From being an Abandoned who had rarely left the Hollowed Grounds, to embracing the call of adventure, to dying and being reborn first as an Ascended and then as an Ancient, Maea has gone through quite the amount of changes in her life. One thing remains common, though, in her attempts to find out just where she belongs; she’s always had a craving for knowledge which has brought her to so many places and to meet so many people here in Caido. We can’t wait to see what else is in store for her!
Congratulations, Maea!
Credits
Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
Skinning and hosting by the epically talented Kaons, and functionality fanciness by the coding magic of Neowulf. If you ever see either of them around, make sure to show them some love!
The rumor of Merpeople on land has scorched its way through Torchline, making its way to this very curious explorer’s keen ears. And, well, she’s been waiting for a reason to use Sunjata’s orca shift. There’s probably no other way that she would be able to talk to the merpeople while underwater, and the very idea of an Underwater City is fascinating. How do they hold the buildings together? What kind of magic do they have? Do they have the same biases towards the Ascended that other races do?
One day, late morning, the Wraith swims out into the Ocean and when she judges that it’s deep enough for a whale, she activates the shift and swims a bit on the surface to get a feel for how it moves - steers with its fin, it’s tail. It takes a little longer than she likes, but eventually Wessex seems to get the hang of it, takes a deep breath and dives down to look for the Underwater City. When she thinks she’s found it, the Wraith surfaces for air again, and then descends and waits at a respectable distance, calling out through the commandeered Attuned link - I mean no harm or disrespect by coming down here. Only curiosity. And a desire to learn.
As the word spreads quickly above the water's surface, Maru has been easing his people into the mindset required to accept that their existence will no longer remain a coveted secret. His people are thankfully the flexible sort, trusting in his command especially when the smugglers and captains have already proven themselves to be reliable. As such the guards are not nearly so volatile, instructed to be educational instead of forceful, and Maru himself has opened his time to receiving any potential visitors firsthand.
With his own adventures paused to care for Delta in her blinded state and to dedicate his time instead to being a welcoming host, he is readily available when a new soul makes itself known in the borders of their kingdom. Maru is alerted with expediency, and as with Remi he moves alone - aside from Delta, if she wishes to tag along - to greet this new explorer. Their form is much larger than Remi's had been he realizes as his tentacles propel him easily through the water. A hand rises on salutation as he covers the distance needed for the bond to work properly. Greetings, traveler. I am Maru, Luminary of the Merfolk. My guards mentioned you came here to learn - what is it you would like to know? As with Josh, there is far too much to pack into one long verbose reply. It is easier for her to state her questions and for him to control the answers.
04-19-2020, 02:58 AM (This post was last modified: 04-19-2020, 04:21 AM by Delta.)
Delta
Dealing with the sudden blindness was not easy, not in the slightest. It felt never ending and quite honestly just downright awful. It wasn’t too bad, though, as Maru had been there every step of the way. Guiding her and helping her to deal with the terror. Eventually, the blindness faded and she was able to go about her life once more. With that finally gone, she was free to be herself and enjoy the things the ocean provided and one of which was an absolutely incredible offer.
A visitor was spotted, calling out for council so when her father allowed her to come with? Of course Delta joined him! Swimming behind him, Delta had done her best to look professional...which wasn’t much. Mostly, she tried to hide her excitement. Staying behind her dad, she stared at the giant whale. Now this was hard to hide her interest, but Delta tried her hardest. Her head turned towards Maru, waiting to see if she’d be allowed to speak or if she was merely an onlooker
Well this is unexpected. A thrill of delight surges through the Ascended masquerading as an Attuned as a half-man, half-fish propels its way towards her. Her eyes widen, but ah, this form is less expressive than her own. And then a smaller, second merperson arrives and she can’t help but smile a whale-toothed smile. Thank you. I’m Wessex, originally of the Hollowed Grounds and now a demigod of the Voice. There are a lot of questions, but first I suppose I have to ask about your history. How long have you been a people? What’s your origin?
There’s a bit of awe coming through the bond now, and perhaps they’ll be kind enough to realize that she knew nothing of their existence before this. Nothing at all.
Her head swings wide to the smaller female, curious about her presence, but giving obvious deference to Maru.
Maru gives his daughter an indulgent look as she arrives, having expected her eager presence now that she is allowed at his side for these affairs. But he will not ignore their guest, and the faint tinge of emotion across the connection between them makes the Luminary smile serenely. Introduce yourself my child.
Wessex's words and title are familiar, though only a small spark of intrigue across the bond would betray him. Demigod? I have met your kin, but he called himself Ascended. Was that correct for a child of The Voice? Maru has only encountered one other demigod, so he's aware she may be above her ilk, but if she is here to learn then perhaps it can be an equivalent exchange.
We have been a people as long as Torchline's waters have existed. I cannot say for sure, as our kind can move from any body of water to another as we age. There are many of us all throughout the lands, all with different histories. It is a difficult question to answer, and he tries to do so as eloquently as possible. Our history is mostly oral with writings being so difficult to preserve in the water. I apologize I cannot be more detailed. Though he will endeavor to answer her further questions to the best of his ability.
With permission granted from her father, Delta offered the large whale a smile before swimming forward a couple of inches. My name is Delta and I am the daughter of Maru. And with that she returned back to the original spot she resided in, clearly a bit more giddy and happy than before now that she was officially part of the conversation. How exciting!
Her father went on to answer many of the questions provided, but she had her own thoughts and opinions within her head. While she had not yet met an Ascended, she had heard of this Voice goddess previously. What she had heard wasn't all that great and she was growing slightly wary of this human who identified as a demi-god. While it was important to hear multiple sides of a story, Delta couldn't quite imagine how great someone could be who defied the Old Gods and tried to usurp them. She tried her very best to hide any feelings from the whale, but did no such thing with her father. It was important to be open.
Time to see if she was allowed to ask her own questions. What is your reason for visiting, Wessex, Demi-god of the Voice? Are you here as a request of the Voice?
When the smaller mermaid swims forward to introduce herself, Wessex responds with a whale-sized head bob in return, no less delighted to meet her than she is to meet Maru.
Oh, no, that’s correct. My brothers and sisters are called Ascended, as I was - am? A tiny pause, because she’s never actually considered if others still think of her as Ascended or not. But The Voice saw fit to raise me up again. There are other demigods up there - Safrin’s chosen, a daughter of Mort, twin children of Rae - the usage is more a comment on our relationship with a God rather than what, ah, race we came from. And the 'born' demis don’t even have an initial race, she thinks.
Labels are a bit cliche, but she just used them and it would make her a hypocrite to say so.
Really? the whale exclaims upon learning that merpeople are everywhere. That’s amazing. I knew the Grounders had been left in the dark about many things, but this is… A pulse of sadness for everything that had been lost in the past three centuries is unavoidable. Knowledge is power. The Old Gods had truly kept them under their thumbs. She’s about to ask another question when Delta pipes up and she swings her attention to the girl, obviously a bit surprised.
I’m an explorer. I want to see and know everything about Caido. Spent almost forty years in a cage and now I want to know what’s out there - from the depths of the Maw to the peaks of the Fangs and everything in between.. And if she had a brow to furrow, she would. How can prejudice have gotten down here already? Gods, they are too few… Is there a reason you ask that, specifically?
Her explanation is granted a raise of dark, expressive brows, an acceptance of her clarification and a disappearance of the minor furrow that had gathered between them. He nods his head in gratitude for it, too sparse with words to say them aloud across the bond. Maru is accustomed to them feeling his appreciation across the link at the very least, and it will be apparent to her even in her unaccustomed manner.
Delta's response is far off the mark from what he had anticipated, and he tilts his head to regard her with a look that is both subdued on behalf of their guest, and baffled at the animosity that seems to linger beneath his daughter's connection to him. It seems for all her attempts to hide it, Wessex spots it as well. So long as your intentions are pure, we welcome adventurers of all races and allegiances. It is said to the pair at large, though he tucks away Delta's inquisition to ask about in private. Clearly he has missed something, and while he won't correct or discipline her - will let her make her mistakes, as he had when he was at his mother's side and learning diplomacy - he is curious how she will respond to Wessex's question. We are incapable of leaving our waters, but we can easily be contacted from the shore in the future if you would like a conference instead of adventure. She is more than welcome to ask more questions now of course, but he will extend the offer of dialogue and conversation for future days as well.
Her father and Wessex would speak about important subjects and she would mostly stay to the side and listen, nodding along and hoping that things would go... as smooth as possible in the future.
But then, all eyes were on her.
Perhaps her words were harsh and were in sharp contrast to her fathers, but in her opinion she was absolutely reasonable to be concerned! The only problem was that she had to formulate a proper and mature response that wasn't purely built on her worries. It took a bit of thinking before she finally swam a bit up to speak, hoping that it'd give her a bit more of a platform. Before the portals, we had never heard of the Voice... we are very familiar with the Old Gods as well as many of the races, but the Ascended are brand new to us as is the Voice. It would make sense to me that she would send someone here first thing, but I was wrong and I am sorry for assuming such, but it is also important that we learn a lot about you and your people as before your arrival, we didn't know of your existence. She thought of her words as blunt and to the point. It was honesty and hopefully she wouldn't be offended by it... and that she wouldn't fuck up everything.
Offering up her voice one final time once her father had extended the invitation she sounded a tad bit happier, as though the political persona was sliding away. I should also be easy to reach, if you wish to speak with me... I enjoy learning a lot about culture and if you'd like to tell me more about yourself and the Ascended... then I'd really appreciate that a lot. There was a faint smile on her face. Even though she didn't exactly trust them at this point, she still wanted to learn as much as she possible could. A wise person learns as much about their potential enemies ahead of time.
At least the leader is a reasonable, critical thinker. Again, the whale bobs its head up and down in agreement with Maru’s declaration. Of course. Thank you. I’ll be certain to tell my siblings that. Though if you ever need help down here, something beyond what I’m sure you’re very capable of, the Ascended could lend actual hands. We’d need a way to talk, but we don’t have to breathe the air the way the others do. Which is, perhaps, also an explanation as to why she isn’t in her own form. They could have looked at each other but all chance of communication would have been lost.
While she can’t fault the girl’s caution, Wessex finds the reasoning a bit peculiar. Her people weren’t worried about the merfolk (it might have something to do with them being water-bound, but that’s besides the point), and she can imagine that they aren’t avid New God supporters. But her words make the whale raise an internal eyebrow. We are a small group of people, she begins, Who are like any others in that most of us just want to live our lives. We may not need to eat or drink or breathe, but we love and laugh and play, we have families, argue like siblings, yearn for kids, make art… we even lead a couple of areas. There’s a pulse of low-level amusement at the question, a chuckle as if to say ‘we’re just as normal as everyone else,’ which is, of course both the truth and anything but.
I’d be happy to tell you more. Whenever you like. Anything I can answer now? And if not, then she’d be happy to go on her way soon. She does have a tiny, amusing question for them still, more ignorant than anything else.
A dark brow rises, intrigued. Amun had not explained the full physiological difference, and the fact they don't require oxygen is interesting. Yes, communication would be a barrier. I will have my council consider alternative methods. Thank you for your kind offer, I will hold it in mind. Truly little has changed in their world, their kingdom never reaching for more land or control. But he will not dismiss her out of hand, as things will surely become more interesting now that their existence is confirmed by the new Governor.
Again he lets Delta speak her mind. Make her own choices, mistakes. Form her own opinion. It is a level of trust he hopes she bears humbly, that he is willing to risk important negotiations and allies that she may fumble and destroy, all for the sake of letting her become more involved with their kingdom.
I do have a few questions if you have the time. Why don't we find warmer waters? Not being so rude as to ask the time limit on her form, Maru extends and arm and leads them to where the light dances above them, happy to continue this conversation and hopefully strike a friendship of sorts on a personal level.
