[The Silk Palace] Musings of Madwomen (Madeira)

A Nuit and a Spiritist meet in a most unlikely of places.

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The Diamond of Kalea is located on Kalea's extreme west coast and called as such because its completely made of a crystalline substance called Skyglass. Home of the Alvina of the Stars, cultural mecca of knowledge seekers, and rife with Ethaefal, this remote city shimmers with its own unique light.

[The Silk Palace] Musings of Madwomen (Madeira)

Postby Savis Maren on November 5th, 2018, 4:04 am

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The intricacies and complexities born within the Twin Circles was the primary focus of her undeath. For one, it was the cause of her continued existence, her own condition the absolute pinnacle of complexity possible in it. Free will, a true soul, intelligence and movements. Savis Maren knew in the core of her being that the way she moved was dissimilar to the movements of mortals. She felt it as she progressed, how her muscles did very little to support her. No, she moved with her bones, the joints in them. The thought of the potential of Savis Maren's futures distracted her for the briefest moment, the Nuit surrendering her connection to the circles for a moment. She clicked her tongue and rose to her feet. Carefully, she produced her brush and touched up one of the fading glyphs that made up the Source circle. Slowly, she found her thoughts shifting from the circle and the possibilities of Animation to the here and now.

Savis rose to her feet as she breached into her mouth. Physically she re-connected herself to the Twin Circles. The replenished Glyph suffused with djed as Savis Maren plotted the next phase of her contribution to Madeira Craven's bedroom. The Directives were set and the knowledge of Common brimmed within the basins and their platform. The Nuit let the world whittle away, with only her ears connected to the physical plane when Madeira posed her question - a demand, even. The Nuit pulled at the Source and she'd pull at the knowledge she possessed. Each mortal experienced the process differently and Savis didn't try to breach into feelings. Memories flashed before her eyes, the movements of the body caught. A Madeira Craven without a bulging stomach moved in front of the Nuit, but her destination was unclear. Savis instead breached into those movements, dissecting them, her focus a precise tool that sought only what she wished to steal from the creature.

Younger, smaller. Savis Maren saw through Madeira's eyes a place she'd never been. Shifting bodies through a shifting world, one the Nuit might never understand. The Nuit didn't try to connect this place to what Madeira told her earlier. She knew a city the woman mentioned, but she didn't care. Instead she focused on the spectacular distance of movements. The body jerked, hips shifting back and forth.

Next, Savis collected her consciousness to pour into a much more recent memory. A memory Savis experienced from the other side. The Nuit saw it in two parts, shifting from Madeira's and her own perception as an exceptionally elegant gloved hand twitched in a flourish before stroking her own face. The shift of the wrist was emphasized in particular, causing the Nuit to pull readily. Both memories she held and replicated before dissecting them into the sum of their parts. Faces went away entirely, worlds melted into nothingness before Savis found the raw movement, void of anything but the quality of feeling. She took it and imprinted them into their respective sections. Savis Maren poured the twisting wrist into the hinges, writing into it the movement so that they'd function in a similar way. The platform received its programming next. Back and forth, side to side. She wove the knowledge into the Persona before she answered Madeira.


Savis Maren's eyes fell closed in her proceedings, her hands limp at her sides. The Nuit's expression muted until she looked to the Spiritist with a smile set upon her features. The passage of time was impossible to track, but she quite hoped her ally would be as patient as she seemed throughout.

"Once the movements are programmed and its knowledge understood, there's the inspiration for sound. A... much easier process," she admitted. The Nuit painted perceptions into the automaton, utilizing the space between the floorboards on the platform as a means of registering sound. The sound wove into the awareness of Common, then linked into the prime directives. Another few chimes passed before Savis Maren ceased her manipulation of Madeira's soul. The connection went quiet between Source and Destination as Savis clenched her fists.

"After every bit of programming is implemented into the Persona, there's the matter of forming the astral body. The second act of the spectacle thart is Animation is by far the longest. So much is required of a Life Principle before it's matured enough to understand what is demanded. Mortals are given a lifetime to mature, to absorb new knowledge and assimilate it into their habits and understanding. Animations like this one... They aren't so intelligent as to absorb new knowledge. Designing them with all the knowledge needed is paramount, for it's far easier... and safer to start a project from scratch than to try to fix a mistake. In golems programmed with the knowledge of violence," she mused, forging an intimate relationship with the Destination. The undead's clenched fists turned to physical movements. She'd not manipulated an automaton of this size, but also realized the structure only needed an astral body at certain points. Savis' arms lowered, her fingers weaving patterns into her knees. The Nuit knew not when, but she realized she was sitting. Far too involved to pay attention to something as dull as the movements of her body, she instead focused on addressing Madeira.

"It is especially detrimental. My creations have yet to go mad... But I've never sought to design tools for slaughter," she admitted.

Savis Maren forged the astral body, weaving it into the floorboards, the hinges, the lids and then the body of the basin itself. When Savis was done, she shuddered with the relief of her efforts.

"Cha," she breathed, and the platform stretched with a new awareness. The hinges on each basin moved, taking the lids with them before returning to a 'closed' position.

"The Life Principle within will obey either one of us. Then... it will wait for a direction. It will throw itself in that direction, until the water spills from the basin. Be specific and speak succinctly. Confusing the Life Principle isn't recommended," she added.

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Savis Maren
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[The Silk Palace] Musings of Madwomen (Madeira)

Postby Madeira Dusk on November 8th, 2018, 8:29 pm

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Rattled around by the Nuit's magic, Madeira's thin lips peeled back into a snarl as the woman dipped back into the privacy of her memories. The spiritist had never asked Jomi or Hurik or any of the ghosts she had used in much the same way how it had felt. Now on the other end she regretted never being kinder to the people she had burned through.

Savis was looking for movement, flickering through hundreds of memories of climbing and falling and fighting and dancing. Until at at last she had found what she was looking for. The last Illusion Festival she had ever attended flashed through her mind. The air was choked with glitter as a statue of a golden bird had taken flight and exploded high above the city, and below people celebrated. Madeira was laughing, drunk and high and alight with love and madness. Her body moved, her hips swinging as she danced with a beautiful, dark woman in an orange mask.

That's not for you, her soul snarled, pushing that precious, private memory deep down into her mind where it belonged.

The second memory seemed much easier for Savis to find than the last. Perhaps because it was so recent. In the memory her eyes were on the unknown Nuit, her head filled with a longing that ran in circled around questions she thought she would never know the answers to. This was Dira's little gift to her, her mind had joked, a second chance for knowledge she let slip through her fingers the last time. Her wrist had twisted delicately as she dragged her fingers across her cheek, trying to claim the Nuit as hers with that little movement.

Madeira struck that memory down before the thought could finish. That was private in a very different way.

Savis had her eyes closed for the long process. She looked ghoulish in the firelight, even with the scones burning brightly above her. The body was so brittle and pale and tired, used and used again. The soul was strong though. She could see it in her bright silvery eyes as she looked up from her work to answer her question.

"Once the movements are programmed and its knowledge understood, there's the inspiration for sound. A... much easier process," she began, painting strange symbols into the platform. From there she explained how the different aspects of the manufactured soul held different directives and commands. These things could not learn, at least at Savis's level of mastery, so everything must be implemented at its inception or risk failure.

Madeira watched as the Nuit backed into a stool and sat, and her fingers began dancing around her knees in little complicated patterns. Was she teaching it movement? Weaving a spell? The Nuit was not forthcoming and Madeira was loath to interrupt her.

When she stood again she spoke a single word "Cha", and the structure moved. Basin and platform and hinge groaned and the house rumbled uncertainly as a part of itself became autonomous.

It's done? Madeira felt that fluttering of nervous excitement return as she regarded the thing Savis had made to prove her capabilities. She dared not leave the circle until she was released, but she slid off the stool to stand within its boundaries.

"The Life Principle within will obey either one of us." Savis was explaining. "Then... it will wait for a direction. It will throw itself in that direction, until the water spills from the basin. Be specific and speak succinctly. Confusing the Life Principle isn't recommended,"

Madeira crossed her arms and regarded the dowsing platform, covered as it was in glyphs and circles. There was only one way to prove that it really worked.

"Dowse north", she commanded it, intending for it to aim away from the pair of them and towards the lit hearth.

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[The Silk Palace] Musings of Madwomen (Madeira)

Postby Savis Maren on November 9th, 2018, 1:08 am

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The effort required to breach into the surface thoughts of a subject made it truly impossible to capture relevant information for posterity. Savis Maren manipulated Madeira's mind and soul, but retention simply wasn't feasible as a result of it all. Instead, the Nuit redoubled her efforts and quickly moved on to the astral body. She connected the final strings of the fabricated astral body before she made her small demonstration to Madeira Craven. Of course, Savis felt that the Spiritist should truly flex the capacity of the automaton, for it was part of Infinity Manor. Instead of following through, she watched as the remnants of the glyphs she created, having served their purpose, wasted away into nothingness.

The magic that Savis Maren invoked was complete and the Nuit was glad to sever her connection to the Twin Circles While Craven stood up, she didn't part from the Circles, which continued the connection. Savis stepped forward, sliding her foot along the painted lines of the circle and breaking it manually. The line, once broken, fully flung the Nuit out of the Spiritist's mind, a thing she was glad for once her demonstration of her capacities was to her satisfaction.

This sort of automaton isn't the most intelligent I could make for her, nor the most mobile, but the ready combination of both and the utility it offers might prove useful further down the line. she thought as Madeira took over command of the construct with little in the way of reservation.

"Douse north," she heard the Spiritist command, and the automaton, still brought to life by the command word 'Cha', obeyed her without question. The platform shifted with Madeira's command, planks colliding into one another before the basin lids opened, thrown back on their hinges before the force of the motion threw water from the filled basins. It sloshed from the opened casks, dousing the flames and splashing liquid all over the floor. The flames struggled for survival, but ultimately, surrendered to extinguishment, leaving the Nuit and Madeira with only the lit scones for illumination around them.

It was as every time the Nuit formed a successful automaton. Savis didn't quite like the disaster of water that its inprecise dousing made as 'collateral' damage, but in truth, there was no alternative to the matter. Savis Maren stepped forward as the puddle began to expand, making sure that she'd left nothing on the ground before at last relaxing fully. She'd demonstrated her discipline of choice to Madeira, as promised, and wondered what the Spiritist sought from this happy encounter next.

While Savis Maren was often loathe to rely on the leadership of others, she acquiesced to the Spiritist, putting away her paints before she willed into the reserve of her djed. It welled forth from her soul as a blade from its sheathe, splicing away her connections to her wrist and allowing a spectral hand to fly free of its home. She willed the hand forth, retrieving a towel from the vicinity of the sink and stepping forward to allow her connection with her astral limb to remain in place.

Savis dipped the towel, which floated to Madeira's vision without a source of movement, into the puddle of water. Savis slowly rid the floor of the large circle she'd drawn before moving next to the platform and ridding it of its paints. The procedure was done in full, and Savis Maren wasn't the sort to have others clean up after her.

At least... my mess. Technically, she's the one who emptied the basins, she mused, a smirk caught upon her lips. Once the floor and platform were cleansed of paint, Savis tossed the towel back into the sink before working to re-forge the connection between her spectral limb and the remainder of her astral body.

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Savis Maren
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[The Silk Palace] Musings of Madwomen (Madeira)

Postby Madeira Dusk on November 11th, 2018, 11:19 pm

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The command worked. Madeira's mouth fell open as the animation moved under its own power, throwing back its lids and dropping its hinges. An arc of water hit the back wall, and the room suddenly became darker as the hearth went out with a sizzle of burning wood. What was left of the animation circle distorted and rippled as the puddling water came racing back to the middle of the room to a small drain set in the floor. Madeira held her skirt over her ankles and out of the way as she laughed.

"I have never seen such magic in practice! That was brilliant, Savis."

The house was trying to relight the fire without success. Little sparks jumped in the soggy wood but wouldn't reignite. Its frustration was palpable but Madeira ignored it for now. She would have time to gentle it after she dealt with Savis. The Nuit was standing in the draining puddle, hands at her sides, staring at a towel that moved on its own as it wiped away the ink glyphs and circles.

"Every doubt I had is gone. I was right to speak to you in that shop", Madeira's approached the woman just as the towel whipped itself into the sink. "Lets continue upstairs where it's less... damp."

Madeira led the way, holding her skirt out of the way as they splashed across the stone floor. The spiritist opened the heavy, bolted door with an iron key and rattled her way up the metal staircase. The bright, open common room had the sunshine and fresh air that the basement sorely lacked, but was also profoundly less interesting. Except for the ghost.

Emma was standing before the hearth, brown curls bouncing and nightdress flapping about her bare feet as she spoke animatedly to the snarling tiger head mounted on the wall.

"- and I said, I said, you better go! Maddy doesn't want you here! But he just laughed and I had to-"

"That's Emma, my servant" Madeira told the Nuit shortly, nodding towards the little girl. "And that's Raj on the wall. They're bondmates. Those poor things have been dead for years."

She offered Savis a seat well back from the chatter of the one sided conversation, on a plush loveseat that faced a window overlooking the colorful, untended grounds. Madeira joined her on the other side.

"I want you to stay, Savis." Madeira found herself saying, rounding on the Nuit without preamble. "You're interesting and talented, and I have the basics here for you to stretch that talent. I can have a stone cottage built on the grounds, something comfortable and private so you don't have to be too close to... this", she smiled motioning to the chattering child, the cooing blue pigeon and the black cat that was watching them with big, vacant eyes from the curtain rod over the tall window.

A simple Nuit would have gotten her attention. But a Nuit with her own magical abilities, that shared Madeira's ambition and drive? That was invaluable. Priceless. She wanted Savis, to learn from her condition, to elevate her skills and make a powerful friend instead of the slow process of acquiring one. And though her tongue was wicked and her presence unsightly, she had proven herself to be intelligent and capable and compelling. She wanted her around, she wanted her friendship.

Dijed pooled in her tongue, coaxed up from her soul. She stared, blue eyes boring into the Nuit, until the silver eyes looked her way. Words fell from curved lips, lathered in a simple emotional response, a sense of camaraderie, she would hopefully mistake for her own. She spoke low and quiet, no more than an conspiratorial whisper, to foster a sense of confidence between them. You and me against the rest, her whole body seemed to say.

"Lets pool what we have, all our disciplines and all our resources, and do those great and terrible things."

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[The Silk Palace] Musings of Madwomen (Madeira)

Postby Savis Maren on November 12th, 2018, 1:10 am

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Savis Maren was glad to see the fruits of her labors, but particularly, the laughter that escaped Madeira Craven brought a resurgence of satisfaction within the Nuit. The emphasis Madeira placed on the word 'brilliant', without her wishing it, threw a smile onto the undead's features. Of course, the Spiritist's praises only continued to sing forth as she stepped forward and invited her back up the stairs and away from the draining puddles that flowed towards the center of the room. The Animator followed, her steps high as water sloshed against the hems of her simple gray pants. When the Nuit followed Madeira up the stairs, she made sure to roll up her pants to midway up her shin, then followed through the heavy door and through to the common room.

The rest of Infinity Manor was drab in comparison to the basement they'd spent the past few bells in, but nonetheless the Manor was very much an impressive work of craftsmanship. The ghost that chatted away with a taxodermied tiger's head on the wall caught the Nuit's attention, the introduction given at last connecting Savis to the ghost she'd spied Madeira directing earlier in the day. Fascinating that she commands ethereal beings with such ease, she mused as that introuction ensued. When the Nuit and her host oassed Emma by, Savis couldn't help the well of pity that dwelled within her. A pitiful creature, bound by attachments, she reasoned, making her private judgments about the ghost before the Spiritist offered her a seat. Savis took it and waited for Madeira to join her. Without any sort of pleasantries to buffer the revelation, Madeira Craven made her intentions known.

Stay? she thought, her features kept neutral as her silver eyes flickered from Madeira's eyes to her lips, watching the words and attempting to ascertain the intention behind them. She elaborated, singing further praises and promising a property of her own, separate from the rest of the Manor, its ghosts, and the budding consciousness the Nuit could scarcely understand.

Interesting and talented, hm? Madeira, again, seems to offer so much without so much as asking anything in return. Perhaps the Spiritist has other plans for this place... to outrun her destiny as I try to outrun my past, she thought. There was much to wonder, much to consider as she listened to Madeira's proposal. Already, the Nuit had an open mind, quite impressed by the Spiritist and her display of command over specters, the Manor she possessed... the resources she offered.

Is there anything to think about? she wondered, but when that whisper came next, the idea was further reinforced.

"Let's pool what we have, all our disciplines and all our resources, and do those great and terrible things."

The words flowed from Madeira Craven's words, wrapped in honey even as she whispered as a conspirator, plotting her ultimate rule. Amusement rose within Savis Maren as she realized, that for the first time in her unlife, she was receiving the respect she deserved, given the resurces she required but in combination with independence that she desperately craved. Madeira did not seek a servant, but an ally to stand by her side as the pregnant woman sought to stand on top of the world.

This kind of woman is someone I can put my confidence in. A contemporary, though not in the discipline of my choice. A friend? An ally. Someone to stand in front of me as I allow myself to fall into shadow, she mused. Savis Maren did not seek after glory, nor did she wish to infiltrate the realm of politico. The Nuit was ill-equipped to claim the love and affections of the world around her, but Madeira Craven, whose rounded belly would not persist forever, was the perfect mask to wear as Savis Maren plotted her own rise. A sort of symbiosis could form between them, and that more than anything was what encouraged the Nuit on the prospects of the future.

A future where the chains that bind no longer have a hold on me. A world where I can pursue the loftiest ambitions and the grandest of machinations. Madeira Craven has her plans... but so do I, she reasoned, sealing her fate as the woman's ally even before she answered her. There were, of course, a few things to consider.

"Privacy is certainly something I prize, and certainly, you wouldn't want a cold undead being in your home as you welcome your child into the world. Currently, I've taken residence in the Solar Wind Apartments, in relative comfort but alas far too distant from any sort of effective working space. You said before that the work I performed was brilliant, but this is just a demonstration," she assured the Spiritist.

"There are other works I've created that I kept at home. A moving servant, a mechanical arm suffused with life from the magic you witnessed. I believe myself capable of much more, and that capacity will only grow with time. Let's pool our resources indeed, Madeira Craven. And our knowledge. You will stand atop these peaks, and I in your shadow. Together, we could... No, we will be a force that knows no end but the one we put in its path." she answered at last, her black lips stretched into a grin.

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Savis Maren
Only a little bit dead
 
Posts: 295
Words: 399286
Joined roleplay: July 8th, 2018, 11:49 am
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[The Silk Palace] Musings of Madwomen (Madeira)

Postby Madeira Dusk on November 14th, 2018, 11:07 pm

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Grades Awarded!

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Savis Maren

Skills
  • Observation: 5xp
  • Embalming: 1xp
  • Auristics: 4xp
  • Planning: 4xp
  • Socialization: 4xp
  • Logic: 4xp
  • Negotiation: 4xp
  • Rhetoric: 4xp
  • Teaching: 5xp
  • Projection: 4xp
  • Subterfuge: 1xp
  • Glyphing: 2xp
  • Animation: 5xp
  • Philosophy: 2xp
  • Meditation: 1xp
  • Cleaning: 1xp

Lores
  • Embalming: basic maintenance
  • Location: Silk Palace
  • Lore of a rude interruption
  • Intimidation: venting ire
  • Madeira Craven: Spiritist
  • Madeira Craven: a devious creature
  • Logic: suspicions of a deal too good to be true
  • Location: Infinity Manor
  • Infinity Manor: sentient
  • Rhetoric: mocking with grace
  • Madeira: lives with two spirits and a kelvic
  • Madeira: practices malediction
  • Lore of Maldediction
  • Lore of Architectrix
  • Subterfuge: deceiving an ally
  • Politics: allying oneself
  • Animation: the dousing platform
  • Emma: Madeira's servant
  • Raj: Emma's beheaded bondmate
  • Madeira's request: stay

Awards & Retribution
+Dousing Platform animation
+12 simple scarves: -14ki

Notes
I had fun with this thread! :D


Madeira Craven

Skills
  • Cosmetology: 1xp
  • Philosophy: 2xp
  • Architectrix: 5xp
  • Planning: 2xp
  • Acting: 1xp
  • Rhetoric: 4xp
  • Persuasion: 4xp
  • Hypnotism: 2xp
  • Leadership: 1xp
  • Intimidation: 1xp
  • Teaching: 2xp
  • Logic: 3xp
  • Negotiation: 3xp
  • Subterfuge: 1xp
  • Animation: 4xp
  • Endurance: 3xp

Lores
  • Politics: the nuances of the social game
  • Politics: misstep into social ruin
  • Philosophy: a new goal in life
  • Lore of the physical properties of a Nuit
  • Persuasion: assuring mutual interest
  • Savis Maren: unsociable and wrathful
  • Savis Maren: intelligent and eloquent
  • Teaching: explaining the concept of malediction
  • Negotiation: the hard sell
  • Nuits: made by animation
  • Savis: knows Animation Projection, Glyphing, and Auristics
  • Savis: fears infection
  • Subterfuge: hiding lies in half-truths
  • Teaching: teaching an Architectrix hoe to behave
  • Alahea: the summoning star
  • Politics: starting to weave a web of influence
  • Animation: creates artificial soul constructs
  • Lore of Icor
  • Animation: activate the circles with blood or equivalent
  • Animation: implementing directives
  • Animation: animations cannot learn without proper mastery
  • Animation: a complicated world magic
  • Animation: the dousing platform

Awards & Retribution
+Dousing Platform animation

Notes
Notes here.
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Madeira Dusk
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