(no subject)

[axiomystic]

Musalodi (Salo) Player Information Player Name Jake Contact vikarmic | Vikarmic#8518 AKA Masego at Sidereal most recently, a long list of dubious wizard boys prior, and an even longer list of monsters. Character Basics Character Name Musalodi Series/Canon Scarlet Odyssey AU/PG/Canon Point Just before the end of Primeval Fire Cottage Moss House Canon Details Before the final battle Character Details Age Roughly 20 Hair/Eyes Dark/faceted rainbow Height/Weight Tall/Thin Notable Traits Always wears a pair of spectacles that are actually magitech artifacts. Eyes are obviously artificial, with faceted rainbow pupils, and don't work particularly well. Prominent tooth gap. Intricate fractal metal tattoos up both arms that sometimes glow or spark red. Probably wearing a shirt and loincloth if given the option. 15 Second Summary Salo grew up an outsider in his village, due to "unmanly" behavior such as a fascination with magic and machines, a distaste for violence and a habit of asking inconvenient questions. Born in a magically-powerful backwater, Salo soon discovers that the world and its magic are far vaster and more dangerous than he ever could have dreamed. After an escalating series of shenanigans including his own death and resurrection, he plays a central role in saving his world and correcting wrongs that have lingered since long before mankind settled his world -- and some that predate their presence in the very galaxy. Abilities & Permissions Abilities Salo is a powerful Red mystic, wielding the six crafts of Storm, Fire, Blood, Earth, Mirror and Void. He's got a vast library of spells to draw on and he's a fair hand, at this point, at working up his own. He can also instinctively perceive and analyze magical energy, even energies that aren't part of Red magic, though if he's not familiar with the paradigm he'll have a harder time. So far he's regained his Void craft (spacetime manipulation). Salo was resurrected as an atmech, or magitech android. While he's mostly close to human standard, he's extremely resilient, heals quickly and cleanly from even the most severe injuries and can instinctively perceive network signals and interface with electronics. He's likely to be able to hack computers and other machine with his brain, particularly if they're magitech, and probably even if they don't have a network interface. Permissions No insect-related stuff or bathroom stuff, please and thank you. Talk to me about cannibalism beforehand. Other than that, keep in touch, especially if things get violent; Salo strongly prefers not to hurt people but he's more than capable, if needed. Sensing Salo's senses extend into network signals and radio waves; he can probably overhear phone conversations and Internet traffic. He's got excellent magic perceptions so he can see/sense any of that that's going on too. Anyone with a sense for machines or magic can tell fairly easily that he's a soul attached to a construct body, although one that mimics human functionality in almost all respects. There's a crystal in his brain that's his actual seat of consciousness, and there are enchanted metals all through his body. His spectacles are finely enchanted (they actually bypass his eyes and project images directly into his optic nerves). The very skilled observer may pick up that his ruby pendant is also a potent artifact of some kind. Memory Registry Positive Significant • Seventh birthday with his mother • First time in orbit • Casting his first spell • Reuniting with Ilapara • Reuniting with Tuk • Regaining his Axiom Positive Trivial • Stealing a library of spellcraft • Niko dreams • Sparring with constructs • Messing around in Ziyo's mind construct • Settling in on the Ataraxis • Saving other atmechs from the Professor's experiments • Talking arcane theory with Nimana • Hanging out with Monti Neutral Significant • Waking up as an atmech in a ruined city • Facing the redhawk for the first time • The Book of Lies • Facing the lake: "I want to try anyway" • The final trial, rejecting the gods • Saving the king from underworld spirits • Leaving on his pilgrimage • Communing with the Lightning Bird • "But you don't have to be." (Confronting the Maidservant) • Agreeing to help the King Neutral Trivial • Days of frustration trying to master enchantment • Tour of the Academy • Giving Tuk his blessing • Fixing the mill, again • Meeting Ilapara • Nursing a wounded monitor lizard back to health • Meeting Tuk, buying out a slave auction • Meeting the Imperial siblings in a library Negative Significant • His mother's first cruelty • His mother's final cruelty • The attack on the kraal • Monti's funeral • The riots • His first death Negative Trivial • Brothers being assholes • Discovering what happened to the slaves he freed • Everyone disowning him • The Professor's "experiments" • Running from scavengers Skills • Atmech characteristics • Void basics • Mirror basics • Storm basics • Earth basics • Fire basics • Blood basics • Library access • Higher Red • Ziyo • Ancestral talent • Archery • Survival

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Dying for the first time

[axiomystic]

Salo wakes from restless dreams in a small cell. There's a collar around his neck, preventing him from accessing his shards, and he ruminates on memories that present as a deep spiritual unease in Tributary; he's missing the memory that would unlock them. A knock interrupts him, and he has a strong feeling that he knows who's on the other side of the door, so he washes up and changes before he opens it.

The man on the other side is old, with a tremendous spiritual presence that Salo can feel even with his shards muted, and wearing a magnificent red robe missing one sleeve. Salo thinks of him as "the Arc" and addresses him as "Your Worship". They exchange pleasantries, but Salo has been thinking about [memories he hasn't received back] and is more and more convinced that there's something off about the old man. He asks whether the Arc has figured out how to remove the collar yet, but the old man sees his growing fear and drops the pretense, asking what gave away that he was Salo's enemy.

Salo leaps from his bed and tries to run, but the Arc casts a spell that slams him against the wall and holds him there. He pleads that all he wants is to go back home, that he's not the old man's enemy, but the Arc doesn't relent; he explains that what Salo had previously seen as indifference, which had protected him from a spirit called Sorrow, was in fact resolve. The sins of the world around him -- injustice, tribalism, xenophobia, slavery, human sacrifice -- blind him with rage, and while he can't change the nature of the universe, he can refuse to accept those things and carve as large a slice of goodness into the world as he could. Salo, apparently, made a similar vow, which the Arc commends, but the old man claims that Salo hadn't understood that the first step was pursuit of power.

Salo realizes that the Arc wants to be Hegemon, but the Arc denies it; that's what Salo would become, if he allowed it, and he would have inflicted even more injustice on the world. Salo protests that the old Hegemons were misguided, and when the Arc is skeptical, claims that even if he knows better, he refused the role; he tells the old man to take the crown that marks a Hegemon from his desk drawer, and that knowing what he knows, he wants nothing to do with that power. The Arc realizes that Salo must have seen more than he did in the inner sanctum, and Salo tells him that the truth is more complicated than what he knows, but the old man replies that there's always a greater layer of mystery, and notes that even with Salo's greater insight, there are still things he clearly doesn't know.

The Arc tells Salo that he holds him in the highest regard; what he achieved with his Axiom was brilliant, and if possible he'd let him go, but as long as Salo lives, the crown will answer only to him. He reveals that Salo's entire mission was a setup, including the collar, something called the Bloody Requiem which fills Salo with horror and an impression of violence, and even Salo's selection for the mission that sent him here; he and Salo's Queen have long been in correspondence, and as soon as she learned of his Axiom, they conspired to put him on the path to this moment.

Betrayed by his home and his supposed ally, Salo begs to be allowed to leave, to go far enough away that he could never interfere with the Arc's plans, but the Arc does not relent, and stabs a dagger made of arcane lightning through Salo's heart.