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“Aashif Mephistopheles is the general of House Har’tei’s military,” Alice begins.
“Heh,” Phyr chuckles. “You mean the Har-tay Ar-may?”
“Sure, whatever” Alice says flatly. “He was Confidence, but when dissonance came into the world and disrupted the balance, he became corrupted and turned into Megalomania. Now he lusts for power, and sees military conquest as the surest path to it. Being a charismatic military leader, and without Rayla and Aqu to keep him in his place, he has rallied the bulk of the armed forces to the purpose of world domination.”
“So why’s he lawbound evil, then,” Vector asks.
“Because he likes laws just fine,” Alice says. “He just wants to be the one making and enforcing them. Anyway, his primary opponent right now is Ceena Morrigan, High Priestess of the Church of the Stars.” With a wave of Alice’s hand, the image changes to a different character sheet. “She was Faith, and has been corrupted to Self-righteousness. Ceena has transformed the former state church into a fanatical cult, and turned its members into zealots.”
“But aren’t you an atheist,” Phyr asks. “Why’s there a state church and an Influence of Faith in the first place?”
“Faith can mean many things,” Pannych says. “It can be hope, or trust - not just Twain’s ‘believing what you know ain’t so’. And I’ve had ideas for non-religious churches that serve as community centers and sources for guidance and meaning, because I thought it would be nice to run a church but without all the sin and Hell crap. So I’m not that surprised to see it was tried in here. Especially in a world where gods were known to exist but have all died.”
“Well, that was Ceena’s schtick, while House Har’tei was intact,” Alice continues, “But now she’s trying to dominate the world with an overt theocracy. She claims, surprise surprise, that there’s One True God who sees all, knows all, and judges all - and also that there’s an afterlife awaiting the dead, instead of just the all-consuming howling void.”
“What’s this ‘lawbound holy’ shit,” Phyr asks. “Why not just ‘good’?”
“Because holy doesn’t always mean good,” Pannych answers. “Holy just means ‘in accordance with the divine,’ and sometimes that can be really, really bad.”
“Bad for whom,” Vector asks. “And compared to what?”
“Hey, congratulations,” Alice says, “You just pointed out exactly what’s at issue between competing views on morality. Moving on, Edric Nadab is a successful merchant who was appointed to Minister of Finance-”
“Ooh, is he Greed? I bet he’s Greed. He’s Greed, isn’t he,” Phyr blurts out.
“Yes, he is obviously Greed,” Alice says impatiently as she concentrates to change the illusion. “But he used to be Prosperity. Quite frankly, he’d be happy to continue running the treasury, if he thought any of the other Influences would let him. But make no mistake: he’s got his fingers in a lot of pots, and if he sees an opportunity to seize the Broken Throne, then he’ll absolutely take it.”
“Is it called that because there’s a power vacuum,” Pannych asks.
“No, it was always called that,” Alice says with a faraway look and a fond smile. “When Rayla and Aqu declared themselves High Queen and King, and it started to sink in that none could challenge their supremacy, the most powerful who remained decided to present her a magnificent throne. It was intended to be a gesture of good faith and humility on their part, but instead, Rayla was gravely insulted because she hadn’t asked for it and didn’t want it. She said she wanted her subjects to be obedient, not obsequious - then she said, ‘This is what I think of thrones,’ and smashed it with a single blow.
“She was about to turn and kill those who brought it to her, but she had a change of heart when she saw it in its broken state: the seat was now cracked down the middle, the back fallen off, the legs crushed to rubble beneath it. And then she liked it: because it lowered her instead of elevating her, she could never lean back on it for support, and it only held together for as long as she sat upon it.” Alice abruptly stops reminiscing and says, “But moving on-”
“Is it just me,” Vector asks, “Or are these exactly the worst people to be putting in charge of things? Like, why would you put Greed in charge of the treasury? That just seems like asking for trouble.”
“Nadab wasn’t Greed when he was appointed,” Alice explains impatiently. “Back then, he was Prosperity. He was clearly and obviously the best person for the job. Likewise, Mephistopheles was Confidence - but he was Confidence in balance. It’s only with the corruption of dissonance that he’s become a megalomaniac.”
“But didn’t you say there was a prophecy,” Phyr asks. “If they saw their fall coming, then why’d they entrust the people who would replace them with such positions of power?”
Pannych says quietly, “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.”
Alice nods and adds, “Also, that kind of peaked their careers. Leave Confidence to his own devices, and he’ll go around doing things and leveling up. Give him his dream job the moment you find him, and he’ll spend his life mostly stagnating at that high station. OK, this has been a pertinent tangent-”
“But didn’t you say life goals also give XP,” Phyr asks. “Wouldn’t becoming High Priestess of the only church be, like, the ultimate life goal?”
“Yes,” Alice says with a heavy sigh, “That’s exactly what it was. But it was also sudden, and not the end of a lifelong quest - it was handed to her on a platter, and then she had no further goal. And since she had a boss, she was working for Rayla and Aqu’s life goals, not her own. So while this gave them a short-term gain in power, it was a long-term limit on it. Getting back to-”
“I don’t know,” Vector says, “They all seem to be pretty high level, anyway.”
Alice fumes for a moment, then measures her words and says, “That’s because when Rayla and Aqu had their power stripped, their levels were also taken away to jack up the Influences. They were knocked down to first level, and while they had some kickass equipment and abilities grandfathered in, they lost everything else.”
“Hey, speaking of kickass equipment,” Phyr says, looking down at the Pearl of Transversion, “What does this thing in my armor do, anyway?”
“It gives you a power form,” Vector says. “The lower your health, the higher its level.”
“Wow,” Phyr says, “That would’ve been handy to know a few hours ago.”
Pannych rolls her eyes and says, “Look, who’s next on the hit list?”
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