Heartlands Vault Aleph-60
West Undercrofts
Conference Room Ancestor 10
22nd Evening Star 4E29

Present: Field-Marshall Ildric Ostarand (IGS advisor, Legion 92nd, praefect-colonel, retired), Titus Alorius (Consecrated Psychopomp), Legionaries Fendl Taurp and Horlen Veenthender, Esteemed Master Theyn-wa-Dhien (Cult of the Ancestor-Moth, invisible)

+++ Alorius vetting process, 25th Crossing +++

+++ excerpt +++

O: The Voice of the Emperor. Does it feel any different?
A: You mean do my powers sing exultant at the reign of Titus Mede? They are no different than they were during the Interregnum. My talents still draw from the well of the vanished Septims, in some way I will not question. It feels like we will ever be under their great shadow. They were true Emp--
O: If you say true Emperors I will have you killed where you stand.
A (pause): Just so.
O: I will not countenance the implication that Mede's rule is anything but divine.
A: It won't happen again. Let us start over.
O (pause): Travel in the Blanket is treacherous. Changewinds hide paths that should be known to us, and move roads from where they are marked on our maps. Indeed, those very same maps sometimes join in on the trickery, as if collaborating with foreign spirits.
A: I see.
O: In the past, Consecrated Psychopomps helped mitigate these hazards. They reminded the land that it was imperial earth. They spoke with the Voice of the Emperor and the paths stayed clear.
A: You want me to shout at dirt.
O: At regular intervals.
A: "Reminded the land." As I understand it, the land under the Blanket is not really Morrowind.
O: It is a kind of Morrowind.
A: And the Voice of the Emperor reminds it to behave itself.
O: Not always and never enough. But Crossings get farther than they would without it.
A (pause): I have to assume that these previous Psychopomps died or I wouldn't be here. That their Voices gave out at some point. Or the paths and the roads and the maps tired of being chastised and fought back.
O: Most often it was just the wildlife.
A: You're selling this well, Colonel.
O: I'm selling nothing. You're a servant of the Throne. I trust that your loyalty will do the right thing.
A (long pause): When do we leave?

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