Tutorial's End

The New Arrival's Guide to Common Things

by Jorbon Delivas

Now, let's talk about the galactic mammoth in the universe. Factions, guilds, orders, and other organizations.

When you arrived, it's likely you were immediately recruited into some organization or another immediately. Depending on who approached you, you may have ended up with a predatory contract that leaves you little to no freedom, or you might have found yourself contracted for a relatively short period with benefits and an interesting role.

Regardless, you're likely entirely unaware of how any of these institutions operate or why you've been snapped up like a juicy worm dropped into a pond.

At the most basic level, organizations are collections of beings dedicated to a specific goal or oriented by a common morality. I'll go over each of the most common types of organizations you're likely to encounter shortly after arriving. You can purchase my supplemental packet, 'A Complete Idiot's Guide to The World's Institutions.'

Willow

Camp, ???

A bit over a month wasn't an incredibly long time in the grand scheme of things. In fact, it had blurred by like a pair of cars participating in a street race at three A.M.

A large part of the blurring effect could certainly be attributed to the hectic scramble it'd entailed. Madrick's arrival had heralded the end of the period of 'doing whatever' Willow had been enjoying on Shee. He'd given them two weeks to get ready to begin "proper training."

"So, ready to tell us why we're training so hard?" Willow asked the man himself, who sat cross-legged on the opposite side of the yoga-ball sized orb of soft blue heat which substituted a fire in the center of their little camp.

Cracking open one eye to look at Willow for a moment, he closed it again without answering. She sighed, Guess that's a no, again. She'd asked every night since they arrived on this planet, and every night he rebuffed or ignored her curiosity.

Turning to her left and right, she exchanged 'urgh, this guy' expressions with her friends. Naomi sat on her right, while Slyth was on her left. Jonah was currently examining the circle of interlocking squiggly and sharp lines which composed the large protective barrier Madrick had drawn around their campsite. Tonight was the first time he'd bothered setting up such a protection, which worried all of them a bit. He generally simply assigned watch cycles, two of which he joined, and left it at that.

Hearkening back to the, 'vacation is over' vibe, each of them was working on something even now. Willow had been just finished imbuing more of her purpose mana into Piper, working on improving the goop-turned-pixie's pathfinding ability. As a guide, it seemed like a good skill for her to have.

Slyth was meditating on his first insight, working to properly understand the mana it had unlocked, and Naomi was following some of Madrick's advice on how to improve her inner soul-world. Speaking of inner soul-world…, Willow thought, I want to work on integrating my purpose mana into moment of focus and imperative command… Maybe even back into it? Or… Should I try to make a new spell entirely?

She was broken from her thoughts as Madrick suddenly spoke in his characteristically scratchy voice, "Yes."

"Huh?" Willow replied with poise and elegance, eyes turning from where they'd been unfocused on Piper's lounging form as she basked in the radiance of the blue not-fire ball.

An eyebrow twitched upward as Madrick's lips curved up ever so slightly, "I'm ready to explain what you're training for."

That got everyone's attention. Naomi's head turned from her own distant stare. Slyth's eyes snapped open, and Jonah turned to give the large man his full attention.

"Great!" Willow exclaimed, scooting forward ever so slightly to show her full focus was on him.

"As I mentioned in my message to you, we're going to start a faction. Or, an organization of some kind. I haven't settled yet on which structure we'll be following or what our final goal will be yet. Those details are too far out to worry about." He made a sharp cutting gesture, as if batting the unnecessary question from the air with the edge of his hand. "What isn't too far out is getting our officers properly trained and ready for their roles."

"Officers?" Willow made a face, "I'm not cut out to be some kind of military person, or even a leader. I think your plan may be fatally flawed."

Shrugging, Madrick was unconcerned and unmoved, "You'll learn. Very few people are truly suited to leadership. Most either force themselves or are forced by others into the position, and learn by doing." He glared at Willow to forestall her continued complaining before continuing, "That being said, I don't expect you to be an administrator. I want you to be in charge of our first strike force unit."

"Strike force?" She frowned, confused. "Who are we striking?"

"Depends. While I haven't decided what our end goal is, it's certain the means will be through blood and war." The way his eyes lit up when thinking about gory battle always made Willow uneasy. He continued, "My path is suited and designed specifically for such conflicts, I would need to seek them out to grow anyway. I am nearly ready to step through the last small bottleneck I've imposed on myself, at which point I will need to return to proper battle to advance."

That had been the most, by far, Madrick had ever told any of them about his path. There was a lot to unpack. Slyth, surprisingly, was the first to speak, "It sounds like you don't much care about the end goal. Why bother coming up with one at all? Why not just call us, 'the order of bloody war' and pick fights with whoever you want?"

It was clear that the older man was entirely incapable, or perhaps unwilling, to pick up the subtle tone of sarcasm lacing Slyth's question. He pointed as the Ozkri as he noted, "You're quickly becoming my favorite, it's too bad your path isn't suitable to become my disciple. That being said, the UICI 'organization benefits' protocols only kick in after establishing an official and recognized organization type. Each and every organization is required to register with some form of goal or purpose. While 'killing everyone we dislike' might be enough for the stupid magic-tech piece of junk to recognize us, it's also likely to require that we actively try to kill anyone we ever express dislike toward. Doing so is… Disadvantageous in the long run."

"Alas, my dream of being an officer of 'the murder hobo guild' is summarily crushed." Jonah deadpanned as he walked over to join the others around the camp heater.

"I'm afraid you'll need to find a new purpose in life." Madrick agreed, possibly playing along with the joke and possibly not getting it at all. I have no idea if he's socially inept with a horrible sense of humor, or if his sense of humor is so advanced and dry that I just can't detect it.

Naomi asked, "If you're uncertain about an end-goal, may I make a suggestion?"

He nodded toward her, "Of course, I'm always happy to hear my ideas of my apprentice's aides."

Willow glared, but Naomi and Jonah seemed entirely unaffected. They'd heard worse from the annoying man in the last forty or so days they'd been stuck with him. Naomi inclined her head slightly in acknowledgement and offered, "The stated goal should be: 'Enforcement of every being's social right to attorney.'"

She held up a hand to forestall Madrick's immediate dismissal, as his eyes clearly expressed his disinterest, "Please, hear me out." She didn't wait for him to nod before proceeding to explain, "Social rights are not stated or defined. Furthermore, defining them isn't part of the proposed goal. Therefore, the UICI cannot determine whether we're pursuing the goal or not. Beyond that, anyone you want to wage war against is likely to have 'infringed' against something we can claim is a being's social right in one way or another. In effect, we will be able to make arbitrary declarations which suit the whims of the organization."

Willow was staring open-mouthed at Naomi, baffled. Similarly, Jonah was frowning at her and Slyth's eyebrows were near his hairline. She also noticed Slyth's ears had pressed back flat against his head. It was usually a source of amusement to Willow, seeing Slyth's ears move around like a felines. In this case, she only registered it out of habit.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Madrick was also looking at Naomi in a different manner than he was normally prone to. After a long couple minutes of everyone looking between the blank-faced woman and considering tyrant, he answered, "An interesting suggestion."

Yawning, Willow crawled into the small pod which replaced the need for a tent. The little thing shrunk down to fit in a pocket and expanded to be just large enough for two people. More than enough for Willow's lonesome, and some would say small, form to sleep.

Well, almost lonesome. "Hey, Piper, can you remind me tomorrow when Madrick's not around to ask Naomi what the slimy-swamp that was about?"

"The slimy-swamp? Really? That's the best you can do? Just say, 'What the fuck that was about' like a normal person."

"Piper! Language! Mah-mah would whip your tiny butt and make you wash your mouth with soap!"

"Good thing my mom is so soft-hearted!" Hopping up from the pod's soft floor where she'd been waiting for Willow to get comfortable, Piper grinned down at Willow while standing on her collar. She was so light Willow hardly even noticed the weight.

She groaned, "I'm not your mom. Go to sleep." So saying, she rolled over. Ignoring Piper's snickering as the little menace did whatever it was she did while Willow slept.

Piper

Willow's Campsite

As soon as Willow's breath evened out, Piper left the pod. The flap was light, letting her through without a struggle due to Willow having granted her permission. The enchantments would, supposedly, rebuff anyone entering or leaving without it.

Using the gorgeous wings her mother had given her, she flitted out and onto the top of their shared portable home. Although she wasn't very old, Piper felt like she was getting the hang of things pretty well. Being around more people constantly definitely helped, especially after Willow had improved her ability to learn and adapt.

Of course, that same ability to learn and adapt also left her with weird dilemmas sometimes. Just a week ago, Piper had just sat atop Willow as she slept, patiently waiting for her mother to wake. More recently, though, she realized she could be helping out while the others needed to sleep. Never having needed to sleep herself, at least not in the same way, Piper could keep watch throughout all of the shifts if she wanted.

Tonight was the first night she'd left Willow to try it out. Being away from her mother made her oddly nervous, even though she was literally within arm's reach other than the pod roof separating them. Silly or not, she still felt concern and worry over being away. She knew the feeling was one she'd need to overcome if she ever wanted to become truly useful. Besides, when she was even younger and knew even less, she'd wandered off constantly!

It was possible Willow had infused a desire to stay near her, in order to avoid her getting herself lost or hurt. The thought warmed Piper in an odd way that she'd never admit to her reluctant mother.

"Keeping watch, little construct?" Piper nodded at the large man who had appeared, seemingly from nowhere, standing directly in front of her. He loomed over her, but he seemed to loom over everyone so she decided to let it go. No one was around to enjoy any scene she might make, so she wouldn't bother.

"You're doing a poor job. You didn't even notice me approach. What would have happened if I was an enemy, intent on killing your mistress?"

"Mother. And I guess she would have respawned? I can't really do anything against someone like you." She noted, not taking the loomy man's bait. She totally would have if the other's were awake. They'd have gotten a kick out of her ranting at the guy they all simultaneously feared and disliked. Piper wasn't entirely sure why they didn't like him, but it was pretty obvious they didn't.

Softly chuckling, Madrick crooked a finger at her, "Follow me. I'll show you how to keep watch properly."

Intrigued, she fluttered her wings and rose onto his proffered shoulder. He took a step and the world lurched oddly, then he took another and their camp was in a bubble below them.

"Whooooa. How'd you do that?" Piper asked in unfeigned wonder.

She felt his shoulder lift under her feet, "It's a simple thing for me, though once it wouldn't have been. A spell I've used so much that I can cast it without really thinking about it. It's called 'Two Steps Back.' A useful bit of magic that allows a being to quite literally step back from a specific physical space in order to achieve a better perspective."

"Can you teach me?!" Piper asked excitedly, eager at the thought of wielding such powerful magic.

"Hmm…" Madrick hummed thoughtfully, then clicked his tongue, "Do you even have mana? You can't cast anything at all without mana."

"Yeah! I have my own mana!" She puffed her chest out proudly. That was another thing Willow had gifted her. Kind of. The improvement which had given Piper access to mana had been when Willow spent every night for a full two weeks imbuing her with independence.

She'd felt a swirling, writhing, needy energy within her at the end of the session. When she'd asked her mother, Willow had said it was probably mana and that she should figure out what 'insight' it was connected to. Piper had been trying to figure that out but…

"I don't know what my insight is." She admitted, wings falling dejectedly at the admission.

"You may not have one." Madrick said simply.

Turning her body to look at the man's weird profile, forcing herself not to be distracted by his silly contrasting silver beard and short, spiky, straw colored hair. "Mom said I should have one."

"Your 'mother' hardly knows more than you, little construct. But, she could be right. It's impossible to know with things like you. Tell me, are you your own person, or an extension of Willow's will?"

The question was a little confusing. Piper's first impulse was to declare that, OF COURSE she was her own person! However, she knew that response could easily be explained by Willow imbuing her with a dramatic personality - one that enjoyed harmless verbal fights and heated arguments. That made her think that, maybe she was just an extension of her mother's will indeed.

But… She had left her mother's side without being prompted to, or really having any reason to besides wanting to be helpful. Was being helpful something she'd been imbued with? She finally answered honestly, "I don't know."

"A wise answer, and the only one I'd have believed."

"Why ask then?" She pouted, annoyed at being asked questions that had only one right answer.

The shoulder rose again, then continued to move as Madrick began walking around the distant camp-bubble below. It was strange, she could make out plenty of details despite it seeming impossibly far away. "I was curious how self aware you were capable of being. Your ability to admit uncertainty is a good sign that you may one day be a true being in your own right, whether you already are now or not. Investing time teaching a being with such potential is worthwhile, while wasting time with a fool or shallow logic-based construct is not."

She read between the lines, forgetting to think about the lines themselves, and exclaimed, "So you'll teach me?!"

A soft chuckle, "Yes. Though, whether your mana is compatible with the spell or not isn't certain. Since we don't know its source, it's difficult to guess."

He took another two steps, toward the distant bubble, and they were once again in the center of the campsite. He asked the question Piper wanted to ask before she had a chance to voice it, "The spell can't be nested. If you tried to cast it while in an instance of my own version of the spell, one of our spells would shatter - yours in this case - and it would likely harm you."

"Oh. Thanks for not wanting to hurt me!"

"Naturally I wouldn't damage a project my apprentice has invested so much dedicated time and effort into." He replied snootily.

This time intentionally ignoring the insulting subtext, she bounced in place, "How do I start?"

"First, picture this symbol." A soft blue sigil appeared before her, reminding her a little of the squiggly sections of enchantments she'd seen - including the ring of protection Madrick had put around their camp tonight.

Silently thanking mother for imbuing 'perfect memory' into her, ironically several times as Willow forgot she'd already done it, Piper nodded at Madrick to confirm she'd memorized it.

Although he didn't look at her, he somehow knew she'd nodded and his quiet but still rough voice continued, "Next, move that image into your left foot, near its sole."

She did so and chirped her completion, "Done!"

"Good. Now, do the same thing for this symbol, but place it in the sole of your right foot."

It was a little tricky keeping two different patterns solidly in her mind at once, but she managed, if barely. Once she had, she grunted her best, "Done." The effortless chirp long gone. If she'd had the ability to sweat, she would be.

"Well done. Finally, draw your mana through your legs and let it flow through each of the symbols resting in the soles of your feet." As soon as her mana touched the lines she imagined carved into her feet, the mental strain lifted and her mind no longer had to imagine they existed: because now they really did.

"Done!" She almost bounced in excitement, but stopped herself. She wasn't sure if her feet leaving the ground would make the spell fail.

"Good. The final step is simple, take two steps in any direction while imagining the area you want to observe."

Thinking she wanted to observe anyone trying to sneak up on Willow, Piper took two steps - crossing from the edge of Madrick's shoulder to a point just in front of his ear. Rather, she would have been in front of his ear if she hadn't moved in the exact same way she had when Madrick used the spell.

It had worked! Looking around eagerly, Piper was a little confused at what she found. Unlike the perfect orb depicting the camp and a small area around it, Piper found herself looking at a fragmented landscape. She saw Willow clearly, even through her pod. She also saw two people she'd never seen before. A man built like an even bigger version of Madrick with massive bulging muscles on the same huge frame, was crouched in front of a small fire. He was entirely surrounded by stone on every side, making it impossible for Piper to guess where he was.

All she could be sure about was that he was on the planet and, assuming her intention was honored by the spell, he was trying to sneak up on her mother. He was too far away to make out a ton of details, but she could tell he had a dark complexion and even darker hair. His head, bowed as it was over his fire, obscured his face entirely. She used her wings to flit down and around the little bubble of existence in the dark emptiness, trying to get a good look at him. It wasn't happening, unfortunately. He was perfectly positioned to avoid her being able to get a good look at his expression. The fire cast a harsh light which either illuminated his face so brightly that it looked like a mass of yellow, or cast deep shadows that obscured everything. No matter the angle, his face was a mystery.

Growing bored of the man who only seemed interested in the fire, she checked on the other person. She flew around an orb containing a slim woman with ears sharply pointing up toward the sky and shortish hair which stuck out wildly in every direction. Unlike the man, the woman was moving. Pacing. She also seemed to be speaking, though Piper couldn't hear her from this distance.

Perhaps the most shocking thing Piper realized was that, unlike every other humanoid she'd ever met, the woman was entirely naked! Her proportions were all small and firm, though Piper supposed she didn't have many references to compare against. Piper herself didn't wear clothes, though that was entirely due to Willow not having given her anything she needed to preserve in terms of modesty. Should I ask her why she didn't give me nipples or anything between my legs?

Dismissing the distracting thought, Piper watched curiously. The woman seemed to be in the process of becoming progressively more upset about something. More interesting to the pixie, it was absolutely impossible for someone clearly being so loud and obvious to sneak up on anyone. So why'd the spell show her to me? I wish I could ask. Actually… Why can't I?

With that though, Piper recast the spell, creating an arcane symbol on each of her soles and sending mana into them. She took two steps, and appeared a few feet from the weird woman, "Hi! Are you okay?"