Planning on apping at Es War Einmal (canon: Exalted)

[ecoterrorism]

...No.

Absolutely not.

I have already had quite enough experience fighting a battle I don't care for without having to do it on behalf of a nation of people apparently too weak to take care of themselves. At least I can be assured of my current circle-mates having some basic degree of competence. [ ...except maybe Hematite. How much of an idiot do you have to be to pause fighting to waste time asking defeated opponents to "please stop being bad"? ]

And the whole thing is because they're frightened that their precious kingdom will be overtaken by "thorns"? That sounds like a good thing, if you ask me. Not, of course, that anyone ever does.

Comments

[airanddarkness]

Why would anyone be under the impression that you would be helpful?

[ecoterrorism]

[ thanks, Iseul :| ]

Oh, perhaps because I can shoot a mouse out of the claws of a hawk in high wind -- without harming the mouse? And because I am for some reason willing to heal the lot of you?

As for this place? It's beyond me. Apparently they don't intend to ask the opinion of those they volunteer as "heroes."

[airanddarkness]

I didn't say you were incompetent. You can be useful. But wouldn't it be more efficient to find people who were interested in their cause? Or individuals that they could control, I suppose.

[ecoterrorism]

You would really think it would be, yes.

But from the sound of things they just drag in anyone competent, without inquiring whether that person thinks they shouldn't just handle their own damn problems.

[airanddarkness]

That is rather presumptuous. Also ill-advised. After all, you'll likely do more harm than help toward their particular problem.

[It's not really a judgment. It's merely what she thinks. She doesn't really care about whether they clear the thorns or not, after all.]

Although I don't quite see why they can't just have a sorcerer clear out the thorns, or summon elementals to tend to their forests.

[Surely it's as easy as that?]

[ecoterrorism]

[ No offense taken. It really is just a statement of fact. ]

If I don't simply choose to help in my own way, of course. But it already doesn't seem that they're likely to appreciate my way of seeing things. [ Why can't more people be like Deathknights? It turns out they're surprisingly reasonable once you talk to them. ]

And for a land with magic enough to kidnap heroes for itself, it really is ridiculous. I can only assume they're lazy: why do the work, when you can force someone else?

[airanddarkness]

It does seem a rather strange solution.

[also, why would they summon Oroonoko of all people and not her

is there something wrong with her

do they not want an awesome sorceress

what is it]

[ecoterrorism]

(( hey carly

hey

you could fix that >:3 ))

I had always assumed that mortals would be better off without Exalts or Anathema to fight their battles for them. Perhaps I have been giving them too much credit.

[sorcerous]

Mm.

And why would the thorns be such a lovely future?

[ecoterrorism]

People depend too much on civilization.

[sorcerous]

If they have their way, the world will burn. It will be choked and consumed, and there will be no people, much less a civilization.

[ecoterrorism]

You will have to explain to me how the element of wood is meant to convert to the element of fire. Smoke and fire choke and destroy; it is the nature of wood and of people alike to grow and adapt.

[sorcerous]

Because the thorns are not a plant. They are the manifestation of chaos, out-of-balance and uninterested in compromise.

You view this through your own eyes, but they only betray your ignorance.

[ecoterrorism]

[ Intrigued, now. ] You are certain of this? That even in this world I apparently have good odds of being dragged to, chaos gnaws on the edges of Creation? [ Not the Creation she knows, but it's starting to sound remarkably similar in some respects, if that's the case. ]

[sorcerous]

Chaos is set to consume Order.

And Order is creation, here. Of a sort.

/o\ I'm sorry; she's patently awful.

[ecoterrorism]

...I see.

The Wyld is not easily combated, even by Exalts. (( excuse her as she just casually tosses around Exalted terminology... )) Though that does not necessarily mean that a cleanse is not for the best.

[sorcerous]

An empty world is so ...

Boring.

[ecoterrorism]

I wouldn't want humanity to die. But it might do us all good to have to start from scratch.

...I suppose it's a matter of whether they can be taught to survive the onslaught. As you have so carefully pointed out to me.

[brosif]

The thorns consume whatever is in their path – man, woman, child. They care for nothing but destruction. They would leave the world choking. Why, then, does this sound acceptable?

[ecoterrorism]

They're some sort of powerful sorcery, then? Or Wyld-driven? [ Perhaps that would actually be a halfway interesting fight. ]

...That may change things somewhat. [ Not that she's going to admit her soft spot for children. ]

Or it may not. It is the nature of plants to grow. Perhaps it would be better to teach these men, women, and children to adapt.

[brosif]

In truth, we do not know what they are. If we knew what they were, we'd have already killed them.

There is no adapting. There is no version of this the ends in a sort of amnesty.

[ecoterrorism]

I don't believe I ever suggested I was interested in amnesty.

[brosif]

And what are you interested in?

[ecoterrorism]

Victory. Reform. A way of life that means people, even mortals, learn how to fend for themselves.

[brosif]

These people have proven well enough that they are unable to do that. So the question stands: would you help them in spite of that? Or would you stand around, useless?

[ecoterrorism]

Whatever I choose, I will not let myself stoop to uselessness.

As for helping them -- that matters entirely on whether I decide they deserve anyone's help.

[brosif]

If you are in the world, the thorns will devour you as well. Not everyone is motivated by benevolence.

[ecoterrorism]

[ seemingly unconcerned ] I have met worse.

[ Privately, she's actually a bit more hesitant: because if the thorns are truly a threat even to the ones chosen as heroes, it's not so shameful that the kingdom couldn't defend itself. Plus, there's a big difference between "met" and "defeated." ]

I'd like to see why this kingdom has decided that it can't fight its own battles before I am very moved by its people's willingness to lean on the assistance of others. They are not all children; perhaps the adults are lame? Diseased?

[brosif]

It infuriates me. As does the king and all of his people. [They are kind enough, but a kind thief is still a thief.] I find them petty, defenseless, and of limited intelligence. The adults especially.

But that does not mean I would see them devoured.

[ecoterrorism]

How am I not surprised.

If you truly cared about them, you would encourage them to take their fate into their own hands. That is the only worthwhile way to live a life.

[brosif]

Meanwhile, the thorns creep closer. And while the townspeople learn the value of self sufficiency, my companions are swallowed up in the night.

[ecoterrorism]

[ a small shrug ]

That is different. There is no shame in aiding those who have shown themselves worth your time. It is the idea that I might be forced to serve the weak that they might avoid developing their own strength that offends me.

[brosif]

And what are your own strengths?

[ecoterrorism]

[ matter-of-fact ] I am the best archer you are liable to meet outside of the Anathema, and far better than competent as a tracker. I have gone unseen by a Deathknight as I followed her from the rooftops, and escaped the wrath of a corrupt sorceress.

I have my uses.

[consultmybooks]

Well, um, I did hear that the thorns apparently devour the bodies of the living.

...but, um, something tells me that you might not be terribly bothered by that, either.

[ecoterrorism]

If people are too incompetent to get out of the way, then I fail to see how that is my problem.

...Though... I will admit that devouring vines are an unnatural and somewhat disturbing concept.

[consultmybooks]

((ooc: Out of professional curiosity and the fact that I've attempted to achieve a similar effect and failed miserably...how did you make those icons?))

I did hear a little thing about them being surrounded.

And I'm both intrigued and a bit disturbed that you only consider vines that devour flesh and bone to be "somewhat disturbing". That was a new one even on me.

[ecoterrorism]

(( All the credit belongs to Carly! That being said, this is a pretty nice tutorial, as far as I can tell. ))

[ exasperated ] How did they let an idiot thing like that happen?

Flesh-eating vines sound like something that would be produced by my own world's Wyld, the land of the fair folk, who dissolve mortals to dreamstuff. In my homeland, a treaty with their kind means that any too incompetent to avoid falling to the forest floor are fair game. Meanwhile, demon-possessed Anathema roam the land in search of followers.

...I am not easily impressed. (( Exalted: 50% badasses, 50% pure unadulterated horribleness. ))

[consultmybooks]

Nor am I. [Former Watchers - 50% badass, 50% books.] I am, however, rather easily fascinated, especially when it comes to something new. I'd been trained for most of my life in the horrors of my own world. Even had my office situated over a portal to hell, for a while.

So I certainly don't mind the change of pace.

[...] So, um, you go by treetops, then?

[ecoterrorism]

That seems like a...remarkably poorly chosen location. [ small frown ] How did you manage?

And: used to go by treetops -- whole cities built there. But...I have not lived in Halta for some time. [ For all that she's not a particularly expressive person, it's relatively obvious that the fact is embarrassing or shameful to her. ]

[consultmybooks]

Not well, at times. But that was, um, only when it became an open portal to hell. Over the course of seven or so years, it was generally polite enough to stay...as closed as it was, um, possible to be.

[...fairly obvious, yes. You have his sympathies there, Cynis, even if he finds you a bit off putting otherwise.]

Where do you travel now? If, um, if you don't mind my asking.

[ecoterrorism]

[ flatly ] Does this mean that it is my turn to be surprised that you found that reassuring.

...I travel with a circle of other Dragon-Bloods over what at times feels like most of Creation, searching for stolen firedust on behalf of our...liege. [ she says the word with distaste ] We have found Deathknights in...[ her voice catches -- something deeply upsetting? ] a slave plantation. And we have been chased out of the city of Charek. Now we head to the Western Seas. Some plot is unfolding in the Realm; perhaps it will bring about its downfall. I should be so lucky.

(( /spews tabletop nonsense at you SORRY! >.<
Also, ~for the record~, Exalted names go like Asian ones: last name, first name. ))

[consultmybooks]

I do enjoy surprising beings far more powerful than I am. One of my, um, few remaining pleasures in life, actually.

So, you want the, um, the end of Creation? Am I following?

[Because, if so, welcome to the Big Bad list, Oroonoko!]

((ooc: Hey, I like learning new things! :3 No worries!))

[ecoterrorism]

A respectable ambition.

And no; you confuse "Creation" and the Realm. The one is the world I come from, and the other is the debauched empire that blights it.