Cathal scratched a nonexistent beard and watched Cordelia as the dinner turned into a question and answer session.  "At least we won't be the first, then," he conceded, though 20 was more family members than he was aware of, he realized.

"Aye," he continued to Cormac, "Don't take any of it for fact, but it might help.  We can talk after dinner," he offers.


"You've done it again," he told their host.  "You are mentioning people and places that I just do not recognize.  Can you start by telling me who is this Rodian fellow and why he has a war named after him?  I thought Raif was the bad guy, and there was no Uncle Rodian mentioned in the family earlier...?"

"No. The two are completely unrelated. Walking the Pattern is both a test of physical endurance and sheer detemination.
Blocking radiated trump energy is as you say like learning to filter noise from signal, the complicated bit comes later, which is learning to tap the radiant energy in a signal through a background of noise."

"I didn't mention Rodian in the context of the family because he's nothing to do with either the family or the Courts for that matter.
Rodian is an entity akin to the Serpent, Unicorn, or Phoenix, the latter probably being more familiar to Natalie in the guise of the Thunderbird.

Raif some how discovered that Rodian existed and how and where Rodian had been imprisoned.
He then, broke the seal on his prison which allowed certain events to unfold, before eventually gathering enough of the relevant elements together to break to lock which kept Rodian contained.
The problem was that Raif didn't truly understand either who or what Rodian is and in his usual arrogant manner thought he'd be able to control Rodian and then double cross him. He was very, very wrong."

Desert, which tonight is Eton Mess (mixed fruit, Strawberries, Raspberries, and Black Currents), will likely be served at about this point.

Once people have finished, Cordelia will suggest adjourning to the roof where Coffee will be served. Normally it would be served in the drawing room, but serving it on the roof will provide more respite for the 'Trump' users.
Tea (Ginseng, Cinnamon, Green, or Black) is available for those that prefer.

Cathal sipped at his cinnamon tea while thoroughly enjoying spoonful's of the desert.  "This is fantastic," he told the Cordelia as he took a seat.

"So I, also, don't understand the 'who' or 'what' Rodian is," he continued their conversation from earlier.  "As best I can tell the Unicorn and the Serpent were the physical manifestations of the Pattern and the Logrus, of order and chaos.  Or maybe the reverse of that and the Unicorn and Serpent came first.  I am not sure...and that is a simplification of things, I know.  But what about this Phoenix and Rodian?  Are they the manifestations of the new pattern and logrus you mentioned?  Or something else?"

Natalie chewed her lip at Cordelia's words. "My people know of your Serpent as well. Collectively we call all these beings 'The Great Beasts'. They are old and terrible, even the ones not inimical to lesser beings such as we. They predate the worlds as we know them."

"The Serpent, Kraken, and Phoenix, all predate both the creation of Shadow and UnderShadow, which in turn significantly predate both the creation of The Pattern, The Logrus, and even the Unicorn's appearance.
The Serpent's dominion is Shadow, the Phoenix's Under-Shadow, and the Kraken the Abyss, which exists outside shadow, although it intrudes into shadow in two places, and in both places appears to be held in check by a Logrus, but that may just be a semantic interpretation rather than an actuality.
The Unicorn appears sometime after the creation of Shadow and Under-Shadow, and it is the Unicorn which teaches a Chaos Lord by the name of Dworkin how to inscribe the original Amber Pattern.
It is also the Unicorn by it's actions which causes Rodian to come into being. All the hows and whys of this are way beyond my comprehension, but that is how things were recorded in the Book of Selheim.
Rodian's whole reason for being is revenge against those that brought him into existence, which is the whole of Dworkin's lineage, and a sizeable portion of those that make up the Courts of Chaos. Rodian has now tried twice and failed twice to obliterate both lineages. He will try twice more, and only on the last attempt can he finally be defeated.
For the time being he is once more locked back in the prison which simultaneously exists both in, out, and without of Shadow. Since the majority of Selheim's book has now been destroyed, if Rodian is ever released again, which the book says he must be, then how anyone will know what must be done to defeat him I have no idea.
Last time the four of them only just had enough power to force Rodian and his minions back into their prison.
Assuming Rodian continues to gain power over time, then there must be some other agency that is needed to imprison him for the 3rd and final time, before he can finally be defeated, but the book never indicated either what that agency might be, nor how Rodian would finally be defeated. One of the general problems with prophetic writings.
"

Rhiannon shook her head. Everything she had heard until this point suddenly became noise.

"Lovely." She had to speak up. "Despite all the talk of fixing Shadow, that's not our only purpose, is it? We're all meant to help defeat this Rodian creature. It's not that I'm second guessing your intentions, it's that I cannot fathom having these wondrous new abilities and not be involved. There is literally nowhere to hide from such a monster. All of existence is threatened."

"No Rhiannon, that's not why we brought you all here.
As I said Rodian and him hordes of minions are safely locked up in their prison. After what we went through to put him back there I would be considered an imbecile if I even contemplated thinking about breaking him out again, and I certainly don't have anywhere near the power necessary to do so currently.
I'm sure if I ever even considered such an action my father would be the first person to come looking to aggressively dissuade me of the taking such an action, probably closely followed by Natalya, and Madison, although thinking about it Madison would likely just try and kill me first if such a thought ever entered my head.
As I said at this morning's meeting, your current role is simply to learn what's necessary with a simple view of taking some of the load off so that we can find out exactly why shadow is broken and maybe, just maybe find a way of fixing it. And until we find a way of getting to Amber we can't even start to answer the first question."

"I'm sorry, Cordelia. I must not have have been clear. I am not accusing you of secretly recruiting us to go to war with the Rodian right now. I'm saying that as members of this family, the day will come when we all will conscripted by the circumstances. Unless we're dead, how can we not be involved in the next conflict? Whether or not it was ever your intention, that is where we are all headed."

Natalie shook her head, sighing. "Seems to me that it will require years... if not decades... for us to be of much use other than as bait. We're decoys, distractions that might lure the ancient horrors away from those who stand some chance of success. They can find us the same way you did, yes? Our DNA, our blood, whatever. Anyone who wants to see or have a hand in the end of all things probably can as well. Am I right? Well, fuck it. Everything and everyone I love has almost no chance if I don't step up. So I'm stepping up. Can't make a difference if I'm not willing to accept the risk. I'm in."

Winter nodded as Natalie spoke. "This creature wants me dead because of who my father was, and wants my world destroyed because it exists. It's my sworn duty to defend my China from all threats, external or domestic, so I'm in too. Besides, I can also think of a few ways my own world might profit from all of this, aside from not being randomly annihilated of course." She smiled.

"Though I hope nobody objects if, when Rodian breaks out next time, I take any chance I get to kill it dead. I don't believe in fixed fates."

"I hope that dealing with Rodian is something than none of you ever have to face in your life time.
The book of Selheim was old, very old, and Dworkin had hidden it for hundreds if not thousands of years, and that is years in Amber, not years as accounted for elsewhere in Shadow.
As far as I have been able to gather from those of the family still alive, none were aware of Rodian's existence, let alone anything else.
If I hadn't gone looking for the tower cell in which Dworkin imprisoned himself in later years during one of his phases, then I wouldn't have discovered the place where he had hidden the book, although by that point he had taken it into Shadow with him, and divided it into two, leaving one part with Agnetha whilst he kept the other.
How Raif discovered Rodian's existence, the location of the prison, and the mechanism by which the locks could be broken are questions that we will never know the answers too.
Those details along with a number of others, for those of us who were part of that final resolution, are details that we will hopefully all take to our grave with us.
But that is all in either the past or hopefully the very distant future.
The present reality, the consequences of the war are likely to be something that does occupy you through your lifetime.
We as a family can't force you to do anything. All we offer is access to your true heritage and the resources to learn to use it.
In return all we ask for is loyalty and fair service, much as your would expect for working for any 'Family' business, although the Family business operates or used to operate on a scale way beyond anything you're used to, and I include Edward in that statement."

"So that does actually raise a question. Why you? Were you tasked with rounding us lot up, or did you take it upon yourself? Who else knows about this gathering of long lost relatives? And while we're on that subject, why don't you tell us who else is in this family? Starting with who is actually alive."

"Please"

"The job sort of fell to me as the best placed person to do it, in the manner that a lot of the unconventional jobs seem to land in my lap.
As to which family members are still alive, that's a question I can't completely answer as I don't know. I can only tell you of the one's I know about.
I'll start with the Council as it were.
At the top we have Siobhan, Thorsten's wife and Queen of Amber, then my father, Tiberius, and Agnetha. Then myself, Madison, who's Agnetha's daughter, Isla, who's Balthazzar's daughter, and lastly Angel, who's Natalya's and Thorsten's daughter.
Then we have, in no particular order, Natalya, Gabriel, who's Logan's son, Scott, who's Liena's son, Wyatt, and lastly my daughter Charlotte.
Of the rest the only other two who I knew were alive the last time I was in Amber were Xavier and Svetlana."
This message was last edited by the player at 21:24, Sun 28 Aug 2022.

Though the temptation to say snarky comments throughout the animated discussion, Cassandra opted to stay quiet and observe for now...

The question about family however wasn't overly important to her, the other information just confirmed to her that she was now in a high fantasy novel. So while Cassandra was utterly mind-boggled at the new revelations the last day or so had thrown at her, she was more than happy to stay as the one relative that only showed up for family events.

Cormac sipped his tea and listened as the others spoke. He was by nature introspective and was trying to learn all he could before setting out in these very unfamiliar waters. Not just the information about the elder members of this new family but also the 'babes in the woods' as it were. All these new cousins also had their own stories and motivations he would need to take into account as well.

The more he heard about the family as a whole the more he was intrigued. Apparently they were very, very powerful and, if not immortal certainly long lived in the extreme. While he had always considered himself somewhat superior to most people just due to the fact that he seemed smarter, faster and stronger than them he had always assumed it was just a happy accident in genetics. Now he wasn't so sure. It seemed that some parts of the family favored plots and intrigue. Interacting with Cordelia only cemented the notion that it was a family trait. Who wouldn't think highly of themselves when they had such blessings? And if you had the powers that the older family members had then maybe it was right to be so. Maybe their births, at least in some cases, had been part of a greater plan?

"Well, here is hoping that this Rodian wont be a problem for us to manage. I think we will have our hands full trying to help clean up the mess as you say."

He nodded towards Cordelia as he spoke before continuing.

"Though I do have a more general question. The family seems to be possessed of a large array of powers and skills. Will we as a younger generation have more limited potential than our parents? Or do we have the potential learn and grow for centuries as you indicate some have?"

She did say after all that they were of Dworkin's line and he had been active for centuries now. Now Cormac was wondering if he too had the potential to live as long and learn as much.

Natalie leaned close and muttered to Winter. "Thank the spirits my grandmother insisted I develop my memory so she could pass along the tribal stories as she had to my mother. This tale gets more convoluted with each passing hour, migraine or no. I feel sorry for Cordelia, forced to babysit us like the eldest child at a massive family reunion. Can't imagine this is any easier for her."

"As far as I'm aware, baring unforeseen accidents, assassination, or encountering an eminently hostile entity, there is no reason why you shouldn't live for a few thousand years. In the same vein I'm given to understand that there is no reason why any of you should over time not be able to develop and acquire the same level of power as your parents. It's generally a  matter of inclination, motivation, and application."

"I am absolutely going to have to create a family tree to keep all of this sorted...," Cathal said, mostly to himself.  The young man's head turned abruptly at the mention of another son of Logan, but he kept whatever questions he had to himself for now.

Despite a bit more information and context from Cordelia, Cathal still felt like he barely understood anything.  But none of that really mattered, because he knew that this was the only path he had available to try and find any trace of his mother.  He was onboard before he'd ever arrived and in a day and a half, he would find out more or die trying.

Cathal sat his cup on top of the desert plate and placed both, now empty, on a nearby tray.  "I appreciate dinner, thank you.  And desert.  If there is nothing important tonight, I may retire to my room soon."  Unfortunately, Cathal knew he had the unexciting task of staring at his room and trying to memorize it ahead of him.

With a lull in conversation as Cathal takes his leave, Alana will ask a question
"I have a question if you don't mind, Kasamir has said that as both he and Choki are unique, if Natsuki and I think of Kasamir or Choki from the centre of the Pattern then it will transport us to them, and therefore we don't need to memorize our room. Is that correct?"
This message was last edited by the player at 19:11, Tue 06 Dec 2022.

"I think it would certainly be true in Kasamir's case, and in all probability Choki's case as well, but that's not a definative answer, and if you're going to use that method, make sure they're, and in particular Kasamir's case, perched on a roof or ledge.

If there are no further questions then I'll bid you all a good night and see you in the morning at breakfast."

After Dinner, Rhiannon bids everyone a good night and makes her way back to her room. She goes into the mall and orders the Zelazney books. They may not be 100% accurate, but they were a starting point. The rest of the night, she placed some of her own paintings to make the room more unique and memorable. The statues she ordered would take more time, but the paintings would help serve the same purpose until they arrived. Once she was done with her decorating, she set about memorizing her room while also practicing her blocks. It was all so exhausting, and she happily drugged herself with painkillers and went to bed.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:35, Fri 02 Sept 2022.

The Zelazny omnibus edition (Patternfall+Merlin Saga) will have to come from an Earth bookstore so will take about 3 days (local) to arrive.
Also the one statue you could get in 'reasonable' time doesn't arrive until late afternoon on the 5th. If you ordered one of the Tibettan bells then that would arrive after lunch on the 5th (as per the Zou Yan and your assistants thread).

In reply to GameMaster (msg # 128):



 I adjusted the post