Slumrat Rising

Truth wasn’t sure of the etiquette here. Normally, he would start the sentence with “Ms.-” but being a Siphios aristocrat, the old lady didn’t have a last name. “Madame-” and a job title was also a valid choice, also impossible due to him not actually knowing her job title. Madame Ambassador? But she wasn’t the ambassador, and what kind of weirdo would like being called by their husband’s rank?

Then, of course, you were on to the tricky business of explaining that their clearly carefully thought out plan was, in fact, terrible, and you wouldn’t be doing it? Especially since he did actually like these people. To say nothing of the spells and support. But really, right now, it was the warmth of their company. He didn’t want to break the peace of the coffee ritual.

“Okay.”

Merkovah twitched, then carefully looked at Truth over the rim of his coffee cup. Everyone around the fire was a sharp customer. They didn’t bother to trade glances.

“Mr. Wells, do you understand why they started pushing that ridiculous “Hell Prince” nonsense?” The ambassador asked. “Given that it makes their security services seem weak and ineffective?”

“Use me as an excuse for atrocities, round up the undesirables, and I suspect on a more strategic level, they are looking to kneecap Incisive’s effectiveness. Try to force me into a persona and make the energy cost of other personas much higher. Make vanishing from perception much harder.” Truth grinned. “Didn’t work.”

“Better to say it hasn’t worked yet. It takes time to move public opinion and to firmly fix an idea in people’s minds.” The old lady shook her head slightly. “It’s why we instantly jumped on your plan to hijack the persona and turn it into a propaganda tool. Flip their own efforts back on them. Stoke division and rebellion. Weaken Starbrite’s power base, by weakening Jeon.”

Truth nodded. He had more or less figured that all out.

“But to be a prince, and to rise to a kingly seat, one must have subjects to rule.” The ambassador spoke with assurance. “One must lead, if one wishes to be followed.”

“For rebellion to really take wing in Jeon, there must be a charismatic figure leading it. We can support those forces of resistance. Provide training and political cadres. But they need their leader. The illusive, romantic figurehead, appearing only at rallies and at the sight of powerful blows against the oppressive state.”

The old lady’s voice had a powerful rhythm to it. Not magic, or no magic beyond human psychology. She sounded so certain, you wanted to adopt her ideas as your own.

“I see.”

“And, of course, it is the most common usage of Incisive.” She continued. “Those who call upon Botis wish to be powerful, feared and seductive. Others brashly lead armies from the front. Incisive makes them grateful to die for you. It clads you in the glory of your worshipful followers. Much is given, much is forgiven, when one is strong with the power of that Excellency.”

Truth blinked. He hadn’t thought about it that way, but Botis was ranked an Earl. Completely a human invention, of course, but he really did command a large region of Hell, and had countless demons under him.

“To break Jeon we need to increase its internal divisions. It is the fastest way to Starbrite. You must take up the mantle of leadership. Only you have this power.” The ambassador’s voice flowed smooth and rich as coffee.

Truth nodded decisively. “I’ll do it.”

There was a pause. Then a longer pause. Merkovah started laughing.

“But before you go, you just want to nip into the library.”

“Do you have a good one handy? I just want to browse a bit.”

“Maybe see, just see, if there are any “National Treasure” tier items or elixirs lying around.”

“I mean, if no one is using them, it would be a waste not to.” Truth looked very sincere.

“Perhaps a manual on combined spell tactics for the mid tiers?”

“That… yeah, actually that does sound incredibly useful.”

“They are.” Merkovah agreed. “Which is why they are also heavily restricted and never put into general circulation. Each country and major power has their own doctrine on this, and carefully studies the doctrines of others. I’ve already set aside a good reference for you.”

“Oh, thank you Teacher. That was thoughtful.” Truth felt warm. He knew what the old monster was up to, but he appreciated it anyway. Manipulative or not, Merkovah had been good to him. He wouldn’t have trusted a mentor with altruistic motives anyway.

“Other than your fundamental lack of trust in other human beings, is there a particular reason you don’t want to be the worshiped and adored focus of millions?” Merkovah asked.

“I mean, the lack of trust thing is a good enough reason, right?”

“Historically, no. Some utter paranoids conclude that the only way to ensure their safety is to rule everything around them, so they seek positions of power.” He didn’t exactly give Truth a look, but Truth felt the look anyway. Merkovah knew exactly how high Etenesh wanted Truth to climb, and he probably knew Truth agreed with her.

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“‘Prince’ is not a title with job security.” Truth shook his head vehemently. Then, more softly- “It is also pointless. All of it. The rebellion, defeating Jeon. Pointless. It literally achieves nothing. Starbrite is headquartered in Jeon, strongest there, yes, but it’s a global company and the System works everywhere. So long as anyone, anywhere, has it, their death makes Starbrite stronger. Slaughtering Jeon is just bringing the harvest in early.”

There was an awkward pause there.

“You don’t see a need to dismantle Jeon? A strange take for someone who thinks the country is a giant slum, and all the residents variously sized rats.” Merkovah’s voice was conversational.

“Not quite, Teacher. I understand the entire world is a slum, and we are all rats. A view I have had repeatedly, to borrow your word, validated.”

Truth waved his cup. “I want Starbrite dead out of vengeance, yes, but honestly, I think I would be willing to play the smart-rat and stay low until I was much stronger. The reasons I am rushing to kill him now are, one, I don’t want him getting any stronger and, two, I would very much like to be off world before the collapse hits the end phase. It’s already bad out there, and getting worse.”

“Right, but his whole power base-” The ambassador jumped in, but Truth waved him off.

“Irrelevant.”

There was a pause. “How is it irrelevant? Thousands of elite soldiers, billions in liquid wealth. Trillions in fixed assets, inventory, subsidiaries and real estate. To say nothing of his global holdings. Include the assets under management via his banking interests, and the number is well in excess of ten trillion wen. To say nothing of the leverage it all gives him in politics, both local and global.” The old lady sounded genuinely puzzled.

“Yep. All completely irrelevant.”

Truth kept his eyes on Merkovah. The old man’s expression didn’t change a bit. Truth grinned on the inside. The old man had figured it out too, but was playing a different game than the Ambassador and his wife thought he was. But what was the end play here?

“Young man, do you fully understand the scope of what I am describing?” She asked politely. Truth nodded.

“Yes. Very well, actually. All that runs on magic. On cosmic rays. All of it. And, in a few months, there won’t be any of that and billions of people will wake up to a life of agony as their apertures collapse. Almost all of the people looked to for leadership will die immediately. There will be the protected elite with their body cultivation, but they will rule over a world of children, cripples and ghosts. It will take a generation or five before there are useful numbers of people to rule over as god-kings.”

Truth shrugged. “So crippling Jeon to kill Starbrite is pointless. He knew all this was coming and he has always prioritized his own self interest over everything else. Protecting all this is irrelevant to him- he already considers it lost. That’s what the soul harvesting plan is- stripping the remaining value from his holdings.”

That got a nasty jolt out of the room. “He isn’t relying on the corporation or Jeon to keep him safe, he was expecting to lose them years ago. Maybe decades. He would have guaranteed his security some other way, in the event that he failed to meet his goals with the Shattervoid girl.” Truth continued.

“Which he did. Fail, I mean. So he would be forced to use his backup. For example, the resources of a mid-tier nation and peak corporation.” The DSO argued.

“But he can’t rely on those things, because the magic is collapsing, and before it completely collapses, it will be erratic. All he cares about are those soul fragments. Something that, I suspect, lets him get around the collapse to a degree. What he is doing with those bits and bobs of souls, I don’t know, and I don’t want to find out.” Truth concluded.

“Then what do you think his next play is? And if he doesn’t care about what he built, how do you attack him?” Merkovah asked.

“If I was King Rat with the resources of the world at my disposal? Harvest everything I could then create a vault for myself. Drop that thing in the deepest oceanic trench I could find, maybe straight into the magma layer. Have it deploy a vast, hidden, energy gathering array. One that was aimed at the energy put out by the planetary eminence, not the heavenly ones. Drop into some kind of hibernation. Remain unconscious but alive until the magic comes back, using the passing millenia to refine and incorporate all those harvested soul fragments.”

Truth’s words came out fast and sure. Merkovah chuckled.

“The kids over in Analysis will be happy to hear you came to the same conclusion they did.”

“Then why are we having this conversation?”

“Because you didn’t answer part two of my question- What are you going to do about it?”

“I am going to talk to my experienced teacher, knowledgeable in the ways of global terrorism, seeking his wisdom.”

“”Seeking” and “accepting” being two different things, of course.” Merkovah’s voice had gone dry.

“Already I am learning!”

“Mmm. Well here is something else to learn. The souls that Starbrite mutilates- and yes, we did figure that out,” Truth concealed a wince. He had deliberately not explained the process. “Are designed to align their owners with Starbrite and his way of thinking. But. What if some complete bastard made it run in reverse?”

Merkovah’s smile was utterly malevolent.

“Pardon?”

“I think I told you that God, personally, through his angels, banned Siphios from using our most powerful necromancy as a term of our vassalage. But if the old contract is broken, and there is nothing stopping us from using those spells, then we should use them. Use them to, for example, poison Starbrite’s soul with the rage and loathing of the millions of rats whom he bred and doomed to hideous death.”

“I’m listening.”

“When we eat, we strip out the parts of the food we cannot digest, and incorporate the rest into us. Starbrite has the souls basically pre-digested for him. We just need to… reformulate them.”

“Just that, huh?”

Merkovah rolled his eyes. “Yes, in fact, just that. We need to realign their beliefs. Starbrite will try to counteract that through his control of the mutilated bit, but! There is a limit to his energy and attention. The System Astrologica is not a micromanager. It’s not everywhere all the time. So we push it hard. We push it by breaking down the corporation, by breaking down Jeon… and by forcing it to work harder to “digest” all those souls. We load them up with fury. With a romance and sense of rebellion. We starve the bastard!”

“Alright…?”

“And when he gets hungry enough, he will have to make a move himself. Once his pieces are all taken off the board, he will have to strike, to demonstrate his power and prestige. And when he does? We have him.”

“Sounds good. What if he doesn’t? What if you don’t?”

“Then we will let him sink into the ocean in his little vault, no souls to eat, and our descendants will be taught -”If you ever see this, it is an evil spell. Here is how you break it without magic.” One way or another, Starbrite dies in our hands. The only question is- will you be able to cash in his head for a ticket off world first?”

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