The Ancestors

by Tristi Corde

This short story covers all the Ancestors in a brief-ish overlook. I suck at summaries. Please just read it.

Greetings!

So I know I'm still working on The Two Year Journey (believe me, I haven't forgotten) but I wanted to put this out here for you.

Storytime! I finished Homestuck just recently. All excited, I went to my friend and said: "let me tell you about Homestuck". And she did! Over email, for the whole of last semester, I told her about Homestuck in detail. I always loved the Ancestor Trolls and sort of got carried away. So carried away, I wrote all of this over email. I shared it with another friend and they both said I should put it up for you. So here I am following their advice. I know a lot of you don't care, but too bad!

Warning: Some graphic stuff, but not really. One bad word.

Note: I used a LOT of stuff from other fans and even from the comic itself. I'm still new to fanfiction etiquette so I'm just going to say here that a fair portion of the verbal stuff came from others. Also, I didn't use most of the quirks for the trolls. (sorry)

Disclaimer: All characters and settings belong to Andrew Hussie. Most of the verbal stuff comes from other fans.

Enjoy!

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[[ READER; Be the Jade Blood]] You are now the Jade Blood, otherwise known as the Dolorosa though you have long forgotten how you received that name. Because of your blood color your job, along with your sisters in work, is to care for the Mother Grub. You sometimes bring her a fresh cull to eat or water to drink with your fellow Jade Bloods. For now, though, you are alone fulfilling another of your duties to the Mother Grub, clearing the small bodies of the weak grubs from their trials in the Brooding Cavers. You have a torch, though it is still dark down here. You don't like it. You much prefer the Alternian sun, unlike most of your species and even your fellow Jade Bloods. Most of your species is nocturnal, finding the sun to be too bright and harsh. Not you though. You hear your long dress shuffling behind you and you shiver. It's too dark down here. This seems to have not been a popular route to the surface for this batch of grubs. You are finding few bodies to put in your sack, the poor things. Suddenly you think you see something move just behind you, a something that is not your dress. You do what comes naturally; spin around, drop into a defensive stance and hold your torch out like the makeshift weapon it is. You see nothing. You lower the torch slightly, but don't let your guard down. There still could be potential Lusi down here, looking for a meal or a misplaced grub. As you lower your torch you hear a small squeak from near your feet. You look down and, to your surprise, find a grub. An alive grub. You blink, not expecting this development. If this little one is alive, why does it not have a Lusus? Since it doesn't what do you do? Should you cull it? No, you toss that idea out quickly. Instead, you lower yourself to your knees in front of the small thing, barely bigger than your foot. As the torch gets closer, it closes its eyes and curls in on itself. You can see it's color. At first, you had thought it a Burgundy Blood, but it's much too bright a red. You stare, you have never seen a color so bright on a grub. Slowly, without thinking, you run your hand along it's back and it stretches out enjoying the touch, giving a happy sequel. It's cute, you think and then catch yourself, drawing your hand back swiftly. It's a mutant, you should cull it now. But suddenly the idea seems just horrible to you. It's a Mutant that has survived the Brooding Caverns but because of its blood color, won't get a Lusus. Now the small thing is looking up and you, squinting the eye closest to the torch that you don't realize you dropped. It needs you, you think sadly. You pick it up and it doesn't resist. It knows it needs you too. It gives you an inquisitive purrrr and you almost smile. You won't be going back to the Mother Grub, you think as you abandon your duties and flee to the surface with the young, candy-red grub purring in your arms. You are the Dolorosa, and most humans would now call you a mother.

[[ READER; Be the Candy Red Grub]] You can't be the Candy Red grub because the Candy Red grub is now a growing troll. You have been taken care of by your troll Lusus, who calls herself the Dolorosa. She is a very beautiful troll, you think, and very tall. She has looked out for you since you were a grub and even gave you a long, hooded cloak to hide your eyes once they started to change to match your blood color. You didn't understand what was wrong with your blood at first, but you do now. You are not on the Hemospectrum and could be culled if the wrong trolls found out. You think it's wrong to judge a troll's worth simply by blood. The Dolorosa says it has always been this way, but you don't think so. If it has, why do you see the "Low Bloods" longing for freedom? Why would you Guardian have taken pity on you as a grub? And why do you see a world of trolls of all colors working together without fear every time you close your eyes? It started when you were young, these dreams, and have only gotten stronger as you age. You tell your mom about them and she says that world sounds like a paradise. You agree. You continue to tell her about the dreams as you grow. Finally, when she says you are done growing, you tell her your plan. You are going to change this warlike world of yours. You are going to talk to as many trolls of as many colors as you can and share with them these dreams and the hope of a world at peace. She asks you if our sure, green eyes so full of the fear that you hate to see in her and your fellow trolls. You say you are. She agrees, probably because she knows she can't stop you. Now, you're traveling. You abandon the cave you grew up in, traveling from place to place telling anyone who would listen, and not turn you into the Subjugglators, about the world that could be. Before long the rumors proceed you and Low Bloods gather in secret to listen. One Olive Blood seems to be following you from place to place and is writing during your talks. After one meeting you seek her out. She is very beautiful, with long, thick, wild hair and sticking olive-green eyes. She rivals you mother in beauty. Before you can say much of anything she starts talking, all full of energy about what you have been saying. She shows you the books she has been keeping and you are in awe. She has written down every one of the sermons you have given. The only thing you really remember saying that first night was if she would like to join you. She practically hugged you and agreed. It was from her you first learned of the name the people have given you. Signless, because you have no sign for your color. It doesn't take long for her to figure it out, the color under your skin, but when she does she acts like it's nothing. You are grateful and give her a name in return. The Disciple; your Disciple. She has tears in her eyes when you tell her. She counters and asks to be your Matesprit. You agree and practically hug her. The three of you continue your journey and are almost caught by the Blue Bloods at one of your speeches. Apparently, you a wanted troll, though you are not quite sure which High Blood it is. You get separated from your mother and Matesprit and then get lost. It was a much larger town than you had thought. You hope they are okay; the ones listening, your mother, and your Matesprit. And suddenly you change trolls.

[[READER; Be another troll]] You are now another troll, a Yellow Blood called the Psiioniic. You are wandering around this small town while your master buys out the local shops. You have a few hours before you must be back and hooking into your flying ship. Or rather, his ship that you fly using your powers. Theoretically, there is an engine on these ships that helps the yellow blooded slaves fly them. But you know your master's ship doesn't have one. It broke a sweep ago and you are a good slave; you don't need to have an engine to make the ship and everything on it fly through the air at a steady pace. The only complaint you can make yourself dare to think is that the hooking in prosses hurts. The wires wrap around your arms and legs pierce your skin in some places, so you have complete control of the vehicle. Accept control in where the ship goes, and by effect where you go. As you wander you find a crowd gathering around some entertainment and you are pushed into the thong. Soon, you get near enough to watch. Some Blue Bloods and a Subjuggulator have knocked over an old Brown Blood and taken his bag. They are laughing.

"- that we allow you putrid blood to flow through your veins!" The Subjuggulator was saying. you assume he just finished some sort of threat. "What else have you got, Rust Blood," he hisses, stepping closer to the whimpering old troll. Oh well, you think. It's better that it's that other troll getting beat up than you.

"Enough," orders a strangely hooded troll, stepping between the High Bloods and the Low Blood. You blink, this is new. "What gives you the right? What makes your sour purple blood better than his or mine!" Everything goes still and even the High Bloods seem surprised. His words echo in your mind. You look for a reason to prove the strange troll wrong but come up with nothing.

"How dare you speak that way to the Holiest-" starts an Indigo Blood, finding his tongue before he is cut off by his Superior.

"Do enlighten me. What color might that be? You take pity on the Rust Blood, perhaps yours takes a more...despicable hue."

"It doesn't matter what color it is I-" starts the stranger hotly. While the Leader of this band had been talking his slow manner, another of his men had snuck up behind the bold stranger, slipping his arms under the arms of the shorter stranger, holding him hostage.

"What do ye say we spill some and find out, Captain," calls the other Indigo Troll. The Captain doesn't need any prompting to punch the stranger right in the face. Unfortunately, you can't see any blood due to the hood. "Come on, sir! Is that the best you can do," laughs the same Indigo soldier.

"Just getting warmed up, brother," says the Captain slowly pulling one of his rainbow-colored clubs from his back. You doubt the coloring comes from paint. Just as the Purple Blood swings, the stranger ducks, and the flying club hits his captor in the jaw, drawing a dark blue color from his lip. The injured troll releases the stranger, who flees into the crowd calling for them to move out of his way. Once you are sure the High Bloods are not going to follow, you give pursuit yourself, though not to turn him in.

"Stranger," you call to his retreating back. "Stranger!" You realize this is not a very effective way to call him because everyone around you is a stranger, but you have nothing else to go from. You lose sight of him for a second but one female troll, a Burgundy Blood by the looks of her, pointed you in the right direction. You barely turn a corner in time to see him duck behind a curtain to a wrecked hive. You open the curtain slowly, not wanting to frighten him off. "Stranger?"

"Don't look" he orders almost at a shout, turning away from you.

"Are you mad," you demand, ignoring him. "Why would you risk your life for a Low Blood? Perhaps you seek death?" Then you notice his blood. Red, but not a natural color. "You don't have a sign... Who ARE you?"

"It's not right, what they do," He says ignoring your more recent discovery. "The way they divide trolls, the way they demean them!" He sniffs and wipes his hands off in the dirt as he speaks, hiding his blood color better. Then he turns to you for the first time. "You're a Psionic? You, of your class! The slavery they force upon you, surely you must understand..." You don't. Instead, you feel the familiar gloom sneak in as you realize you are now lost. You will need to find your way back to the ship, and soon or you'll be punished. You turn to leave.

"You'll forgive me for following you. We all have our place, stranger. Thank you for reminding me of mine." You haven't gone two steps from the hive before you feel a hand holding you back. The grip isn't tight and isn't threatening, but you stop anyways.

"Wait," the Stranger says. "I'm sorry. But... it doesn't need to be that way. Your mental capacity, your abilities, their wasted serving the High Bloods. You could be free of them. You could be equal!" You feel the feeling you had that made you follow him in the first place but this time you know better than to trust it. You laugh at him, hard. During the laughter, you must have placed a hand on his shoulder. You leave it there because he might say something equally impossible.

"Well, my strange blooded friend," you say, still chuckling. "I wondered if you were mad and indeed you are. Equality to the High Bloods? I'm sure."

"You are not the only one who seeks change." He continues despite your comment. "I can show you the way to be free of them, you can join us! With your skills, we can bring about the revolution of our kind!"

"It's not possible," you say, though it comes out as more of a question than an argument.

"Well, with 'that' attitude," He teases with a slight smile.

"The Caste system has been followed for countless sweeps," you argue for real now, though you can't quite keep the sadness out of your voice. "It cannot be broken; it's encoded into our species. One brash Red-Blooded troll will change nothing. This is nature."

"If this is nature, then explain to me why you ache for freedom," He counters. "You didn't follow me for a reminder. This disgusting system isn't natural. We've been forced to believe it for too long."

You stare at him. He seems so serious and not at all as insane as you had claimed. You want to believe him. You want to so badly. He seems so sure like he couldn't possibly be wrong, and you hope, for the first time you dare to hope, he isn't. He is right in that you hate this slavery, that you don't ever want to be hooked into that ship again, but you don't see a way out of it. At least, you don't unless you choose to follow him.

"What is it you want me to do," you ask, nervously keeping your voice low so that it doesn't waver in front of him. He smiles at you and holds out his slightly dirty hand.

"I want you, to trust me." You don't say anything but take his hand and nod. He gets the message. You are the Psiioniic, and you just ran away from your master to follow a friend.

[[READER; Be the Signless]] You are the Signless again, and you have made a powerful friend. Thanks to the light sprint you went on after your moment of brash action against the High Bloods, you are no longer lost. So, you lead Psiioniic to your camp on the outside of the city. The Dolorosa and Disciple are wanting for you. When you come into the light, Disciple just up and runs to you, warping her arms around you as you get a face full of dark, wild hair. After she realized you brought company, you introduce your new friend to your mother and Matesprit. They welcome him to the group and even though the food is limited, the Dolorosa prepares him a plate as well. That was the first of many times you see him smile. Sweeps pass and you gather quite the following. Trolls everywhere are standing up for themselves in a non-violent manner. Your message spreads so that you don't have to even go to the smaller towns for them to know you and your words. In order to get from place to pace faster, you and your crew of four steal a ship from the Empress, Her Imperial Condescension. It is the first ship ever to fly without a High Bloods permission. Psiioniic makes extra sure that the ship could fly without the use of his powers on it and you don't ask why. Your mother smiles so much now, even after small, but particularly rough, skirmish with the High Bloods turned her into a Rainbow Drinker. Meanwhile, Disciple stored all the books containing your visions and speeches in a spare room after we ran out of space in the room you share with her. You teased her about this and she teased you for being a windbag. This confuses you. Still, sometimes you would wake sometimes not knowing where you were, and she would remind you. These lead you to be further confused about the quadrant you occupied with her. At first, you thought she was your Matesprit but when you tease each other it's almost like you're starting to wax Black for her. But when she talks you back to reality, it's like she is Pale for you. Apparently, you were not the only one confused.

"Signless," she asked, sitting by you while you eat. "What Quadrant do you think we are?" You chew on that you hope is a plant of some sort, while you think over her question. She wasn't being aggressive like she wanted to leave whatever quadrant you do occupy with her, so you think over her question without much fear of rejection.

"I'm not sure," you say at last. "I like it though."

"Me too. What do you think we should call it then," She purrs, reminding you again of a powerful paw-beast. You love it when she purrs. You think some more before answering.

"I think we should call this Love," you announce. She smiles, and so do you. You love this troll.

Suddenly the ship rocks and the lights flash. You are under attack. You hear Disciple scream as the whole thing starts to plummet, pulling the two of you to the ceiling Then, like the whole thing was plucked out of the air, it stops, and you fall to the floor. You hear the pounding of feet, on the deck above you and you stand. Before you can do much of anything, you are knocked down by a blow to the head that leaves your ears ringing. Rough hands pull you to your feet and drag you and your Disciple to the deck. The Dolorosa is bleeding from the head and arms, having to be restrained by three Bluebloods fighting with her and her new strength. The Psiioniic appears to be unconscious. You continue to act phased while you try to reason a way out of this. Nothing comes to mind.

[[READER; Be the Grand High Blood]] You are suddenly the Grand High Blood, king over all Land-dwellers and second only to the Condesce herself. You reached this position because you are the biggest freaking troll to have ever walked the known world. Your size, your insanity, and blood color earned you this title and no one has ever questioned it. No one, until this little Mutant you've been hunting. You drag your massive juggling clubs that serve as your weapons over the wood on this small illegal ship. You've been looking for this ship. Well, not the ship, but the one on it. The one they call Signless. He was easy to pick out once you set foot on the tiny ship. The two females where obviously Green Bloods and the one dressed in striking yellow and black was just asking to be pegged as a Rust Blood. That left the small male troll with nubby horns keeping his hood on. You walked up to him lazily and the Blue Blood holding him yanks his arm back, so the troll could look at you. His bright red eyes had a defiant look until he recognizes you. You grinned, no introductions are necessary. You are far more famous than him; more famous and feared then he could ever be. You can't do what you want with him; paint your throne with that terribly bright red, but how's to say you can't see more of that color? The Blueblood jumps back in surprise as your fist strikes the Signless's midsection. You strike again, and again, and again. Soon the smaller troll is coughing up his is own blood into a small puddle. It's a waste that you can't have some, it's such a pretty color. Sadly, the Condesce has other plans for this small troll with the pretty blood. You signal for the Blue Blood you now recognize as Darkleer to take hold of the coughing mutant and bring the captives onto your ship. Once on board, you force the Signless to watch you destroy his ship yourself, holding his hair and tearing his hood. You hear the Green Bloods struggling softly, but you don't care. Nope, you rather enjoy the sound of their desperation. You toss the small troll around for a while longer, sprinkling the deck in that pretty red. The Green Bloods cry out, asking, begging, you to stop. You laugh. This is going to be fun, even if you don't get to keep the mutant's blood. You order your men to chant Sufferer as you continue your play.

[[READER; Be Darkleer]] You are now Darkleer, the Executioner for the Empress and the Grand High Blood. You are one of the only semi-smart Indigo Bloods on Alterina, according to the Empress, so you stand above your fellow soldiers, but just barely. You are still trash next to the Grand High Blood's perfect blood. But right now, you wonder if that's true. It's not like you've seen him cull before. There have been countless times you have had to fetch him new clubs because the old ones got too colorfully stained. It's just... Why did the friends of this filth-blooded troll have to watch? Particularly the Olive Blood. You've seen the faces and heard the cries of the culled and executed losing a quadrant-mate, but it was nothing like the way she was crying now. It made you uncomfortable, the way you start feeling watching her scream and beg the Grand High Blood... you wanted her to stop. It was a short flight, and you are glad when it was over. Glad until you get your orders. You are to heat the irons that will be the mutant's bonds during his execution, and you are to heat them to thrice the regular heat. These are Her Royal Highness's orders. The Mutant deserves it, you think, but the olive blooded troll was going to be upset. You missed the trial, but that was just for show. Everyone knew the Empress wanted the one called Psiioniic to serve her, the Signless made an example off, his Matesprit culled (You try not to think about that too much), and the Jade blood sold into slavery. You miss the trial while you heat the irons until they glowed with a red almost brighter than the blood of the one they are to hold. You then fetch two blue-tipped arrows and your ceremonial bow. You still burned yourself through you thick gloves as you attached the irons to the execution block made just for this one troll. You had just finished when a loud group of roughed up, joyous, High Bloods bring an even more roughed up group of prisoners. Everyone's attention was on the now cloak-less mutant as he was marched to the pillar and the brightly glowing irons. You, however, watch the olive blood as you mount your platform. She clings to a cloth stained with the freak color. You assume that is what is left of her matesprit's famous hood. You look at her as the Grand High Blood reads off the partly made up charges. You now realize why you don't like her crying. She looks like one of the wild paw-beasts who you used to admire as a wriggler. You didn't like it when they were hurt either. After a moment you realize everything is too quiet. Startled, you wonder if you missed the order to shoot but then you hear the Signless start to speak.

"I have been peaceful," He says, somehow still strong. "I have been kind. I only dared to speak what others had been dreaming for so long. I have dreams too... Dreams of what might have been. Where blood was simply blood and all of us where equal." He paused. I could see blood swell up from where the irons touched his wrist. "If wishing for that is heresy, then yes, I deserve to die." he pauses again and lifts his head, looking steadily at the now silent crowd. How was his voice so powerful after going through the Grand High Blood's treatment? "I have seen acts of the most sublime kindness and the vilest cruelty. They say powerful beings find anger when they have no room for love." He was now looking directly at the Grand High Blood. And you. You pretend it's only because you are elevated directly in front of him even as what he says next hits you like the very arrow you are preparing to send his way. "What made you so? Are you scared of change? Scared of those who are different? I realize I am different than you. I have known feelings that none of you could ever hope to know!" He turns his burning red gaze from you to the barely conscious Yellow Blood. "I have known the comradery of a friend who has supported me against all odds." You follow his gaze as he moves to the Jade Blood. "I have known the compassion of a guardian who took me in when no one else would and raise me to dream and hope!" Again, you follow his eyes, but when you see them land on the olive blood you look away. "I have known a love and passion that transcended definition," He says this more softly than in the way he was speaking before and, for a second, you hope he's done. He's not. "There no use hiding it now. you can all see me for what I am! The Signless, the Sufferer, the Mutant! My blood burns brightly for all to see!" He has taken his gaze off his companions and moved it back to the crowd. It feels like he's looking at you again. "It is the flames of a revolution you can never hope to quell! My memory can be erased by my ideas will never die. My mistake was thinking I could change a world INFECTED BY HATE AND CORRUPTION! You have taken the freedom on an innocent troll and turned his blessings into a curse," You glance at the one called Psiioniic who is waking up, a look of horror on his face. "The pity you have taken on my Disciple will wound her. She has known true love and you've forced her into a life of solitude!" You can't pretend that he isn't looking at you now. "YOU FORCED A MOTHER TO WATCH HER SON DIE! I see you for what you are. I always BLOODY WELL have! I am such a FOOL, you are all HOPELESS. " You see the Grand High Blood give the signal to fire. You raise your bow while the once calm, peaceful, troll screams swears at the sky. You let the arrow fly and he screams fall short. At first, you think you've culled him. Again, he surprises you. "Dang it," he sobs softly, the first time you hear him cry. "I am angry... because I forgive you. I might be the biggest fool on Alternia, but when I close my eyes I see a world where we all work together... and it's so... beautiful." The Sufferer slums into his chains and the world feels a bit icier than before. You hear the Grand High Blood prompt you to continue the executions and slowly you turn to the troll he had called Disciple. She is crying silently, holding the cloak of the Sufferer. She seems to be begging you to do it now. His words ring in your head telling you that it would probably be a mercy at this point... But you can't. You lower your bow and order her to leave. Silently, the bluebloods stand aside as she walks away from the crowd. To your surprise, the Grand High Blood does nothing to stop this clear mass mutiny to a direct order. He stands after a moment and sends out orders to your fellow Blue Bloods. If you were listening, you would have heard the Cerulean Pirate order her slaves to drag off the Jade Blood she just bought, and the Teal Messenger take the Psiioniic to the Empresses flagship. If you were listening you would have heard the order for the body to be burned, but the irons left on the pillar as a reminder. You would have heard all of this, but you didn't. You stare blankly at the lowered arrow still in your bow. You drop both like they are hotter than the irons just a few yards away. You feel someone pull you off the platform and into the crowd of moving Bluebloods and you look down into the eyes of the shorter Cerulean Pirate. Her mismatched eyes startle you out of your daze enough to listen. She tells you-you have better leave before the Grand High Blood can cull you. You nod stupidly, not really caring. She gives you a map to her old hive, the one she no longer uses, and a treasure she wants you to guard in payment for her keeping your location hidden and saving your life. If you had been yourself, you would have refused to follow the instructions of anyone lower on the Caste system than you. But at this point, you doubt if you will ever be yourself again. You obey the Pirate known as Mindfang and walk towards the sea.

[[READER; Be the Disciple]] You are the Disciple, and you wish you were anyone else but you. It hurts. It hurts so much. You once lost a Moirail, but it didn't feel like this. You think you found the only cave you, the Dolorosa, the Psiioniic and... him, hid in after the Dolorosa was turned. You curl up in its almost darkness and cry, hoping whatever beast nearby will find you and end what that coward of an executioner couldn't. Your first few nights are hard, but somehow, for some reason, you find food and water. The food you find is sparse so soon you resort to culling the beasts you come across just to live. You wonder why you bother trying to survive until you remember the last few words you heard the Sig- him, uttered after the arrow had struck. "... I forgive you... I see a world where we all work together..." He could still see it, the world you believed he could build. And then you remember that he had said to you. "The pity you have ... will wound her." That Blue Blood had taken pity on you. He wasn't being a coward, rather an act of bravery. And, you think, If the Sufferer can forgive those who had hurt him so, then you should forgive as well. You start to hunt with more gumption. Your love was right, the Blue Blood's pity did wound you and wounds cull, but they cull slowly so you have time to rewrite all those books that were destroyed. You don't have ink or paper, so you write in the blood of the beasts you cull for food. You sometimes substitute paper for the skins of the smaller beasts, but mostly you write on the walls of your cave. You see a few trolls every now and then, but soon you notice that the nearby trolls start to avoid your corner of the forest. Sometimes though, some troll finds out who you were, who you knew, and they track you down. You answer their questions about the Sufferer without going into detail, and sometimes you give them one of the skins with his words telling them to write it on paper as soon as they get back to wherever they came from. The skins don't last and the blood falls away. Sweeps past, though you don't know how many. You only find time passing when a Burgundy wriggler returns all grown up asking for a second skin. You don't see any reason not to grant her request. What this visit does is show you that your memory is slipping. What was once countless books drops to a very countable number; You can't remember most of his sermons though you wrote them all down once before. The blood is fading, and memory is smoke. Before long you find yourself writing the same sermons, the last few he ever gave. You know your time is running out, so you think it's time to write your own words, in your own blood.

"I, the Disciple," you start. "The one who sailed the first free ship for Alterina, my love has known no bounds. My lover was a troll known for his words; the Signless, otherwise known as the Sufferer now." Your words hurt you, as you think for the first time since you lost him, over your life. "He was ... gentle, loyal, kind, trustworthy." The wounds your claws gave you stings, and your vision starts to blur. You hadn't realized you had gotten this old. Your wound and its pain forces you back to the night you never told the trolls that visited you. "You monsters culled him. You culled my Signless, you culled my Sufferer! With all your dirty doings and slander against his name; you clubs, and your fists, and your arrows hitting him! " Your starting to fade, your words are getting smaller the more heated the memory gets. Heated, like those cursed irons your visitors have said are becoming his unofficial sign. "You made me watch... You made me suffer." The world spins and you think you are laying down now. You raise your hand to keep writing. "My darling, Signless. My darling, Sufferer." Wait, you think looking at your work, why are you doing this? Why is Signless crying so close to you? "I pray we do not forget." Oh, it seems you're dead.

---

[[READER: Be Mindfang]] You are now Marquise Spinneret Mindfang, a Cerulean Blooded Pirate who would get into trouble for that line of work if it weren't for who your Kismesis. Not that you need him, you built your fleet without him after all, but it's nice to know you have Royalty on your side. With all the irons you have in the fire, it helps to have an extra boost should something backfire. Not that it will, you are careful though it never appears that way to anyone outside your head, which is everyone. You have many slaves on your various ships, all Low Bloods who are mostly treated better than the way you've seen other High Bloods treat their property. The only slaves not treated so well are the troublemakers, who you often put on your own ship to sell them later or feed them to your Lusus, a giant eight-legged and eyed beast. If you were a human, you would call this beast a freakishly huge spider. But you are not a human, so you call it mom instead. Just recently, you gained another iron for your fires in the form of the Indigo Executor, Darkleer. Well, ex-executer. He is a fugitive now, hiding in your abandoned hive near the sea. You don't really care for the stupid Indigo Bloods that are unfortunately higher than you in the Caste System, but this one showed signs of thinking when he let that peasant blooded girl live. You vaguely wonder if he thinks she was worth it, turning your attention back to the slave you gained from the whole affair with the mutant. She is a pretty Jade Blood, who looks to be in the prime of her life like you, which means you are several sweeps older and she will be dead long before you start losing your touch. Poor Low Blood. At first, when you heard she was a Rainbow Drinker you thought she would be a valuable addition to the few servants you keep close to you in case something new arises. You look at her again as your other slaves drag the withdrawn Jade Blood below deck, and wonder if that will be the case. She hasn't really been responsive since the Sufferer was culled. That will change, you decide, after the appropriate time for grieving has passed, which will be tomorrow. For now, though, you need to leave the land before you Kismesis can catch you. You command your crew to give the order to leave, sending some none with orders via telepathy to you other ships in the area. All your ships are of equal size and appearance so your Kismesis never figures out which one is your current flagship. This is just one of the many ways you like to annoy him.

"Now Just where do you think ye're hurrying off too, Mindfang," Calls the voice of the one you were hoping to avoid. Duelscar rarely boards the right ship when trying to find you, but it seems luck was with him in this case. You roll you mismatched eyes, draw you eight diamond-shaped die, and turn to the Violet Blood leaning against your mast with a huge grin you know he hates.

"Oh, just around. Might return to my favorite port, or my hive. Who knows," you say in a way that almost sounds like your about to laugh. He must know that don't plan on going to any of the places you mentioned because you mentioned them. He huffs and walks slowly and leisurely towards you.

"And where is the little Jade Blood ye just bought off the Grand High Blood," He says in his 'holier than thou' style you hate. "I would love to have a peek at har."

"Oh, but of course, Duelscar," you say, running a claw down the marred side of his face that earned him that name while stifling a feeling of jealousy that he wanted to see the Jade Blood, not you. You stash your die before you do something stupid. You mentally order the Jade slave to be returned to the deck. "How could I refuse my most honored guest. Shall we take this little parrrrrrrrty to my cabin?"

"Whatever makes ye the most comfortable, my dear," he purrs at you softly while walking past you to your cabin. You hurry after him, noticing a frantic slave pulling the Jade Blood after you. Once the three of you are in, you mentally control the Jade Blood, having her lock the door.

"Now, ain't she a beauty," You hear Duelscar mutter under his breath. Jealously spikes through you again as you realize he must have a flushed crush on her like he does with most everyone, but you decide to play it in your favor. Mentally, you take control of the Jade Bloods actions and make her walk over to you then sit on your lap.

"Isn't she just darling," You purr. "The poor little thing, she has been through so much lately." You start to pet her head while forcing her face to relax, it isn't very hard. You hear her want to believe you are really trying to comfort her. Now you really do pity her, but you try to convince yourself she is safer with you than with Duelscar. You steal a glance at you Kismesis, who is forcibly keeping his face neutral. You change the conversation. "Did you hear about her Mutant charge?"

"Yes, they caught him and culled him according to Her Majesty's' wishes," Duelscar says. "Serves the bugger right, he spoke against us." You feel rage surge through the troll on your lap and you almost lose control over her. Thousands of thoughts flood her mind, but you redirect them, mentally showing her another way to harm the royal without endangering herself or you. You wonder why you bother.

"And what did you, oh wise sea-dweller, think of his teachings and messages affects," you say as you and the Jade Blood, now known to you as the Dolorosa, reposition yourselves. You go further on your grand bed to have her lay on your lap while you pet her hair. At first, you feel disgust surge like vomit in her mind, but then you mentally show her the look of mild rage on Duelscar's features. She will tolerate if only to spit one of her son's - what is a son? - murderers. Apparently, she deems you are the lesser of two evils. He takes a moment to answer at first you wonder if he is just too angry to respond, but when he answers you know he was just thinking. He must have known what you and Dolorosa are doing.

"Low Bloods form the vast majority of the population, and all of 'em have a voice that wants to be heard," he moves to look out your window, he almost looks noble with his cape and the lighting at that angel. It makes you sick. "But their voices are silenced so much earlier than ours and before they can really make a difference. If those of a higher blood want to give up their heart in any way to a mere... one-day fly, who are we to caution them to the inevitable?" You feel a wetness on your pants and look away from your Kismesis to the Jade Blood. She is crying. You aren't angered that her green tears fall on your pants, the black hides them, so you run your hands through her short hair to the beds of her horns and run your fingers over them. You feel her relax and curl into you, without your having to control her. "The Sufferer and my allegiances differed," you hear Duelscar continue in his slow deep drawl. "As did our priorities, so our paths never crossed. But... if he could sway so many trolls of so many colors, he must have been a pretty impressive man. Especially for a Low Blood."

"Is that right," you softly say when he is finished. You had your own reason for wanting to hear his thoughts on the matter, besides to anger him. You feel, more than see, him turn and the tension in the room grows so much you can almost hear the crackling of his electric gun-spear. You might have made a mistake and gone too far, but you can't bring yourself to care for the moment as the Dolorosa's emotions are still fresh in your mind.

"I best be going," you hear him mutter. you stay still until you hear the door close, you then gently maneuver out from under the now fully sobbing Dolorosa and move to the door. Before you leave you look at her, and sympathy crawls up in you. Now, you really mean it when you think to call her 'poor little thing'. You tell her quietly, and without the telepathic connection, to wait here before you shake away the feelings of what must be the start of a Pale crush to continue on your way. You rush out of your cabin and mentally order your crew to start leaving the harbor while you rush to the edge of your docking plank and pull it back onboard seconds after Duelscar steps off.

"Oh, by the way, Duelscar, I've taken one of your ships," You call cheekily after him, a grin on your face. "You're not getting it back!" He spins around but your sails drop and your ship lurches away from the dock carried by the strong wind. Perfect timing comes with having so many irons in the fire for so long. You leave your Kismesis standing, stranded on the dock so you balance on the side of your ship, hanging on to a rope and wave at him. You win this round.

[[READER; be Duelscar]] You are now a very stuck, and very angry, royal known as Duelscar the Orphaner. This has not been your week. First, you had confessed your Red feelings to the Empress, who has been your Flushed Crush since you where ten sweeps old. You had thought she would accept you. After all, you were as close as she could get to someone of equal standing. But she turned you down with a high laugh and a wave of her jeweled, finned, hand. Your mistake was thinking she had to limit herself. She is the Highest Blooded troll on the scale and she could choose whoever she wanted. You had thought things would turn around when you received word that the mutant had been caught, but no. Mindfang outbid you for the Jade Blood and appears to have a Pale crush on her. A crush that, knowing Mindfang, will be turned in due time. This adds to your anger, though it is fueled by jealousy on this topic. Then, to top it all off, Mindfang just stole your flagship and will probably feed your live property to her freak of a Lusus so she won't lose any of her wealth. Yeah, this hasn't been your week.

"So, ye want to play games, Mindfang," you growl while you watch her wave from her ship, that annoying feather hat of hers blowing in the wind. "Then let us find out if you're as good of a runner as ye think ye' are." You turn away from the dock, a plan already forming in your mind on how to make your Kismesis pay. "Best keep an eye on the sea, my dear..."

You first send an eager Blue Blood off to fetch one of your other ships, though you know it will take a while. You have time to perfect your plan to show your Kismesis you don't take insults laying down. By the time your ship will arrive at the port, Mindfang will be long out of your reach and your ship will have been sold. So, you will need to have someone sent after her. Someone to teach her where to draw the line. It takes you several days of enduring embarrassment before the first part of your plan shows up. He is of an unknown blood, but the way he behaves screams High Blood. You pay him, then describe the appearance of the Jade Blood you want him to assassinate. You did like the Jade Blood at first appearance but adding a Moirail will often turn a Kismesisitude into an Auspisticism and you would rather that not happen. As terrible as it is, Mindfang is the only one you have to fill a bucket with. The Jade Blood must die, but that isn't part of the revenge so much as it is a necessity. No, you have a different plan for the loss of your property. You give your orders to the assassin and turn to the more pressing task that you would rather put off until later. However, you've been putting it off until the assassin arrives so not that that is done, you have no reason to delay. You leave the small port and head inland.

[[READER; Be the Grand High Blood]] You... are not exactly pleased to be this giant clown again, but there is no helping it. You are now the Grand High Blood. You haven't been very busy not that whatever sort of rebellion the Sufferer tried to start. You lost your executioner, who not only disappeared but is now hiding under the protection of the Pirate you don't really care about. You sort of want to find Darkleer but, not enough for you to do anything about it. Instead, you have the weak, injured, useless, or any Low Blood within reach brought to you so you can replenish your paint. There is still so much of your palace unpainted. However, it gets boring using the same colors. If only you could have kept some of the pretty red! Oh, you have a visitor. You sit on your throne in hopes of at least being able to hear the smaller troll who has the gall to swagger right on in like he owns the place. You let it slide when you see who it is though.

"Well, how you been, my brother," you greet Duelscar in you fluctuating tones. "Seems only a short while ago I last layed my eyes on you. What brings you back to my grand carnival so soon?"

"I have a mission your little group of assassins," The royal states, staying a good few yards away from you. He holds out some papers to you. You can't read them from so far away.

"You'll have to... Come closer, my brother. I can't see with you being all up and so far away." Duelscar shuffles closer to you by a yard, then two. He holds out the papers and faster than what he was clearly expecting, you snatch them out of his hands with your thumb and forefinger. You lay them in your palm and the fit there nicely. Now, you can read them.

"Miracles and wonders," You boom, suddenly loud enough to make the royal jump away from you with a less than dignified squeak you choose to ignore. " I was just all up and thinking about this spider pirate not so long before you all and showed up," You suddenly whisper to the papers. This seems to alarm your guest further, but you pay it no mind. You are notorious for changing volume when you are especially in the mood for blood. Normally, in your waving tone, the shouting and whispering balancing each other out is just the sort of thing people are hoping to catch you in in the mood to be doing. It's a sign of danger when you start shouting, then whispering. Now that you think about it, whispered one of the voices in your head, you haven't painted anything in bright purple in a long while. It might not be that shiny red, but this could work. But, you remind yourself, he is higher than you. You should offer him a choice.

"I'll send out my new toy," You bargain loudly, "If you tell me a joke," You finish quietly.

"I didn't catch that," says the sea dweller cautiously, backing away from you. Except there is no way for him to escape your palace. He had to be lead through the halls by a blue blood because otherwise, he would have gotten lost. The same blue blood locked the door. You know he is stuck and no match for you; not when he is so far away from the water.

"I said, I'll catch this Pirate Queen for you...if you tell me a joke!"

"Ah, well if that is all... I guess I catch ye'r drift," The sea-dweller says, smiling slightly. You stare. Was that supposed to be the joke? A blood joke was the best he could do?! You growl, and he backs away further. You didn't realize you had even stood you until you felt your juggling clubs in your hands. "No, wait, wait! I can do better," calls the desperate troll. You do. He might be higher on the scale than you but if he messes this up your painting in purple. "Why don't oysters give to charity? … Because they're shellfish," He says. You swing your clubs. You should have culled him before that joke was even thought up. He won't be needing that ship after all.

[[READER; Be the bystander]] You suddenly switch from the culler clown to the bystander that had been standing in the Grand High Blood's throne room the whole time. You have just returned from handing of that yellow Blooded troll to the Empress. But then not on missions of such nature, you watch over the hall of your master. You don't however, watch him beat the royal purple from the visiting troll. You hate it when he does that, but you assume there is a just reason other than that joke. Or maybe it's better said that you would like to assume there is a just reason, but you know there probably isn't. You hate it, but you can't do anything about the Grand High Blood's urging to cull. If you could, you would love to use the evidence you have on him in court, but the Grand High Blood is your employer and the very reason the land dwellers have a court. You can do nothing but tactfully revert your eyes and ignore the squishing sound and what smells like raw fish. Instead, you let your thoughts wander. Your title is Redglare, a high-ranking Neophyte Legislacerator who earned her name from the bright red glasses you wear. You are the best in your line of work, simply because you are the only one who has survived doing it beyond the first time. You think the Grand High Blood just called you his new toy, which is not true. You do not fill any of his quadrants. You know better than to attempt to. Rather, you are his toy in the sense that you are his puppet, the only one who can stand to return alive from his crazy missions. He finds it amusing that you haven't died, but probably not as amusing as he is going to find it when you do. Slowly, you descend from behind and pick up the small scattered stack of wanted posters holding a picture of a very beautiful Blue Blood with long dark hair and a ridiculous hat. You turn to your master, who stands and drags a violet stained hand along the wall as he walks toward you. You don't back away or show any emotion because that only encourages him. Instead, you put your dragon-headed cane-sword in front of you in your customary solute. You might not be able to make the Grand High Blood pay for the suffering he has caused, but if he says so you can take this pirate off the streets...err, waters. He nods, and you slip out of a secret door only you can fit through. Time to call Pyralspite and bring this woman to justice.

[[READER; be Mindfang]] You are now Mindfang, and you just found someone trying to cull your potential Moirail. You are less than pleased. Nope, you are quite furious. You race towards the far of the deck, drawing your eight dice and tossing them using the force of your suddenly stop. You don't look down to see what you rolled before drawing your sword and charging the assassin. Mid charge, three white snakes leap out of nowhere and bite the invading troll's hands. It must have been a bad roll then. No matter, you can do this yourself. Your opponent draws his long sword from the body of the Jade Blood, and this pisses you off further. The Teal Blooded assassin dies quickly with a beheading. He must have become an assassin because he couldn't make it to that freak squad of Teal Bloods the Grand High Blood uses as weapons. You leave the body and approach the Dolorosa. You pick her up into your lap like the day you meet and feel for a pulse. Nothing comes. She looks peaceful and you want to scream. It has been some time since you last heard from Duelscar and over that time, you have gotten to know the Dolorosa. When you had bought her, you had wanted to hear the story of the troll they had culled, and she had told you. Some places she laughed and in some, she cried, but she was never at peace or relaxed. She was always sad. You wanted to be her Moirail and had started dropping hits after learning the full story of the Sufferer. Maybe Duelscar is happy because you aren't smiling anymore. You had never cared for the Caste system, even though your spot was more favorable than most. Mostly you just wanted to be rich and fix this poor girl, as a short-term goal. Not because you believed the in the Sufferer's stories, nope. Because of this slave, and the death/betrayal of you Kismesis, your heart is broken twice; well, as broken as it can be for you, that is. You have been followed by bad luck as it seems, so you will have to ride it out until the time is right.

You have the body thrown into the sea and the deck cleaned. Trolls don't have burial costumes, so this is normal thing to do. You contemplate revenge, but you've already culled the assassin and you learned from the last stop the Duelscar is dead. It has been nearly a week since you caught wind of his fitting end and until now you had all but forgotten the matter. The coward, trying to turn you in, what did he think you were using him for? However, it seems that the Subjuggulator weren't particularly interested in his joke and only sent a Neophyte Legislacerator after you. It was probably just to show that they were doing something. Neophyte Redglare is rumored to be talented, but you see no reason to fear. Why would you, when all they have done is send a lone bureaucrat after you? Maybe they don't really want you caught? Maybe the Grand High Blood finds your 'adventures' amusing? You wouldn't be surprised if this was true, what with all the interesting rumors diffing around about you. This is one of those rare times your 'superiors' show wisdom and it almost makes want to restore your faith in the social order. Almost, but not quite. You wash the jade blood from your hands and clothes. As for Redglare, it would surprise you if you ever heard her name again. But if she does, you welcome her challenge. However, you won't bother to go back to your old hive and look into your secret to satisfy your curiosity.

[[READER; Be Redglare]] You are now Redglare and found the Pirate Princess quite a long while ago. Now, you wait for her to regroup with her fleet to cut the losses of had been an "accidental" attack on Pyralspite's part. It's not easy, hiding a dragon, but you manage. This is important, as you had no idea how massive this underground network of Mindfang's was. She must have been more of a danger than you had thought. You wonder how many slaves she has, and how many more trolls she has fed to her Lusus, which you know is a big bug-like thing. Big, but not as big as Pyralspite. You grin in the way that would make most criminals shake in their boots even though none can see you right at the moment. This has been a fun hunt, Mindfang is the smartest criminal you have seen. However, she doesn't ever seem to consider how her actions will affect others, not even her property as you've heard it said she calls her workers. You wonder how much of this comes from having a Lusus that requires trolls as meals; how much of Mindfang's personality comes from betraying her own species, over and over again? A fair amount you guess, as it was only after the destruction her ships that she calls this meeting, not the loss of the slaves you set free. You will need to be swift and deadly when you strike. Once you have taken her property she will have nothing to protect, only herself. When this happens, it is likely she will not hold out against you like she might if she is worried about saving as much of her wealth as she can. You stand on you Lusi's huge head, draw your thin blade from inside your cane, and direct Pyralspite to attack. You dragon launches into the air and takes out over half of the ships in one fiery breath. You hear crying, but you know that those are the ones follow Mindfang willingly. You had sent messages to the slaves to sneak away and escape death. You find the flagship, ordering Pyralspite not to burn it with the rest. You see your target on deck, she seems to have a hand over her eyes. You aim Pyralspite to land on board.

[[READER; be Mindfang]] You are suddenly Mindfang, and you just made the mistake of looking into the dragon's eyes, each like the sun concentrated into a small jewel, and pain erupts from your special eye that gives you vision eightfold to look into your treasure. It is the more sensitive of the two and it was burned irreparably, but when you do recover sight in the other, you watch the monstrous beast eat your Lusus whole. How is one allowed to be raised by a dragon in this era, let allow one of such middling blood, the sickening hue of a gutless civil servant? You underestimated Redglare, for by what fluke was this woman allowed such a weapon permitting her to the luxury in these dilutions of righteousness. You turn to see Redglare standing little ways behind you.

"Pyralspite," she says, her hideous forced grin putting you on edge. She must have wanted you to know the name of the creature that could swallow up you guardian whole. You reach into your pockets before remembering you left your dice below deck, not that your present luck would consent to a favorable roll anyways. Before you can reach for your sword, Redglare has moved and more pain. You stumble back and clutch your arm, but no... there is no arm left, cut off just below the shoulder. You briefly wonder if she plans to use it as the tiniest of snacks for her Lusus. Maybe she is proving that she won't need you in irons to have your submission. Bound, or free. Two, one, or none. You wonder if she knows it's not what you do with your arms that she has to fear.

Much fanfare was made at the trial and it seems your luck is turning for the better now. The Grand High Blood must have wanted to make a show of your conviction and sentence, and you can feel the ravenous desire of the crowd for Blue Blood to be spilled. You aren't going to deny them what they came for. All of those in the crowd seem to be Rust Bloods and the weak will was nearly as thick in the air as the rust in their veins. It is laughable how easy it is to redirect rage from one High Blood to another. It's funny, how your other senses seemed to have peaked after exchanging glances with the dragon. What a unique specimen, that beast. you've come to covet the creature since it ruined your fleet and carried you here.

The Subjuggulators could not have been pleased when tricked the peasants into hanging Redglare in your stead, but nor could they have been altogether unamused, this might have been a part of their unfathomable game after all. Your only regret is that you didn't get to hear the opening statement Redglare had prepared. You're sure that with all the evidence she gathered, the case must have been damning. Had your escape not necessitated her demise, she would have made a lovely rival. If only she could not have been on the wrong side, the two of you could have made a striking scourge. But when one is so ensnared by the laws, one is bound to be chocked. Now all that divided you from freedom was his Honorable Tyranny, a monster-like black crab. You fought with the beast and you couldn't help but think that if you had your other arm, you would have won much quicker, but alas it was gone for good. Once the fight was over, you notice the room has cleared and the body hanging by the exit. You pass it on your way out and notice a necklace in the hands of Redglare. Curious, you take it and notice it is the symbol of the mutant the Dolorosa told you about. When the Condesce learned of the sym69l she forbade it from ever being written or shown. You take the necklace, wishing more than ever you could have talked to the Teal Blood.

Though you are free, you have no fleet, so you decide to put your seafaring ways behind you. With any luck, the skies will be your future, and again your thoughts turn to that dragon, but you quickly turn your thoughts to the more pressing matters on hand. You are still missing an arm and need refuge. You return to your hive.

[[READER; Be Darkleer]] You go back to being Darkleer. Nothing much has happened to you after the fleeing service of the Grand High Blood. You can find food and necessities easily so in your free time you have taken to constructing and building robotics, so you smash them to pieces and rebuild them. You looked over the treasure Mindfang had you look after, but it was just a ball of white glass. You make sure it can't roll anywhere when you break your robots. Sometimes, you let your thoughts wander to the one known as Disciple. You wonder what became of her, but you haven't been able to look for fear of getting caught. This is how Mindfang finds you when she turns up on your door, bleeding and hardly able to walk. You help her recover and build her a robotic to repay her for hiding you. You fetch her odd little glass ball and she looks at it longingly, but you say nothing. She is blind in one eye now and she tells you what has happened since you banished yourself. But after that, it's hard to get her to stop talking. After she is probably healed, she leaves, taking her little ball and you never see her again. In fact, you never see anyone again. It seems you have died too, though you don't remember how...

[[Reader; be Mindfang again]] You are Mindfang... again. You have just left your old hive to travel around in search of something else that might catch your interest and/or make a fortune. However, your heart isn't in it. You wish you could consult your orb to ask what you should do next. You took it back from the executioner, now owing him more to taking care of wounds. He even made you a robotic arm. It is beyond your comprehension, just as the strange way said executioner is hidden from the sight of the orbs true owner, making him the ideal guardian, that is, until this small orb became the only truly valuable position you owned. Again, you think of the dragon and long to ask the small thing how to go about but even if you could, you would hesitate. You have already seen so much of your future because of this small globe. You even asked it when you would die. As you think of the odd prophecy you think on your future Matesprit, the one called the Summoner who would command an army of beasts. Maybe, should your obsession with the dragon last for so long, he will be the one to help you claim it. For now, you await the future.

---

[[READER; Be the Summoner]] You cannot be the Summoner because the young wriggler who will become the Summoner doesn't yet have that name. Instead, you become the young troll who lacks a title. You are a Brown Blood, and only manage not to get culled by the Subjuggulators because your talents are being used for Her Imperial Condescension as what humans would call a cowboy, shepherd, and/or mounted soldier, but you are not human, so your group is called the Cavalreapers instead. You are capable of controlling the beasts due to your exceptional talent to control them mentally. This makes up for your unfortunate mutation; you have wings, much like a butterfly's. Except you don't know what a butterfly looks like, so you just think they are odd like everyone else. However, they do come in handy with the particularly big creatures or the ones that fly. You learn to use your wings as a method for you to rise through the ranks. So, you are almost as well respected a blue blood. Almost. They say you are the Condesce's second favorite servant. You're not sure who is the first. You have been serving her for the majority of your life when you first hear it; the story of the Signless, his goals, his visions, his dreams, his death. It was in secret, read by a very beautiful Burgundy Blood who had got the scroll from the Sighless's Disciple. You never see or hear from the Burgundy Blood again, but one day the scroll turns up on the step of your hive bearing what resembles the shackles that held the Sufferer during his execution. You read, reread, and study the single document. It is abundantly clear there was supposed to be more, but this is all that you know of surviving the sweeps between you and him. You decide to go on leave and find the place he was culled. When you find the pillar, it is covered in moss without any sign of cherry-red blood on it. It looks far too peaceful for its place in history. It's maddening, how this troll was treated for his mutation. Why should you be favored for your mutation while he was culled? Why do the High Bloods thing they can get away with this? You decide to act and finish what the Sufferer started... well, at least what you think he would have started. You decide to teach the High Bloods to respect every troll.

[[READER; Be the Grand High Blood]] You are, yet again, the Grand High Blood. Yep, you still aren't dead yet. You are getting closer though. You have not quite reached old age, but you are not in your prime either. No one dares mention this to you. You have found better ways to conduct your business over time. You no longer actively hunt down trolls to cull, but you encourage it for your followers. They bring you the blood they gather. You make up insane laws to 'justify' the deaths of these trolls but no one is fooled, you are still you. You are holding a court of sorts were your servants bring you the varieties of paint they have collected for you. That is around the time he enters, the Empresses favorite Cavelreaper and second favorite servant next to the 'battery' she got from that mutant. You have forgotten his name. This Rust Blood approaches you rather boldly, but you do nothing. The pink sash tied around him bearing Her sign tells you-you will be in trouble if you damage her property. You choose to order your men to leave him be and hear what he has to say.

"Grand High Blood, I would like to speak with you," States the title-less troll.

"Well, ain't you doin' that right now," you growl in a low tone. You really are not a fan of this troll, but he seems to be one of the few who can hear you when you speak that quietly. Or maybe he just doesn't care what you said.

"I would like to declare to you and the Condecse, that unless you change your ways and your cruel laws, there will be consequences," You hear the High Bloods in the room go very still. "What you have been doing, no, what all of your blood colors and ancestors have been doing to your fellow troll is unexpectable. We will not stand for it any longer. You have murdered the innocence and the helpless, stolen from wrigglers, and enslaved your own friends! These are crimes too great to not go unpunished for any longer. Change, or we will do to you what you have been going to us!"

Once he has finished, he ripped the fuchsia sash from around his torso and threw it to the foot of your throne. You kind of would like to argue with the walking Low-Blood-corpse but right at the moment, all you want is to rip off those stupid pixie wings.

"Arrest him," You want to order calmly, but instead you shout. "Let him answer for his words." You don't know if your men heard the last part as they all surge forward to grab the dirt blood. Before they can reach him, a whole is ripped into your ceiling and the ex-Cavelreaper fades into the sky. You order men to go after him, but his trail is lost. You can't yet track something through the sky. You can't, but someone else can...

[[READER; Be the Empress]] Whoa, whoa, whoa! You're not ready to be the Empress yet! You better go back to being the Grand High Blood.

[[READER; Be the Grand High Blood]] You need to ask for air support before that hot-headed Low Blood with ideas can do anything. However, the only one with air control is the Empress. You really hate talking to her, but supposedly you are on the same side. Maybe she will lend you a ship or two. It can't hurt to ask. You bark out orders to your scrambling servants and soldiers to track down this new threat on your way to your communication chamber. Once in, you lock the door and send a request to speak with the Queen over the odd message system her scientists developed. Your request is granted.

"Your Majesty," You great slowly, trying to keep your voice steady. It's not easy.

"Shell-o, High Blood," She greeted, sitting on her massive throne on the screen. "To what do I owe this immense pleasure?"

"I would like to request the use you some flying ships," You state, realizing it might not be smart to invoke her rage by reviling the loss of her favorite Cavelreaper.

"Why," she demanded.

"It seems, one new rebel has all up and got access to the skies. We are unaware of how many followers he has but we would like to come all up and end him before they can get anywhere close to starting leading folks astray." Why is it so hard to keep your voice even?

"Shell, if you reel-ly think you need it, I will send you two ships, but make it quick," she answered. You guess she wasn't to please to have to do this. But you think it's necessary. Cavalreapers can be dangerous when they want to be, and it sounded like that muck-blood wanted just that.

"Thank you, my queen," you reply, moving to shut down the feed.

"And High Blood, I want them back," she ordered, you nod, and she shut down the stream herself.

It is not long before you receive word that the ships are on the trail of the single rebel, having instead leaped into action than report to you. Several moments later, they sent back a distress call before cutting out. What did they say about a dragon? No matter, you decide to blame it on the rebel to not have her Majesty cull you

[[READER; Be the Summoner]] You still can't be the Summoner, you haven't earned that title! At least, not that you are aware of. Finding the Dragon had been an accident, but you had needed an escape route, so you had reached out to something for aid. The dragon responded. Now it - she- is following you. Drat, you don't want a dragon with you when you rally the remaining followers of the Sufferer. Eventually, you order her to hide while you go into town. you have already gotten the support of those meeting undercover discussing the Sufferer's ideals. Now, you decided to read the single document you have allowed, in the town square after letting the Subjuggulator patrol passes. You do, and it goes better than you thought. Trolls of low colors stop to listen and after you finish, you jump up on the town stage. You then start talking, interpreted the words left by the Sufferer. You say that those in power are no different from those that aren't, that governing should come at the consent of the people, then you ask trolls to consider standing with you against the Empire when the time comes; to teach those of a higher class that they can't get away with what they have been doing. Afterwards, just as you finished, two old Subjuggulator approach the stage, but you cull them both before they can do anything. You use this as a calling and as an example, before escaping by air to the outside of the city and to the dragon. The two of you move on, hopping from town to town, following the strategy the Sufferer did, but soon you change it all together when a town cheers before you leave, then drives the Subjugators stationed there off. You choose to use it as your base of operation, setting the still unnamed dragon as a guard. It is around this time, your title reaches you; the Summoner after the beasts you can call and the dragon that follows you. You travel to the towns nearby and talk, but most of them end in fights. With the help of the people, you win ground and form something close to an army. Close, but not quite. They are not as skilled as the Subjugators and should the Imperial armies and the Subjuggulators team up for good, you are through. You need someone to train them while you speak; you need a right-hand man. That is how you meet her.

[[READER; Be hooded bystander]] You found him. You actually found him, and somehow, he found Pyralspite. Now, they both seem to have found you. You watch his speech from the side of the crowd, a crowd that is mostly Middle Bloods; a few Teal wrigglers and a bunch of Jades and Olives. They seem mildly interested, but not enough to actually consider what he is asking. Some even started asking questions after he was finished. At first, he did okay, you guess, but it soon becomes clear that while he knows a lot about 'current events' and combat, he doesn't know most of what the Sufferer thought. Slowly, working your way to the front, you answer questions before he can. Soon, you are standing below him and together you answer the questions of the doubtful. Before long, he has pulled you on the stage with him and you are more than helping, giving your own impromptu speech. You are a bit more successful than he was. You don't finish, however before a patrol of Purple Bloods makes themselves known. The people were not motivated enough to fight them, preferring to run like cowards. You and the Summoner fight alone and, amazingly, you win. Who knows the two of you would make such an excellent team? You did. After this, the two of you retreat to the forest and to the Dragon. She is less than pleased to see you, but the Summoner calms her with his powers. Before asking you to join like he should, he instead interrogates you on how you know so much about the Sufferer. You tell him you practically got the message from the source before revealing your blood color. His reaction was mistrust, as he interrogated you further before you go feed up with it. You explained that you support his movement and that his methods seem to be more effective than that of the Sufferer's, then ask he wants your support or not. He hesitates, and you want so badly use your powers on him but know that doing so will ruin anything` for the two of you in the future. You wait until he agrees, which you knew he would, and then introduce yourself as Mindfang and the Dragon as Pyralspite.

[[READER; go back to being the Summoner]] You do just that. You don't trust this Mindfang character at first, she's a Blue Blood after all, but she soon proves herself to be the best fighter, having countless sweeps of experience. She also knows a lot about the Sufferer's life, though she won't say exactly how she does. You soon find yourself taking her with you to towns, and thus winning them over after. She nothing if not effective. She can be brutal and manipulative at times, but it always turned out in her favor and you are grateful she is on your side. She might be rough around the edges- no insult to the metal arm intended, good grief put the sword away- but is powerful, and so beautiful. Long wild hair, sharp blue eyes... Dang it, you're flushing for her and if you weren't the leader of this whole operation she probably wouldn't be sparing you a second glance. She has literally become the bite to your bark. You tell her, by accidentally calling her your Matesprit to a crowd and she accepts by doing the same in front of some of the other leaders. One day she just up and moves in with you, making it official, but claiming she found her temporarily hive too small. You know she was lying as your own is considerably smaller. It isn't long after Mindfang joins you that your fears are realized and the Grand High Blood teams up with the Empress to tame your rebellion. The trolls who offer to fight are prepared thanks to Mindfang, and you respond by going to the town that will soon become the front lines with her. You speak to the people and burn the flag of the Express. They cheer, and more join your vast numbers. You think you have a chance, so much so that on the side, you have a few talented Jade Bloods and Brown Bloods start breading a Lusus that would be sympathetic to a candy red sent. You want it to be aquatic in case those who think that blood color is meant to complete the circle, taking place between Burgundy and Fuchsia. When the Sufferer's descendant is hatched, you want to be ready.

[[READER; Suddenly be the Troll Queen]] You sure you want to be her? Really? Okay then, if you really want to ...You are now Her Imperial Condescension, Empress of Alterina and of a few colonies on other nearby planets. You are said to have eternal life, you don't see why that isn't true. You can extend the life of any troll of your choosing with ease, plus you have built a crown the allows you to have the powers of a Yellow Blood's psionics, a Brown Blood beast controller, a Blue Blood's mind dominance, and a Red Blood's telekinesis. You are literally unstoppable just by yourself, but you can't be in two places at once, so you have an army to do all your work, and a ship to rush to from place to place. This most recent bought of unrest reminds you of the last one that resulted in the best Psiioniic Helmsmen who's life you have been lengthening almost since you got him. He once called himself the Psiioniic because his powers where the best, now he is called the Helmsmen as a reminded that his powers will only ever make him a slave. However, the difference is the rebellion your Helmsmen was a part of was mostly peaceful, with little to no combat or death on either side. This is already turning the ground into a colorful painting, and that was before this little piece of living dust declared war on you the Grand High Blood. How dare, how could, the Cavelreaper you favored, helped, GUARDED, betray you such an extreme. You want him culled. You want him to die in a way most befitting to the dung that colors his blood and that his mutation is deserving of. But what to do after you win? These rebellions are getting progressively worse and this one might take the planet from you had you not allowed the Grand High Blood the benefit of your armies.

"... The question still remains of how to fix this little problem," you say to your Helmsmen after updating him on current events. You don't know why you do this. "What do you think, My Psiioniic? Perhaps you should give a little feedback for once. Should I have them all culled, the way I did your little friend all those sweeps ago?" You wait for a reply but his head remains bent, and his eyes unresponsive. "Nofin to say, huh? I think..."Suddenly an idea of what to do after you win strikes you. "Ah, ha. My Helmsmen, I think we have the perfect solution... Yes, that will take care of our problem for shore!" You laugh as you explain your plan to the non-responsive troll. "Every troll how passes nine sweeps shell be banished, there is a lot of space to colonize for shore. The grubs and Luses may stay, but they will soon be sent a wave and if they die then whatever where they good for? Yes, I do believe this will work. Next sweep this day at dawn, they will all be sent along all talk- all rebellion- shell be banned!" You march off, your heels clicking, to enact your ruling and end the minor nuisance this rebellion is causing you. Your Helmsmen, as far as you are aware, is still unaware of what has been said.

[[READER; Go back to being Mindfang]] Alright, but you can't be here for long. You failed. You knew you would to some extent, thanks to that rotten ball, but you did think it would end like this. The war lasted for almost a sweep. After you and the Summoner declared war on the Empire, the Empress responded with an insane declaration to banish all adult trolls after she culled all of you. You had laughed and hated her cocky wording. She was right. It probably took her longer than she thought to get rid of your rebellion, she certainly hadn't been planning on Pyralspite, but the Summoner can't command all those other beasts when he is focused on fighting for his life. To be fair, your rebellion went out with a bang, culling almost all the Subjugators and a fair portion of that fish queen's army but they destroyed all of yours and the towns they had come from. Poor Pyralspite was eaten by the Queens own Lusus, a mammoth sea creature you had only heard tales of. In fact, it didn't even fully show up, just a few tentacles shot out from the sea when Pyralspite flew over it and pulled her in. At least you finished the new kind of Lusus and got the sign recognized so that the Sufferer's descendant, who is rumored to be a sign for the end of the world, would be ready and safe. You smile thinking about how it will dig into the blasted Queens skin later. It doesn't last as you cough up some of your blood. You are dying, having been injured in the fight. This wasn't what the ball had said, it said the Summoner (Though you didn't know it at the time as it had used his true name, the one saved for Quadrant mates) would cull you but you guess it was wrong and that- Crap, there he is. The Summoner walks towards you holding his side. He was injured too. You cough again.

"Mindfang," he said stopping by you, using his lance as a crutch.

"We lost," You whisper, and he nods.

"I'm going to die," You whisper as well, and you see brown tears build in his eyes. You continue anyways. "Please... Don't make me bleed to death slowly... Cull me."

He hesitates, but you can't wait. The ache in your body is growing and you are afraid. "Cull me," you order, taking his mind and forcing him to use his lance to run you through. You need to pick another troll, this one has died.

[[READER; Be the Grand High Blood]] You already are, though it seems your dying too. You are pinning under some other trolls who have their weapons in you, causing you to bleed to death slowly. You wish you had the mental abilities of the traitorous Blue Blood to make the Summoner cull you too. But then, you wouldn't be enjoying his grief as you die. You start laughing, but it turns into a cough as you spit out a mouthful of purple. You keep going until you are no more.

[[READER; Change again]] There is only one troll left on this battlefield, so you become the Summoner. You are bleeding as well but if you get medical attention soon you won't die. You don't do that you die the way Mindfang was so scared to; you bleed to death holding her body.

---

SWEEPS LATER

[[READER; Be the Helmsmen]] You are barely aware that you are you, only that you ache. Your body aches where all the wires connect, and you have long forgotten how to use your limbs; the knowledge of how to make the ship run being more dominant at this point. You have been in- no, a part of- this ship for countless sweeps. Most wouldn't even call you capable of being a troll now. You don't blame them. You ache when she touches you to lengthen your...well not life. This messed up form of an existence could never count as a life. You guess the better word would be ... You don't have one. Your mind starts to ache when you try to think for too long. Oh, and speaking of her, your heart aches every time she comes just to talk with you. She talks at you, filling you in on current events in a way that rubs in exactly how you got here and why. You think she is trying to make you feel guilty. And it works, but not for the reason she would want. You are guilty that you were out cold for far too long and couldn't save them. You best friend, his Matesprit, and the troll that adopted all of you. Your heart aches to see them again. It aches every time she is a little late in coming; when you can almost hear Signless's laughter and the scratch of the Disciples pen. Every time you think you can start running to meet them only for the blasted sea witch to touch you and lengthen your time as her 'battery', her Helmsmen. She has long suspected that you can hear her, but you never say anything. She never makes you. You want to hate her, but Signless would be disappointed if you hated her in the platonic sense you want to. So, instead, you focus on what she says. At first, during the second rebellion, it was interesting. The Summoner's translation of Signless's words where wrong, but the news about Signless's blood color getting a sign and a Lusus were uplifting, for a while. It was also interesting to hear rumors about his descendant being a sign himself for the end of your homeworld. You doubted it and as the sweeps past, you forget. Who would believe the words of what other trolls are calling a demoness "the Handmaiden"? You think it is preposterous, but then your head starts to ache, and you try not to think again. You begin to wonder if there may be something behind it only when you hear over the intercom that a random meteorite shower was turning your planet into jelly. The Empress orders you to fly your ship as fast as possible towards home. You do, and suddenly the aches are gone, driven out by pain, pain, pain, pain, PAIN! Oh gosh, it hurts, hurts so much. Then the ache returns only stronger, and right behind your eyes. something is dipping at it takes you a moment to get your dulled eyes to notice the honey-colored liquid, and then a moment longer for you to recognize the liquid as your blood. You hear a loud sound and you smile. The Vast Glub, a sound the Empresses Lusus can create to cull every troll, has been released. And with its release, you are freed too. You smile and run into the arms of your waiting friends. All your aches and pains are gone.

[[READER; Be the Burgundy Blood]] You suddenly become the Burgundy Blood, and everything in Altenria's history is your fault. Trolls have even begun to call you the Handmaiden, or the demoness. They are right both times. Because you have been made his handmaiden and servant, he has given you his chaotic powers that you channel through a pair of white needles you use as wands. You watch the pinkish ship you know belongs to the Condesce approach the destroyed planet that was once Alterina. You think over your life. The first mission your boss gave you had been easy. Stand in a street and wait for a running hooded troll to pass you. Then wait for a second troll and point out the direction he went. It was easy, so easy. You wondered why you needed to do that at all. Then you learned who the first troll was. Someone called the Signless. You were meant to lead the second troll to his future best friend, the reason for his later imprisonment. You already hated your master, but this brought it to a new level. What was the point? Your second mission was to simply destroy a building on the edge of the sea. You thought nothing of it until you learned who and what was supposed to be inside. A troll and your old guardian's treasure. A small round, white ball that would answer any question it was asked should you be able to see through its surface. You never found that ball, no matter how hard you looked. The next task was to get an animals skin from an Olive Blooded troll. What you were not counting on was her telling you about the Signless. It was there that you put together who that troll was in the street. As you listened you felt an incredible guilt for the first time. Everything you are, everything that is, conspires against his ideas and has already he vowed to never let it happen. You are the weapon to make it so; to make sure the Signless failed. You were even ordered to tip off the Subjuggulators about their ship's location later, and by the way the troll called Disciple told the story, you succeeded. Your next task was to stoke the flames of a massive rebellion, though this took a couple sweeps. You told stories of someday there maybe being another Candy-Red troll that would signal the end of the world. You knew this as fact but presented it as a prophecy. You also read the document the Disciple gave you to the public throughout the years, making sure the possibility of war was still there. Once this was done you left the document on the doorstep of a hive, knowing the person inside would do the rest of the work for you. You then, for the first time, made a trip of your own accord and went back to the Disciples cave, asking for another scroll. You loved, and read, and treasured that small piece of parchment. Afterward, you hoped from colony to colony stirring up trouble and fights. This earned you your names. You hated doing this to your own kind. Part might have been more fun than what you ever would have let on to your boss, but you hated the outcome you knew was inevitable. You had one final quest before could complete your service and gain your punishment for all the pain you caused. Your punishment and your reward. You journeyed deep into the Brooding caverns on Alterina and found a tall Jade Blooded troll being followed by a Candy-Red colored grub. The Signless. You are the reason the Signless ever lived at all. You dashed behind a bolder and bit your lip as the light from the touch swung your way. Soon the Jade Blood rushed by you, carrying the grub. You cried, though didn't know you could. Everything, everything, is your fault! Every time the message of peace caused war, every time there was a lucky coincidence that leads to someone thinking about rebellion, every mysterious thing that leads to disaster was you. Now you stand before your final task. Get your master a new servant. The trial for acceptance is for her to cull you. Your death is your punishment and your reward. You draw your wands and land on the ship.

[[READER; be the Queen again]] You. Are. FURIOUS! In hopes of stopping the end of your planet and the death of the Mother Grub, you had ordered your Helmsmen to take you back as fast as he could. He did but it was too late, your Lusus released the Vast Glub and culled every living troll besides you. It worked and now you look down over a wasteland. Alterina was never beautiful, but this was pathetic. Just as your anger reached a peak, she appeared. The one you have heard tails of. The Handmaiden. What was most disappointing, and infuriating was her blood color. How could she be a Burgundy Blood and still be so feared! She landed on your ship and said nothing, so you speak first. You forget to ask how she survived the Vast Glub.

"So... You are the demoness of legend...?" you hiss through a smile. "I'm unimpressed. Your just another worthless Low Blood!" It's here that you notice the odd, colorful glow around the thin troll, and the empty, color changing eyes. The off-appearance creeps you out so you try another barb. "What... No bow, no curtsey? Where is the respect for your queen?!"

"You are no queen," She says. Her voice is distant and echoing. Like several people speaking at once. You almost liked her better when she didn't talk.

"...What?"

"You have nothing to return to your 'highness'... no planet, no subjects... not even the battery where so 'fond' of... you are Queen of nothing." Dang it, she never changes her tone even while mocking you!

"...Congratulations. You've earned a quick death," you say before lunging at her with your trident. The battle lasted a good long while, even with the use of your crown. The Handmaiden had some other power with her, something you would love to get your fins on, but that made her hard to beat. You soon choose to play dirty, faking death after she lands a less than a serious blow. She turns her back, and you toss your trident just as she turns back, sticking her in the chest. Fool, she made the amateur mistake of turning her back on the body. You march over to her and remove your weapon, feeling triumphant.

"...th-thank...y-you...", the Handmaiden whispers, her voice now normal. she offers you a sad smile, coughs and dies. You stare at the corpse. No one has ever thanked you so genuinely. All feelings of victory are lost. Then you hear it. Something coming up behind you. You turn and see something massive, lime green, and shining with the same glow the Handmaiden had only far brighter. Its eyes flash with colors and numbers and the edges of its coat do the same. For the first time in your long, long, life you feel fear.

"You, girl," it shouts/growls/honks at you. "Congrats on winning. Now let's go!"

---

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