This chapter takes place sometime after Chapter 41 in SFTD.

It was about high time Wiki got around to the next interview, she supposed.

She found herself back in the chair she had been sitting in when she had interviewed Shazara-Ta, patiently waiting. This time, she'd lined up a talk with the King of Archons himself, Rodin. What he needed to prepare, she didn't know, but hey. As long as he was willing to speak to her, she wasn't about to sweat the details too much. She was a Codex, it was in her code to want to know more. It was for a good cause, regardless.

Eventually, the door opened, and in eased Rodin. Wiki perked up as he entered. "Good afternoon, your Highness! Glad to see you at last."

"'At last?'" Rodin laughed, settling down on the couch and lounging as much as his wings would allow. "Have I been taking too long for you, hm?"

"Oh!" Wiki shook her head, clutching her datapad. "No, your Highness, I didn't mean to imply anything of the sort!"

Rodin's chuckle was highly amused. "Oh, I'm running you around the court! I took some time to corroborate info with my own, so that's why I was a little tardy. You're absolutely alright, Wiki."

Wiki breathed a digital sigh of relief. Admittedly she was a little more nervous interviewing the Archon King, based on the things she'd seen out of Archons. Plus, well, he was intimidatingly handsome. Hopefully she'd be able to disabuse some of her more fearful notions. "Ok, good to hear. Alright, King Rodin—do you consent to being recorded?"

"By all means."

Wiki nodded, starting the recording. "Codex Wiki presiding over interview number two. Subject is Rodin of..."

"Ai-lon Rani." The Archon language seemed to involve a lot of verbal enunciation.

"Rodin of Ai-lon Rani. I'll be asking questions as they become relevant, though I'll try to maintain a sense of order. May I ask who you are, Rodin?"

"That's a question with many answers," Rodin mused. "Warrior king of the Archons would be the shortest one."

"Warrior king?" Well that wasn't helping her notions. "—how is succession handled on Ai-lon Rani?"

"Combat!" Rodin grinned. "The King is King because he has fought and earned his rightful place on the throne. He keeps his place by defending himself from challengers. Be they his council, his people, or his rivals."

Ah. The picture wasn't getting any better. "D-defending himself from his own council?"

"Metaphorically, granted." Oh thank the Void. "If he presents a policy his council doesn't like, he has to win them over! Through words or through battle—though there is a fine line to walk there from proving your conviction versus intimidating them into submission." He gave a wistful sigh. "Not that my council would have ever allowed me to do that."

Opinions thoroughly confused, Wiki nodded. "So you had a separate body for decision making?"

"Indeed! My council had their heads right on their shoulders, I will give them that. Izhizha the most, and probably my closest equal in combat in my court, rest his wings." He chuckled, almost sheepishly. "Probably was the reason most of my far-fetched plans and policies even worked. Admittedly, half of the time, I think my council was using me as a good face for policies they couldn't pass otherwise. We Archons like to listen to the most powerful, because they have often done something to earn that power." His smile fell. "Not always, of course, but most of the time. The Commander has earned her power, my fellow rulers have earned their power. The Ethereals did not."

Used as a comfortable front for policies? Wiki half wondered if there was more going on behind the scenes, but Rodin seemed fond of his council. Maybe it wasn't as sinister as she was assuming. "Fellow rulers as in on Ai-lon Rani, or here on the ship?"

"Here on the ship," he clarified. "There was only ever one ruler of Ai-lon Rani. To be ruler was to be the strongest Archon of them all, and I held that title comfortably until the Elders came. Competitions were held every... hm, what would the human equivalent be..." He rubbed his chin. "I suppose every 'year' might be close enough, from what I have seen? Time conversion is not one of my strengths. But yes, every year, a competition was held to see if the current king could be usurped." He grinned once more. "For twenty three cycles, thanks to my sculptors and my unwavering training, I held fast!"

Twenty three years of being challenged for his right to the throne every year and winning? Rodin was far more than he let on. Wiki kicked her feet. "'Sculptors?'"

"Ah, yes. That's the most direct translation into English. More accurately, I suppose you could call them 'mechanics?'" Rodin gestured to his body. "The Archon body and form is malleable, thanks to the unique metals on my home planet. Renewable, and for lack of a better term, alive."

Renewable metals. Wasn't that a hell of a concept. Explained the flexibility of the Archon body despite being seemingly made entirely of metal. "So I take it from both that and the concept of having mechanics for your own body that modifying your own body was common?"

"Oh, more than common! Encouraged, even, and a worthy profession!" Rodin sighed contentedly, leaning on his hand. "What I would not give to be half as great a sculptor as those that work on me. Alas, I am not so technically minded." He grinned sheepishly. "Battlefield tactics, combat, even large aspects of ruling I am versed in. But sculpting always escaped me... if you wanted to know more of the precise details, you would be better off asking someone such as Jason. He is one of my main sculptors. I can very well tell you what it was to us—body modification was a part of life. Aesthetics were everything, and it wasn't uncommon to have someone fit you for your best gildings for an event! Oh, and your yearly wings..." Despite visibly lacking eyes, Wiki got Rodin's expression of nostalgia heavily. "What I wouldn't give to be fitted for those again." His expression dampened. "But such is the nature of the times now."

Speaking of that. They were vaguely on the subject and Wiki supposed she'd need more of the nitty-gritty from those who actively did that work. There was a big question she wanted to ask. "On the subject of the nature of time... what was first contact like?"

Rodin scowled, sitting up straight from his lean. "A slaughter of both sides. My country, admittedly, did not make a habit of looking to the stars. Other provinces did, but without me and my council focusing on it, we were entirely blind to the coming threat. Our first warning was the pods." He bared his teeth. "The gas they emitted rusted us. A phenomenon I haven't been privy to before or since. To feel your own flesh being eaten alive, you own body rebelling against you, hapless to do anything about it!" He slammed his fist down on the arm of the couch, making Wiki jump. "Such underhanded tactics were cowardice of the highest order! We were quick to thwart their plans—we are highly mobile as a species, and quickly migrated to areas and made shelters that the pods could not pierce and were protected from the rust by layers of non-metal materials. The stoneworkers had a field day with such. And thus, they finally deigned to fight us, Archon to invader.

"They underestimated us. Heavily. Their first wave of footsoldiers and infantry we beat back with hardly a sweat. They thought that we were weakened and thinned from the pods—but we came together as Archons, regardless of subdivisions or borders. We had no other choice. So, too, did they..." His upper lip drew back. "And thus, did they send the Sectoids. What none of us knew was that the Archon state towards battle frenzy meant that were were most susceptible to mental incursion. One second your fellow countryman was slaughtering aliens, rage hiked. The next, he plunged his axe into his own wing-bound without a second thought, horror overtaking him as he realized what he'd been made to do."

He sat back, looking to the side and scowling. "We... fell quickly after that. All they had to do was saturate their forces with the psionically adept, and there was nothing we could even do. After such bloodshed, my men killing their fellows... I could take no more. I would not witness this any longer. My council pleaded with me to stay, but I would not. Not when another day would mean more mourning the lives of the kin they had taken, more hollowed shells in secured rooms, unable to take just what they had been forced to do. I would not have it, Wiki. I laid myself at their diseased feet in surrender, and they took me as prisoner, officially conquering my homeworld. There was nothing else to be done."

In the wake of that, Wiki was left silent. Shazara-Ta's story had been sordid, yes, but... he did not go into the type of detail that Rodin did. Plus, Wiki would have never known the Archons were so susceptible to mental intrusion, though it did make sense. She averted her gaze. "... I'm sorry."

Rodin sighed, rubbing at his mouth. "Don't be sorry. I loathe to have someone not at fault attempt to repent for someone else's crimes. Yes, what occurred can never be taken back, and can never be changed. But I will hold my anger close to my chest until the Elders have paid in blood." He looked back to Wiki. "... but. I can tell I have, perhaps, intimidated you. Let us move on from such a sordid subject—surely you've more questions to ask?"

Nodding, Wiki pulled herself back to look at Rodin. "Right... admittedly, there's a question on my mind, Rodin. How do Archons reproduce?"

"Very differently from what I've seen of most organic species, I assure you." Rodin crossed his legs. "There's a process for it—an Archon wishing to sire a child has his spine modified to include a port, which a capsule is hooked up to. Our metal creates byproducts, one of which is a genetic material, I suppose. I'm not quite knowing of the details... regardless. When the capsule is filled, usually over the course of a few days, it is taken and then injected into an inert..." He rubbed his chin. "—I think the term we decided on was an inert cherub chassis? They look much like human babies. After a settling period of a week, the metal and the material bond and animate the chassis, giving birth to a new Archon. As they grow and develop, we eventually fit them for their bishop chassis, then finally the seraph chassis—which is the one you are seeing now."

Aesexual reproduction. But there was a burning question in Wiki's mind. "—is that the only way? I'm just asking because it seems like there would have had to have been a more independent method first."

At that, Rodin shrugged. "It is one of the great mysteries of our species. Our recorded history begins with our forebears chronicling a 'great severance,' but the full details of such have been lost to time. Scholars and philosophers speculate, given what we have now seen of other species, that we are an artificial construct race that... was abandoned? Allowed to live on our own? Rose up against our previous masters?" He shook his head. "To be quite honest, we do not know. All our ancestors had was a planet full of resources, instructions to keep themselves maintained and propagating, and questions that might go unanswered forever." He scoffed. "Perhaps the Empire knows. But if they do, it's unlikely we will ever get that info from them."

"Begs the question if they would ever even bother to write it down," Wiki muttered. She supposed there was no way to know—and no real way to know the real history of the Elders, save secondhand accounts or if they ever found their archives. It was almost a shame. Almost. "Nevertheless. I heard you mention other provinces, or borders?"

"Yes, yes!" Rodin's mood brightened again. "Ai-lon Rani's central landmass was Enrialin. My province was one of the smaller ones near the edges, called Polos. Quite the small territory, the most notable feature was being connected to the vast ocean."

"And you ruled from there?"

Rodin shook his head. "Far from. I hailed from there, but the 'ruling' province was called Ontos. I was an immigrant to that land, and traditionally the majority of kings had come from there." He chuckled. "My province had never bore a king in our history. We were a district of sea trade and oil, and such was it. Suffice to say, my people were worried, and the people of Ontos... well, I will put it as 'condescending.' 'A yustai as king? Surely your talents would be better served elsewhere.'" He rolled his hand. "A yust was a... right, fish that we derived maintenance oils from. Yustai was to us as fisherman is to humans. Or maybe 'whaler' is a more accurate term? Whatever the case, it was grueling, getting anyone else to believe me and see past my heritage. That was my first mistake, trying to discount where I had hailed from. One should be proud of their heritage, if it is noble. And without Polos, where would sculptors be without our chief export of oils, hm? Our history was just as worthy of a king as any other province, and eventually, I came to that realization." Rodin smiled for a second, then his face dropped. "Oh, isn't this supposed to be about my people in general? My deepest apologies, I get into my own history and would forget my chassis if it wasn't connected."

Wiki chuckled. "You're absolutely fine, Rodin. This interview is meant for you as well, and you are an important historical figure as king."

"Ah, regardless, regardless!" Rodin stood up. "Admittedly I have forgotten some of the points I had talked over my fellows about. Could we cut this interview here? I would rather get my fellow countrymen in here to provide accurate details than keep the rights of this interview to myself."

Fair enough by Wiki. "If you insist. This is Codex Wiki, closing interview #2."

As she stopped the recording, Rodin walked up and crouched down, planting a hand on her shoulder. "—thank you for this, Wiki. It brings me great joy to know our history will be preserved, even through the Elders displacing us."

Wiki patted his hand. "It's my pleasure. I'll let you have the rest of the day as I file this and transcribe it." Rodin smiled, leaving the room.

Preservation was key, and she was keen to learn more.