#I'm so sorry to whomever reads this it's so long but god bless you

[apollo0icarus]

Short Story- Witch's Guilt

I had always be "blessed" as my mother put it. She's the one to pushed me into law school. She's the one who pushed me to become a judge. In the end, it would be easy to blame her for the man's death but if I blame her, shouldn't I blame my grandmother? And eventually that blame would be laid on the Gods- of whom I already blamed.

Law school was hard to be in. The work was fine- not much harder than I had thought. It was the people. Being a seer for the truth was the hardest part of my life. Most of the people I was surrounded by were liars- greedy. But I persisted at my mother's request I use my gift for the good of man. It did made me an exceptional judge for the Court of the East- I had to admit.

It was September 3rd when I accepted the case. October 26th was the day he laid foot in my court room. He had a very strong disposition about him, as if he was not looking death in the eye. His disposition did not change when he looked at me- as if he was settled with any outcome. But it wasn't him that caught my eye. His wife sat in one of the chairs on the back wall and her energy was almost consuming. Her eyes met mine and we both understood that we had found another seer. Her gift was the past, things already happened that she was not there for. She projected such energy to me I knew he was innocent.

The evidence seemed all but otherwise. I could do nothing when the small jury had already decided his fate. I could do nothing when I slammed my gavel on the pedal and sentenced him for the rest of his living time. Her vision was evidence enough for me, but the courtroom would not believe us. We would be burned at the stake as witches, and he would be sentenced either way. I pressed my energy to his mind before he was escorted out- "I'm sorry, this was beyond any of my gifts."

I called my husband and he came to get me. I was so flooded with guilt for the first time in a very long time. I was replaying everything in my head, wondering if there was anything I had missed to save him. There was not. I felt as lifeless as the day I was appointed this position, and not even my husband's kind and truthful thoughts could bare me of the horrors. I had never sentenced an innocent.

He lowered me in the bath, whispering that I needed to let all the energy be washed away. I laid there for a very long time, holding his hand in mine and sobbing. He had seen the case, he watched them all. He knew something was eating me alive and I could feel his worry transcend realms.

"He was innocent," I cried, dropping his hand, "and yet I could do nothing."

The shock was clear but so was the forgiveness. My husband knew of my abilities, knew he was some of few who I could ever truly be around. He also knew how to comfort me.

"Write to whomever you need," as he set the pen and paper on my desk, just beyond our bathroom.

Then he pulled me from the water, dried me, and sat with me while I wrote. I wrote to the jailed man's wife. I wrote to her how sorry I was and how nothing I could do would help her much. It was mailed by my husband the next day.

I never expected to hear from her and for 10 years I did not. For 10 years I took more and more cases, trying to save enough people to make up for the one I had dammed. It was a week after the news broke that her letter was in my mailbox. Her husband had lasted 10 years in that jail cell before he could take no more. I received the news in the morning, her letter came the week after.

My husband had passed by then, right after his 50th birthday. So I sat at the tree out back, where he was buried, and read it aloud. She had forgiven me instantly. She saw my grief eat away at me. She had gotten my letter. She had never blamed me for his fate. She heard news of my resignation and booked a flight to where I was staying. She wanted to have tea and let me see how much she had truly forgiven me. The letter contained her flight details and where to meet her if I was attending.

For 3 days before her arrival I fought with myself. I couldn't imagine facing her and yet I couldn't imagine not. I never went and I never knew if she had been telling the truth. I think a part of me couldn't handle seeing how it had affected anyone besides myself. I think apart of me didn't feel I deserved redemption.

God laughed at me the day I died and called me a fool. Then, he sent me back and I carry this guilt with me into the next life.

[essektheylyss]

wait! be wordy! what's your line of thinking for the assembly coup i'm so curious

okay you sent this a few days ago and I was like, you know what they asked, so here is my entire research project on the subject of why not only is the assembly in a perfect place to stage a coup and take over the empire, but also why ludinus da’leth in particular seems rather motivated to do so:

fjord and caleb discussed this specific topic during their chat on the balleater in 98, and this line just sums it up:

fjord: what are they waiting for? caleb: the moment where they can ascend.

according to the lore we’ve gotten, from canon as well as the egtw, the assembly has existed since a war between mage houses that culminated in an event that nearly destroyed rexxentrum, referred to as the eve of crimson midnight—after which the members of those houses agreed to work for the dwendalian crown (and helped conquer the julous dominion). they occupy a very comfortable place in the empire obviously, but it’s unclear how much allegiance they actually have to the crown, but when caleb talks to the martinet in episode 97 at the party, they have this pointed interaction:

caleb: the empire, we all love the empire. da’leth: to an extent.

this is in part in reference to caleb’s past, but also... is admittedly, a strange thing for someone who’s meant to serve the king to say. much of their conversation at the party reads as da’leth putting the two of them on the same page—rather circumspect in their interests, and outside of the surface level realm of the empire’s interests. it’s worth noting that da’leth is not only the oldest member of the assembly, he has also been there since its inception, and therefore was almost certainly involved in the war that created it.

now, just before this, they have this exchange:

caleb: It will be good to finish this war. da’leth: Indeed it will be. caleb: I commend you on seeing the reason in cooperation and negotiation. da’leth: I believe it is important to stem the tide of lives lost and to instead focus on the livelihood of those within the Empire and for us to pursue more important things than base conflict and disagreements.

now, like essek, da’leth is likely looking forward to the end of the war because it means uninhibited time to spend researching the beacon they do have, but based on much of what essek has said, he is far more in over his head than da’leth is. of course, that’s in part because he’s not backed by a very powerful organization. but this is important, because arguably... da’leth isn’t backed by the assembly. he is the assembly. there has never been a cerberus assembly without him. additionally, his title (“archmage of domestic protections”) literally puts him in charge of all warfare and conflict in the empire and, as mentioned, this means he’s been involved in:

the eve of crimson midnight

the conquest of the julous dominion

the last century of tension with the dynasty (by the end of which, he found a way to escalate that tension and thereby instigate a war—which really makes him either great or shitty at his job, honestly)

the war with the dynasty itself

unlike essek, who has probably had his position for 20-30 years at most, da’leth has witnessed every part of these conflicts from a place of organizing warfare. (yet again it vexes me: we still have no idea what essek does. but he’s not really important here, I’m just using him to juxtapose. but it seems safe to say, based on his reaction, that he did not have any experience with it, and does not seem to be in anyway a military leader.) he knows when to expect war, and he... probably does not care about the human toll of it, based on the ones he’s lived through. so I’m looking more at the phrase “pursue more important things”—which is where we start getting into military coup territory.

and it’s important to point out that the assembly, based on their discussion in the throne room with the king and the examination of the beacon at the sanatorium, is almost certainly keeping both their research into the beacon’s power as well as the fact that they’ve had two beacons for three years secret from the king.

additionally, the assembly’s power seems to be growing at the moment, as evidenced by cobalt soul concerns that it may need to be curbed, while at the same time, the monarch is becoming increasingly paranoid (which translates to, closed off), as well as (and this is crucial) not having an heir. as mentioned in the egtw, his son and daughter in law have not produced a child, and all three of them are seeking different ways to maintain power. king dwendal, supposedly, is currently looking for ways to become immortal. da’leth, who is functionally immortal compared to the king, probably doesn’t love that (and I have no doubt that he knows).

so we have a military leader who has external interests, secret arcane research into an unknown, fairly deadly system of magic that the crown is unaware of (and therefore doesn’t have defenses against), and a rapidly encroaching potential power vacuum. but that’s still not enough, right? to actually take the throne, who has an entire army at its disposal, you’d need some kind of paramilitary force loyal to the assembly, not to the crown.

which brings us to the scourgers.

we know that trent ikithon created and designed the scourger program, also from caleb’s conversation with da’leth, which means it is relatively new (less than 50 years old, but probably less than that—trent is in his 70s, and he would’ve had to work up into his role, so let’s give him a generous estimate of being worthy of assembly membership around 40—which only puts the scourger program at 30 years old). da’leth does have a... really interesting comment about the program:

da’leth: Although the extent of these things were not entirely part of the initial presentation, I understand that sometimes, desperate requirements might call for unsavory methods.

there’s really no explanation of what these ‘desperate requirements’ are that called for, you know, that bullshit, and the program would’ve been implemented sometime within this cold war they’ve got going with the dynasty. while those desperate requirements may have been involved in that (which is likely), it’s also possible that there are other uses for them, especially now that there is some kind of treaty between the empire and dynasty.

of course, the other thing that I looked at is how astrid discusses the empire—she suggests that what the scourgers do, the “hard choices” they make, are so that the rest of the empire can sleep safely at night, which is interesting, considering the general sentiment of the empire’s populace is that the empire has become less safe (a sentiment that is likely even more heightened now with a war on their soil) as well as less prosperous, due to the growing paranoia and neglect of the king. the scourgers are specifically loyal to the empire itself, not the king—if they can be swayed to believe that disposing the king is in the nation’s best interest, it would not be difficult to turn the assembly’s personal assassins toward the crown.

which brings me back to the earlier conversation mentioned at the party, and the phrase “focus on the livelihood of those within the Empire and for us to pursue more important things.” the martinet has been, essentially, waiting in the wings of the empire for several centuries.

within the last, say, fifty years, the following things have happened:

the quality of life within the empire has gone down

its monarch has grown closed off and scared, potentially leaving a power vacuum which will likely throw the assembly’s power into question

the assembly has created its own paramilitary assassin force

the assembly has instigated a war via the theft of foreign arcane objects

the assembly has done fully secret research on the application of that arcane power

the assembly has then ended the war very quickly, retaining control of one of these objects, and sent everyone very speedily on their way.

furthermore, with peace only just brokered, the righteous brand is likely still on the border, and will have to be mobilized over the next month or more to return them to the inner parts of the empire.

this means the assembly is unoccupied by a war, has its own forces, probably has some unheard of weaponized dunamancy, and doesn’t have to contend with the military that is wholly loyal to the king.

time for a coup, y’all.

addendum: this is a theory/analysis, and it’s only one potential thing that might happen in the next few arcs. however, a counterpoint: the assembly has enjoyed unprecedented power, a small amount of responsibility, and very little oversight during its existence. I could see the point that there isn’t much motivation to change that, especially for da’leth—except for the fact that the empire still does not have an heir. the potential of a power vacuum will likely leave the assembly in a tough spot and without a puppet to control, and a coup to take power now may be the answer to that. that really is the key: before dwendal can actually do something nuts, like beat da’leth to creating himself a phylactery lol, they may intend to grab power to maintain control over the situation in the long run.

additional reading: I wrote up this post a few months ago about why, in conjunction with this, the assembly wants to keep their involvement with the beacon theft quiet—any conflict with the king will get started on their own terms. (which is the main point of my thoughts that the assembly will also likely try to have essek killed—while he’s alive, he’s a loose end, and even if it’s his word against theirs, it’s still possible he could sow doubt with the king. luckily for the nein, the assembly doesn’t seem to know that they’re aware of that!)