The Power of Ten

Chapter 17-430: It’s All in the Wording...

It was my time to think over my reply. Most likely. The Constitution is the highest law of the land in a mortal realm. True Kingship will naturally trump it. True Kings can speak with Fey Kings and Queens as equals in all respects, or even greater, since they are recognized by both the Divine and the Land itself. Fey bound to a Constitution will naturally not like a greater law coming along and superseding them. It would be like being opposed by the turn of the Seasons.

So... this a play against mortal Kingdoms, in the end.

A Fey Enclave enshrined in a Constitution could make a very clear case for being exempt from the rule of a King. I began to thumb through the gathered documents in Markspace, having kept a close eye on final drafts on all the paperwork.

Legion was also on tap for this. Having Diabolic Law influence available, one of the Cohort, a Consumed lawyer named Maureen Lichten, had taken her Ranks in Law and Oratory to 17, and had been retained by the Convention to review ALL paperwork and render opinions on all of it. She had been Consumed and replaced years ago by a Hungry Heart Warlock who Legion had caught up to and terminated, and now was going to go down in history as one of the most influential legal review lawyers ever.

Not bad for being a soul trapped inside one of the planets Grandmaster Warlocks.

She was an intelligent woman, but she couldnt tap into all the Stat Buffs that Master Fred had, or shed be part of the Legion, unable to further improve herself and effectively a subsidiary intelligence instead of standing on her own.

It meant that I could go searching through the paperwork faster than she could, since I had a MUCH higher Intelligence modifier, even if she had me on Ranks. The thoughtstream involved with that stuff kibitzed with her and a couple other members of the Cohort who were detail-oriented, and started conflating that with Pact Magic and equivalent formal magical agreements.

Legion blinked. Thats an interesting implication? An avenue for Fey to gain Free Will without entering random reincarnation?

I drummed my fingers on their shoulder unconsciously, little spurts of Wrath reacting at the impacts of the sacred fires on my fingers. As I understood it, Liberty should back that all the way, as it gives them a road to determine their own destiny, instead of being forced into the role made for them. The rest of Heaven should be neutral at worst.

The idea was to enshrine the Right of the Fey to swear themselves to the Constitution of the Land as a tie to the mortal realm, allowing them to embrace mortality without having to be reborn as part of a gradual process of evolution, going from granted power to earned power.

Backed by the mortal population of an entire Land, it was easily possible.

But it still means that in the end, the Rights of a True King need to be enshrined in the document, or it will put them at odds with one.

I had to quirk a half-smile. So, a stretchy Clause to rope in Kings... and Monarchs? Make it a true Living Document?

We both know the terrible significance of the American Constitution on the Fey. The power and belief it represented put fetters on them as soon as it was ratified. The focus of a nation and its people has tremendous symbolic power to Spirits. It effectively crushed many of the older Spirits who dwelled in America, up to and including the Old Gods there, Legion pointed out.

I had to agree. Hastsezinis complete withdrawal from mortal events had basically happened just after the signing of the Constitution reverberated across the Land. Even if the land He claimed as His own had not been covered back then, in merely a few short years it was. Destiny had turned, and mortal wills in numbers uncounted, united behind a simple piece of paper, had signaled the turning of an ancient age into a new age of mortal power.

Perhaps the native tribes could have fought back, but they had not been united, nor as populous. Axiom had come in, put its foot down, and crushed the old ways before the cold light of progress.

Evolve or die. The old ways had died before the new. It was the way, and the Land had not cared in the slightest. After all, it took only a generation before all those following that piece of paper were born of Her, as well.

Designing a government made to generate, accept, and follow True Kings is a tall order, Legion murmured, but their silver eyes were bright. That is a VERY lofty goal, My Lady.

Roping in Fey through the new Constitution should be only be allowed if that is part of it. That in effect would force them to pursue and aid in the election of True Kings, rather than opposing them... Oh, the Fey wouldnt like that, but off in Detroit, the facts were popping through the Markspaces of the delegates, and setting off small fireworks everywhere.

They already knew that a True King would ultimately trump this Document being generated, but if the Document was made to be part of the process of Kingship...

The Laws and Words of the Document are only including the mundane aspects of the task, even dealing with the Rights of the Divine being recognized. But if we include the metaphysical relationships... Legion murmured, eyes fixed on a line of storms rising up quickly before us at the horizon.

The True King who can hold the Constitution up has the Acclaim of the People. It should represent the Will of the People! I finished for them, blinking in realization.

Heaven wants all of that to be true. All three aspects! Legion hissed immediately, their fists clenching. In Markspace, the idea rippled out, gaining momentum as it struck those closest to Heaven.

The Will of the People, a very mundane thing, but forming one of the Cornerstones of Kingship as the Acclaim of the People. To hold and honor the Constitution thus meant having Acclaim. Not honoring it would intrinsically mean you no longer had it, and were no longer King!

There are going to be some very pointed attempts to disrupt this from happening, Legion stated grimly. Im not sure what kind...

War, plague, famine, and disaster would be my guess. Indeed, all of this was getting interesting. Terra-Luna didnt have a True King yet, because the disparate Monarchs couldnt get behind one person to fill the role. A truly mystical Document that represented a True Kings path to the Throne would remove the whole idea from the hands of the Monarchs who led so many people and put it right back into the hands of those people once again.

I was tempted to Crack the Sky and send this right off to Aelryinth, although I didnt know if it would make much difference.

There should be three such Documents, then. A Constitution, a Writ, and an Accord: one each for the People, the Land, and the Divine.

-What are the two of you thinking about?!- A bunch of /voices from several thousand miles away suddenly popped out of their private Markchat and /yelled at the two of us. -Fate is starting to ripple!- the Void Brothers /exclaimed.

-Is it now?- Briggs promptly /spoke up. -That sounds VERY interesting, Brothers!-

-Damn right it does. Did our little Powered Jesus Girl sink her teeth into Fate and start wrestling it around proper-like?- The Mick promptly /spoke up from China, showing up with a fair posse of interested Monarchs and other parties alerted to Something Important suddenly popping up out of nowhere. Maybe the way all those Void Brothers had stopped, turned around, and were all looking in the same direction at a certain someones.

-Have to hear this!- Azaia zipped right up, the Angelos and Commander HaruAra were suddenly on site, and even Windgraf Mochtal wafted over to listen to the latest gossip he surely was above, ahem-ahem.

-Dish,- Briggs /prodded me, his Source soul burning the brightest in Markspace by its nature, even if he wasnt the strongest here.

-We upgrade the Constitutional Convention to be a subset of the process of generating a High King. It becomes the Document that represents and Symbolizes the Acclaim of the People. We also make a Writ that embodies the will that represents the Recognition of the Land, since that will basically also be eternal and change at the will of the Mother Land; and also an Accord that recognizes the Agreement among those Divine Powers that Anoint a High King.-

-More ripples!- the Brothers /announced instantly.

Commander HaruAras reaction was instantaneous. -Formal recognition of all of the Aspects to generate a High King will be tremendously powerful, and a huge step forwards in the growth of a species...- This was the longest statement anyone had ever heard him /utter to a group of mortals.

-And most of the entities that would endeavor to make it Not So cannot currently reach us,- Sama /grinned fiercely, having slid in from having a staring contest with some Buddhists whod not been happy to find her on their flight path to Afghanistan. Their beneficent smiles looked a little forced through her eyes, couldnt imagine why. I was sure hers was even wider and beaming hard.

Maybe it was all her canines. They really stood out when she smiled like that.

-Commander HaruAra, I wonder if I could prevail upon you to personally command the security for the remainder of the Convention?- I /asked politely.

-It would be my honor to do so,- he /agreed, and stars and steel rode on his /voice. In real space, his body was zipping back to Detroit unerringly, borrowing my Lived-line to do so. After all, his Line had merged nicely with mine for a time when I Bound him, and he had the awareness to make use of that fact.

Nice being a Twenty-One.

-Magical item. The original document is going to have some lofty reqs,- Briggs /pointed out sternly. -Can we pull this off? By the time we get done, involving this many people, were talking Artifact, Relic, Legendary-class stuff.-

-Im assuming woven pages of E-gold, Earth-Life basis. Thats a Whitesmithing check. Briggs grinned instantly. Ink... Legion can do something suitable with 17 Ranks of Alchemy.- Eyes turned on them in some surprise, and they just nodded. -I only have 12 Ranks in Calligraphy right now, but my modifier is +43ish.-

That also raised some eyebrows. Why did I have so many Ranks in a Skill like that?... Ah!... Freaking answered itself.

An Ink that could write on gold and hold the words for as long or longer than inscribing it could would be something, too.

-If we can nail down the Constitution this way, that forms a foundation for the Documents with The Land and the Divine,- Sir Pellier /contributed calmly. -But, we wont really know the details of those until the Shroud comes down, correct?-

-Both forces are entities beyond us mortals. Anything we make can be adjusted to be correct by them with very little effort on their part. Simply prepare the Document so they can do so. Both are also aware of the other and I do not believe they will not take such into consideration.-

Everyone around had to agree. The Land was basically the planet, and the majority of said agreement with mortals would basically be the same, regardless of the Mother Land. After all, even continents rose and fell in time.

Having the Writ hold Addendums for each Mother Land meant we could make a single Writ that could be used by True Kings the world over.

The Divine werent even finite. There might be some Addendums for each Mother Land, but that was actually even more unlikely. Their primary concern was souls, Free Will, and the Alignment War that revolved around them. Purely mortal and even Elemental concerns werent really their goals.

Just the fact that mortals would formally recognize their place in the scheme of things was worth a great deal, however, even if it was just a True King doing so. A confluence of the Divine agreeing to such a point basically forced all those who werent into compliance as well.

Theyd not done anything like this on Terra-Luna. It was something to pass on, again. The simple fact that even the Celestials had not alluded to it meant it was something we had to come to on our own, too.

And then... I held up my hand as my thoughts froze on a key point.