⇨ THE PRINCE IS DEAD

[ringleaders]

Who: Everyone!
When: Day 178 - B1: Day 6
Where: The Carnival and sometimes on top of the Heart of Stone.
What: Now that the Prince is dead and gone, there's a lot left to sort out. As the remaining servants are liberated and those captured by the Prince are tended to, it's time for recovery and goodbyes.
Warnings: Nothing in particular.

HOME GROUND↴ At long last, it is over. The Prince is dead, and all of his stolen Names have been restored - all that's left to do is treat the wounds and move on. For the first day or two, the Ringmaster will be arranging passage for the servants that are left, all of which have remembered their names for the first time in years. The earth elemental that had been trapped and forced to serve as the Prince's manor, the Heart of Stone, is happy to help for the moment. It appreciates the Ringmaster's mercy, and is free after untold eons of imprisonment. Yet, there are plenty of aspects that are far from simple. There are still servants left mad and transformed into beasts, with no easy way to change them back. The Prince's spells outlive him, and those bearing his poison and his curses will have a difficult road ahead of them. Though most of the bestial servants have been rounded up, and a large number that had been reduced to unmoving statues returned, even the Ringmaster can't return them to normal so simply. The next week is for rest and for settling remaining affairs. If you want to bid farewell to any particular NPCs, or assure care is given where it's needed, now is the time to do it. ► A CURE: The Ringmaster will tell everyone simply - there is no simple way to undo another fae's magic. The Prince's powers were essentially on par with hers, which means that those who have been transformed to stone and those that were cursed into beasts and driven insane are not something she can trivially fix. It will take the work of the carnival and a couple weeks of treatment to shed the curse of stone, and the maddened servants are an entirely separate matter. She will do what she can, but for the most part she is arranging for the Prince's servants to be cared for elsewhere. At least for now, the Ringmaster will be animating the stone portions of people's bodies with magic, though those portions will still be a bit clumsy and numb feeling. ► THE NEW HEARTSTONE: In the absence of the prince, the Heart of Stone will be taking over the remains of the Prince's realm and preventing it from collapsing into void. As it turns out, the manor had been an earth elemental all along - a form of Wyld Fae almost on par to the Prince and Ringmaster themselves. How the Heart of Stone was enslaved is a long story presumably, but the Ringmaster considers it to be a sign of the Prince's own depravity. The Heart will be allowing visitors for the first couple days of this period through the portal, but keep in mind you are essentially just walking around on its body. At least the realm has a floor, now, instead an endless abyss surrounding it.

Comments

[kingsroads]

"In my world, magic was hidden behind the mirrors. You passed through the mirror to travel to other lands and when the mirrors of England were broken, then magic returned to the land."

Strange's magic involving mirrors is more a quirk of that than anything else. Reflections for scrying, traveling through mirrors and reflections, and then a whole school of magic that sprung from those few spells he knew.

[wild_magic]

Magic was hidden? He doesn't quite understand how that could work, but he knows vaguely that magic in his own world has been messed with before, so he at least isn't totally surprised that magic can be tampered with. Still, it's a bit confusing and alarming to think about.

"So... Does that mean that now there aren't any mirrors in England at all?"

[kingsroads]

"I'm sure someone's gotten around to rebuilding them," Strange responds, with a little shrug. "Or they've imported some from the continent."

He is not at all worried about the state of the mirrors in England. Yes, they were broken, but they'll eventually be fixed. And though the mirrors can be fixed, the pathways between England and faerie will remain and, most importantly of all, the magic will remain.

[wild_magic]

He supposes that it isn't really that big a deal either, but it's still strange to think that suddenly something like that could just be gone, and that it wouldn't be at least a bit weird to people. But he shrugs after a moment too.

"I guess, that would make sense. How did they break, anyway? Was it just too much magic to hold behind mirrors?" He doesn't think mirrors are very strong, after all, so it makes sense in his head, even if realistically it doesn't make a lot of sense.

[kingsroads]

It's a bunch of metaphors and weird magic, don't think too hard about it. Still, Strange is just explaining this in a matter of fact tone.

"They broke because I broke them." And because he knows Susan's going to have questions about that, Strange continues. "England is full of magicians. Some were silenced, some didn't know they were magicians, and some had their potential limited due to the small amount of magic that was present. By breaking the mirrors and bringing magic back to England, I let the magicians take up their magic once more."

Strange's voice starts to get more and more excited as he talks. Most people would view an influx of magic to a nation of untrained people as a bad thing, but for Strange? It's one of the most beautiful things he's ever seen.

[wild_magic]

Susan of course is not one of those who thinks bringing magic to untrained people could be a bad thing - magic is everywhere in his own world, and he himself basically just has his own magic randomly, so how could that be bad for others? In fact it sounds pretty cool, especially the fact that apparently Strange did it by himself.

"You did all of that? Brought magic to everybody?"

[kingsroads]

"I did." And Strange can't help but smile. He's not telling Susan a lot of the story. He only brought magic to everyone when he was trapped and cursed, desperate times calling for the most desperate measures. But Strange didn't regret it. After all, England was full of magicians: it was only fitting that they be able to cast the magic they so yearned for.

"Of course, most people viewed it as dangerous—I heard plenty of rumors and whispers about myself and my actions. But most people are idiots to begin with."

[wild_magic]

Most people are idiots? It might not be something he agrees with, but it's still something that makes him laugh, especially said as directly as that.

"I guess it could be dangerous, but some of the best things are dangerous, I think. So it can be both."

[kingsroads]

Most people are definitely idiots. At Susan's laugh, Strange's grin only grows wider. And then, as Susan continues, Strange nods. He's right at that. Some of the best things are dangerous: magic, to start with.

"You simply have to know to navigate the danger, something which a lot of people still have trouble with." It's not dangerous if you know how to do it.