nexus_sages | (no subject)

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A young man sits on one of the many couches in the Forum, and sighs at a notebook in his hands. The page is full of scribbled-out text, pages and pages of it. The pages are dog-eared and a bit ragged, indicating he's been using this notebook for a while.

"How can it be this hard to think of a good name for a secret identity?"

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"Well yeah, in an abstract sense, sure. But I meant I'm still in school."

"Ah. As, in a sense, am I. May I ask what you study?"

"I'm going to a trade school to become a certified mechanic," Jon says, although he doesn't know if that'll mean anything to Shade-Seeker.

Shade-Seeker is quiet for a moment, processing that answer with visible care. "Do I correctly infer that a 'trade school' is an institution which instructs its students in a specific trade, as might an apprenticeship? And that a 'mechanic' is one who is knowledgeable on the subject of machines?"

"That's pretty much exactly right, on both counts," Jon says with a nod.

"Intriguing. Most professions are learned through direct apprenticeship, where I am from. Magic is optionally different, with the Arcane College, but even there early students are considered apprentices, albeit to the guild as a whole."

"It's not unheard of in my part of Earth," Jon says with a nod. "In most cases there are way more students than there are teachers, so a good quality apprenticeship is really hard to come by. A master with many students can't give them all his full attention, and so on."

"Ah, now that is certainly true," he agrees. "I must give such a model consideration, going forward."

"You plan to become a magic teacher? Or that's just what you have to do when you master the skill?"

"Circumstance has made me the Archmage of the Mages' Guild rather sooner than I expected--which is to say, ever," he admits. Scaly white fingers brush carefully over the fabric of his clothes. "My robe of office."

"Oh, well, congratulations then. Sounds like it's a big responsibility." Jon doesn't know what an Archmage is, but it sounds important, and he can infer from context that it's some kind of leadership position.

"Indeed. A year ago, I was an impoverished student from Black Marsh, applying to enter the Arcane College. Today, my whim directs the course of study. It is a mantle I must wear carefully."

"You went from zero to hero in a year, huh? That's some pretty fast promotions."

"There were... unanticipated vacancies," he admits. "A cabal of necromancers sought to overthrow the Guild. I was involved in the efforts to discern and thwart their goals, but many lives were lost nonetheless, including the Archmage. He left instructions that I should succeed him to the position."

"You must've really impressed him either way."

"So I surmise. With him gone, I must infer what he saw to the best of my ability, and strive to meet those expectations. And there is still the problem with the Oblivion Gates."

Jon raises his eyebrows. "What's an Oblivion Gate?"

"The first step in an invasion," he answers. "They are doorways of fire and stone which appear, and through which daedra may emerge to conquer in the name of their master. The gates may only be closed from our side by passing through to an interstitial realm, where stands a fortified keep. Within the keep lies the sigil stone maintaining the gate's existence, and seizing it allows the gate's closure. The interstitial realm collapses, and Nirn-native matter in proximity to the stone appears to fall back through the gate to the Nirn side."

Not all of that makes sense, but he thinks he's got the gist of it. "These... daedra things... they're trying to take over?"

"They are. My working theory at this point is that they intend to sufficiently anchor their realm of Oblivion to Nirn, and then use those anchor points to drag the world into that realm, and their master's grasp."

"Yeah, that definitely sounds bad. And you get to lead the defense against it? Lucky you."

"I seemed, initially, to stumble into the situation entirely by accident," he confesses, "but from what I have seen, it may well be the work of divine providence. Certainly, I have seen evidence enough of godly works in recent days."

Jon doesn't necessarily know if there's any god where he comes from, but he's seen enough from other universes to know that deities are very real in some places. "What's your god like?" he asks, curious.

"That... is a simple question with a complex answer." He considers for a moment, then prefaces any further response with, "how much do you wish to know?"

Apparently it's a super complicated explanation he's stumbled into. "Just the basics would be fine, if that works. Call it academic curiosity."