A Malevolent Villain: 1
Feb. 22nd, 2025 09:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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i. The ravens go forth
In the days and weeks following the Emperor's announcements, night-black ravens fly over Esthere. It is not an unusual sight; ravens are a common beast.
And yet, these ravens are a herald of something darker. For these ravens possess an intelligence beyond the norm, and what they see will be brought back to their mistress.
The ravens fly to places of known Corsair activity; the broken-up fragments of Flotsam, the homes and businesses with suspected rebellious connections in Elysium. They fly, they watch, and they observe.
[[For this prompt, you can detail what Maleficent's ravens witness or you can link a thread that's happening elsewhere, with the permission of all players. Characters who are spied upon may face consequences at a later time]]
ii. A cruel display [warnings for public punishment]
In a public square in Elysium, a wooden platform has been constructed. It dominates the space, rising high above the heads of any crowd. And upon this platform are the pillories.
Wooden frames, with space for a person's head and arms to be placed within. Twenty in total. And in each one, the soldiers place within a beaten and ragged-looking individual.
On the platform, calmly watching them as they are secured, is a tall woman. Planestouched, with pale green green and two dark horns rising from her head.
"Gently now, gently," she says to the soldiers, as the last prisoner is placed within. "We must make sure our guests are properly awake for their sentencing."
Then the prisoners are all secure - and she turns to the growing crowd.
"People of the Empire," she says, her voice ringing through the square. "This is a day of great sorrow, for I must tell you have been betrayed. By the very men and women you see before you - your own fellow citizens.
"When the Corsairs so cruelly attacked, they chose to betray their brothers and sisters. They choose to betray their Emperor. And they fought with those who would destroy out very way of life.
"Now it is time for these...traitors!...to reveive their just sentence. But I find I am faced with a difficulty. For while I am Duchess and their punishment is my duty, it is not I who these miscreants have most grieveiously sinned against. Why, that would be you. The good people of the Empire.
"So I ask you this, noble citizens: what would be a just sentence? What do these betrayers deserve?"
And then she looks upon the crows - and waits, for their terrible suggestions to be voiced. Because it is clear from the way the soldiers begin to surround the crowd that mercy will not be tolerated.
Those in the crowd will have to make a choice. Do they remain safe, and keep their tongues silent? Or do they attempt to assist or mitigate the prisoner's suffering - and risk becoming a target themselves?
i. The ravens go forth
In the days and weeks following the Emperor's announcements, night-black ravens fly over Esthere. It is not an unusual sight; ravens are a common beast.
And yet, these ravens are a herald of something darker. For these ravens possess an intelligence beyond the norm, and what they see will be brought back to their mistress.
The ravens fly to places of known Corsair activity; the broken-up fragments of Flotsam, the homes and businesses with suspected rebellious connections in Elysium. They fly, they watch, and they observe.
[[For this prompt, you can detail what Maleficent's ravens witness or you can link a thread that's happening elsewhere, with the permission of all players. Characters who are spied upon may face consequences at a later time]]
ii. A cruel display [warnings for public punishment]
In a public square in Elysium, a wooden platform has been constructed. It dominates the space, rising high above the heads of any crowd. And upon this platform are the pillories.
Wooden frames, with space for a person's head and arms to be placed within. Twenty in total. And in each one, the soldiers place within a beaten and ragged-looking individual.
On the platform, calmly watching them as they are secured, is a tall woman. Planestouched, with pale green green and two dark horns rising from her head.
"Gently now, gently," she says to the soldiers, as the last prisoner is placed within. "We must make sure our guests are properly awake for their sentencing."
Then the prisoners are all secure - and she turns to the growing crowd.
"People of the Empire," she says, her voice ringing through the square. "This is a day of great sorrow, for I must tell you have been betrayed. By the very men and women you see before you - your own fellow citizens.
"When the Corsairs so cruelly attacked, they chose to betray their brothers and sisters. They choose to betray their Emperor. And they fought with those who would destroy out very way of life.
"Now it is time for these...traitors!...to reveive their just sentence. But I find I am faced with a difficulty. For while I am Duchess and their punishment is my duty, it is not I who these miscreants have most grieveiously sinned against. Why, that would be you. The good people of the Empire.
"So I ask you this, noble citizens: what would be a just sentence? What do these betrayers deserve?"
And then she looks upon the crows - and waits, for their terrible suggestions to be voiced. Because it is clear from the way the soldiers begin to surround the crowd that mercy will not be tolerated.
Those in the crowd will have to make a choice. Do they remain safe, and keep their tongues silent? Or do they attempt to assist or mitigate the prisoner's suffering - and risk becoming a target themselves?
i. The ravens go forth
Date: 2025-02-22 03:25 am (UTC)Ravens are common enough on land, but less so over open ocean. Any bird can be blown out to sea, but Ilphyl is used to gulls and cormorants, petrels and albatrosses. They register the ravens and regard them with curiosity -- a small figure in a large straw hat, tinted goggles and a white braid going down their back, doing what looks like fishing and cleaning fish for the pot. There are even some fish guts left out to see what they do. (Befriending the ravens, using magic to communicate, and then borrowing a boat to take them to land is an option Ilphyl is considering.)
Ilphyl isn't hiding their own magic -- jumping into the ocean as a seal or octopus is just as likely to be their fishing technique as a rod, and the ravens might notice a gull circling Ilphyl's houseboat before landing and becoming an elf.
No smoking gun, but Ilphyl's houseboat is not something meant to be in the open ocean alone for long, and Ilphyl certainly meets up with others connected to Flotsam. And Ilphyl still hasn't solved the problem of their distinctive appearance for an elf in this world.
no subject
Date: 2025-02-22 11:43 pm (UTC)Ah, but those strange transformations - not a usual gift. How insolent for anyone other than their mistress to make use of it. And the people this elf meets!
Suspicious.
The ravens follow. Discretely, at a distance. What other suspicious things might this one get up to?
1
Date: 2025-02-22 04:35 am (UTC)In the setting sun, dark birds would be harder to spot, but he had noticed movement - a glossy wing, curiosity piqued - but not suspicion, the corvids of this world reminded him much of Tori-san, and he wondered how his scraggly pet was doing back home.
Probably eating something it shouldn't be. He places the small object to his lips - an ocarina, and he starts playing a melancholic tune under the golden glow of dusk.
no subject
Date: 2025-02-22 11:54 pm (UTC)They perch upon one the nearby rigging, as if they were any other normal bird taking a short rest. Harlock's face and appearance is noted; he is a man standing on the deck of a Corsair ship, and for that he shall be condemned.
But they remain a little longer, watching. Perhaps he shall perform other incriminatory acts. Like playing that little instrument; such beautiful melodies it makes. Their mistress would detest it.
no subject
Date: 2025-02-26 01:47 am (UTC)Spring wasn't too far, he thought as he tried to make sense of the strange constellations, made of stars he that he could only observe from a great distance instead of skating by.
As he closed his hand as if grabbing for the evening star someone called out to Harlock - causing the man to turn around, heading back below deck, giving a brief glance back to the horizon.
no subject
Date: 2025-02-27 12:54 am (UTC)But they have something to report back to their mistress. And Harlock may find that over the next few days and weeks, he's seeing quite a few ravens. More than usual. Almost like there are more of them about.
Especially where Harlock is.
II
Date: 2025-02-27 05:32 pm (UTC)As her eyes sweep among the crowd, the young man shrank in place, his heart beating wildly - knowing he could betray himself, but he could not just stay silent and let them suffer. A broad hand rests on Thomas' shoulder.
"Thomas, you look like you got something to say." Lowma started low. "What do you think is appropriate?"
"Uh... I... I..."
no subject
Date: 2025-02-28 11:12 pm (UTC)Because of course, it is not only the lesser classes who must prove their loyalty to the Empire. The nobility must also demonstrate their devotion - if not more so.
Including the sons of Lords. Her yellow-eyed gaze turns to Thomas.
"And you've brought young Thomas with you! Why, we would all dearly appreciate hearing your thoughts."
no subject
Date: 2025-03-03 07:30 pm (UTC)"Well... Your Grace," he knew her reputation, he has seen The Duchess in action. Trying to balance between his desire to spare the captives her wrath and avoiding summoning it on his head is like a tightrope act.
Over a pit of vipers.
While someone is setting fire to the rope.
And all the time suffering from acute acrophobia.
"Outlaw them." He managed to answer in what he hoped is a lofty tone. "If... Well, if they can't understand how good it is to be under the Emperor's grace, then... then they will suffer the lack of his protections."
no subject
Date: 2025-03-08 01:57 am (UTC)But she does not reveal her sources. Just gives the Lord a knowing smile. He can ponder what else she might know.
And then she returns her terrifying gaze to Thomas.
"Why, but they are already outlaws!" She exclaims. "They became so the moment they decided to betray the Empire. They have already refused the Emperor's mercy."
And the Empire - Maleficent - clearly demands more.