Seeker of Thrones 2-11
Chapter: 2
“Listen Enyis, and listen well. For though her breast be scaled about with thickest iron, the fastest way to a monster’s heart is through a mirror.”
– The blind antiquarian (Enyis and the Boar King, Act 2, scene 3)
I knew Yabalchoath was a powerful being, but I never suspected she was of the “Have your slaves construct ostentatious statues to yourself” powerful. No wonder the angels came after her. It is often unwise to advertise one’s power in such an obvious way.
One of my masters (I forget which, might have been number 26) was a ruler of a hundred worlds under the service of our fabulous Lord Incubis. To celebrate a recent acquisition, he had me construct a colossal statue of him in agate and alabaster to memorialize the event. I labored for a hundred days and a hundred nights and a hundred as many slaves perished in the endeavor, but in the end we were successful.
He complained I got his nose wrong. In response I pushed him off the tip of it.
Would that not be considered a breach of contract, though?
The problem, methinks, is that too few slaves perished in the endeavour. That means tha’ has not overworked them enough, or made them truly feel the lash of the whip. The nose would not have come as wrong otherwise.
Why would Cio’s husband summon her back in so diminished a form, I wonder? When a demon is bound, do they always start at blue?
When Princess was bound, she was very close to starting as Ebon. Only extensive naming prevented that. It makes one wonder why Cio turned blue. Perhaps the violence of her death drained her flame of power?
Or her husband wanted her to be less powerful than him, to be controlled and thus less at risk. Also, it might curb her Desire. If she was returned in full power with her own name, that might attract attention. If she was returned weakened and with a different name, the angels might let dead dogs lie.
There is also the power imbalance. Her husband has a golden mask. She had ebon. Maybe the husband wanted things the other way around now.
I knew Mammon would have some sort of backup plan.
Rulers and bankers know that it takes more than seizing possession of something to truly take ownership. There must always be a means for them to enforce their pre-eminent domain on any squatters.
The lesson that young Cio learned is a hard lesson, but a lesson that all of us mortals and immortals alike must learn at least once in at least one of our lives:
Mammon always wins.
Hail Mammon, the Golden-Toothed God.
Such a disgustingly beautiful page! With the interesting panel layouts, and Yabalchoath’s head centering above it. And the colors! And the slave design. I hope you get very rich and feel very proud and get vain and fat and happy.
Evil as Cio may have become, I liked watching someone stick it to Mammon, if only because his guys are the ones that eventually got hold of my name. And at least she changed. They’ve probably sold it off by now. And the consul in Thorn said that I need my old name to return. Hmm, I wonder if I could get it back with even more gambling.
I love it when I see Angels in action, but maybe I’m a bit biased.
I always assumed you meant a rather different kind of action whenever you mentioned that.
Interesting, really. We have the devil once known as Yabalchoath, whose original mask was resurrected with a different Hot Black Flame, and we have the devil once known as Vladok, who is the original Hot Black Flame resurrected with a new mask. Equal and opposite cases of fallen Ebons. It it foolish to say there is no such thing as coincidence, but I wonder if this contrast is meant to carry higher significance.
So if the seven can parcel part of their power out to their followers, does that mean Allison can do the same?
I guess she has the potential, but she still lacks the skills to do so. Her mastery over the Key of Keys is still far down the road.
When Vladok gambled his service against “some o’ that shine in thy head”, he clearly implied that she could. This was from one who knew, and could recognize the power. I suggest, based on this observation, that she could.
The first rule of rulership is to ensure the loyalty of your key staff — not all keys of kings sit the brow.
No queen rules alone, and loyalty is always for sale — if your currency is violence and fear, gold will be your undoing.
sometimes you need an intervention when you’re that far gone into bad-person-dom i guess
Utter nonsense!
There is no “far enough” being bad-person-dom, and all assertions on the contraire are lies by default and the speaker should be flagged hundredfold while under my spiky shoe.
I notice that the version of Ciocie who was summoned back bears much more of her old self’s appearance than she does now.
So what, if anything, is causing her form to change over time?
Maybe it’s a reflection of her burgeoning self-image. The more she shuns her past self, the less she resembles her past self.
Maybe it was a deliberate effort on her husband’s part, a transmogrification of the flesh to conceal her from the Angels who destroyed her in the first place.
Maybe it’s Maybelline.
Let’s Beat Up 1 Million Children!
Do you perchance read another web chronicle? One with spirits and children?
All my training is paying off!
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…And I thought her husband was completely irredeemable!
It would appear even devils yearn for love, even if it only rings hollow.
Public perception of Yabalchoath, of course, changed drastically after she stole Mammon’s god key. A god of thieves, while inherently lacking moral character, has a petty, possibly even romantic, connotation, as long as said thief steals from those above rather than those below.
It could be argued, by monks more sentimental than I, that such patterns are inherent to all ambitious thieves, who, upon reaching the zenith of feasible targets, must then begin to take from those beneath them, becoming tyrants in turn.
Girl, same.