[HORSE]

[bloodyashes]

[There is no text in this message. All there are are some drawings of rather strange creatures. After some time, a drawing of a completely different creature is scribbled into one corner.

However, anyone in or passing near Dorm 25 will be able to hear a soft argument between Asch and Murtagh (oneformisery) along the lines of "That's not a horse, it's some kind of monster." "Of course it's a horse! Do you think I'm making this up?"]

Comments

[oneformisery]

"Science?" Another baffling term which erases any hope Asch might have that Murtagh's world features any sort of 'modern' progress.

The Rider listens to the other man's explanation of what an atom is and thinks he understands the concept. But he's lost on the part where cutting the atom means it's no longer gold. What else would it be? Why doesn't the gold just stay gold?

"I think I understand what an atom is," he says slowly, "but not beyond that."

[bloodyashes]

Yes. Yes, it certainly does. Asch glances at the doodles of mechanical vehicles that have since appeared in the notebook and manages somehow not to sigh.

"Good enough for now. I doubt we're going to need any application of subatomic particles here, half of it is beyond me anyway." Why is the periodic table arranged the way it is? Asch has no idea but at least he knows it exists.

[oneformisery]

His face is the equivalent of a whole ream of question marks right now. Subatomic particles?

"Our worlds are incredibly different," he mutters. He, too, has noticed the drawings of vehicles. "And yet it seems many are from similar...places."

He wonders if those strange things will someday become reality in Alagaesia.

[bloodyashes]

"At least swordplay seems to be mostly the same," Asch observes, a statement with a faint suggestion of humour to it. "To get back on the subject - about half of Auldrant's animal life can manipulate fonons to some extent, as well as a few plants and fungi. Most of them aren't terribly dangerous, unless you're unprepared for it, but the ones that are can take down the average human fairly easily." Hence his comment earlier, about fighting more monsters than people.

[oneformisery]

"Even your plants?" he asks, astonished. Plants were living things too, he knew, but they possessed no minds of their own. How could they possibly utilise these 'fonons'? "It's a wonder anyone in your land steps outside." A beat; he straightens. "Are your people all trained to defend themselves?"

[bloodyashes]

Again, there's that expression that clearly says 'why NOT the plants?' as though it has never occurred to Asch that most people haven't experienced the ambulatory variety. "No; most people stay in the cities or farming settlements where it's relatively safe. If they have to travel, it's by ship, coach, or with bodyguards. Most of those who live outside of those areas are bandits who are just as dangerous as the local monsters."

[oneformisery]

"That makes sense." Murtagh decides not to mention that the plants he's familiar with don't suddenly up and walk about. He's glad they don't - having to deal with something like the garden they'd chopped on their first day would be a nightmare for normal folk.

"Before war broke out, the worst danger in my land were bandits and wolves. Sometimes Urgals as well."

[bloodyashes]

People do not usually cultivate the moving plants, Asch would be quick to point out. Most of them aren't especially useful as medicinal herbs.

"Urgals?" It's now Asch's turn to give out a funny, questioning look.

[oneformisery]

Oh, finally something unique to his land? Murtagh's lips threaten to twitch into a smirk but he smooths them out and starts to sketch one on to an empty page.

It's basically this but in a much more simplified form.

[bloodyashes]

Asch lets him draw, his expression going more puzzled with every line. "You have humanoids besides humans in your world?" he says finally. "That's..." Extremely unexpected is putting it simply.

[oneformisery]

He nods and goes on to sketch rough busts of a dwarf, a female elf, and a male shade. Asch wouldn't know, but the elf is based on what he remembers of the woman he and Eragon rescued. The shade is the one Eragon managed to kill, called Durza.

"Do only humans reside in your world?" he asks as he draws.

[bloodyashes]

Asch nods, looking over the sketches. "And a few sapient monsters, like cheagles, but much of Auldrant doesn't even acknowledge those." They're certainly not involved in politics or anything of the sort; Asch only knows of cheagles and ligers for certain that have any sense of self, but they're not creatures that care much for formal societies. The fact that the other beings Murtagh has drawn are wearing clothes is a good indicator that they do, at least to Asch. "Unless you count replicas, that is. They're not quite the same as regular humans, but there's no difference on the surface." No point drawing them.

[oneformisery]

"'Replicas'... They are copies?" he asks, frowning. "I presume they are copies of human beings - but why do you have such people?"

Given the political climate Murtagh comes from, he can only think of ways doppelgangers would be misused.

[bloodyashes]

"Oh, various reasons." Hello, Murtagh, you have boarded the train to ANGST CITY via BITTERNESS TOWN, hope you paid your fare. "Replacing kidnapping victims so that no one comes looking for them. Taking the place of dead religious leaders. Bulking up armies when no real people can be convinced to join mad, inherently suicidal causes. Allowing a madman to deceive himself into thinking that he isn't destroying the world."

You think your political climate is a wreck because of replicas? Ho boy. You have no idea. Asch shifts on the bed, crossing his legs aggressively at the knee. "The first known human replica was a horrifically failed attempt at bringing back the dead. That's the least horrible thing they've been created for."

[oneformisery]

There was a pause while he processed that. His expression took a slow progression towards flat and serious.

"You mentioned them before. Something about replacing the population of the world or letting it fall to chaos," he said slowly. "But though they are copies, are these replicas not human? Are they magical constructs?"

[bloodyashes]

"They're identical to humans in every significant way," Asch says, "except that they dissolve back into fonons rather than leaving corpses. If one appeared here, you probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference."

[oneformisery]

"They are beings made of pure energy then?" he queries. "Where does their physical shell come from then? Is it made of those 'atoms' you mentioned earlier? All living beings I know of contain energy but there is nothing made purely of it."

and it looks like we might get AIR PRESSURE after all

[bloodyashes]

"The Seventh Fonon can mimic atoms," he says. "As can the others, but except in extremely high concentrations, those constructs are unstable. Living replicas are all made out of the Seventh Fonon."

As for pure energy... He seems to relax, a little, as the subject moves away from replicas. "Any fonon, if gathered in a strong enough concentration, will eventually form a consciousness of its own. Most fonons only have one such entity as a manifestation - I'd assume that the primary consciousness eventually absorbs any others that might manifest, but I don't know. It's a very esoteric line of study since it's hard to observe those entities in any meaningful way, since most of them reside in the upper atmosphere. Lorelei, the sentience of the Seventh Fonon, wasn't even confirmed to exist until very recently, and was mostly known through mythology and scripture."

why not just recite a whole lecture on Physics 101 while we're at it

[oneformisery]

There are very few things from that explanation that he can manage to grasp and understand. It's an entirely new system of magic and he can't apply his own knowledge to its particular laws. From what Asch is saying, he seems to be suggesting that these fonons can become solid. So they weren't energy? Energy didn't-- no...

Murtagh looks just a little frustrated. "Lorelei," he says, reaching for something halfway familiar, "is a...god?"

[bloodyashes]

"No, he's a headache," Asch quips briefly, shaking his head slightly before Murtagh even asks him to explain the remark. That aspect is definitely too complicated for this conversation, even if it was the sort of thing he felt like sharing. Most people, he's well aware, would think he was crazy if he told them Lorelei has repeatedly tried to make contact with him since a young age. "Auldrant doesn't have gods, though the fonon sentiences are probably the closest thing, and they used to be worshipped as such. That was long before the modern era, though. The church might be called the Order of Lorelei, but they worship the Score, not Lorelei itself."

[oneformisery]

There is a wary, dubious look from him. "These sentiences don't demand human sacrifices, do they?" he asks. "The dwarves in Alagaesia have their gods but their belief rests on faith rather than a tangible entity. The only other religion I know worships a pair of monsters."

[bloodyashes]

The idea is so absurd that he almost laughs. "Except for Lorelei, I don't think they care much about humans in any capacity. The tides still answer to the moon, whether there's ships in the harbor or not." A saying he'd heard once from the gardener, Pere, to Guy, and didn't it make more sense now, knowing they were both from Hod. His tone turns bitter. "The only thing sacrificing humans on Auldrant is other humans."

[oneformisery]

"Well, there are some things which remain constant between worlds at least."

Murtagh doubted it was possible for humans to ever stop sacrificing other humans. The same went for the other races. They all felt the same emotions, which meant they were all capable of the same vices - and virtues.

...And at the end of it all, his eyes still drifted back to Asch's initial drawings of a horse and he shook his head. Just humans.

[bloodyashes]

Asch, having basically been one of those sacrifices, just nods somewhat in agreement. "Most people are content with being who they are and doing what they're already doing, unless they have a reason to change," he says.

Auldrant is changing, but there's already people resisting it strongly. Every time Asch heard people complaining about the Score being gone, he'd wanted to scream at them, yell the truth at the top of his lungs. That direction involved everyone thinking he was a madman even if he was right, though.

In retrospect, though, he probably could have hired the Dark Wings to start spreading rumours to that effect. If he ever gets back to Auldrant, he makes a note to do that.