The Death of Circe Beaker

This shoot is x-posted to Tumbling Blue Lake.

The Orion Specter Timeline

I am posting this before the next chapter in order to provide a clear rubric for when Orion was where.

December 8, 2028-- Orion is born in LaPlatta, Strangetown to Olive and Ichabod Specter, just a few months after Ichabod's untimely and unexplained death. Olive is deeply disturbed by Orion's weird eyes and lack of physical resemblance to herself or her husband. She becomes convinced that this cannot possibly be her child despite all evidence to the contrary. (NB: Back then, women were drugged senseless during delivery.) Instead of voicing her concerns, Olive finds a loophole in the system and shoves Orion though it, claiming that he was the product of a sexual assault and thereby placing him up for adoption. She then begins a life-long search for her real child, which turns up nothing.

September 28, 2035-- Orion is adopted by Circe and Loki Beaker. They keep him in their basement where they collect biological samples and perform tests, finding him largely unresponsive to stimuli. Test results continually come up inconclusive though it is determined that he has significant magical energy.

February 21, 2050-- A drooling, semi-comatose Orion is seen by Dr. Mortimer Goth.

April 2, 2050-- Bella is kidnapped, used for spare parts and murdered. Orion is kept alive for further testing.

November 15, 2054-- Orion begins speaking for the first time. The things that he says are muttered to himself and spoken in old Ashkay. Loki Beaker manages to piece only one sentence together from Orion's ramblings: The blood is the life and it carries like the flood. Why he began to awaken on this date is unknown at this current point in the story. ;)

November 17, 2054-- Orion goes apeshit. Kills Circe Beaker. Burns the house down.

November 18, 2054-- Gets locked up at Vajra Penitentiary.

November 27, 2054-- Selket springs him from Vajra.

December 1, 2054-- Arrives in Pleasantview. Hides out in Arbormoor woods. Goes into town infrequently. Lives by wits.

March 31, 2056-- Jack Dalton is conceived.

April 19, 2056-- The RDI finds Orion. Manages to incapacitate him and take him to a Strangetown military holding facility. (More on what this facility is typically used for later.) Orion goes comatose again.

March 12-14, 2062-- Orion comes to. He kills six officers in an escape attempt. He is ultimately subdued and placed under higher security.

December 2, 2074-- Orion comes to again. Escapes unseen after killing Sutekh. Takes Sita for a hike.

He Who Twists: A Photoshoot

For wallpaper images, click on these here little ones below:

Don't know why there's a weird color shift with the smaller images but the larger images that they link to don't seem to suffer from the same issue.

The Orion/Jack/Selket Sub-Plot Up Until Now

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.