Welcome to Gaia! ::

Paul raised an eyebrow. He had figured on weapons, but not quite on weapons like this. Whatever it was, though, he liked it. For a moment longer he hesitated, then he nodded. "Sounds like a deal to me. One last question before a solid accept, though. What if I run out of ammo? Can I get more from somewhere, or am I just screwed?"

"Psh. Heck if I know," he said amiably. He eyed the lizard. "Is that a gecko?" He bent to pick up the briefcase and sat down in a moderately secluded corner, noting that the hippie followed.
Keldan was suspicious.

Keldan "nodded." Siber noted an excessive, though not quite disgusting, plethora of bugs on the fringes of his personal bubble.
He unlatched the briefcase (wondering if it might not be a good thing to store somewhere for later use) and popped it open in his lap. "Well. That's interesting."

"Mmmhmm," the druid agreed, looking into the briefcase. "A phase knife," he spat. The device in question had the appearance of a switchblade with blue vein-like wires running along it. "Typical of cyNet3. They claim neutrality, but equip the independents with only the barest imitation of a connection with their Councilor, and give them a ton of phase weaponry." He inspected Siber and the phase knife. "Wonder what got Abaddon on cyNet3's bad side."

--

"Obviously, other-dimensional storage for a weapon and bullets designed to part dimensional barriers is out of the question; thus, Athena is capable of a localized chameleonic, but in the interest of portability, it is small enough that it cannot be extended over you. Your link with the rifle should allow you to intuitively feel its location at most or all times," the android explained.

"For the price of those items, we could purchase - or build - a small army," the android answered with a grin. "That aside, Councilors and agents of Councilors are forbidden to act directly against one another, on penalty of punishment by the Blademaster. Thus, Abaddon may be hiring and preparing his own intermediaries through Helmsborough as Daedalus arms you through me. "If worst comes to worst, tell Athena to connect you to the Unit T.C. Zero. Good luck. You can keep the glasses if you want." The android saluted him briefly and walked away, and Tartarus reactivated his Chameleonic and disappeared, climbing onto a rooftop. The box sat at the end of the alley, the rest of his 'gifts' in it - or rather, on it.

Takeshi looked him in the eye and asked, "Do you really expect me to go outside with Duke Yang running around out there?"

"The Councilor goes by the sign 'Daedalus.' CyNet3 is better than cyNet1 or 2 ever were, for a number of reasons that would probably bore you, but they still make these infernal technologies. Phase weaponry exists in four more dimensions than it should and it parts magic shields with the delicacy of a mosquito's bite. It's a fiendish technology that only cyNet3 can mass-produce. It is highly unnatural and highly dangerous. Be careful with it," the druid replied. After delivering his warning, he remembered the second of Siber's questions. "We oppose Abaddon because he is too strong and too violent. At his best he's worse than a force of nature at its most dangerous. There are only a few groups who even dare to openly oppose him. CyNet3 is one, with its android soldiers. If they have the cyNet3 Hyperion system and a well-suited body, they can dodge bullets from a roomful of gunners while returning fire.

"A single unit by the designation of T.C. Zero, the first unit with Hyperion, is even more dangerous than the others. A loophole in the software allowed what was meant to be an automaton - a nonsentient android - to gain sentience by allocating more and more memory to his A.I. routines. Now T.C. Zero acts as their primary and most dangerous agent - reliable rumor has it that he once wiped out almost thirty vampires singlehandedly, at night, to retaliate for Duke Yang making an 'incorrect' vote. Some say he has achieved full-on magic; I call bullshit at that, you need at least some sort of soul, or spirit, or system of internal energy flow, to use magic.

"But I began to rant of cyNet again. The other groups. The Maskers and Abaddon steer clear of each other out of mutual interest - if a Masker were to take Helmsborough's power, Abaddon would be crippled, but the Maskers would not be able to rebuild their forces from the damage the avatar could inflict. The last groups are the Djinni and the Sages.

"To understand the Djinni and the Sages, you have to understand a bit more of the group politics. The Djinni and the Sages have been at war for a Middle-Eastern ley line for centuries. This has resulted in accumulation of military power unlike that possessed by any other group that isn't a militant order like the Demon Hunters, the Warlock Hunters, or the like. The Sages have achieved ungodly mobility magic in addition to unrivaled destructive power. Two Archsages could destroy everything you've ever known with one week's worth of time. The Djinni are an Elemental Force. One Marid or one Efreet could hold off a dozen druids or one to three archdruids in a forest and the Efreet wouldn't even have to light up the forest to do it. The Marid would probably be able to go on the offensive.

"If Abaddon for one second dared to strike a single member of either, they could and would unite against Abaddon. They both hate him - only the fear of the other group backstabbing them keeps them from uniting. Understand this: Each of them would be willing to ally with the other, and not betray them, for the sole purpose of destroying Abaddon's influence outside of Next Door, if they had insurance the other side would stay true. If he brought either group's wrath upon them, he could count on having Sages and Djinni raiding every holding in Reality and as many as they could reach in Crossover within a month.

"Of the rest of the forces represented by Abaddon, the angels have done everything they can and most of the demon warlords could be crushed by him. The only authority Abaddon answers to... is the Blademaster." The druid shuddered.

((ULTRA-LONG POLITICS EXPOSITION POST! WHAZAM!))

"A cyNet4?" the druid repeated with a chuckle as he grabbed the Cheez-its. The hippie act was easily disproved by his immaculately clean hands. "Almost certainly. The first two cyNets were collectives - robot hives, like twisted ants or bees existing only to reproduce, but without doing anything for the environment, as insect colonies do. CyNet3 turned out something totally different. Robots who are keenly aware of the fragility of their sentience and value individuality more than any creature born with it can. The CyNets seem to come in cycles, so who knows what cyNet4 could be?

"As for who seems to run the show - the Blademaster is the supreme force on the Council. He refuses to take a seat and a vote, saying he'd be too influential - and he's right. He's an arbiter instead, a peacekeeper. He preserves the fragile peace of these worlds as best he can." The druid paused to eat the whole handful of Cheez-its at once. Seconds later, he continued. "The last time Abaddon got out of line, the Blademaster killed his avatar as punishment. That was in about 1845, I think. The Blademaster's report said that he stripped the avatar's shield in three seconds and decapitated him by the fourth second.

"This was before the first phase weapon was even conceived. Every force in the Council, on individual and group scales and in the cliques formed for protection, defers to the Blademaster. He keeps us from escalating our conflicts. He's actually mediated a truce between the druids and cyNet3; the first mech-druid truce in history. Daedalus personally designed, during the meeting, ecologically safe plants and factories. CyNet3 is much more understanding and tactful than its predecessors.

"A final note on the subject of checks and balances, though. If the Blademaster wouldn't step in between a Djinni-Sage war, the rest of the Council of 27 would. Same with druids and cyNet, as well as the angels and demons... nobody bothers when the demons fight though. Might well call it racism. A lot of ex-Council member demons dethroned by their rivals like to call it that.

"As for the druids? With cyNet3 in a truce with us, we're essentially neutral... but we wouldn't mind seeing Abaddon fall, if you follow." The druid grinned. "Which I'm sure you do."