Sunday, November 20, 2005

Slave

Today I stand at a great banquet, in honor of gods know what petty political move by the rulers of this distant land. Sincerely, I don’t care much for what happens around these parts. This is one of the many cities that thrive in the Scavenger Lands, but it is not my destination. I am just passing by. But whether I care for their petty squabbles or not, they have food, and a chance to listen in to other people’s affairs. Sometimes I can gather useful information from these.

I concentrate my essence upon myself, and disguise myself as a wealthy foreigner, with clothes to match my haughty impression, thanks to my Autochthonian friends. With this disguise, and a few additional effects, no one argues my being there: I just belong.

Which is just as well, because a foreigner who just arrived is a very hungry person! I quickly get to eating, while keeping observant of the social interactions between people. Some, maybe out of curiosity, decide to strike up a conversation with me. I chat, nonchalantly, playing my part, when something catches my eye.

I see a couple, man and woman, both of them dressed impeccably. Something about the both of them seems out of place, if only vaguely. I can’t tell what is the matter with the gentleman, which, in and of itself, is a scary thought: Only an Exalt such as I would be able to resist my investigations.

The lady, although still difficult, I can read easily, which also worries me. From the social interactions between the couple and the patrons, they seem to be a well-established couple of the area, not very wealthy, but well-connected. Some people seem to look to them for favors. But from the relationship with each other, and this I can only capture after expending my essence to amplify my understanding, I get something completely different.

She is his slave.

Now, generally, slavery is an accepted occurrence in these parts, at least as far as I can tell. So why go through all this trouble to hide it? And why would she agree to hide it? And who is he? The fact that he seems to be some kind of powerful entity troubles me, for I can’t see what would such a being be doing in this area.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

watch out for typos, cause they can change the understanding of a sentence. this happened in the first sentence. other than that, you got my whole attetion and im dying to know more about this entity and her disguise slave :D so you better deliver continuation of this story... at least for me :D

Ashtear said...

What typo?

Anonymous said...

you wrote gods know ... when its supposee to say god knows

Ashtear said...

Actually, that wasn't a typo. Religion in the world of Exalted is mainly politheistic. That is, they believe in many gods.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polytheism

^_^

Anonymous said...

Granted, still the way you constructed the sentence suggets that sequence of words apply as a form of expression, and not referring to the politheistic nature of the world of exalted. If it was referring to the religion aspects of exalted, then i believe you did the sentence wrong.

Ashtear said...

Correct. It applies as a form of expression. But the original expression "God knows" refers to a mainly monotheistic way of seeing the world, which doesn't exist in Exalted. So the expression "God knows" would've been sorely out of place, seeing as how the God that goes in that expression is nonexistent here. So I just translated the expression to a more politheistic point of view.

Now, I don't think this warrants such a lengthened argument. But sure, keep at it. Keeps me interested. ^_^