Continuation of the briefing for the benefit of those agents of the Sable Intelligence Service  (and others) who were on the Outside on 11th April SY 159.

Please be patient while I get it all in order, as there’s a lot to cover.

Robert de Lacy, King of Sable

Changes Resulting from the Events of 11th April SY159/11th April SY099, continued

The Dance of the Aurellian Gods

On the same day that I contacted Roland, the subject of Aurellian “Gods” came up in the discussion (you can take the inverted commas round “Gods” as read for the rest of this briefing). The conversation was prompted by the fact that at some point before SY159, both Rupert and I had somehow acquired Aurellian Aspects. More to the point, his was Communications, including Trumps. I have no idea how you can gain an Aspect over something arcane, like Trumps, but it was in this capacity that the Messenger had contacted him, thereby leading to all the problems.

In the period between ’69 and ’99, when I’d cut myself off from contact with the wider multiverse, I knew that Claire had kept in touch with her sister, Sian – Roland’s wife – and found out about Aurellis before I had. As a result, she had “Ascended”, to become the Aurellian Goddess of Healing. I was vaguely aware of this, because she had told me that I’d been accorded the honorary title of “Deity without Portfolio”, as her husband and ruler of an allied Power. At that point, it never occurred to me that I might be able to walk the Aurellian Logrus, as I believed it was Blood-bound to Roland, Sian and their descendents. Thinking about it, I should have realised that there was a way, as Claire was Sian’s sister, not her descendent, but that didn’t occur to me before my conversation with Roland in ’99.

As Roland and I looked into it further, the mess got even worse. Rupert had walked the Aurellian Logrus first, with Roland’s help (apparently they got on better than I had realised in that timeline) and become God of Protection: as a result of him considering himself to be the Protector of the Reich, Roland surmised. I’d followed him a while later, and had been granted the combined Aspect of Investigation, Teaching and Communications. In other words, at that point, I was God of Trump. Then some thing happened to do with the Machine, redirected Death Curses and soul swaps, and for some bizarre reason, Rupert, myself and his Honour Guard Chief, a young man by the name of Rikart Schultz, had all ended up in the Aurellian Logrus at the same time. Three transverses later, and Protection had moved to Schultz, who had dived into the Logrus to protect Rupert from me, without care of his own wellbeing, and had therefore presumably been considered a better holder of the Aspect; Communications had jumped to Rupert; and I’d ended up with Investigation, Teaching and Truth.

“So”, you ask, “where is this diversion going?” Well, in the days between the Lighthouse Data coming into my possession and my discussions with Roland, I had discovered that both Rupert and Michael, my other brother, were somewhat better with Trumps than I was. In hindsight, this was probably why, when the Logrus could compare and contrast Rupert and I in the old timeline, it moved the Communications Aspect to him. That aside, this time, I learned this little fact the same day that he and I had our falling out, so I was feeling rather petty towards him.

After discussing the matter, Roland agreed with me that it would be beneficial to all concerned to pre-empt the whole issue of Rupert being given the Aspect of Communications by someone else getting there first. I proposed Michael, they both agreed, and by the end of the day, my younger brother had the job instead. I’m not sure Rupert’s ever forgiven me for that one, but I don’t regret the decision. I took my own walk into Aurellian Godhood the same day that Michael did,  more than fifty years earlier than originally, and once again acquired Investigation, Teaching and Truth. As that’s a bit of a mouthful, Roland agreed that maybe, from henceforth, we should just go with “Enquiry”, and leave it at that.

After Rupert and I started talking again, I suggested that he should go and have a word with Roland about getting the data on the original timeline from Rallissa. Partly as a result of that conversation, the Pater Deorum, being the closest we have to a neutral party on the Inside, let Rupert ascend. He is now the Aurellian God of Protection once again, and I have to say that he seems much more interested in the whole process this time around. The one I feel sorry for is Rikart Schultz, who once again has the dubious privilege of being Head of the Honour Guard. For various reasons over the last few years, I’ve had quite a bit of contact with Schultz, and found him to be an honourable man. I truly hope his fate isn’t ultimately to die for my brother in some pointless attack that Rupert would probably survive anyway.

Last, but not least, because the Creation of Murray and Sanguine didn’t go quite the same way this time, Rupert never generated a random Alternate, if that’s what our “brother” Royce was. On the other hand, around the time of the mess on Manira in SY105, I discovered another full brother: Nicholas. I honestly don’t know if he is the same person who equated to Rupert’s Alternate in the old timeline. Still, having been brought up by our grandfather in Thelbane, and therefore feeling more affinity with the Chaos end of things, I introduced him to Roland. He took the Aurellian Logrus, and has Ascended as the God of Architecture and Waysbuilding.

And incidentally, after the building of Elementis, Gaia decided to leave the Logrus on a permanent basis, and has now taken her proper place amongst the Pantheon once more. As a result, her crazy daughter Terrea, who ended up being killed the first time through, never came into existence this time.

Other changes of Gods included various Aspects to do with the Gods of the Seas: notably, Marcus never joined the Federation and Joscelin Kennard-Berthelmes never became a God at all. Moreover, there was no Royce to become God of Freewill.

To be continued in Allies and Adversaries.