King in Yellow are out there? And do we want to work with any of them?

[nicotinized]

I sure as hell don't want to work with any of the ones that have showed up so far.

[detectivewonder]

I don't have much first-hand experience with the Illuminants. I know my infiltrating self wasn't a fan, but are they really just as distasteful?

[nicotinized]

Less powerful, maybe, but more volatile and potentially more self-serving.

[detectivewonder]

Self-serving behavior can be really prone to prediction and manipulation.

[leftbehindagain]

I wouldn't. The Trumps are at least following a set of rules and have some measure of care for us, or we wouldn't be able to feed ourselves in between things. More than one's said they need our help, and they may have a crappy way of showing it, but they have something invested in keeping us around.

I don't think the Illuminants know the rules, or would care much about breaking them if they did, and it's pretty clear by now that the King in Yellow only wants to serve his own interests. Anything powerful enough to compete with the Trumps isn't likely to even pretend to give a damn about the rest of us.

[detectivewonder]

Twenty months ago, our ability to feed ourselves in Liminal Space was limited to two people wiping themselves out making everyone one slice of cornbread and one glass of water a day. The fact that we've gotten better at it doesn't necessarily imply benevolence on their part.

I'm really, really not suggesting working with the King. But if we run into the Illuminants again, someone should sit them down for a frank discussion.

[leftbehindagain]

Care and benevolence aren't always the same thing. We're not stuck relying on whatever food investigators think to carry back at the end of a jaunt, or waiting for them to remember we need to eat.

That's the problem, though. The Illuminants don't do frank discussion. Ambrose-san made a point of saying Violet lies and Yellow will stab you in the back as soon as look at you, and I'm not convinced Maria-chan got as clear of an explanation of what she was getting into as she thinks she did. If the Trumps are bound to their archetypes, so are the Illuminants, maybe more so - and none of them stand for honesty.

[detectivewonder]

Huh.

Well, I never said it would be easy. But neither is working for the Trumps.

[leftbehindagain]

We know more of what we have with the Trumps than what we'd get from anyone else. Are you sure you want to take that risk for very little gain, if any?

[nicotinized]

I'm still not convinced they're the lesser of two evils, personally, and we'd be collateral at best.

[detectivewonder]

If we get home, it could still be worth it. But obviously it'd be a high-risk negotiation with little or no trust involved.

[nicotinized]

Well, if someone's up to trying to get them to see reason, I won't say no.

Private + Protected on her end

[shantiprayer]

I really wouldn't try that. Trust me, I was one of them. Rose probably would charm you into doing what she wanted, without caring about what it'd mean for you. ...And she was one of the nicer ones.

[Since she'd learned to send her voice over the Network, she'd done so almost exclusively when she was able. Right now, she wasn't. That she was transferring thoughts only despite being in the relative safety of Liminal Space was likely quite telling, if he'd noticed her usual patterns.]

Private

[detectivewonder]

I know some of us are resistant to psychic manipulation. Could make a difference.

Private

[shantiprayer]

It might make a difference with Rose's charms. It wouldn't help stop Red from making you explode.

[shiroganeheir]

To truly know the answer to that, we would have to know who or what is out there, but there is just so little information to go on.

I personally would not wish to work with any sort of beings who murder others, but in theory, yes, there could be other powers out there.

[detectivewonder]

I'm not convinced the Trumps aren't just as potentially murderous - as a group, if not every individual. But I take your point.

[shiroganeheir]

Then again, anyone is capable of murder given the right circumstances, especially in a group. But I see your point as well.

[nicotinized]

And look, if we're counting out people who've killed before, we're down a bunch of Travellers, too.

[detectivewonder]

I'm aware.

[amadine]

It might be worth considering, if we cross paths with something that isn't either dangerously capricious or an utter horror.

Which we may well not - I'd imagine the Trumps have a vested interest in having us believe they're the lesser of evils.

[detectivewonder]

If we believe that power corrupts, it's entirely possible they are the lesser evil. But you're right. They don't show us more than they have to, and to me, that says if they showed us more, there's a chance we could find a vulnerability to exploit, and they know it.

[amadine]

Whether or not power corrupts or simply reveals is a debate all its own.

They've already given us glimpses of vulnerability, I think. The longer this goes on, the more likely we are to get a clearer picture.

[detectivewonder]

I agree. I just want to speed up the process.