SJE/Session82
Exalted Session 82
1st-15th Resplendant Air
The Tragedy of Saint Alana by Anonymous
Dramatis Personae (As Played By)
Solar Anathema
Saint Alana, Prophet of the Unconquered Sun, and most unfortunate in her choice of both friends and relatives (Cathak Alana) The Captain, A man not so much overcome by his passions as a willing collaborator with them (Ibrahim Al-Amarah) A Delirious Madman (Burning Brand) Quiet Shadow, A thief with an unfortunate lack of anything that might be truthfully called common sense (Shizukana Kage)
Lunar Anathema
Commander Rav, Husband-to-be of Quiet Shadow, and fortunately possessed of enough common sense for the two of them (Ravitsu Cale)
Chosen of the Sacred Dragons
The Roseblack, A Valiant and Clever General saddled with the unfortunate duty of escorting all of the above to the Blessed Isle (Tepet Ejava) The Roseblack's Uncle, a curmudgeonly old man and Less-than-Immaculate Monk (Tepet Arada) Saint Alana's Mother, A woman much concerned for her family, at least that part of it not including Saint Alana (Cathak Antonia)
Chosen of the Maidens (All Players from the Celestial Ministry of Exposition and Theme Music)
The Narrator Helpful Private Third Murderer
Extras
Sundry Mortals of All Natures, Most with More Sense than Those listed above
Scene I, The Lap, 1st Resplendent Air
[Enter Nurse, Delirious Madman, and Roseblack]
Nurse: "Such a blow was he struck that even does he wander far from his wits. Hark! Listen to his strange words. If there be a strange wisdom in the words of the mad, I can not fathom it."
Delirious Madman: "Essence crystal generators . . . power matrices . . . apocalypse gun! No, surely the engines can not take it, my Captain."
The Roseblack: "See the head of yonder giant supplicant? My Uncle makes his abode upon the very top. It is to there that we must journey in order to fetch him. I have sore need of his counsel on my return to the Blessed Isle."
Scene II, The Very Top of the Supplicant
[Enter Roseblack, Roseblack's Uncle, Commander Rav, Captain, Quiet Shadow, and Saint Alana]
Roseblack's Uncle: (In midst of sleep) "Feck, argh, girls!"
Roseblack: "Hush, Uncle, cease thy uncough murmurings. I have need of your sage counsel."
Uncle: "Hah! Now she has need of my sage counsel, she says! And if these are the dolts she's been surrounding herself with, then 'tis surely not a second too early. I ask you, what manner of men are these? The Finest Guardsmen of the City Watch of Gem? Bah! 'Tis a body of men fit only for the battles of the eating chamber, whose best victories are surely won against roast oxen and kegs of ale!"
All: "But-"
Uncle: "And is this the infamous Saint Alana? Bah! But a mere girl, in spiteful rebellion against her parents! And an Anathema, to boot! 'Tis but a passing fad in these times. In my day, fifty years could pass between one Anathema and the next, but now every passing Tom, Dick, and Harry has taken the notion into his head to become a solar Demon."
All: "But-"
Uncle: "Accursed kids! And who is this big ox? Captain of the Guard? Feh! Does he speak, or is he as dumb as he looks?"
Narrator: "And with these unwisely chosen words, the Roseblack's Uncle tips the Captain headlong into the venomous embrace of that Great Curse which even we know nothing about. Consumed by his passions, the Captain prepares to deliver a stern physical chastisement upon the Roseblack's Uncle."
Commander Rav: "In the name of Luna, can you control your temper? Do you not remember what happened last time? It took us months to repair the granite watch-tower!" [Grabs Captain and holds him fast]
Uncle: "Yes, hold the wretched oaf fast; I shall call upon Mela to send his breath to remove you both from my presence, casting you upon the streets of the Lap far below!"
Quiet Shadow: "Captain, I beseece you! Now is not the time for unruly passions!"
Captain: "You coward! Defend me, or strike me down yourself, I care not! But do not stand upon the borders when battle is upon us!" [Saint Alana strikes him upon the back of his head with a sheaved daiklave; he is rendered unconscious]
Narrator: "And with his words is Quiet Shadow also tipped into the grasp of the Great Curse. Now recklessness rules all her nature, with all restraint fled, and in her madness she now imagines herself back at the height of the First Age."
Quiet Shadow: "Enough! General Ibrahim, whence comes this slovenly behaviour? I know the dragonblood is being grossly insubordinate, but you scarce set a better example. And what is this? Asleep on duty? I fear my report to the Deliberative will not be favourable." [Turns to face the Uncle, while Commander Rav takes the opportunity to grow wings and fly away, still holding the Captain] "And as for you: I fear were I to list each and every one of your infractions against the military code, we would still be here when the next age rolls around. But look, let me start with the most glaring of your sins. What wretched dolt in which bureaucracy granted you leave to erect this shack, so sore upon the eyes, at the very crown of one of the triumphs of Realm military engineering? And your personal demeanour is scarcely less painful upon the eyes. By the Unconquered Sun! I tell you, had our forces been as sloppy as you when the time came to make heroic war upon the Primordials, we would this day be surely still conversing in the wretched tongue of the Yozis!"
Uncle: "What madness is this? Not just Anathema, but witless Anathema? Bah! I have no time to trade words with babbling fools!" [Spots Commander Rav flying off] "And where do you think you are going? I have yet to properly chastise that muscle-bound oaf!" [Begins walking upon the air in pursuit of Commander Rav]
Quiet Shadow: "What? Did I give you permission of leave, soldier?" [Leaps up and grabs hold of Uncle's foot]
Uncle: "What, you again? By the grace of the Immortal Dragons, I shall shake you off as easily as as I throw off my boots when the evening comes." [The Uncle kicks out, and Quiet Shadow loses her grasp, falling towards the city of the Lap far below]
Quiet Shadow: "Such insolence! I swear, I shall dock you a month's pay for this insult!"
Saint Alana[Hangs head in shame]: "What ever can have gotten into those two?"
Roseblack[Also hanging head in shame]: "What ever can have gotten into my Uncle?"
Both[Together]: "Oh, the embarrassment!"
Quiet Shadow[Falling to her death]: "Well, here's a pretty predicament! Still, let us count our blessings: at least I am not (as yet) set on fire. Bah! Shall I be sent to my death by a mere underling? Never! The whole idea is insupportable. But look, a banner hanging down the front of the Supplicant; with but a thought my bow comes back to me from Elsewhere. Now I fire two arrows crafted of Essence, and yonder banner comes falling down. Now I grab the trailing edge, and now I run up its rippling fabric. Now here's the crossbar; I shall stand here a moment and drink in this glorious view."
Commander Rav[Now sans Captain, flys down and grabs Quiet Shadow: "Fear not, love of my heart, I shall save you!"
Quiet Shadow[To herself]: "I shall not comment upon his timing; 'twould be most impolitic."
[The two of them fly back up and rejoin the others upon the top]
Uncle[Grudgingly]: "Well, you might still be as lacking wit as the lad who hauls away the nightsoil from the Cathak household, but I'll grant you have spirit."
Roseblack: "Come Uncle, we must be away."
Scene III, Inside the Supplicant's Head - A large hemispherical room, with two great oval windows where the eyes of the Supplicant used to be, and many strange consoles and buttons.
[Enter Roseblack, Commander Rav, Quiet Shadow, and Saint Alana]
Roseblack: "But tell me, good Commander Rav, however did your wife-to-be know how to gain entry to this place?"
Commander Rav: "She seems lost in dreams and memories of an age long passed. I would rather we were all away from here, before she does something reckless."
Quiet Shadow: "What is this? A large red button? To press, or not to press, that is the question. But then, that is a question which answers itself!" [Presses large red button]
Narrator: "Such is the craft of the workmen of the First Age that mechanisms untouched since before the Usurpation now eagerly spring to life, and the entire city of the Lap moves upwards a full yard as the Supplicant stirs into life. For the Last Supplicant is nothing more or less than Creation's one and only Giga-strider, a monstrous construct wrought by Twilight-caste Solars at the height of their madness, and intended to stride forth and grapple with the greatest Behemoths of the deepest Wylde!"
Roseblack[To herself]: "Is this a Giga-strider I stand within, the master controls easily accessible to my hands? What fear of Mnemon's sorceries should I have when such a colossus is within my grasp? But peace! Let us not discuss our plots while others might be listening." [Casts calculating glance at Narrator]
Saint Alana: "Have a care! Do you not hear shouts of alarm and screams of fear from outside? Think of what might befall the Lap should the very ground it is built upon rise to its feet and march away!"
Commander Rav: "Curse these memories of times past, that rise like pestilent bubbles in a swamp to bring contagion and ruin upon the present! But look, there, is that not the very control to quiet the fires within this giant?"
Quiet Shadow: "My reckless nature urges me on, to take this giant, march straight into the Underworld, and lay siege to the very Lords of Death! I have no fear for myself, but even in the grip of this Primordial-spawned madness my compassion for others is no weaker. So I shall listen to the urgings of others and leave this place. Let the Great Curse howl and gnash its teeth at the thought of carnage avoided; I have no wish to become a monster."
Saint Alana: "Yes, let us leave this place. But what of the Roseblack? I fear ambition has surely been inflamed in her heart by this place."
Quiet Shadow: "Bah! I have no fear of ambitious subordinates. I am sure she still remains loyal to the Realm, and 'tis the Solar Deliberative that holds yet the access codes."
Roseblack[Slyly]: "Why, who could say that I am not loyal to the Realm?"
Saint Alana: "Oh dear."
Scene IV, A well-furnished room in the Lap
[Enter Saint Alana, and her Mother]
Saint Alana[Coldly]: "Why, dearest Mother, however are you?"
Mother[Angrily]: "Oh, dearest daughter, you will no doubt be overjoyed to hear that I am well. As well as well might be, when one's entire household is shunned by all as a household is shunned when one of its daughters is known to all and sundry as that most damnable of things, a dread Solar Anathema!"
Saint Alana: "I am glad to hear that all is well. And my father? How fares he?"
Mother: "Your father? Damnable child, you darest enquire as to the health of your father, when it is your wretched misdoing that has sent him into the pitiable state he now occupies?"
Saint Alana: "I take it he is not well?"
Mother: "Well? Well? My wretched child, you have been cause of his nerves almost shattering! Barely a scrap of food has passed his lips since he learned the news, and his hours are passed in ceaseless prayers to the Dragons for the curse upon our House to be lifted! And what is worse - can you imagine just who's arms I found him seeking solace in the evening before my departure?"
Saint Alana: "I scarcely dare imagine; 'tis most unseemly for a daughter to speculate so about her father. But if I were forced to make such a guess, I would say 'twere one of the serving-girls; when I still lived with you I often wondered how they ever had time to do any cleaning."
Mother: "Would that it were so! But no, it is far worse than that!"
Saint Alana[Thoughtful]: "One of the stable-boys? Well-muscled as they all were, it was still a wonder to me that they ever had time to tend to the horses."
Mother: "Oh, that it were so! No, I speak of something so shocking I tremble even to speak it!"
Saint Alana: "A ghost? Demons from Malfeas? My cousin, Cathak Bella?"
Mother: "Nay, dare not jest even about it! No, No-one was the person in who's arms I found your father! Your misdeeds have so frayed your poor father's nerves that he has utterly forsworn all erotic adventures! And deprived of his eager touch and vigorous thrusts, the serving-girls have retreated to dark corners in twos and threes to entertain themselves; while the stable-boys now spend their time rolling in the hay together! Yes, deprived of your father's lewd ministrations, the lower orders are now consorting with each other! Our entire household is descending into lust and depravity because of you! Not to mention the accumulated filth because no-one has done any cleaning for months!" [Worn out by her oration, and panting slightly, the Mother snaps open a fan to cool herself]
Saint Alana[To herself]: "But now I think upon it, it seems that it was always myself alone who did all the cleaning, since all the serving-staff were otherwise occupied by my father. It's one of the reasons I left so abruptly to go and join the Gem City Watch!"
Saint Alana: "But mother, surely you did not come here to meet me merely to revile me so?"
Mother[Composing herself]: "No, indeed not. And I am sure you are, somewhere deep within the demon you have become, still the dutiful daughter I remember from long ago. So surely you must understand how distressing it would be to see you paraded before the Deliberative as an Anathema. And by a Tepet, no less! So I am sure you will see the justice of my request, as a loving mother to her faithful daughter."
[Enter Servant, carrying fine case, which he opens to reveal a sword.]
Mother: "Think upon it, is it nobler to cling to life, and infamy, and in so doing bring down shame upon they beloved parents? Better by far for me, I mean for you, to take up arms against they troubles, and so doing, end them. By which I mean, end yourself. Fearing any misinterpretation of my words, let me forswear foolish euphemisms: I am talking about honourable suicide here. Most specifically, yours. I can hold the sword for you to run onto, if it makes it easier? Goodbye, my fair daughter, and may the Dragons serve you better in your next life! Any final messages?"
Saint Alana: "I am strangely reassured that your estimation of my intelligence has not increased with distance. But I fear I must disappoint you yet again, for my life is still precious to me, and I have no intention of ending it. Now I fear I must bid you adieu, for I have nothing left to say to you."
Mother: "Oh woe and infamy that I should bear such an ungrateful daughter! No, wait, let me speak again; if those be your words, then no daughter have I!" [Exits]
Saint Alana: "Perhaps I apply too strict a logic to the words of a distraught mother, but methinks that were I to take up the sword and end my life, she would also not have a daughter. Besides, I recollect from my youth many an occasion, admittedly when I was covered in dirt from hours of labour, when she could not even remember my name. Oh, what grave sin did I commit in a life beforehand to be cursed with such a family! They say a father may disown his son, a mother her daughter, if the child so gravely offends; can, therefore, the reverse be true? Can the daughter then disown the mother, if the child be so unlucky to be born a Cathak?"
Scene V, The Roseblack's Quarters
[Enter Roseblack, Saint Alana, Quiet Shadow, Captain, and Commander Rav]
Saint Alana[Wearily]: "And thus did my mother depart. Tell me, General, in what esteem do you hold the House of Cathak?"
Roseblack[Diplomatically]: "Surely they are one of the Great Houses of the Realm. Passionate they are, and committed to their beliefs. None can doubt their valour upon the battlefield; and when evil arises, and foul deeds and foolish are done, often times it was a Cathak who was the first to act."
Commander Rav: "Such fine words you say about the Cathaks, and not one of them an actual lie. Were I a student of equivocation, I could find no better teacher."
Quiet Shadow: "But enough of the Cathaks. What of the throne? Who stands to gain it with the Empress gone these five long years?"
Roseblack: "Three are the Empress' children still living. Eldest is Ragara, now living out the last of his years in comfort upon his private island; I doubt him as a contender for the throne. Next is the sorceress Mnemon; she would have taken the throne already, but for the certainty that all others would unite against her rather than see her on the throne. Last is V'Neef, the Empress' favourite; she might have designs on her mother's throne, but I suspect Mnemon would have her murdered in the night if she made play for it."
Commander Rav: "But what of others? Is there no-one else who might wish to take the vacant throne? No brilliant and ambitious general who might wish to bring order to the Realm she serves?"
Roseblack[To herself]: "And with such cunning words he seeks to pry damning treason from my mouth! Or does he have ambitions of his own that mine would also serve? Be careful with this one, for surely he is as changing and tricksy as the moon he serves!"
[Aloud]: "I hope you mean not me by those words; I am but a loyal servant, with no ambitions beyond. I fear any crown would lie uneasily upon my brow, and the word 'Empress' would weigh badly upon my name."
[To herself]: "Let whatever fool desires seat themselves upon the throne; I care not, so long as I am the one to stand behind it!"
Scene VI, On-board a boat on the way to the Blessed Isle, amidst a fleet of 20 triremes, 15th Resplendent Air
[Enter Helpful Private, Dull Soldier, Quiet Shadow, and Saint Alana]
Helpful Private[In mid-conversation with Quiet Shadow]: "Why, yes, pirates still fly the Skull and Crossbones, but you'll find few who dare so upon these waves, for the might of the Realm is strongest here. No, look to the West for those who follow the reaver's path. To the North and West lies the dread Skullstone Archipelago, ruled by the dead, from whence sail black ships, crewed by the dead, under a flag of silver bones upon black. From yet further East come the fearsome Lintha, their very blood tainted by congress with demons, whose flag is a demon's skull upon green."
[Enter Commander Rav]
Commander Rav: "To arms! See that wake that moves towards us upon the starboard side? I have but this very minute flown over it in a seagull's guise, and I spied a huge shadow moving under the water, the touch of death itself about it!"
Narrator: "Even as he speaks, the jaws of a giant unliving whale break the stormy sea, and two ships of the fleet disappear into its throat. And now I must also disappear; it would not do for one of the five-score brotherhood to meet the same fate as a common anathema!"
[Exit Narrator]
Helpful Private: "By the Maidens! Can it be that it still swims the oceans? That foul creation of the Lords of Death that first breached the walls of the Jade Prison? It is the Solar Anathema that it has the scent of, for there have surely not been this many gathered together upon this sea since the prison was broken! And now I must fly, for my fate does not lie in an abomination's stomach!"
[Exit Helpful Private]
Quiet Shadow: "Why, where did that Helpful Private go to?"
Dull Soldier: "Why, I saw no-one there. You addressed words to the empty air!"
Saint Alana: "I have seen this before, but not in this life! I was squashed up against a green window, and through the cold dark water I saw its might bone jaws approaching. Look! The water around us begins to churn; the whale now rises to devour us all again! To arms! To arms!"
[Exit All, Pursued by a Whale]
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