<div></div><br> <br>A fair crowd has assembled. The chill time of December gets them to head inside and settle on the warm seating swiftly. The front of the chamber is occupied with the artifact. A great pedestal with many tiny and strange letters on one portion of it, but otherwise mostly featureless. Many machine priests are in attendance, waiting somberly. The priest of the mass is a female crane that regards the crowd more kindly.<br> <br>Kilsa step into the familiar looking room with a deep focus, "I hope this turns out a little better she mumbles to her self." Kilsa is dressed in her finest Priest robes, Her clan emblem is on one sholder while her house seal is on the other. She doesn't take a seat but stands to the back incase the crane needed her or needed a hammering.<br> <br>Arimia slips into the room with her golem following behind her. She does her best to remain inconspicuous and moves to stand at the rear of the room, leaning against the back wall with her golem beside her. She's absent any clan seal or other identifying markers. <br> <br>Selena rushes into the square, panting quietly as she gravitates towards the familiar Kilsa. "So, do you think we'll hear anything?" she murmurs across to the badger, idling next to her for a moment, waving across to Arimia before leanin back next to the Badger.<br> <br>Kiyasai has made her way into the crowd for scholastic studies, of course, though she's in her priest garb and her ornate armor, polished to a gleam. A stack of paper is brought with her as she tries to record down what she's watching for later study. As her current group forms, she moves over to complete the unit, ears folding flat as she smiles. "This is very interesting...so many priests in one place."<br> <br>"It's good to see so many here today," speaks the priest, her clever folk badge more visible as she rises and spreads her hands in greeting, "The process is a little different today, I'm sure you understand, as we will be consulting with the Creators directly, to see if they have new messages for us. We have been lax in our duties with this, but no more. It is our fault, as priests, to have put this duty aside, and we apologize." She bows her head, then gestures to the pedestal, "This is the device that allows us to see what the Creators wish for us to know."<br> <br>Kilsa growls, "Machine priest.." She grumbles under her breath but is secretly excited to see what the creators have planned. "I wounder what they have to say." Kilsa said in a farm more hopeful voice than her crossed arms and scowling face belied. Her gaze was boring holes into the crane as she spoke to the crowd.<br> <br>Arimia looks on with interest as the device is presented, but apparently not enough interest to leave the back wall. She does offer a small wave to Selena in return, but her attention is on the stage. Or more accurately the device on the stage, with little interest for those up there with it. <br> <br>Selena looks across at the odd machinery. "Well, at the very least the ceremony will be interesting." She comments, a little confused by Kilsa's response.<br> <br>Kiyasai is just staring now, a sketch already formed under the scribbles of her ambidextrous hands as she records the process word by word, this being different from what her formal priest training has taught her. "It is." She tells Selena without looking.<br> <br>The priest steps away from the pedestal and joins the others. Her fingers gently brush over the artifact and they begin to inspect it one last time. Apparently satisfied, they move around it, leaving just her standing before the buttons, which she presses one. A soft hum, and a picture appears with ancient dialect on it, hovering in the air. The priests begin to chant in the old tongue, singing the steps before they are done, even the waiting parts, which is what takes up the first portion.<br> <br>Kilsa nods but doesn't say a word as this ceremony is still sacred and as priest she should at least respect the Creators even if she has her doubts of thier followers. The Badger takes a few steps to get a closer but respectful distance away.<br> <br>Arimia watches, narrowing her eyes slightly as the button is pressed and the picture appears, almost as if she's trying to read it. Her tail flicks and she moves away from her wall, getting a bit closer for a better view, though still staying toward the back. As the chanting goes on she starts to subconsciously tap one of her feet in impatience. <br> <br>Selena sighs quietly. "And I can't understand what they're saying. That's probably my only regret." She chuckles under her breath, watching the odd proceedings intently nonetheless.<br> <br>Kiyasai waves angrily as a priest mumbles a syllable wrongly and pouts. "I could do better. It's really not that hard to understand...just five years of study. Creator tech."<br> <br>A floating line appears and they go silent a moment before they begin to chant letters in strong and powerful tones, each coinciding with a strike of a key, firm and decisive indeed. Tap Tap Tap Tap Tap. The line moves to the right with asterisks moving in behind it. One last exalted exclamation, and the image fades to a new one with many little glyphs floating there, leading the priests to sing their praise at reaching this step without incident.<br> <br>Kilsa eyes light up at the commotion. "ooh." She can feel her heart beating in excitemnt that they have come this far, her training helping her recongize some of what they are doing. "This might be it.." She whispers her hands clenching in sheer excitment.<br> <br>Arimia stops tapping her foot as something finally starts happening beyond just chanting. She shifts around, leaving her golem where it is, for a closer look at the image being displayed by the machine. Likely having to pick her way through the crowd a bit to get somewhere that she can actually see, with her short height. <br> <br>Selena smiles faintly, watching the odd old technology doing its work, wishing she could walk up and watch from a closer point, maybe taking a look at the machine... "What's happening, Kilsa..?" She asks quietly, with genuine curiousity.<br> <br>"They have to be careful at this part or they'll make the messenger spirit angry and we'll lose it forever. But so far so good...they're doing very efficiently." Kiya is bristling with excitement rightnow, tail swirling behind her. When the exalted prayers start though, she falls silent and still, mumbling words of praise along with the other priests, her amulet held in hand.<br> <br>The crane turns towards the crowd, "Before we may consult with the oracle, we must check for messages from the Creators. I will guide the machine spirit to this." She turns back, takes a soft breath, and with a look of concentration, she gestures meticulously, pointing at one of the glyphs twice rapidly as the other priests resume their song chant. A few keys are pressed, and the glyphs are gone, replaced with a new layout. A smaller box appears before the rest with a circling picture appearing, spinning around as the priests sing of cycles. Ding! The number 1 has not changed as the rest of the language did. A triumph for the people's reverence for math, perhaps. "A new message," she exclaims, joyful and terrified all at once.<br> <br>Selena's intent look turns to surprise, looking onward to the front in anticipation<br> <br>Kilsa shoulder slump with the thought that this might similar to the last time she was here, "And me without my hammer." She looked at everything and can't see anything that seem odd so she pushes down her negativity and moves a little closer but not so close as to get in anyones way being a seven foot badger.<br> <br>Arimia flicks her tail behind her, eyes remaining locked on the display from the machine. Her eyes flicker with a bit of surprise at seeing the one indicating a message. Her ears flick as she hears Kilsa's voice, moving over to join the badger, though it might impede her view a bit. "I'm almost afraid to ask why you'd need your hammer. But if it comes to it I'm sure my golem can serve as an acceptable substitute."<br> <br>Selena's intent look turns to surprise, looking onward to the front in anticipation of what may come, unsure of what to expect from here on out, stifling a giggle at Arimia's offer.<br> <br>Kiyasai walks forward now, hammer strapped behind her as she places a hand on Kilsa's shoulder. "Don't arm yourself, my Lady. It isn't polite to do so at all. Not yet at least..." She mewls with some concern for the message.<br> <br>Reverant chant and dutiful manipulation draws up the message, hovering there in the ancient text, unchanged despite the many years. The priest frowns at it a moment, perplexed a little at it if her expression reads true. Her lips move quietly as she goes over it, translating it? "The message of the Creators is far less ominous than the last, but no less intriguing."<br> <br>Kilsa sighs and await for the crane to give her own eulogy. "I've been waiting on some news but I feel this might not be the news that I am hoping for. Probably another have a good decade message." She grumbled but inwardly her anger was boiling but she felt that she needed this to atleast be something positive.<br> <br>Arimia lets out a soft huff of a laugh and gives a small nod of her head. "It could be, yeah. Though by what the crane up there said, I dunno. I imagine it says somethin' a bit more than that." Her ears flatten briefly before she adds, "Though, she didn't say it was joyous news, just that it was less ominous. So don't get your hopes up." She cranes her head, eyes narrowed slightly as she tries to read the words, "I know little about the creators an' their things. Just what I need to for makin' my golems. Not sure I could read whats up there."<br> <br>Selena leans forward a little, mumbling something to herself along the lines of 'then get on with it'. Her impatience manifesting in the form of tapping a foot against the ground.<br> <br>"This is a dark time for Promise. The Creators would not do this to us unless they had good reason to, and perhaps they may actually give us a hint why. Faith is the greatest force." Kiyasai's hands are trembling, claws digging into her pads.<br> <br>The priest turns to the crowd, "I have decided that this message does not require further translation, though it is curious and strange," she speaks, returning to her podium, "The Creators were very loving of many orginizations, just as we have guilds and nations, so do they have companies and nations and even world wide and planet spanning groupings of Creators. It seems that those Creators who are most intimiate with us, those who have created us directly, our patron saints, have forsaken their claim to Promise." A pause there, to let people get excited or respond, as respond they must at such news.<br> <br>Kilsa looks at the crane, "What does this mean for us, Sister and Do they give the reasons for Forsaking us?" Kilsa shouts over the crowd no longer concerned with petty grievence. "Are we facing the wrath of the creators or just outright abandonment?"<br> <br>Arimia gives a slight scowl, tail lashing behind her and mutters, "How annoyingly vague." After the large badger finishes her questions she calls out with a few of her own, hoping her voice carries as well as Kilsa's did. "Forsakin' it in favor of what? Are they forsakin' their claim to give it to another group of Creators? Are they forsakin' their claim on Promise, but not the people? Are they givin' Promise to us? Or are they washin' their hands of us?"<br> <br>Selena scoffs. "Well. That's wonderful news." She grumbles dejectedly. "Guess we should ask why." she sighs, and looks over at Kilsa. "Thanks for asking what I was thinking, Lady Ironsoul"<br> <br>"You're lying." Kiyasai says coldly, though there is no conviction behind her voice as her eyes flit nervously to the message, though she can't read it despite her training. "Read the message out to us." She demands, hackles raised as she trembles on the spot.<br> <br>The crane shakes her head, "This is why the message is strange, since we were promised the planet to begin with. I do not know the extent to which they had claim of the planet to start," she confesses, "The laws of our Creators are vast and dense, far beyond my knowing. The message itself does not even come from them, our saints, but from another Creator who is near by, relatively. They sound as surprised as we. One thing is certain. The ones who send this message intend to visit." At being called a liar, the crane shakes her head at Kiyasai, "I am sorry to upset you, my sister. I will transcribe the words exactly. If I have made error, others may correct me, but I am quite certain."<br> <br>Kilsa shakes her head, "When will this Creator be arriving? Do we even know if they are friendly? This sounds more upsetting by the moment sister." She shouts at the crane for once pitying the bird while wondering why in the Creators name did she have to be a priest in the year of both Kindcraft and the Creators forsaking. "Do you have any more information you can give us, Sister?"<br> <br>Selena sighs quietly, and shakes her head slowly. "Well, if a 'creator' wants to visit, we'd best keep everything in order." She offers to Kilsa, not intending to raise her voice. "And plan for the worst." She sighs.<br> <br>Arimia frowns, her tail still lashing and her brow furrowed. "They plan to visit? In what way? Do they even know about us, or are they just plannin' to visit Promise itself?" She raises a hand to rub at her muzzle, giving a small shake of her head. "This is all rasin' more questions than it's answerin'," She mutters softly before adding quietly to Selena, "Plan for the worst? So... Write a will? 'Cause if the creator comes with hostile intent... I dunno that we could do much about it."<br> <br>Kiyasai lets her hammer drop to the ground after loosening the sling. It looks like she needs it too, half ready to just smash the machine on the spot in anger. "We must have faith." She repeats softly, convincing herself and she shakes her head at the crane. "Its alright."<br> <br>The priest taps the message, making it wobble and shake for her finger's transgression against it, "Those that speak, write of exploration and curiosity. I believe they come to see and little else. I will consult with the others, of all the nations. We must decide on a reply. If the Creators come, they must be welcomed properly. This is a very exciting opportunity. No being has laid eyes on a living Creator in almost a millenium," she says, almost giddy, perhaps a shy off of hysterical, and why shouldn't she be. How many faiths get to meet their gods in the flesh?<br> <br>Kilsa shakes her head, "My sister listen to reason, We just got Forsaken by our own Creators and suddenly a strange Creator wants to visit? Are you mad or just blind, The reply should be more questions." Kilsa suddenly feels the urge to strange the stupid bird. "Does this not strike you as amiss?" She is yelling at this point God or no this wasn't going to turn out good for Promise.<br> <br>Arimia reaches out to lightly smack Kilsa on the side. "Kilsa! Calm down. Yeah, this can turn out horrible. But it ain't like she's the one what sent the message. Yellin' at her won't accomplish anythin'. An' 'sides. If they give whatever they think is a proper welcome to the Creator, it could predispose them in our favor." She lowers her voice before adding, "Or put them off guard long enough for a first strike."<br> <br>Selena shakes her head, fuming to herself. "...Didn't even read the whole message." looking back to Arimia she offers, "No. If they're hostile, then we have to be ready to defend ourselves. We're going to have a lot of work to do..." Turning back, she calls to the front. "I feel Lady Ironsoul has a point. Questioning their motive may be the best action here, if what you've read is true."<br> <br>"We can't escape our fates if they are meant to be, sister. If the Creator is benevolent, then we have a new faith. If they are out to crush us, then we can only hope that they have mercy." Kiya offers a quiet prayer before continuing, nudging Selena sharply and mumbling "Faith." To her.<br> <br>The priest glances towards Arimia, then Kilsa, "Lady Ironsoul. Be they our saints or not, they are Creators, and we will welcome them. It is our duty to do just that. The planet is ours, as our saints spoke to us before we left the ancestral world, and we will not be first met as savages, snarling at our first visitors. We were taught to be better than that," she says, holding up a finger, "Let us present our guests with a welcoming hand, and show that we have risen to a proud and well behaved people, not a paranoid and warlike one. Besides," she gestures at Kiya, "If they intend to do us harm, what defense could we truly muster. These are the Creators, with the power to make and unmake life, to defy all natural order at their whim, whose power propelled us across the stars and whose artifacts we still barely understand after so many years. I cannot suggest anything else but to welcome them broadly, and perhaps, we may learn."<br> <br>Arimia lets out a soft sigh and shakes her head. "I ain't sayin' we shouldn't prepare for that. I'm sayin' let them," she points toward the stage and the priests, "prepare their way, while we prepare ours. Yeah?" She looks at Kiyasai then and says, "An' don't try tellin' me to have faith. I lost mine the first time I nearly starved to death." She turns to the stage then and calls out, "An' what if they don't regard us peacefully? What if they come here, an' find what the other Creators did, an' condemn us all as abominations? You may be willin' to roll over an' show belly at that point, but I ain't! I'm goin' to hope for the best, an' prepare for the worst. An' if they come here to try an' end us... I may not put up much of a fight, but at least I'll put up one."<br> <br>Selena sighs quietly and looks down to Kiyasai. "I have faith, Kiyasai. But if that faith means anything, then I want to be ready to at least try and preserve what little we can. Or, what little I can." She sighs quietly. "Kiyasai, if you'd brand me a heretic for my opinion, then so be it. But I won't walk into this without preparation for what could come." She looks across to Arimia, and takes a short, respectful bow. "I'm glad I'm not the only person that's willing to fight if we must. I just hope it doesn't come to that."<br> <br>"I wouldn't. I'm standing with you three right to the end when it comes. If it comes. But everyone could use a little hope for the future too rather than growl and bark at anything that might be a distant threat." The leopardess lets her drawings scatter as she drops them and shakes her head.<br> <br>The crane frowns at the direction of the discussion, "Why presume the worst? We have armies, mathemagicians, and an entire world. They are a few lonely travelers who approach our country. Must we sharpen our swords and muster our forces before we even speak our first word? Is this how we have been raised?"<br> <br>Arimia lets out a soft laugh and replies rather simply, "Me? Yeah. It is. 'Sides. You said yourself. They are the creators. Able to unmake life at a whim. We would be fools to not prepare. I ain't sayin' we use it right at meetin'. An' I ain't sayin' we let them know. I'm just sayin' we prepare for the worst."<br> <br>Selena shakes her head. "So the highly-touted creators are 'lonely travelers'? I think you missed the point of what I said. Preparation isn't having a sword drawn, it's carrying one at your belt." She states calmly, but loud enough for all to hear.<br> <br>Kilsa chuckles darkly. "I would rather me an unknown in full armor than a skirt." she shook her head, "If you told me we weren't forsaken I might be a littld inclined to believe this was a friendly visit." she had a feral grin to match her watering eyes. "forsaken... just like that..." <br> <br>Kiyasai pokes Arimia and frowns, conveying her full message in that silent fashion.<br> <br>The priest wobbles a hand, "No mention is made of us. What our saints think of us, we do not know. We may yet wish to query of them as well. The time for passivity has long since past. Matters of war are not matters of church. I am afraid your continued insistence on it is just driving the point that you are not engaging in the topic of greeting our Creators. I will not be party to it, but I am sure the Good King, and others, will wish to discuss battle tactics," A soft wave, "Our job will be diplomacy and decorum, as well the pursuit of answers, for we have so many questions in need of them."<br> <br>Arimia gives a small nod of her head and says, "An' I ain't sayin' you shouldn't prepare in your way. Prepare your peaceful delegation for meetin' them. Just don't be surprised when the rest of us show up with weapons at hand, if not in hand. We'll only use them if we have to. But if it comes to that we will use them."<br> <br>Kilsa shakes her head and looks to Ari<br> <br>Selena shakes her head, and turns to Kilsa. "...I'm sorry, Kilsa..." She murmurs quietly, giving the badger a friendly hug. "Please, please don't let it get to you too much. Even if the creators 'forsake' us, There are people counting on you to keep everyone together." She offers quietly, turning back to Arimia. "I have my doubts that she's going to have any of that." She sighs. "Or she'd have listened by now." She shakes her head.<br> <br>Kilsa looked to arimia, "I have a plan. Tomorrow night I will need all of the group together." she looked at the crane, "Sister... do you feel like this will be goodfor promise?" <br> <br>The cane looks quizzically at Kilsa, "Which portion? A war with our Creators? Surely not. Peaceful contact, perhaps. I have so many questions for them, though I will likely not be chosen to be their contact. I am a machine priest, after all. There are far better qualified." A priest steps up beside her, speaking quietly, "Ah, too true. We must allow the oracle its rest, lest we anger it. Allow me to perform the ritual of sleep."<br> <br>"Orders received." It looks like Kiyasai is trying to emotionally distance herself as far away as possible from what's going on and picks up her hammer, though the rattling of her armor belies the current anger and fear swirling inside her.<br> <br>Selena pulls up the earth from the grave with magic and vigorously performs mouth-to-mouth on her.<br> <br>Arimia flicks her ears and gives a nod to Kilsa. She turns to Selena and Kiyasai, saying, "You heard Miss Ironsoul," before turning and walking back to her golem. She raps the metal construct on a leg with her knuckles, making her way for the door, apparently not planning to stick around for the ritual of sleep. <br> <br>Kilsa nod, "Forgive my outburst, Sister. I was... lead astray. I would seek council with a more experinced priest than myself." Kilsa has tears streaming down her eyes as she speaks calm as death. " I will prepare myself to look nice for the Creator who forsaked use and new creator who will meet us..." She slowly walked away as she quietly cried at the though of whole faith being for nothing but rejection.<br> <br>Selena quietly paces out of the square, heading for the inn. She simply has nothing more to say.<br> <br>The priest shakes her head once more as she moves to the pedestal, "We know too little. For all that is known, their 'forsaking' could simply be the official act of releasing the planet to our care, as they promised. This may be reason for great celebration," she says, "But we don't know. I will not weep at the unknown. I will act on what I do now." Her words start to be lost in the chanting of her peers, reciting the steps of putting the oracle to sleep again, its image fading to darkness.