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As the year marches on into the harvest, Nate resolves to learn the art of butchery. All of his followers, save the infirm, were working the fields, and so he insists upon making himself useful and learning to slaughter sheep. Before the year is out, he and Ann marry. Some good news to water down the bitter taste of the poor harvest. Still, Silver holds out hope, they only had to live one winter. On the first of January, the first Silverite was found dead from [[blue death|disease]]. Within a week three others. Ann died on the tenth. | As the year marches on into the harvest, Nate resolves to learn the art of butchery. All of his followers, save the infirm, were working the fields, and so he insists upon making himself useful and learning to slaughter sheep. Before the year is out, he and Ann marry. Some good news to water down the bitter taste of the poor harvest. Still, Silver holds out hope, they only had to live one winter. On the first of January, the first Silverite was found dead from [[blue death|disease]]. Within a week three others. Ann died on the tenth. | ||
Nathaniel wallows in his misery, insisting that this is his fault, God has punished Ann and his followers for his flaws, his sin. Alice seeks to comfort him, tells him that she loves him, tries to kiss him. He shoves her away - she's too young and his wounds are too raw. That night he decides what he must do. Destroy the egg. But as the hammer arcs down it's lurched from his grasp. Three of the robed giants from before appear, angels cloaked in white. They tell him that they're not angels, though he refuses to think it, they're [[Pilots' Coterie|pilots]] and they wish to bargain. He begs for Ann back, be them Angels or Devils. They insist that this is something they will not do. But the two sides agree that he will learn about the world. Become a natural philosopher. In exchange for, at the end of his life, his [[biodata|soul]]. The egg is a distillation of their souls, and he may use it for this purpose through his life. The next morning he finds Alice outside his door and | Nathaniel wallows in his misery, insisting that this is his fault, God has punished Ann and his followers for his flaws, his sin. Alice seeks to comfort him, tells him that she loves him, tries to kiss him. He shoves her away - she's too young and his wounds are too raw. That night he decides what he must do. Destroy the egg. But as the hammer arcs down it's lurched from his grasp. Three of the robed giants from before appear, angels cloaked in white. They tell him that they're not angels, though he refuses to think it, they're [[Pilots' Coterie|pilots]] and they wish to bargain. He begs for Ann back, be them Angels or Devils. They insist that this is something they will not do. But the two sides agree that he will learn about the world. Become a natural philosopher. In exchange for, at the end of his life, his [[biodata|soul]]. The egg is a distillation of their souls, and he may use it for this purpose through his life. The next morning he finds Alice outside his door and apologises to her, expressing that [[The Cycle of Sun & Seed|the book]] he was working on must be rewritten, and her father will have to delay publication. | ||
Nate redevotes his attention to the commune and to the book, but he cannot stop the end of the former. When spring comes, people slowly trickle away, unwilling to work for Sir Denzil to survive - a betrayal of their ideals. It slowly becomes a ghost town. In May, a friend of Silver's from his time as a soldier, [[Donald Taylor]], comes to visit. At first Nate thinks he's there on the orders from [[Oliver Cromwell|Cromwell]] and mistrusts him. But Don is here just with a message, a warning for Nate that his book, already published in London, has drawn attention. Some are accusing it of blasphemy, some are frustrated that it doesn't pick a clear ideological stance. He warns Nate to be wary. He also suggests that Nate's current methodology, of observation, is outdated, that the modern day is the day of the experiment. | Nate redevotes his attention to the commune and to the book, but he cannot stop the end of the former. When spring comes, people slowly trickle away, unwilling to work for Sir Denzil to survive - a betrayal of their ideals. It slowly becomes a ghost town. In May, a friend of Silver's from his time as a soldier, [[Donald Taylor]], comes to visit. At first Nate thinks he's there on the orders from [[Oliver Cromwell|Cromwell]] and mistrusts him. But Don is here just with a message, a warning for Nate that his book, already published in London, has drawn attention. Some are accusing it of blasphemy, some are frustrated that it doesn't pick a clear ideological stance. He warns Nate to be wary. He also suggests that Nate's current methodology, of observation, is outdated, that the modern day is the day of the experiment. | ||
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====Chapter 8: Ghosts of Fleas==== | ====Chapter 8: Ghosts of Fleas==== | ||
Nate awakes to find himself alone; disappointed, he meets his spy. He once more | Nate awakes to find himself alone; disappointed, he meets his spy. He once more apologises to her for Plainsong's behavior, allowing her the run of the house before departing. As he walks through the rest of the mansion he comes upon Plainsong and insists that he apologise, which Plainsong agrees to, before meeting Alice as she departs for London for the week. The pair say their goodbyes, Nate wishing he could leave with her; Alice saying she loves him as she leaves. | ||
Nate rests before the ceremony. He walks out onto the stage, seeing the assembled crowd, Jeova, the Faction of Paradoxes, all of them. As Salomon introduces him he begins his speech, greeting them, how they're present to listen to the Magus. But he is not the Magus. He is Nathaniel Silver, a soldier who has a few connections. No, this conference is the Magus, and they all work together to share knowledge across the globe, as the [[Invisible College]] does, as the [[Royal Society]] does, but on a much larger scale, open to all. And in this spirit he shares with them his secret, his philosopher's stone. He asks the angels to join him, the stone swells, and Christs' pilots answer. | Nate rests before the ceremony. He walks out onto the stage, seeing the assembled crowd, Jeova, the Faction of Paradoxes, all of them. As Salomon introduces him he begins his speech, greeting them, how they're present to listen to the Magus. But he is not the Magus. He is Nathaniel Silver, a soldier who has a few connections. No, this conference is the Magus, and they all work together to share knowledge across the globe, as the [[Invisible College]] does, as the [[Royal Society]] does, but on a much larger scale, open to all. And in this spirit he shares with them his secret, his philosopher's stone. He asks the angels to join him, the stone swells, and Christs' pilots answer. | ||
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====Chapter 9: Ich Dien==== | ====Chapter 9: Ich Dien==== | ||
Aphra Behn wakes up to the aftermath of the lecture, to scholars panicked around the house. Rumors fly, of spirits and windows to heaven, of Silver starting a fire. People are being detained for questioning, and Salomon enters, ordering her arrested, just to keep her out of the way. Salomon's servants inform her that he is one of the Five Masters of the Service; this entire situation was a setup. As Behn is removed to secure premises, her captor is incapacitated, Aphra's patron, her true patron, appears, a nymph who she swore herself to long ago. [[Larissa]]. Larissa insists that she must follow after Nate, capture him. Behn spies him dashing in between the shadows and manages to pin him down outside. Larissa appears again, observing him. Yes. Nathaniel Silver is the anomaly. She pulls out a [[continuity needle|needle]], ready to excise him, but stops, | Aphra Behn wakes up to the aftermath of the lecture, to scholars panicked around the house. Rumors fly, of spirits and windows to heaven, of Silver starting a fire. People are being detained for questioning, and Salomon enters, ordering her arrested, just to keep her out of the way. Salomon's servants inform her that he is one of the Five Masters of the Service; this entire situation was a setup. As Behn is removed to secure premises, her captor is incapacitated, Aphra's patron, her true patron, appears, a nymph who she swore herself to long ago. [[Larissa]]. Larissa insists that she must follow after Nate, capture him. Behn spies him dashing in between the shadows and manages to pin him down outside. Larissa appears again, observing him. Yes. Nathaniel Silver is the anomaly. She pulls out a [[continuity needle|needle]], ready to excise him, but stops, realising that while he is the anomaly, it isn't there with him. The discussion cuts short - the Service is upon them; he escapes through Behn distracting them, returning to Salomon's House where she learns that Faction Paradox has vanished as well. | ||
====Chapter 10: Behemoth and Leviathan==== | ====Chapter 10: Behemoth and Leviathan==== | ||
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The creature proclaims itself a Pilot, a creature from humanity's future, and is distressed to learn that Faction Paradox is involved. The pair exchange information, and they come to the understanding that Nate Silver exists when he shouldn't, that war powers have tampered with his [[biodata]] but he himself is nothing special, nothing unusual. And as they talk, Greenaway comes to a decision. The pilot is unable to leave, not having a corporeal form, but naming him the patron saint of pilots, [[Erasmus]] they made a pact, him riding her body as a loa. | The creature proclaims itself a Pilot, a creature from humanity's future, and is distressed to learn that Faction Paradox is involved. The pair exchange information, and they come to the understanding that Nate Silver exists when he shouldn't, that war powers have tampered with his [[biodata]] but he himself is nothing special, nothing unusual. And as they talk, Greenaway comes to a decision. The pilot is unable to leave, not having a corporeal form, but naming him the patron saint of pilots, [[Erasmus]] they made a pact, him riding her body as a loa. | ||
The pair of them leave the conceptual space together, Greenaway finding herself stranded in a snowbank; the rest of her cell picking her up not long after. Days pass as she heals, unable to speak or move, her comrades initiating her into their ranks as a Cousin. At long last when she's able to form words she shares with her family the most important fact of what her and Erasmus has | The pair of them leave the conceptual space together, Greenaway finding herself stranded in a snowbank; the rest of her cell picking her up not long after. Days pass as she heals, unable to speak or move, her comrades initiating her into their ranks as a Cousin. At long last when she's able to form words she shares with her family the most important fact of what her and Erasmus has realised. The thing they're after is from the [[Gallifrey|Homeworld]]. | ||
===Book Three: The Golden Age=== | ===Book Three: The Golden Age=== | ||
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====Chapter 13: Voodoo Honey==== | ====Chapter 13: Voodoo Honey==== | ||
''The nameless youth fell into the ice-filled river and drowned. On the way back to her house, to be buried, she came to, spending the next week coughing up water, mute. When she found her voice she was unable to | ''The nameless youth fell into the ice-filled river and drowned. On the way back to her house, to be buried, she came to, spending the next week coughing up water, mute. When she found her voice she was unable to recognise her surroundings, her family. Her family, convinced she had become possessed, sell her to a carnival where and became famous, touring Europe, speaking oracular visions in a dozen languages, never aging. Imitations cropped up in her wake until people were unable to discern the original. Finally, one day, she fell silent, though her body unable to die, just as it was as she emerged from the river.'' | ||
In the next eight years, Cousin Greenaway becomes a courier for Nate's letters more and more, traveling with him to Paris, yes. But no matter the demands le Pouvoir make, scholars in England still wish to converse, and she carries his most secret correspondence for him. On her routine trips across the [[English Channel|Channel]] her mind drifts occasionally to the timeships of the Great Houses. Hateman and Erasmus had both tried to explain them to her, and neither had made much sense. But neither did her relationship with Erasmus. Eight years on, and still she hasn't shared her loa with the other members of her cell. Is this betrayal? | In the next eight years, Cousin Greenaway becomes a courier for Nate's letters more and more, traveling with him to Paris, yes. But no matter the demands le Pouvoir make, scholars in England still wish to converse, and she carries his most secret correspondence for him. On her routine trips across the [[English Channel|Channel]] her mind drifts occasionally to the timeships of the Great Houses. Hateman and Erasmus had both tried to explain them to her, and neither had made much sense. But neither did her relationship with Erasmus. Eight years on, and still she hasn't shared her loa with the other members of her cell. Is this betrayal? | ||
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====Chapter 20: Outside the Cathedral==== | ====Chapter 20: Outside the Cathedral==== | ||
The ''Queen Christina'' lands; Silver is shackled and taken ashore - taken to the site of the new [[St. Paul's Cathedral]] where he meets with his new benefactor and old friend, The Master of Service, Jeova Unus Sanctus. Jeova | The ''Queen Christina'' lands; Silver is shackled and taken ashore - taken to the site of the new [[St. Paul's Cathedral]] where he meets with his new benefactor and old friend, The Master of Service, Jeova Unus Sanctus. Jeova apologises to Silver for the affair at Solomon's house - it wasn't something he was aware of then, and nobody in the Service is willing to admit to now. The whole matter is seen as an embarrassment, though it did put Silver in the bad graces of many for some time. But no longer. Not only is Silver welcome back in England, Jeova wishes him to join the Service; he sees in him a kindred spirit - someone else who has heard the voice of heaven clearly. | ||
As they talk, Jeova's clerk walks in, Nicholas Plainsong. He bids Jeova continue, and so he does. There is [[War in Heaven|war in heaven]]. Man has been called to make common cause against God's [[The Enemy|adversary]], and they need a general, someone to train humanity for the fight generations in advance. And Jeova thinks it's Nate's task. He was brought back by God and resisted two temptations - false philosophies he ultimately rejected. That of the beings he called Christ's pilots, and his own, with ''[[The Cycle of Sun & Seed]]''. But the time has come for war, not for peace like Nate wished. Jeova offers to exalt him, make him the head of the Service, Master of Masters. | As they talk, Jeova's clerk walks in, Nicholas Plainsong. He bids Jeova continue, and so he does. There is [[War in Heaven|war in heaven]]. Man has been called to make common cause against God's [[The Enemy|adversary]], and they need a general, someone to train humanity for the fight generations in advance. And Jeova thinks it's Nate's task. He was brought back by God and resisted two temptations - false philosophies he ultimately rejected. That of the beings he called Christ's pilots, and his own, with ''[[The Cycle of Sun & Seed]]''. But the time has come for war, not for peace like Nate wished. Jeova offers to exalt him, make him the head of the Service, Master of Masters. | ||
