Ok, I know it has been a long time so I'm going to do a special back-track here complete with off-camera events in order to de-mystify the Chapter 61 happenings. First stop, an overview of what lead up to Chapter 50:
Addison London
London has a number of friends in high places, including (and most especially) at the palace. One such high-ranking friend is Secretary of State Atum Redding. As we begin the story, London is getting increasingly weirded out by Jack's abilities (which as we know, Jack is not terribly careful about hiding) and is concerned that they have finally reached a point where someone in a position to help needs to be made aware of Jack's existence. Of everyone that London could have sent Jack to, he chooses Atum because he knows that Atum is a good man and also loyal to Kvornan. NB: No one at the palace has ever connected Addison London to Kvornan Tricou! As far as anyone knows, London knows positively 100% zero about Kvornan or even the history of the Tricous. What Addison does not know/could have never guessed is that the circumstances surrounding the divestment of one Selket Redding (Atum's sister) were sketchy at best. Few people believed the whole "she was screwing around" story that Ahriman was feeding everyone in order to keep the Orion Specter fiasco under wraps.
Atum Redding
He's oblivious. He doesn't know anything about anything. He is a good man with good intentions. He is loyal to Kvornan. He has no clue that Jack could have a role in the Kvornan saga. Selket hasn't even told him what Jack is. She basically left his office that day like, "Well gee, that was weird. Don't know what to tell you about that one, little bro!"
London did not tell Atum anything about Jack beforehand. He just sent Jack over with the letter, unanounced. Jack arrived, said who he was there to see and was admitted in. Atum took one look at Jack and sent for his sister like, "Dude, you have to come see this!"
Selket Redding
Selket comes to the office, bringing Maya (Atum's daughter) with her, thinking that she will need to closely examine this human kid in order to find his weirdness. Maya would serve as a distraction while Selket did a sweep of Jack's energy. As it happened, none of that was necessary. Selket could feel the awesome power of JACK before she even entered the office. And in any case, Jack had little interest in Maya. He was far more distracted by Selket herself. Other than Selket being beautiful and highly gifted, Jack has Mommy issues. But we'll get to that later.
So Jack does his hocus pocus and presto- His energy is visible with the naked eye. Selket sees it and instantly recognizes it. It's the same as Orion's. And that is beyond thrilling. Number one: Look it! Look at this magnificent creature that has been gifted to Selket's cause! Never has anything like Jack existed or even been imagined. And yet there he was- Skilled and strong and young enough to be ripe for indoctrination! Number two: Finally! Selket committed a crime by letting Orion loose into the streets. But now she is finally vindicated because Jack exists. Maybe now Ahriman will fully trust her again. Ooo, MAYBE he'll even let her be a candidate for the priesthood again!
Ahriman Chi'en
He had his doubts in the past but he does fully trust Selket. He respects her as a collegue and a friend. He has however never forgotten the personal heartache of her going behind his back and unleashing a daemon that he had incarcerated. You take a talented 19-year-old girl under your wing and she stabs you in the back. You know, little things.
Fast Forward to Chapter 61:
Rodin Chi'en, Ahriman Chi'en and Imina Brylowe
Imina is pregnant. She has convinced everyone that this douchebag is the father. That douchebag is Ahriman's nephew and a Magus. Ahriman is worried that Kvornan is going to do terrible things to Magus Rodin because Rodin has (as far as anyone knows) made it so that Kvornan can't use Imina as his blood bank for the next nine months (or at least until she miscarries). So what does Ahriman do? The only thing he knows how to do and that's to keep Rodin where he can see him. Surely, Kvornan would not try to go after a man protected by the Magister Templi, right? RIGHT??
Problem is, this puts undue attention on Ahriman. Attention from Kvornan. And he doesn't want that because he is a big time Dissenter*. He believes that Kvornan is the Sheut. He believes that Kvornan is corrupt. He does not think that Kvornan's corruption affects his Sheutness. But he does think that Kvornan must die before he jacks Elise's shit up. That would be catastrophic.
Selket convinces Ahriman to divest Rodin and send him away immediately in secret. This protects Rodin's safety and takes all eyes off of Ahriman.
Jack Dalton
There is now a job vacancy on the market. Enter Jack Dalton, new Magus to the Ren. Maybe. :) Jack has to accept the proposal first and be trained properly.
Orion Specter
He invented the lie. That is his claim to fame amongst daemons. He says he was born to get a vampire killed (actually, I think his word was "destroyed"-- watch his wording in all cases) who threatens the sanctity of the Ib. Sounds like Kvornan- maybe. When asked if he could be trusted, he said no. But that could have been a lie too. However, if it was a lie, then it was paradoxically the truth. Sophistry indeed.
Selket lets him out on the off chance that he was telling the plain truth. Death to the vampire Sheut!!!
There are a lot of facets to this situation. A LOT OF FACETS. I am certain that I am forgetting things. But as always, if there are any questions, don't hesitate to ask.
*Notes on the Dissenter Resistance soon to come.
Hey Pen, after reading this, I got to rereading Chapter 50, and I have a quick question for you.
ReplyDeleteIn the flasback part, Ahriman says:
According to Loki, he was a nervous, docile and mentally handicapped boy right up until two weeks ago...
And then there's this exchange between Selket and Orion:
You were dormant in this body for many years. What summoned you?
Duty.
So my question is in regards to the body of Orion Specter. Before the awakening of the daemon, was Orion just like any other human and then randomly selected as the daemon's host, or was he specifically born to be the vessel of the daemon? Also, to what extent does his former, human spirit (assuming he had one in the first place, that is--I suppose it's possible that the Beakers mistook his lack of a soul for simply being "nervous, docile, and mentally handicapped") still live on, if at all?
Maybe it was explained at some point, but for some reason my brain isn't working today. Sorry :(
Orion's body was born with and for the daemon possession. He was never a normal person. Lotan was sitting quietly in there the whole time just waiting to hear the word from Deus Rex to proceed. So for most of Orion's life, the lights were on but no one was home.
ReplyDeleteOrion was born on the off-chance that something might happen (what I mean by "something" will come out soon). And then when that something did happen, he was told that it was time to kick into action and do his job. He took a couple of weeks to plot his escape and bolted.
This is all to say that he never had a human soul. Just a human body with a very strange life energy. (As an aside, he is actually more powerful in that body than he is without it because Orion's biological father is the Sheut of Deus Rex and some of his magic carries over into Orion's life force.) Jack has inherited all of this. In fact somewhere in that chapter, I think Selket notes that Jack's soul is new but his magic is as old as creation.
All excellent questions, Van!