Setting up a council was easier said than done. Three of the four major powers in Mazehold were easy to reach, but the fourth was unavailable. The Blade was unconscious. Sophia was able to put the frawork of a deal together over the next few hours but she couldn’t put it into place until there was a new leader of the Arena. There were a lot of details that would need to be worked out over the coming days, as well, but she was still happy with what they worked out that day.
The hard part, oddly enough, was getting everyone to recognize that Sophia didn’t want to actively manage anything they did. She’d be the final authority if they chose to appeal to her, but she reserved the right to put “regional” powers into place between her and the city. She was willing to step in if it had anything to do with her area, which seed to be the Tower and the Imperial Spheres; she was probably also going to end up the authority over the nexus terminals and the facility-minds like Tiwaz and Ansuz. That was it.
Master Rayne objected to the last part, slightly: she didn’t want to lose Bai, and she considered him one of her people, a Professional. While most people might not know that Bai was a relic of the past, the leaders of the Vocational Registry, Professional League, and Smiths’ Cooperative all knew. That ant they knew he didn’t have a Sphere, which was enough for Master Rayne. As far as she was concerned, the Professional League represented everyone who didn’t have a Calling, including both children and mbers of the Smiths’ Cooperative in addition to Bai.
Sweetfire made jokes about how he could just leave it to her during the negotiations, but he didn’t follow through on them. While he didn’t negotiate anything special for the Cooperative, he did ask so very helpful questions about the way things used to work under the Empire.
The deal itself was fairly simple. Sophia would set up the Mazehold Council as the effective City Lord of Mazehold. Ansuz was willing to go along with that, though he required that all of the Councilors had to be at least third upgrade and they all had to swear to follow the laws of the Empire. Violating those laws would remove them from their position, but that was all; anything else could co later, if it was necessary.
Knowing the way people were, it probably would eventually be required. There were reasons for national police forces, after all.
Sophia would provide access to the Imperial Spheres and an entrance to the Tower. The entrance was suggested by Ansuz; It turned out that there was an old secondary entrance in the Registry building that dated to the reign of the second Emperor. It was disabled when the third Emperor cut out Ansuz’s Heart, but Bai was certain Tiwaz had the information they needed to get it up and running again. They’d have to gather so things, but that was easy enough; they were all commonly available in the Maze. It might even be better to buy them. Xin’ri could take it from there, though Sophia would have to activate it in the end.
The big thing about the Imperial Spheres was that they provided access to a Calling that did not require a Vocation-granting Feat. All you had to do was swear to follow the Imperial Code and that counted as a Feat sufficient to gain an Imperial Sphere. Not following the Code couldn’t directly remove the Spheres, but there were Spheres that did have that capability: the Justiciars’ Spheres. If a Justiciar judged that you were in severe enough violation of the Code, you could have your Sphere’s Abilities suspended or even revoked. It was possible to transition to another Sphere, but unless you actually had a Feat that was sufficient to act as a vocation-granting Feat, you could only gain a profession.
Sophia did not intend to create any Justiciars any ti soon. That was sothing that should only exist within an appropriate structure; if anyone was allowed to have that power, she could guarantee it would be misused.
Registry Master ko’Orthlinn and Professional League Master Rayne seed to think that those changes would be useful but not overly impactful to the way the city worked. Sweetfire, who adamantly refused the title “Master” and claid he was “just the blacksmith that got stuck as the face of the Smiths’ Cooperative,” privately told Sophia that he didn’t agree but that he thought it would be an improvent; more people would at least try a Calling instead of just waiting until they could gain a Profession, which would help bring everyone together.
Sophia was less certain about that, but maybe he knew what he was talking about; he was the only leader with both a Calling and a Profession. Sophia wasn’t a native of the Broken Lands, so she probably wasn’t the right person to judge what would and wouldn’t make people work together.
The other side of the deal was that Sophia would be paid for the services she provided. Imperial Spheres provided a slow trickle of their Wisp gain back to the Empire and the Tower entrance could be set up to require aurichalc to open. That was how it was set up back in the Kestii Empire: a leaf to enter City of Stars, which was safe even for those before their first upgrade, then a larger coin or multiple coins to reach the more dangerous but more rewarding zones. Tokens like the ones used in the Maze could also work for entry to specific locations.
The Wisps Sophia got from Adherents using Imperial Spheres could be used on anyone with an Imperial Sphere, similar to how the Broken Lord used the Wisps gathered from his Broken Swords. That wasn’t the point, however; instead, the Wisps could be used to influence the growth of the Tower, ensuring that valuable resources were available and accessible. They could do a lot of other things, as well, but the other options wouldn’t be available until after the Tower grew enough to accept people at the first upgrade. Sophia couldn’t see what those options were, but she suspected that the first one she was going to use was opening Gateways.
If she could open a Gateway ho (or, even better, to Dav’s ho), she would. The fact that the Guide knew the United Realm was out there and was even able to contact her father implied it was possible, but Sophia doubted it would be that easy. A Tower that was barely strong enough to open Gateways to another planet was unlikely to be strong enough to open a Gateway into another universe.
Sophia was pretty sure she ca out ahead in the deal. Yes, she had the one-ti effort and cost of restoring the Tower entrance, but it wasn’t truly that expensive and Tiwaz would manage the aurichalc that ca in. The Imperial Spheres themselves cost nothing, though it was likely that at least so of the nexus terminals would need repair, and they gave her the bigger option.
Registry Master ko’Orthlinn agreed to send letters to the other Registries advising them how to arrange for similar deals. They wouldn’t be able to have the conveniences Mazehold had unless they were also situated in ancient locations, but he was certain that many were. Even the ones that weren’t would be interested in the Imperial Spheres.
Sophia had the feeling that his offer was really a sort of empire-building of his own; the Registry managed the Called and the Imperial Spheres were very likely to result in a higher percentage of the population finding Callings. It seed fair enough to her; he was taking on the task to spread knowledge that would help him.
What they ended up with was closer to a bargain for services than what Sophia thought of as a governnt, but she could sort of squint at it and see a governntal structure, especially if it spread across the Broken Lands. If she ended up having to put sothing into place to deal with foreign worlds because of the Gateways, it would be even closer to a governnt.
Whatever they were building, Sophia was happy with the outco of the day’s work. It was harder than fighting through the Maze; at least she knew what the goal was in the Maze. She was looking forward to slipping into bed and snuggling with Dav by the ti they headed ho after dinner at the Professional League.
The presence of a sleeping draft sloth in the hallway just beyond the entrance to their house was not a good sign for those plans.
“Peaches?” Sophia bent down and rubbed the sloth’s shoulder. He grumbled softly and pushed into her hand, exactly the way he always did when he wanted more scritches. Sophia knelt next to him so that she could give proper attention to the areas that usually itched, which mostly ant the areas under his harness.
A harness he wasn’t wearing at the mont. That ant Arryn had been here long enough to convince Peaches that taking off his harness would an more comfortable naps.
“Arryn?” Dav called out. “Are you here?”
“Dav?” Arryn sounded surprised. “I’m in the party room. Is Empress Sophia with you?”
Sophia gave Peaches one more pat on his head then followed the others into the party room. The mont Arryn saw her, he knelt.
“Please don’t do that,” Sophia said imdiately. “You don’t have to call
Empress, either.”
Arryn grinned as he stood and gestured to her to pick a chair. Sophia was pretty sure he wouldn’t sit until she did, no matter what she said, so she took the seat she usually had.
“You don’t understand how much restoring the Tower ans to the Broken Lands. We thought it was permanently broken and were holding out hope for the Gateways. If we can’t have proper Lords, and it’s clear that we can’t, trade through the Gateways might still …” Arryn paused with a frown. “You know sothing.”
“The Gateways aren’t open,” Sophia admitted. “They won’t be open until … well, it’s locked until the Tower’s repaired enough to start letting in people at the first upgrade. I think I’m going to have to repair each Gateway separately, too. But I think we can set up proper lords, at least if you have people who et the old requirents for a city lord. I think you have to be third upgrade for that; there might be other requirents, I’d have to ask Ansuz.”
“You can appoint City Lords.” Arryn shook his head. “I should have realized that. You’re the Empress, of course you can appoint Lords. How? We can arrange for soone at the third upgrade to take on the role for major cities, though many are currently ruled by soone at the second upgrade.”
“We?” Dav jumped on the implication of a group.
“The Registry Council.” Arryn sighed, then smiled. “Soone has to manage the Registry, and that soone is the Registry Masters, both current and retired. Most of the ti, it’s nothing more than choosing the successor to a Registry Master, but sotis it’s coordinating a multi-city defense or expedition into the Wild Lands. That’s how Mazehold was established a century or so ago; the Registry Council of the ti knew sothing was here from the old records and decided we had to find it. It was neither fast nor without losses, but your presence before
and the news that we can have City Lords again and possibly even Gateways justifies their decision.”
They talked for well over an hour after that as Sophia told Arryn about what they found in the Maze and what they’d settled with Sweetfire, Registry Master ko’Orthlinn, and League Master Rayne. Arryn was less than happy with the Registry Master, though all he would say was that Sebas ko’Orthlinn should have invited them all to the Registry Library.
Over the next few days, more of the unconscious Adherents woke up. They gathered the materials to repair the nexus terminals and Xin’ri managed to repair the first one. With it available, other Professionals could take over the work. The situation at the Arena was unresolved; every ssage to “the Blade or her successor or interim deputy” was t with a polite response that the succession was still being decided.
Four days after the Flying Stars returned to Mazehold, a ssage arrived at their door inviting them to the trial of Amaryssa Seuvarin and the formal announcent of her successor.
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