The Westwing (closed)

[Manix]

The door opened reveling a Marine in full combat dress, armed. A second marine stood post further in the interior. The Marines had strict orders to allow no one inside, without direct consent from Manix. They also knew Manix was waiting for this one. "Please come in sir and hold here, I will inform Captain Manix of your arrival."


"Captain Manix, this is post one, your expected visitor has arrived."
Manix ease up from the couch. "Roger that, Ill be up
" he replied. Meeting Jaxen in the front hall he led him to the study and waved at a plush leather seat for him to sit down in. Chief arrived with the usual 12 year old scotch and cigars, offering to Manix then to Jaxen, the left to two alone.

"Glad you made it out in one piece, how be the results of ur actions?"


Manix didn't look or feel right. He was more disheveled than normal, pale and still felt residual cramps. Whatever darkness happened had effected him too, he wondered if any other channeler felt it?


Edited by Manix, Sep 16 2016, 07:50 PM.

[Jaxen Marveet]

((Ooc: I am not going to address the power pulling by Asc and the Ijiraq because that should have happened while Jaxen and Oriena were inside the Atharim HQ and that whole timeline was thrown off (accidentally), and I didn't have a chance to acknowledge it IC. I am just going to ignore it for the most part, but if Manix brings it up, Jaxen will vaguely acknowledge it : but he should have felt it.))

Seemed security was upped at Manix's since Jaxen was last there. Or maybe the marines were more alert. Either way, it was probably smart idea. Seemed like anyone could break in secure buildings these days.

Jaxen smirked at the guy that left him under watchful eyes while Manix was summoned. The man himself looked like he'd seen better days. Jaxen understood. He spent three days in a cannibal dungeon after a night wracked by the Sickness. Suffice to say, he knew what bad looked like. No point bringing it up though.

He was too jazzed to sit, so he kept to his feet. But never too jazzed to drink, he took the scotch from Chief, and held his tongue until Manix and him were alone.

"I have to admit, there were close calls, but every job has risks. Have to say, though, having the Ancient Power on hand makes things easier."


He waved one hand across his face, waggling fingers as he did. Impersonating someone had never been so much fun. "But they're on to that trick now, so if I ever go back, it'll have to be as an actual Atharim, not an auxiliary."
he shrugged. Jaxen didn't have much interest in returning anyway.

To that end, he slid the suit coat from his shoulders. A holstered gun sat secured beneath. One that Jaxen wasn't too interested in either. He wasn't fond of guns. Never used them any more than to have a working familiarity with one at his father's insistence. Scion Marveet grew up in a world that demanded any Russian worth his salt should know how to defend himself. That, and, Scion didn't grow up with hired security company on staff. Russia was a dangerous place at the end of the last century.

Instead, Jaxen's attention was focused on three items. He first removed the small rock, well polished and smooth but for the etching. He tossed it to Manix. "There were others like this. I took a picture but can't load my pockets down with rocks. That's just asking to be shot in the head and tossed in the river."


Second, he handed Manix the tusk. It was as close to a scrimshaw as he could find. No idea what the carvings were about. But who cared. That was for Manix to figure out.

It did remind him of the Narwhal tusk that once hung on his bedroom wall. The tusk was almost as tall as he was and was once thought to belong to a unicorn, such was the feeling of awe that came over you when looking at it. That was what made Jaxen take it in the first place, that strange emotion. Besides the emotion, he never paid much attention to what was carved on it. Mumbo jumbo to him. Too bad Scion had it removed when his father raided his apartment. He still wasn't sure where those items had been taken.

Finally, he held up the mini-Wallet, a near-transparent, paper-thin electronic device that stored data, took pictures, and had a stable internet connection. "But this, this is the best stuff. Pages and pages of information out of their digital library. Got a work station? I'll load them up so you can keep it on your private servers, and show you what's there."


He glanced around the room for a work portal.

[Manix]

Manic deftly caught the small rock, it felt....odd in his hands, not quite warm but tingling. He looked at it closer, until he could do some reserch it would make a nice paper weight. He then took the piece of Horn and a wicked smile came to his lips as he remained silent. He ignored the carving atm and studied the fractured ends. YES! he was sure that this was one of the missing pieces to some fragments he already processed. He was itching to run down to the underground workroom. He was lost in though when the works "Work Station" broke thru.

"Of course, sorry was was distracted with the prizes you brought."
Standing, slowly, he went to his desk and pressed a button. A few whirls and clicks later a full work station was reveled, with several types of input and output lines. "Work your magic"



Edited by Manix, Sep 17 2016, 01:19 PM.

[Jaxen Marveet]

Jaxen laid the mini-Wallet on the transfer pad, syncing the two devices together. Within a few minutes, he had the entire contents transferred to Manix's servers, with a spare copy for his own personal use. Not that he was interested in reading about fairies, but the descriptions of the sword of light might get a second look.

"These are excerpts from the few keyword searches I was able to do. Half of it looks like nonsense to me, but maybe something will catch your eye."


Like maybe that sword of light.

Of course, Jaxen was putting more and more stock into 'nonsense' these days. A five foot tall snake woman transported him to another realm for starters.

<dl>
<dt>Files</dt>
<dd> </dd>
</dl>




Excerpts from the Atharim Library

The lost pages of the Book of Leinster

Tuatha Dé Danann as described in the Book of Leinster, a medieval Irish manuscript formerly known as the Lebor na Nuachongbála "Book of Nuachongbáil" was written by a "man of learning," an abbot, from the court of an ancient irish king and an Atharim scholar. Almost a third of the book's pages were lost in the last thousand years, but the Atharim secretly confiscated the pages to sequester the truth of its contents from public eyes.

Those lost pages described the true history of the Tuatha Dé Danann, not as fairies as they had come to be known, but as people that lived in harmony with the land. Myth said these fairies were of royal lineage. Others said they were once worshipped as gods. Although they had supernatural powers, they were considered to be a neutral group: neither good nor evil.

A pantheon that nurtured the land, they were skilled craftsman and worked the land without harming it. They arrived in what would become known as Ireland after overthrowing the native tyrant inhabiting the area and freed the people from his rule. Their first leader, Nuada, carried one of four sacred treasures: The Sword of Light. Other heroes of the region carried equally as impressive treasures, and the 'missing pages' from the Book of Leinster described them in detail, although they were eventually confiscated by the Atharim of the region to be hidden, their current whereabouts were unknown.

The four treasures of Tuatha Dé Danann:
The Dagda's Cauldron
The Spear of Lugh
The Stone of Fal
The Sword of Light of Nuada.

The ancestors of the Tuatha Dé Danann, those of the pre-celts, were the aos sí, an older form of aes sídhe, the Irish term for supernatural beings thought to be the spirits of the ancient gods and goddesses. They guarded their abodes fiercely, enchanting them with spells that would later be known as fairy rings, but were actually powerful wardings of great power. It was thought that the lost treasures of the Tuatha Dé Danann were buried in one of the many aes sídhe burial mounds. They even had a sacred white tree of life that they congregated around, one that dispersed contentment and relaxtion by standing beneath its branches. These trees are now extinct.

The lost pages of the book also describe the nature of the relations between the Tuatha de Dannan and neighboring pantheons, including those isolated on the Isle of Man. One name was mentioned specifically, Manannán mac Lir, son of the sea. In the tales, he is said to own a boat named Scuabtuinne ("Wave Sweeper"), a sea-borne chariot drawn by the horse Enbarr, a powerful sword named Fragarach ("The Answerer"), and a cloak of invisibility (féth fíada). Legend said he was necromancer possessed of power to envelope himself and others in a mist so that they could not be seen by their enemies.

The lost pages of the Book of Leinster:

Cú Chulainn is an Irish mythological hero who appears in the stories of the Ulster Cycle, as well as in Scottish and Manx folklore and associated with the god, Lugh. At the age of seventeen he defended Ulster single-handedly against the armies of queen Medb of Connacht in the famous Táin Bó Cúailnge ("Cattle Raid of Cooley").

It was prophesied that his great deeds would give him everlasting fame, but his life would be a short one. Cú Chulainn shows striking similarities to the legendary Persian hero Rostam, as well as to the Germanic Lay of Hildebrand and the labours of the Greek epic hero Heracles.

He carried a supernatural spear called the Gae Bulga. It was made from the bone of a sea monster, the Coinchenn, that had died while fighting another sea monster, the Curruid. Although some sources make it out to be simply a particularly deadly spear, others (notably the lost pages from the Book of Leinster) state that it could only be used under very specialized, ritual conditions: The Gáe Bulg entered a man's body with a single wound, like a javelin, then opened into thirty barbs. Only by cutting away the flesh could it be taken from that man's body.

In the Táin Bó Cuailnge, Cúchulainn received the spear after training with the great warrior master Scáthach in Alba. She taught him and his foster-brother, Ferdiad, equally, except she only taught the Gáe Bulg feat to Cuchulainn.

Lay of Hildebrand:
The Hildebrandslied (lay or song of Hildebrand) is a heroic epic poem written in Old High German alliterative verse. It is one of the earliest literary works in German, and it tells of the tragic encounter in battle between a son and his unrecognized father. It is the only surviving example in German of a genre which must have been important in the oral literature of the Germanic tribes.

The champions of two armies met on the battlefield. The older man, Hildebrand, discovered that the younger opponent is a long lost son, and refused to battle his kin. Instead, he offered gold arm-rings as a peace offering that he had received from the Huns, whom he formerly served. The younger man believed this to be a ruse of impending betrayal and refused the gift, accusing deception and cowardice. Hildebrand accepted his fate and saw that he couldn't honourably refuse battle: he had no choice but to kill his own son or be killed by him. They start to fight, and the public text concludes with their shields smashed. But the poem breaks off, not revealing the outcome. In truth, Hildebrand sacrifices himself, refusing to kill his son, whom slays him in turn. For his sacrifice, Hildebrand is counted among the great heroes of the ancient world, destined to return in its time of need.

I heard tell
That warriors met in single combat
Hildebrand and Hadubrand between two armies
son and father prepared their armour
made ready their battle garments girded on their swords
the warriors, over their ring mail when they rode to battle.

Appendix to the Nowell Codex.

Beowulf, an Atharim hero of the Geats, comes to the aid of Hrothgar, the king of the Danes, whose mead hall in Heorot had been under attack by a monster known as Grendel. After Beowulf slayed him, Grendel's mother attacked the hall and was then also defeated. Victorious, Beowulf returned home to Geatland (Götaland in modern Sweden) and later became king of the Geats.

The Fenian cycle

Diarmuid Ua Duibhne was a skilled warrior and a well-liked and valued member of the Fianna who single-handedly killed 3,400 warriors in a battle and saved Fionn and the Fianna. Aengus Óg owned a deadly sword named Móralltach or Nóralltach ("the Great Fury"), given to him by the sea-god Manannán mac Lir (Mananaan Son of the Sea).

In The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Gráinne it is said of Móralltach that it left no stroke nor blow unfinished at the first trial. Aonghus gave this sword to his foster-son Diarmuid, in addition to a sword named Beagalltach, ("the Little Fury"). Along with these two swords, Diarmuid is known to have wielded two spears, Gáe Buidhe (Yellow Spear) and Gáe Dearg (Red Spear), which caused wounds that could not be healed. He used Gáe Dearg and Moralltach for adventures which were matters of life and death, and Gáe Buidhe and Beagalltach for lesser battles.

Atharim prophecy: categorized under "The horn that heralds the end of days" and meaning unknown

Heroes serve a pattern as needed, shaping it, and when they die, they return to wait anew.

New heroes may be bound as well, for bravery and accomplishment raises them high above the multitutde, but once bound, lasts forever.

We are bound to fight darkness and death.

The downfall of the Æsir:

The event is referred to as Ragnarök or Ragnarøkkr (Old Norse "Fate of the Gods" and "Twilight of the Gods" respectively, reflecting the impending fate of the future as well as the historical account of the past.

This prophetic text describes recurring cycles of the northern norse pantheon arising and falling in an infinite loop. It is both a foretelling of future events where a great battle will take place, occurance of various natural disasters, and the submersion of the world in water. It is also a historical depicition of the great battle that took place in the past that resulted in the deaths of all the major figures of the norse pantheon, including Odin, Thor, Týr, Freyr, Heimdallr, and Loki.

*Added hand-written note by the Atharim Scholar, Pliny the Elder, student of the prophet Zaraϑuštra (Zoroaster), author of the Gathas, circa 1st century AD*
Male Asha, the black, the evil, the foul?
Female Aesa, the white, the pure, the clean?

--Meaning unknown

*Additional notes added in modern script:
See also: the Book Pahlavi on parallels to Zoroastrian cosmogony and cosmology.
Also: Dēnkard Bundahišn Book of Arda Viraf Book of Jamasp Story of Sanjan.

Jaxen stood up, brows high, and rubbing his chin, peering down at the screen they just read. Blinking. Well huh.

"I call dibs on the sword of light."
And laughed, totally serious.

[Manix]

Looking over the plethora of information Manix was stunned. Jaxen had delivered more than he thought was possible. he scanned over the information, then read it over more carefully. This could amount to years of study. Everything Manix had ever wanted. He was deep in thought when Jaxen spoke.

"I care nothing for collecting, only the information that the artifact carries. Are you interested in remaining in a contract with the Lir' family, I may be able to get some leads on the "Sword of Light"?"


Manix had dangled the bait, tho there was more immediate needs, he really did have some thoughts on the sword.

[Manix]

The Chief's voice came over comms: "Captain, there is breaking news that u might want to see, it involves the Rage."
"Patch it thru please Chief".
Turning to Jaxen: "You might be interested in this."
and switches the scree over to the news report.

**Breaking News**

Larson Lir', a fishing and merchant tycoon, released information and a video of an "unknown" monster that attacked the families defensive ship "The Rage". Captain SynJyn Quick, leader of the elite Viking's aired this report.

"Attention all vessels, this is Defensive Ship "The Rage" at 1400 Zulu we encountered a destroyed passenger vessel located at -34.086 x 171.997. Upon attempted rescue efforts we encounter a previous unknown beast that was capable of swallowing lifeboats whole. Video attachments are available of the encounter. Consider all ship traffic in this area extremely dangerous."


(The briefing was followed by several security camera feeds showing the monster swallowing the lifeboat whole, the Vikings taking up defensive position followed by several shots of the monster from different angles)

While some experts are already claiming this is a elaborate hoax, others are not so sure. Our own oceanologist has this to say: "This is not the first such report, it is the first with such conclusive evidence. Add this to the mystery of the discovery of several dead and half eaten giant squid and it is hard to say this is a hoax."
Larson Lir' had this to say in response to the critics: "I no be giving a damn what they think, the warning stand, believe or not, is no me concern. The Lir' family gets no profit from such a tale, so the critics can bugger off."


So there you have it, believe or not, i'd avoid surfing in that area for awhile.

Janet Danes reporting

Manix had watch the brief footage focused on the Vikings: "Damn that is a disciplined team"
, he thought. Looking to Jaxen: "Interesting"

[Jaxen Marveet]

Jaxen seriously considered Manix's offer. He'd never been yoked to anyone before, unless you count blood. In that case, he'd dealt with a collar around the neck since birth. Probably before, too.

Conceptually, the idea made him want to run the other direction. But realistically, what was a contract anyway but a piece of paper and a promise made at the time? Promises change. Paper is lost. Well, real paper anyway. Signatures get erased. Motives change. Manix had resources Jaxen didn't. It never hurt to have allies either.

He was contemplating the deal when Chief interrupted. When they watched the footage, Jaxen's jaw dropped. A year ago, he would have complimented the fine CGI work. New Zealand was still the home of Weta Digital afterall. Companies had pulled off similar stunts to get attention.

But given his enlightenment on a world where 'nonsense' made sense, he was less inclined to believe this was a hoax. After all, he DID see a twenty-foot tall cobra in Naga-land. He shivered at the memory, fucking snakes.

Manix had very little to say about it, though. Just a chill 'interesting'.

Jaxen laughed. Manix was awesome. "Interesting?!? Did you see that thing!? Manix you are about the most interesting person I've met in a long time. Which is saying a lot. Yes I'll take your contract. And who is this Larson fellow? He any relation?"
He seems like a hoot.

Sitting down, he swirled the scotch. Sipping it with one leg crossed over the other. "And who exactly are you. Other than Manix Lir of the clan Lir?"

[Manix]

Manix laughed and plopped into a seat: "Larson Lir' is my father and patriarch of the Lir' family and all it's business. Me i'm a simple fisherman/merchant and what some would call a corporate spy. Now i seem to filling the roll of a scholar. My initial goal was to discover how and why my sister died, thanks to the Betrayer, I learned. Now i seem "pushed" into studying the origins of the one power. So far each discovery leads to 10 more trails. I'll share an important one with you, when around or near a female channeler, that is holding the power, a male will develop "chills" or "goosebumps". So next time you see Ori, you will know when she holds the power."


Relighting the cigar: To business. I do have idea's on the sword, the piece of Nar Whale tusk looks like it might match up to others i have done collected, i'll need time to fit them and decipher. All I want is the information, you can keep the artifact as payment, as well as the financing i am already providing. If this is acceptable then we can move forward.


"Most important at the moment is Captain SynJyn, is en-route with the Vikings, and will need new training weapons and ammo and will also be looking to up armor to the new blending technology as well as thermal scramblers. I open to what u think is best to keep these guys undetectable for as long as possible. Construction begins soon on quarters and training grounds. Is this something that you can acquire or direct me too?

[Jaxen Marveet]

So Larson was the brains behind the operation. Or at the very least he was the one in charge. Sounded like Jaxen's father, although Manix seemed to have a better relationship with his than Jaxen. Scion wasn't bad. Actually, he was a tyrant. Not that Jaxen disapproved. For all his authoritative rule, the Marveet family would not be the empire or was today otherwise. Rumor reaches even Jaxen's apathetic ear that Scion was poised to be the next Priviledge of DI once what's-his-name retired. Or at his age, died.

The deal seemed fine enough. Jaxen offered a hand to shake. "You got yourself a deal. I don't reveal trade secrets for myself, but I do know the exact person you need to hire for consult. His name is White. And I believe I have his card."
Jaxen smirked. "I'll send you the information as soon as I get home. He works for Pervaya Ilenya Private Security. And I know for a fact he does consultation. And he's the best in Moscow."
Jaxen didn't tell Manix about White's role in the Atharim, because really, it wasn't fair to judge the guy based on facing a professional thief that happened to be able to use the Ancient Power.

He left shortly after and as soon as he got home, Jaxen sent White's information to Manix.

[Manix]

Taking Jaxen's hand: "This is the only contract I need right here. Two men and a word of honor. Thank you for your service."
He watched as Jaxen was escorted out. He needed a break, he need some air, he needed a walk.