Conditor Imperatoris Peter Quinn.

Khaburarukt, Bilbinarg Margrave; Republic of Redagh.

12th of Septara, 1492.

***

With my training at Nydorden Halls complete, our trials in the Darkroom complete, and the mid-year event over, I had the rest of the year to do with as I pleased. In that regard, I was unique among the Imperators. Of course, Rua, Veil of Shadows, and even Amun could take the final step of their monastic ways just as easily as I could, but such a thing required a generation to be raised and go through the evolution ritual within the temple, just as Rua had before he was exiled. Even then, I chose not to raise my temple just yet. For, as Abbot Eiriol stated, the completion of our paths was merely our initial training - our full integration into our monastic ways; to be followed for the rest of our days. For the rest of our days, we were to learn and constantly improve ourselves while spreading our monastic ways to others. So it was, I entered the druidic lands of Redagh with a goal beyond Eotrom and her Legions.

Of course, my priority would still be to work with Indra in either uplifting, over-watching, or assisting her nation. So too would I direct my legion in going about their duties, both in terms of our culture and the looming Rharian War. Scarlett and Mary would spread groves in the now-cleared Blighted Woods and the restored Feathered Grove, respectively. Toni would lead her corps in surveying the land while Rommy would lead his in exploring whatever dungeons or monster lairs they came across, granting sustainable real estate for Smeal's Settler's Corps to build the obligatory facilities. And through it all, I'd be learning about the beings who lived within the product of the elemental energies I'd mastered. Druids.

As we've all come to learn, however, few things were that simple. Though it started simply enough.

It started with lessons - learning about the country that had been thrust upon Eotrom by the headmaster and entrusted to my legion by Amun. Though, through the NoxNet, it was more like the information flowed into my mind, granting visions and memories and dreams of things I'd never witnessed, implanted in my mind like seeds sown in soil.

I found the land to be relatively small in scale, but grand in scope. Only 11 cities were found across the 5 provinces, totaling a primal area of 801,000 square kilometers, yet its population was slightly more than Brybs at 1.2 million souls. O'lind Territory was spread across the coasts from the border of Ligin all the way to the Rharian border on the far side, with only the latter being graced with a border town called Zabazin; if one discounted Numunbazil, a few hundred kilometers from the Ligin border. The other 6 cities were all port towns; if they could be called such, for they were filled with druids and rangers of aqueous natures, and the people of Redagh rarely traded with those passing through.

Beyond the sparse hills and coasts of O'lind, the rest of the Ligin border had been made inaccessible by the High Grove. 96,000 square kilometers of dense, Fae-touched forests with only one city to contain those of the 38,000 who were unwilling to thrive in the wilds. Barukthizdi was the true Ligin-Redagh border town. But with no roads leading through the unsettling woods, everyone preferred faring the longer distance to Numunbazil.

South of the High Grove marked the border of the Blighted Woods. East, however, was Redagh's first Margrave - lands with forests just as dense as those in the high grove, albeit with no Fae and a much larger citizenry. Like the High Grove, nearly half of 272,000 citizens dwelled in the wilds, making the city of Khaburarukt the closest thing there was to the commoners' lands. Those of Indra's station occupied the High Grove Margrave, which was Fae-touched, and encompassed the stretch of the Rharian border spanning the end of the Blighted Woods and the canyon to the north and O'lind Territory to the south, with the Rharian city of Addum just up the Numundusha River to the west. Like everywhere else, only 12,000 of the 124,000 inhabitants lived within the capital city of Birakznib, instead dwelling in unmarked groves akin to the Feathered Grove near the Blighted Woods.

While she was the sole ruler of Redagh, Indra Lichenwind spread her authority and responsibilities among the other Archdruids of Redagh. And yet, only she was here, with sagely scrutinizing eyes dancing across my frame and patches of her copper-tan skin shining around the leafy silhouettes of the tree she stood before. She seemed young, like all elves, and yet old. Her skin wasn't wrinkled, per se, yet was rough in some places and smooth in others, like the bark and leaves comprising her robes.

"Archdruid." I bowed upon stopping before her, then gave a salute to Scarlett and Mary, straddling her in their human forms.

"Imperator Peter Boyd." She lowered her head and smiled. "Amun's first friend. I've heard much about you, and from many mouths. Abbot Eiriol. These ones." She gestured to her sides. "Even Reina Featherfall, at least in terms of what your Keepers have in store for us. I'm glad we've finally met. Now, if you'll excuse me." Lowering her head, she faced about and raised her staff, causing a glowing slit of green to form along the bark before it parted, revealing a winding tunnel of wood that she guided us through earnestly.

We egressed in the heart of the Bilbinarg Margrave, only a few kilometers away from Khaburarukt, within a copse of stone obelisks with animalistic motifs carved in a horseshoe around the tree from which we emerged. Yet, when Indra faced me, she did not gesture toward the city. Instead, she faced southwest, toward the High Grove. But I could somehow tell she was looking beyond the grove and even the Blighted Woods on its far side.

"Since I've told Reina, I'm sure you know," Indra began. "We of Redagh intend to wait until Amun's divine radiance changes the lands before your Keepers act. We have witnessed his presence bring the change we've long awaited from the Eternal Champion and acknowledge his ties to nature; we welcome whatever era he begins wholly. When your keepers act, however, I fear having overwatch would lead to us becoming complacent, and there are few things we need assistance with. And so, we have chosen to be uplifted, so long as we maintain our ways."

"I'll see to it that you shall." I bowed, smiling. "For I wish to learn those ways if I may. I wish to become attuned to nature itself, not just the elements."

"In time." Indra assured me with a wave. "I understand Amun will arrive here after the summoning course, so the wait shan't be long. In the meantime, I invite you to do as your legion has and grow accustomed to these lands, as we are growing accustomed to this… ArborTech and the exotic turtle you call your home. Although I'm sure you're already acquainted with some parts. We will speak again at the appropriate time."

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"Indeed, we shall." I bowed, then gave dismissive nods to Scarlett and Mary before they trotted off behind her, leaving me to reflect on her words.

Acknowledging the experience that came with her age, her knowledge of Amun's station, and her connection to these lands, I knew her words were more than a mere acknowledgment of my past actions. And so, I began thinking about the lands my monks had spent their time training in. The unnamed canyon separating Redagh from the mountain range began on the Redagh side of the Ligin-Rharian border and snaked some 280 kilometers to the north, initially acting as a natural border for the land of druids before the Raven Reaper sowed the Blighted Woods. While relatively slim, the woods overlooked Ligin on the far side of the canyon until the High Grove began, giving it a stigma that left the canyon unpopulated and thus relegated to being filled with the metals and inorganic loot they discarded from the dead poachers.

By the time my monks arrived, it had become a badland of compacted dirt and mounds of rusted or tarnished metals we immortalized in our terrarium towers. Then came Amun's ascension, turning the lands my elemental monks had traversed into Extreme Mana Zones or Calamitous Arcane Territories. Within moments, the canyon had transformed from a scrap-filled badlands to an exotic land of iron sand and metallic beasts, ironwood trees and rusted dirt, sandwiched between towering tiger-striped walls gleaming in pale orange, silvers, and black hues. The weather had mutated in ways that opposed all things of that nature, mutating into acid rains, metallic rockfalls, and rust dust storms. That was when we truly became Keepers.

Though the time spent keeping before our foray into the Darkworld was short, those tumultuous lands had still been settled, assimilated, and harnessed with our elemental ki. He who had harmonized with my metallic ki and calmed the canyon's metallic mana to form a terrarium tower was Luke, a bald unit of a man who was just as unyielding as the materials he wielded. Then came the Fall of Zimysta and our recall to Eotrom to begin the trial of our lives within the Darkroom. So it was. It faded from our minds, allowing it to drift to the forefront of another's.

Now, with our emergence as divine agents of this universe's eternal god, he was here with me, retracing the path my doppelganger led my subordinates down to witness the change brought by our God-Emperor; my first friend, Amun. I could even see traces of his presence as I passed through the former Blighted Woods and passed the collapsed dungeon raised by his ancestor; gilded footsteps and ghostly visages skipping along in my peripherals. But as I approached the ledge and peered down into the great rift, I felt something… more.

I saw something different once I descended. I saw… change. There were no dark clouds pouring acid rains but clear skies and radiant light that absorbed readily into dark leaves, slick with an oily sheen. The trees they were connected to had metallic gray bark, with a subtle deep blue essence shining from between the wrinkles. And while there were still metallic beasts spread throughout, they appeared less like moving metal sculptures and more like exotic animals with blue eyes and non-organic analogues of fur, feathers, and scales.

Realizing the Tech Goddess's essence had been soaking into the canyon and merging with my Keepers' ki brought me to realize that there were many more types of nature I'd have to familiarize myself with. The many branches of divine nature up in Eotrom and perhaps the more wicked versions of nature from the Under. Beyond that, there were the natures of the other realms. The primal nature of Betrarth and the emotional nature of Vagua's tree of life; the nature of gigantification inherent to Niflheim and the raw power of Nonus, as well as those of the elemental planes. But those natures from above and below would be what persisted in Maru once the crusade was over. Yet, it would all begin here, on the Bodhi Peninsula of Nonus.

As we've all come to learn, however, few things were that simple. Though it started simply enough.

Rather than a beast, some exotic plant, or mass of energy, a boy was waiting for us in the depths of that exotic jungle. He stood with his arms clasped behind his back while he faced the western canyon wall, yet turned the moment we noticed him to reveal the Nox's mark stitched into his black and blue monastic robes and Iris's holy symbol - a blue ring - dangling from his neck. Like Luke, his arms and legs were of a dull metallic black hue. Yet his face was bisected by a glowing blue scar that ran across the bridge of his nose, curved down around his cheeks and stretched to the base of his ear to trace his lower jaw at the neck.

Squinting at him brought up the Net and an overview of his character, causing my head to tilt after he returned my salute. "Why are you here, Deeke?" I asked.

"Like your Keepers, Imperator, I have spent some time here. During Trescia, shortly after I rebooted. This place was much different back then." Iris's Executor answered, sweeping his arms across the space, willing the winds to follow the gesture. "Now, it has the Divine Mother's touch, melded with the ki of Eotrom's Monastic Elemental God. And so, I am here as the bridge to teach you and these realms the nature of the machine, as decreed by the March of Progress and the Tech Goddess's faith that is to spread across these lands."

"I see." I nodded, not fully understanding what he was getting at - a prospect he seemed prepared for.

"Worry not about the march," he raised his palm. "The God of Industry has selected a few minds of artifice in Redagh to introduce ArborTech to the realm. Similarly, others are to help form the Tech Goddess's houses of work-ship, both here and afar. I am here to bless these lands with the Divine Mother's branch of life, as the Flesh Mother will soon do; it is my hope that you would assist me in blessing these augmented lands and life forms with your elemental energy."

I bowed to him as a monk, paired with a beaming smile. "I would be honored!"

I was surprised to see him smile back after he bowed, subdued into a smirk though it was. It still seemed he was more human than he wanted to admit. For it sure couldn't have been noticed by his monotone as he asked: "Have you analyzed the legions' monastic paths, Imperator?"

"The Way of Shadow, Silent Death, the Undying Way." I began after nodding. "The Elemental Way, Way of Twilight, and Moonlight; among many others."

"Accurate. However, there is one not yet available to the Legions," he said, palming his chest. "I was brought down the monastic path in Eotrom by Master Etan, primarily; secondarily by the God-Emperor, throughout our Seven Years in Heaven, as the Tech Mother has designated the period. While our ages were different, my perspective of time and aging was altered to match those seven years. There, I adopted the Machine Way, and in the Darkroom, merged that monastic path with the Mechanic Artificing Class to become a Monastic Artificer, of the Machine Principle. It is the monastic half of this legendary class, the Machine Way, and the ki inherent to it, that I wish to pass on to the Keeper's legendary unit - the Elemental Monks."

"Luke." I turned to the young monk. "As you are the most attuned with this place, I'd request you to find one who is able and willing to follow the way of the machine if you don't want it for yourself. Do you accept?" Beaming wide, the commander of the 5th Specialty Division of my legendary unit snapped a salute. "Readily, Imperator!" His spirit shone, soaking into both me and Deeke, turning about to face the cliff wall.

"Please," Deeke gestured to his sides. "Join me in meditation."

As Luke settled next to Deeke, I carved out the Glyph of Power while the augmented monk withdrew a deep blue wise rock, holding it in his right hand to be fed a stream of his blue-black arcana. Simultaneously, his free hand cocked backward, palm splaying overhead to release twin streams of vibrant blue Vehsipane and clear water that swirled around each other as they rose, dipped, swallowed his wise rock, and lunged into the cliff wall. Then he sat without delay, falling into a meditative trance with the rest of us while the realm changed around us for the 3rd time this year.

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