etraya | un: jaycetalis

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un: jaycetalis | video

[In a rare moment of using video on purpose, there's Jayce. To those who know him, he looks the same as he always does. To those who don't- he's an early 30's man with seemingly a permanent five-o-clock shadow, bright golden eyes, and perfectly coiffed hair. The background is out of focus, but to those who know it, it's clearly a part of S.T.A.R. labs. Normally a little more jovial or at least less serious sounding, Jayce looks into the camera like he's giving a press release.]

We’ve got about forty-eight hours or less until Aurora allows that toxin into Etraya. Which means if you haven’t started taking precautions already; start now. Get easily carried food, medical supplies, whatever you think you'd need. Better to be over-prepared than under.

Considering what Aurora's told us about the "mission"... If you’re someone prone to having weapons, do us all a favor and throw them into one of our many, lovely lakes, before you wind up using it on someone else. Or, if you’re going to be touchy about it, let me know, I’ll talk with Harold about how we can get them locked up somewhere for the mission’s duration.

As a reminder to those who don’t want to think about it, and maybe new information to those who are new: if you die here, for whatever reason, you lose something. I don’t know what, you won’t know what, and you might not even know what it is you’ve lost even after you’ve lost it. Maybe it’s an eye, maybe it’s the memory of your best friend. Either way, whatever you're afraid of by not having your weapons on you isn’t worth what you’ll be making someone else lose because of your bad decisions.

If you have any special concerns, worries about any specific denizens in this upcoming mission, now's also the time to voice it.

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I have a team of four. We could cover a portion of it, ideally in pairs, but I think two miles is already a lot to cover.

Given how few wanted to give you information in San Fran, I’m starting to see cooperation is a weak point. Has it always been that way?

I've been here for nearly a year and I'd say "weak point" is an apt term. There's a few people I could rope into volunteering, along with myself, but that'll only account for a handful more.

I suspect you’d be more useful at a home base, at that. No sense in having the captain of this risking getting trapped out there.

And you know, I don’t think I realized how much it was in my people’s character to work together for the good of all until coming here and seeing how… individualistic it is for everyone else.

Woah. Hang on. No. I'm not the captain of this. I'm not the anything of this. We're working together.

We're a bunch of people from different cultures, cities, countries, and worlds. The only thing that actually unites us is our shared captivity. Even sometimes the threat of their world being destroyed if they don't try to complete the missions well enough isn't motivation.

I have to wonder what makes your people different.

[Amused, veering right into teasing:]

Really? This is the second time I've seen you taking the lead, and we've only spoken twice.

My people existed in a constant mission, and failure meant annihilation. We had no one else to rely on, no other cultures or peoples, nowhere else to go, and no promise of a future even if we did our very best. We never lived any other way.

Coincidence.

[It's not coincidence. There's a reason he went from citizen to basically president in his city in a matter of a week.]

Wow, uh. That would do it, wouldn't it. Environmental disaster? Plague?

Sounds a little more like fate to me.

[She'll be asking her cards about that tonight, Jayce :)]

Environmental disaster set us on that path, yes. A sentient force of nature kept us there. No noxious fogs, though.

If that's the case, then that proves fate has it out for me.

[not the tarot cards 😭]

Sentient force of nature. It's the arcane, isn't it?

Fate doesn't have it out for anyone.

And yes, it's the arcane. A being we call the Paintress.

I have to disagree.

[When she agrees with something so simple as a "yes, it's the arcane," his tone shifts to one a little more locked-in.]

You named the arcane manifestations? Does that- does that mean it exhibits personality? Or does actions that mimic human-like behavior?

Suit yourself.

We did, or my grandparents’ generation did, and we kept up the name. She had a human-like form. She woke every year to paint numbers on a monolith. She can talk. I’ve faced her. I still don’t know much.

That's incredible and... and terrifying.

[His mind is racing at the idea.]

I didn't lead with this, but what you're describing is a fundamental part of the research I do. I study magic and runes, and I've seen ... traces of arcane sentience. Nothing so developed as a whole human-like presentation, or speech.

You’re going to adore me and my team, then. Some of them will debate you fiercely over it can be called “magic” or not, but we have plenty of runes regardless. After we all survive this, I am going to have you ‘round for dinner.

Just to clarify, you mean runes as in the symbol-language of magic, right? Sometimes rune can mean different things depending on location, languages, and religious contexts. Since we're from different worlds, just making sure.

I appreciate the optimism. Sure. Dinner it is.

Excellent. And yes, they’re glyphs that can be used to do magic. We engrave them on objects and our bodies to access their power. Is that along the lines of what you research?

Onto your bodies? That's- objects are one thing. You'd have to do that to utilize magic without being a mage. But the body itself- that's dangerous work.

[Curious:]

We've been doing it for years. What makes it dangerous?

Dozens of things. If you mess up a rune, say goodbye to that arm, leg, what-have-you. If you get in contact with wild runes- possession at best, your soul sucked out of your body at worst. Mages know that their body is essentially the conduit between the force of magic, and their own will. Putting runes on it might make the channeling easier, but it keeps that door between you and magic wide open.

But I guess, given what you've told me... it sounds like that's a sacrifice you're willing to make.

Edited 2025-09-22 03:01 (UTC)

It is. A welder who has branded himself with an inability to be burned may be better at his work, and a courier who is quicker through magic is better at her job. True, we have discovered ones that weaken enough to kill, but that’s why we don’t use just anything, or we extract their power first.

My people don’t live very long, and most of us who dabble in those things don’t have much time left anyway. What’s a little gamble?

The Paintress would be my concern.

[Understatement of the year, and he doesn't even know it.]

Arcane manifestations that exhibit something that could be construed as "their own will" and an intentional malicious attitude toward life... this is only a speculation, but someone with runes on their body could be... possessed? Puppeted?

I wouldn’t say it’s impossible, but it’s never happened, to my knowledge. I don’t know how it could. She is the most powerful being in the known world, yet she could not prevent us from seeking her out to destroy her.

This probably sounds insane, but could it be that she wanted to be found? If she's as powerful as you say, then wouldn't hiding or running away be easy?

She tried, and was successful for a long time. She was behind a barrier that took thousands of people decades to find a way around. If she could puppet us, wouldn’t she have done that the moment we crossed the barrier?

That's true.

[So maybe carving runes onto oneself just doesn't open that kind of door, in Sciel's world. That's fascinating in it's own right. They both know the arcane can present with sentience, but the extent of control seems to vary- although, there's maybe one more factor that could tie it all together-]

Your world- does it have more than one realm? Another layer of existence that mirrors your own, still taking place on the same world?

[That gives her pause. She’s not sure how to articulate that, not entirely.]

I assume not, but our world experienced a Fracture in my grandparents’ time, so it resists explanation sometimes. Occasionally we’ve found places that could be described that way, though. There are doors scattered all across the continent that all lead to the same place, and there’s another place we’ve found two entrances for that feels like another world –– would that be another “layer”, or is it a broken piece of one thing?

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