by Bob Alberti
It is probably foolish to attempt this at this hour, but I fear waiting as I do not want to lose detail while asleep. Tonight was one of those incredible Tekumel experiences that makes the other 51 weeks of the year pale by comparison. Our party had arrived back from an interplanar misadventure to find itself within an inner ritual room of a temple of Dlamelish. The room unlit, strewn with soft furniture in odd shapes, and shrouded with thick curtains that were everywhere, so that light spells were more confusing than helpful. We cut our way out, hoping no one from the temple found out about this until we left.
Our party consisted of: Arjai hiVaisoner, Cloak of Azure Gems clan and priest of Ksarul; his wife Chitlasha hiTlelsu, Rising Sun Clan; Sanjesh hiKirisaya, sometime High Scholarly Priest of the Temple of Thumis of Usenanu; his wife Ais Chrai; Osumetlu hiVu'urtesh, Golden Bough, Hnalla; Ashyan hiVessuma, Chiteng worshipper and sometime torturer of the Legion of Ketl, City of the Dead, Bey Su; her husband, Kirchta, former member of the Court of Purple Robes, former Servitor of Silence (tongue restored); Eshine, priest of Hru'u and member of the Cusp of Night Society; Meletha hiChaika, Joyous of Vra clan, of Thri'il; and last but certainly not least, Sunchan, Alladal and Hisha, priests and priestess of Dlamelish.
Assisted by the latter, we emerged from the inner sanctums without being arrested by the temple guards, and emerged to find ourselves...
...in the city of Thri'il, on the intercalary day of Chitlasha (Chitlasha hiTlelsu's birthday; Tsolyani children born on intercalary days are often named for the day -- her second son is Dashe, born on Turugdashe, 2365), in the year 2363.
We were stunned with terror. Why? Not merely because we were three years in our own past... You see...
On Chitlasha in 2363, Dhich'une Tlakotani seized the throne from his father, Hirkane Tlakotani, the Stone Upon Which the Universe Rests. On that day, troops loyal to the Baron Ald of Yan Kor (with whom Dhich'une had struck an agreement -- see Man of Gold) accompanied by legions of Undead troops struck several northern cities in Tsolyanu, including Thri'il.
At the same time in the city of Thri'il, a new candidate for the throne, a worshipper of Hnalla, was to be revealed. It is often the custom to reveal new Imperial heirs at the stroke of midnight of a new year.
Several of our current party were also present in the city of Thri'il for this ceremony.
So one reason we were terrified was that it was entirely possible that we would meet our younger counterparts within the city. Meeting one's temporal counterpart is a Bad Thing and can have Bad Effects.
But there was a worse reason we were terrified. You see, when the candidate was introduced for the FIRST time, before our party knew that Undead and Yan Koryani troops were invading the city, one of our party had assassinated the new Hnalla candidate. And that event had triggered a series of events which led to a time-branch which led to the destruction of Tekumel.
Subsequently, by means too complicated to explain, our party had escaped the time loop when the assassin withheld his deathblow, and time had moved forward.
We had never understood why the assassin had refrained from striking down the prince, allowing us to escape the loop, but now we knew. Despite the fact that meeting oneself in time is a Bad Thing, we would have to go and stop our past selves from allowing the assassination to occur -- otherwise we would be trapped in the subsequent time loop once again, this time for good.
As we dashed frantically across the city to the Governor's Palace where the presentation was to take place, another thought occurred to us. Upon sparing the Hnalla candidate in our own past, we had been forced to survive the Siege of Thri'il. This had been a perilous event, for the dread Weapon Without Answer had been turned upon the city, enclosing it within an impenetrable dome. Magic, nexus points, and physical travel did not work to penetrate the dome to escape! Should we succeed in preventing the assassination, we would once again be trapped in a city swarming with Yan Koryani and Undead troops, this time without the shelter of our Clanhouses and Temples, because we could not risk continued exposure to our own counterparts!
It could not be helped. To minimise risk and confusion, it was decided that only one of our party, the noble Osumetlu hiVu'urtesh, would attempt to stop the assassin. Otherwise, the more of us who entered the Palace, the greater the chance of meeting ourselves.
Osumetlu entered and located several of our younger selves (Arjai of 2363, his wife, and a Livyani woman named Ru'a) to secure their aid, telling them only that he needed to find the assassin. Not knowing what was to transpire, they led him inwards.
Suddenly a black-robed figure struck! Leaping at Osumetlu with a poisoned dagger, he missed and was slain by a vicious chop to the throat by the Priest Arjai, who reacted with the martial arts training of his youth. Osumetlu moved forward, and another black-robed figure stabbed him with a lethal barbed and poisoned dagger.
Who were these interlopers?! Osumetlu knew; they were agents from the future like himself, sent to ensure the success of the assassination -- and the destruction of Tekumel! He slumped bloody and poisoned to the ground, and as his consciousness flickered, so did hope for all of Tekumel!
The priest Arjai leapt forward, and finding the dagger unremovable, did what had to be done, shoving it through his friend's torso and out the back. The body gushed blood as his wife stepped up with a healing spell. Arjai attempted to cast a spell as well, and was staggered by a shock -- he had forgotten to cast away the large copper dagger, really almost a short sword. Fortunately his wife was more astute, and cast an alleviation upon Osumetlu. His eyes flickered open as the guards arrived. Pandemonium was breaking out, mere seconds after the first black-robed figure had struck. Imperial Guards, reacting with trained swiftness, descended to secure the chamber where the new prince was to be revealed. Bloody and weak, Osumetlu answered their demands for information with the news that an assassin was going to try for the Prince.
Suddenly there was a sense of unreality, a sense of shifting and strangeness for those near the wounded Hnalla priest. He looked... and saw his younger counterpart staring in amazement as this gaunt, bloody and older version of himself! Afflicted with the sense of revulsion all those feel who encounter themselves in this way, as a magnetic pole rejects its own polarity, he began to move swiftly away when his older self called out the assassin's name. "You must prevent him from doing what he is planning!" the older Osumetlu cried as the young Arjai supported him. "Hurry!"
His younger self moved to obey. As further guards claimed Osumetlu from him, the younger Arjai decided also to assist, and hurriedly made himself invisible. Although altruism was not part of the Ksarul priest's nature, he had just watched a man barrel through two assassins and take a near-fatal wound only to rise undaunted in his determination. Whatever he was trying to accomplish, it seemed, might be of an importance that transcended simple inter-temple rivalries. Buffeted by the crowd, he and Osumetlu approached the assassin together, just as that one raised his hand to cast the lethal spell. Osumetlu called out, and the Ksarul priest cast a spell of Domination!
The hand pointed towards the place where the Prince observed the melee below him... and dropped to the assassin's side. Guards hustled the Prince off the dais...
There is more to tell, but more than I can easily relate or you would easily understand. Of the OAL officer who scanned the mind of Osumetlu of 2365, and later met a dark figure who slew him lest he reveal what was to be, and plans as yet unrevealed. Of the candidate Prince, still unrevealed now, and how he disappeared as the Yan Koryani and Undead invaded the palace. Dead? No. But where he went and what became of him I cannot tell you, for that story remains unwritten. Of our intrepid adventurers, who risked destruction to counter the Weapon Without Answer and escape the city, while not altering the outcome for their previous incarnations. And of the assassin, who now stands at the right hand of a Prince, and the Prince, who now stands... but as I said, that is unwritten.
The river of time flows forward, and its ripples are subtly changed. The Weaver weaves, and combs the knots from the tapestry.
Notes on the Paradox
History didn't change, it stayed the same. That was part of the challenge.
What initially happened, historically, was that a Hnalla candidate was announced, Thri'il was besieged, and the candidate disappeared, presumed killed or captured in the invasion.
What next happened was that instead of being announced, the candidate was atomised by a spell during the presentation. This resulted in the destruction of Avanthar and a looped side-plane which returned to the initial state.
What finally happened is that the candidate was not announced, but was also not killed, and disappeared during the invasion.
The net difference is that rather than an announced candidate missing, an unknown individual is missing. Considering how few individuals at the presentation actually survived the invasion and siege, the number of individuals affected by this change is small. A few people exist who were originally aware of who the candidate was, but who are now unaware of who the candidate was.
Recent Events
It is currently the 13th or so of Trantor, 2366.
Mirusiya has returned to Fasiltum following a daring, surprisingly successful, but ultimately doomed attempt on the Golden Tower. A small force managed to sweep up on Avanthar, fight their way in, and were held off at the base of the tower itself, by which time their reduced numbers required them to withdraw. Upon returning home Mirusiya had some kind of falling-out with one or more of his close advisors and with Elara, his consort, which has been to some degree patched up.
Rereshqala, Eselne, Taksuru (the new Ksarul prince) and Mirusiya had agreed upon a Kolumejalim, but Eselne has started to make some noise about his being older than Taksuru and Mirusiya and deserving some kind of special conditions for the contests. Hopefully these issues can be ironed out, but no date for the contests has been fixed.
Reports say that Ma'in has fallen out with Rereshqala, taking prisoner his pregnant consort, Sogai hiTsanune.
Aremala is uninterested in politics and continues to sculpt in Tumissa.
Mridobu has not been heard from since the siege of Bey Su was abated by Eselne's forces and the distractions caused by Mirusiya's raid.
A new candidate was supposedly to be announced in Sokatis, but the temple of Sarku in that city disrupted the ceremony with an undignified little darkness spell and the ceremonies were cancelled. The next attempt was interrupted by either Hru'u, Dlamelish, or both, and featured the Hnalla contingent engaging in frenzied copulation in the middle of the goings-on. The OAL determined a keg of wine, "spiked" with aphrodisiac, to be the cause.
Based on these events, people are guessing that the new candidate might be a Stability worshipper. These Tsolyani are pretty sharp! A few geniuses even surmise that this is the same candidate as was supposed to be revealed in Thri'il two years ago. However, something keeps happening to prevent the revelation...
And that's the News from Tekumel!
Nothing has been heard from Ald or Fu Shi'i since they withdrew from alliance with Dhich'une and returned home to settle the northern warlords.
