Mari Aslin's First Report

"Next up, join us as we reveal the truth behind what our leaders have been up to lately- this story brought to you fresh out of new interdimensional intelligence. We welcome Mari Aslin with her latest project- a documentary meant to bring the people of the galaxy to total awareness of the most confidential goings-on in our universe."

~*~

"It all began a little less than a year ago, with an alliance that you all remember. Martian leader Emerik the Blade, Alteriian leader Archelaus, and NegaLord Valderis Robless had allied themselves in the interest of overthrowing the High Lords (the leaders of the 11-30th dimensions, called the High Lands) and giving more power to the Low Lands (dimensions 1-10), which they dominated. Unbeknownst to them, the High Council had long been thrown into chaos by political issues. Lady Somnis, formerly known as Lady Xecks and later known as Eris-Tam, came into control of the Somnis empire and the 16th, 17th, 20th, and 21st dimensions after her own 11th was destroyed in the Izual family's attempt to murder all of the surviving heirs to their rivals' empire. They were unsuccessful, and she inherited leadership of the broken empire.

"Because of Lady Somnis' previous position as High Lady of the 11th, she was physically closer to and more aware of the problems that the Lower Lords were having. She had always represented them in the Council as the courier between the divisions and so was very partial to their needs. She had allied herself with the Plutonian princess Zyria of the 10th dimension after providing her with several of the Higher dimensions in order to protect her people from the Revolt. The other move Lady Somnis made was renouncing her status as a High Lady in an attempt to appease the Lower Lords and reclaiming the name she had been given by her nearly-extinct people, Eris-Tam; she had no quarrel with the Low Lords and wished not to be a part of the conflict.

"Lord D'garar Und'gha'od, of the 24th dimension, also joined in alliance with Eris-Tam and Zyria after also renouncing her title and reverting to the leader's title of his people, the Warchief. We suspect that this is relevent to the relationship that it is rumored that existed between Eris-Tam and the Warchief, but little is publicly known as to the details, and until we manage to win an interview with the pair themselves, we doubt we will ever get those details.

"After Zyria and her people's transfer to safer dimensions, Tam and D'garar conspired against Valderis Robless, who planned to transfer to the now-empty 10th dimension which Zyria had left behind. In order to prevent the transfer and prevent the NegaLord's strategic positioning to get closer to the High Lands, D'garar detonated the recently stolen (from Emerik the Blade) Ionic Discharge Engine in the supposedly empty space of the 10th Dimension, effectively destroying the only habitable area.

"Later, they found out that Archelaus' colonists and researchers were stationed there, in the 10th Dimension. He personally condemned D'garar and Tam for their actions, and in the way of his people they were damned forever with little chance of redemption. However, Archelaus did mention the Kran-Til'mok as the single way to redeem themselves. Tam inquired, not wanting to be at odds with the Alteriians and being truly apologetic and sorrowful for the deaths of Archelaus' people.

"Tam accepted the challenge of the Kran-Til'mok, and when she arrived on Vertrus, one of the Alteriian main planets, Archelaus saw her and likely realized that she was not only of the Kazesqui, the thought-lost sister race to the Alteriia, but also his Neiede (or "dear one", in Alteriian), the only person he ever loved, the person he had waited for for the last 800 years, thinking that she was dead. Now, this is purely speculation, as we have no solid proof that the pair actually share a Neiede connection, but it would explain many of the events that followed shortly after. Upon realizing who she was, Archelaus realized what he had done. Tam was forced to walk through a river of lava with no protection from it at all, and return alive. Tam made it across, apparently, but the details of what happened on the other side or on the way back are something that Tam has never shared.

"There has only been speculation as to what brought her back to the two men she most likely loved, when logic dictates that she should have died in the river. The Alteriians claim that it was their deity, Naruasha, who brought her back, but others are skeptical of this idea. Suffice it to say that Tam's survival was nothing short of a miracle.

"The conflict between the Alteriians and the New Alliance having been solved, the Alteriians joined the NA as well as Emerik the Blade, after Eris-Tam convinced him that Valderis Robless was the real enemy in this new war. Remembering the Early Wars, the Martians switched sides; unfortunately Emerik's switch caused riots and revolutions in the Martians who believed that Robless was the only ally who could save them, as we all know. Emerik was able to appease them, but his daughter was lost when the supply fleet she commanded was attacked by an angry Robless, taking revenge on Emerik for his betrayal.

"Shortly after all of this took place, Robless seemed to have a very strange, sudden change of heart. He initiated a live video feed which we were able to get our hands on, and he linked in with all of the dimensional leaders. After a brief speech about his recent actions and how he was realizing that he couldn't live with himself, he shot himself in the head, preluding it by saying that he would live, but would not last long if no one tried to help him, if no one could forgive him. All of the leaders were too far away to get there in time.

"However, moments after the bullet was fired, the extremely weak Eris-Tam must have dissappeared from the Warchief's warship 451, where she was recovering from her near-death at Vertrus. I believe she was pulled, somehow, to the room where Robless lay dying. She was low on energy after the Kran-Til'mok, but used the very last spurt of energy to heal him. Consequently, she was not left with enough substance to continue living on her own, so her consciousness quickly planted itself alongside Robless', using his energy to survive, allowing them both to live but forcing Tam to occupy the mind of her greatest enemy.

"Again, there has only been speculation as to how Eris-Tam was transported such a great distance with so very little energy remaining; teleportation is known to be a common ability of the Kazesqui, but is generally only seen in those who are bound by the Neiede link. Somehow, Tam managed to use that ability with no well of power to draw from except herself, and succeeded without wasting the rest of her energy. Those who believe in Naruasha and the Alteriian faith say that she was, in that moment, able to draw on the power of the Light itself, and that she tapped into it with startling ease. They also say that if Naru was willing to help Tam once, why not offer her assistance again? But then there are even still skeptics among the Alteriians, who disagree with that ascertion, asking, 'Maybe Naru helped Eris-Tam, but why would it allow her to reach its power to help a criminal like Valderis Robless?'

"Well, when Robless awoke, he realized that Tam had saved him and he was grateful, but became extremely disoriented when he realizesd that she was trapped in his mind. She distastefully directed him to go to Warship 451, and he obeyed. They arrived safely on the Warchief's ship, but little did they know that they weren't safe at all...

"D'garar was not present on their arrival, having gone off to search for his missing-or-dead second-in-command, Kassandra. He found nothing, however, and went off to lead Warship 666, or the Demigod, into its new, little-tested purposes.

"When Robless-Tam arrived, they found Zyria, Emerik, and Drel-Caz--Eris-Tam's second and believed to be one of the last Kazesqui in existence--onboard the ship. Tam used Robless' body to explain the situation to them, all the while struggling internally to figure something out about Robless' mind. Our knowledge hints that she eventually discovered that all these awful centuries, Robless has been being manipulated by a parasite called the Thel-ghan'che. Yes, folks. You know of the creature. It is whispered about in legends and you tell stories of it to your children. Many of you even remember the devastation it caused during the First Infestation. And all this time, Robless has been under its control.

"For those of you who haven't heard of this entity, the Thel-ghan'che is an energy creature, much like the Kazesqui, which doesn't have much of a physical form. It is a parasite of consciousness; it feeds on the good thoughts of the host, and uses the bad thoughts to control them. Eris-Tam knew of its existence... it is indeed true that the First Infection originated on the Kazesqui-Alteriian homeworld. During that outbreak, both Kazesqu and Alteriians were targeted, and the Kazesqui found the single known way to cure their Alteriian partners of it. It was a process much like what Tam had done to heal Robless. Once the Kazesqui inhabits an infected mind, they have the ability to take the creature with them when they separate from the other being. The only problem is that once they've got it, it's about a fifty-fifty chance on whether or not they can kill it before it infects them, too. The problem there is that there is no known way to do a similar process to a Kazesqui in order to cure them.

"Let's go back a little, since not everyone is quite familiar with the First Infestation. During this outbreak, the Kazesqui-Alteriian leaders had to make many tough calls. At first, they tried locking up the infected Kazesqui to keep them from hurting anyone. They soon ran out of room, and still no cure had been reached. The leaders were forced to issue a command requiring that all infected Kazesqui be killed on sight. It was a slaughter. Hundreds of thousands died, and thousands more were left broken with out their Neiedes. It was one of the saddest times in their planet's history, second only to the Battle at Snowdove, where the Kazesqui all joined in fighting Robless, sacrificing themselves so that the Alteriians could escape, leaving only three alive-one of which, was Eris-Tam.

"Robless had been living with one of the parasites for almost 800 years, since the First Infestation occurred. Eris-Tam noticed it on the 451, thinking about all of the horrible things that Robless had done- that Robless had been forced to do by the Thel-ghan'che.

"After some hesitation, she decided that she would do her part to remove it as soon as she was strong enough to separate from him. While they were on 451, however, our own Emerik the Blade attempted to betray the group of leaders to others who would do them harm, but was caught. While he explained that he was bitter towards them because they did nothing to stop his daughter's death, a huge meteor hit the ship and threw everything into chaos. Thousands of Fleshers swarmed onto the ship, tearing into it. The leaders fended them off for a while but the ship was hit again, by another, faster-moving meteor. It pushed the ship towards the system's sun.

"Archelaus, Alteriian leader, came to their rescue, and the proximity to him gave Tam enough strength to separate from Robless through the Neiede link. We believe she took the parasite from him, but in the confusion of the destruction of the ship, it is suspected that the parasite was able to overpower her and now infects her mind instead. It was not able to immediately take control, though, and using the Neiede energy she was able to teleport everyone to safety onboard the Demigod just before 451 was pulled into the sun.


"What happened next was something of a mystery. Witnesses say that Tam was mad, that she kept flipping almost between two personalities- that of the parasite and her own. Our witnesses also say that Tam was able to stab D'garar through the heart on the bridge of the Demigod. He was on the verge of death when the Plutonian princess, Zyria, came to his rescue, somehow healing his wound. But Tam kept losing control, and Zyria and the others kept having to suppress her, keeping her unconscious most of the time so no one else would be hurt. Again, we don't have much information about the following events, but we do know that the leaders tried something that they though might help Tam, but that it obviously failed. We also gained information of what may be a growing relationship between Zyria and Drel-Caz, but most of our witnesses were unclear on many of the details.

"The next thing we know is that Eris-Tam disappeared from the Demigod. She left. It is unknown where she went or why, but we also know that the other leaders have most likely set out in search of a cure. Their whereabouts are unknown to the public as well as their mission, but we can only hope to gain more information on this topic and can only pray for the safety of our galaxy's leaders. Thank you very much, more reports coming as soon as we learn more about this pressing issue."

~*~

Mari tapped her foot anxiously and nervously as the recording of her voice played over the radio, broadcasting to over fifteen dimensions of listeners... and she prayed to God or whoever else was out there watching that her facts were right. It was big. Mari had spent the last three months hitchinking her way across the galaxy, wildly hunting down any small tidbits, chasing any leads she found that most reporters would have ignored to try and get the truth out. She'd found so much; she'd connected so many dots where no one else ever would have drawn a line and though the picture was beginning to come clear there were still so many details missing. And she had no idea what consequences would fall on her shoulders if she finally made the details clear.

But she didn't care. There was nothing that could happen to her that would make her mission any less worthwhile. Her story was dangerous- dangerous to the very powers, rulers of the dimensions. Who knew how much of a threat the would consider Mari. She felt threatening, but that was not her goal, not at all. However, Mari did feel a certain sense of security in two facts: one, she felt like she knew these people. Tam and Archelaus and Zyria and Caz and even the evil Robless, even her own people's leader, Emerik. She felt like she knew them. And from what she knew, even if they found her threatening they would not hurt her, would not torture her into complacence like so many others would. And even if that logic failed, she had her second security: she knew more than she had yet told the press. And no one could kill her until they knew the extent of what she knew.

This was Mari's mission, and no one else's. Get the truth out. She wouldn't let anyone get in her way.


As the story tapered off, Mari stood, satisfied. "... more about this pressing issue." Her voice finished.

"Thank you very much for sharing this story. Next up, the riots in the sectors are finally dying down, and..." Mari flicked off the hotel room's small radio. Her crew was waiting in the small living space of her suite, so she gathered her things and stepped out of her room, then out of the hotel, crew following, into the busy streets of Mars in the 3rd Dimension.







((This is an open side plot, though I'd still like anyone who wishes to join to post their bios as per usual. I need two to four people for her crew: someone tech savvie, someone communications savvy, and a cameraman/woman, plus anyone else you think would be helpful on the permanent crew of an independent reporter.))

((Also: my future plans for this plot include other, outside characters- it is in the plans for Mari to, in fact, be taken captive and tortured by some of one of the dimensional leader's high-up subordinates. My only restriction on who can play this/these character(s) is that it can't be Klyde/Kaisen. Sorry Kai. In any case, that would be the last thing to happen in the first part of the side plot, because that's where Mari and the leaders' paths might cross. Maybe someone decides it might be in the main group's best interests to find Mari in order to prevent any information potentially dangerous to their welfare or the welfare of the universe from being leaked and put in the wrong hands. Then they find out that they already have her, were uninformed by the one in charge of her situation, and that she'd been being tortured under their administration for quite some time. It would make sense for this to happen in Robless' people, since many of his underlings are probably actually evil, since that's the kind of person parasite-Robless would have wanted to surround himself with.))

((Anyways, those're my plans. Please join in, people! I think it's time we had some interesting side plots!))