[A Day in the Life of Aelryinth] - 0400 hours

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            My assistants for tonight’s Rings were already present. The Baron of Bay City, Nausican, was one of them, as two of the Forsaken Bloodguard were friends of his.

Ringsong Pavilion had earned its popular name for the dual purpose of my nightly Meditation and my daily Oathring-making.

            Eddie, properly Edmund Smokingtoad, my batman and general bodyguard, materialized out of my shadow between one step and the next, glancing over the other sixteen people present. All of them were already in position; only three of the Warlocks present were new, pulling a shift of Ring-powering here for the first time. It was a boring, necessary, yet highly respected duty, as EVERYONE knew how important the Rings were.

Gaining an Oathring was a sign that you were acknowledged as important enough to need one, and had done enough to deserve one. Helping others get one was a show of respect, duty, and loyalty that never grew old.

            The Ritual had long reached a Ceremonial level. Eddie strode to the side cabinet that held the Cones on which the Rings would be placed, sitting on with their own minor Disk. He drew out the Disk and walked around the circle, placing the Cones before the eight Powered who would be holding the concentration of the Infusing and collecting the proffered Rings that were going to be Infused for my inspection.

            His quiet tread ended at me, placing the crystalline, gold-laced Central Cone into the middle of the Master Infusing Pattern in front of where I was squatting calmly, hands dangling there, waiting.

            He had already inserted the goldweight needed for the initial Infusing in the base of the Cones as part of his daily duties shortly before this. I brought up the Assays, and gave each Ring a perfunctory once-over to determine that they were suitable and hadn’t acquired any flaws since I had Fabricated VII+1 them through to QL 40, some of them months prior to today. 

            The recipients had a wide variety of basic rings they could choose from for their own Oathring, and so there were many styles represented, from ferociously plain and simple to an ornate mountain design with stone chips from the peak represented arranged in it, made of silver taken from that mountain’s stones.

            By tradition, the Ring I would make would go to a Forsaken or Primos who could not help in the making of one.

            Most of the crafted rings were at QL 30 before they made it to me, boosted by Forsaken crafters if at all possible to increase their value and allow a rapid initial increase in the supplementary powers of the Oathring.

            QL 40 ensured they could be developed to any non-Eternal Level the recipient could reach, all they had to do was get there.

            I flicked my hand, and the eight Rings flashed out and hovered over the Cones in front of those who had given them, spinning as the Ring going to Bloodguard Sergeant Cogugu left my hand and floated over above the Master Cone.

            “Warlocks,” Eddie said quietly.

            I grasped my Staff Mortus Dius, and my Heavenbound Wrath began to pour into the Formation. It was joined by five Landbound, a Firebound, a Citybound, and a Lakebound. The different eldritch energies poured into the Formation, and I Hummed a specific series of Notes in the Sublime Chord, Notes picked up by Mortus Dius as Wrath poured down off it.

            Competing eldritch energies smoothed out and harmonized effortlessly. They began to swirl through the Formation, prepared to convey and carry the energies I was going to be using.

            The rings settled down over the Cones, and now the Powered closed their eyes to concentrate, drawing magical energy down into the Cones. Runework glowed on the Cones, starting at their tips, advancing quickly down past the ring and into the base, where five goldweight-equivalent in Craftcoins awaited. Then it touched the Formation below, promptly changing from arcane blue-white to pulses and flows of multiple energies.

            I held out my hand and touched that Ring with one finger, absently tying off the Wrath pulsing with a thoughtstream, and sent my Sight into the ring’s structure.

            My visualization of it exploded right down to the cellular level and below. There were very few flaws in the crystalline arrangement, most of the ring’s atomic and crystalline patterns already arranged in sublime and profound configurations that would only enhance what I was doing.

            That was what being QL 40 meant!

            I was ready to begin.

            “Truth.”

            The three newcomers faltered and almost broke their Wrath pumping. My use of the Word of Creation was not new, but it was still hard for many people to hear, as its effect of cutting through all lies and deception, especially self-deception, rang through one’s very heart and soul.

            But it was a Word of Creation, and so ideal for being used in the creation of magical items!

            “Hope.”

            The pumping of Wrath instantly brightened as Hope swelled in everyone. Truth was a sword, but Hope, Hope was a furnace!

            “Valor.” Everything steadied as the resolve to finish this came over everyone, and sacred, holy power danced over us in the Sublime Chord, filling the air with electrum motes.

            I began to work, the first threads of magic distilling out of me. They began to wind themselves through the structure of the ring, while the motes in the air began to gather into a great reflection of what I was doing, humming and revolving above me, showing everyone where we were and what I was doing.

            As the ring on the Master Cone lit up softly, so did the other eight rings on theirs, more Holos spinning into existence around the first one above us, reflecting what I was doing to mine onto them.

            Nine Rings a day, every day. Six to ten extra hours a day for everyone who had one for the rest of their lives, the power of being Sustained. Tireless Energizer bunnies off to save the world with more time and effort to put in than others possessed.

            But this was an Oathring, given to members of The Steel, not just a generic Ring. I could spin out the basic pattern of a Sustaining Ring in less than twenty minutes. That was no challenge, and a waste of everyone’s time if I only did that.

            No, an Oathring was about gaining a Ring that could eventually do things that you could not do for yourself. Furthermore, as an Oathring, you were allowed to fill it with some of the Karma you earned with your loyalty and devotion to the Allegiance, and you didn’t need goldweight to power it up.

            Naming Karma! Serve and be faithful, and you could power up your Oathring to great heights!

            The first effect was Sustenance, always. It was the most minor, and could even be gained from other sources, but it was by far the most important of all of them! 

            The second was always Sacred Protection, able to advance to +III. +3 to Saves and Armor Class using a Sacred Bonus was a broad and wise investment, especially to Forsaken.

            The third was Ring Teleport, a privilege that allowed the Ring wearer to Teleport to my side once a week. I could also unerringly Teleport to the side of anyone wearing an Oathring of mine if I so desired.

            The fourth was Insignia Item, a magical attunement that allowed the Ring to qualify as an Insignia for certain mass-area spells that affected those wearing such targeted items. Insignia Cures could fix up an entire army wearing the proper Insignia if they were within range, for example.

            The fifth was Ringspeaker, an alternative communication channel similar to the Markspace, but only between Ring-wearers, riding on the Allegiance magic that Forsaken and Primos couldn’t normally access.

            Other effects were elective, but the next most common was Death Ward. The ability to avoid, ignore, and withstand attacks of negative energy was a must-have for anyone who had dealt with undead or necroic attacks of any kind. No one wanted to be subjected to Energy or Ability Drains, life-leeching attacks, or be turned into an undead. Death Ward ensured that was not going to happen.

            Some, such as Heavenbound Warlocks certain they would make it to Nine, preferred Elemental Resistances, or stacking Arcane Protections instead.

            The last power took the longest to access, defined as the Major Power of the Ring. Things like Wizardry, Regeneration, Elemental Command, Spell Storing, and Telekinesis were all possibilities for the Ring, effects that took a great deal of time, effort, and loyalty to activate, and would be major sources of strength for those wearing them when they culminated.

            These nine people had elected for Regeneration, which would give them innate Fast Healing, and even be able to bring them back from death as long as the Ring remained on their finger. It would also cut down the need for out-of-combat Healing down to next to nothing.

            The version I used would start at one Health/hour, and as they invested more, improve to /50 minutes, 40, 30, 20, 10, 5, 3, and top out at 1 Health per minute.

            It was a power for people who expected to be in combat a lot, get hurt a lot, and wanted to be able to survive it, without relying on a Powered Healer being nearby.

            Many Powered loved Elemental Command, especially Air Elemental Command. Intelligent people went for Telekinesis for its versatility. Non-Casters loved having emergency spells to call on with Spell Storing.

            I began to draw the required Runes, Seals, Glyphs, and Formations inside the Ring, designed to tap the Ring Chakra points, the unique dual points that together formed the strongest and most versatile centers of the power on the body.

            It took a Twelve to learn Ring-making for a reason. Rings could literally do almost anything if you Enchanted them for it, where many other Chakra points were intrinsically adapted to specific types of effects.

            Sustained people were the biggest drivers of my Allegiance, able to get work done and still have time to improve themselves, a combination that non-Sustained found very difficult to match. Thus, they lifted themselves as they lifted everyone else, a virtuous cycle that was of immeasurable help.

            Six to ten hours more a day, every day, for the rest of their lives. Everything else was gravy.

            Nine Rings a day, every day, instead of anything else I might make. The sacrifice had been returned to me thousands of times over, and just continued to accumulate.

------------

Dawn…

            The Ringsong Pavilion had a very specific Enchantment that I’d arranged with the help of Mulcaster and Archbishop Clarence.

            It had a mild Tempus Fugit spell that, regardless of when the actual dawn was, the Ringmaking that took place here finished exactly five minutes before the sun rose, while seeming like exactly four hours to those involved.

            I tied off the last of the interlinked Runes, stepped back mentally to survey my work, and nodded.

            All of the Rings flared with the light of completion, rising up off of the Cones as the last of the goldweight that powered them up was consumed, and their Sustaining Enchantment came online.

            The Powered fixated on a DC 30 Concentration check for four hours straight all slumped as they finally dropped their mental focus. The Warlocks who’d been pumping Wrath for four hours to replicate the effects of one Ring over to all of them slumped down, sweating and breathing hard as I snapped off my own Wrath, finally able to release the flow.

            “Please join me for the Salute to Aru, and bring these Rings to the light of a new day,” I said formally, rising to my feet from the squat I’d also held for four hours, ki circulation meaning my knees didn’t even creak as I stood up.

            Eager hands plucked the Rings off the Cones they were hovering above, and Powered and Warlocks rose tiredly.

            Eddie calmly brought out the devoted Disk and began to collect the Cones one by one, starting with the Master Cone and going in the reverse of the Pattern he’d handed them out in.

            When he was done and the Cones were put away, he joined us out on the lawn, where my family was waiting, sleepy kids and all, and my closest neighboring Vassals and their families had come to join us.

            The moment was unspoken, but we all held up our hands with the Rings at the same time, and the words came out together, some loud, some softly. Everyone felt the soft and gentle magic of the Salute rising as the last of the night vanished, an old day was done, and Natural Renewal was upon us.

“Dreams of the wind at dawn, 

A new day has begun.

Light chases back the dark, and the future lays before us.

Will it be something bright and new?

Walk the road before you now, and leave the night behind,

Today is a new day, and the light comes to warm you all.

Let go the shadows, and behold the sun! 

The Light has come, as ever it must.

Behold the new day!”

            Nine new Rings glowed with rosy golden radiance as The Sun of Suns, the Master of Creation Magic, welcomed the new Oathrings into the dawn of a new day.

---

            Breakfast was handled in the Ringsong Pavilion as well, all the families involved bringing something and joining in to feed the sixteen Powered and Warlocks who’d helped make the Rings, getting them started on a new and brighter day.

            I gathered up the Rings from everyone. All of the individuals involved were deployed in Alaska with the Bloodguard right now. Everyone watched as I drew the Teleport Item Circle on the tabletop and sent them off north to Colonel Bane there, to be dispersed to those who had earned them.

            Tomorrow would be a selection of new Powered reaching Seven with Crafting Ranks we needed, particularly the four Smithing trades, Leatherworking, Bowyer, and Alchemy Ranks. There was always round-the-clock use for such things. Tattoo Artist and Gemcutter/Jewelry Makers were also in high demand, as well as Gearsmiths/Machinists, Weavers of all kinds, and the like.

            Bonecarving was fiercely held as a Trade Skill among the Bloodguard. Most of the new Baneskulls and Tokens came from Briggs’ and Sama’s forces, and it was a point of pride for the Bloodguard to carve up the bone and ivory of the enemy into things that helped us kill them.

            If we needed people with specific skills, well, that was what the next stop of the day was for.

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