Emerilia Series Box Set 3

by Michael Chatfield

  Lo'kal

  Jukal

  Scientist, created Emerilia. Awarded the position of the Gray God, maintains Emerilia, its people and Players. Other names: Bob, Bobby McMahnon, The Balancer, Gray God.

  Kino

  Demon

  On the Ruling Council for Devil’s Crater.

  Kol

  Dwarf

  Dwarven Master Smith. Gurren’s grandfather. Resides in Cliff-Hill. Taught Dave how to Smith. Runs his Smithies. Smithing art: Blind Man’s Touch

  Lady of Air

  Goddess

  Embodiment of the affinity Air. Known for causing mischief. Her Champions act as spies and information brokers, tilting the balance of Emerilia.

  Lady of Fire

  Goddess

  Created Dragons, Mages Guild and College. Gave gift of ‘knowledge’ to the people of Emerilia. Mother to Deia, Lover of Oson’Mal and best friend with Bob.

  Other Names: Ignil

  Lady of Light

  Goddess

  Sent Players to kill/capture Dragons to make her own Creatures of Power. Created the race known as Angels. Large rivalry with the Dark Lord.

  Lena

  Demon

  On the Ruling Council of Devil’s Crater. Wife to Vrexu.

  Lovan

  Dwarf

  Mithsia Mountain Warclan leader

  Lox

  Dwarf

  Shield bearer. Was the commander of the War Band sent to guide people to Cliff-Hill. Friend of David Grahslagg. Member of the Stone Raiders.

  Suzy Markell

  Human (IRL)

  High Elf (Emerilia)

  Austin Zane’s secretary and best friend. David Grahslagg’s best friend and assistant with running Cliff Hill Smithy and Factory. Summoning Mage. Steven’s contractor, member of Party Zero and the Stone Raiders.

  Max

  Dwarf

  Shield bearer, member of Dwarven War Band under Lox’s command, sent to guide people to Cliff-Hill. Friend of David Grahslagg.

  Deceased.

  Meda

  Dwarf/Elf

  Aleph Council member. Deals with the food within Aleph cities and facilities

  Melanie

  Human

  Arch Mage Alamos’ Wife.

  Melhoun

  Water snake made by the Water Lord.

  Sealed away.

  Mikal

  Human

  Rogue. Jules and Esa’s party member. Member of the Stone Raiders. Friends with Party Zero.

  Oson'Deia

  Elf/Demi God Halfling

  Elven Ranger and Fire Mage. Daughter of Oson’Mal and Lady Fire of the Affinity Pantheon. Resident of Cliff Hill and member of the Stone Raider’s Guild, Leader of Party Zero.

  Other names: Ouluv'Deia

  Penelope

  Human

  Fellox Guild member.

  Pete

  Human

  Geswald’s secretary.

  Queen Farun

  High Elf

  Queen of Raolor.

  Queen Mendari Selhi

  Human

  Queen of Selhi.

  Quino

  Dwarf

  Dwarven Master Smith, lives in Zolu Mountain. Trained the brothers Endur and Edmur. Smithing Art: Internal cutting.

  Rola

  Dwarf

  Dwarven Master Smith. Smithing Art Puppeteer. Lives in Aldamire Mountain.

  Sato/Communications officer Sato

  Human

  Lives in De’qual system.

  Communications Officer, becomes Vice commander of Deq’ual military forces. Grandfather original settler.

  Emperor Talis

  Human.

  Ruler of the Xeugrera Empire, located in the Ashal Continent.

  Tounk

  Dwarf

  Shield bearer, member of Dwarven War Band under Lox’s command, sent to guide people to Cliff-Hill. Friend of David Grahslagg.

  Deceased.

  Demon Prince Alkao/Alkao Travezar

  Aerial Demon

  Melee fighter. Commander of the Third Demon Horde and leader of Xerzit lands. Oldest of the five remaining Demon Prince’s of Devil’s Crater.

  Dwayne Trebault

  Human

  Melee fighter. Lieutenant in Stone Raiders. Leads and trains the melee fighters in the Stone Raiders.

  Venfik

  Elf

  Lady Air’s advisor.

  Lucy Vernia

  Wood Elf/Human

  Lieutenant in Stone Raiders. Spy master, deals with supporting the Stone Raiders and paperwork.

  Vrexu

  Demon

  One of the seven Demon Princes. General in the Devil’s Crater Army. Married to Lena, the youngest of the five remaining Demon Princes.

  Water Lord

  God

  Embodiment of the Water Affinity. Created the Mer-People and water creatures. Created the Water Serpent Melhoun. Rival to the Lady of Fire.

  Austin Zane

  CEO of Rock Breaker’s Corporation. Engineer specializing in space vehicles. Background in Astro physics. Other names: David Grahslagg

  Wis'Zel

  Wood Elf

  Bard. Works for David Grahslagg, managing his Ceramics factories in Cliff Hill.

  Book 7

  Want a bigger map of Emerilia and the continents? Check out http://theeternalwriter.deviantart.com/

  Character Sheet is located in the back of the book for reference.

  Emerilia

  Time of Change

  Chapter 1: Forward

  Josh looked around the table surrounded by Dwayne, Kim, Suzy, Lucy, Jules, Dave, King Alkao, Aleph Council Leader Hamdir, and Overseer Rendar.

  “Okay, so the first piece of business is what to do with the prisoners we have. Lucy, could you begin?” Josh looked to her.

  “We currently have nearly a hundred and fifty thousand prisoners who are to serve out a sentence for seven years and then pay for their freedom after the fact. We have gone through their contracts and magical bindings with Overseer Rendar and they meet with the mage’s guild and college’s guidelines. We are currently determining proficiency and skills to figure out where they would be best at. We want to extend their services to the people of Devil’s Crater and the Aleph. Spring is fast approaching and Devil’s Crater would be able to clear and farm more land with their assistance. They would be good for different jobs with the Aleph and we will make their information available to you if you would desire to have some of them to fulfill their contracts in your residences,” Lucy said.

  “Devil’s Crater would be very interested in taking on some of their contracts. However, it will take us some time to build the correct facilities for them to live in.” Alkao tried not to seem too excited by the prospect.

  The Devil’s Crater population had been cut nearly in half by the fight with the Demon Horde. They were now armed, armored, and better trained than ever before, but they had more people in the DCA than they did working in Unity or the different sectors of their crater.

  Having laborers and people who would be willing to work the jobs that Demons had been told were below them for years would be a great help.

  “I will have to bring this up to the council. As you know, we are pretty insular. Having people who fought our forces in our cities is sure to rub some people the wrong way,” Hamdir said.

  Josh nodded, expecting as much. The Aleph might be looking to make allies and get to know other people and races, but they were very careful about who they let into their facilities and cities.

  “Dave, how are we looking?” Josh asked.

  Dave made to speak, but yawned instead. “Sorry, uh, okay, so, we’ve been carving out homes and places all across Terra. In the week since the fight against Esamael’s forces, I think all of our allies have asked for a place in Terra. We’ve got most of their embassies up. The trading district is nearly complete and the industrial sector is coming online. The refinery is at full capacity and I have plans to add another power plant in the
city for redundancy. The first green tower is complete and three others have been positioned and are being fed power now. They should be complete in a week or two.”

  “So, when can we start bringing more people in here?” Josh asked.

  “We can start moving them in now if you want. Shard?” Dave seemed to ask the air.

  A Dwarf and Elf Halfling appeared in the middle of the table.

  “Dave?” Shard asked.

  “How are we looking with our systems?” Dave asked.

  “I am eighty percent installed within Terra and everything looks to be going according to plan. I was able to speed up refinery times, as well as tweak power generation and better coordinate the underground traffic system.”

  “I thought we were going to build our own AI?” Dwayne said.

  “I thought about it, but instead I gave a binding contract to Shard. Even though he’ll be running things here, he won’t have complete access. The contract also creates some compartmentalization that will prevent him from sharing what he learns with those outside of the guild leadership,” Dave said.

  “It is also very difficult to make an AI,” Hamdir said.

  “Yeah, I went through the Aleph’s information on it.” Dave shook his head with a pained expression on his face.

  “We talked about it before and I okayed it,” Josh said. “You were still dealing with the prisoners.”

  Dwayne nodded in understanding.

  “Okay, Lucy, Suzy, how is the network coming along?” Josh asked.

  “We have been working with the Aleph. The onos and terminals are ready to go,” Suzy said.

  “Ono?” Josh asked.

  “One-directional teleport pads. We didn’t want to call them teleport pads because they’re very different, so we’re calling them onos and, before you ask about the terminals,” Suzy held up a hand to stop him, “we figure that we can do the same thing that we had with Devil’s Crater in the beginning. Hamdir can probably better explain it.”

  “Thank you, Suzy. As you know, the terminals are how we do most of our transactions, except more sensitive materials or larger contracts. With the terminals, it means that people needing just simple goods won’t need to go to Terra all the time. We will be providing the upfront cost as well as a fee for sending goods through your ono network. We will also be able to provide the services of a bank, holding onto people’s items for a fee or holding their wealth for withdrawal or use. However, our method of wealth will not be gold and silver, but rather soul gems. For us, we’ve got power plants and stations, but we’re using all of that power for various things. People who can produce more Mana will become richer. This means that there will be more power available and people will train to increase their Willpower and Intelligence to become stronger, making Emerilia and the people in it stronger. The terminals will also work as control panels for the onos. If someone wants to come through the ono, they pay the fee with gold, or soul gems, or other items. The terminals will notify Shard that a ticket to Terra has been purchased, and he in turn will notify the teleport pad’s controllers. As people travel between the two locations, they will be checked to make sure the trip was paid for and then be teleported to Terra,” Hamdir finished.

  “Well, that certainly fixes a lot of issues we’ve been having,” Dave said.

  “Exactly. In major locations, we will have Florence’s people and the terminals. In remote locations, we will have just the onos and terminals,” Suzy said.

  “How are we looking for time scale on everything?” Josh asked.

  “Right now, our production capacity is of five new ones a day. The most time-consuming aspect of this whole thing is going to be actually going from town to town and placing drop pads.” Lucy looked to Suzy, who nodded.

  “Okay, let’s get that started as soon as possible,” Josh said.

  Dave raised his hand.

  Josh pointed to him.

  “In the beginning, we’re not going to be able to have that many teleport pads here to take in people, so it will be easy to manage the people coming in.” Dave gave Josh a look.

  Josh hid his wince. It was a good cover while there were other people around, but the truth was that even with all of the resources, they were going to get from Selhi and Gudalo, the costs of making Terra and the ono network wasn’t small and teleport pads still cost nearly ten times the price of one ono.

  The treasury was looking pretty scarce. Getting the various allies in their embassies and traders renting their spaces and selling their wares would bring in some much-needed wealth.

  With the Aleph using soul gems as currency, we can build up some wealth there with the power station facility and the secondary power plant. Also, food always sells, so the greenhouses will be good. Having the free labor from the prisoners will allow us to build our reserves a bit more, Josh thought.

  Rendar raised his hand.

  “Please speak, Overseer Rendar,” Josh said.

  “Thank you for letting me sit in on this meeting and overlook the transition of the prisoners to their new accommodations. I have been greatly impressed with the way in which you have handled everything,” Rendar said.

  A pop-up blurred in Josh’s vision.

  Your standing with the Mage’s Guild has increased from Neutral to Friendly.

  Your standing with the Mage’s Guild has increased from Friendly to Ally.

  “Thank you for your kind words.” Josh bowed his head slightly.

  “I was wondering what you mean by this ono network? My curiosity has been piqued and I’m always interested in learning more.” Rendar smiled.

  “Well, I guess the rest of the world is going to know soon enough. The Aleph have been making simplified versions of the teleport pads, which we are going to be placing in every city, town, and point of interest across Emerilia. Terra will act as a hub to move people and goods across Emerilia at great speeds,” Josh said.

  “That is quite the undertaking,” Rendar said. “Will it not disrupt trade?”

  “It will disrupt some trade. Big items such as crops will still be cheaper to move by wagon and ship. We are also going to be needing a lot of people from those shipping and merchant companies to be assisting in moving items around Terra,” Josh said.

  “It seems that Emerilia will become a much smaller place.” Rendar had a thoughtful look on his face.

  “The mage’s guild and college are both welcome to make an application to rent residences here. It will probably be easier for the office of the Overseers to be in a location that they can move across Emerilia in a matter of seconds,” Josh said.

  Rendar nodded. “That would indeed be beneficial. I know that there are many contracts with the mage’s guild that I could pass along.”

  “I know that someone would be interested and we are going to have a number of Players and adventurers coming through here,” Josh said.

  Rendar nodded his head.

  He’s seen the possibilities. I have no doubt he’ll pass the information up higher. Josh hid his smile.

  There were no other large discussions for the meeting, so it quickly ended.

  Some guild members went off to deal with their different jobs, or talk to various people. Josh went to his office where he found Cassie waiting for him, looking out over Terra.

  “Hey.” He closed the door behind him.

  “Hey, Josh!” Cassie looked away from the window.

  “Enjoying the view?” He gestured at the city beyond.

  “It’s nice, but we might need to slow down on increasing the size of the place. I know you’ve got plenty of plans, but with everything, we’re very nearly scraping the bottom of the guild’s coffers,” Cassie said with a severe look.

  “Lucy tells me it enough for five people. I don’t need you to tell me as well,” Josh complained, moving to his seat and slumping into it.

  Cassie sat on his lap. He made to kiss her, but a finger stopped him.

  “Business first,” Cassie said.

  “Okay, business fi
rst.”

  “You have Suzy and Dave running the business and development side of things for the most part. It’s mostly a cover for Lucy, who is using it to manage her spy networks. They might be great fighters, but how do they know how to run all this? It’s getting way too complicated.”

  Josh snorted. “Trust me, Dave and Suzy aren’t even going full out. Dave’s ideas might be a bit expensive up front. He was the one who talked me into making Terra what it is and not just some two apartment blocks. Though, look at his growing towers, the power station he and Malsour made, or the refinery. We’re generating more power than ever, power that the Aleph just said that they would accept in lieu of gold and silver. The gardens are coming up on their first harvest. We’ve already got buyers interested in Devil’s Crater. Cliff-Hill Industries, from their smithies to their factories, will be putting up places in Terra to sell products and services. Florence has the Exdar’s trading halls ready to go. The last piece is the onos and terminals. Once those are in place, then we can wait and build up our reserves.”

  “Why do you have so much faith in Dave and Suzy?” Cassie asked.

  “They’re good friends of mine and I know that on Earth, they’re really good with managing these kinds of things.”

  “You’re not going to tell me who they are on Earth, are you?” Cassie asked.

  “They left that life alone to become who they are now. They’re E-heads to the core.”

  “Well, ready to add another E-head to that roster?” Cassie smiled.

  “Are you sure?” Josh asked, holding back his excitement. Becoming an E-head was a big deal.

  “I’m bored of all the publicity, the damned meetings, wearing skimpy clothes to get more followers. This is where you are and I prefer to be here with you.” Cassie blushed and looked at her hands.

  Josh laughed, hugging Cassie to him, and kissed her. She didn’t stop him this time.

  ***

  Dave walked into the training area. It had some of the strongest magical coding written into the walls as some of the most powerful Players on Emerilia duked it out here.

  It didn’t take him long to find Deia and Anna fighting it out. They were using swords and magic. With their Abscondita armor, a full-powered blast could take out half of their power reserves. With a charge of two million, their strength was becoming scary.