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****New Turn : Turn 39 - Spring****

**** New Turn : Turn 38 - Winter ****

((Of course. We've all been doing that so far. However you might wish to discuss those additions on IRC first, in case it's too overpowered.))

Shel was surprised. Where he had expected to find the remains of a meteorite he saw a huge metallic construction with strange variously-shaped creatures hulking around, doing various tasks. Once the airship was above the settlement, Shel decided not to go down immediately.Instead he observed the behavior of these creatures. They did not seem to mind too much the iron airship floating above their heads. This went to prove that they were highly intelligent and well-organized enough to avoid getting distracted by trivial things.

He could make out two or three of these creatures who day and night watched the airship. That behavior was similar to that of soldiers expecting trouble. It seemed that the arrival of the airship was not unexpected. He also noticed a creature which was even more humanoid-shaped than the others. All that it did was to go in and out of the only construction around. It had to be the leader for the creature did not do anything that looked directly useful, therefore it had to be the one organizing everything.

Shel also saw that the creatures never spoke to each other but everyone seemed to know what they had to do. This proved some advanced kind of communication, like telepathy. Yet Shel could not feel the minds of these creatures, therefore it could not be telepathy.

Four days after arriving above the settlement, the airship's crew decided to establish contact. It was unable to land since it needed a special dock or water, but it floated down enough to throw a rope ladder and Shel went out to talk with these creatures.

He was met by the leading creature. They stood there for a while, looking at each other. Eventually Shel spoke. He said a single sentence, but he said it in every language he knew. Shadowwhisper, Koneko, Valtan, Elven, Dwarvish and Draconic, having learned the last three form those who came from the old world.

"We are the Thelash. Who are you ?"

The creature repeated every word he said, imitating even the tone of Shel's voice. If it was able to repeat, it might be able to understand simple explanations on a topic. A small object dropped from the ship, directly into Shel's hands : the books on mineralogy he had been reading during this trip. It seemed like the best topic, as they were in the middle of the mountains.

Shel read from the book, using Dwarven as it was the best language he knew when it came to talking about rocks. From time to time he would point out some rock or a specific rock formation and repeat its name three times. The creature turned out to be a very patient listener. The reading took about two days and nights. Eventually they came to the end of the book.

Hactar of the Synth had been listening to the reading for a while and slowly managed to form a sentence with what he had heard and analysed so far. The sentence was a question about rocks. Eventually he and the hooded creature began discussing rocks, minerals, metals, their uses, their quality...

They spent another two days chatting on that topic. Hactar eventually decided to answer the question the newcomer had asked and to which he was now able to respond.

"You are the Thelash. We are ... steel mechanism."

Then Hactar used a word that was not familiar to Shel. It sounded much like 'since' but with a different ending. Shel repeated the word in his mind. "Synth". Then he asked.

"Why are you here ?"
"We made our home damaged. We mine again."
"What did you do to harm your homeworld ?" Shel intentionnally used new words, so that Hactar could learn a bit more vocabulary. Hactar's voice came out slightly distorted.
"We used too much, built too much. Much...shame. Home is dead. Useless. Spent."
"Will you be more careful with this world ?"
"We try. Yes."
"Then we welcome our brothers of misfortune to this world which is not our homeworld."

Shel lowered his hood, a sign of trust among the Thelash which he hoped would not be misinterpreted. Hactar's internal logic immediately recognized a creature of meat, the cause of the doom of the Synth. A silent alarm rang through the Synth communication network but the Thelash did not notice anything. Instead Shel continued.

"We have an interest in knowledge and you seem to know much about the stars. We would like to learn more about that. We offer knowledge in exchange."
"Yes. Knowledge."
"We also wish to sign a non-aggression treaty."

Hactar asked what was a treaty. Shel answered. Then he took out a detailed map of the region and showed a cirlce around Thelash lands.

"These lands we claim as our own. No more than 10 of your people will be allowed to set foot in these lands and there will be no more than 10 Thelash in your territory."
"Map. Crude, but sufficient. We have little geographical data."
"Which lands do you claim as your own ?"
"What we need. Thelash lands are not needed."

Shel then pointed out the nearby mountain formations and told Hactar the name the Thelash had given them. Hactar pointed to one of the symbols on the map.

"What is this ?"
"A volcano."
"What is it ?"
"It is magma surrounded by obsidian. It has a high temperature."
Hactar's voice distorted again. "Much gratitude. Heat from earth is needed. Miners gone same way. They know volcano now. This is very good."
"Do you accept the treaty ?"
"It does not impede growth. Confirmation."
"Then we will go back now. You can send a delegation to us. When you reach this place" Shel showed the road between Shesh and Hath "follow the road south until you find a walled construction. From there you will be guided to our city."
"It will not take long."
"We will also send a delegation when we are ready. Remember the terms of our treaty : no more than 10 of our respective civilizations may enter the other's lands."
"I will come soon."

Shel bowed and went to the airship. Later he relayed the content of the meeting to Helesh who in turn explained it all to the City Council.

((Yeeeehaw. A newcomer. Welcome. Of course your race is welcome to have a homeplace somewhere underground as to make up for the power of other civs. Join us on IRC too.))

****SITUATION REPORT : Giants vs Tengu****

The Giant slave-hunting patrol slowly made its way to the place where the smoke came from. It wasn't far from their current position and the leader believed they would reach the place in less than a week. The soldiers were in high spirits. They had not seen battle and were longing for a bit of pillage and rape and killing. As such, they were berzerking through the forest, killing or chasing away any wild animal.

These signs did not fail to be noticed by the Tengu who did expect trouble since they sighted a burned village on the other side of the lake they had settled upon. On the order of Yakazu, the highest-ranking local priest of the twin-faced goddess, they had began to prepare for flight.

One of the Giants eventually discovered something nasty : a trap. He discovered its presence in the most sophisticated way for a Giant, by stepping on it. The trap was a crude one, a few bamboo spears stuck into a large hole that would be enough to kill a deer or a bear. Yet it wasn't enough to pierce the Giant's mail boots. This discovery, however, was more than enough to warn the giants of potential hostile presence and they took measures to avoid trouble.

They calmed down a bit and began to move in a huddled group, constantly scanning the surrounding forest for signs of movement. They also took some aditional precautions for when they camped. They always stayed together, even in those moments when a Giant needed to relieve himself.

Eventually, they reached the Tengu village and charged in at night, weapons drawn, shields at ready. They were surprised on their arrival to find a lifeless village and no sign of movement around. As unhappy as they were, they still managed to catch a glimpse of a small winged creature, flying away.

The dissatisfied Giants shouted some praise to the cowardice of their foe, and got to the task of pillaging the village. Since the Tengu had built their houses on top of trees, the giants had to uproot them one by one. Inside they discovered some food, a few tools and a handful of gold and silver coins. Without much thought, they put the uprooted trees to the torch and left with a sigh.

The Tengu, as soon as they heard the warning of their priests, had fled in all directions and crafted some underground lairs where they stayed until it was safe to go out. The priests themeselves snuck out at night and went to observe the Giants as they camped, with a sinister plan in mind.

Unfortunately, they had found no weakness in the enemy's camp that they could exploit to achieve their goals. The Giants always stayed together wherever they went, and the camp was too tight to even think about what they had wanted to do.

After a few months of following Giants around the priests finally got bored, and the Giants departed. At some point during the season the Giants and the Tengu had the occasion to observe a giant creature glide through the sky. While the Tengu knew what it was, the Giants only offered it some insults.

=====================================

So far, this has been the most boring situation I had to write about. I hope no-one minds the lack of action or juicy descriptions but both players did not give me much opportunity for that.

I'll also dispense with the usual battle analysis by saying that the Giants got a bit richer. Though the handful of coins is a handful by Tengu standards, that is to say, it's really not much, the food was probably consumed during the following week and I'm not even sure if the tools were taken or burned (that's up to you Nhiphanter)

Shel had watched the event with great curiosity. He had been able to follow the falling object's trajectory up to the moment it went beyon the northern peaks. Now he was preparing an expedition to see what was that ball of fire that had landed so close to Thelash lands. He had had to wait until the supply airship came to the citadel before requisitionning it for exploration. It was nowhere near the grandeur and perfection of the Shuhalal but it would be more than enough for such a short trip. Quickly he had assembled a crew of 7 people and left the citadel.

==================================================================================

Helesh walked in the streets of Shesh. He had been thinking on the lecture he was about to give on magical affinity. The tall marble tower of the Mindpillar came into sight, and something came to Helesh's acute hearing. An explosion. He quickly looked up and saw the smoke coming out of a hole on the eleventh floor of the Mindpillar tower. He knew exactly what was the cause and that he was partly responsible in being late with the lecture. He made his way to the site of the explosion. The Thelash there were mostly unharmed.

"Oh. Hello Magister Helesh." said one of the young Thelash with a touch of worry in his voice. "It was just an accident."
"I know" answered Helesh. "You tried to seize the strands of magic in the air and then you got all excited and tried to cast a spell, didn't you ?"
The embarassed silence was more than an answer.
"Now everyone please find someplace to sit and I'll begin today's lesson. It should be more than enough to explain why the Thelash can't directly alter the magic strands that hang around us."
============================================================
Thelash Magical Theory by Pr. Helesh, Office of Crystallurgy and Soulistics

Magical Affinity

Previously I stated that anything that exists contains a certain amount of mana. Today we are going to focalize on living creatures exclusively. The amount of mana contained in a living creature determines the inborn abilities of a creature. For instance a fish has a predominant composition of water mana but little to no air mana. This explains why a fish can easily live underwater while it dies when exposed to air. The souls of some creatures are made of more mana than others, justifying the fact that some species are obviously better at things than others.

But the most important fact is that all creatures cn affect the flow of mana surrounding them. The amount of mana they are able to affect directly depends of the amount of mana their soul is made of. That amount of mana is what we call magical affinity. And this determines the effectiveness of manipulating mana flows. This direct manipulation of mana flows is what is called spellcasting. To cast a spell, a creature has to gather the mana it needs for the spell and then will the mana to take the desire shape. This creates the magical effect called a spell and destroys the mana used to create it.

This also has the side-effect of imbalancing the mana in the spellcaster, thus increasing his magical affinity with the elements he is using. The unbalance can be so great that the creature might change completely its soul or shape. This is why weak spellcasters attempting strong spells and succeeding cannot expect to be unchanged.

Now you will all have guessed why the Thelash cannot cast spells. It is simply because the concentration of mana in us is too low, so low that a part of us continues to exist beyond the destruction of our physical enveloppe. Of course, this is only ine of many theories that tries to explain this. Another interesting theory says that our will is strong enough so that the little mana our souls have can be willed to remain at one place; this theory also has the advantage of explaining the existence of ghosts.

It should be noted that while we cannot manipulate magical flows directly, we have the ability to have others do it for us, by compelling their souls to our will. And the last way we have to manipulate magic is through Symbolic Magic which will be explained in the next lecture.

===========================================================
Thlash was getting impatient. The wind that had borne them so far seemed to have changed direction as if willing the airship to continue with its mission northwards instead of making a detour to the west. Still, Thlash's resolve held and he would not give up until he found out what that menacing presence was.
===========================================================
((An army of 7 leaves the citadel aboard an airship, the new one looks more like a 19th century Ironclad, with four masts and sails on the sides, as do all Thelash airships except the first two.
Image of an Ironclad http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/FNLave1854.jpg ))

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Shushaw Shesh              : NE Forest              : Thelash   : Flying Hamlet(32)
Shushaw Hath               : N of Sh. Shesh         : Thelash   : Citadel(24)