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Most of you long-timers know this already, so this is more a PSA for the folks we've gotten over the last few months that might not be aware yet.

My name's Dean. Me and Jo run a dive bar in the Horizon called the Roadhouse. It's wide open to any summoned that feels like swinging in. If you like decent imaginary beer or playing imaginary pool, you're welcome any time. If neither of us are behind the bar, it's self-serve.

Also, don't touch the jukebox or I'll kill you.

The main clientele we cater to is hunters, so we've got a board where people can leave a heads-up about anything monster-y you happen to run across out there in whatever faction you're holed up in. If you're looking for tips on a job, odds are you'll find somebody seasoned here to hook you up.

If you're a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed up-and-comer looking for a career change, look somewhere else. This ain't a recruitment ad.

( ooc: this is your helpful periodic reminder that The Roadhouse is wide open for anyone to use as a setting for their threads, if you're looking for a Horizon-neutral domain to use as an excuse for two characters to meet, or you need a neat backdrop with a dartboard, feel free to make use of it! The Jo player and I are also totally cool with handwaving Dean and Jo serving anyone that looks over the age of 18. Hit me on plurk at

paingravy for any questions! )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's difficult to explain but when you put the book in the library, you can 'tell' it whether to stay public or not. So I can read what you add but only with permission. The psychic plane doesn't always make sense, it's more intuitive.

The only way I'd have books from your sphere is if other peopple from there are here and added them.

The ravens like shiny objects and tokens.

Thank you for explaining. I will make all of my contributions public. What happens to the library if you vanish?

Claude mentioned you and he also said he has created textbooks from our sphere, but I was not sure if he put our books in your library. I would like the information to be accurate if he had.

I will bring shiny objects for the ravens.

I don't know. I am hoping that perhaps if it becomes public enough, and other people remember it, they may be capable of keeping it going if I go. Public spaces sometimes seem like they can live on if someone else adopts it.

Ah, if it's Claude, then yes I believe there are some from your sphere in there. Feel free to come by.

I will memorize the library. I would ask for your permission, but I believe preserving the information in the case that you are unable to do so is more important than whether or not that idea pleases you.

[Linhardt isn't going to lose the library - there is too much information that may be useful. If that displeases Istredd, he's welcome to ban Linhardt from the library.]

I will. Do not use those books in the meantime. Magic is not Claude's area of expertise.

If you think you can, by all means. It's a lot of information.

I hope so.

[It sounds fun. Nerd.]

If it seems as though it is not doable by a single person, then we should prioritize which sections should be saved. Ideally multiple people would have knowledge of the library. It would be tragic for all of the information to be lost.

There is a great deal of information I've gathered that not everyone has, this is true. I have a lot of knowledge about the history of the continent, details on every strange occurrence that has happened for the past two years, notes on all the locations we've been to, etc.

Do you think we should prioritize preserving the information about Abraxas or the information from the worlds of different Summoned? I can think of advantages to each, but you have been here longer than I have and have more context for making that decision.

I'm not sure, much of the information I have from here is technically researchable by others, I merely have it all usefully placed in one area. I would say the most important might be the information on what we've all been through. While there are a few people who have been here since the beginning, if they all go, that experience could be lost.

I think that is sound judgement. As you said, the information on Abraxas can be rediscovered and recollected even if doing so would be an annoying undertaking. Information about the experiences of the Summoned will not be rediscover-able and has high immediate value. You are correct; that should be a priority.

It is unfortunate that it would be unwise to store this information outside of Horizon. Do we know how stable Horizon is?

The Horizon itself is mostly stable. The Singularity is connected to the rest of the continent, the real world, so there are times when the Horizon gets impacted at the same time our factions do.

For example, there was a situation last year when everyone was having very intense and ongoing nightmares and there was an "entity" that was following them in the Horizon but also in reality. They had to do a group spell to cast it out. Last October, three divine Heralds caused havoc by affecting people in the real world, but then in the Horizon people were getting trapped in different locations and unable to escape for hours, if not more.

The problem is if we make these details in physical form in our factions, there is no certainty that they won't fall into the wrong hands. I agree ideally we would have multiple back ups, physical as well as mental, but we can't trust our factions, they're all corrupt in their own ways.

They were being followed in their nightmares and during their times awake? Or in nightmares and when they were meditating? Did the entity cause harm to their physical persons or was it a mental ailment?

Were the people trapped in Horizon trapped in their own domains or others'? What happened if they tried to use the available egresses? Or were they taken away?

Yes. It is a difficult and frustrating problem.

What is Solvunn's dysfunction? I am aware of the Free Cities' and Thorne's.

They were being followed first in their nightmares and then they reported seeing the entity during the waking hours as well. It was only a mental ailment as far as I heard, but it seemed to be escalating before the factions assisted in getting rid of the entity. There was a banishing spell.

We were trapped in unknown domains. Not ones that belonged to any of us. It is still a question mark what happened there. They may have belonged to the gods themselves, but we have no answers. They didn't tell us anything before they simply disappeared. Each of them 'cursed' people with different ailments, although I don't know that they saw it that way. It may be they simply don't know how to communicate.

Solvunn has religious cults. They aren't incorrect about the gods, we know they are real here, but I don't find them very trustworthy when their ultimate goals are to their own deities.

Escalating in what manner? Is information on this available in the Horizon library? And on the spell?

Do we know that the domains were in Horizon and similar to the ones that we have as Summoned? If people could be moved in Horizon against their will, then there may be no assurance that other things are not moved as well, such as the information we need to preserve. It is true that none of the natives of Thorne, the Free Cities, or Solvunn can alter Horizon, but if there are gods here and they have their own wishes, they may interfere with our information collection efforts.

Do you think they wanted to communicate?

Very religious people have a worldview they must adhere to. They do not react well to things that fall outside of that worldview. The truth is of less interest than how they want the world to be.

The entity was appearing more and more and seeming to creep closer to the real world. There is information on this and one of the people who did the spell copied it as best as he could for me. Thorne took back the spell information after, but he remembered.

We don't know for certain, but that would be a reasonable assumption to make, that perhaps it was their versions of domains. It makes sense that the native gods of this sphere would have more power and control of it than us. We are not gods and new to this sphere. We are outclassed by them currently, and possibly forever, hard to say now.

In the past two years, many huge things have happened, that didn't happen before the Summoned were brought here. We didn't ask to be here, but our arrival has damaged this sphere.

So there is a connection between the two realms that can be weakened by certain creatures or entities. That is a good thing to know. It is concerning that Thorne provided the spell and then attempted to remove the information - if we are here to assist them magically, why would they take such efforts to have us not have access to a spell used to banish hostile creatures?

That is unfortunate. It seems nothing can be objectively assured. I dislike lacking foundational knowledge. I also dislike not having assurance that our information will remain as it is. It is to be expected that the gods’ abilities eclipse our own.

Are we intrinsically damaging, or are the reactions to us damaging? Is it possible that perhaps our hosts are doing the Summoning poorly?

I don't know for certain but one guess I would have is they don't want us to have access to the kind of spells that could return us to our homes. If we used a banishing spell on one another, that would take the power out of their hands. I believe a few of us are trying to figure out how the Summoning spell works, but that is top secret, no one has access to it. They don't want to give us chances to take our fate into our own hands here, I don't think.

I feel the same way and I've tried to learn what I can in the past year, but there are many doors still closed to us. I also think there is plenty going on that no one understands, not our factions either. They didn't expect the experiences that have happened here. The entity, the gods, these weren't planned as far as we can tell, everyone is only reacting.

It is possible. They are ripping open the multiverse to drag people from one sphere to another, none of this is natural, they could be creating holes in the very fabric of reality by doing so. I think Thorne started bringing us here in a hope to get closer to the Singularity, and the other two factions started doing it just to keep even with Thorne. But it was stupid to do this and extremely dangerous. They could be setting into motion the end of all universes and don't seem to care.

What progress has been made on the Summoning spell? I know teleportation magics, though they do not function correctly here. I am attempting to remedy the situation or at least determine what is causing the problem, but I may be of some assistance if that would be welcome.

I am coming to the conclusion that our hosts are not very good at long-term planning or thinking through the consequences of their actions. That is exceptionally dangerous - I am not somebody who cares overly much about being safe, but it is not right for them to involve their citizens in their messes. Or the Summoned.

How do we know it is not natural? Many destructive happenings are natural.

Have the nations been informed of the danger? Are they ignorant or completely deranged? I have only seen a hole in reality and someone banished to a different plane once, but it was magically created which would lend credence to our hosts being able to do so.

No progress. They have it locked up tight. We also have to be careful in Thorne because they'll get suspicious if they know we are trying to study it. They won't like us meddling or taking it into our own hands.

[ Welcome to Thorne, they love getting in the way. ]

You would be correct. The particularly infuriating part is that they ripped apart everything and they haven't even indicated how they want to use us. They're just having us continue to live random lives here, surviving through all these odd experiences, with no clear purpose or goal. I'm not saying I want them to use us, but at least it would make sense.

They keep doing Summonings, they're not slowing down. I don't know that I believe they do actually know who they are taking. They claim they do, but it doesn't make rational sense. If you wanted to take people, you would only pick the people who would be helpful and easy to manipulate. Some of the Summoned are extremely dangerous and powerful, there's no loyalty to the factions. I think they're flying blind and being extremely reckless and arrogant.

Inevitably the natives will start turning on us, if they haven't already, and I understand why. We're interlopers, it doesn't matter if it was done to us.

In that case, if I am imprisoned due to my research on my warp magic and the Summoning we can assume I was making progress and continue on that path more steathily. Do you know if warp or teleportation magic exists in the timelines of other Summoned?

[Not researching it is not an option. Linhardt needs to know. If he does not research, the questions will never stop and they will bother him every time he uses his magic.]

That's terrifying. And I was relaxing too. I should have known better.

I had the same thoughts: I'm a very capable scholar, but I am also notoriously...I do not believe anyone would call me helpful or easy to manipulate. My liege is similar, and she was here.

They will. If we wanted to prevent that when the time came, we should ally ourselves with the 3rd or 4th most powerful faction in Thorne or with the citizenry - if the rulers of the three nations are being so reckless, then we can safely assume they are also reckless when it comes to their protection of those within their borders that do not hold power. Focusing the rage on the rulers and playing kingmaker ensures that we would be owed a debt.

Or we could leave. I hate politics. Let Abraxas tend to its own problems.

Yes, several other spheres have teleportation spells, mine included. But teleportation is limited, I used to be able to portal across the continent, now we can't go outside of borders. Whatever they're using to block it is effective.

They've also never really attempted to build loyalty between us. You would think that is the first thing they would try, if they wanted Summoned who could help them. It's very bizarre. I have thought before that it is possible they have an enchantment or spell on us that we're unaware of. One that could perhaps force loyalty or action. There is nothing I can detect on us though.

Yes, we have looked into assisting Nott as they are anti-Thorne royalty in many ways, frustrated with the lack of attention they've received when things go wrong. But they don't have the type of clout that would challenge the power, not even with us. It is in consideration, but there are less than thirty of us in Thorne.

There is also the reality that we are outsiders and it may not be our right to try and alter the culture here. While some areas may not be happy with their factions, many are and do have loyalty and lives here that are not to be overturned. I hesitate from doing anything drastic that could overturn the safety and happiness of the natives here.

Have we compared everyone's teleportation magics? I have also found my abilities limited - it is like trying to see through a very thick fog and move through chest-deep water. So you used to be able to teleport here? In Abraxas?

That is strange. They are either stupid or there is an unknown reason for them to leave us be. Perhaps letting us be is how they're attempting to engender loyalty - I myself was quite inclined to view Thorne in positive terms as I was allowed to spend my days as I wish.

Leaving may be the best contingency plan.

I hesitate to abandon the other Summoned in favor of the natives. Both the native citizens and the Summoned are innocent in this question. Everybody has a right to prioritize their own survival - nobody has more right than anyone else.

I can still teleport in Abraxas, I can't teleport the distance I was able to before. It seems we can't teleport outside of certain boundaries within our faction. Which I understand, then we could easily jump anywhere we wanted. It seems like it just stops you. I also can't take anyone else through my portals.

The native teleportation controlled by the people here have much greater distance and control, but that is theirs, obviously they don't have limitations.

I think it is possible they think they can build our loyalty over time, and some of us have made connections with locals and with the authorities. It's not to the level of 'help you wage war on another country' type of loyalty. Probably. I don't know what they want from us. Thorne started this. At one point they did intentionally throw the Summoned into the crater around the Singularity, which brought everyone to the Singularity. It was an experiment. They are very interested in our connection to the Singularity, so they must think we are potential weapons. They simply haven't directed us anywhere yet.

I am not suggesting we abandon the Summoned. I am more inclined to have us leave, although that would leave any potential Summoned stuck here the same way. But I'm not inclined to cause a coup or change the politics of Thorne directly.

I can teleport myself, but not anyone else. Which is interesting as teleporting oneself is more difficult than other people. I'm also very limited in the size of what I can move, and I seem to need to see what I'm doing. That would seem to suggest some kind of blanket dampening rather than specified restrictions. That we can be targeted so easily is concerning.

It likely depends on how the Summoned feel about war. I will not fight for any country. Some people enjoy fighting; they will be easier to convince.

If they threw the Summoned into the crater, perhaps we are not the weapons. Perhaps we are the ammunition. Maybe that is why they are not trying to do anything with us other than keep us here: It doesn't matter what we do, only that we and our energy are accessible for whenever they need it for their own purposes.

I agree we should create a plan to leave if necessary.

I would rather not interfere, but I do not think all the Summoned agree, and as you've pointed out, we are going to be seen as a coherent group even if we are not. Us being here is already going to change the politics of Thorne. How secure would Ambrose's position be if he weren't successfully Summoning?

We don't belong in this world, it's possible that we all have a specific energy that can be tracked by those who know it. I've speculated for a while that they have ways to find us. It doesn't mean they'd go after us, they didn't go after the Summoned who fled before, but I do think they know where we are. The ones in their boundaries at least.

Thorne wants to get close to the Singularity, they want to be able to use its power as their own. They can't get close to it without dying, so we were brought here, because we can go near it without dying. They tried to take our connection through experimentation before, but it didn't work. I don't think their minds have changed at all about their priority involving us. We're still a path to the Singularity.

I don't know, but I worry that the Summoned forget we're under a hundred here. There are millions of people on this continent. There are a lot of ways that they would turn on us. Including us making decisions for the greater population because of our opinions or needs.

Some of us may want to stay here for the rest of our lives. I just want us to be cautious. Especially people who are new here.

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