Andromeda Draconis Orion

I watch the all-out sparing matchup between the Conclave's Alexis and Ruth as they unleash on each other with all ferocity and focus. The woman, Alexis, is more powerful all things considered and her mana manipulation is implacable. But Ruth is my 16th concubine and trained by my son Gallexie personally since she stole my attention.

Ruth gives the Conclave Mage a run for her money with her craftiness and expert use of her grandmaster level skills though. A matchup between beings of such levels of power takes up the whole of the 4km² fighting chamber as the combatants weave between the stone pillars and cover great distances in little time in their clash.

I have watched most of the matches between my children and the Conclave elites that have been visiting my empire and I hate to admit that I am disappointed at the levels of skill and power I have seen so far. From people connected to the Ancient One I had expected more but it seems I am yet to find a true peer outside of the older Ancient Beasts and other 'queer' creatures that like to keep their privacy. It can truly be lonely at the top, which is why I surround myself with family and loved ones at all times.

But still having someone of compatible power I could actually relate to at a human level wouldn't have been too much to ask for surely. Not that these guests aren't powerful, some could even give me a run of my money or even hurt me somewhat in a sparring match. But all I've seen come through here are beings I would destroy if I unleashed myself fully with no reservations, and that's a lonely realisation.

My children have made new friendships and met new people of comparable power or stronger though which is good. I try to instil in them the dangers of being prideful when they are young but there is always the dangers of falling into the trap of pride when you are of Orian royal blood and powerful in your own right. Now they've seen that they aren't necessarily the strongest humans on Gaia; even Kakaroth has stepped out of his basement to 'socialize'.

I observe the match for another 15 minutes but Ruth is running out of tricks and room and the stone pillars aren't enough to hide behind for long. Sometimes superior skill just doesn't trump superior power, but I've also learnt that occasionally it does.

Anyways though I have not made peers in power I have made plenty in intelligence, and some that are craftier than I will ever be, and several that can run an empire that rivals my own in many aspects. The Persian Empire in Pangaea with its great wealth and long history, the Nubian empire in Ta-Seti with it's superior military expertise, the naga empire of Assyria, the most successful beastman empire known on Gaia's surface.

I think its time Celestia made peace with the Nubians of Ta-Seti once and for all. My people have been waring with the black men of the Nubian Empire for nearly two hundred years now and though it has been great for developing our two empire's militaries, the war has created a vast desert on the neutral ground of Diabolo where most of our armies meet. I admit that the Nubian's military is almost as good as mine is and so I will have to concede the bet stopping this two-century old war.

I wonder what that crafty woman will want as her reward for managing to last this long. Keeping Nubia occupied has allowed the region to have a very long relative peace though, and now Nubia and her neighbours are prosperous in their unity and alliances. So I have already done the empress a great service with my interference and she knows it.

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The inner city of Orion in Celestia has the largest time chamber known to exist on Gaia; commissioned from the fae in exchange for celestial ore and constructed some 400 years ago. A construction project that took over 4 years to complete though sponsored by the Courts themselves. It took 600 fae and 40 Sidhe fae that specialise in time or dimensional space magic 4 years to complete the project commissioned by the old emperor, the god-king of Celestia, the dragon Draconis Orion.

At that time in history celestial minerals were very rare and for a lot of the sidhe who stagnated in power at certain stages a vital part of their evolutionary paths. To remain in the sphere of the Stable Planets is to have a threshold of power you cannot break past if you remain what you are. And so many fae ascend through the Gates and again start gaining power becoming known as the Upper Sidhe.

But it is difficult for millennia-old creatures to conceive of starting anew and so many choose to evolve where they were, there are many different paths in that choice as well. Some have been known to become Ancestral Beasts, others living moons or planets that are satellites to Gaia, or Ceil, or Terra or any other of the seven planets if they don't want to circle their own Home planet in their entirely different solar system.

But a lot of sidhe choose the path of accumulating power in bound objects that can scale in power even when the fae themselves have reached the threshold of what they can hold within themselves. What the Gaians referred to as the coming 'calamity' the Sidhe Courts see as an opportunity.

When the paths between the Upper Planets, the Stable Planets and the Lower Planets are opened, the ether will trickle down. And the limits placed on those that choose to remain in the homes, empires, dynasties they have been building for millennia will be vindicated in their choice to stay. And so even as the seven planets scramble to prepare themselves for the events that will wash over them like a destructive wave.

The Courts wait in eager anticipation for the Upper ether to open new paths for them to evolve towards.

There are 9 sidhe that have become un-persons in the Courts though. Sidhe that have in the recent years associated themselves with the mortal races beyond the need to procreate and further the race. Sidhe that have lowered themselves to actually living amongst the short lived and revealing some of the teachings that have taken the sidhe scholars much time to perfect.

Little is it known though that the nine are exploring new paths of evolution opened to them by the example of the short lived. The mortals that shine so brightly and burn out so quickly in their struggle against their own mortality and the cold kiss of death.

The Nine are now about to embark on a path none before them have ever walked. After as thorough researched as can be done is so little an amount of time and study 3 are ready to take their next step. Carmella're, Namid're and Oasis're are about to undergo a soul forging and attempt to have soul objects made.

The craftsmen used are the best the fae have to at hand. From Grandmaster Blacksmith Heracles, the fae Saint Heketa the Weaver, the dwarven Master Hammersmith that made Om's Hammer, a Grandmaster Swordsmith from the Hito controlled Underlands that makes all the Watanabe soul-samurai weapons. Then there is Khan Watanabe himself with two of his Adept ranked colleagues.

In their research the Nine have realised that for the greatest of efficiency and the least risk to the soul of the one being forged, its best to let the soul take the shape it desires and not be forced into a single shape. And so they have used their influence and gathered a variety of specialist and as the Watanabe rend the soul, the craftsman will make it into whatever shape it wants to be.

They all sacrifice their horns to the furnace fires, parts of themselves necessary for any sidhe fae. And so they weaken themselves greatly in hopes that they will acquire greater power and affinity with their soul objects.

"Are you ready?" Khan Watanabe asks Oasis who goes first.

"Lets proceed." The strange sidhe says.

With this step the world will never again be the same.