The Silver Sphinx

 

“It is wrong to defile the purity of Ortho."

eighth principle of the Pax Benevola from the Book of the Harmonium

 

 

Fourth Lower Day of Sacrilegion, 126 HR

About a week and a half had passed since the Day of Pain. To Amariel's relief, her factol had only received six cuts during the ritual – the second-lowest number since he took office. Only two of them had been deep, on his right shoulder and his left leg, which had left him limping and with a sling for a few days. But now he was almost back to his old self and she had come to terms with the events of that day - to some extent. Sarin had told her, with his unmatched directness, that she should be afraid – and he had been right. The events in the Hall of Pain had been deeply frightening, and in retrospect she was grateful to her factol for not lulling her into a false sense of security. Now she was looking for Kiyoshi, because Sarin had instructed her to inform the soldier about some facts regarding Ortho. She found the young man in the inner yard of the Barracks, doing battle exercises with a half-orc soldier of the same rank. When he saw her and she beckoned him over, he bowed politely to his training partner and approached her. He saluted in his own unique way by pounding his fist on his breastplate. The armor was already quite shiny in that very spot, and Amariel sometimes suspected that the soldier regularly hammered out the dents caused by this greeting. The thought made her smile inside, but since they had a serious topic to discuss, she didn't let it show.

Instead, she nodded in greeting to the young man. “Kiyoshi, I need to have a word with you. Factol Sarin wants me to inform you about a few things.”

His expression was stoic and difficult to read as usual. “I hear and obey, honorable adjutant Amariel-sensei. My mind hungers for the wisdom of our lord and prince, the honorable factol Sarin-gensui.”

Although Amariel was by now somewhat accustomed to Kiyoshi's unusual choice of words, she was taken aback by this answer. Then, however, she smiled. “Kiyoshi, sometimes you are an odd fish, you know?”

The young man looked at her intently and finally replied: “Forgive my ignorance, venerable adjutant Amariel-sensei, but I don't understand your remark. It may be because I don't yet understand Common perfectly, but it seemed to me that you were referring to me as a fish.”

Amariel had to laugh heartily. “Kiyoshi, it's just an expression. It means that ... that someone is unusual. And without meaning any offense: You are a bit unusual by Sigilian standards. Maybe it's because you're a prime or because of your world in particular. But overall, you seem to have settled in quite well here.”

Kiyoshi nodded. “I understand and thank you for your enlightening words, honorable adjutant Amariel-sensei. I now await the words of our lord and prince, the venerable factol of the honorable Harmonium, Sarin-gensui.”

He still appeared completely unperturbed. Sometimes the half-elf wondered how he managed to remain so serious even in clearly funny situations. Whether it was simply his character or rather hard work because it was expected according to the standards of his culture. But whatever the cause, after the turmoil that the outburst of his dragon blood had certainly caused inside him, and which not even he had been able to hide completely, he now seemed to be slowly finding his inner balance again. Amariel walked with him across the inner yard, that large, grassy area where exercise, combat training and large gatherings were held. Near the archery and crossbow shooting stands, there were even a few small trees with simple wooden benches underneath. Amariel sat down there and beckoned Kiyoshi to take a seat, too.

“Sarin told me that Lord Valiant will be visiting Sigil soon.” The thought did not exactly please her and she suspected that it showed. “He actually wanted to come last month, but our factol stalled him a bit by asking to postpone the visit until after the Day of Pain. But now that it is over, Valiant's arrival is getting closer. Because of this visit, I am supposed to tell you a little about the Homeworld of Ortho. I am not sure what you already know about it.”

Kiyoshi thought for a moment and then replied: “Well, honorable adjutant Amariel-sensei, I already know about the Octade and the positions that Delazar Ulan-daigensui and Lord Valiant-sama hold. I also know that the Homeworld is entirely in the hands of the Harmonium and must therefore be peaceful and full of harmony.”

Amariel felt a certain unease at these words. “Yes ... exactly. That's how it is ...” She stared at the ground in front of her for a while, where the grass grew quite thick in this less-walked spot. Then she pulled herself together. “Kiyoshi ... things aren't always as perfect as they appear. This also applies to Ortho. Or perhaps to our entire faction. You will notice it anyway once you are around longer, so I might as well tell you right away. You see, there are disagreements between the prime and planar wings of the Harmonium. And they are severe. Differences of such magnitude that they lead to political problems.”

Kiyoshi now too stared at the ground in front of him before answering. “Forgive me, honorable adjutant Amariel-sensei, but I was not trained in politics.”

The half-elf smiled, though not particularly cheerfully. “Few of us were. At least simple soldiers and lower-ranking officers are supposed to follow orders and fulfill their duties, not question the political foundations of the Homeworld. But reality is not always as we would like it to be. And it doesn't help to close our eyes to it. Just yesterday, our factol told me: Problems don't go away by pretending they aren't there. And that certainly applies to Ortho. You, Kiyoshi, will come into contact with all of this, I assure you. And you better be prepared for it.”

“I understand, honorable adjutant Amariel-sensei,” the young Kamigawan replied with a slight bow. ”I will do my best to clear the jungle of political entanglements with the machete of your knowledge, so that it will become as familiar to me as the thicket of the Jukai forests.”

He looked at her expectantly and once more Amariel had to laugh, this time more carefree. “You’ve put that very nicely, Kiyoshi. All right, there are several serious differences of opinion between the planar Harmonium in Sigil and on Arcadia and the prime Harmonium on Ortho and in the prime colonies. I will tell you about the three most important ones: the question of religion, the question of ethnicity and the question of the political autonomy of the planar Harmonium. Which would you like to hear about first?”

Kiyoshi seemed briefly confused when Amariel laughed so heartily, but quickly regained his composure and, after a moment's consideration, he replied: “I think for the honorable Harmonium it would be particularly beneficial if you would inform me about the last question, honorable adjutant Amariel-sensei.”

The half-elf nodded. ”As I already told you, the Harmonium originates from Ortho. It is thus the only faction of Sigil that has its roots on the Prime. This gives us a certain special position, which often enough also brings complications. The origin of the Harmonium dates back about five hundred years. It was a dark time for Ortho back then: demons had invaded the world, many cities lay in ruins, chaos and anarchy prevailed. At that time, a group of brave adventurers got together with the aim of bringing order and peace to their tormented world. They called themselves the Knights of Harmony , and among them were mainly paladins, as well as fighters and clerics of good alignment. Now, many groups of heroes set out with similar goals, but the point is: they succeeded. Within just one generation, they had united Ortho under the same laws, the same government and the same philosophy. For the first time, there was true peace in this world. The historical records speak of a glorious victory of order and harmony. However, a few less official sources mention that races such as the elves and fey of Ortho disappeared at that time. Many of these reports speak of them leaving Ortho because they could not or would not integrate into the new lawful but strict system. Occasionally, opinions are voiced that these races were wiped out at that time, but I would like to emphasize that there is no evidence of this. At the present time, the population of Ortho consists mainly of humans, dwarves and orcs.” Amariel paused briefly before continuing. “So that was the beginning. But soon the Harmonium felt the desire to spread the philosophy of peace and order beyond the world of Ortho. The successors of the Knights of Harmony left their planet and sought out other prime worlds, which they colonized. Today, Ortho has a total of seven colony worlds on the Prime: Intagril, Eallia, Anoc, Metér, Lucidia, Fjorge and Anara. Furthermore, the Harmonium ventured the step into the planes. An expedition into the Abyss had devastating results, but nevertheless, the then Octade decided to establish a base in Sigil over three hundred years ago. Soon we were able to seal the status of a faction in the Hall of Speakers and take on the task that we still fulfill today in the Cage: maintaining order in this city. Soon after, the headquarters in Melodia on Arcadia was established, along with important branches in the gate town of Fortitude and on Mechanus and Celestia. So far, so good. But with the distance from the Homeworld and the endless new influences to which the planar Harmonium members were exposed in the planes, a kind of parallel culture developed. In the beginning, the differences to Ortho were still small, but decade after decade they grew. For example, in the planar Harmonium there are many members of races that don't even exist on Ortho. They worship gods that are unknown on Ortho. And by now there are many members who have never been to Ortho and to whom the Homeworld means little. The members of the planar Harmonium see themselves more as an autonomous faction of Sigil than as part of a prime empire. And that is exactly what causes mistrust and fear on Ortho. The Octade would like to control everything concerning the planar wing. And we, in turn, want to decide as much as possible for ourselves, independently from Ortho. The factol of the planar Harmonium is always a member of the Octade, but he is the only planar representative among the eight. All the others come from Ortho or the colonies. This means that our factol often fights a losing battle against the rest of the Octade, and this is perceived as unfair by the planar wing. After all, the members of the planar Harmonium are now equal in number to those on the Prime. But still, Sigil, Arcadia and all the other planes where we have influence are treated by Ortho as one single colony. Officially, we have no different status than the seven prime colonies. For a while, the planar members didn't care, but in the last twenty, thirty years, the resentment grew noticeably.”

Kiyoshi nodded seriously. “I understand, honorable adjutant Amariel-sensei. So it is the case that the troops of the honorable factol Sarin-gensui are equal to those of all the other daimyos of the Harmonium. Therefore, either more daimyos from the planar Harmonium should be added or Factol Sarin-gensui should be offered the title of tenno.”

Amariel frowned questioningly. “Well, I've already gotten a little used to the suffixes you usually add to our names, Kiyoshi. But you'll have to explain to me what tenno means.”

“Forgive me, honorable adjutant Amariel-sensei,” the young man replied with great earnestness. ”Tenno refers to the emperor, lord of all daimyos, samurai and citizens of an empire. In Kamigawa, the tenno always descended from the venerable Amaterasu-o-mi-kami, but the line has apparently died out. Therefore, we are led by the venerable Ittosai Musashi-tenno. But as I have learned on my travels, only in Kamigawa does the title require descent from the great kami.”

Amariel thought about Kiyoshi's words for a while and then smiled. “I think your point of view is quite justified. And you got to the heart of the problem I was talking about. For there is a position in the Orthonian Empire that roughly corresponds to that of a tenno, as you call it. And that is the head of the Octade, currently Ulan Delazar. The prime Harmonium sees this as justified. And the planar Harmonium finds it increasingly difficult to understand why our factol should be subordinate to him and not on an equal footing.“ She nodded emphatically. ”Exactly, that's it. We don't want to be treated like a small, prime colony world.” She realized that she had gotten a little carried away, that she had become more direct than she had intended. Perhaps even more direct than her factol would have liked. When Kiyoshi didn't reply, she looked at him intently. Hopefully she hadn't gone too far. “You don't agree with this attitude?” she asked cautiously.

She had the impression that his gaze became more open than usual for a brief moment. “Honorable adjutant Amariel-sensei,” he replied, “I remained silent because I have nothing to add. You have excellently presented the position of the honorable planar Harmonium and also convincingly explained the rightful claim of our venerable Factol Sarin-gensui.”

She smiled, relieved that he understood and apparently even shared her position. “These political tensions were greatly intensified under Ulan Delazar's factolship,” she explained. “On the one hand, because he brought a large number of soldiers and officers with him from Ortho to Sigil. On the other hand, because of his personality and behavior. I don't know exactly what Lord Valiant's intentions are in Sigil. Who he will bring with him and how long he intends to stay. But be prepared for this matter to become a major issue again.”

Kiyoshi nodded seriously. “My lord and prince, the honorable Factol Sarin-gensui, can always count on my full support as long as there's still blood flowing through my veins. He has my full loyalty and obedience, even unto death.“ He seemed extremely determined as he spoke, and a hard line could be seen around his eyes.

“It is good to see that your loyalty to our factol is so strong and uncompromising,” Amariel said with satisfaction. “Please do not misunderstand my words: I am not saying that there will inevitably be momentous differences between the two wings of the Harmonium in the near future. But when Grand Inquisitor Valiant comes to the city, the possibility exists and therefore I consider it important to warn you. Now I have just said a lot on this subject, but have given you little opportunity to speak. Do you have any questions?”

“Forgive me, honorable adjutant Amariel-sensei, but it seems to me that I was inattentive,” the young man replied. “In your boundless patience, would you repeat your comments on the question of ethnicity and the question of religion?”

She smiled. “No, you were not inattentive. I only addressed both points very briefly. By mentioning that the planar Harmonium has members of races that don't exist on Ortho and that these members pray to gods that are unknown on Ortho. This is viewed with mistrust on the Homeworld. At least parts of the prime Harmonium believe that members of predominantly chaotic races should be excluded from our faction as a matter of principle. I believe I mentioned this briefly during your theoretical basic training. It's about elves, for example. Even if they are lawful, some prime members think that their heritage and culture means there is a high chance that they will eventually fall away from this alignment or commit unlawful acts. For some people on Ortho, this also includes half-breeds.” She tapped her chest. “Half-elves, fey-blooded, chaond, tieflings, who descend from tanar'ri, and so on. In addition to the question of political autonomy, this of course leads to even more resentment.”

Kiyoshi nodded. “I see. How are members of predominantly evil races treated? What about baatezu for example? Do they even exist in the ranks of the Harmonium?”

This direct but legitimate question touched a sore spot. “Well, that's a sensitive topic,” she replied with a sigh. “Just like the question of autonomy, maybe even more so. I'll try to summarize the whole thing as neutrally as possible. The Harmonium has only one rule when it comes to the alignment of its members: they have to be lawful. Whether they are good, neutral or evil is irrelevant. On Ortho, there are mostly good or neutral nations such as dwarves or humans, but there are also predominantly evil ones such as orcs or beholders. But they are all united by the bond of our common philosophy of order and peace, so there are no conflicts. In the planar Harmonium, there are many more races and good and neutral members outnumber the evil ones. There are quite a few tieflings in our faction, and some of them descend from baatezu, but others from tanar'ri or other fiends. The highest-ranking tiefling is Mayor Mabru, the head of our city of Melodia on Arcadia. He is only subordinate to Factol Sarin and Legate Caine. There are even a few baatezu members.” Amariel sighed again and paused for a moment before continuing. “In contrast to ethnicity and religion, the question of alignment plays no role for Ortho. But for the planar Harmonium it does, there's no getting around it. After all, our headquarters are located on one of the Upper Planes. And unlike in the prime Harmonium, the majority of our members are good or neutral, only a minority is evil. In addition, with the exception of Delazar, we have always had factol's who tried to significantly curb the influence of evil members in the faction. There are voices that would like to ban evil alignments from the planar Harmonium. Ortho does not allow this, but the voices are getting louder and more numerous ...”

Kiyoshi nodded. “I understand and thank you for your enlightening words. I assume that the honorable Factol Sarin-gensui takes a firm stand against baatezu in this case? Is there any information about the position of the ...” Here he hesitated briefly. “… the honorable member of the Octade, Lord Valiant-sama, known on this subject? After all, at least in terms of his outward appearance, he comes from the Upper Planes. Not to mention that he is responsible for inner harmony.”

“You are right in assuming that our factol is not very happy with the baatezu in the Harmonium.” As always when she spoke of him, Amariel felt the pride and affection for her factol that she knew she was not allowed to show too openly. So she tried to keep her tone of voice as neutral as possible when she continued. “Sarin is a paladin of a good goddess and abhors fiends. He uses all the official means at his disposal to curb their influence. But he can't just throw them out because the laws and rules of our faction don't allow it. Lord Valiant ... You've identified him correctly, he comes from the Upper Planes, from Celestia, to be precise. I'm not quite sure what his attitude is, to be honest. The Grand Inquisitor certainly doesn't possess the kind or even gentle nature that many assume a celestial to have. However, during his time in Sigil, he didn't give the impression of thinking particularly highly of the baatezu, nor did he have any close contact with them that I know of. I don't think he's particularly keen on them, if only because, as a celestial, he knows all too well how dangerous they can be.“ She leaned a little closer to Kiyoshi and lowered her voice. ”And while we're on the subject of Lord Valiant, there's something else ... He's a celestial, but not pure-blooded. Valiant is the son of Ramiel, the current ruler of the heavenly city Hebdomias, and a half-human celestial, about whom, however, nothing is known. This makes Valiant a quarter human, but make no mistake: three-quarters of him is a throne archon, and that is enough to make him very, very powerful. He doesn't like to hear allusions to his human blood, by the way; he seems to see it as a flaw.”

Kiyoshi seemed to conscientiously absorb each of her words and all of her explanations. When he had no further questions, Amariel stood up slowly. “I know that was a lot,” she stated, almost apologetically. ”And I'm sure all of this is difficult to digest at first. Take your time to think about it. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.”

He nodded gravely, then rose and bowed in farewell with his hands folded in front of his chest. As Amariel walked across the inner yard, she couldn't help but glance at the tower where the factol's office was located. Sarin had seemed tense and unenthusiastic about the upcoming visit of Lord Valiant, as expected. She hoped with all her heart that this was only based on past experiences and that the future would not confirm his fears.

 

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from the forum role play with Kiyoshi's player