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Inner Sanctum Security Center | 2:15 PM | Second Day
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obvious fact it made sense for one to be there - we managed to find our way to an unfamiliar hall, which terminated at a heavily reinforced door, flanked by two ''windows'' that let you see out into another part of the building, just past the bizarre metal staircase we''d ascended up the first time.
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other people. A helpful sign informed me that use of the Power was blocked via enchantment in this area, and about a meter away from the entryway, the floor gave way to metal grating which I was fairly confident would open up into some kind of death pit, or possibly vent out poisonous gas.
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did lead to the sublevel and not be wishy-washy, since I''m pretty sure there''s no such thing as decorative entrance tunnels - the only thing in the room that caught the eye was the desk at the rear, next to the logic bridge. It had only a few basic amenities. A box full of papyrus-wrapped candy. A few bottles of water, some empty. A ridiculously out-of-place looking red rug, fluffy and cheap-looking.
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No. Nevermind. We''re not doing this.
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never make a promise to a lady such as yourself in idleness."
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That''s a completely different reason than the one he gave me, I noted. I guess because she doesn''t know either of us as well?
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1409 COVENANT'' and the second ''10573 FLOOD''
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that fell apart, it had already become the standard in Viraak, most of Sao, and half of Ysara. For the next couple of centuries, there was epochal anarchy as cultural nationalists clashed with pragmatists, but when the Grand Alliance was founded, they took the kingdom''s system, stuck an extra 10 years on it as a conciliatory measure, and reframed it as the date of the First Convention, when the Covenant was originally signed.
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years. And the different Parties hadn''t even signed the Covenant at the same time.
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here goes straight out to the rest of the world. It''s to make sure no one could sabotage a call for help, if shit went really sour."
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everything everything. But a lot." She gestured lazily to her left, at the logic bridge. "Just touch the thing, see for yourselves."
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less real, but nevertheless were extremely vivid. They depicted Old Yru, looking considerably sunnier than it had the previous afternoon. We seemed to be positioned on one of the high streets on the ascent to the boulevard, overlooking one of the great bridges that linked the hills and mountains in the city center.
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literally floated through the air using the Power. At its most prominent position was a huge stone archway and pedestal, an elaborate display of criss-crossing waterworks orchestrated by Thalasomancers, and several unveiled military and political VIPs, including Zah-Eil of Bhuruza, a hyper-controversial figure who had been one of the primary leaders of the revolution, but had gone on to broker the Summer Compromise and since cozied up to the Administrators, despite it doing a terrible job fulfilling the promises in said agreement. The Humanist bloc loved him, but a lot of people my age saw him as a traitor who the provisional government probably should have drowned in the Mnemonic Sea while they had the chance.
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felt something, which becomes less and less useful the more complicated a feeling you''re discussing.
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Right, I thought. Neferuaten mentioned that.
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Anomaly-Diving Arcana every fifteen or so minutes, then reports the result," she explained, taking another drag from the cigarette. "The system also keeps track of who is in what bioenclosure, along with a bunch of other stuff, like if there''s any structural damage and whenever somebody gets transpositioned in."
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Shoot. Well, I suppose that would have made things too easy.
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Not as surprised as you might think, I thought, picturing the pile of rifles. "Can you control parts of the sanctuary remotely, here?" I asked, curious. It was probably pushing the range of acceptable curiosity a bit, but I''d been dragged here to help with something dubious, so it was probably okay. "You know-- Open or close the seals, control the golems, turn off the life support for one of the bioenclosures if there are intruders." Seth looked a little horrified at my imagination at the latter suggestion.
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Mostly sure. "Nah, all I could really do here like that is initiate a lockdown, and right now I wouldn''t even be able to do that much, since you need a special key that only the bosses have when this place is actually in use. To do anything complicated with the whole sanctuary, you need to go down to the administrative core, near the arcane logic engine that runs everything." She pointed at the hatch.
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Graphic. "But you''re from the Duumvirate," I said, confused. "You don''t even use the luxury debt system."
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also needed to be renewed by manual intervention. It was one of the foremost obstacles in modern engineering.
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lot. Pretty much all media outside of novels and plays was experienced through logic bridges in the modern era, along with many more mundane functions. People often called it the second pillar upon which the Remaining World was built - along with, of course, the Power. Especially since the mind was its one blind spot.
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Understand that you are being requested to act as a third-party witness for a personal transfer of luxury debt, I felt communicated. Understand that you must accept or deny this request.
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I accept, I replied.
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Utsushikome of Fusai, understand that you are acting as the third-party witness for this personal transfer of luxury debt, from Sac''Nicte''Ic''Nal to Seth of Ikkuret. Understand that, according to Sut-Hekan law, all personal transactions must be overseen by an individual unrelated to and not benefiting from the transaction as a guard against fraud. Understand that, while you are not ultimately liable for the transaction itself in either nature or intent, you may face prosecution should you be acting on false terms and stand to profit, or else be found to have conspired with one of other two parties to engage in criminal activity. Do you understand this information and accept your role?
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is covering up a crime, though," I pointed out. "Assault. And probably unreasonable self-defense."
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I accept it.
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Understand that you must make an assessment of both parties to determine if they appear of sound mind, with a full understanding of the action they are about to undertake. Do you believe this to be the case?
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Yes, I thought.
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Understand that you must wait for this transaction to be approved. Understand that this will take an estimated 4 minutes, 9 seconds.
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being there, it wasn''t actually very compelling after the moment of initial awe had passed. Sacnicte shifted our point of view a few times so we could see some of the more interesting floats - a mobile stage performance complete with with a small orchestra, a giant walking golem that seemed to somehow be made mostly out of ice, an assembly of several absolutely nightmarish-looking artificed animals, like an elephant with eight legs - but the vast majority of it was just overpainted wooden displays with popular slogans from different groups; typical parade stuff.
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technically, most people didn''t need to. Prosognostic events were caused by seeing a face you associated with yourself on someone with an overlapping seed, so if you''d had a good enough distinction treatment that you didn''t resemble it at all, then you were basically no threat to anyone else... And if you had it natally or when you were so young you wouldn''t remember your old face, they wouldn''t be to you, either.
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fairness; not everyone got, or could afford, decent distinction treatment. Depending on where they lived, that could be a question of luxury debt or social status, but it held true nevertheless.
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values which will properly guide them to live lives of diligence and moral integrity. In this, the two-hundredth year of our alliance, we must realize that we can no longer take for granted the lessons imparted to us in the dark years of the Interluminary Strife and through the Tricenturial War. We need to be willing to reach out to the young and show them our institutions work ourselves, re-centering the importance of the family and of local communities, to make the next century one of camaraderie and social renewal..."
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going for it, but without a seed implanted via the Power shortly after conception, the pregnancy would fail within a few weeks. And nowadays, it was hard to find an arcanist who''d go over the authorities heads and risk the wroth of the Censors.
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that end up coming up?"
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Understand that your transaction has now been completed. Understand that 200 luxury debt has been transferred from Sac''Nicte''Ic''Nal to Seth of Ikkuret.
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If you say it like that, I thought, it makes it pretty obvious the two of you have some kind of relationship, though.
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Stress him out how...?
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Understand that this link has been severed by the source. Understand that no explanation has been provided.
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