The Power of Ten

Chapter 20-490: Epilogue V: Biography

Hed wanted to write something new for a long, long time, but had found the process vexing at best, and downright impossible at worst.

Oh, certainly, his lexicons of the ornate and melodic Elven language were published and the standard for the world, but they were only popular among a small subset of people. Hed forayed into Dwarven, Orc, and even Goblin, and had been shaken indeed when Traveler had dumped complete dictionaries of thirty different languages into Markspace to be put down, written so marvelously and clearly that he had sighed in wondrous appreciation just reading them.

They had been his key to earning the Polyglot Feat, once he had the necessary Intelligence, after all, and he thought in so many languages now, using the best terms and syntax appropriate for the moment, that it astonished even himself.

And he had finally found himself something worth writing.

The tale of fiction he had once intended, a successor to his earlier work, lay stillborn in his chambers. While it had been a grand tale intended, life had become something grander yet, and the prophetic nature of his first work would seem like merely a joke if he ever published his successor to it.

But something simpler, concise, and in the right language and words? To the woman who had shown him a way to break Seven, become a Ten, earn a few decades more life... and, if he chose to follow her to those other worlds that needed to be saved, NEEDED a truly righteous battle, not this incessant war against fellow humans whose nightmarish reality had plagued him for so many years... yes, that, that he could do!

And so, he had set to with pen and paper and calligraphy, no typewriter here! If there was an error in penmanship, he could Erase it and try again. This would be art and homage and truth, and if the period the story covered was not all that long, finding those tales and the truth of things for everyone to know and read was worth the effort.

He was shaken when he was entrusted with the greater truth of her origins; of other worlds, other Earths, and the soul that had taken on the task of guiding them out of darkness. It was then that he realized that a narrative to join together two truths and give the people of the planet something to follow that they could understand was so important, and so that was the tale he had crafted.

From the earliest years, of when Jaelez Morningfire had been Consumed by a foul Warlock, her isolation, the intent to make of her a Champion of Shoul... or failing that, to pass on and corrupt her Bloodline, even as her sisters were replaced, one by one. A doppelganger for a nanny, criminals for companions, her entire life a lie...

It would have ended in murder and a stolen child in a Shroudzone, had not the Souls in the Shroud come down, saved her, released her Bloodline, and made her into something the thieves and murderers of Shoul could never have seen nor intended.

The Lady Traveler, who was able to bring the knowledge of the souls trapped in the Shroud to them, and so allow the world to fight back, bring down the Shroud, and See the Sky.

Learning the truth of the Aberrant and the things intended by it had shaken him to the marrow, and the quiet words that there were terrible things in the dark, dire warnings from the early days of his childhood when science did not explain all, had returned to him as he looked up at the stars, where Warlocks said there were Things looking back.

One of those Things had been brought in from the void to eat the life of the world. Another had intended to eat the life AND the death of this world, and that Devouring Moon itself!

Great Things in the Darkness, Things it was the Duty of the Divine to guard mortal life against, a Duty they had taken up once more after the Shroud was lifted.

Which hardly meant that there werent many, many Things still trying and getting through in one degree or another, only to find a lot of expectant and angry mortals waiting for him.

His pen skittered across the page with flowing script, and he smiled sadly.

It had been a minor fact, really, a passing detail that by itself seemed to do nothing. But then he had seen what it could do, subtle and powerful... and Sustained.

A True Title. Powerful things, if limited in their own way. He glanced again at the Tempered gold Ring upon his left finger. His wife had passed away many years ago, but he had kept the ring... and when Traveler had asked if hed like one, it was the ring he gave her to enchant.

She was the first to make a True Ring on the Shrouded Earth, at least among mortals. That made her The Ring Lord, a master of all Rings, able to shut down any such that faced her, or activate any of them.

It was so appropriate.

He scrawled the final words precisely and perfectly, faster and more cleanly than any human should be able to do such things. The ink flowed exactly as it should, his hand obeyed, invisible lines guided the words, and he wrote... mostly in Human, but if other words in other languages were appropriate, he used them, too, knowing she would appreciate it, and the glossary would explain it all, helping introduce others to the wonders of other languages.

A last period firmly placed, an ending, and he slowly set his pen aside, looking at the simple verse that closed the book, the same verse that sat alone on the forepage.

Unwhite flames of vivus

To Open up the Sky,

Names for the Weapons

Wrought of steel and stone.

Banefire burning black

To bring them down to die,

A Curse of the Sun

Sears dead flesh and bone.

To the lands of Muskov,

Where the Shrouded lie!

One Ring to rule them all,

One Ring to find them,

One Ring to bring them all,

And through the darkness guide them,

To the lands of Muskov,

Where the Shrouded die!

Master John Renauld Reul Tolkien, Wizard and Ten, smiled at his work, and dried the ink with a finger flick before closing the page.

There were still printers and printing presses that worked, and while there were many unofficial biographies of The Lady Traveler around, he was certain that his would stand the test of time.

The Lord of the Rings was an eye-catching title, if he did say so himself, and the subtitle of The Life of the Lady Traveler would only set it off.

The First Ring, Einz, was going to be very well-known, indeed...

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The Ringlord

The single most famous Title in the world was first held by the Lady Traveler, then by Queen Azaia Morningwind, who has retained it since, even with her trips offworld fighting under the Shroud for protracted periods after her time as Queen of Europa was up.

The characteristics of a Ringlord are known to be as follows:

They must be at least a Faux Twelve, and able to Enchant a True Ring. Successor Ringlords must also have the Extra Rings and Ringmaker Feats.

The first being to make a special type of magic Item on a world becomes the Lord of that Item. If they depart the world, be it by death or time, the Title moves on to the most powerful being who specializes in making that type of Item. The previous holder Retains the Titles full powers if there is no Ringlord on a new world they come to, otherwise merely retaining the ability to identify Rings and boost their own worn Rings, and their own Rings remain free from the control of another Ringlord.

A Ringlord can instantly Identify any Ring on sight, and immediately sense if a Ring is being worn by any being within their line of sight. They can Dispel any such Ring with a thought, rendering it temporarily inert, or they may command it as if wearing it, if it has such voluntary spell effects.

Any magical effects coming from a Ring worn by a Ringlord are treated as if taking effect at the Ringlords own Caster Level, if it is higher than the Ring itself.

While it is not believed to be a requirement, the Rings of Traveler and Queen Morningwind are Arcane Bonded (allowing them to be Named and Advanced), Witchbonded (allowing them to serve as centers of the Ring Domain and as spellbooks), and Item Familiars, as well (benefits as the Feat).