Disclaimer: I don't own any IPs that might appear in the story

Gathering of Peers

A Council of Thirteen universe story

One shot

Beta:

As he waited for the meeting he had come to attend to begin, Legion surveyed the unique venue at which it was being held: Sigil, the City of Doors. It was a city shaped like the inside of a torus that according to his sensors had a primary diameter - that is, the ring's diameter - of 6.4 miles (10 kilometers), with a circumference of 20 miles (32 kilometers) and a secondary diameter - referring to the ring's thickness - of approximately 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers). The city did not fill the entire inner surface of the torus, but just the outer portion of the ring. For that reason, the city was recursive only in one direction, along its major circumference. Even though it was not a completely closed surface, it was impossible to see outside of the ring from any point within the city. If one looked up, the far side was visible, as the gentle curvature caused any point in the city to resemble the bottom of a valley.

Truly, such a fascinating place. Legion mused as he tried and failed to calculate how to reproduce this wondrous city.

He was pulled from his thoughts as a portal opened at the other end of the pavilion at the top of a ziggurat where the Neutral League, the Outsider faction which the Council of Thirteen had joined, had gathered around a long meeting table of some exotic wood that Legion could not identify and must've been from some world that he was unfamiliar with.

"Shu, Inori, welcome." The Lady of Pain, the Ruler of Sigil, and their hostess, who took the form of a floating, robed, giant-sized woman with a mantle of blades around her expressionless face, greeted with a nod as two beings stepped out of the portal.

One read as an Outsider and the other as an immortal to his sensors. The Outsider was a young man with a brown hair with a blond streak forming from the crown and blood-red eyes, whilst the immortal was a beautiful girl with red eyes and light pink hair that ombres into hot pink and was tied into pigtails tied using two tubes and further styled with a small red clip on the left side of her face.

The two new arrivals nodded back in greeting as they took their seat at the table with the girl choosing to sit in her husband's lap and leaning back, practically lounging, against his chest.

"Now that you're here." The Lady of Pain continued as Shu and Inori took their seats. "That's all of us and we can begin."

This was met with nods of acceptance from all those present, Legion included.

"Then let us begin with a roll call for the purposes of note taking," the Lady of Pain said as she gestured to a long roll of parchment and a quill which were floating in the air and were waiting to record the minutes of their meeting. "Begin recording."

At her order, the quill began writing on the parchment as it took down everything that was said.

"As hostess of this meeting of the Neutral League," the Lady of Pain said, formally beginning the meeting. "I shall go first. I am the Lady of Pain, Ruler of Sigil."

Once finished, she gestured to the equally giant man with an ageless visage that was not pleasant yet wasn't unpleasant, because it didn't have any remarkable features at all. He had a white beard and hair, and wore a black robe dotted by millions of stars and moons, arranged in a pattern that radiated a barely perceptible sense of harmony.

"Ao, Overgod of the Forgotten Realms." He identified himself, before nodding to the next of their fellows at the table.

The undead skeleton creature devoid of skin and flesh with a type of tiny dark red glow radiating from inside his empty eye sockets dressed in an elaborate, jet-black academic gown adorned with golden and violet edges and a dark red orb floating under his ribs that emanated a feeling of dread.

"Greetings, my fellows." The skeletal creature said with a bow to everyone else at the table. "I am Ainz Ooal Gown, Bone Father of Felmid."

"I suppose we are next," the man who had been last to arrive said. "Ouma Shu, the Apocalypse Virus Messiah King."

Gesturing to his woman sitting on his lap, he continued.

"And this is my wife, Inori, Egotist."

"Must you two be quite so scandalous. Shu, Inori?" A woman with pink eyes and long pink hair styled in pigtails with two strands of hair hanging as frontal locks featuring a pair of red bows and the back pigtails left bare that was one of the last two participants at the meeting said with a disapproving frown.

"I must agree with Yuno," the woman's husband, a man black hair and blue eyes, said with a nod. "Surely, Inori, can sit on her own chair?"

"This is entirely Inori." Shu said with an exasperated shrug.

"I like to be close to my husband." The aforementioned woman said, shooting Yuno a glare. "Is that a problem?"

Ao, the Lady of Pain, and Legion shrugged, though it was Ainz that spoke for them.

"None at all, Inori." The skeletal creature said with a good-natured laugh.

"If the others do not mind then I suppose we can overlook it." The blue eyed man said with a sigh as the woman nodded with a frown. "I believe we were still doing the roll call?"

The Lady of Pain nodded and the man continued.

"Amano Yukiteru," he said before gesturing to Yuno. "And this is my wife, Yuno. Together, we are the Overgods of the Heroines Branch of Creation."

It was Legion's turn now and he nodded the head of his android avatar, one shaped to possess what his sisters had described as an unsettling resemblance to a human skeleton made out of magically enhanced alloys.

"Legion, Tenth Lord and representative of the Council of Thirteen."

"Good, now that the roll call is complete," the Lady of Pain said once Legion had finished. "We can proceed to discuss what we have gathered here today to deliberate."

"Before that, Lady of Pain, might I ask why we are being so formal about this?" Ao asked, shooting their hostess a questioning look. "We normally are more casual about things."

"Yes, but we have to make an important decision today so I felt it best we made things a bit more formal." The Lady of Pain explained. "So if someone, be it one of our number or someone like the Moderators, questions our decision or the process by which we came to it, we have something to present as evidence."

"A fair precaution." Ainz said, nodding and once more giving voice to the opinion of everyone else at the table.

He seems to have a knack for that. Legion noted with some amusement.

"I thought so," the Lady of Pain said, offering him a smile. "But let us proceed."

She gave some time for further interruptions or protests but none came and so with a smile she continued.

"As you are all aware, we received a proposal by our fellow Outsider, the Black Cat, to admit himself and his grandchildren, the Blights, into our faction. Now, I personally feel that whilst they are associated with the Mistresses of the Witch's House by virtue of family, they are neutral in the affairs of our kind. As such I am open to offering them places among our number."

"As am I," Ainz said. "However, their association with the key members of the Sapphic Circle is concerning."

"Especially to us in the Thirteen." Legion added. "The Circle is certainly no friend of ours."

There were members of understanding and agreement at that.

"I would also like to point out that their alignment is far from Neutral."

"That might be true Ao," the Lady of Pain said carefully. "But I do not know if using the common shorthand of categorisation across Creation is an appropriate metric for our decision here."

"I must agree." Yukiteru said with a nod. "Our League clearly doesn't subscribe to it."

"Yeah, I mean just look at Ainz. By the standards of the alignment metric, he's Lawful Evil." Yuno added even as the Bone Father nodded in agreement.

"I must echo the sentiments." Shu said. "Whilst it might inspire confusion among some, anyone worth our time would know that our faction's name refers more to the politics of our kind than the concept of alignment."

"Agreed." Legion said. "So are there any objections to at least offering them provisional membership into our faction?"

The Lady of Pain and Yuno looked around the table looking for objections, their hostess opened her mouth to speak but in an act of impish mischievousness Yuno preempted the Ruler of Sigil.

"Looks like there's no objections."

"Then the motion is passed." The Lady of Pain said, rolling her eyes at Yuno's little act of mischief before turning to the floating parchment and quill. "Stop recording."

"Now then," she said once the animated writing instruments froze. "With that important matter decided, let's mingle."

"Mother, the meeting has concluded." Legion said via the speakers of the computer that Dom was working on as she looked over the various reports that she needed to review as Sanctuary's Governor.

"Did it go well?" Dom asked as she minimized the tabs containing the reports she was reviewing and maximized the window showing Legion's favoured digital avatar: a blue, disembodied bald head.

"Yes, we are offering provisional membership to the Black Cat and the Blights."

Dom nodded, not particularly concerned with that. The Council had after all already discussed the matter and had agreed to support exactly that outcome. Instead, she focused on the real cause for concern. "And our alliance with the rest of the Neutral League remains strong?"

"Our friendships with the rest of the League continue to be strong." Legion said, correcting her.

"So they will stand with us if we face another attack from hostile Outsiders?"

"I am certain they will." Legion assured her.

Dom nodded, breathing a sigh of relief. The biggest reason, perhaps the only real reason, why the Council had agreed to partake in Outsider politics and even join one of their factions was to ensure they had allies if they ever had to face another conflict with other Outsiders. Thus, that they seemed to have succeeded in securing allies was a massive relief.

We will never stand alone.

"Okay," Dom said, offering her son a smile as she switched gears to ask after their friends. "Then tell me what else happened? Anything interesting?"

Done!

Just a simple wrap up for this setting. Not entirely happy with how it turned out but it's good enough in my opinion so yeah… Anyways, this looks like the end of this setting. I might return to it in the future but likely not.

So till my next project, already in the works, goodbye!