Fiction Purpose (April-May 2023 Story Competition Entry)

[Y'ttar Scaletail]

Purpose


The moons gazed down over the Temple City, the lighter moon in dominance bathed the city in its white glow. The night was humid, filled with the croaks of night birds and the buzzing and clicks of Lustria’s many nocturnal insects. Atop the main temple pyramid an elderly Skink sat cross-legged. His scaled skin was gnarled and weathered like an ancient twisted tree covered in part by a faded feather cloak inlaid with golden charms and jewels. His staff of office lay silently to his side.

Iluikakonetl’s eyes were closed as he sifted through his memories and braced himself for the visits he was to make with the prisoners as decreed by the Slann, Lord Tamasolli.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

It had been a time of peace for many turnings of the sun. No raids had come from the realm of the Dark Elves to the North, there had been no incursion by the ratfolk in generations, and the wards maintained by the Slann had held strong and so many had forgotten the terror of a daemonic incursion.

In this period the Skinks had worked tirelessly with the Sauri and Kroxigor to repair and maintain areas of the city that time and forgotten war had sought to ruin. The fruit harvests were bountiful and the stars showed good omens for a long time to come.

It was at the height of this era of peace that a strange cohort of Sauri emerged from the spawning pools. They were aggressive and prepared for war, their minds feral and maddened.

At first it was seen as an omen, that war would soon come to the temple city. The other Sauri prepared for imminent battle whilst the priests scryed the stars and consulted the sacred tablets. But no enemy came. The days stretched into weeks, weeks into months, but still peace reigned.

The aggressive spawned Sauri were restless and barely kept under control. Letting them loose in the jungle surrounding the city only served to reduce the local wildlife population, to the effect of even greater peace. What made matters worse was the Sauri had seemed to become more and more aggressive for all their decimation of Lustria’s wildlife.

Finally, something gave and the aggressive spawned Sauri in their maddened frenzy broke the bonds of brotherhood and duty and descended into murdering their kin. Many were slain before the maddened Sauri were killed or subdued.

As Iluikakonetl was about to give the order to slay the mad Sauri the momentarily roused voice of Mage Priest Tamasolli echoed in their minds ordering them to stop and bind the Sauri instead.

For there was purpose for them in the Plan.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Several enchanted gems of great antiquity embedded within carved stone walls bathed the chamber with a dim blue light. Chains of starmetal were pulled taut as the prisoner’s body lurched towards the elderly Skink Priest. Iluikakonetl looked at the Saurus with eyes filled with deep sorrow and regret.

Ignoring the prisoner’s hisses and snarls, he slowly eased himself to the stone floor and sat before the chained Saurus. He was quiet for a long time as if waiting to see if the madness consuming the prisoner would fade.

It did not.

If Iluikakonetl was surprised by this, he gave no sign.

At last he spoke.

“There is purpose for you. The Mage Priest knows it.”

Iluikakonetl’s voice echoed from the chamber walls, repeating the words ‘knows it’ like a mantra.

The Saurus gave no reply and continued to strain at the chains.

“Often, I have wondered how much the Old Ones designed us for war. I do not believe it was their original intention, but a product of necessity...maybe a contingency...”

He closed his eyes and sighed deeply.

“But what use is a thing solely of war when there is peace? Where do you fit in the Plan where there seems to be no purpose or place at this time? Are we to keep you and your surviving spawn brothers in chains until war does come?”

The Saurus snarled, ropy drool dripping down to splatter on the stone floor below.

“Maybe if you kill enough the madness will leave you, that you will no longer be driven to kill and kill and kill.”

The Skink Priest opened his eyes.

“But we both know that will not happen. The lust for death, the lust for bloodshed...it will only grow. Were it not for the Mage Priest’s foresight of the Plan, you would already have been granted the peace of death. No, there is purpose for you and your spawn brothers.”

For the briefest of moments the maddened rage-filled eyes of the Saurus seemed to clear.

Iluikakonetl tilted his head slightly, the fins of his head crest catching the glow of the light giving gems and deepening the shadows across his face.

“You are wondering why I am here.”

The Saurus gave a half snarl that ended with a hissing grunt.

The Skink Priest narrowed his eyes and was quiet for a long moment.

“There are two reasons. The first as decreed by Lord Tamasolli was to gauge how much of you and your brothers were more than just maddened beasts. The second was to let you know, whether you can comprehend it or not, that you are still our kin. If it becomes necessary to grant you death it will be with a heavy heart. Despite the madness afflicting you, despite the blood of our kin you have shed, despite the sorrow and shame you bring to our hearts...you are still our brother.”

The Saurus was oddly quiet as Iluikakonetl rose to his feet and left the chamber. Whether the elderly priest acknowledged this change as he left, he gave no indication.

In the dim glow of the chamber the prisoner sat alone with his madness and his thoughts. Sometime later a pair of Skinks would appear and thrust a piece of meat on a long pole for him to consume. He would snarl and pull at the chains and they would quail and hurry away once their duties were complete.

The Saurus looked up to where the Skink Priest had departed. For the moment the bloodlust and the anger drained from him. He tried to speak, tongue and jaw trying to make sound.

Alone in his prison he managed to speak a single word.

“...Brother...”

 

[Y'ttar Scaletail]

I was not happy with this piece. I wracked my brains to try and get something written before the end of the extended deadline and happened on the idea of what is the use of something of war when there is peace? It's easy to class Lizardmen (especially Sauri and Kroxigors) as merely tools...except they are still living beings who have the capacity for emotion and more than just their spawned duty. I twisted it further by making the bloodlust something akin to an uncontrollable addiction. The Sauri are prisoners to their spawned intention, they probably don't want to kill their kin but their minds and beings have been warped to only live to kill. Is there purpose for them? Maybe? If the Old Ones still control the spawnings then yes...but do they still? Aren't most/all dead? Would it be kinder to view them as a mistake and grant them the peace of death? Or is there purpose unseen?

I will admit, I leant on Castiglione for the main rub of a thing of war in a time of peace as well as taking inspiration from Joel Haver's animation series on playing an rpg, which led to a spin off where a boss character runs a clarity clinic to rehabilitate monsters/villains (as a health bar does not show who is an enemy but who is an enemy to themselves) and struggles with what is effectively an end game boss brother of himself. Who at the end is able to break through very briefly to address him as 'brother' before devolving back into rage.

'Brother' is a powerful word, whether it is used by a Liquid Snake, a suit of possessed armour, a Dathomirian Sith, or whatever.

Story Four: Morrig Crowcaller (Knight-Azyros of the Astral Templars Stormcast, wearing the Peace T-Shirt) and Tox of the Darkened Scale (Saurus Oldblood ‘Assassin’ wearing the War T-Shirt.)

Morrig: “Peace t-shirt? Really? I have a larger kill count than most of the others here...”

Tox: *Growls*

Morrig: “Apart from maybe you I guess.”

Tox: “No...grrrh...thing...as... peace...”

Morrig: “I think that was the first story the Orruk and Skaven covered. But I disagree, there are those that through our actions and sacrifice are able to live lives without fear of death. We, like the unnamed Saurus were made/forged to be weapons to bring peace, even if we will never experience it...nor could possibly enjoy it.”

Tox: “Mm...true...maybe...”

Morrig: “I was touched by the love the priest had for the Saurus, that despite everything he was still their brother. I guess there was an element of addiction to the Saurus’ madness. The wrath within being so controlling that out of aggression turned on his brothers. The ending suggests there might be hope but it might also suggest how much the Saurus is a prisoner of his spawning. There is purpose for him...but not on his own terms.

Tox: “...Like...us...”

Morrig: “Yeah...but that won’t make me stop fighting for Sigmar’s dream.”


Oodles and oodles of description, so very deliciously done as well. *Chef’s Kiss*

This one started alright if a little distant for the first two acts/parts but then that final third act/part came in and wow. It reminds me of a quote in Baldesar Castiglione’s The Book of the Courtier where a gentlemen in a story is asked to dance and refuses as his only business is war, to which the noblewoman retorts:

“Well then,” the lady retorted, “I should think that since you aren’t at war at the moment and you are not engaged in fighting, it would be a good thing if you have yourself well greased and stowed away in a cupboard with all your fighting equipment, so that you avoid getting rustier than you are already.”

The author then knocks it further out of the park with some superb and heart wrenching character writing, showing levels of brotherly love not that often seen with lizardmen. I still feel the opening parts pale a little too much to the ending part, but that just goes to show how well written that part was.

Thank you me. Am now re-reading the Book of the Courtier. I quite agree that the start was a bit meh...description was nice...maybe I am too hard on myself though!

Yet another story with our Lizards living in peace, yet with a desire and drive for war. The struggle of what the arrival of this brutal and more primeval Sauri means makes for a good philosophical topic. Combined with the question of it purpose makes this a really good story (concept-wise). Paired with great thematization and characterization makes this the absolute winner for me. More of these stories, please

Thankies for the kind word-things. It is a bit tropey for me but I do find myself often throwing two characters in a room and watching them with pen and paper.

Story Four, "Purpose": This piece was well polished. All things considered, I care more about story content than editing but this seems like the only piece with solid editing and that is normally a rare problem in these contests.

But this piece had a lot more positive things going for it. It had, in my opinion the cleverest premise in this round of the contest. The piece also captured the dichotomy between man and lizard, between holiness and savagery. This is a useful characterization tool in any story about Lizardmen but in this case it was the foundation of the whole story.

I cannot really poke any holes in this. No complaints. If I really push myself I can make one minor complaint. It sort of violated "show don't tell" with lots of labeling of "being savage" but not a whole lot of examples other than brief second hand accounts though I'm not entirely sure if a first hand visceral account of savagery would derail the tone of the story.

It’s a valid criticism as prior to submitting I did weigh up if I was doing enough to illustrate how blood crazy the Sauri were. I did pad out chunks of the third part with evidence but I’m still not sure it was enough with the more detached first two parts. But I was already on the line for submitting and so pushed it through. I’m surprised it came out so well polished! XD