Topic: Simpler thoughts

Aatma

Date: 2008-07-21 17:22 EST
The First

I received word today that she'd been located. It's finally beginning. The insignificant specs that dared to demand payment for the information I sought were baffled to find I'd already taken it from their minds. I do find it more tasteful to retrieve it with permission, but alas, there are simply those who don't shield well enough to avoid having vital secrets scraped from the surface like preserves on a piping hot crumpet.

They were none too happy about the development when I'd told them to get out, leave me be to my studies, but they were blissfully unaware of whom they had mad trespass against, and *actually* drew blades upon me. Me! In my own hall, no less!

Needless to say, I refused to raise a finger. They apparently 'didn't like that so much' because they ran for me screaming about cheating them out of their reward. You should've seen the looks on their faces when the stone soldiers grabbed them! It was simply priceless.

They were torn to pieces, and the clean-up was taken care of by an apprentice. Rather finicky little thing, but she'll learn quickly enough how things run within these ruby walls. The clean-ups will be like a vacation sooner, rather than later. There is little I can do to make them realize this, and I've come to see it as a test of sorts. The longer they hold out belief in some idyllic way that I'm going to pamper them like princes and princesses, the harsher their duties become. If they begin to show hubris, their studies shall be halted to ensure they have time to recover from proper disciplining.

I do enjoy when they succeed, however. Almost as if they've shown me a sign that they aren't entirely wasting my precious time and knowledge. I even had a few of my near-accomplished apprentices assist me with some of the minor details regarding the tower's transportation to a nearer location. Somewhere the skies are fresher, where the tower might stand in a forest and begin to spread its influence anew. The younger years of an occupation are always the most interesting, after all.

I do believe, however, that I should get going. The power source of this crystal won't last much longer, and I'm nearly there. Nearly to Rhy'din. I can't be bothered to waste any energies powering a logbook when I could be watching the skies for new possibilities.

-=======-

Think, and it shall remain here for all time.

Aatma

Date: 2008-07-21 17:51 EST
The Second

We arrived a few hours ago, and yet the tower still hasn't properly rooted. Apparently there are veins of conflicting materials within the soil beneath this forest. It is ultimately of no matter, however. Tar'sall is not a structure to be overcome by something so trivial. It has already begun to grow outwards to make up for the lack of ability to dig deep.

I have, however, set several groups of Golem to work digging out the deposits. If anything, they should be able to tell me whether the materials are worth mining or would be better to simply destroy with an utterance. Ah, one approaches now.

—————- —————- —————-

Emeralds. Ironic, isn't it' Well, at the very least I can further my designs regarding Kur'thul. The forestry around the tower couldn't have been more perfect if I'd have created it myself; lush green forests fill the valley, bordered by mountains on all sides. The only way in is alongside the river that flows into the lake not more than ten minutes' walk from Tar'sall itself. I can only imagine what this place will look like when the tower has fully asserted; I imagine it will be more beautiful than the last by far.

I'm beginning the process of setting up various wards and dampening fields, since in the few hours we'd been moving through this plane I sensed not only magics, but saw examples of technologies far beyond what I've grown accustomed to. I still find it ludicrous that any being would prefer to get into a can and fire themselves into space when a simple spell could accomplish their task.

—————- —————- —————-

I do despise those who disdain the Arcane, and all it represents. Those who willingly allow their lives to be ruled by turning parts and electrical currents aren't worthy of the splendor that these Planes have to offer them. Luckily, none of them can yet shift from their own. Should technological focus spread to all Planes, there would surely be nothing but Chaos.

If you couldn't tell, one of those damnable 'space ships' flew overhead. I'll have to place more wards up. I could enjoy the atmosphere if I didn't have to see those worthless automatons haul themselves across the horizon every ten minutes.

I've more to do, and less time than I'd like to do it in. And besides, this crystal is nearly out of energy. Do I really carry so many superfluous thoughts around with me?

-=======-

Think, and it shall remain here for all time.

Aatma

Date: 2008-07-21 20:40 EST
The Third

How is it that she's improved so very much' I payed her a visit, today, if it wasn't obvious enough by my mood. A terrible shame, but at the same time something I'd added into my calculations and gracefully overestimated. It's good to know that I can't be topped, sometimes.

The queerest thing has begun to happen deeper beneath the soil. The Golem have retrieved all known traces of the emerald deposits, but Tar'sall has yet to breach the crust of the tectonic plate. It's less than disconcerting, but the tower has not taken this long to settle since its creation. There must be something in the energies of the valley itself. Regardless, it is simply a matter of time.

Tar'sall has started its assertion, and the trees and grass nearest have already begun to cede their bodies to the crystalline growth. I am curious as to how the lake will respond, what with the strange magical energies running through everything here, in this Rhy'din. It's almost a question of chance, how one thing will react to another.

I could just as well try to decipher what I would do when placed before an impasse that would just not yield an outcome more or less favorable than its counterparts. Everything here seems to be less controllable than it should be. I know why, of course, but it does nothing to make it simpler.

It's all her. Always has been...Damnable crystals! I'm going to have to place purchase into a larger version, or just manufacture a suitable one myself. I have business to attend to.

-=======-

Think, and it shall remain here for all time.

Aatma

Date: 2008-07-23 18:59 EST
The Fourth

It seems my patience has finally payed off; as if by some terrible misfortune it wouldn't have. Tar'sall has finally started its descent. Total assertion is a mere hour away! I am at the greatest heights of the tower as we speak, and I must say, there is nothing like watching the world rise up around you. The mountainous walls surrounding my valley will soon meet the horizon, and then overtake it. Glorious, simply glorious!

Almost the entire valley has succumbed to Tar'sall's assertion, save the most faraway trees and the interior mountainsides. The river and lake had a peculiar blending effect, as the deep blue waters would not tolerate the ruby's growth for more than a hundred yards out or so. This has left the river entirely reflected as a rich purple, and the lake itself likewise for a distance leaving perhaps a two-hundred yard circle at its center that blue. I rather enjoy it, but it's still too soon to say whether or not the ruby will be able to complete its course across the lake's bottom.

The very grass beneath my feet moves as it should, but gleams as the ruby it's been bonded to. The trees sway, oftentimes shedding those refractory leaves that glint in the sunlight. Even the animals continue their existences with only the precursory tellings that they are native here, and not merely visitors. A streak of red in fur, a few feathers here or there in changing, or a patch of scales that shine just the right way. It's all coming to a close soon enough. And once this chapter ends, the next one can begin.

—————-

I should really find an apprentice within the city. None within Tar'sall have any knowledge of this place, and it would be useless to go much further without at least one reliable source.

As a final note, it was really a rather ingenuous idea to manufacture one of these crystals myself. Its size alone will store far more knowledge than the previous one, and I'm connecting it directly to Tar'sall and its energy in order to keep it running indefinitely. I could quite possibly record these thoughts in my sleep.

-=======-

Think, and it shall remain here for all time.

Aatma

Date: 2009-09-22 20:37 EST
The Fifth

It has been quite some time, I am aware, but much has come to pass and I haven't had but a moment's respite from the drudgery of the latter in these developments.

On the brighter sides, I have indeed come across the perfect apprentice. Shang, a demi-Fae borne of the Moon, or so she's told me. I have no reason not to believe her, and indeed, quite the opposite, there's nothing more I enjoy than to trust in her and allow her whimsical nature to remind of me simpler times. She is indeed someone I will continue to hold close. Her power is insurmountable, though her ability to control herself is less than I'd hope. Nevertheless, she will make an exemplary Steward of the Amethyst Tower.

In less admirable news, nine of my Magi have been found to be traitorous. I've kept one, damnable though he may be, free of swift disciplinary actions as long as he betrays his comrades and probes the minds of those others that may be harboring such treacherous thoughts.

I will have to look into measures by which to manage these atrocities against my vision.

-=======-

Think, and it shall remain here for all time.