Chapter 5-132: On Our Way (1/2)

Sleipner beeped a little unhappily as the sidecar was fit on, and the short obelisk-like column laid down inside it. Bracketing it was some ‘luggage’ that might be useful.

“Oh, shush now. Use your Vaccine, and link to the Column. It’s a GDS relay and cell transmission tower linked right back here to the Hall. We’re going to be going through areas with no cell connection. If we can’t port it with us, you’re going to be offline, and we won’t be able to reach Gregorigori.”

Sleipner whinny-tooted, lights dancing across his dashboard, and a few lit up on the prone Obelisk before the lid on the sidecar was closed.

I would be riding on the back, as normal. The sidecar was for cargo.

“Ready to go?” I asked Master Fred rhetorically. It was early in the morning, and even the Hall, which rose to greet the dawn, wasn’t active yet. I didn’t want a big sendoff, after all.

He just nodded, and waited for me to swing up onto the secondary seat. The sidecar was hovering a foot off the ground, so there would be no wheel to drag at Sleipner’s handling. Then he swung into his place, not bothering to grab the handlebars as he leaned back, and Sleipner rolled into motion.

We trundled near soundlessly through the quiet areas of the Halls, only the eyes of late-night watchers and a few Familiars and Constructs following us as we went away.

-Abby, we’re on our way. I’ll keep you updated with our progress,- I /Messaged out along the Allegiance channel.

-Don’t worry, Lady Traveler! I’ll keep everything in good order!- the enthusiastic young Alchemist /replied. I’d passed her the formula for the Bloodbonding Ink, and she and some of my other new Vassals would be taking over administration of the spells being purchased.

In the garden behind the church of Sylune here, off in the corner, stood a flag. It was glowing softly, as befitting something that symbolized the first Allegiance active here on the Shrouded Earth.

I could only recruit those with less accrued, active Karma then I had, which was why I had concentrated my efforts among those stuck at lower Levels, and those who were basically young, anyways. The Leveling guides, the access to new spells, the build advice, and very importantly, the money and the Amulets getting churned out as fast as people would give us the gold to buy the spells, all were incentives on the main level, but the real thing was a new unity of purpose.

I was there to bring down the Shroud.

Abby had been the first person to swear under me. She didn’t understand the power of Noble Levels, ever-rising Charisma, Diplomacy Ranks, Bardic Influence, and my Leadership Feat were influencing her subtly, but she had seen my presence and influence explode within the Hall after I came onto the scene. I had explained to her my ultimate purpose, told her that I would cut her free if she truly wasn’t suitable for being under me, and she had solemnly sworn that Oath to me under the flag I had been allowed to set up in the back of that temple, as a Chosen of Sylune.

She had gawked when the Oath manifested around her, totally flabbergasted. An Oath of Fealty to a Monarch was a solemn and true thing in a magical realm, and despite living in a place where Heavenbound swore solemn Oaths and Clerics and Templars took Vows, she had not expected to ever feel such an investiture herself.

Then she felt my Monarch’s Mantle fall across her, looked at me, and realized she hadn’t had any idea what she had been doing, but it was going to change her life.

I had named her my Seneschal, the person who holds the keys to the castle.

Within days, my Allegiance had grown to twoscore, and was quietly getting ever bigger. It wasn’t big enough to generate free /tell’s yet, you had to expend Messages to do so... but it was a link and unity of purpose and vision that transcended what they had come to the Hall for, and summed it up at the same time.

I wanted people willing to work for a Great Cause, not just for me. I was working for that Great Cause. They could see it, they could feel it, and they could feel that if they got behind it, there were things they were going to be able to do.

A Monarch’s Mantle summed up who they were, and conferred that benefit upon those that followed them. It could be a martial effect, granting a bonus Feat, or something that helped teamwork, or a bonus to a skill they exemplified.

Mine granted them the effect of my Talent, +3 to Concentration and Meditation.

Thoughtful, yet focused. Deep, yet sharp. Adaptable and flexible, but strong. Accepting... but lethal.

I was a glowing golden diamond above them, my thoughts always working, focused on my goal. They could see it, feel it, understand it, use it.

Monarch’s Mantle, the manifestation of Duty and Loyalty. As they would be Loyal to me, I would execute my Duty to them, and lead them on this course.

Noblesse oblige had both teeth and rewards in a magical world. An Allegiance strong with Duty and Loyalty could do great things together, using the power to accomplish extra things that would be very difficult to do alone. It wasn’t all that different from Faith, in its way, but stayed at the mortal level.

The making of a formal master/follower relationship, with Oaths of Fealty rising and falling in a chain, would certainly redefine societies, turning something ambiguous and uncertain into something concrete and far more intimate.

I wasn’t focused on getting active fighting followers, yet. First I wanted the support network, the common people who gathered to a common cause and devoted themselves to it in whatever degree they could do so, adopting other people in as both followers and peers of their own, expanding out into the world.

I had taken Logistics Ranks for a reason, and working out how to maximize what everyone coming in could accomplish with greatest efficiency was why I was doing this. With an Allegiance system, so, so much of the waste that occurred with normal human interactions could be streamlined, and everything hum along. Contributions were contributions, and sang up and down the Allegiance ties. If you were slacking, your Loyalty falling was obvious, and everyone knew it. If you were contributing, likewise it was plain to see and tell.

You didn’t get overlooked, and if you didn’t actually do the work, it didn’t matter who you were or how cute you were, everyone could see it. Credit went where it was due, no more, no less...