Stories of Progress [Eteru/Richard]

He gave a curt nod. Pleased to see Richard was getting the larger picture. “In this situation the moral high ground is the best playing field to fight in. The empire is a part of a republic no? If you keep your hands clean and make a prosperous community when they do anything bad. You could try going to the Iammelonian Senante to make a case.” The later comments of poking around in a Necropolis was a bit concerning. One step at a time however. It would be silly to think he can completely change a person's long rooted mindset in a day. “We’ll work on buttering up with the Jackals in the meantime.” He gave the lich a friendly pat on the back.

Parking his bike near the inn entrance he went back over to the group. Eyeing up the inn before them. The skeleton motif is cute. Reminds him of his sister Lucy. She would have liked to drink here. He gave an expression of mock exasperation to Richard. “Is there anything you don’t cheat with magic?” He joked before heading on inside. “I’m not too fickle over the taste. Any wine can taste good to me.” Military rations can really make one appreciate food and drink more.

Rich started to give that part about the newly formed Union was a Republic. <He's not wrong... If I keep along the route I'm on and don't make an ass of myself then I could potentially get their senate involved to help me out. Huh, this guy certainly isn't your average soldier. Though I already knew that.> On the note of working to butter up the Anubites, Richard will just have to keep himself busy with not doing anything to warrant them wanting to get rid of him. Though as things stood he couldn't think of anything that he could do to annoy them in his day to day... He generally kept himself busy with some guard patrolling, teaching sorcery to Samantha, cooking, solve civil disputes, help train the militia and being the general leadership around here with some odd activities thrown in here and there too. <I should be fine then, I just need to keep securing crops and resources while doing small things, keep our impact small to avoid big issues away for the time being.>

With these things in mind he looked couldn't help but smirk as he asked if there was anything he didn't use magic to cheat at, thought before he could retort Samantha answered for him "NOPE! He uses it for doing the laundry, the dishes, when helping out with construction and even when he plays those card games with the villagers! He sucks at playing cards." That last part did draw afew looks from some of the older looking patrons, sticking their tongues against the inside of their cheeks while Richard tried to look innocent as possible "Pfft whaaaat, no I don't. Kids say the darndest things nowadays. Ha haha I'm going to get us a table" He says quickly moving to get them a seat inside while Samantha giggled.

Looking up to Abraham she giggles "He's really bad at playing card games in his disguise. For how chill and cold he tries to seem he wears his heart on his sleeve. He's pretty fun to tease too if you catch him off guard. But he's nice... He's a good dad." She was very astute and observant for a 13 year old girl. Then again living on this world before the change she would have had to be to survive this long.

"You said you were some kinda official or whatever right grandpa Abraham? Whatcha do back in that place you came from?" She asks looking up to him.

Abraham joined Samantha in the laughter. Amused by the shenanigans of the pair. “That’s good to hear. I can tell he has a good soul under that dreary weight.” He gave a soft grin in response to the next question. “Heh, I go by a hundred titles that I barely put effort into recalling. Some spoke in reverence, others in disdain, few in fear. But there are only three that I bother to remember. Words that have defined who I am to this day. A brother, a husband, and a father. My family is my life. Everything I do is for them.” He simply spoke his thoughts. Content in the road he currently paved through history. “Simply put. I just look after my family. And I got really good at it.” He remarks with a casual smile.

As she hears him talk about his family, she got the idea that he had a big family, oh if only she knew the true extent, she started to get curiou. "So you're a dad then? Are your family out here or back in that place you mentioned?" Samantha was only starting to get more curious about the man who helped her skeleton dad. "It's gotta be hard being a soldier away from them."

As she said that, Richard started waving them both over to a booth h found in the bar area off to the left after coming inside. The main area was a reception with a staircase upstairs to the other floors to the right with a staffroom under those stair, and off to the left was a way into the bar. The overall style felt like your standard rustic style Inn and Bar with afew skeleton decors and themes through in here and there.

Once he waved them over h did have a menu to hand to Abraham with multiple types of cooked up monster and livestock along with fruit, veg, confectionaries and such. On the back would be the drinks, both alcoholic and otherwise. "I hope she hasn't been prying too much, Samantha is awfully nosy for someone her age." Richard says sitting down while Samantha quickly pouts as she shuffled next to him in the booth.

Ah the age old question. In fairness it wasn’t told too often anymore. Not that it still comes up every now and then. Along with a variety of other poor questions to say to a soldier. Such as I bet you’re happy to be back. We can’t thank you enough. So did you kill anyone? What are you guys doing over there? You should be glad you made it home alive. Did anyone you know die? Stuff like these have occurred so much that he became numb to them. More tiring than anything else. Even when he became one of the Einherjar the questions linger albeit much more sparse. “That’s the life of a soldier.” He plainly states. “You know, we have a saying in the army. We die in the dark so that you may live in the light.”

Their talk ended when Richard started gesturing them inside. He does so. Sauntering in to take a seat at the claimed table. Gratefully taking the offered menu. “Ah she’s fine. Nothing I haven’t been asked before.” He casually shrugged off the concern. Looking over the menu for something to eat and drink. He found the brand of wine he could or rather in this case allowed to drink so he ordered that. With the drink chosen he went to look for food. He wasn’t craving for anything so he figured to eat something light. But that chocolate pie does look enticing. With his dish chosen he clasp the menu and put it on the table. “I got my plan. What’re you two getting?”

Sammy looked up to the old soldier as she listened to what he had to say, though the main thing she noticed is that the git avoided answering where his beloved family is. Which did make her pout up at him "Heeey, you avoided my questiooon!" She says before she hears him say that last line. 'We die in the dark so that you may live in the light.' The pout on her face drifted as she faced forward again as for a brief moment she shuddered "It's alittle late for that." Before Abraham would get the chance to fully take that in she sat down beside Richard, a smile on her face again.

As Abraham having chosen his meal Sammy was already buried in the menu, softly kicking her feet out under the tabel as she thought about she wanted. Richard however was letting her look to the menu without worry, seems he already had something in mind as he traces some circuits along his throat and collarbone before smiling to the old soldier "Oh I'm likely going to just take wine and some Jam tarts. My guilty pleasure, though since I technically can't gain weight but can enjoy the taste I can't help myself sometimes." He says before looking down to Sammy as she grins up at him "I wanna get pie!" Richard narrowed his eyes at her "Mmmm-Fine. You did bring back Abraham's bike without trashing it. You can get the chocolate pie."

Raising her arms up triumphantly, a bar hand came over and took their orders, after getting the orders for the wine along with the tarts, and the two orders of chocolate pie they disappeared behind the bar and into the kitchen beyond it.

With that out of the way Richard looked back to Abraham as he leaned into the cushioned seats of the booth "Say, you're not going to leave in a hurry right? I wanted to pick your brain to fill in gaps in my knowledge about the Ishnar. I learned alot of what I know about your people by ruin and facility diving, but It's gonna be nothing compared to actually getting to hear about it from someone who lives the culture. With Iammelon having a monopoly on those ruins and such I had given up hope on learning anything more."

Abrham tilts his head. Pondering on that question for a moment. “Well I am fairly free today but I do have to work at Solus. I can find the time to drive out here every now and then.” He explains to Richard to give him an idea of how often he can visit. “But sure I don’t mind sharing stuff with you. Mostly because I needed to tell you that the information you have is, well, obsolete. Angelarium now is based on prehistoric Eaeireth. Before Angelarium was changed the jumbled history went up to less than a quarter of a million years. The concept of Ishnar gone through numerous iterations. Having lasted into Auinozoaun’s Degenerate Era. That’s from what I can recall from history textbooks, was when they and other civilizations began to struggle. Because by then over time, gravity ejects dead stars and planets from their galaxies, sending them out into the freezing. To give a rough time scale this was over a hundred million trillion years after the end point of the previous number I gave.” He took a pause to let that number sink in a bit. “It was by this time that Tiamat rampaged through the boneyard of dead stars. Shattering Ishnar and sending renments fleeing into this universe. Tiamat remained in Auinozoaun where she lived long enough to reach the last black hole when it was evaporating later in Auinozoaun ‘life’ span. That was well, a damn long time.” He leaned back in his chair. Feeling a bit excited to get some chocolate pie. “So what I’m trying to say is that I’ll basically have to get you up to date.”

Suddenly having to hear that everything he knew was severely outdated, Richard seemed to take more than several moments to take all of that in, having considered himself quite knowledgeable. Though now having to hear that he knew exactly jack was... Very humbling and also at the same time extremely crushing as he quickly seemed to crunch down as he nodded away to Abraham talking until finally he was with his face against the table with some distressed Mmmmmm noises coming from him.

Seeing this, his daughter just seemed to poke him several times before, without missing a beat, looking straight up to Abraham with a straight face "You broke my skeleton dad. Though this isn't the first time he's like this." Sammy went straight back to poking her dads sides as he continued his microwave impression "The last time was when I punched him showing him how I got past his defenses and he couldn't reconstitute himself for afew hours. That was the first time we met! I thought he was a monster before he started talking."

It wasn't long after that their food and drink arrived for them all, Sammy eagerly started to dig into her food while Richard slowly rolled his head to side to slide one of the tarts into his mouth to eat it. Slowly gaining his sanity back and composing himself in order to reply "Not that big of a shock honestly-"

"You shouldn't tell fibs!"

Richard clams up with a scowl as Sammy tells him off before he sighs and has another tart "Fine fine it was a shock but getting the chance to catch up is also nice... Though it does give me some ideas that I may have knowledge the Anubites do not. So plus one to the bone man in the east, silly canines in pyramids 1 billion." He says with a defeated whine as he chomps on his next jam tart.

He could sympathize with the Lich in a way. Finding buried history that turned out to be either irrelevant or obsolete was something he came across in his explorer years. Leaning over to give Richard a pat on the back he went to enjoy his meal. “Don’t beat yourself up about it. People always have a hard time grasping the scale of time. It may seem miniscule but it’s still something worth remembering.” Taking a few bites out of his chocolate cake he resumed talking to the table. “Besides you’re technically ahead of the Anubites in terms of amassed lore in general. It’s not like we have given them the entire database of Ishnar collective history.” The two parties are still in the early stages of relations. There was no need for anything major to occur yet. Not to mention that Ishnar and Anubite like to do things slowly.

Richard took the pat on the back well, along with being told he was technically ahead of them being rather ego tickling for the Lich as he sat back up with a smile on his face "Reeeheheheheeeeally... Well that is good news.[/i]" Richard seemed quite pleased as he scarfs down another tart. Though his mind soon drifts from having one upped the Anubites to more domestic matters.

They were rather far out from the empire, it would be some hours by air and perhaps days in ground based transports considering the mountainous terrain between here and the Western spanning Empires. With that Progress has alot of room to expand and become better, it very will could become an Empire in its own right if Richard desired to take that route. A decision he is still not quite sure in making, though with them getting groups of Amziel travellers coming into town almost daily either looking for a place to stay or from independant conclaves looking to trade, muscle their way in or seek protection. Not to mention the people that have already settled are starting to settle down with plans of families of their own. So to support that he's going to have to commit more shadows to teaching the people in his care how to farm, not to mention having more scouts sent out to collect herbs, crops, wildlife that could be domesticated and samples from trees bearing none poisonous fruit so they can create better crop rotations.

Not only that but the landmass was mostly unexplored so he has to prepare the people of the town against any possible new monsters that were created when the planet was changed for the better. Though he will have to train specialist teams to deal with exterminating nests of monsters so that those sites can be claimed for expansion. The future was going to be busy.

With his thoughts on the matter down, Richard was starting to see himself as more of a ruler than he gave himself credit for, lives now rested on him in much more of a capacity then they did when he was amongst the living. Now it was up to him to provide for them and protect them.

Soon as his thought pattern came to an end he had fully noticed he was out of tarts "Aah..." A disappointed whine came from the Lich slowly considering himself King. "Well not all good things can't last forever. The wine was nice, easy and fruity tasting without being too strong... Perhaps I should make a spell so I can actually enjoy alcohol. Being able to kick back like I did in the old days may be nostalgic and stress relieving." At this pace Richard might just be able to simulate a functioning human body with enchantments alone instead of creating a functioning human body for him to use. Though it couldn't b too hard to create some sort of transformation spell that could do something similar.

Abraham was not a grandiose person. So his vision of Richard's future was not of being a powerful emperor of an empire. But rather a caring father figure who tries the best he can to make what he got. Fostering a small community for the rejects and forsaken. Taking his time to grow and expand. Civilization building was a nonstop progress. Not something to be rushed. Richard was immortal so he should know that he has all the time in the world. Whether he comes to understand that remains to be seen. For now he did all he could provide so it was best to take a step back to let them grow. He was after all an ambasssador. It would be improper for him to get too involved with a nation state. Especially one that he was not assigned to. His thoughts continue on the same line as he finishes the rest of his meal. In a short while he would set down his empty wine glass in sasfitication. He heard what Richard said but didn’t felt the need to comment on it. Instead he went to poke at another topic. “Alexandria is relatively close by. It’s worth the shot to try interacting with them.” Always cover the available options after all.

Abraham had a much more grounded view of what Progress will become in the future, it might be best that he straightens that out with Richard in case he starts chasing a wrong way forward. Then again once he starts going forward he may settle those ideas of his down, he seemed the cautious and thoughtful type but abit of an overthinker with how many contingency and backup plans he had going forward.

Immortality was something Richard initially saw as a curse when he first become a Lich, thought once the centuries rolled by he viewed it more as a tool. One that he could use to create, learn and foster power. With  that power he could learn more about the galaxy an start unravelling the secrets of magic, life and the afterlife, he now had all the time in the world to explore it all with people by his side... Now he could do it with the love of his life by his side once she had a chance to grow up... "Huh..." Some stray thoughts chewed at him now but he will get a chance to ask them sooner or later. They were questions he didn't expect answers to so they were not all that important.

Once the topic had changed to Alexandria, Richard certainly had his attention peeked "Alexandria huh... I hadn't thought of heading out that way... It might be a good idea seeing as its one of the only major academic powers on the planet's surface... What do you say Sammy, want to go to Alexandria?"

Samantha seemed to give a moment of thought before scrunching her nose up at the thought of it "It's gonna be filled with nerds..."

Richard just stared down at his pupil and daughter for a moment before sighing "Yes it will but those nerds have places we can get nice stuff to eat so if you behave you can have some sweets if we find any."

Samantha's face settled own as she looked more optimistic. After a moment of weighing it up she just gleamed a smile up to Richard before speaking "Okay I'll go too!"

Abraham grin at the general agreement. “I don’t know much about the place. I brought it up because it’s always smart to get to know your neighbors. Especially close ones like Alexandria.” He notes as he cleans up his side of the table before standing up. Setting some money on the table for the food as well some extra for the tip. “Meanwhile I get going. This whole detour was an unplanned endeavor but it was time well spent. It was nice getting to know you two. I’ll come back to visit in the future.” If nothing else it would be good to check up on Richard in general. He tends to let nations do their own. After all he is an envoy. Giving some more goodbyes and gratitude for the meal he went outside. Mounting his bike to ride on out of town back to Solus.

If Richard was standing outside he would notice that a few seconds after Abraham left he would see something strange in the middle of the road. A section of air briefly distorts in a way that resembles a computer glitching out before returning to normal. The sudden anomaly not occuring again after the first incident.

Sometime later if the pair decide to head to Thoth. They would need to head to the northernmost district, District 3. The school district that has accommodations for its authorized outsiders. It is as expected sparsely populated at the current point in time due to the general small size of the population in Thoth. Thankfully they would be directed to a part of the expansive, empty district to a General Assembly Building where outside nations are welcome to come and converse among with each other. Or have private meetings with Alexandria officials. The compound was fairly quiet due the lack of need for it. For the most part they would see gardeners strolling about to attend to the verdant flora. A E-Dust Cloud here and there could be seen drifting along the side of the buildings to provide the many forms of maintenance it can perform.

Richard stayed to watch Abraham off while Samantha went back to the castle to go pack for their trip to Alexandria. It was then that he became aware of something he was not sure how to rationalise. He watched the very air pixilate and distort as Abraham went on his way. Watching such a thing, he didn't know if he should feel anything but worry and curiosity. Though he would have his shadows watch over this street and all Abraham had come into contact with with a silent command. Richard was long lived, perhaps not as old as Abraham but he was uniquely qualified to question and evaluate the impact people have in their history... So he now had to prepare for what future will unfold now that Abraham has had his chance encounter.

Richard then would take his time to meander back towards the Castle, thoughts clouding his mind with recent events having played out as they have. The eyes he hides in all places within his domain recounting everything in detail. [Anastasia was back amongst the living...] That thought gave him hope but he did not feel her soul here in Progress, born amongst the children that came to be today. [Where...?] This planet was far from safe, and if she was born in some shack in the middle of nowhere he needed to know so he could get those people here to safety. "Hmm...?" He turned around as he managed to find her, looking back west as he could only sighs softly in a mix of annoyance and relief. [She was born in the Solar Empire annoyingly enough. Hmm... At least she'll be safe from monster attacks... But just in case I should send one of my shadows to protect her. Only thing I have to worry about is someone from that race of hornballs trying something once she's all grown up... Mmm.... Actually maybe it will be fine. Ana isn't someone to fall to pressure easily.]

Now that he knew where she was, it would only be a matter of waiting for the fated day he could lay eyes on her again and they could embrace. No need to try and hurry it along, if an opportunity comes along to see her early then he will think about that bridge before crossing it. For now, a shadow was sent to guard her, always staying in her shadow as a protector.

After he got back and all preparations were made, the pair headed for Alexandria while Progress would continue its plans in his absence, thought people still had a means to get in touch with him if trouble or a situation that requires his attention arises. Once they made it there, they did head for the General Assembly building after he got Sammy something sweet to eat like he promised. Now he was giving her a ride up on his shoulders as they wandered inside, seeing it rather empty.

He was wearing his beast, a nice white dress shirt and suit pants and shoes with a black cloak over his shoulders. He wanted to look his best to represent Progress, while still being himself in the process. It was a good thing Sammy wanted to come along too since it may smooth things over well for potential allies to view him as a caring father figure. While it can be taken as a double edged blade, he wouldn't let his daughter become a chip they can use. Neither would she most likely. Now the only issue was finding someone to talk too.

As they linger about in the open, pristine courtyard an individual would come up to them. A seemingly Amziel woman in a white tuxedo. Only she doesn’t seem like a part of New Amzielean. Her bob cut was a forest green, her complexion has a sense of uncanny valley to it, and her eyes were similar to Abraham. Shifting colors based on her mood. All sighs that point to an Ishnarian Amziel. “Well met you two. Welcome to the General Assembly. I'm Aiayse Edoni! I serve as a diplomat here. I take it you're here for something?” Aiayse spoke pleasantly and honestly. A bit up beat to have visitors to break the monotony. Things have been slow going for the district as a result of a lot of focus being directed to internal affairs.

Now this was a surprise, two Ishnaran Amziel in one day, were they all quite so eccentric? No matter, for now they were here for a reason. Richard kept hold of Sammy's ankles as she proceeded to bend back and droop to look upside down at the scenery around them, all while Richard flicked his eyes to the side for a moment in only the way an annoyed dad could with their kids being little gits before looking back to Aiayse with a smile on his face "I am actually. Richard Grim, the goblin on my shoulders is my daughter Samantha Grim." Samantha's arms would flail behind him as she tries to pull herself "Don't call me a gobliiiiin dummy skeleton!"

"You are a goblin." Richard retorts rather quickly purely to annoy Samantha before continuing on "My reason for coming today is to introduce myself and my settlement. I thought I should seeing as we're neighbours and all. Mayor of Progress, or lord... Honestly I'm workshopping the title at the moment I'm embarrassed to say."

Aiayse let out a polite giggle at their antics. “Quite the pair you are.” She remarked in a causal manner. It was apparent that she was a laid back individual. Perhaps a bit too much. The usual calm is beginning to get to her. She then rose a brow in amusement and curiosity. “Running a new settlement? Quite the responsibility to take upon yourself. But projects such as that is always a fun experience to see take shape. Anyway, I’m authorized to deal in conversations with folks like yourself. The Administrator is rather busy to deal with small affairs such as this. Shall we continue this talk in the office?” She offers Richard. Gesturing to the office building that tower over them from the left.

Their laid back attitude suited him just fine, it was one he was comfortable dealing with. He wasn't good with dealing with serious people, he seemed to annoy them since he never could get along with them, he couldn't trust someone who took themselves too seriously.

Sammy got herself upright after Aiayse said they were quite the pair, she was quite proud of that fact too. Slightly kicking her feet out while Richard looked up to her before he nods to Aiayse on her offer to take them to her office. "Fairly new yes. It's been a rewarding experience, its different to what I'm used to. I come from a diverse background but settlement leader is new to me."

"Thank you for taking the time to meet us nevertheless." He says as he waits to follow the Ishnaran Amziel as he lets Sammy down off of his shoulders.

Aiayse led the duo to a sunlit office on the ground floor. The wall to ceiling windows gave an excellent view of the minimalist fountain and vibrant flower garden that surrounds it. The office was spartan and clean save for potted plants in the corners on the opposite side of the room tht still got sunlight. In the center was a fashion style smart table. There were some chairs stacked nearby that she went over to place around the table. “Alright, there we go.” With all the chairs placed she sat down on her side of the table. “It’s not a problem at all. As you can see things are generally quiet. All the powers on Angelarium are focusing on internal manners and since Alexandria is fairly new, no one off world knows of us. So external relations are near non-existent.” She spoke as she turned the screen on. The dark screen smoothly transitioned to a live feed of the world of Angelarium. Some parts of the landmass highlighted to indicate the current borders of its countries. As well as traffic routes, trade flow, and other trivial data like the weather. “I think you’ll like to hear that we are rather amiable in recognizing the sovereignty of settlements no matter how small or new it is.” She said with a smile.

It was a pretty sparkly filled place, not that he minded it. He was more used to having a room cluttered with research, stacked books and various items all filling his personal space. Not to the point it was cramped but this minimalistic space made him feel rather... In the open. He didn't like that. Old habits were not easy to shake, but he could bare with it.

Samantha could tell he was feeling uncomfortable with the open spaces. It was no surprise since she first found him huddled away at the back of a cave system with only one easy way in or out. He didn't like being out in the wide open spaces. You'd think with how he died, alone and abandoned in a tomb, he'd abhor tight cramped spaces. So once he sat down, she got up in his lap so he can feel cramped. Even if he complains it still kinda helps him take his mind off of it, all the while  just looking around the place. She hasn't seen a city like Alexandria before so this was all super cool.

Richard just rested a hand on the top of Samantha's head as he looked to Aiayse, as she continued to tell him that their meeting was not a problem he was still rather happy they could get to business straight away without them needing to set something up and come back. And hearing that last part definitely made things easier on him as he and Samantha looked to the screens as they got to see the borders and trade routes. It made things easier to put into scope how things were handled, and good to think of how it will affect Alexandria in dealing with Progress. "Aah, well that is certainly a relief. I wouldn't say we're terribly small, Progress has alittle over 1000 people living there currently with alot of room to expand." He says looking back to the screen for a moment before looking back at her "It's around here in terms of closeness to Alexandria" He says as he uses some slight amount of magic to place a dot with the marker [Progress] overlaid as it hovers just above the screen. "Well... 'Closeness' but you get the idea. We're rather well situated in the mountains surrounded by forested areas and natural valleys. In terms of raw materials we're pretty well situated."

“It’s not a bad area to settle down.” She remarked in agreement. Not the most ideal way to ensure peak efficiency but she’s not the sort to fret over schematics like most of her colleagues would. “Hmm size is relative for the most part. In terms of number it is but I get the sense that’ll be solved on its own. If Progress was a hunter gatherer tribe, 150-180 will last about 2000 years before falling to inbreeding, and true perpetual stability starts in the thousands. But since Progress is not isolated and assumingly not that dated technology wise. I feel your town will certainly grow, albeit a bit slowly.” She threw that tidbit of trivial knowledge to Richard. “That aside. I’m curious on what manner of relationship you’re seeking with the State of Alexandria?” Aiayse could make an educated guess. But prefer to hear it from Richard.

It may not be the best illustration but Rich's wasn't going for peek illustrations, even though he has had a very long time to get plenty of practice at it. He did listen to what she had to say statistic wise, it was good to hear an outsider's perspective on this, the acknowledgement that there will be steady growth tempered some things for him. "Currently we've broken into what I would describe as early industrial era. We skipped afew steps using magic as a mediator in place of coal and using natural gas pockets. I didn't want to spoil the natural environment around us at the expense of advancing our quality of life. While I know it isn't perfect and we shouldn't be too reliant on it it is an acceptable limitation for the time being. Especially since automating it is easy using magic scripts." He says smiling.

As she asked him what sort of relationship he wished to pursue with Alexandria he gave some thoughts to the immediate concerns of Progress. While he considered himself quite intelligent he was only one man, and what children did live in Progress were being home schooled by people who had no idea how to live in this new world. "I came initially just to introduce ourselves with possible hopes of trade. But as it stands I'm ill equipped to be teaching the next generation on how the world works when all I know is of the Old Angelarium and its ruins. We may not have much in the terms of goods besides raw materials and wine I would appreciate any help you can offer me to help in that field."

Aiayse nodded along as he goes over the nature of Progress. “You have successfully avoided common pitfalls in new societies. People at this technology level don’t know how to extract resources well. Overfishing, Extreme deforestation, and things of that nature.” She said on a congratulatory note. Like her peers she enjoys watching life become sustainable and grow. To no pun intended, progress to the next level of evolution.

Hearing Richard's response she gave a look of understanding before lowering her attention to the map. “Not only that but I can tell there will be political pressure as well. From our observation of the jackals and the Iammelonian culture of unity. You might be brushing your shoulders with them soon. But I get the sense you’re already aware of that.” She gave a small smile.

Letting out a hum in thought she looked up to Richard. “I have thought of offering you to become a protectorate of Alexandria to get a discount on trade and technology goods. But there’s going to be some big changes in the administration. We plan to offer the reins of Alexandria to a certain individual by the name of Heulyn Lloyd. Who is currently the Apprentice to the High Lord of the Anubite Empire. The reason goes quite deep, everything that has ever happened on Angelarium points back to her. That and we have concrete belief that she is the reincarnation of Hatheleisia Viswanathan. The Grandmother of Amziel Intergalactic Civilizations in Auinozoaun. Her history aside, from what we gathered on Heulyn. She’s far more compassionate and tolerant than her Anubite friends. The protection she can give you far surpasses what we can.” She explains to him.

Richard was pretty happy to be credited on not falling for such pitfalls, then again it was small things like this that his mother had to deal with. Being the royal treasurer she had to deal with idiots that wanted to reap the benefits of the land without much regard for the repercussions of their wanton greed. So he was thankful that he had paid attention to her lessons.

Richard was very aware of the fact that he would be brushing shoulders with the Anubites in the future. And his current state of being certainly wouldn't help with keeping friendly relations when they would be second guessing his actions at every turn. He certainly couldn't help but smile as he nodded to her hunch "Rather spot on there. I knew at I'll have to meet them at some point but I didn't think I would have to do so this soon."

On hearing everything she had to say regarding his request, he gave it some thought seeing as this was not a decision to take lightly. Though... If what Aiayse said was true, and he put Progress and himself under the protection of this 'Heulyn' who had become the apprentice to none other than the High Lord of the Anubites... Most of his worries would be absolved on the spot. Who in their right mind would attack the property of the High lords ward? Not only that but it would help having a familiar face like hers even if he's never met her.

Sammy looked up at Richard as she could see those scheming gears turning in his head. Nothing nefarious but he was weighing up everything before speaking, she knew that he had more than afew things running around his noggin with that last bit of info regarding Heulyn. Rich noticed her staring up at him before he just started ruffling her hair. Much to her meager protests "I had wanted to continue to grow on our own merits. But with this it would certainly ease my worries for the future... And some present issues as well. Though 'Heulyn' sounds pretty interesting if everything that's happened on Angelarium can lead back to her... How would this work then, becoming a protectorate?"

“She’s a fascinating subject.” Aiayse note in agreement. There was a well of mysteries with Heulyn’s name on it. “If she’s truly Hatheleisia which we are highly sure of, you will have a powerful friend. The impact of her actions in Auinozoaun is astronomical. The many civilizations may not have remembered her or her name, but for as long as interstellar civilizations existed, they have stood as testament that she existed. If only one amziel exists long after the Eaeireth and sun have faded, even if it is a lonely existence, then Hatheleisia’s actions will matter. It may be cold and dark at the end of everything, but it will be worth it. Even now her existence can be felt. The very first domino to the long chain that leads to Angelarium.”

With that appraisal of the old soul she looked back to the screen. “Besides fealty nothing, at least at the moment. We and I’m sure Heulyn will agree that Progress needs help in development before even considering a tithe. A long term investment if you will. This can range from giving subsidies, providing up to date medicine, job opportunities. Essentially we would want to make a stable and prosperous nation out of Progress. That if we were to begin enforcing tribute it won’t tank the economy.” In short Alexandria values long term profit. They’re not the sort to squander assets that only give short-term gains.