Archon Caelith Vaelor + Grimepriest Drog Marruk
Historical Narrative Interlude — Barz & Bloodlines
[ARCHIVAL CRYSTAL HISS]
[A delicate crystalline tone.]
ARCHIVAL VOICE:
Crystal Record Seventy-Seven-B.
High Council of the Crystal Spires.
Proceedings concerning…
Rhythmic Mana Contamination.
Year Three Hundred…
Before Silence.
[click]
[THE HEARING]
[Large marble chamber. Faint whispers.]
ARCHON CAELITH VAELOR:
Citizens of Noctavia.
The High Council convenes today
not in judgment of a people…
but in defense of all peoples.
Recent disturbances originating beneath the Iron Districts
have demonstrated a measurable relationship
between Orcish percussion
and instability within surrounding mana fields.
The practice commonly called…
“GrimeCasting”
has produced seismic vibration,
unregulated thaumaturgical discharge,
and structural resonance
within several Crystal installations.
[quiet Elven murmuring]
We therefore recommend
the immediate suspension
of all unsanctioned rhythmic practice.
This is not punishment.
This is protection.
DROG MARRUK:
Protection.
[pause]
Pretty word.
CAELITH:
Grimepriest Marruk.
You will have your opportunity.
DROG:
My people have been waiting
two hundred years
for our opportunity.
What’s another minute?
[Council murmurs]
[THE EDICT]
CAELITH:
Effective immediately:
The manufacture or possession
of ritual war drums
is prohibited.
Ancestral rhythmic gatherings
are prohibited.
Rhythmic thaumaturgy,
including the practice known as GrimeCasting,
is hereby classified
as dangerous unsanctioned magic.
All instruments capable of inducing
low-frequency mana resonance
must be surrendered
to Council authorities.
Failure to comply—
DROG:
Will make us criminals.
CAELITH:
Failure to comply
will constitute treason.
[Silence.]
[DROG’S TESTIMONY]
CAELITH:
You may speak.
DROG:
You call it corruption.
My grandfather called it thunder.
His grandfather called it memory.
And the ones before him?
They didn’t need a name.
They struck the earth—
[Drog taps the table once.]
TOK.
—and the earth answered.
CAELITH:
Which is precisely the danger—
DROG:
No.
That ain’t what scares you.
[Council murmurs intensify.]
CAELITH:
Choose your next words carefully.
DROG:
Why?
You already chose ’em for us.
“Primitive.”
“Unstable.”
“Contaminated.”
“Unsafe.”
Funny.
Your words keep changing.
Your fear don’t.
CAELITH:
Grimepriest—
DROG:
Tell them about the crystals.
[Silence.]
CAELITH:
There is nothing relevant—
DROG:
Tell.
Them.
About.
The crystals.
[A chair moves abruptly.]
UNKNOWN COUNCILOR:
Archon—
CAELITH:
There is nothing to tell.
DROG:
Then I’ll tell it.
Your mages came beneath our mountain.
No banners.
No Council robes.
No witnesses.
Took pieces from our drums.
Recorded our chants.
Measured our halls.
You called it research.
CAELITH:
Standard mana analysis.
DROG:
Then why’d you run?
[Silence.]
Why’d six Highblood mages
run out of an Orc temple
white as ghosts?
CAELITH:
Enough.
DROG:
Why did your scepters light
when our drums began?
CAELITH:
Enough.
DROG:
Why did your precious crystals—
[Drog leans toward the recording crystal.]
sing back?
[TOTAL SILENCE]