Technically Ehan is still there and in power he’s just in a bunker under the claim that until it’s safe they really shouldn’t have him just wandering around. The rebels being uppity are mostly doing the old “sneak in then hit and run” style of being annoying and are now primarily targeting VSEC facilities with varying levels of success.

As for the hunt for Diadem keys, I’ve sifted through the collective rumors, made up random crap while trying to ask for money, and people who may have heard from a guy who heard from a guy. Also some talks with the various Ika we have about. Rumors corroborate the theory that the Blaiken probably have one. Given that they used to be one of the major members of the alliance that built the ringworld it wouldn’t be unreasonable. We already have the one the Exerlus had, but it is possible the exiled consensus has another of them. Along with Nelta, there is a theory that Utewa would have one or perhaps more just by their nature of being collectors.Though that one is just a “it would make sense if” kind of rumor and Utewa are known for not sharing secrets such as that.

The Jydoq are at least interested in this proposed council seat though it comes with further discussion and negotiation. Given that we’re not the only ones involved in their affairs as of late they are in a weird spot overall. Since they have some nine governors this month, there were some mergers and one split again, they’re generally curious as to who takes the position. That’s more of a matter on their own end to resolve I figure but its whats slowing the process down. Not to mention a few of them are more involved with Kar’Soluth who is becoming more problematic by the day. I’ll get back to that one. Essentially things are moving along while they try to sort out if they should take the deal, it does appear that at least one or two of the factions is interested, but they’re sorting out who would be their director representative. Apparently a small but notable minority were considering voting for Kennae for a moment there since he’s been vigilante’ing around the planet for awhile now.

Haleh reported back with news from Sakhessa, apparently Kar’Soluth getting a bit more uppity isn’t just an exclusive thing on our end. Yasrena has suddenly gained a lot of influence within the Hassani. Apparently she’s recently been in contact with Selona after figuring out the whole dynamic that he always uses and how to enhance her position with him specifically. This all comes with Kanika not even being home right now, she left recently to go continue her journey to figure out psionics in particular. Which has left Yasrena able to operate a little loosely. Kanika showing up if we attack Kar’Soluth isn’t the issue since she’s not even around right now, though Sakhessa doesn’t know why Yasrena very suddenly became much more efficient at her job. The issue is more so that if we attack Kar’Soluth, Yasrena herself is going to be the problem.

Have fun on date night try not to be distracted by contemplations of war with some sort of super charged drow empire. Obviously Alnae is invested in helping with this and Shetou wouldn’t mind poking their heads in since they don’t get along with Kar’Soluth much though they’re not committing to anything. I’m noticing a recurring trend there.

We have managed to find some clues to the whereabouts of Councilor Jaerda, she’s with one of the other Alnae Generals and we’re not entiiiirely sure if that protection she’s enjoying is mandatory or not.

Eneas has offered up some names of “replaceable staff” as she puts it that could come by to swap notes at least. Some of the other university staff who are not as busy with running the school.

As for meeting the head of Utewa’s pandem department, it turns out they’re less amicable than Eneas. Very shadowy and reserved, likely because the pandem aspect of Utewa is one of their more guarded secrets and they don’t actually teach very much of it to others. They focus more on the dangers of it and conveniently omit that this is the magic that lets them warp their planet out of existence.

Haziel gave the warlord a poking but little more then that. For the most part they expressed a concern with matters going on back on Thenica making the idea of moving to Jamalia an odd idea.

As for setting up said sanctum for the Pantheon in the Astral Wilds you kind of hit the same problem but now you’re on Ankathi’s home turf. So Ankathi approves of the idea of course.

Also why is everyone getting asteroids lately…whats the real estate market on those like? Should I want an asteroid too?

Selah mentioned that Ankathi is currently letting Kharla rest since even for her sustaining all that Ankathi has taken a definitive toll on them. Ankathi herself apparently told Selah to tell you that she’ll be dropping by for a visit soon anyways though because she’s curious as to what this whole ‘Shadow’ business is that was going on while she was busy. It does occur to me that they’ve never actually met. Ankathi suggested a formal first convening of the pantheon in some way to iron some things out and, as mentioned earlier, is completely fine with it occurring in the Astral Wilds. Haziel voted for ‘anything else’.

The Order of Shadows has been getting its wing underway with being built at the palace. You’ll never guess their interior decoration choices! Yeah they didn’t install any  lights whatsoever, though weirdly enough The Shadow has been oddly specific about getting some statues made to spruce up the place.

Vasia is going about as directed though some of the officers noted being concerned about her behavior. She’s not as erratic or energetic as usual. Almost as if she’s just clocking in and out by necessity, which has never really been the description of her. If anything that’s actually always been the problem with her now that I think about it.

As for violent species in the hive worlds, as it turns out there is no shortage. They outnumber the ones who will talk to you by about a thousand to one. If anything the issue is finding one that Larazja can actually deal with before they deal with her. Also Larazja is whining that she’s a governor now and shouldn’t be expected to go on dangerous missions. As usual.

On the note of artifacts not in the possession of the Hassani, we at least know a few. Naexi and the revenants are still wandering about, we know where Alakira went, and Kaylen has a third one. Also the Ryner is still somewhere in Kar’Soluth most likely. Actually now that I think about it, Yasrena has been awful uppity lately.

Si Yeon probably could learn pandem but she’s definitely not interested in the practice. She also has to spend most of her time learning more about Sahad.

Reports are in from our shadowy friend about the Lucid Cult issue, we can say just by a pattern of behavior that its our old buddy the Director’s Doppelganger. Same one that appointed Alexandria and posed as you at some parties on Thenica. The Shadow knows they were at some point on Cayetano again but have since left and likely are back on Thenica again. The technically appointed new leader of the cult is just some cult member who is pretty strong, but I imagine that is secondary compared to who appointed them…again. These fucking cultists man. It doesn’t appear that the cultists themselves are malicious towards our authority over them, at least intentionally, just that someone somewhere is up to some weird shenanigans.

As another report they thought to point out that going to war with Yasrena is going to be biting off a little more than we might be expecting. She’s recently gained a lot of power though the means of which are somewhat unknown. Perhaps lessons or inspiration from Kanika’s recent return. The Shadow knows she’s already watching us and waiting for us to do something. She’s been talking to Selona a lot lately and that might be a little concerning.

 

 

 

 

 

Uhh…I’m not sure if going to Thenica yourself is the right move there. I know you’ve been training and all but I’m not sure I like your odds if you have to fight a drow vampire matriarch thing.

The agents on Kuhas station have at least come up with a plan to see about abducting a security guard. Most of it involves a whole lot of wards to block out any weird communications it might have with the rest of the security forces. Though these are aliens with alien technology so the odds of success are a little hard to determine.

According to the Order of Shadows from Renjala’s crew over there, the Director Doppelganger is up to some mischief yet again and we at least know they’re somewhere on Thenica. Not that it narrows it down terribly but thought I’d update you on the matter.

We’ve prepped the best we can for a conflict with Beldobaan, we’ll uh…see how that goes.

Well I can think of a few news headlines about us showing up and engaging in a war on Thenica that might not be good for diplomatic issues but naaah it’ll be fine. We’ll just blame Lancaster for it and say she told us to do it.

Also your dreams of the Alnae op not becoming a long slog are optimistic at best. Lancaster is trying to defend somewhere not destroy somewhere else, my  money is on that taking forever. She still has to leave battalions here to keep the defenses up against the exerlus warbots that are attacking us on Diadem all day every day.

Experiments with the ships are coming along, there is something to be noted that if we just place multiple cores that could work too. Just a big array of cores about the size of a refrigerator could represent an entire crew. Definitely less space than a typical crew. At least thats the idea I get from seeing how modern ships use psi crystals to link all their systems together.

One limiting factor on the engineering department so far has been that we still haven’t managed to catch these hands and figure out Adrienne’s magic touch, or my own for that matter.

Also whats budget restrictions between friends eh Lancaster?