Of all the Guilds that have tried to create a human-analogous mind, the only ones that have ever truly co close to succeeding were Ori-Thaum and The Sang. We're discounting Voidwatch right now because, though they are a guild in na, they functionally do not participate in the greatest mutual gathering of our age, which is the Guild Wars. I am being very glib right now.
The No-Dragons are an interesting case. Though they do not investigate the Necrotheurgic constructs to create simulated minds from thought and mory, they are no less masters of cognitive biology. For no one else—once again aside from Voidwatch—has delved into the physical makeup of a brain as much as The Sang have, created creatures ant to exemplify various levels of intelligence, or tweaked the intellectual capacity for certain bioforms to such a degree. It is their unique bloodline, their tethering to ti, that allows them to exploit biology by all accounts further than their contemporaries.
The most interesting achievent manifested by The No-Dragons is the Exomaths—literal organisms constructed to be cognitive boosters, augnters of such a supercapacity that it allows them to contend with their rivals who have superior material sciences. Ultimately, there is nothing truly spectacular or unique about human intelligence. It is seemingly a developnt ant to our benefit, and then evolved beyond its original capacity. If you observe so adjustnts made to an octopus's mind, then it too can showcase inklings of sapience. The sa holds true for spiders or dogs.
Right now, The No-Dragons are mostly modeling and grafting human minds onto animal ones, creating a sort of rged intellect. It is a sort of “organic scaling” on display for intelligence. The outcos sotis are not savory, but the theories are proven. And more than that, if one has a sense of self and can conceptualize, could dream, could believe that sothing else is possible, then they can accept a fra. And imagine what kind of god an animal might worship. What kind of god a predator might worship. I shudder to think of what kind of god a cat might worship—for we all know, despite how adorable those little things are, within its eyes and behind its flesh lies the makeup of every tiger and every panther that once stalked its golden vest and made prey of so many Scaarthians.
-Highfla Intelligence Report on Human-Intelligence Analogous Assets
34-8
Still Bleeds the Wound
“And so here we are, shadows of us after all these years.” Zein sighed as she settled into her seat. Jaus remained standing. The sight of her sinking down was unsettling. She was never one to succumb or surrender before another, not even him, but for her to do this—it was more than an indication of flagging will. It was a symbol of surrender.
Zein Thousandhand was surrendering.
Dead gods.
“I…” Zein took a deep breath. “There are many things I would like to say. Many things I should say. Perhaps an apology is due. Many apologies. Perhaps I should have told you things I’ve seen in our daughter, or… …that you should have been more cruel with certain people and more decisive with others, and perhaps… perhaps I shouldn’t have been so willing to kill so others, and…”
And now she was rambling. Jaus’s heart rate increased. Zein never rambled like this.
Jaus swallowed.
“But I think none of that matters by this point.” Zein clasped her hands together. “We are here. The wound is struck. The wound is still bleeding. And for all the ti we’ve spent fighting, struggling, we never really addressed it, have we? We’ve never truly fixed things.”
Jaus looked aside. Even now, this surrender was partial. Zein didn’t want to admit her failure. It was ego that assailed her. Ego that drove her away from admission—because, ultimately, it wasn’t him she feared disappointing the most, but herself. The weapon was the symbol of her narcissism. But what she experienced right now was worse. Her glaive could not save her. Could not deliver her from the burning dream. Could not spare their daughter from that misbegotten path. Could not save him from the latter. The glaive was worthless.
A thought suddenly occurred to Jaus. He needed Zein and the Regular, Jelene Draus, to spend ti together. They shared a problem, and Zein might just resemble who Draus could beco with the passing of ti. There weren’t exact templates to each other. But—
“Jaus,” Zein said, narrowing her eyes. “Did you, did you just realize sothing? You had that look.”
Jaus opened his mouth. “I—yes, I—yes.” He didn’t bother lying to her. It wasn’t easy lying to Zein Thousandhand. Also, it wasn’t that worthwhile anymore. What was the point of lying now? Where did it get him? Where did it get any of them. “I think I might be able to fix one of your problems. Not only yours… But yes, I think we need to talk.” He fell uncharacteristically silent. Irrevocably and completely silent.
“I don’t know what to say,” Jaus finally managed. “There are so many things I wish to talk about, and yet I don’t have a grasp on any of the words. The words don’t co to .” He laughed. “I don’t know what to say. I fear that we are more alike right now than ever before.”
The Godslayer eyed her lover and, after a few beats, laid her gaze upon the table in another sign of capitulation. “What a horrible scene. My great beloved… wordless. I never wished to see such a day.”
“Well, we are both technically dead.” Jaus shrugged. “Such a shock as—”
“Please don’t rationalize this. It is humiliating enough that we are here, under the creature’s thumb.” Zein seethed weakly.
The creature. She was speaking of Avo. Of the Burning Drear. Jaus nodded. “Of course that is what bothers you.”
“Yes, of course that is what bothers ,” Zein snapped. “I was supposed to be able to— we were supposed to be able to turn the world around. My blade, your genius, our daughter—the culmination of all our efforts, all our gifts—and now, now look at us. We are, we are just rely mortal.
“Yes, rely mortal. rely, especially.” She sighed deeply. “I have no issue with being mortal, but rely… it is not enough.” Her hand gripped, clawing at sothing, and Jaus realized she was looking for a glaive—a glaive that was missing. The very that she used to define herself—more than her flesh or mind. “It is not enough, being a re instrunt of causality. Perhaps I was deluded, but I always yearn to be more, so much more.
“I suppose everyone does in their own way,” Jaus said. “We perceive the world through our minds.”
If Zein’s glare was a blade, Jaus would have been hewn down to the atoms. “Do not speak this way. You’ve done this speech many, many tis. I did not co here to retread old ground. I ca here to… to…” She stared on blankly, uncertain. “I don’t know what I ca here to do. I don’t have an answer. I don’t have soone to kill. I don’t have so target to defeat. I am weaponless and directionless. And you… you’ve retreated. You’re not here, talking to the delegates. You hide away in the lounge, alone. I would expect you to be leading Naeko, not the other way around.”
“I think that is our greatest mistake,” Jaus said. “That we proved to be the fulcrum of this world—the load-bearers, all the connections to the Guilds, this current architecture of the world we created. It fell over without , without my guidance, without your hidden touch. Our daughter, we didn’t desire the sa things. We brought her in, but all the ti, all the while, we exposed her, we misshaped her, we designed her—for our world, and we never really even understood what world it is she perceived, what she wanted to fight for. Or truly believed in.
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“I fear, I fear a failure was written into us before we even began. A failure of our egos, a failure of understanding and sympathy, because we could only ever be ourselves. Even with all the advancents in necrothergy, all the progressive scientific achievents that the Voiders granted us, we were blind. Blind to how soone else is. And so I turn away, and so I cede this ground to Neko, to the others, because I think it needs to be spread out. This dream, this thing I wanted to see complete—it couldn’t just be my dream. It couldn’t be but a thing of blind faith for the world to follow. Everyone must join, participate, and… and…”
Just then, silence fell, and neither the Godslayer nor the Savior spoke. Their eyes t, and with the faintest expressions and the most montary of glimpses, they exchanged more than words ever could.
“Perhaps it is for the best that the Plague takes hold now,” Zein murmured. “As I had finally said, he bested for a reason. He consus all. He is quite the nightmarish entity—not exactly what I imagined my ideal disciple to be.”
“Your ideal disciple is Naeko,” Jaus corrected. “He remains our son. Our son in all but blood—in more than blood.”
“Correct,” Zein said. “But still, for such a creature to assu and inherit our mantle…”
“He doesn’t inherit anything,” Jaus continued. “He is taken inspiration from, perhaps. He has learned from and drawn from our wisdom, but what he does now is untethered from anything I could have imagined.”
“And that might be how things should be,” he whispered. “For ideas to evolve, for dreams to evolve, for dreams to be broken. You were more so bothered by the fact that you were not swinging the blade anymore. “At least, not this continuation of yours,” Jaus said. He leaned back, and slowly— all too slowly—a grin crept over his features, as Zein narrowed her gaze.
“What? Why are you smiling at like that?” she asked.
“Nothing, I just… It is amusing to see you flustered.”
“Not flustered, I am frustrated.”
“Ah, yes, let’s use that word.”
“You know I can still hurt you very, very badly without a weapon.”
“Yes, but not as much as I can make you uncomfortable with my words.”
“I will go for your tongue first, my love.”
“But you so often say that’s your favorite part of . Why would you deprive yourself of such joy.”
Her face twitched. She wore her crone-like guise now, but even still, a flicker of the puckish girl she was remained. Zein was never one to wallow. She was like napalm, a kindred to warmth. Strike her right, and she will burn bright, and burn happily.
And I will say nothing and do nothing, because I think we’re a little bit beyond idle threats now.”
Jaus settled into his chair, trying to get comfortable. “I think… I think we should be here when the children call upon us, when they need to learn or advise . But beyond that, I think it is ti for us to be people for a while. Just people. Just face each other, face our problems, and see if we can find contentnt in the ordinary.”
As I laughed, it was at once a mirth-filled laugh tied to the absurd and the impressed. “Ordinary. Do you genuinely believe we could ever constitute the ordinary? We’re not. We are properly wed. We have, or had, a child that might be restored. And now we are simply facing troubles. Not exactly the typical marital troubles, but troubles that originated with us, that the world has to contend with.”
“I think… I think I am tired,” Jaus said nothing more.
After a mont, his lover agreed. “I think I am tired too, Jaus. I think perhaps you are right. Perhaps it’s ti we have a talk with our child. To let him know that we will be there for them, but that we will impede them no more. We have… we failed.”
Jaus shook his head. “No, no. No, this is… As Avo said, it might just be a continuation. Now co. We have done enough for now. It is ti to see what happens when another hand takes hold of the design.”
“Yeah, so that sounds about…” Zein’s eyes narrowed so more, and then suddenly widened. “Oh, right. Speaking of design… I need to talk to the Drear again. This will be… quite frustrating… Oh, there’s sothing I must remind the Drear of.”
“What? What’s wrong?” Jaus asked.
“Frederick Three-Eye. He’s due to return. Where Scale currently is. I… I might have pulled on his chronological pathing during the fight. Sadly, I wasn’t fast enough to make use of him.”
Jaus blinked. “Zein… how many people have you cast into the future.”
“I was never good at math, my love. Let’s just qualify it as many. I leave the exact details to the Plague. A final act of revenge on my part.”
***
—[Avo, The Hidden Fla]—
The fall of Noloth and the collapse of the Nether proved to be a blessing in many ways. For one, the reunion between the mind and the will made greeting nodes so much easier. Previously, the separation of one’s capacity to believe—to even choose—towards self-determination was stripped, and thus all the founds and depths that fed a soul were hollow in terms of knowledge. Ghosts, anwhile, were hollow in direction, re things to be wielded by a self-aware entity.
Now, however, as Soulfire was bound to ghosts, Avo tested them, accelerated them through simulation after simulation, teaching them, and slowly grew them. From the center of these new burning ghosts pulsed swelling dots—budding sphere just like that which occurred under the conditions of Hysteria.
The new experintal templates he just generated were becoming self aware.
[Yes!] Peace cheered. [Fuck yes! They’re… they’re aware! I can be aware! I can be myself again!]
[Incredible,] Kae breathed.
With stabilization achieved, Avo released the first of his rged ghost-soul consciousnesses, and a chorus of cheers erupted.
He brought in the Wallfacers of Old Noloth, so drawn from the sanctuary hidden within Drowse, others extracted from those the Woundmother was protecting. They stood, joined in song, offering their own understanding and perspectives to the process. The cadre, anwhile, stared on just before the massive locus, their faces lit by awe, confusion, or general indifference.
“It is done,” Avo said. “The first part of the process is underway.”
“So, these things—they’ve got intelligences? They’re self-aware?” Naeko frowned at the undulating strings. Sure, they had accretions lining their exterior, but ultimately, they didn’t exhibit or resemble any intelligent lifeforms Chief Paladin had ever encountered.
That was because they weren’t like any other lifeform. They were created from simulations, and bred from Avo himself. Not the earliest iteration of his ego, but that which existed between. The assimilator after the ghoul, so to speak, deprived of biofeedback or predatory evolutionary impulse. This made them sothing between alien and hyper-sympathetic, and more importantly, allowed them to be good symbiotes when attached to another mind.
“Derived from my current intelligence,” Avo said, “I’m going to attach them to your exo-cortexes. It allows them to burn. To maintain the Conflagration without actually affecting your biological parts. With that, you will have an instance of alongside you, paired but separated, and the Amni-tech should keep it separated and warded from our exterior perception. Layers of separation. Ensures you can operate and even if I am disabled.”
“All right,” Chambers said. “So, just like you got a little bit of inside of you, I’m going to get a bit of you inside of .” A dirty grin spread across his face. “That makes think of sothing—”
“If you’re going to make an ass-fucking joke, I’m going to shoot you, Chambers,” Draus said. However, Shotin let out a stifled chuckle, and the folded over slightly. Chambers shot the shaking Shotin two thumbs up and Draus let out a groan. “God damn it, Seeker. What the hells is wrong with you? Why are you encouraging him?
“Look, it’s a very easy thing to think about.” Shotin shrugged.
“Yeah, if you’re degenerate,” Draus shot back.
“Not exactly degenerate, just so of us still have our parts, you know? ”Naeko muttered.
Draus glared at all of them. The Chief Paladin held up his hand in apology. “Listen, I’m sorry that happened to you, about what Highfla took—”
“No, I’m kind of glad it happened to ,” Draus said. “Keeps distractions away. Lets focus on the main thing, which is killing.”
Now, everyone just stared back at her.
“Draus,” Naeko began, “you got fucking issues.”
“No. I got guns and firing solutions. Issues are for other people. Speaking of, how’s this thing supposed to work, Avo?”
“Glad you asked.” And instead of explaining, he let one of the nodes slither into her exo-cortex rooted at the base where her neck t her skull.
As soon as it slithered in, a brief spark of fla flashed out, and then suddenly went invisible. To everyone else, it might have seed like a montary malfunction—a montary malfunction that was quickly forgotten, redacted from mory.
For Draus, however, the world experienced a few distinct changes.
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