Sleipner beeped a little unhappily as the sidecar was fit on, and the short obelisk-like column laid down inside it. Bracketing it was some ‘luggage’ that might be useful.

“Oh, shush now. Use your Vaccine, and link to the Column. It’s a GDS relay and cell transmission tower linked right back here to the Hall. We’re going to be going through areas with no cell connection. If we can’t port it with us, you’re going to be offline, and we won’t be able to reach Gregorigori.”

Sleipner whinny-tooted, lights dancing across his dashboard, and a few lit up on the prone Obelisk before the lid on the sidecar was closed.

I would be riding on the back, as normal. The sidecar was for cargo.

“Ready to go?” I asked Master Fred rhetorically. It was early in the morning, and even the Hall, which rose to greet the dawn, wasn’t active yet. I didn’t want a big sendoff, after all.

He just nodded, and waited for me to swing up onto the secondary seat. The sidecar was hovering a foot off the ground, so there would be no wheel to drag at Sleipner’s handling. Then he swung into his place, not bothering to grab the handlebars as he leaned back, and Sleipner rolled into motion.

We trundled near soundlessly through the quiet areas of the Halls, only the eyes of late-night watchers and a few Familiars and Constructs following us as we went away.

-Abby, we’re on our way. I’ll keep you updated with our progress,- I /Messaged out along the Allegiance channel.

-Don’t worry, Lady Traveler! I’ll keep everything in good order!- the enthusiastic young Alchemist /replied. I’d passed her the formula for the Bloodbonding Ink, and she and some of my other new Vassals would be taking over administration of the spells being purchased.

In the garden behind the church of Sylune here, off in the corner, stood a flag. It was glowing softly, as befitting something that symbolized the first Allegiance active here on the Shrouded Earth.

I could only recruit those with less accrued, active Karma then I had, which was why I had concentrated my efforts among those stuck at lower Levels, and those who were basically young, anyways. The Leveling guides, the access to new spells, the build advice, and very importantly, the money and the Amulets getting churned out as fast as people would give us the gold to buy the spells, all were incentives on the main level, but the real thing was a new unity of purpose.

I was there to bring down the Shroud.

Abby had been the first person to swear under me. She didn’t understand the power of Noble Levels, ever-rising Charisma, Diplomacy Ranks, Bardic Influence, and my Leadership Feat were influencing her subtly, but she had seen my presence and influence explode within the Hall after I came onto the scene. I had explained to her my ultimate purpose, told her that I would cut her free if she truly wasn’t suitable for being under me, and she had solemnly sworn that Oath to me under the flag I had been allowed to set up in the back of that temple, as a Chosen of Sylune.

She had gawked when the Oath manifested around her, totally flabbergasted. An Oath of Fealty to a Monarch was a solemn and true thing in a magical realm, and despite living in a place where Heavenbound swore solemn Oaths and Clerics and Templars took Vows, she had not expected to ever feel such an investiture herself.

Then she felt my Monarch’s Mantle fall across her, looked at me, and realized she hadn’t had any idea what she had been doing, but it was going to change her life.

I had named her my Seneschal, the person who holds the keys to the castle.

Within days, my Allegiance had grown to twoscore, and was quietly getting ever bigger. It wasn’t big enough to generate free /tell’s yet, you had to expend Messages to do so... but it was a link and unity of purpose and vision that transcended what they had come to the Hall for, and summed it up at the same time.

I wanted people willing to work for a Great Cause, not just for me. I was working for that Great Cause. They could see it, they could feel it, and they could feel that if they got behind it, there were things they were going to be able to do.

A Monarch’s Mantle summed up who they were, and conferred that benefit upon those that followed them. It could be a martial effect, granting a bonus Feat, or something that helped teamwork, or a bonus to a skill they exemplified.

Mine granted them the effect of my Talent, +3 to Concentration and Meditation.

Thoughtful, yet focused. Deep, yet sharp. Adaptable and flexible, but strong. Accepting... but lethal.

I was a glowing golden diamond above them, my thoughts always working, focused on my goal. They could see it, feel it, understand it, use it.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Monarch’s Mantle, the manifestation of Duty and Loyalty. As they would be Loyal to me, I would execute my Duty to them, and lead them on this course.

Noblesse oblige had both teeth and rewards in a magical world. An Allegiance strong with Duty and Loyalty could do great things together, using the power to accomplish extra things that would be very difficult to do alone. It wasn’t all that different from Faith, in its way, but stayed at the mortal level.

The making of a formal master/follower relationship, with Oaths of Fealty rising and falling in a chain, would certainly redefine societies, turning something ambiguous and uncertain into something concrete and far more intimate.

I wasn’t focused on getting active fighting followers, yet. First I wanted the support network, the common people who gathered to a common cause and devoted themselves to it in whatever degree they could do so, adopting other people in as both followers and peers of their own, expanding out into the world.

I had taken Logistics Ranks for a reason, and working out how to maximize what everyone coming in could accomplish with greatest efficiency was why I was doing this. With an Allegiance system, so, so much of the waste that occurred with normal human interactions could be streamlined, and everything hum along. Contributions were contributions, and sang up and down the Allegiance ties. If you were slacking, your Loyalty falling was obvious, and everyone knew it. If you were contributing, likewise it was plain to see and tell.

You didn’t get overlooked, and if you didn’t actually do the work, it didn’t matter who you were or how cute you were, everyone could see it. Credit went where it was due, no more, no less...

Allegiances defined the world back on Terra-Luna, and they would eventually do so here. No traditional government could survive the influence of Allegiances, when it came down to it, and Loyalty and Duty inside an Allegiance trumped any lip service to king, country, and land of birth.

You were in an Allegiance because you believed. If your belief in king or country trumped that, you couldn’t swear in. It was that simple.

That didn’t mean you couldn’t be faithful and loyal to other, lesser causes. My new Vassals were mostly Americans and Canadians, and still considered themselves citizens. But they knew, deep down in their guts, that if I called them to go elsewhere, or their countries turned against me, they’d follow me.

Allegiances had power, it was as simple as that.

I was about to go do something incredibly violent, right in a Shroudzone, in the teeth of millions of undead.

It was going to shake the world. My Allegiance was going to watch it all, and realize that they could do that, too...

We rolled out the gates, Sleipner beeping them to let them know we were coming, and into the sparse morning traffic.

It was dark, but neither of us really had problems seeing... and Sleipner could naturally flow through a city and its streets like it was his back yard.

I brought up Detect Location and my Visual File, and began to track my location and extend my lived-line on this new course.

I noticed we were heading west instead of south-west. “New course?”

THE MICK IS MEETING US OUTSIDE CHICAGO, ALONG WITH A FOURTH PERSON WHO WILL PROVE VERY USEFUL.

I raised an eyebrow. “A mystery person?” Not like him to spring a surprise.

YOU KNOW HER AS SHVAUGHN.

“The Fire Empress of Chicago?” I’d heard the name mentioned in tandem with his fast raid a couple weeks ago against the Black Tongue Warlocks that had suddenly proliferated there, in classic gang fashion trying to carve out a territory for themselves in the city that was no longer dominated by human ethnic groups. Stupid bastards... the local powers hadn’t had to lift a finger before the Hall and the Heavenbound had come in to free up those Pacts once again, and the demonic entity that could grant them laughed and collected their bounty of souls...

Shvaughn was a high-end Fire Warlock, by all accounts, and the pictures showed she deserved the title. She was a smoldering, bronzed, auburn-haired beauty with an Amazonian build, and there were a whole lot of reports about just how damn good she was. She did mostly merc work, with the occasional gigs for charity, rep, and giggles, by all accounts. Nobody called her a good person, but she was definitely someone useful to know... and obviously Fred did.

I eyed the words that took a good two seconds longer to disappear than normal.

I knew her as Shvaughn?... That was clearly hinting that Shvaughn was far more than what she looked like.

Huh... it looked like I was going to have to take a good hard look at this Shvaughn...

ANYTHING UNUSUAL ON MAKING FIVE?, he asked, having mostly left me alone for last-minute preparations on everyone’s parts. Unsurprisingly, there were a lot of people who would have jumped at the chance to come along, but the only people from the Hall that would be fighting there were the ones that had left almost a month ago, dribbling out in ones and twos so that no major force could be seen here.

“The only thing that was unusual was that it chose my first spell for me. Exemplar Surge,” I replied. He just flicked up a ? in reply. “I didn’t know the spell either.” ?!? “It’s a halvyr-only spell. Ostensibly, it brings a halvyr closer to actualization, granting a bonus to Dexterity and Intelligence for a short period of time... and a bonus Feat.”

??? I had to smile. “It took me a minute to realize, but it literally meant any Feat I could qualify for... and probably the most dangerous of those is Extra Spell Learned... which allows a Wizard to acquire an extra spell for their spellbook of the highest Level they can cast, or two of any lower level.”

He turned his head back to me slightly. I CAN SEE WHERE THAT COULD BE VERY IMPORTANT. THE THEURGIC METHOD DOESN’T ACTUALLY GIVE YOU ANY WIZARD SPELLS WHEN YOU GAIN NEW LEVELS, DOES IT?

“No, it only grants Engram Slots for them. Only true Wizard Class Levels catalyze understanding into new spells. Without it, the only spells I could use would be those I took from the Libraims and Tomes of the Hall... which are very, very sparse on IV’s, and have only three V’s, purchased directly from you-know-who and basically worthless, as there is nobody else who can use them.”

WHICH IS GOING TO CHANGE SHORTLY?, he inquired again, rather looking forwards to it.

“If there is no interference from my Bloodline, I should be a Faux Ten Caster in five more Renewals.”

I distinctly heard him sigh. YOU BEING MADE OF SO MUCH KARMA IS SUCH A DAMN CHEAT, his words rippled at me, like they were all wagging fingers at me.

“If it was a proper cheat, I should have incarnated as a full Ten and started the process off from Day One,” I snarked back, and he just gave that slight smile, which was as far as he could go with it...