Three weeks later, Maxime ◐ and Theodore ◮ found themselves aboard a carriage of [Oni] construction, but driven by a [Gobberton] rider and their draft animals, to the capital of the Aerie Republic, with an escort.
[Army Captain] Jain’s response at the time was not that satisfactory. For all the efforts that the pair had gone through to stage that meeting, the [Army Captain] simply wasn’t high enough up the military hierarchy to make any sort of calls, and he largely passed the buck, saying he would need to consult with his military superiors and possibly the civilian authorities of the Republic itself. With that, the meeting had ended substantively, though there was still the little matter of what the opposing forces on the plain would do: the [Gobbertons] had a bit of a reputation to uphold after all. And so, after briefly conferring, the [Gobberton] army charged the other side but, before they got in range, called for a retreat, something that—though rare—was fully within their military strategy manual.
And thus the [Gobbertons] record of never allowing a diplomatic meeting to resolve a battle between armies remained unbroken.
Nonetheless, to their surprise, the GDA forces received a messenger a few weeks later, inviting the pair to a diplomatic meeting at the Aerie capital. The local non-field commanders raised a fit about losing their best field commanders, convinced that it was an elaborate trap to kill them, but the pair really didn’t care for such trivial concerns.
On the way, the Republic carriage had driven them through several cities, towns and villages that the Republic had conquered. While their driver was silent as always, the somewhat roundabout route was clearly meant to display to them the benefits of [Gobberton] administration.
Eventually, they left the plains behind and were now being pulled along a well-paved road up and deep into the mountains. They had forgotten quite how far it was into the wilderness when they had started with the [Gobberton] experiment all those centuries ago, but the ride was pleasant, and the cool, if thin, fresh mountain air was invigorating.
A bit of nostalgia for their time as [Eagles] passed briefly over the both of them.
Finally, as they rounded the last mountain, the capital came into sight.
What a marvelous thing it was. In the millennia since its founding, it had stretched out across the entirety of the mountain valley, and now reached from peak to peak (and then some). The city was densely built, with many buildings 15 or 20 meters high, and built edge-to-edge with each other. Often covered in white marble quarried from nearby, the city’s buildings in the aggregate shown with a blinding white haze, not unlike the effect of being in a large snowfield in bright sunshine. Aqueducts brought in vast quantities of water, pouring into public pools. Great boulevards crisscrossed the city, allowing a [Gobberton] of even middling Attributes to cross the city on foot in no more than two hours.
A million living souls, twenty-four hours a day. A city that never sleeps.
After an hour passing through the bustling city streets, the pair find their carriage stopping in a large, nearly deserted plaza. A huge 20 meter high colonnade wraps around it protectively, while along one edge, an imposing governmental building ten stories tall looms overhead. The [Carriage Driver] scrambles down to open the door, but the pair have already exited, Max in bright green mage robes and Ted in full plate armor. Baffled for a minute, the little green driver scrambles back up top to retrieve their luggage as the pair gaze at the jade statute of two familiar [Gobbertons], standing proud and regal at the center of the square.
The pair murmur briefly. But, the soft echo of footsteps marching together draw their attention to the building again. Descending the stairs is an honor guard of a dozen, as well as two [Gobbertons] in formal diplomatic dress.
“Hail, honored traveler, and be well comed to our domain,” the lead [Gobberton] calls in the formal cadence of diplomacy.
“Hail, honored representative, and well comed we be,” Ted responds in kind, and the pair bow to each other. “I am Theodore, and this here is Maxime, my second.”
“I am Graw Nixem [Senior Diplomat], and this is my second, Billa [Diplomat].”
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A clang echoes through the plaza as a dark metal sphere hits the stone tile of the plaza, drawing all eyes to it. Hardly a breath passes as the honor guard react immediately, two moving to dive on the still rolling object, while the remaining four leap before the two [Gobberton] [Diplomats] and—somewhat ineffectually due to a height difference, the—two [Oni] diplomats. The object explodes with a sharp retort and a huge cloud of smoke.
“[Terrorists!],” the [Senior Diplomat] cries out with a hacking cough as the smoke slowly clears, leaving two dead and debris everywhere. “Guards, after them! And call for the healers. We’ve got a pantheon-damned diplomatic incide—” his words cut off as the smoke clears showing Max and Ted none the worse, even as the carriage behind them is battered and splintered.
“Domestic problems?” Ted asks nonchalantly.
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Soon after, the pair found themselves in a well-appointed receiving room with a half-dozen [Gobberton] officials, plus the two [Diplomats], enjoying themselves as a handful of [Butlers] scurried about with drinks and light snacks. Which, due to being [Oni], the former was mostly iced tea and the latter was various fruits, vegetables, and roots. The room was filled with a light din as the various important parties chattered with each other.
“Oh, you know about the [Goblins]?” the most cantankerous of the bunch said to Ted as he was flanked by two other [Gobbertons].
“Yes. Well, mostly the ancient history. I know the Republic waged war on them for centuries—”
“Millennia.”
“Millennia, then. But I’m actually grossly uninformed about recent developments. And I’m most interested in how you’re maintaining that while waging the current war you are.”
“Ha! For all that we [Gobbertons] live the shorter lives, the longer lived Races can have surprisingly short and fragile collective memories. They forget about all the benevolence that we’ve bestowed upon them and upon Ager.” The old [Gobberton] [Senatorum] chewed thoughtfully on his parsnip sandwich at that. “Well,” he began, before interrupting himself again with a sip, “we dedicated ourselves to wiping out the [Goblins] for a long time. A long time, indeed. Eleven, twelve centuries. And… then we won. Killed the last ones on Eurial. We kept a vigilant watch out, in case any were missed, but none ever appeared. And so we considered what to do next.”
“Well, surely there were [Goblins] on other continents.”
“Indeed. And even at that time, we had heard about Breibone. We didn’t know for sure that there were any [Goblins] there, but it seemed like the next obvious step. Of course, we didn’t have any ships or their associated Classes ourselves, so we had to work with the various maritime powers to negotiate passage. And given the extreme difficulties with travel, the distance and cost involved, plans were made to establish a colony there rather than a mere expeditionary force. Given a few generations, it would likely grow to be entirely independent from the Republic and they’d be better suited to support the local efforts than ourselves. But, in any event, we knew, even then, that the continued eradication could not occupy ourselves.”
“And then?”
“Well… the maps came.”
“The maps?”
“Yes. It was the—” the old [Gobberton] paused as he picked at the newest fingerfood, “—strangest thing. Five academies across the continent suddenly received extremely high quality maps of the entirety of Ager, created by an extraordinarily high-leveled [Cartographer]. Of course, we didn’t receive an original, but within a decade we had started receiving high quality copies. I—” he trailed off, but his voice took on an awestruck tone. “I saw one once. An original. It was a marvelous thing. It was so alive. As if I was looking down at Ager itself from the Godshome, able to reach out and shape the world.” The old [Gobberton] shook his head, the awe leaving him as he bit into another sandwich. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they had 70 levels on them.”
“But, what did the maps do?”
“Well, suddenly, we knew there were a whole two other continents we knew almost nothing about. We sent our [Scholars] diving back into the research stacks, sent hundreds of them on pilgrimages to other learned places throughout the continents, and they came up with almost nothing.”
“You were trapped then on Eurial. Or, at least, Eurial and Breibone.”
“That’s right. And by the time we reached that conclusion, the colony on Breibone had become fully independent and didn’t need our help anymore, and it wasn’t effective to lend it anyways. We had no idea if there were [Goblins] on those other two continents, but if there were, we had no way to get there. Our mandate came to a halt.”
“Again.”
“Again. But harder this time. And so we entered a self-reflective period. We compared ourselves to our neighbors and marveled at what we had wrought. We were superior to [Goblins], not merely because we could actually reproduce among ourselves, but because we had discipline and commonality of purpose. A strong respect for social and economic development. And, looking around at the stinking, fetid conditions in most other cities of the continent, it was an easy decision to make.
We decided, in our wisdom, that the other Races should submit to our benevolent rule. For their benefit though, of course.”
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