Mid: “Maya… I may need your help. If I needed you to, how would you feel about becoming the ‘Kingmaker’ again?”
May: “The only thing I’ve ever loved is dead. All I care about now is revenge and… I don’t know. I’m curious about what the ‘ritual’ will do, but not enough to invest any more of my time in it.”
This last is said with casual disregard rather than passion or fear. Despite the phrasing, it seems that if Midian were trying to recruit her, her apathy was his only enemy.
Mid: “Maya, look at yourself. This business with the Amael, the revolution, everything you’ve done to help me – you could have given me far less. Don’t you see? You’re still invested. And I know why.”
Midian mixes himself a drink. He sips, knowing that although young Ms Zin is waiting for an explanation; she’ll not ask – doing so would prove his point for him.
Mid: “You don’t understand Kith. He’s gone, and you don’t know why he was willing to risk so much – to risk everything. Maya, unless I succeed, you’ll never know.”
He tries to inject as much regret as he can into his words, and indeed has plenty to spare – should the endeavour fail, he would regret it dearly.
Maya does not respond. Instead her eyes bore into Midian’s like mining lasers. ‘This must be how I make other people feel’, he muses.
May: “I didn’t need to know. I had faith in him. You’re not him.
“I’d need to know what I would be getting out of it; The pages told me nothing.”
Mid: “I…”
Midian briefly considers whether he could get away with lying to a House spy.
Mid: “can’t tell you specifics. I don’t fully understand the ritual myself. But these things require specific circumstances – planetary alignments, personal trials… planetary regicide – and if they aren’t met, they cause failure. It is entirely possible that knowing the nature of the reward would place it immediately out of our grasp.”
May: “That… makes sense. Kith was holding things back, I know. I always had this nagging doubt that… but if he couldn’t confide in me, if there was no way around it…”
Mid: “I can only say that Lum put a lot of effort into it; that both he and Kith were willing to throw their careers and reputations away to see it through. You know the Navis Nobilite, you know these aren’t things we’d risk frivolously. They wouldn’t do it – I wouldn’t do it unless I was confident that I could gain something greater.”
May: “Pfff. Vague. But honest. I’m good at surviving – remember that if betrayal ever occurs to you.
“First off, I want to know what the situation is with your current partner? Why are you betraying him for instance? What did he bring to the table before?
“Second, what plans have you put into action? What worked, what didn’t?
“Finally, I can’t help if there are surprises waiting for me. What have you planned that hasn’t come into effect yet? And what exactly are you asking me to do?”
Mid: “Despite what the Imperials say about those with my… ‘genetics’, betrayal isn’t something that comes any more naturally to me than to you.
“As for Mordecai, he’s a capable warrior and has some… warp-based powers.”
May: “‘Warp-based’?”
Mid: “I don’t know their extent. The witch called him ‘Kingmaker’, but she was confused. Still, he has been involved in the revolution. Vital, in fact. He has campaigned for Hala Chen extensively.
“Secondly, I am not betraying him… but I think he’ll refuse to participate in the ritual, and the witch’s prophesy indicated that I’d need a Kingmaker.
“The only thing we’ve planned that hasn’t happened yet is Grigor’s removal. We know where he resides – we just need to convince the enforcers that he’s the ringleader of the malcontents. Which shouldn’t be too hard, because he is. Hala can then whip up the crowd with news of his martyrdom and step in to ‘avenge’ him.”
May: “I don’t think Hala can do it.”
Mid: “You haven’t seen what Mordecai’s done with her.”
May: “I would have to take your word for it. From what I’ve seen, I don’t think she’d be good as a leader even afterwards. She’ll listen to every sob-story the people bring her and try and solve every one – and if you try to do everything, you end up doing nothing.
“Besides, Kith made it seem like I had to ‘do’ something. I mean, ‘choosing’ isn’t exactly passive – Kith made it clear that I had to make a conscious, considered choice to back somebody – but after I’d done that it didn’t stop. Kith had me spending my days changing the minds of Grigor’s rivals. I haven’t done anything like that for Hala, but Mordecai has. I don’t know about this occult stuff, but in the real world, if Hala succeeds and you forced her to choose, I’m pretty sure she’d say that it was Mordecai who'd made her ‘King’.”
Mid: “Okay. Well, obviously I wouldn’t try to make your choice for you – if anything would invalidate the ‘Kingmaker’ role I’m sure it’d be that – so who would you choose? If Mordecai refuses, I mean.”
May: “If Grigor were dead and Hala, for whatever reason, wasn’t an issue? Pfff. Oskar Vivec Maybe? He isn’t as crafty as Grigor, but he’s firm. Not very imaginative. Does a lot of the lesser maintenance that the Ad-Mech aren’t needed for. Rani Sovus may be a better fit – an Administratum Adept, runs the central farms.”
May: “The only thing I’ve ever loved is dead. All I care about now is revenge and… I don’t know. I’m curious about what the ‘ritual’ will do, but not enough to invest any more of my time in it.”
This last is said with casual disregard rather than passion or fear. Despite the phrasing, it seems that if Midian were trying to recruit her, her apathy was his only enemy.
Mid: “Maya, look at yourself. This business with the Amael, the revolution, everything you’ve done to help me – you could have given me far less. Don’t you see? You’re still invested. And I know why.”
Midian mixes himself a drink. He sips, knowing that although young Ms Zin is waiting for an explanation; she’ll not ask – doing so would prove his point for him.
Mid: “You don’t understand Kith. He’s gone, and you don’t know why he was willing to risk so much – to risk everything. Maya, unless I succeed, you’ll never know.”
He tries to inject as much regret as he can into his words, and indeed has plenty to spare – should the endeavour fail, he would regret it dearly.
Maya does not respond. Instead her eyes bore into Midian’s like mining lasers. ‘This must be how I make other people feel’, he muses.
May: “I didn’t need to know. I had faith in him. You’re not him.
“I’d need to know what I would be getting out of it; The pages told me nothing.”
Mid: “I…”
Midian briefly considers whether he could get away with lying to a House spy.
Mid: “can’t tell you specifics. I don’t fully understand the ritual myself. But these things require specific circumstances – planetary alignments, personal trials… planetary regicide – and if they aren’t met, they cause failure. It is entirely possible that knowing the nature of the reward would place it immediately out of our grasp.”
May: “That… makes sense. Kith was holding things back, I know. I always had this nagging doubt that… but if he couldn’t confide in me, if there was no way around it…”
Mid: “I can only say that Lum put a lot of effort into it; that both he and Kith were willing to throw their careers and reputations away to see it through. You know the Navis Nobilite, you know these aren’t things we’d risk frivolously. They wouldn’t do it – I wouldn’t do it unless I was confident that I could gain something greater.”
May: “Pfff. Vague. But honest. I’m good at surviving – remember that if betrayal ever occurs to you.
“First off, I want to know what the situation is with your current partner? Why are you betraying him for instance? What did he bring to the table before?
“Second, what plans have you put into action? What worked, what didn’t?
“Finally, I can’t help if there are surprises waiting for me. What have you planned that hasn’t come into effect yet? And what exactly are you asking me to do?”
Mid: “Despite what the Imperials say about those with my… ‘genetics’, betrayal isn’t something that comes any more naturally to me than to you.
“As for Mordecai, he’s a capable warrior and has some… warp-based powers.”
May: “‘Warp-based’?”
Mid: “I don’t know their extent. The witch called him ‘Kingmaker’, but she was confused. Still, he has been involved in the revolution. Vital, in fact. He has campaigned for Hala Chen extensively.
“Secondly, I am not betraying him… but I think he’ll refuse to participate in the ritual, and the witch’s prophesy indicated that I’d need a Kingmaker.
“The only thing we’ve planned that hasn’t happened yet is Grigor’s removal. We know where he resides – we just need to convince the enforcers that he’s the ringleader of the malcontents. Which shouldn’t be too hard, because he is. Hala can then whip up the crowd with news of his martyrdom and step in to ‘avenge’ him.”
May: “I don’t think Hala can do it.”
Mid: “You haven’t seen what Mordecai’s done with her.”
May: “I would have to take your word for it. From what I’ve seen, I don’t think she’d be good as a leader even afterwards. She’ll listen to every sob-story the people bring her and try and solve every one – and if you try to do everything, you end up doing nothing.
“Besides, Kith made it seem like I had to ‘do’ something. I mean, ‘choosing’ isn’t exactly passive – Kith made it clear that I had to make a conscious, considered choice to back somebody – but after I’d done that it didn’t stop. Kith had me spending my days changing the minds of Grigor’s rivals. I haven’t done anything like that for Hala, but Mordecai has. I don’t know about this occult stuff, but in the real world, if Hala succeeds and you forced her to choose, I’m pretty sure she’d say that it was Mordecai who'd made her ‘King’.”
Mid: “Okay. Well, obviously I wouldn’t try to make your choice for you – if anything would invalidate the ‘Kingmaker’ role I’m sure it’d be that – so who would you choose? If Mordecai refuses, I mean.”
May: “If Grigor were dead and Hala, for whatever reason, wasn’t an issue? Pfff. Oskar Vivec Maybe? He isn’t as crafty as Grigor, but he’s firm. Not very imaginative. Does a lot of the lesser maintenance that the Ad-Mech aren’t needed for. Rani Sovus may be a better fit – an Administratum Adept, runs the central farms.”
--x--
Midian arrives at the rooms he’d rented somewhat burdened. Mordecai had returned an hour earlier. The navigator asks the question he feels Mordecai has sidestepped previously – “Will you complete your role in the ritual?”. Mordecai seems surprised that Midian doesn’t know what his answer will be already – he doesn’t care about the ritual at all. At this point, the navigator informs Mordecai that he’s negotiated with Maya Zin and she’s willing to take his place. Maya is called and a meet is set up for the next day.
Mordecai asks her who she’d support as leader of Vinh and she tells him the next best candidate is Rani Sovus, an Administratum Adept who runs the central farms. She tells him that Rani was a backup choice after Grigor Orlac. Mordecai asks for a meeting with her.
Convincing Rani to meet him on the eve of the revolution wasn’t going to be easy. Primarily because Rani will be incredibly busy preparing. Additionally, meeting with a stranger to her so late in the course of events is a significant risk. Maya unenthusiastically agrees to set it up, but as she’s meant to be manoeuvring Rani into position to take over after the new government forms she leaves after making the introduction.
After manoeuvring her into a conversation that she can carry without needing response from him, Mordecai peels her mind (finding her to be another strong-willed individual). She was raised by the Administratum Adepts within the Schola Progenium (Imperial Orphanage). She believes in order above all and sees the revolution as a means to reorganise Vinh into a more efficient animal all together. To that end she has been teaching revolutionaries how to stay hidden, interfering in Enforcer schedules and is the brains behind much of the logistics of the revolution.
She is not untouched by the darkness that has marked many of the souls on Vinh, but it is far less than some others. Her sanity is slightly less sound – she sees people more in terms of statistics than as individuals. She seems a better candidate for Amael than Governor, but she was never Maya’s first choice.
Mordecai returns to discuss an important loose end with Midian – how to stop Governor Xanatov from escaping. Midian’s casual overconfidence does not sit well with Mordecai. Summoning Maya, they discover that Kith had been selling his navigational routes far below their value (as evidenced when they searched his quarters). He’d primarily done this because he wanted the local space-faring merchant interests to owe him favours.
Midian reveals to Maya that he could cast an illusionary “Glamour” that would disguise him as Kith. He could then cash in Kith’s favours to have them shut down the spaceport (to protect their vessels from those damn revolutionaries, of course).
“Why Kith? Why not Xanatov?”
Mordecai’s idea is appealing to Midian. Maya points out that even if Midian can, he wouldn’t fool people for long if Xanatov were around (Xanatov can prove his identity with his access codes). Midian concludes that they need Mordecai’s telepathic prowess if they are to succeed. Angles are assessed, roles assigned and a letter of introduction is drafted.
Mordecai leaves once more to check on Hala Chen. He arrives to find four Enforcers in the corridor and her door kicked in. Secreting himself in the shadows he probes one of their minds. Hala has been arrested on charges of treason.
The plan:
Mordecai asks her who she’d support as leader of Vinh and she tells him the next best candidate is Rani Sovus, an Administratum Adept who runs the central farms. She tells him that Rani was a backup choice after Grigor Orlac. Mordecai asks for a meeting with her.
Convincing Rani to meet him on the eve of the revolution wasn’t going to be easy. Primarily because Rani will be incredibly busy preparing. Additionally, meeting with a stranger to her so late in the course of events is a significant risk. Maya unenthusiastically agrees to set it up, but as she’s meant to be manoeuvring Rani into position to take over after the new government forms she leaves after making the introduction.
After manoeuvring her into a conversation that she can carry without needing response from him, Mordecai peels her mind (finding her to be another strong-willed individual). She was raised by the Administratum Adepts within the Schola Progenium (Imperial Orphanage). She believes in order above all and sees the revolution as a means to reorganise Vinh into a more efficient animal all together. To that end she has been teaching revolutionaries how to stay hidden, interfering in Enforcer schedules and is the brains behind much of the logistics of the revolution.
She is not untouched by the darkness that has marked many of the souls on Vinh, but it is far less than some others. Her sanity is slightly less sound – she sees people more in terms of statistics than as individuals. She seems a better candidate for Amael than Governor, but she was never Maya’s first choice.
Mordecai returns to discuss an important loose end with Midian – how to stop Governor Xanatov from escaping. Midian’s casual overconfidence does not sit well with Mordecai. Summoning Maya, they discover that Kith had been selling his navigational routes far below their value (as evidenced when they searched his quarters). He’d primarily done this because he wanted the local space-faring merchant interests to owe him favours.
Midian reveals to Maya that he could cast an illusionary “Glamour” that would disguise him as Kith. He could then cash in Kith’s favours to have them shut down the spaceport (to protect their vessels from those damn revolutionaries, of course).
“Why Kith? Why not Xanatov?”
Mordecai’s idea is appealing to Midian. Maya points out that even if Midian can, he wouldn’t fool people for long if Xanatov were around (Xanatov can prove his identity with his access codes). Midian concludes that they need Mordecai’s telepathic prowess if they are to succeed. Angles are assessed, roles assigned and a letter of introduction is drafted.
Mordecai leaves once more to check on Hala Chen. He arrives to find four Enforcers in the corridor and her door kicked in. Secreting himself in the shadows he probes one of their minds. Hala has been arrested on charges of treason.
The plan:
- Midian sends a letter of intent - he is sending a servant to present a gift to Xanatov. [Completed]
- Mordecai arrives at the Governor’s palace with said gift (Midian and Maya, both in the guise of concubines).
- Maya seduces then drugs Xanatov, at which point Midian impersonates him.
- Mordecai is called back by “Xanatov”. He reads the mind of the real Xanatov.
- Xanatov’s codes found, Amael Lucretia Casmirie is arrested and brought to “Xanatov” - who orders Maya to execute her.
- When the rebel alliance strikes, “Xanatov” directs the defence personally (poorly).