The OP Lich is a Returnee, Book 24 Prologue (Patreon)

Prologue – Trade Chat

(Magical World Disharmony Server, General Chat)

UsualSuspect, manoutoftime, muon, MewTwo, Avariel, Chummer, Golddigger, CrazyCelt, Blaze, DoYouEvenLyft?, MarcoPolo, MightMakesRight, MacD, Inquisitor, OrangeQueen, Lizard, RedFox, SemiSolidSnake, BabyShark, Lichwatcher, Not_the_Face!, TheLichQueen, Scholar, Salty, Anonymous3, Anonymous4, Anonymous7, Anonymous9, WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot, DigDug, Backlog, DarkAvariel, Knocker, GrimDark, BloodForTheBloodGod, BackDat@55Up and DarkAngel are in the chat.

DarkAngel: So, what happened with the portal in Seattle? It was under guard for two weeks, and now it is just gone.

Lichwatcher: Apparently, LQ did a ritual to move the connection to a different portal, made on one of the islands that joined her country. Then, her people took down the portal, and restored the Memorial to its former condition.

Knocker: Why move it, though? Couldn’t it have stayed put?

muon: Unlikely. While, yes, Seattle is more convenient than an island in the Pacific for commercial purposes, if there is a problem trying to come through from the other side, there are a lot more potential victims there. Especially since the US military is falling behind the other powers in the magical arms race.

SemiSolidSnake: Yeah, and stationing a permanent army presence in the middle of Seattle would go over swimmingly with the locals.

Scholar: Indeed. Other than the academic value of having the portal there, where it can be easily studied, there are too many risks to make it worthwhile.

TheLichQueen: Also, I wanted to keep the Memorial site intact. Turning it into the equivalent of a train station would be disrespectful.

Knocker: But why not move it to someplace else in the US, instead of taking it out of the country?

TheLichQueen: Three reasons. One, the US still hasn’t worked its way off my naughty list. Two, the people coming through the portal were looking for me in particular. And three, the portal connects to lands that already belonged to Risen Athelia.

MacD: Wait, the portal really goes to the world you were summoned to?

TheLichQueen: Yes. And since I purposefully left a lot of very strong monsters around when I left, leaving the portal anywhere but on Athelian soil would basically ensure that the monsters would start pouring through, once the mana levels stabilized enough.

BabyShark: So, what now?

TheLichQueen: Now, Risen Athelia is putting together a five-year plan of infrastructure building. In addition to New Athelas on the ocean floor, we will build a port on the island of Pagan, where the portal now lies. On the other side of the portal, I shall build the Fortress City of Earthgate, to be the beachhead on Onerth and final line of defense should things go spectacularly wrong. It will also act as a trading hub, once the infrastructure is in place.

MarcoPolo: So, when can traders expect to start going through the gate?

TheLichQueen: I plan to send a couple airships through the Gateway in the next few months, but trade will be limited until the infrastructure is in place. After that, any businesses that can legally operate in Risen Athelia, which includes most EAA companies, will be able to operate on the other side of the portal, with the same guidelines.

MarcoPolo: But that cuts out American companies entirely!

TheLichQueen: Complain to your representatives then. Or vote better.

BabyShark: Harsh

Scholar: But valid. The world has changed, which means other countries don’t have to put up with the US doing US things like they used to be able to get away with.

Blaze: Especially when LQ is behind one of those nations.

Not_the_Face!: Hey, I don’t know if anyone else has been paying attention to this, but it looks like there is some sort of disturbance going on in Eastern Europe.

Inquisitor: Are you talking about the situation in Romania?

Not_the_Face!: Yeah, there’s been some strange reports happening out there. Missing persons, strange sightings at night, bodies found drained of blood, and so on. A lot of it focused in the area of Târgoviște. (Man, getting the display to put those special characters in was a pain.)

Scholar: Why does that name sound familiar?

Lizard: Well, a quick search online says that it is a county seat n Romania, but the history section mentions that it was a long-time capital of Wallachia, during the medieval period.

Inquisitor: Including the period when Vlad the Impaler was around.

TheLichQueen: Sounds like a vampire going on a frenzy. Either newly turned, or getting a sudden increase in power, most likely. If they don’t have a responsible sire keeping a leash on them, new vampires tend to go wild for a bit, until they learn control. Or until someone hunts them down and kills them.

CrazyCelt: So, this kind of behavior is normal?

TheLichQueen: It is a known and recognized side effect of the process of becoming one of the higher forms of undead, yes. Ghouls, Vampires, the more intelligent wraiths, and Liches all have issues in this regard. You’ll also find similar issues with newly changed were-creatures, and other types of transformative magics.

Scholar: A psychological shift to go along with the physical or magical changes?

TheLichQueen: Partially. The changes do have a psychological component to them, but this is more due to the increase in power the individual gains, and the fact that most of these transformations remove the normal caps on mortality. Even werewolves, who are still mortal, age at a much slower rate, and remain in their prime for much longer. For undead, who are immortal unless slain, it is even harder to think of themselves through a mortal’s eyes. In the case of vampires, specifically, they are physically powerful, have a magical charisma to them, and, even as a newborn vampire, are far more capable than a mortal of their age.

DoYouEvenLyft?: And that makes them arrogant, unless they have someone stronger to slap them down and keep them in line, right?

TheLichQueen: Precisely. As I said, this phenomenon is well-documented in the other world. It is the main reason why few undead overlords ever actually successfully rose to power. They almost always get too full of themselves and their new power, and move too quickly, before they’ve had time to properly build their power base.

Scholar: How were you different, then?

TheLichQueen: I had a civil war to hide behind, and Murena offered me guidance when I first became undead. By the time anyone in Athelia-that-was knew I was a threat, it was already too late. And I still spent a decade and a half building my forces before I began taking part in the Long War against the Demon King.

TheLichQueen: Basically, when you have a newly turned vampire or lich, you have someone who has been given a dramatic boost in personal power, but has not yet had time to mentally transition to an immortal scale of time’s passage. Thanks to Murena’s warning, I was able to avoid that pitfall. It sounds like this vampire in Romania did not have that kind of guidance.

Inquisitor: How bad can this get?

TheLichQueen: Depends on how quickly someone gets enough people with enough power to pin them down, and separate the vampire’s head from their body. Or finds some other solution. However, that won’t have anything to do with me, since Risen Athelia doesn’t interfere in the law enforcement affairs of other countries unless we are invited in.

manoutoftime: So, your actions in Russia…

TheLichQueen: Attacking me and mine is an implicit invitation for a response in kind. Something that other people have been very careful to avoid since then.

TheLichQueen: That said, if the Romanian government asked for consultants, I would not be adverse to helping them.