(no subject)

[loyalrebel]

In the interest of sharing information, especially concerning our 'hosts', I have some concerning the less dragon involving events that occurred in Misericordia along with some of what I think is reasonable conjecture.

The Illuminants were brought back and made an attack on Liminal Space in order to draw out one of our hosts and defeat them. I believe they would have succeeded, had she not called in backup and forced us out of our overlays and them back out to their homeland.

This likely means a few things, including that it is likely that the Illuminants were originally nearly destroyed because they are seen as a threat as a group and possibly as individuals in the future. Some of these jaunts we get sent on are likely to destroy something that can be used against our hosts, but that is only a theory I have.

I cannot speak to the other Illuminants ambitions, but I can give some insight in to the current Red if anyone wishes for it.

Comments

[howexciting]

[Deep breath, Leo. You can do this.]

The Orange Illuminant nearly took my place in Liminal Space, and let the Emperor toss me into Dolorosa in his stead. He used an Orange spell, an illusion, to cast his form onto mine, and then posed as me. He would have succeeded had his ruse not been discovered.

... in the interest of full disclosure.

1/2

[loyalrebel]

[Sorry Leo, you're just getting the equivalent of mental white noise as he tries to process that. It's a little like someone going "FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF"]

2/2

[loyalrebel]

...I almost hope Red finds out.


He might actually punch him in the face for trying to leave him behind.

[howexciting]

Red will have to beat me to it.

I do not think that was his intention. I think he was trying to gain a foothold in Liminal Space so that he might sneak his Cousins in under the Trumps' noses, before they had a chance to fully recover.

[loyalrebel]

I somehow doubt you would, but you would be allowed your own swing as well.

That... is not a terrible plan, really. Though I dislike it because of the loss of you it nearly cost.

[awitchdidit]

Well, Yellow might laugh at the cleverness, but hopefully Green will stab him repeatedly on my behalf instead.

Orange is my least favorite Illuminant, if I didn't make that clear yet.

[howexciting]

I doubt Green could do that. Yellow might consider it a lovely act of betrayal, though.

I am not surprised. He was never popular even among his Illuminated cousins back home. I rather hate him myself, at the moment, if that was also not clear.

[happyhalloween]

... actually, Green probably just went around first aiding and then healing and doing other hope-making stuff until she felt better enough to go find her apprentice and his friend and Beato's piece and Yellow. And to get Syaoko-or-Tomosuke from the tent. So she wouldn't have stabbed Orange. Her egg was in his tent.

[amadine]

It's not the first time that theory's been floated, but that does lend it further credence. How did you get in?

[loyalrebel]

The Illuminants forced their way in by reopening a portal.

[amadine]

Strange. I'd have expected reality-warping god-entities to have the good sense to invest in decent locks, at the very least.

[loyalrebel]

The overconfident usually ignore the obvious when it comes to defenses. Nobody ever thinks to lock second story windows either.

[awitchdidit]

Thank you for that succinct summary. I'm working on putting together a written report on that mess for those without the ability to winnow through these messages, so you can be assured this will be passed on.

Was it only the Emperor and Empress who were present, or were there other Trumps you could identify who joined the battle?

[howexciting]

The Fool and the Moon also took part. We had already seen the Moon and the Fool, respectively. In fact, some of us who were Illuminated were marked by these two, so I wonder if it wasn't because we were marked.

I am marked by the Fool, incidentally.

[awitchdidit]

Oh. Well, that kills a joke I made at the ball, but I think Phillip got it anyway.

Interesting that The Moon, of all arcana, operated openly...

[No comment on him being Marked. She doesn't see it as a problem with him so much as a difficult complication to avoid.]

[loyalrebel]

I have my own notes as well, if you care to look at them. Aquila was... a clever man, if a bit tragic behind the foolish demeanor.

She called him after being attacked, the others Leonardo mentioned following shortly after.

[awitchdidit]

They were both running their own game boards, and are most likely attached in some way beyond that, being a pair of married concepts. It makes sense that dealing with one would almost certainly involve dealing with the other.

...where do these concepts go when they're not addressing us physically, anyway? Some Meta-Liminal Space, do you think?

[wholeheaded]

[ Ambrose has...mostly kept his silence on psychic channels, despite being aware of how that caused problems in Misericordia. denial, panic, not realizing it was going to be relevant until it was too late, not wanting to distract from the obvious objective, there's myriad reasons. but that's past, now he can sort of make up for it. ]

[ his contribution is of course presented flat and toneless, to the point where it sounds like he is "reading" from a script. because he is. ]

The Illuminants are beings of immense power who have the ability to use what we'll call magic to warp reality. There are eight of them, each with their power based on a color in the human visible spectrum: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, and rose. They have unique skill sets based on the symbolism of their respective colors. They are drawn to wells of magical energy, whether natural such as that found in Dolorosa, or created, as is the case with the portals used to get to and from Liminal Space.

As far as we are aware the Travelers have encountered the Illumiants twice: the first time our mission seemed to be to disrupt their further acquisition of power, and this most recent encounter which could be interpreted as the Illuminants hijacking a jaunt in order to get revenge. Each time a few of our number have played host to these beings, and they have proven capable of possessing investigators as well as infiltrators.

[ there is a brief pause as he considers how to conclude. ] Their style of magic can be taught, and learned.

Private

[leftbehindagain]

Thank you, Ambrose-san. We'll be better armed if we end up back there again.

I really hope we don't, though. Apparently Kanji and I managed to keep Green fooled, but I don't think we'd be so lucky twice, either by ourselves or as a group.

perma-private

[wholeheaded]

You're welcome. [and he's pretty sure it's best if they elaveit at that for now. ]

And... agreed. It'd be like Nova Venezia except with proto-Trumps instead of your average paranoid population.

[loyalrebel]

Thank you, Ambrose.

I wonder... do you think the methods to keep the other one detained that were discussed by others could be used or modified to do the same against them? Even the playing field so to speak.

[wholeheaded]

If you mean the King in Yellow, I’m not sure. It was a very specific ritual that kept it at bay, and I think it was Trump intervention that expelled it – has anyone seen the mark since? – and since the Trumps already booted the Illuminants… I don’t know. Maybe if they show up we can pool our efforts and toss a lot of binding spells at them, see what happens.

[permastubble]

If you, or anybody listening, wants more from a different point of view I’ve got that report I was working on more or less coherent. I’m sure there’s things I’ve missed, still, but the main events are all in it and in order now.

I can try to answer some questions—for the record I, uh, the overlay? was possessed by Blue—but it’s been a lot easier so far for me to write things down instead of talking or thinking them at people.

Private forever

[howexciting]

... how are you holding up?

[Hey, uh, Cousin.]

Private forever

[permastubble]

[Part of him wants to fling sarcasm back in response to the question, but Ryoutarou holds back. There’s a bit of a pause.]

It hit close to home. [another pause.] Not the possession part.