Chapter 15

Name：The New Journey of an Old Soul Author：
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Chapter 15

Author's note: This chapter is a wee bit info dump-y, but I hope that it also builds up the world. Get's more interesting towards the end. Alsd a question to those that bother reading the author's note: how would you like me to handle scenes with sexual content? Neleh is soon coming to an age where such content can be relevant, and I intend to include such content. Should I just write them in as normal and just mark the chapter 18+? Or put them in spoiler tags, and try to keep plot relevant parts out of the spoilers? The benefit of reading the author's note is that you get to influence the decision. :)

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Alright, time to see if youve been paying attention during your lessons, and whether or not you can apply what you have learned. I want you to give me a brief introduction to the major races, their tactical situation and your analysis on where those races are headed in their wars and troubles. Nimue had been the teacher for Neleh for several months now, and knew that she could answer the challenge presented. Nevertheless she was still a teacher, and part of teaching was to test learning. In addition, they had been gathered together with four other teacher-student pairs, and she wanted to show off her student a bit.

Ill start with the four races currently at war, and who also happen to represent tactical extremes. First we have the Demons. The demon race is unique in the sense that it is made up of two wholly separate species. First is the species that gives the race its name, the Demons. Demons are the most powerful warriors and mages in the world, after the dragons of course, and by a pretty distinct margin. A standard demon, if such thing even exists, could be considered to hold the power equivalent to two celestials, or a dozen humans in strength and magic. And to compound on the issue, the higher a beings strength, the less numbers matter against them. So while a dozen humans might hold the same amount of strength, they would still lose the fight ten times out of ten. Luckily for everyone else, demons are quite few in number. They have a very low birthrate and their immortality, when it comes to aging, is countered by their propensity for fighting amongst themselves for power. On the other hand the demons that survive tend to be the strongest. Neleh started her detailed explanation.

The second species among demons are known as the Oni. They outnumber the demons almost 1 to 100 000, but in return they have very little magical ability. They make for great warriors, but much lower in strength when compared to the demons. The oni have high physical strength, large stature, fair intelligence and good skills as warriors, but they are not very orderly as an army. They are dangerous when fighting in small groups, but they tend to devolve into berserker mobs when in large armies. Unless commanded by a gifted demon general of course.

Their opponents in the war are the Faeries. Faeries are of small stature, and although fast and agile, lack the ability to really shine as warriors. Their ability to fly allows for rapid deployment, and they favor guerilla tactics, at which they excel. When caught in the open, they tend to fair pretty poorly. In return, they are the race that is the most magically gifted as a general rule, although their gifts tend to be in very specific directions. Illusions and misdirection are their specialty. This supports their style of fighting, and the faerie arch magus are feared on the battlefields for their devastating spells. Neleh looked at her teacher checking if she should continue into the tactical situation, and got a nod in return.

The tactical situation between the two is a bit of a stalemate. The demons are the party on offense, as is their habit, while the faeries have adopted a fully defensive posture. The land bridges between the two continents allow the demons to bring about their full might on the faerie continent and their logistical situation is great, but waging a war against the faeries in their own forests is a very, very stupid idea. The faeries are pretty bad on offense, but in return they are excellent in not losing on defense. The problem is, you dont win wars purely on defense. I see three possible outcomes for this war as it currently stands. Firstly the war will stalemate, until one side or the other manages to garner the support from another race, thus opening a second front in the war. The second possibility is that the demons get stupid, and try to enter the fae forests as is, and suffer horrible losses and will be forced to retreat. The third and the worst option is that the demons get smart, and try to burn the forests from around the faeries, forcing them into the open. This would most likely result in the faeries striking around the demons at the demon continent to make them suffer at home. In that case it would devolve into a race to drive the other into a breaking point or extinction first. Most likely the celestials would step in before then though. Neleh finished with the first war.

Very good. How about the second war between the Humans and the Beastmen? Nimue prompted Neleh to continue.

If demons and faeries are the two most gifted races magically, then humans and beastmen are the opposite, being the least gifted, and also the two most short lived races. Beastmen are currently the aggressors in this war, though I dont have the information on which of them instigated the war. Neleh gave a little pause, giving Nimue a small but meaningful look considering their suspicions about the interference of the Consortium.

The beastmen are a warrior people, and use fairly little in the way of magic. The magic they do use is usually supportive in nature. Their warriors are excellent though, and they are numerically the largest race. Although their magical abilities leave room for improvement, the different types of beastmen all have their specialties which allows for relative parity. Every beastman both male and female is trained for combat since birth until adulthood and until they choose another profession. Their stamina and speed makes them the best light infantry in the world. Even if faeries specialize in rapid deployment, thats only in small numbers and distances. The beastmen can run for days, subsist on very little and can rapidly move whole tribes or armies over large distances, even in difficult terrain. They also specialize in stealth and scouting, so catching their armies by surprise is almost impossible.

The humans in turn are a specialized bunch in various ways. The human mages have fairly abysmal abilities, but despite this, they are the race that has had the most success in conquest. So much so, that it has required the celestials to step in and put them back in their place multiple times, more than any other race. The reason for this is, that despite the abysmal abilities of their mages, the humans have one type of magic they are very good at, that being the magic granted to them by their Protector God Iarus, spirit magic.

There are two main applications that the humans use spirit magic for. The first one is that human soldiers almost always have a personal spirit that supports them in their specialization. Defensive spirits improve the defensive abilities of their masters, making for very effective heavy infantry. Offensive spirits naturally improve the offensive abilities of their masters and make for excellent heavy cavalry. Their heavy infantry is the immovable anvil on the battlefield while their heavy cavalry makes for an impressive hammer. The second way the humans utilize spirit magic is by binding spirits into magical constructs that fight by themselves. These constructs range from numerous human sized suits of armor that know no pain and dont get tired, into huge colossi of stone and steel that can give the most powerful of beings a run for their money.

The tactical situation in this war is much more interesting than the other one. The human armies are only as good as their preparations, since their magical constructs require time to create and deploy. Their armies are also not known for their mobility. If the beastmen can do significant damage before the humans are ready, and avoid full engagements with the human armies, then they will have the upper hand. If I were in the beastmens shoes, I would try to bait the humans into giving chase and then take out the human armies piecemeal. The human cavalry is a lot less impressive when it has lost some of its momentum and has been separated from their anvil, and the beastmen can run circles around the rest of the human forces, taking out priority targets. On the other hand, if the humans manage to pin down some of the beastmen armies, then the beastmen are in for some very bad times. Neleh finished her analysis on the second war.

Well-reasoned again. Do the other students have anything to add so far? Nimue looked at the other acolytes who kept their peace. Ok continue Neleh.

Well, then we have the three of what Id call in-between generalist races. First we have the Naga, who are the quintessential jack of all trades. Their only real mastery is their dominance over the seas, which should not be underestimated. They dont have the special strengths of the other races beyond the seas, but neither do they have the weaknesses. You could say that the blade-masters of the naga are among the best in one-on-one combat, its hard to argue with 6 arms each holding a weapon after all, but that doesnt really carry over so well into full army level, where the ranks are packed tight. Nevertheless, the naga are very honorable as a people, and make for stalwart allies welcome in any battlefield. They get the job done, no more, no less. As for their situation, I couldnt venture a guess with my current information. Weve heard every rumor from civil war, to sea monsters, to a plague, but the fact is that the court of the Eternal Empress has not sent a word. At least not one that the acolytes of this temple have heard. This brought some laughter from both the acolytes and their teachers.

The Celestials are a weird counterpoint to the naga. They have the greatest potential of any race beyond the dragons, but not that many celestials actually reach that potential. However, if the naga are decidedly average in everything, then celestials as a rule are at least good at everything. They lack the conflict that drives the demons to greatness, but they are a lot more numerous in return. They are unique in their lack of internal conflict, and in their constant meddling in the affairs of other races. The populace of the other races is happy with the meddling, because the celestials almost always help the common populace, but the leadership of the different races is usually less thrilled. This is partially because every other race has been on the receiving end of a smacking from the celestials, when theyve gotten too powerful and aggressive. That leads the leaders to be bitter at being stopped at their moment of triumph. On the other hand they dont really complain so much, when theyre getting decimated by some other race and the celestials intervene. This brought another burst of laughter from the people listening.

The difficulty lied in selling the idea to the other high priestesses without telling them why she knew it would work. In the end she managed it with the combination of two things. Firstly she sold the idea, that an acolyte performing the ceremony would show remorse on the part of the elves, and thus the plea would be more genuine. Secondly was the fact that the girl simply was the best when it came to performing ritual dances. All the other priestesses had noticed the increase in attendance when the girl performed, and the goddess always seemed pleased. Maybe the girls beauty could move even the goddess.

Of course Nelehs appearance caused a commotion among those attending the ceremony. Even though she was garbed in the ritual dress required by the particular ritual, an almost diaphanous white robe with bells attached and a fan depicting the symbols of the goddess, her youth clearly told everyone in the audience that she was an acolyte. Neleh didnt let the audience reaction bother her. She had really started to enjoy performing the ritual dances dedicated to the goddess. For added effect, she drew heavily on the power of her Ignasia, letting all the symbols glow on her skin, clearly visible to everyone watching. Even if no one watching knew their significance, the visual effect was impressive.

It didnt take long for those in attendance to grow deathly quiet while she performed the ritual dance. Although the movements were roughly the same as every year before, her dance brought added emotion to the ritual, that hadnt been there before. She started with quick and merry movements that relayed the feeling of joy and thankfulness for the past year, flowing into slower and more deliberate remorse and apology for mistakes made. The middle part was a graceful and majestic show of the goddess power, flowing in to an ending carrying a sincere plea and hopefulness for the next year.

The audience was stunned into silence, but was not surprised to see the blue light of the goddess descend on the girl performing the ritual, and spreading out over those in attendance, and continuing out over the elven lands. The blessing might have gone over to the elven people, but it was not lost on the audience that the grace had been granted thanks to the efforts of the acolyte, and that the acolyte had also garnered a big portion of the blessing. It was obvious to those watching that the acolyte held the favor of the goddess. Even if they didnt hear the discussion that went on inside the acolytes head and lasted only a blink of an eye.

Well this is interesting. You perform the forms with never before seen grace, yet I sense that you dont hold much stock on ceremony and you certainly lack some honesty in you plea. The female voice was amused. You really arent used to asking for help from others, are you? As I would expect from a destroyer.

Well to be fair, there werent all that many beings that couldve or wouldve helped me in my previous life. Old habits die hard. Now Im no longer in that position, but as I know the nature of your kind and little of what you expect from me, I refuse to bow down. My plea is sincere both in this case and in general when invoking your powers, but I will not beg. And I can sense you dont want me to. Neleh replied, a little surprised to hear from the goddess.

Very true. We require some things from you, and it is only fair we help you in return. You could still follow the process though. Just to keep up appearances if nothing else.

Its only some parts of the process I take issue with. I quite enjoy performing the ritual dances and songs, as you have noticed. They serve their purpose well, even if there is some room for improvement. Invoking large amounts of your power and for long periods of time like this requires the control granted by a well performed ritual, and it is only polite. What I take umbrage with are the little gestures, chants and prayers your priestesses perform when invoking your power in small capacity, like when healing or blessing someone. They only go through the motions because thats what theyve been taught, and they have no better way of control. But when they dont have the understanding required, theyre really just chucking your power at the problem, and hoping it goes away. It usually does, but it is a terribly wasteful and inefficient way to go about it. Personally I can think a thousand more efficient ways to use the power when invoked, by controlling it myself. Neleh was a little frustrated at the methods used by the priestesses, to utilize the holy power. Following the basic healing lessons had been cringe-worthy.

You would of course, but not everyone has your level of understanding. Ill tell you what, as long as you go through the motions to keep up appearances when there are people around, Ill let you handle the control of the holy power when you invoke it. You can make better use of it that way.

Well thats very kind of you. Also feels a bit too easy. I sense a quid-pro-quo somewhere. She got suspicious, because she had thought shed have to go through a lengthy negotiation with the goddess to gain the control she was just promised.

Huhuhu. Nothing you would object to. As you yourself said, you know the nature of our kind, so I dont have to keep up appearances with you. Its hard to have decent company or someone to talk to, while everyone your equal is your enemy or at least a competitor, and all others are so much beneath you. It can get lonely sometimes. There was once a person who gave a warning about power corrupting friendships and relationships. For the relationship to not be corrupted, neither party can be in too large of a position of power over the other. When one becomes too powerful, the other is diminished, and the relationship suffers.

That was a recurring problem in my old life as well. Hard to make friends when everyone wants something from you. She gave a small shudder.

Indeed, and thats why I can rely on you not abusing this new relationship. You know the dangers, and how much it can hurt.

Well, I guess we can see how this goes. She really did know the loneliness of power, and didnt mind befriending someone more powerful than her for once.

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While the parties watching in the audience werent aware of the new friendship that was formed between a young acolyte and a goddess, they did realize the benefits of having that acolyte as a part of their faction. Some, like the Moon Elf princess realized the importance of having someone so obviously favored by the goddess in their clan. Some like the Crown Prince of the Sun Elves, felt desire at the beauty of the girl. Surely someone like her would be an excellent prospect for marriage into the royal family. Some like the Emperor realized the symbolic value a girl like her could hold. Some like the Chosen of Elune realized the potential the girl carried, possibly being a very important figure in the future.

And then there was the one member of nobility that had seen the girl before, and knew of the girls ties with a particular dragon. Well well. If it isnt the girl that performed the strange ritual and drew the attention of a dragon. The Consortium would be interested in knowing that the girl recorded in the crystal has been found.