(no subject)

[schrodingerscockroach]

Who: OPEN
When: Day 41, Afternoon
Where: Wherever

[Tis a mingle. Go henceforth and socialize.]

Comments

Re: [bond]

[schrodingerscockroach]

That sounds fun. I am pretty curious to see what necromancy actually looks like, I just picture B-movie horror.

[bowtiedbones]

I normally don't do full rituals on fleshed corpses since it gets really grody, but— Oh! Oh, you still haven't met my familiars, have you?

[schrodingerscockroach]

I've only met the one, but you had three, right?

[bowtiedbones]

I have four total, but only three are here. Lori, Isildur, and Isolde!

[schrodingerscockroach]

And I believe it was Isolde that I met already.

[bowtiedbones]

You met my little girl, right? Isolde’s my big girl.

[turns towards the cabinets and claps her hands, calling]

Isolde! Isildur! Wake up, we have a friend for you to meet!

[the two largest skeletons, previously just tidy piles of bones, sit up and step down from their shelves, shaking themselves awake with a great clattering sound. they’re big beasts, something like a bear or bison in their size, but of course they’re neither— two wings are folded over their shoulders, spikes and ancient bony armor decorate parts of their skeleton, and their heads are heavy and filled with dozens of TEETH]

[schrodingerscockroach]

Right, right, my mistake.

[Watching that happen and....whoa.]

Definitely a lot bigger. [Gonna get closer to admire because also COOL.]

[bowtiedbones]

[comes up beside him, beaming proudly]

That one is Isildur and that one is Isolde. They’re my dragonwolves.

[the two dragons peer at Dusk, Isildur stepping forward to sniff at him while Isolde watches with her neck arched in curiosity. bright sparks of light glitter in their eye sockets, little points of the life animating their frames.]

[schrodingerscockroach]

Kind of thought they'd be more....big dog sized.

[Instead of bison.]

[Hopding out a hand for Isildur to sniff.] Still very cool.

[bowtiedbones]

Nope! These guys were Ice Age predators. Big prey, big dragonwolves.

[despite being a skeleton, there’s a great whuff of warm air when he sniffs]

[schrodingerscockroach]

That old, huh? Did they have fur?

[....that is very freaky.]

[Still gonna pet.]

[bowtiedbones]

They're the oldest of my familiars, and about as old as I can summon. And no fur, just skin and scales.

[Isolde swings her big head over, jostling with Isildur for attention. pet ME pet me also.]

[schrodingerscockroach]

So were they in ice or was there like...not ice places?

[Chuckles and will shift so he can pet them both.]

[bowtiedbones]

They could tolerate winter pretty well, but these specimens are from the west coast. Even at the last glacial maximum when the landmass was 30% ice, California and really most of America was free of the ice sheets.

[schrodingerscockroach]

Aren't the scales kind of poor insulators?

Huh. I always thought everything was just covered with the ice age. [That's because you've been on ice planets, Wash.]

[bowtiedbones]

Sure, but they're dragons, not lizards. Magical creatures can have increased tolerances.

There was a lot of ice and some of the deepest glaciers were over two miles thick, but actually many areas were affected less by the physical presence of ice and more by increased aridity. The cooler temperatures and the drop in sea level did a lot to the weather.

[schrodingerscockroach]

....fair point. So it's magic?

Oh. Huh, I just always imagined it was just ice everywhere.

[bowtiedbones]

Magic and some key changes to metabolism and fat distribution. These guys were very active hunters.

I can draw you a map of the ice distribution if you want it. There were some very interesting changes to the coastline and lake formation that accompanied the glaciers.

[schrodingerscockroach]

....I'd say yes, but I'm also not sure how familiar I am with Earth's geography. I think I mix it up with other planets.

[bowtiedbones]

Well, basically the important thing is that these guys weren't in a glacial area, at least not their hosts.

[schrodingerscockroach]

Their ho-oh, their original lives? Or...past?

Are they the same souls or different?

[bowtiedbones]

[going back over to the deer]

Host means their bones. They're both made of an conglomeration of soul fragments that may or may not include the original residing soul, but regardless they hold no specific memory of any of their past lives except for what's instinctive or held in common between the pieces. Isolde and Isildur are effectively new, independent beings.

[schrodingerscockroach]

[Will give the Familiars one last pet and will follow Eliza back over to the deer.]

Thus why it's better to draw from a pack? So the soul is more cohesive?

[bowtiedbones]

[picking up the red chalk and getting one of the many many white pieces just scattered around her lab to make some quick markings on the deer. dotted "cut here" lines in white and more arcane symbols in red.]

I have some theories that could have played a role in their effectiveness of their bindings and the success I've had with calling them long-distance as ghosts, but when I cast their initial summonings I didn't set a focus for any particular soul or group of souls. I do an open broadband casting that's species-limited, of course, but otherwise will collect from any location or age so long as the power levels and the cooperativity balance out.

[schrodingerscockroach]

[Watching her work and will pick up a knife and sharpen it. Always good to have a sharp knife.]

How long do ghosts even hang around?