Of Pondering and the Blue-Eyed Captain (Duncan please)

[Agaenos Phidion]

OOC: If the timestamp doesn't work for you, feel free to tell me to change it. And sorry about the rambling - I have no idea what I'm doing...

IC:

Timestamp:
Mid-Morning, Dianara, 2nd of Ioannes,
Spring-Summer Juncture (Summer), Telath is in the Age of Darkening,
Era I of the Celestine Mandate,
Era III in the Tyrannical Mageocracy of julos "The Mad"
Ten Eras Post-Fractum.
Paradigm: The Truce of Demios and the Merfolk.

He just could not forget.

For some reason, that brightening's conversation with the Captain stuck to his mind an entire vial of Mighty Glue would. What he said was true enough - there were more to the military than... What he had experienced so far, and some day, he will, indeed, develop his own theory about the military. Not everyone had the same mindset, and different people shall, in the future, choose different paths.

"... And after you’ve learnt that it takes a lot to go out and speak against all the drilling they’ve done to your soul."

Quite a lot of pondering. Idly thinking whilst in those Darkenings, his eyes half-open and dipped precariously in the luring haunt of sleep, he wondered what that exactly entailed - although, it was probably too hard - what he could, and would, speak against, they were probably too numerous to speak against. Perhaps?

And that, quite inadvertently, led him to take a Brightening off. The pacing of his feet were nonchalant, and there were no signs of emotions on his face. He had ambition, true enough - but what have he done to advance them so far? The funding for his faction was still... Frozen. There were still no signs of him doing anything, nor his bonded founders. Well, one thing for sure - he did know what everyone was up to. Not even his dear Keeva, to an extent.

... Though the Corporal was probably had the largest part to blame.

Whatever the reason, whoever was to blame, he had better do something soon. He could not leave an idea as big as this... Dangling for too long. Dang!

Amongst ambition, romance, duties, friends... Where was himself?

"... Boy, you are delving into too much things at once. Stop right there... Take a deep breath first... You have lots of time, boy. Lots." And there was his mind resonating the message to him. Maybe, yes - maybe he was just thinking too much. That certainly did not do good to his mind...

He promptly snapped out of his chain of chaotic thoughts. Reality flooded back to him again. He was still pacing within the base. Well, that was good - he was worried that he might have walked over a cliff...

Fated invitation, perhaps? Now, having thought about it more, it seemed more than sheer luck that he met Duncan twice in his life, within the short span of Winter and Spring. Whilst, well, one might pass it off as sheer coincidence... If the Captain actually wanted to speak with him... There must be something common in store for both of them, perhaps? Was this yet another trick which fickle Fate endeavoured to play on him, however?

Nonetheless, he had enough free time this morning. His own eyes searched for a man... Of white hair, and... Glowing, psionic-blue eyes. One can hardly miss him...

[Duncan Sythe]

OOC: Owch writing with you is a task, but fun. Timestamp is all good.

IC:

Fancy? Not yet, no, Duncan had quite simply been walking around, still waiting for his meeting with Sheng when he’d stumbled across Agaenos, wryly considering the third chance meeting, even though this one had a little less to do with chance due to Duncan and Agaenos both being in the same general area and both looking for one another after a fashion. He was still at a mild loss as to what he intended to do to the young man but at the same time he was very certain that Agaenos was the right man to ‘do things to’ as it were.

To put things into perspective Duncan hadn’t exactly been walking, more leaning against a wall watching the world go by when Agaenos went by, the Captain unfairly happening to have been around a corner so as not to be in eyesight when the tall, distinctive Corporal made his pass, cueing the slightly bored Mage-Captain to stop picking at a fingernail and step out into the general flow of district traffic.

"One particular thing - this particular garrison is not too... Organised, so to say."

Duncan silently chuckled at that, the Corporal, probably unknowingly trying to imply something else entirely had in a way sealed his fate with that comment, had he been that bit older, twenty years or so the comment would have meant something else to the Mystic, a mere slide-comment, as it was this time around it meant that the man was free thinking, at least Duncan hoped it meant that, whether it did or not Agaenos had been marked down for further inspection compared to the general mob, it was like a certain man and his Incantors, Duncan was looking for colleges, a few might say mindless servants but that was unfair, where those like Avanthar recruited for death Duncan hoped to do so for life, Agaenos had earned the dubious pleasure of being the first to have an interview.

Again, as it was, the man would have precious little idea but he would in time and that was the key, although these days the fact that time could be easily erased from the memory of the interviewee helped.

“Morning Corporal; lets go to your quarters, or somewhere quiet. I take it you know somewhere like that?”

Worst came to the worst Duncan could create somewhere quiet but he really disliked having to go out of his way with things like that, so he settled for, having lightly laid a hand on the man’s upper arm, half guiding, half following him forward, head tilted slightly to look at Agaenos, blue eyes….focused.

If there was anything to be said about his appearance it would be it hadn’t changed, blue eyes, white hair, oh, no hat, but the same green scarf and gray uniform even though it was probably a different one; clean without dirt all over it. The gloves hadn’t changed though and the swords remained, as non-military issues as you could probably get.

The worst, or the best was yet to come regarding this entire charade but the Mage-Captain wasn’t prepared to waste energy unless he had a reasonable idea of achieving the results he was after, he’d question the man first, just have a little discussion, then came the interesting part.

As they walked, presuming the man knew somewhere, Duncan decided he could at least ask one question that’s answer wouldn’t draw eyes as the two walked, not that the blue eyed Captain was exactly inconspicuous to begin with.

“So, continuing from our prior discussion in a place that was hardly exactly private just what is it your currently after?”

Any number of things that could mean but Duncan had studiously avoided the question of garrison organization, now he went back to it, obviously Agaenos had meant something by it and Duncan, although he knew several possible answers, wanted to hear what Agaenos’s version of that was.

[Agaenos Phidion]

OOC: Yeah, sorry - it's my tendancy to ramble.

IC:

Whatever it was the Archmage had in mind, the Apprentice had absolutely no idea. So little of the world he had seen, and so little of it he had experienced... Although, at that moment (or the moment soon after that), it would make little difference. All he knew was the case as he paced, oblivious to the leaning Captain for a short while, however, was that if he did not fix that stupid son-of-the-Aeternia scabbard that was dangling too loosely on his belt, his broad sword was going to clatter on the ground. Not that he minded it would drop, of course, but for goodness sake - he really didn't want the only type of weapon he was trained in to just... Shatter. Really.

Whatever he was called to do, and why-ever he was asked to meet him, he could deny that small spark of interest and curiosity lodged within him - this was certainly not... That normal of an occurance, anyway. Why anyone so high-ranked would want to do with a measly Corporal like him was beyond him, though, clearly, Duncan must have had his purposes.

Now, just how could one miss a man with glowing eyes...?

“Morning Corporal; lets go to your quarters, or somewhere quiet. I take it you know somewhere like that?”

Turning around - there he was. Previously leaning in a corner, and that he completely passed by him. Not too surprising, though. In the manner that he was pondering, he'd bound to have missed a pot of flower falling right in front of him. Silly man.

"Sure - it's really close to my quarters." He smiled, and tilted his head towards his left, he signalled the general direction of his current lodging. Odd, though - he was being half-guided... And half-leading the senior officer. Hmm, whilst not exactly an inconspicious gesture... It was still enough to warrant a few raise eyebrows from other passing personnels. Not something that the Corporal minded too much, anyway. For some reason, though, his blue eyes were somewhat... Intent. Intent on, him, perhaps - that one unnerved him slightly... But he kept quiet. It wasn't as if there were any (major) problems with their apperance, anyway -

"Erm, with this way he's leading you, boy, there might be problems..." Nudged his conscience.

"He's a Captain, for Aslan's sake - can't you be a bit more optimistic at times?" Rebuked his mind.

"... Whatever..." Conscience sighed in defeat.

A place that wasn't exactly private - that was right. He would rather not talk about personal ambitions amongst other things at the gates, if he had the choice. Though, as to what he was actually after... Whatever did that mean (assuming that double or even triple-meanings could be applied here)?

... He was better off just answering the darned question in a normal way.

"What I'm after?" He shot a slightly curious glance, before carrying on, "Well, I am still slightly unsure at the moment, but then - my Elementalism training, I am definitely persuing. At least to Journyeman, but preferably to Master and beyond. I have taken basic lessons in Politics... Well, if you add to that I'd like to become the imbuer and enchanter of the Military, and the head of my own Faction, there you have it - that is my current list of ambitions." He grinned. "I have not told you in detail what I am working towards for my... Erm, future faction, right?"

Darn - he still need to ask the Thane for subsidiary...

[Duncan Sythe]

OOC: Alright got permission from Aesha to do whatever I like….obviously within the bounds of reality and us not gaining anything, this is just an official note of that. Feel free to guide us to the place of your choosing in the next post…or the one after, whatever suits.

IC:

Duncan smiled slightly, it led along quite well in the end and he didn’t doubt Agaenos was smart enough to probably figure out Duncan was leading up to something; although exactly what he wouldn’t find out until it was possibly too late either way. But that was how it was supposed to be, how it had been with him in the end. The fingers on the Corporal’s arm eased as the slightly shorter but, it seemed, somehow more visible Captain took to following rather than half-leading his conversation partner, ears listening intently to what came.

As he listened he did have to wonder if Agaenos had considered exactly what sphere Duncan studied, he knew he hadn’t told the man and that would work wonders with ‘later’ if Agaenos didn’t somehow become completely stupid in the next few minutes. It was something Duncan doubted but a sad possibility he had to keep in mind none the less, the amusing notion of just erasing their contact entirely still sitting in the back of his mind for a last resort if the Corporal got all uppity and idealistic on him.

Idealism, it was something Duncan had lately admitted he had but he preferred to think of idealism as something with many facets, akin to himself, the military, the God’s and basically everything, it was the nature of his idealism that led him to this conversation. Indeed also to what he said next and indeed the entire pattern of events to follow, not that Agaenos would really know that, he could and was only guessing at intent.

“No, no you didn’t tell me about your faction Corporal, a military enchanter though?”

The question held a mild curiosity that hadn’t been in Duncan’s tone before, he found the concept genuinely revolutionary, even though the Mage Corps in Alleria Prime had it’s research and development division it had no-one dedicated enough to full time imbuing and enchanting. It took long enough to put one thing together properly let alone a couple of hundred.

“I can certainly say with confidence the military in general could benefit from something besides iron heads and steel these brightenings, anyone would, but in the end it would be static. You’d be stuck in one place, away from everything, a mere service item, you don’t seem that kind of person.”

Duncan seemed to shrug, both physically and verbally as they continued their walk, left hand resting lightly on one of the two sword hilts at his side, right hanging now loosely.

“Tell me of your faction though and what you intend to achieve, anything like that is obviously beyond the military or you’d already be moving toward it.” Duncan smiled but it wasn’t a grin, something about him said he didn’t really ‘do’ grins. “Then again you did say this place lacked organisation.”

[Agaenos Phidion]

OOC: Okey, no problem. Obviously, I'll have to improvise and just "create" my quarters in this thread, seeing as I wasn't given a Corporal's Quarter... Yet. >.<

IC:

Nope - there was no way that Agaenos could possibly, for the life of him, guess what Duncan was up to - although being a natural part of the race of Humans, there was something called "curiosity" which was lodged within him - and often times, it took command of a Human being. This one was no exception, as he allowed himself to comply with whatever plans the Mystic had already come up with. Besides, he was a Captain, anyway... He was sure that the rank gave enough of an indication that the Mystic would not do anything that was... Extremelyl unorthodox, to put it in an elegant way.

As he spoke and looked at Duncan, though, there was no way in Telath he could shrug off those glowing eyes. He was sure, it had something to do with Arcana... Arcane reactions... Arcalysis, but he had no idea what happened to cause that - and he probably would not relish the thought of having that happening to him, anyway. Silently, he mused what sphere he studied - though that was probably a question best left when he - they - returned to his own quarters. No doubt there was an interesting tale behind it.

"Well, maybe he doesn't want to tell you?" His mind rebuked. If so, it didn't really matter...

“No, no you didn’t tell me about your faction Corporal, a military enchanter though?”

He nodded. Very little people had tried to do the former, forming his own faction (which, sadly enough, had not even materialised yet), and fewer still, perhaps, considered the latter. He was right - the military could do a bit more than just pure steel. Sharp edges - it was all well and good, but surely it would do better if they were given an extra "edge", so to say? Just exactly what the Mages did, here in the military of Abestat... It was up to anyone's guesses.

And yet, he spoke true - staying in the military, he would be static, glued to one place. Sure, he could still take holidays and visit his homeland, Olympia - but then he'd be stuck to the same job everyday. How boring...

"... Maybe I should start considering my career options..."

Turning two junctions, and having trailed around a corner, they were soon approaching the Corporal's quarters. The summer air continued to brush his face - both it, and the conversation... Seemed to have defied the monotone of daily life, for some reason.

Ah - the faction.

"I suppose you have heard of... The Luctadomum, or Luctine, Republic?" He initiated that with a question. "Abestat was once Lux... And before it became part of the Empire, it suffered from barbarian threats from the north. One... Doge Marelius, reformed the army, and formed what was known as the Hoplites. I'm trying to revive that theme... Except, of course, not to use the old Hoplite as it once were - improvements on equipments, tactics, and Arcane supports... Maybe even seige engines." He gave a shrug, and a grin. "The latter seemed very far-fetched right now, though... But I suppose everything great once started small. They are like the military, except they... Aren't. And instead of defending, we attack - 'to strike evil in its infancy' was what I said that Brightening, when a whole group gathered in the White Dragon."

... Of course, he still remembered that Brightening. He was immensely greateful... To everyone in that group there. Eternally indebted was just the correct phrase -

"Well, we're here."

Opening the door, it revealed the quarters of Agaenos.

OOC II: Obviously, I couldn't really describe my quarters... Seeing as I've got no idea what it should really look like.

[Duncan Sythe]

Duncan nodded as the two entered the Corporal’s quarters, stepping past the younger to allow himself a small smile out of Agaenos’s view, progressiveness indeed, still idealistic, not that he wasn’t but there was a measure of realism to Duncan’s idealism. In his warped view at least, the recognition that no cause deserved a life in exchange for it, not your life, for there was always more you could do.

Eventually the decision had to be made, you of them, them or you, you or someone else next to you. Duncan had made the decision long ago, possibly in the wrong direction; now he lived it in every breath, the justification, always a justification. Malice, the mountainous achievement of that philosophy so far, them not him, the death of others, the death of the few for the good of the many, Duncan Sythe’s belief above others.

“Yes, we’re here.”

Duncan replied after a moment, the smile failing as he turned back to Agaenos, mind working. The man wouldn’t be in Meditation at this moment in time, there was no need; especially for an Apprentice. Duncan hadn’t told him what sphere he practised and in the end that was all that mattered for the new beginning to work. Even then he could go back, a moment’s manipulation of memory and erase the past, still, without Agaenos realizing what Duncan was doing this would be simple; still, first came the continuation.

“Certainly a worthy goal, to defeat evil before it grows strong enough, although I’m sure as you’ve probably realised there are many problems with that, the biggest being the inherent definition of evil itself.”

The Captain turned away, as if to walk over to a wall to lean against it, face again obscured from Agaenos’s sight. This time no smile, simply a closing of the eyes that would be all too obvious if he’d been facing the Corporal, his mind ascribing to Meditation in seconds, the eyes opening, a breath in, a breath out and he tugged, essence flowed, Vis mixed, mana was created, Agaenos’s mind caught in an instantaneous web, control of his senses circumvented as Duncan turned around. It wasn’t true control, just a detachment, nothing Agaenos did would reflect in a real world for now though; all was illusion, all was false, inputs and outputs all processed by Duncan rather than by the world.

In his world; his Psionic Shell nothing changed for Agaenos, he saw Duncan, his room, he saw the Captain turn back to him; while in reality the mage walked past Agaenos to lock the door and sat down on a chair. Now manipulating himself without moving, a mental construct, it was a complex spell but not exactly a power intensive one once realised, the detachment just required a constant energy flow to keep it active. In fact the illusion was most probably flawless; just as it had been for him, just as it had been done those patterns past by Khalon and his daughter.

Duncan realised the why of it now of course, as Agaenos would if he ever worked it out, if his mind was what Duncan needed. If not then he would remember nothing, it was that simple.

For now though nothing changed for Agaenos, all he saw was Duncan turning, lips moving, sound coming to his ears as if nothing was amiss as the Captain had indeed gone and leant against the wall in Agaenos’s ‘reality’.

“I take it your opinion of evil, of the application of the Annarian code will allow for the fact that in striking first you commit murder, that in killing evil in its infancy you will in fact be killing a supposed innocent and theoretically breaking the code?”

It was posed as a simple question, no hints in Duncan’s eyes or expression as to whether or not he agreed with the concept or disagreed with it, he clearly wanted Agaenos to answer first before colouring the scene, knowing that any form of opinion now would influence Agaenos. After all one didn’t admit to murderer before a paladin or a judge, Duncan was neither though.

Meanwhile, now sitting, the real Duncan smiled, eyes closed, mind working constantly, the question was only the beginning, Agaenos was not going to be a pawn, not at all, for to be a pawn implied the piece was not in knowledge of all the facts, not treated justly. No, Duncan was just doing what had been done to him, a rude and profoundly direct application of truth. An illusion used to portray a set of events, a conversation, anything to bring realisation quickly and directly that might otherwise take patterns to manifest or never come at all. Agaenos had the potential, what remained to be seen was how it would manifest and whether the manifestation was one Duncan could comfortably ally with, or otherwise.

For Agaenos however there was only the conversation, as it had been moments ago, without change, the Captain and the Corporal discussing ideas and philosophies.

OOC: This is, of course, why I needed permission from Aesha Any questions; PM away.

[Agaenos Phidion]

OOC: No problem. And it's all quite clear, although what exactly is a Psionic Shell?

IC:

There they were. It was his own room, his own place where he rested when off duty and had nothing else to do – although, of course, to any of the people who resided in this place who displayed an air of cordiality, or those that were of higher ranking than him (that was the more likely scenario), they were all welcome into his room. The sheath of the larger of his swords already hanging upon his ebony-toned belt loosely, a casual hand removed it, before placing it upon the bed, allowing it to lie in all of its nonchalant glory. Settling himself down, the Corporal remained unaware of what was to come to pass – sure, he’d have expected something along the lines of Arcana for that one to happen – although, as circumstances would have had it, he remained oblivious to Duncan’s Archmage status.

Turning away, masking the smile, when Agaenos had looked up again to see the Captain’s turned face, he could hardly speculate the smile that had only been there a curt moment before. “A worthy goal” – he was right, for it was one thing he still had the nagging desire to do. Of course – he will have to advance that cause financially first, which, just at that point, the brief thought of heading towards the bank to see what could be done entered his head. It did not take hesitations at all for him to decide for it – he would seek out the bank… And… Basically, see what he could do. He had not a clue what to do from there. Aeterniatis…

Maybe he’ll just get a loam…

Although, he was right – the definition of evil. What was evil? How could you identify evil without it showing itself? He posed a good question, and a good challenge at his ideologies at that – a prospect which, somehow, none of the group had posed before. Something that had to prompt him to think, and perhaps, redefine his concept of evil and set a boundary on his actions, or rather, his faction’s actions. At that point in the Essence of Kalendryas, however – he was blissfully unaware of what was happening to him; and blissfully, for it ensured peace and prolonged continuity between them. Who knew what sort of things would happen if Agaenos knew that he was having spells cast on him by an Archmage Mystic?

His vision remained the same to him. He could still see his room, the surroundings unchanged, and his sword still lying upon his bunk. He saw his Captain turning back to him, and speaking back to him. All this time, he became blissfully unaware of the real Duncan already locking his room’s door, effectively confining themselves into the room, and if anything went amiss (not that it should do, anyway), the Corporal had effectively cut off his own route of escape. Meanwhile, the illusionary Duncan continued the conversation of the philosophy behind the concept of evilness with him – and there, he raised an important point. The Annarian Code.

“You are right – that will be breaking the Code. Although I suppose any person, any camps that have officially been classified as outlawed – if that is possible – would be eligible, then…” He replied slowly, with a slight shrug on his shoulder. “Besides, that would not be all we do – I am hoping that the Hoplites of Abestat, as it will be called, to co-operate with the military and carry out operations, as well as helping out cities to defend an area of fight a battle, of course… Though this will have to be when the faction is much larger.”

A silent sighed issued from his mind – it was all ridiculous really, right? It sounded so far-fetched, so illogical, even when it came out of his lips, the very first person who came up with the idea. Well, illogical or not, he was going to do it – and he could only hope Aetheria was with him, and it will not be an illusion…

… Not that he knew he was already in one, anyway.

[Duncan Sythe]

OOC: Psionic shell; merely a name for a spell, the effect being to lock your mind off from your body, you experience and see all as you usually would but all input and output goes into the shell rather than into your body and viewing reality; Duncan in turn controls the shell and so all output and processes according to your input.

An illusionary sword on an illusionary bed, a figment of imagination, neither Duncan’s or Agaenos’s entirely, for one provided the input, the other the process and the output, like a system. So far it was not difficult, everything was simple, nothing particular unexpected or hard to deal with, simply a few more constants to add; the issue of course with this entire thing being one requires an incredibly detailed imagination to keep such a thing going; in a way it would get easier later, it wouldn’t be a room Agaenos knew so well Duncan was trying to reproduce in exactitude.

Still he managed for now, his mental double quiet in response to Agaenos’s words for a moment as the real Duncan Sythe re-checked his image against the original, the vision constant, partially helped by arcane reinforcement, partially by Duncan’s own mind. Now though he refocused his attention on the matter at hand; a conversation with a man, a Corporal, a military youth, a world youth, he did not begrudge Agaenos that fine detail but more hoped he could understand it when it was laid before him, it was the flexibility of mind Duncan sought more than the ability, ability could be given, taken, taught, acquired, the flexibility was either there or it was not.

“The military is not always right though Agaenos, it is in the end controlled by men and men are only what all men are; mortal.”

The Duncan Agaenos saw had folded his arms, right brushing the sheathed swords at his hip without really noticing, the unconscious gestures of Duncan Sythe hardly difficult to translate into an illusionary fake.

“Equally, to me, the Annarian code is an error, here of course you come to the crux of it, to serve first the people or a set of laws laid down by old men and Allerians Patterns ago, hardly practical in this day and age, I think you’ll probably begin to understand why we talk here and not outside Agaenos, the things I ask you are quite possibly considered blasphemy if your singularly minded.”

Illusion, the illusions head rolled to the side, eyes narrowing, still no threat, Duncan – as Agaenos saw him – hadn’t exactly changed but still there was the subtle implication of a threat there, nothing so crass as to be obvious but visible none the less.

“Personally, when you become an officer it’s my opinion you either accept the fact you ‘work for the code’ or you ‘work for the people’, equally any experienced NCO knows exactly the same thing, its why Sergeants are so valued for teaching young Lieutenants sense, lets just say I’m doing it the other way around.”

Duncan’s head rolled back to a less odd position, the eyes returning to normal, his expression loosing the threat and falling again impassive.

“So where do you stand?”

He asked, the question clearly the most important Agaenos had been asked yet, the questioning up until now leading to a position where Duncan could poise it, all the while falling towards Agaenos, the military, then using the Hoplites as a springboard for evil and so forth onto the code; finally onto the matter of Agaenos’s opinion of it, not simple questions by a long way but not meant to be; Duncan wasn’t a young man any more, at least not as young as Agaenos, plus he was identifiable; known by certain people, the wrong kind of people, he had his reasons for this.

[Agaenos Phidion]

OOC: Reconstructing lost post. I hate it when the Internet decides to cut off my connection for no apparent reason... >.<

[Duncan Sythe]

OOC: Not a problem at all; although I will suggest using a non-internet program to write posts or copying them to the clipboard before you post them incase either idea is any use.

[Agaenos Phidion]

OOC: I see. Thanks!

IC:

The illusionary self, illusionary room… And even the illusionary Captain – he remained blissfully oblivious as to what was reality, and what was illusion. Steeped into the latter one which seemed, and felt so much like the former, their transition so seamless and unflawed, it was impossible for the inexperienced, untrained mind of the Corporal to note the subtle change between the two consciousnesses with his mindscape. Of course, that had partly to do with Duncan’s skill and proficiency with Mysticism as well. Ah, well, Agaenos could always settle for raining elements upon his opponents in battle, although he will never be able to do something like that, should he decide to further pursue the field of Elementalism.

In his vision, the Captain remained relatively quiet and calm as he delivered his answer. It was, quite unfortunately, true, what he said – that the military was not always correct. Indeed, it was ran by men, and men were mortal – and as more-than-enough stories, true or fake, had already told the denizens of the Empire that nobody which walked the Telath, being mortals, were perfect. They were all flawed in one way or another, some being obvious, others being more subtle, more concealed; though flaws nonetheless. It was true with the Annarian Code – it was no longer truly applicable in this age and era. Sure, striking another first would be accounted as voluntary hostility, and murder – but what if the adversary’s first blow would spell certain doom for the person? What then? Whilst a good set of guidelines in itself, the Code, inevitably, was still flawed.

… Which meant something must be compensated for if the Hoplites would need to raid actively, and therefore technically breaking the Code?

And, quite to the presumed relief to of the Captain, the Corporal was not strongly bound by a set of mental rules which dictated and fixed exactly what he would and would not believe – his mind was not hopelessly fixed solid. No, in fact, it was flexible, his mindset, that was, if one was willing to overlook the fact of the easiness to sway his mind. For in truth, except for certain things, he was quite easily persuaded. Perhaps.

As he continued to stare at Duncan, his gaze studying, he could somehow detect a small aura of threat hanging about him. It was somehow visible, tangible in the air, and why Agaenos felt that way, he had completely no idea – though as folly or otherwise, he simply dismissed it as an unusual, over-reactive imagination of his mind. Strange, that was.

He listened on intently. It was all only too correct – either a person worked for the Code, or they worked for the people. In the end, however, even the Code was created only for the people of the Empire, for without the people, the Code would be meaningless. Utterly meaningless. Without even thinking, he already knew what the answer was – and it was not the obvious one. Though, the people who created the Code, mortals and denizens of Telath, were flawed, thus leading to the Code being flawed… And then, the people whom followed the Code, and whom the set of Allerian laws were made for, were flawed as well. Really, it could be said that the entire Telath was flawed then. What an optimistic thought…

Losing his odd air of rather subtle hostility, the Captain posed him with a question. He knew where he stood. The answer was not the obvious one.

“For the people,” he said, without much in the way of hesitation, and his face did not convey either confidence nor uncertainty – the mask which he put on his face was one of neutrality. “After all, the Code, flawed in itself, was created for the people, right? Without the people, there would be no need for the Code. And the people, needless to say, are flawed too, we being all mortals.” He raised both hands in a shrugging manner, “Then, perhaps it would be quite right to say, the entire Telath is flawed then.”

He never knew for certain, though the possibility of that could only be too large…

OOC II: Yeah, I nag myself to use Microsoft Word every time I do a post now.

[Duncan Sythe]

A logical man in an illogical world, at least he was getting to the right conclusions even if his method of reasoning wasn’t precisely Duncan’s. In the end it worked; after a fashion. Duncan’s personal belief was the code could go to hell but he doubted Agaenos was going to get quite that vehement any time soon; what he’d heard so far was about as much as he’d expected, logical reasoning to the logical conclusion.

It was a start, it could potentially take the man all the way but for that more had to be said and done, more conclusions drawn out, that was then and now; one and the same, for the crux was coming, if slowly. In the mean time the illusionary Duncan nodded sympathetically, understanding the difficulty of the progression, personally he suspected it had been more difficult for himself bu