The Heart is a Void: Ashes to Ashes

Chapter 80: The Road Less Travelled

As Crucis walked down the rightwards path, he carefully scanned the tall grass and vegetation beside it.

A few depressed tufts of tall grass had been trampled on haphazardly by earlier hunting parties, but much of the grass was still intact and had no sign of interference. Crucis rummaged through the intact grass first, ignoring a few yellow-named creatures who scattered as he approached.

Since these patches of grass were mostly unexplored, they still contained a few valuable items. A small gathering of expensive [Swar Flowers] was growing a few metres to the left of the road, hidden behind a few bushes. These purple-pink flowers, with pale yellow tips on each petal, were considered valuable decoration and also often associated with romance. He picked a few by the stems, pulling off a few fragile leaves.

You weren't supposed to pick flowers in the hunting area, but if you weren't seen by a Ranger you would typically get away with it. Even if you were seen, you would get a small fine at most. They wouldn't bother scanning your inventory for flowers at checkpoints, where they would mostly check for weapons and poached animals.

Walking up to a pond nearby, he found that the water was clear. He gathered some of this into a deactivated [Mouse Box Trap], a small box trap, then placed the flowers inside. He drew out some sugar and vinegar, which he had bought in Mokra where prices were cheaper, and placed that into the water before sliding the box shut. He could sell the flowers once he made it back to town.

Looking around the area some more, he found a few small randomly-generated chests, containing modest rewards. He picked up a few health potions, 1,000 gold, and some iron which could be used for blacksmithing.

Walking far to the right of the path, he glimpsed a shimmer in the ground. Shooing away a rabbit which was tentatively poking about, he knelt down to pick up a golden piece of paper, which he saw was a [Lore Page]. It had a larger, folded piece of semi-transparent red paper placed partially over it like an envelope or pouch and fastened loosely with a knot, and this was seemingly placed deliberately to hide the text on the Lore page. He ripped this sheet of paper off.

Looking at the [Lore Page], he saw that it contained a poem titled [Visions of the Old Republic]. Atypically, this Lore page's 'poem' seemed to actually be a rousing speech set to verse, with explanatory prose before and after it. It also made little mention of Norse deities, instead portraying a more secular, political landscape. Yet Crucis read on with interest, wondering how this ancient event would prove important to future world events.

Visions of the Old Republic

Following this historical note is a nearly verbatim transcription of a speech by the controversial tribune, Duwain, who had allied with the powerful general Agon in order to challenge an unpopular Senate. It is one of the last preserved historical records of the Armahiv Republic, and was delivered in the capital city, Hivrejm.

As the Republic had developed, it had become more centralised. The Senate had become a practical oligarchy, dominated by wealthy families who treated it as a dynastic system. Bribery and patronage was entrenched as a central part of the electoral process. There was an increasing sense of indifference to the Republic among the citizenry.

This indifference led to increasing attempts by the government to reinforce a sense of loyalty and civic duty in its citizens, and crack down on dissent.

A history of conquest had given the Arhiv state influence over its continent, and the Kingdoms surrounding Kruxol were largely indebted to it. The Arhiv ruling families, including several senators and senior magistrates of the Republic, viewed this as an opportunity to put on airs and consort with glamorous foreign leaders while freely sampling foreign riches. They viewed themselves as an upper class, who had more in common with luxurious foreign monarchs than with their own people. Some even married foreign leaders, which was viewed as a sign of decadence by much of the populace.

In the process, the general Agon had grown frustrated with the Senate's meddling in military affairs, especially after Agon nearly lost his life when sent to fight a war in defence of a frail Northern Kingdom named Pangyra. As the war ended in success, Agon rallied his troops to take over battle-weary Pangyra, saying that the gods had delivered a perfect opportunity for war. The Senate were furious about this, and after several failed attempts to stop this war they moved to have Agon marked as a traitor and covertly killed on his return. They were also worried that Agon's popularity if he won the war would make him more powerful than the Senate, and threaten the structure of the Senate and its leading families.

However, Agon was warned of this danger by a steadfast ally, Duwain, who also began to build popular support around Agon and gave rousing speeches against the Senate. Duwain, a scar-faced, stocky man who looked like a mob boss, was a tribune, a position which was intended to be the populace's check on centralised power. However, he had found himself increasingly stymied by the Senate, and watched as even the famed capital city, Hivrejm, became unsafe and cluttered due to governmental neglect. While some in the Senate, alarmed by this resistance, tried to proclaim themselves sympathetic with Agon and started to echo the rhetoric of Duwain, he knew that these same Senators were still pressing to deliver Agon to death.

Soon, the Senate attempted to stifle Duwain's influence by declaring Agon an enemy of the state, thereby forcing Duwain - as an official - to avoid mentioning him. However, Duwain did not stop, and continued his speeches, still implicitly contrasting Agon as a hero of the nation and its people with the corrupt Senate. This is one of his speeches, which was transcribed by allies and smuggled out of the country as the atmosphere became more confrontational and censorious. A few passages may have been ommitted, due to being too open in discussing the Agon issue.

Scar-faced Duwain rose before a large gathering of the populace in the city of Hivrejm, including several from rural cities who had expectantly come to see him speak. He spoke in a calm voice, not like a passionate rabble-rouser, but with an effortless, almost arrogant sense of righteousness and an undercurrent of tension which intrigued his listeners.

"You have seen this country, this great country,

brought down by self-seeking Senators

who wear the mask of ideologues,

and whose speech is like a brood of vipers,

but I exhort you, think once more of this country,

not only of its magnificent rural landscape, of skyhigh towers,

of technological marvels - no, of yourselves,

the wonderful people of this country —

and your enemies, they don't want to be from here,

they want to transform themselves, the country too,

they despise our very foundation, and wish

to rewrite our history, to transform their body,

and to transform language — for you, the people of this country, its heart,

possess magnificent spirit, which has lifted the country for centuries,

and it continues to do so now. For I have seen

all of you, and how you fight to reclaim your freedom

and your country, rows upon rows of you. I lead you, but first, you guide me,

you show me that this country will work towards greatness, and it will achieve it.

Now, here's a secret:

they hate me, but first, they hate you — they hate you vehemently.

"Is there any hope in this country, or just a ghost,

crying out unheard like wisdom in the streets?

The Senators, we say we want our country back,

they say, 'No, sorry, you ask too much, you're too brash,' you know.

I said to them, this country has a magnificent spirit, magnificent

enough that it used to shine across the world,

yet you Senators would hide this light under a bushel!

They are like Icarus, they wish to reach out,

and drive you to and fro like cattle! Think back to our founding, against all odds,

is the human spirit not indomitable? That is how our country rose,

and it is how we will rise again to our prior heights!

"The Senators live in their own world, they compromise across an aisle,

they do not realise the stakes on the ground.

Our 'allied' Senators want to make a deal with agendas that

only want to malign, yes, to uproot our grand country.

They are told, 'Let's sell the country.' How do they respond?

How they respond is to haggle, bargain, plead -

to haggle over the price. And our enemies, you know,

at least they'll just say, 'I hate our country.' Oh, they deny it

sometimes out of decorum, but you've heard them say it passionately,

haven't you? Our 'allies,' they'll say, 'Let's -

no, no, wait, let's sell our country, but let's have it look good,

we have to package it, you know, make it look patriotic,

fly the flag, while we sign it off.'

"'Oh, well, maybe we can distract the people with a few more of Pangyra's wars,

pointless faraway wars where we don't even know what we're doing,

and then we can even invite those people over, to make a Tower of Babel.'

"No, no, it's not right. They don't listen, they are

conniving, self-interested rascals, looking out for their clique.

You know, people pay them a lot, why? Because they can be bought.

And there are many bad people out there, who are

more important to your politicians than you are —

you, the people of this country — they don't care

about you. People talk about our country,

about restoring it, they don't want to hear it.

"That's what I want to hear. I want to hear you

cheering for our country, for the Republic, for

its great past and its future revival. Thank you, goodbye."

After this speech, we have few extant records from the last decades of the Republic. The next extensive records from this land began under the large Empire of Arcorus, which survives to this day. How did this transition happen? Did the Republic collapse? Did it simply change into one of our world's great Empires? Perhaps some remnants of it linger on in the small states surrounding Arcorus? That, we do not know. Yet it is possible that some in Arcorus retain this knowledge.

Although it was a speech transcribed as verse, Crucis found the continual, deliberate repetition of words to occasionally slip into a rhythm akin to primitive rhymed poetry. Like rhyme, it may have made the speech more easily memorable to its audience, by anchoring the audience with its metronomic patterns. Many statements were repeated multiple times, to drive the point home. Some of the repetition might be a product of transcription, but most of it was a deliberate part of the speech's structure.

For instance, the first 'stanza' of the speech uses the country and descriptions of it as a sort of anchor, in order to contrast this with the Senators and portray them as the true 'enemies' of the country and its people. Phrases like 'think once more' would accentuate this. While the speech appears highly nationalistic, part of this might actually be a rhetorical manner of glorifying Agon's conquests, denigrating the support for Pangyra, and contesting the 'enemy of the state' label.

As Crucis finished reading, the [Lore Page] disappeared, and the EXP granted by it was enough to raise Crucis to level 38, and 30% of the way to level 59.

Out of curiosity, he checked the red, semi-transparent piece of paper which had hidden the text. Some of the red colour had faded over time. He was surprised that it seemed to have faint text written on it, in a mildly cursive style resembling the font of a Lore page:

This is a [Lore Page], and, as a mark of authenticity, the page is a deep, radiant red, the colour of the Senate! The real poem follows, by an author who is part of the great Manov family. They are heroes of our time, who have spent a lot to prepare our state's defence against the vicious Agonites! The author personally has helped us to develop the seeds of a new, greater form of magic, structured around tenets laid out by the Senate! So they deserve to be a part of the lore.

Remember to only read this, the verified text by a true hero. Despite rumours, you will see that Balet Manov is indeed still sound of mind, and some days hunting in Kruxol have healed him of any ailments.

Seemingly, the Senate or its adherents had brazenly attempted to forge their own sanitised [Lore Page], by fastening red paper around the original [Lore Page] and trying to have players read their counterfeit poem instead. It reminded Crucis of the Queen's counterfeit magic, but in this case it seemed to not work, at least not any more. Further, they seemed to have given up on this particular attempt, because of difficulties with writing the replacement poem.

There were traces of black ink below the introductory text, seemingly arranged as a poem, but they were faint and smudged enough to be mostly illegible. Looking more closely, it seemed that some ancient blood had crusted on the page, and by scraping this away Crucis saw a few disjointed sentences which were probably parts of the promised counterfeit poem. Although not directly connected, and having a few illegible smudges in between, they seemed to have a similar theme. They were quite strange. Seemingly, 'developing the seeds of a new magic' had been too much for the author, who was wilting under the pressure and no longer had the willpower to forge counterfeits.

Conman, a speech by Balet Manov

You say that I am a hero! Here's the deal!

A hero must be chosen!

Heavens, forsake me! Now, why say I am a hero?

I'm not a hero, I give up! A hero must be chosen!

You think you know!

You think the gods made me a hero! Why pretend I am a hero? They never cared about me! Even you are just using me!

I am no hero! You're a liar, good man!

It would despoil the world's design, now that you elect me a hero! A hero must be chosen!

I don't have charisma, intelligence, or wit! A hero saves, I'd watch the city burn! And you would tell me that I was a hero, who saved the city! No! A hero must be chosen!

I am not a good man! Even you don't think I'm much good! Then don't say I am!

You've all lied to me! I'm falling apart, and diseased! Go, go and find another victim!

The strain of spearheading the Senate's attempts at reconfiguring magic and the world had seemingly made this man have a breakdown. It was unfortunate, as he seemed as if he would have been somewhat astute before this breakdown. The [Lore Page] forgers had seemingly roped him in, while insisting that he was still 'sound of mind,' and then given up when it turned out that he didn't have the capacity to seriously parade as a 'hero of history.' They might well have turned against him after a time, or just continued to keep up the pretence that he was fine. Crucis would have to find further information on this, and perhaps Kruxol would still have some records of Manov's visits.

As he walked across the North-Eastern segment of Area E, he continued to think about the [Lore Page], now from a directly practical perspective.

Crucis knew that the Empire of Arcorus was to the East, and covered a large expanse of high-level territory. DeathGang may have occasionally adventured on its outskirts, but it was currently too high-level for them to make much progress. Since he had been invited to explore Eastwards with them, as he was from the Spy sub-class, he figured that it might be worth going there and seeing if he could find any information about this Republic and its fate.

Seemingly, the last ages of the Republic were important to the game's mythology, and this meant that going Eastwards could be even more valuable than DeathGang thought.

Currently, Crucis had heard of several Guilds turning to experts in Norse mythology to decipher the game's mythology and figure out how to unlock world events. They hadn't managed much progress yet, figuring out Norse tales but not yet how to apply this knowledge in the game. The Hashin had picked up on this and searched their own numbers for students of Norse mythology, but weren't as active in checking possible triggers as most other Guilds. Crucis guessed that there was more to this than met the eye.

However, few groups had ventured to the high-level East other than DeathGang, and it would be worth exploring.

Since his ten minutes were running out, he climbed up a few trees with low branches, and used their vantage point to survey the area. He saw that there was an old, female NPC standing on a soily area a short distance up ahead, who had an exclamation mark above their head to signify a quest. There were a few more NPCs further North, who also seemed to have quests.

He also glimpsed what looked like a white building far up North. Some colourful green-and-blue birds were flying next to it.

On the path ahead, he saw a glinting white chest in a small, empty burrow, and quickly ran over to grab it. The quests in this area would probably require a whole party to do them, so it would be useful to get the DeathGang members to come over now that he had claimed most valuable items lying in the area, especially the [Lore Page]. But it would also be the best option for the rest of the group.

Since this area had not been explored much, there were many open quests to do, and perhaps a few rare creatures.

He saw in the party chat that Akshel's path had recently been followed by another party, and he guessed that it was the party of two that were also in Area E. Akshel had found an NPC, but the NPC's quest had been completed recently and would take a few hours to cool down before it could be taken.

DicingDevil's path had been visited by several parties, but probably none today. There were a couple of quests involving driving away low-level predators, but these quests had seemingly been completed many times because the predators were nowhere in sight.

As such, the group met and quickly agreed to travel North-East, thanking Crucis.

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