open audience;

[ironwood]

Characters: The Ironwood Emperor and anyone who came to speak with her!
Date: November 15th.
Location: The Palace of Landed Sky
Situation: The expected holding of an audience for any that care to speak with the Ironwood Emperor.
Warnings/Rating: N/A; to be updated if necessary

The hall is still and white, strung with softly glowing lanterns that are strung up high beyond reach. Outside, the sun is at its zenith, and it filters down through the cloudy glass roof to create a brilliant, nearly blinding ambiance.

The floor is marble, inlaid with mother-of-pearl and ruby quartz. It catches the light, and casts strange patterns on the walls.

The Emperor is painting today, broad sweeps of colour across canvas. She's dressed very simply, with no ornamentation, and every once in a while she'll stop to wipe her brow with her arm, which has resulted in more than one smudge of paint on her cheek or forehead. She seems to be in a decent mood today, at least?

[Actionspam or prose are both acceptable!

Characters will only be admitted into the hall one by one, so there won't be anyone present for anyone else's conversations, and there won't be any 'mingling' in the chamber itself.

By popular demand, we will continue to allow mingling for those waiting for an audience in an antechamber. There is a thread header below to allow for that!]

Comments

[ofmyth]

[Thor is wary, and he does not care if it is obvious. There is a great deal of power here which the Emperor may or may nor controlling (he's heard conflicting accounts). Overconfidence in the face of such isn't wise.]

Hail, Emperor of the Ironwood throne.

[It can't hurt to be polite though.

He's not at all thrown by her painting. More than once he's held war counsel with the All Mothers where a suckling babe was being coddled or burped.]

I am come to seek information regarding the foe which threatens us.

[ironwood]

[You look familiar. She scrutinizes him. There are similarities, yes, but differences enough as well.]

Let me guess. Thor Odinson, of Asgard?

[ofmyth]

[He nods.] I am the second of that name to come before you today.

[Thor would have liked to have been present with the other Thor, but the one at a time rule was apparently strictly enforced.]

I, too, will offer my strength in the defence of this world, but that is easier done with knowledge rather than rumour.

[ironwood]

The creature is called Malicant. Take care not to speak that name outside the palace, it's been done before with disastrous results. This place is warded. The rest of Keeliai is not.

[A sigh.]

Malicant is a creature of chaos, lies and trickery. It is, as far as I'm concerned, evil. It kills worlds, potentially universes as well. It has... tarried here in Konryu for a time, due to the turtles that formed our continents. They are billions of years old, each older than most planets on which sentient life sets foot. All of them are deceased, save Asti, the one on which we stand, and Malicant has been trying quite handily to kill him as well for the last few hundred years. Once Asti is dead, we are of no consequence. It will move on, to another planet, and repeat the process.

[ofmyth]

[Now Mally makes sense, at least.

Thor's blood runs hot at the thought of all the lives Malicant has ended already. He has never seen worlds like this turtle, and to think of it's brethren all slain- it is unforgivable.]

Is anything known about this creature's weaknesses, or how we should best overcome it?

[ironwood]

The last time it was here, it-- possessed a man. Named Yvaes. He was a Foreigner, the leader of a self-styled rebellion against me. I'm not certain if the rebellion sprang up first, and he was possessed later, or if it happened and Malicant slowly nurtured it. But when I learned of it, I had the man killed, and pieces of his body sealed behind the strongest magic I knew.

[Which. Is leaving out quite a bit, but.]

I thought that to be the end of it. It wasn't.

[ofmyth]

[They should have been so lucky for that to be the end.]

What happened after this?

[ironwood]

Time passed. Centuries. And I began to notice... signs, of Malicant's resurgence. So, I began to summon you and your ilk. That was over a year ago now. Sixteen human months, if you know the calendar.

[Her tone's a little stiff. She doesn't like talking about that time period, k, she spent some of it being a little off kilter.]

[ofmyth]

And how do you hope we shall succeed where you and your people have failed [He doesn't mean to be accusing, merely practical.]

[ironwood]

[She spreads her hands in a gesture of surrender.]

Any hope is better than none, would you not say?

[ofmyth]

That I cannot deny. [He smiles grimly. He had been afraid that this might be some kind of suicidal plan.]

Is anything known of it's history? Where it came from, how it grew to power- or has it always been so?

[ironwood]

I believe it's been sentient, in one form or another, since the start of all things.

[She sighs.]

Understand, I know precious little more about it now than I knew a thousand years ago. This creature works best in subterfuge and misdirection.

[ofmyth]

[Ah. Proper cosmic evil from the dawn of time. The news just gets better and better.]

What do we know of how it has worked in the past? How were other worlds destroyed by it?

[ironwood]

I know very little. It destroyed the world the kedan hailed from originally, I had thought to... save them, by bringing them here, but. Mmn.

[Her lips quirk downward. The stories of how the kedan were being damaged by being brought to Keeliai are prolific enough, at least.]

To my understanding, it drains the life energy of a planet to utter depletion. Every creature on it sickens and dies.

[ofmyth]

You brought them here, as you have brought us here? [With the hope that they would help her fight this threat?

He doesn't ask the last question aloud. Clearly this is a topic which does not please her.]

[ironwood]

Yes. There were about ten thousand of them, then. The last of their species. They were a very warlike people then, but the... process, for bringing sentient life here was incomplete then.

[Her mouth quirks downward.]

[ofmyth]

Where did you learn this process? I have never encountered any magic which has been able to do what you have done.

[ironwood]

[She shrugs.]

When needs drive. Most of what I know is cobbled together. Summoning the kedan was... experimental.