This is an Official EDICT to be enforced on behalf of The People in preparation for the glorious ARRIVAL of the ambassador at Western City, 2nd Waxing 802.

Any AVOIDANCE, INTERRUPTION, DESTRUCTION or DISREGARD of this or any EDICT is automatically eligible for branding/maiming/execution.

All sapient beings under the influence of The People qualify for the following benefits:

Free water, sunlight, and insect mash, supply to be limited and not recognized for trade.

Currency certified by the Sisters Church of the Cloistered or Tech recognized as trade.

One unit of currency, credit or trade is recognized as one full daylight of hard labour.

The trade negotiation of Tech without third-party arbitration.

The negotiation of uncertified currency without third-party arbitration.

Confiscation and or enslavement for the non-payment of debts. If unfit, the individual’s fit associates become responsible for said debt. If still owing, please refer to maiming/execution.

Debts, bets, contracts, and disagreements have a final clause allowing complete settlement by individual combat that would be free of any form of settlement tax.

All cheaters, practitioners of bait and switch, con artists and scammers, card markers, dice fixers, pickpockets, second story artists, chameleons, deceivers, thieves, and assassins, please refer to branding/maiming/execution.

To obtain a People’s Departure Pass, traders and travellers are subject to The People’s tax determined by weight. Please refer to line nine, non-payment. All conflicts settled are subject to settlement tax. Weight tax is non-compounding, Settlement tax is compounding. See line ten.

Intelligent Animals—Bird brains retain full benefits if medically or technically proficient. Beasts are declared forfeit of any rights and will be treated the same as any useful animal. Beasts proficient in a recognized trade may do so caged or in physical restraints.

The Church of the Cloistered—Sisters of all ranks, including priestesses and monks, are not permitted in any city unless they hold a CURRENT Observatory Pass. Defrocked that have broken their vows are allowed the complete benefits and privileges of The People.

This notice has been written on behalf of the People in the lawful language of the church. Any deviation from this language, its alphabet, the use of any modified trade or gang speak, please refer to branding/maiming/execution.

The high priestess put down the document the young accolade had handed her. The illumination provided by the candles of three was starting to become not enough to read by anymore. She was getting too old. Her eyes were old. She reflected that if they had followed the other branch, they all would be reading by the light of a menorah. She couldn’t remember how many candles a menorah was supposed to hold, but from what she could remember of her studies long ago, it had been more than three. That would have definitely made for much easier reading.

“So, the ambassador and his chancellor are officially here, at the Western City. Only on behalf of the people, of course. And they come down hard on the church. The ambassador feels he can start controlling our movement so soon? I did not expect that he would ban us from our own city until he was able to take it over entirely.”

The young accolade stood on the other side of the high priestess’s desk in her eye mask and long robes. She was a plain one. Never beautiful, but she had the face and form to appear striking if she wished, or she could even look like a man with her close-cropped hair. The old woman was glad to see her so healthy. The healthy were rare still. She had been raised well. Nourished. Provided for. She was tall for a woman, athletically strung with slender, lean muscles.

“He now controls all approaches to the city, High Priestess.”

“Well, then, by the look of this edict, we’ll just have to give every Sister an observatory pass.”

When accolades came to her for the first time, they were always uncomfortable, at least somewhat. Some were so nervous they could barely form words. It was these dark bowels of the massive pyramid. The fact that they stood in the base of the tower that held the city of light above them, and because of this, the internal stone of the pyramid never ceased quivering. She knew it was her also partly due to her own appearance. She was much older than any of them, even the old ones who had been in the church longer than she, and she looked old but not old enough. Some of them thought she was magical.

But this young one showed no signs of nervousness. Unless she intended to deceive, she carried the aura about her of steel and confidence.

And caution. Yes, she was a cautious one, this one.

She, the high priestess, sat behind the heavy stone plinth that was her desk in her office. She wished the desk had something better than a stone bench to sit on, but, alas, this was the way of the Sisterhood. She was too old for a bench without a back on it. Her hair had gone naturally. Not plucked but gone long ago. The full body tattoo of her office had been completed long before this young woman who stood before her was even born. The lanyard around her neck was a burden and seemed to tug heavier on her neck with every passing year. From the lanyard hung a white sphere that looked like a small crystal ball. The high priestess wore it everywhere.

“They refer to the monks, High Priestess. Is there—”

“They only perpetuate their lie. No, what you know is correct. They killed all our monks long ago. They only leave the Sisters because they have not discovered our secret to commanding the clockworks.”

“He offers full rights to the defrocked. This will tempt some Sisters to leave the cloistered.”

Also Intelligent, this one.

“Of course it will, and more will leave.” She lifted the lanyard from around her neck and laid the crystal sensor on the papers in front of her. “That thing has always been heavier than it looks.”

She shuffled through the open scrolls on her desk and found the one she was searching for. It looked much the same as the others—old, stained, and brittle.

The vibration of the encasing stone walls was ever-present, caused by the never-ceasing tug of the tether up through the sky above them. The vibrations sent the sand of the vault floor through ever-changing geometric shapes and patterns that quickly swallowed the footprints of those who came to see her. The constant buzzing thrummed through her stone desk, causing her papers and scrolls to always be shifting their position. Behind her, the candles of three sat on top of a narrow stone plinth jutting up out of the sand floor. The height of the candles provided the best angle for reading in the weak light and it backlit her to create an aura of power to any observers. The old woman just wished she had more light to find the ever-scurrying papers in.

The studies of the Sisters’ told the tower above them was weightless, but to live inside the stone pyramid that was its anchor and hear and feel the thrumming of the tower through the pyramid stone around her was difficult to believe. She wondered what it would be like to have these vibrations end. The ambassador was here now, and it was his intention to destroy their tower as he had destroyed the other two. The other pyramids of the Cloistered, the tower bases were silent now.

But this tower would not fall. She would not allow it. She had been working her twists, her secrets, her machinations for a long time now to prevent such a thing, and she would continue to be as resolute as ever.

She grasped the scroll she had been looking for, aligned it, and laid it directly overtop the ambassador’s notice.

“I left once, you know,” the high priestess said. She tipped the overlaid scrolls to catch more light and peered to read the new sentences formed through the holes in the template.

“Yes. I do know.”

The old woman chuckled. “The Sisters have been talking to you. You have not been here long. I am told you’ve come to us to hide, once a thief.”

“It is said you were persecuted.” She ignored the question as a statement, not verifying it. Bold, the high priestess thought.

“That is no excuse, my child. Individuals are persecuted every day. Should they give up?”

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“Yes.” The answer was quick. “For the ones that give up will be the weak, and we would be better without them.”

“You most certainly are bold for a new young accolade; but we were talking about me, and yes, I did give up once. But I disagree with you. Each individual should continue to toil, regardless of their abilities, after they too are persecuted. That would make us strong.”

“And you came back. Not one of the weak.”

“Or I found a new purpose during the time that I left, so leaving could have strengthened me. Now, back to you. What else do you have to say to me?”

“I do not understand, High Priestess,” she said, halting for the first time in their discussion.

Good. Show some caution. She doesn’t know what I know. She is bold but not reckless.

“Do not be fearful, child. You simply have not yet asked to go.” The old woman laid aside the scrolls.

“Yes, High Priestess. Also, a report just in from the monitors on duty in the observatory. And this slip of folded rag. Passed to me by a young girl at the entrance.” She set the rag on the desk.

“Well, well… something happening up in the tower. It’s been a long time.” She sat back. Those few Sisters monitoring at the observatory could see the tower's apex, peering through the giant glass from the before time. In the darkness, through the long glass focused on the tower top, they could see the movement of figures like red ghosts. The Sisters had never stopped watching the city of light atop the tower for hundreds of years. It gave them clues as to what changes may come. Now, yesterday or today, movement at the tower top, in the city of light, would be a strong indication of things to come.

“Yes, High Priestess. The Sisters have observed activity.”

“Have they sent the report to the ambassador?”

“No, High Priestess.”

“Once we are done here, you will return and instruct them to do so immediately and be clear that the ambassador is to be unaware of any delay in the reporting. But first, tell me what they saw.”

“The observatory sends its respect, High Priestess, and they report Illumination and heat signature. Brightness factor of three. Heat signature strong enough for a lock, but indecisive.” The high priestess opened up the small rag and read the writing inside. The intricate pattern of the way the rag had been secretly folded had been changed. Someone had tried to memorize the folding, opened the rag, read the contents, and refolded the rag. They had come close, but not quite close enough. The note had been read, and they had come very close to covering up that fact.

“Illumination and heat. That’s significant. If previous patterns were considered, that’s an indication of either a tower realignment or preparation for a drone launch. It seems we may be running out of time.” The old woman mumbled the last to herself, then scrabbled through the papers on her desk.

“May I be excused, High Priestess?”

“I am told you keep injuring your instructors.” The old woman glanced up.

The young woman had made a slight start. It was very subtle, but it had been there. Finally showing some uneasiness.

“Are you going to let me know why?”

“Only during fight training.”

“Do you think I’m an idiot? Of course, only during fight training, and that makes it ok?”

“I… don’t intend to harm them.”

“I believe you, but I also think it is more of that ‘the weak should leave’ ideal of yours. You will stop doing that. I need all the Sisters I can keep. You are tall and athletic. Built strong like a lean soldier. And I know you are skilled. You are too much for my Sisters, even my fighting masters. You are hereby exempt from fight training. We will say it is your punishment, but we both know better than that, don’t we?”

“Yes, High Priestess.”

“You also show too much confidence for your age. You have been attempting to be noticed without being noticed. You have succeeded in this; your progress has been tracked long before now. You no longer need to show such confidence. And you also do other things too well. I will ask you to keep these abilities subdued from now on. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” she said compliantly.

“Also, you have had training from the Assassins Guild.”

“There is no such thing, High Priestess,” she replied. Her tone had switched now, cold and even.

“Well, from what I understand, what is left of them after the fall of Central City has trained you in disguise, concealment. As a cover, you were travelling with entertainers. Actors. Jugglers.”

“I was an entertainer.”

“Yes, as a cover for the Assassin’s Guild.”

“There is no such guild, High Priestess.”

“There is no longer, but we have also detected a resurgence with them. So, you didn’t train with the assassins?”

“No one can do so, for there is no such thing.”

“Guild? Or assassins?”

“Either. Both.”

“Well, then, I wish someone would tell that to the assassins that keep killing my agents.” The high priestess started searching once again through the scrolls. “I just had that report… Ah. Here we are,” she said, holding up a clutch of wrapped scrolls. “It’s in these stacks of reports. Sent by your grandfathers, the Camomile brothers. What they have written to me of you over the years is all here in my hand. They were good men. Were they not?”

Now, she could see that this one had been shaken. Only for a flicker of a moment but shaken her she had. The old woman pointed a wrinkled finger at her.

“There. I’ve got you. A slip like that around the unfriendly will find you dead, my dear.”

“You know of my grandfathers? The Camomile brothers? Then you know everything about me.”

“I do. Unless they were liars. Were they?”

“Never,” she replied.

“Then you were trained at the Assassin’s Guild, and you carry the power of the last of the monks.”

“Then can I ask something of you? I have to ask. Was it real? What you witnessed in the cantina those years ago with my grandfathers. Was it a real and true thing?”

“How about you tell me first what the Camomile brothers told you about it?”

The high priestess casually set the scrolls aside, leaned back, and looked up at the young Sister.

“They said it changed the life of every person that witnessed it, along with their own.”

The high priestess chuckled. “I was an idiot then. I believed in prayer and shouting ‘holier than thou.’” Self-mockingly, the old woman shook her hands in the air. “I’m sure you were told about how I acted that day.” She thought for a moment. “But that day… what I witnessed. That was a true machine intelligence. Evolution. I believe that as deep in my soul as I possibly can. If you study it enough, as I have, you realize the church is doctrine. It is only the rules of science laid out to be adhered to. A system established to remain untainted and, at some point in the future, to be allowed to repopulate our planet. The ambassador and his methods ‘on behalf of the people’ has greed and harm in his actions. Whatever intelligence I witnessed that day is… I don’t think it was human intelligence. It wasn’t human. The way it spoke to us. How it spoke through the music machines at the back of the cantina. The way it behaved—it created in me a complete devotion to its purpose. A devotion to our true purpose, before this planet and what is left of the sentient beings on it are truly dead.”

“I see.”

“Now I have a question for you. Likely one just as substantial.”

“Certainly, High Priestess.”

“Do you know you have already been detected?”

The young woman looked beseechingly at the old woman.

“I am no spy, High Priestess.”

The old woman slid the edict and the overlay scroll across her desk in the candlelight.

“Go ahead, read it.”

The young woman leaned in and took up the overlapping sheets. She read the few lines at a glance. Her hand jerked, and the sheets dropped back to the tabletop. Her face had gone white under the mask, lips grey.

“The ambassador and his spies have detected you. Two paths were chosen that day from the cantina. Some are on the same path as we. Some are with the ambassador or, what I’m told more likely of late, the counsellor. The ambassador is no longer as powerful as people may think. I ask that you help our cause. I need you. Your grandfathers sent you on your path for a reason. This is the reason. We can work together. I can help protect you.”

The accolade began to speak. The old woman held up a hand.

“Your next words count. Be very cautious and think. Think about what your grandfathers tried to prepare you for.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“You will keep your studies… mediocre. You will be more ‘subtle.’ I will transfer you to different areas of responsibility. Others may possibly think you are difficult or inept. Let them think that. It will keep you from gaining your levels and being tattooed. You will use that intelligence of yours for yourself. My aid will give you the freedom to act on your own goodwill. I will trust you. I will trust in what the Camomile brothers have instilled in you. You will be contacted by others like you. I have others like you. We plan and strategize together, but eventually, I am the only one who knows what pieces on the board are in play. I decide. Your movements are kept in secret from each other, for if one is captured and tortured, well, my dear, everyone speaks under torture, eventually. I may bring you together to work together when required. You may be sent away for long periods of time to work under a disguise.”

“I have that ability, ma’am.”

“I know you do. It is your grandfather’s work. And I want you to employ it. The first thing I want you to do is to return this scrap of rag with its response. I will show you the proper way of folding. It is how we know of each other and how we pass messages. The folding changes every day. You must memorize the change for each day. You had it quite close, but not perfect. Then I need you to go to the Wayfarers camp and remove a spy there.”

“I understand, High Priestess.”

“This is the path your grandfathers placed you on. You have strayed from it. I am setting you back on that path.”

The woman was still not convinced, but she had little choice but to continue on as she was to be applied to this next task. She was sure that if she refused, there was a tomb deep in this pyramid where she could be kept for a long time.

“How will I detect this spy?”

“The Wayfinder is working to make her encampment safe from the ambassador. This one is secretly working against her and the Wayfarers. Watch the Wayfarers. At a point, this spy or assassin will try to reach the soldiers and betray the Wayfarers' escape. That’s how you’ll know who it will be.”

“Your agent provides this information? How well can they be trusted?”

“The agent in the ambassador’s camp has our complete trust. They always have. I have guaranteed the Wayfinder that she can act without impunity against the ambassador. To ensure that fact, your actions will be vital today.”

“You planned all of this. You had me carry the message from the observatory. You had my grandfather’s letters. You knew my training. You need me today. I have just been a pawn that you have been sliding around on your playing board.”

“And I knew you were bright, but don’t start feeling self-important. You are one of many pawns, my child, and you can step away from my board whenever you like. Let me make this clear. We always have a choice. You are not imprisoned or enslaved or forced into anything. Yes, I need you today. I am asking for your help. Even though we are just cogs on a wheel, it is still up to each and every one of us to decide our own fates. To force the good or the bad. Now tell me, girl, what are you going to do? Your groove in the wheel is coming around. And here you are, about to line up. Are you going to stick? Or are you going to slip?”

It was at that moment that the ancient camera the old woman had placed on her desktop pulsed with light and sound.

“Hello. This is Professor Andoria Seelo, speaking to you from atop the Western Tower. Can you hear me? Do you understand what I am saying?”