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The Grand Assembly naturally didn’t end with the two challenges settled. Most of the gods and other powers had not known why the Assembly was gathered initially, but now that they were here, they weren’t going to let the chance to deal with several outstanding issues go by. The Assembly was the natural place to air grievances and play politics. The declaration by Mount Celestis, which still stood as others had not risen to challenge it, limited that politicking somewhat, but it seemed even the angels didn’t expect everyone to just halt any and all plots immediately. And the more sensitive plots that would run afoul of Mount Celestis were kept to private conversations and veiled in several layers of polite language.
“It’s almost admirable how many ways gods can say ‘go fuck yourself’ without actually making it sound rude or repeating themselves.” Envy commented at one point.
They were naturally expected to stand guard the entire time, though the shifts were rotated so that every team got the chance to rest and recuperate. As these kinds of events could easily take years, and it was also unreasonable to expect the brightest young cultivators to take all that time out of their cultivation, which was another reason why enough personnel had been prepared to take shifts. The Host had become more involved in the proceedings this time when compared to normal Assemblies, mostly due to Karna, but now they tried to pull back and stay in the shadows. And they mostly succeeded after enough time passed. Only Karna, as the Princess Ynnead that had just defeated Kurnous, was brought up again, and even she was mostly left alone as the various parties were reconsidering their position when it came to her.
Part of the reason why these kinds of gatherings could take so long was because everyone involved was an immortal, and their relationship with time was different when compared to a mortal. They could easily spend years for a single such gathering, as those years were just a drop in the bucket. That didn’t mean everyone was present the whole time of course, as the gods had things to take care of. Everyone involved was informed beforehand when something important would be coming up, so they could return home or deal with other business in the meanwhile. Even if someone tried to sneak something of consequence to the Assembly while others were gone, such matters were stalled while information was sent out for everyone to gather again. Every large power would always have people present after all. The full Grand Assembly was a little different in that people were more reticent to leave, but that just meant there were more people bringing things to the attention of the gathering of powers.
The major players in the Assembly could be roughly divided into three major groups. The first and most important group consisted of the True Gods, and even to an extent the lesser ones. They held the majority of the power here, though they didn’t wield that power as individuals. In fact, most of the True Gods acted under the direction of the second group, which consisted of the Major Houses. To further complicate the politics though, many of the Houses and individual gods also belonged to factions, which were groups with similar goals and views despite not belonging to the same House. These were divisions along ideological lines, and sometimes you could find strange allies that happened to agree on the matters of said ideology. Sometimes the gods decided to act in the interest of their chosen faction instead of their House, as even the Houses were not monolithic entities that enforced loyalty on every subject. In fact, it was more common to act with your faction, as long as the matter wasn’t important to the House you belonged to.
The third major group was formed by other large organisations and interest groups. Some groups and organizations were not unified enough to be counted as a House, or the power consisted of mixed members from several Houses but wasn’t really unified by ideology like a faction. The most obvious such power was the Host of course, but there were others. The major temples of Light, Grey, and Dark Gods, the economic interests represented by merchant guilds, the representatives of the organization in charge of the Emissaries, Transportation Guild, the organization that represented the interests of magical beasts that didn’t belong to the Houses, and a hundred other groups ranging from political to the bureaucratic.
This third block was also where many of the genuine issues, not just political plots, arose from. It wasn’t uncommon for a merchant guild for instance to request the cooperation of a particular Major House to acquire certain resources, or for another to complain about unfair treatment. Usually, such issues were not minor, as despite the patience of the immortals, they didn't want to spend an eternity here listening to various petty complaints. These were matters that required attention and resolution, or there would be serious issues in the future.
For Karna’s group, the most interesting moment came when one of the seers, a Norn to be precise, brought up that Karna had assumed the form of a Beast of the Apocalypse earlier. And usually such beasts were heralds of, you know, the apocalypse. She had already killed one god and clearly could kill more. And in all the legends such beasts were a huge danger. So, shouldn’t she be dealt with? Just to preserve the lives of the other gods of course.
That caused a stir, especially among the representatives that came from magical beast backgrounds, and an argument was soon in full swing. At this point, Karna took it upon herself to handle her own defense, using it as an opportunity to build up her own political bonafides. “It seems the esteemed seer has not really studied those legends she refers to. In most of the legends, such beasts become a problem only after they are mistreated and either hunted or imprisoned because the gods are afraid of what they might become. Usually at the behest of seers, who don’t understand the principles of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Am I the only one to see the potential parallels here? Now, I wonder how this beast would react to any such attempts made at the behest of this particular seer?”
That caused a good amount of amusement in the gathered crowd, and a few calls of 'well played' could be heard. She continued. "Besides, what most don't realize is that the beings often called by the moniker 'Beast of the Apocalypse’ are just the most evolved form of a particular bloodline. The form you saw is the purest distillation of the magical wolf bloodline taken to the extreme. Just like the seer is the most advanced form of a mortal concept known as ‘the concerned old aunty’ who likes to meddle in things that they aren’t involved in just for their own interests and narcissistic need to get attention.” That definitely caused laughter, as there were many who didn’t like seers.
“The only reason these beasts are more dangerous to gods is because of the Concept they are associated with. They aren’t inherently any more likely to turn against gods than any other being. And if we’re planning on killing or imprisoning on the basis of danger a being poses, then we’d have to deal with most of the members of this Assembly. Is the esteemed Seer suggesting we go down that route? At your behest and direction, I assume?” The last part was enough to get the subject dropped entirely. In fact, Karna was almost willing to thank the Norn for such a perfect opportunity to sweep the subject under the rug. And judging by the small secretive smile on the woman’s face despite what had happened, that might have been her aim from the beginning.
‘Bloody seers.’ She cursed in her mind.
The Assembly stretched on and on, and even Karna was starting to lose focus when she was approached by one of the Imperial Guards. A quick look around informed her that she wasn’t the only one, though for some reason it seemed that even the gods had not noticed their arrival. “Princess Ynnead. The Heavenly Emperor requires your presence.” The female guard, clad from head to toe in white armor that didn’t show a single millimeter of skin, stated in a polite but firm tone. This wasn’t a request.
"Lead the way." She gestured, and followed her out of the fort of pillows that the Grand Assembly appeared to her as. Once on the outside, she noticed six other people, all members of the Royal House, being led out.
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She wasn’t the only one to note the makeup of their little departing group. “What’s this about?” Hoeth asked with an impatient tone, though he also seemed somewhat eager.
“All your questions will be answered shortly, so I ask you to refrain for now.” The leading guard stated. Karna could sense that each of the guards was at rank 13, and the leading guard that had spoken was bordering on rank 14. Very, very dangerous.
They all took two steps where their surroundings changed. The first one took them outside the Grand Assembly and to the bridge connecting the Divine Realms of the gods, while another took them directly to the front of the palace of the emperor. The entrance was guarded by a larger contingent of the guards, but those guards didn’t react to their arrival in any way. It was obvious they were expected. Two more steps took them inside the realm of the emperor, and into the throne room where the emperor was standing next to his throne, looking away from them.
Unlike what you'd expect of the most influential being in the universe, the throne room was not all that elaborate. Karna had seen several such throne rooms under different Heavenly Emperors and knew the décor always reflected the person currently holding the position. The current throne room was rather simple and modest because the emperor wanted it so. For now. Next week he might decide to go for something opulent instead. Thus, the décor also reflected the current mood of the emperor and the impression he wanted to give.
“Father.” Hoeth made a flowery bow. Of the seven gathered people, four made such bows, while three chose to stand, interpreting the current décor as a desire to keep things relatively informal. Karna was of course one of the three, while her mother and Eldrazor were the two others. Khaine had been the commentator during the earlier challenges, as her voice was easily recognized by Karna. She had mostly hidden her presence aside from that.
"Rise my children." The emperor, who had been turned around to admire the profundities of a painting that moved in complex patterns, spoke without turning to meet them. Karna could see the painting was a treasure left behind by some ancient and likely destroyed sect and contained many of their secrets, though hidden within layers of useless and false information.
They all stood there waiting for several minutes while the emperor stared at the painting, before he finally turned to meet their gaze. He was once again wearing a hat that had strings of beads hanging from the front, obscuring his face. The beads didn’t just obscure his face though, as Karna could sense that any attempts to read his abilities, powers, Names, and many other factors would be impossible. It also protected against mind-influencing magic to a degree that few artifacts could. In short, it was the perfect artifact for someone who wanted to pretend to be the Heavenly Emperor, yet they all knew this man was not fake. His presence, especially in this place, was quite easy to recognize. This was also the second time the man avoided getting his Name read by her.
“Some of you may already suspect why you’ve been called here just by who was invited.” The emperor said, and it was somewhat obvious. The seven here were the most likely candidates for the emperor’s position. “And it is as you suspect. I will be stepping down in exactly ten years. One of you will be taking my place at that time.”
They all had questions, though the air around the emperor strongly implied that he wasn’t going to entertain any until he was finished speaking. “Any of you will be allowed to step out of the contention at any time by publicly declaring your intention to do so, though you will not be able to step back into the competition once you do step out. There are three ways of winning. The first one is to be the last one surviving. I'd rather you didn't go for this option as you're still family, but I'm also not naïve enough to think you will all survive. There’s already one less of you than there were before the Assembly. The second option is to get the majority of the surviving, and still eligible, candidates to recognize your victory and elect you as the next emperor. That majority must declare their vote inside this realm, or within the Grand Assembly. I think we all know that thing will carry on at least that long. If it won’t, I’ll make it last.”
All of the candidates took a quick look around and did the math. Of the seven present, Vaul was already supporting Hoeth, while Drakira supported Eldrazor. The last goddess, Hekarti was known as the Goddess of Dark Magic and was generally considered a member of the family in name only, much like Khaine. Courting her vote might be more detrimental than positive as most members of the family did not want to be associated with her despite her rather obvious power. And even with her vote, it was obvious to both Eldrazor and Hoeth that they would need either Karna’s or Khaine’s vote to get chosen. Both if they couldn’t get Hekarti on their side, which seemed unlikely considering they’d all shunned her.
"The third way is to get a two-thirds majority vote in the Grand Assembly. And I do mean the entire Grand Assembly. Any trickery by having only a portion of the Assembly present will not be allowed." The emperor finished. This last option was even less likely than the second one. Getting even a simple majority in the Grand Assembly was already a chore, and two-thirds never agreed on anything.
“Before you make too many plans, I need to tell you something. Something that is only ever told to those in the position you now stand, and you will not be able to talk about it after you leave. Note that I don’t mean I order you to silence. I mean you will be physically unable to pass on the information. The position of the Heavenly Emperor is a weighty one, but there is a duty that most of you are unaware of. The Heavenly Emperor does lead the universe and has almost absolute power within, but we’re also the mouthpiece for a greater power. A power that holds sway over the entire multiverse. It is their authority that gives us our power, and it is their will that sets the rules of the entire multiverse. It is also due to their commands that it sometimes seems like the Heavenly Emperors are insane and give contradictory decrees. It is also because we have their blood in our veins that allows only our bloodline to become emperors. That is the prerequisite required to even become an emperor, and why our bloodline is so closely guarded and monitored.” He glanced towards Karna, as her birth had been an oddity.
That caused everyone to take pause. The emperor had taken this into consideration though. "I'm going to somewhat allay your concerns by pointing out that the one known as He or The One Above rarely meddles in the mundane running of the universe. In fact, according to the information that is passed from one emperor to the next, The One used to be much more active countless generations ago, but as time has passed, the less they’ve interfered. During the reign of the previous emperor, He didn’t interfere or give out Decrees a single time. That has changed during my reign though and will likely change even more during yours.”
“Why?” Hekarti asked with a frown. Some among the candidates already knew the answer though.
“Because He is also stepping down, and someone else is taking His place. Whoever will be their successor will likely be more active as they’re new to the position.” The emperor explained curtly.
“Again I ask, why?” Hekarti repeated.
The emperor gestured towards Karna. “She knows. Better than anyone else perhaps.”
Everyone turned towards Karna in surprise. “This is speculation, but I’d assume due to the sheer weight of time. It can be fun to be omnipotent for the first eon or two, but what about when you’ve already taken vengeance on everyone who slighted you until you no longer care? When you’ve easily won every battle you’ve taken part in? When you’ve tasted all that life and immortality has to offer until it all tastes like ash? We all strive and struggle to become stronger to make our lives easier and freer, but that struggle is also what gives life meaning. When you no longer have to struggle, you will grow bored fast. We’re all called immortal, but why do you think all of us eventually pass on? There are no immortals in the Divine Planes, not even True Gods, that have seen the reign of more than maybe a dozen Heavenly Emperors. Why do you think that is? We all get tired eventually and want to pass on. For it all to end.”
Both Khaine and Eldrazor looked at her with a lot of sympathy. They knew she was talking from experience, while the others were weirded out to hear something like that from someone who was barely older than a child in their view. “She is right.” The emperor confirmed. “The One has reigned for longer than any of us can comprehend. And from what I understand, He has slumbered for the reigns of the previous emperors, just to alleviate His boredom. Yet the universe requires someone to be at the wheel. Someone to set the rules, as arbitrary as they sometimes seem. The reason He has become active now is to arrange for His successor to be chosen.”
“Why would we compete for the second position on the totem pole when the first position is also up for grabs then?” Hekarti asked angrily.
“Some among you are competing for both.” The emperor revealed directly. “However, surely you don’t think there aren’t qualifications required on becoming the supreme being of the entire multiverse? If you weren't aware of that second competition before now, then you don't have those qualifications. And to use your analogy, currently, you're not even the tenth on the totem pole, so why not aim for the second spot? The new number one will be busy dealing with the multiverse and their new powers, so you'll most likely be number one in this universe for the period of your reign. On that note though, there's a reason why Heavenly Emperors only reign for a certain period of time. You will find out why when you get the position, but you don’t need to worry. I will not die when I pass on the position, and neither will you when the time comes.”
“Is this tiredness the reason why we haven’t heard about anyone in our universe having such power?” Vaul suddenly asked. He was quite sure he’d know if there was someone so powerful among them.
“No. Well, mostly not. Like I said, He has rarely taken an active interest in the affairs of our universe. Besides, what makes you think He isn’t right now taking part in the Grand Assembly, just to alleviate His boredom?” While they couldn’t see it, they could hear it in the emperor’s voice that he was smiling. “Now, this meeting was just to inform you about what’s coming. More details will be revealed in the future. Go now and find me a replacement.” With a wave of his hand, he sent all of them out of his realm, and they all found themselves standing at the front where the guards were gathered. Only this time they were barring any access to the realm.