The Fire and The Storm - The Nexus of Kellaran #2
Chapter 138

Part 21

"Regardless of whether or not one of the new gods wins the tournament, we support there being another tournament held immediately after the war to establish by meritocracy a new peacetime rule over Kellaran, who will be responsible for rebuilding and restructuring.

"However, we will oppose the participation of any god in that peacetime tournament with every legal means at our disposal. The mortals of Kellaran must be ruled by mortals under all but the most extreme circumstances. We cannot overstress our unity and determination on this issue.

"On other matters; we have been training with the gods of The Triax in their manner of warfare in the void. As has been previously stated; the gods of The Triax tend to use methods of warfare that are very different from those used by the mortal Triax, due to their extreme differences in capability. This being despite the fact that the mortals and the Pantheon of The Triax co-exist in a society that is almost entirely integrated in every other endeavor.

"However, as was pointed out yesterday at the last meeting with The Triax, our mortals have made great strides in developing new military techniques lately, particularly in the areas of mass Movements, Mass Translocations, and concentration of power from many to few. We can likely teach many of those new methods to the mortals of The Triax. This will lessen the vast difference in ability between gods and mortals, allowing a more integrated effort among all of us; gods and mortals, Triax and Kellarani.

"We will all work on that integration after viewing presentations of the newest military techniques. We should have the outline of a completely integrated training program, ready to present to our subordinates for further development and implementation, before we leave here today.

"After all," the great quicksilver dragon god paused for a discreet chuckle, "Some of us have a wedding to attend after this meeting. I'll admit I was surprised to be invited, but I will most cheerfully attend. "Somonik?" Amirgath said in closing, then disappeared from the stage as Somonik took his place.

"It should be noted," the ancient white dragon began, "That many of our most prominent researchers are still engaged in the time-bubbles, and that it is certain that they will have many new discoveries to announce when they emerge.

"However, many other brilliant minds have chosen to remain outside the time-bubbles or to emerge from them, and they have been far from idle.

"To explain what has been accomplished by the unicorns, I present Tithian; First Speaker of The Senate of The People of Morning."

"Greetings. Xervian researchers have discovered how to cast a Gate. They function as a Translocation Plane without needing a physical material anchor at either end. In this way, they function similarly to the Gate that the demons used to attack us in The First Demon War, though we are not capable of casting it over interstellar distances as yet. However, we can cast it over interplanetary distances, which allows for its use as a potent weapon in the coming conflict. One Portal would be cast upon the enemy, or close to them, and the other Portal would be cast at the surface of the sun. The very surface of the sun would blaze directly onto the enemy, who will be disintegrated. The amount of raw energy available there is truly colossal, and I cannot envision any material or energy being having the capability to resist such an attack.

"The Portals of a Gate can also be cast without needing a Translocation Reference, instead being located by purely mathematical triangulation, and without their casters needing to project their consciousness to the location of either Portal. In these two respects Gates are superior to Translocation.

"Also, we have adapted the Hiliani Void-Proofing spell to unicorns and gargoyles. They are minor modifications, lacking the improvements that the Draconians have made in their version, but they are more comfortable and effective for us than the versions designed for humanoids.

"We have completed many projects, but they are minor in significance in comparison with the Gate and Void-proofing spells. We have other ongoing projects of equal significance, but none have reached a state of completion worthy of a public unveiling yet.

"And now, to report on the achievements of Xervian Draconia, I give you Grakonexikaldoron."

"Thank you." the great gold dragon said with a slight bow to the venerable black and silver unicorn, then spoke to the gathering.

"The idea of crafting a compound spell that allowed the subject to survive and work in the void was first proposed by Prince Mark; Key to The Just Alliance, early in The War of The Founding, as part of a possible method for seeing over the wards of Venak.

"We of Xervian Draconia then crafted such a spell and used it, only to find that the wards of Venak grew in Height in response to any attempt to see over them. We didn't realize at the time what an important spell Void-Proofing may prove to be.

"When Prince Mark and his family emerged from the time-bubble recently, they revealed a Void-Proofing spell that Princes Six and Kragorram had devised, usable by dragons but primarily designed for humanoids. We examined it and found it to be superior to the spell that we had designed in several ways, including the energy cost and endurance of the spell. It was also far more complete, allowing far more exact temperature regulation, regulated humidity, a water supply, and an automated variable transparency that allows the user to adapt quickly to the extremes of light and darkness found in the void. We did not modify and improve their spell, as has been erroneously reported; rather we were inspired by it to improve the Draconian void-proofing spell that we had already designed. We duplicated their groundbreaking techniques of spell compounding and spell automation, and applied them to Draconian Sorcery-Magecraft.

"We duplicated the improvements that they had achieved, and added many more besides. Our spell now allows for permanent living in the void, while being completely unnoticeable to the user. Eating, drinking, and elimination of wastes are accomplished as easily as on the lands of Kellaran. Even the instinctual Draconian act of flight is exactly the same, the spell makes one feel the wind against your wings the same as always, seeming to direct the air while flying in the void by means of a clever adaptation of the unicorn Flight spell. Even normal speech and being heard across distances are duplicated by a Speaking spell integrated into the compound spell. It is very easy to forget that one is not in air, so complete and comfortable is the spell."

She paused, and cast a great Revealing above her, illustrating what her words then described.

"With this spell, we of Xervian Draconia have in the past three days begun military operations in the void, including combat training, large scale exercises, and the construction of fortresses on the moons of Kellaran, complete with layered defenses and caches of food, water, weaponry, projectiles, and fully-charged batteries. As we speak, almost fourteen thousand dragons are living and working in the void, preparing for the war. We have been doing all this while maintaining every effort to hide our activities from the demons, in case they should be able to see so far with sufficient acuity. We keep the moons between us and the demons whenever possible.

"We offer our void-proofing spell design to the researchers of other races, and will give what assistance we can in adapting it to their use. In five days we will be ready to begin adding qualified fighters of other races to our void-warfare preparations."

She fell silent for over three minutes as the soundless Revealing showed more scenes of the training and construction she'd described.

When it had run to its end she cancelled the spell, and announced;

"Emperor Osbald of Thon."

He appeared on the stage as she left it, and he turned to his left to face where she now was in the audience among The Ninety-Nine of Xervian Draconia, and gave her a slight bow before addressing the gathering.

"We of the humanoid races outside Serminak; the nations of the humans, dwarves, gnomes, and giants, have been mightily occupied of late.

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