Shattered Planes Archives (Seasons 4 & 5)

To coerce people...? Had that woman really meant...

Shaking her head, Mistral picked up the feather gingerly, half-suspecting that it would explode as soon as she did so, and set it on the table. The whole conversation had sent shockwaves through her convictions, and, to top it all off, she wasn't even sure that she had contacted the legitimate ruler of Japae.


Meanwhile, on the Communication's Deck...

"Err, that would involve letting a possible hostile enter into our ship, so... We'll just stick you into the quarantine bay, alright?"

And it was made so.

"Tch..." Mistral muttered, mulling her response over. Diplomacy, maturity, integrity... she reminded herself, thinking carefully. She had only taken power two years ago, and half the empire refused to so much as acknowledge her. In addition, the people... Her people, as thy were starting to become, were warring. Over her.

And here she was, being made an offer to simply capsize and submit. It wasn't selling out her people... It was bringing them peace, prosperity, and unity. It was ending a pointless struggle, and strengthening the empire. It was eliminating the chance that she'd be captured and executed...

It was also taking the coward's way out. Or, at least, it would look like it. Mistral needed more time to think, more time to talk it over with her advisors...

"I'm sorry," she responded after a long, thoughtful silence. "I'm... I'm unable to make an immediate decision. I have my people to consider, and the... I need to..." She thought for a moment for something cool to say. "I am not a dictator, I rule by the leav of my subjects. Er... Even though I'm an empress. So, uh... Can I think about this for a while?"

As she spoke, even she could not fully believe her words. Her voice wavered, tempted by the offer before her.

"We've got an attempted breach in the ship's magical barrier..." one of the techies in the control room called out. "Course of action?"

"Repel it, and don't notify Mistral. No sense in troubling u- Err, her with her involvement. If they want to come aboard, they can ask politely. Or stowaway when and if we land, but... anyway."

((No, I'm not trying to exclude you, but... Remember, if Mistral is anywhere nearby, the Imperials will be ultra-paranoid.))

"S-Sweet Sanae..." one of the docking bay controllers muttered, as these... these green... mutant... things started walking... No... crawling out of their ship. Disgusting... Sickening...

"EVIL!" He shouted, instantly deciding that, yes, these things must be evil incarnate. They were frickin' green, of all colors. Green was the color of evil.

"Evil, sir?" his coworker asked him, mildly confused. "Ugly as sin, maybe, but..."

"Reject them! Snipe them! Get rid of them!"

"Erk... Okay... But shouldn't we at least, you know... ask them who they-"

"They're green. GREEN. GREEEEEEEEEEEEEEN."

"Right, I'll just... yeah."

Inside the docking bay, a speaker crackled to life. "Identify yourselves, green and potentially-evil new arrivals."

"Err..." the Xanacorian communications operators sort of sat and stared at the screen as the message was received. Immigrants? Like, humans from other planets? That was... alright, they guessed. After all, what was the worst that could happen?

"Uhh, yeah..." one of them radioed back, not even bothering to notify his superiors of something as minor as a few more people entering the planet. "Sure, we can take on immigrants. Just proceed to a docking bay, and we'll process you."

((Oooooh, this'll be interesting.))

"Japae... So, this is where I used to live, several lifetimes ago...?" In the living quarters of an Inaba-class cruiser, the leader of the Imperial Domain of Mistral was sprawled out on a couch, staring at a screen which displayed the destination. "Doesn't really look like much. Even if it is just a copy, Eien puts that thing to shame."

The ship hovered in what was, technically, Japaen airspace, while it still remained several miles away from the surface itself. They had not notified the Japaens of their arrival, under Mistral's specific orders, for the sake of making a 'more dramatic entrance.' Secretly, the only reason her orders were followed without question was because someone as endangered as Mistral shouldn't be broadcasting her travel plans for all to hear anyway.

"Err, Your Highness," one of the ship's officers began hesitantly, catching Mistral's attention. "We are within communication range. If you wish to send a message..."

"Understood. All communications systems online, at once!" She didn't need to give the order to fire up the systems, not really. It was done anyway, as a matter of procedure. However, it was just cooler that way. "Request a link between this ship and the Japaen... whatever takes transmissions. Relay the following message..."

She poked the screen a few times, cycling through several menus, before finally reaching the program she was looking for. A large, red "RECORD" button appeared in the middle of the screen. Checking her appearance in the reflection, Mistral gestured for the officer to leave, put on her best smile, and poked the button.

"Greetings, people of Japae!" she announced, making sure that she was wearing what she assumed to be her most winning smile, "My name is Mistral, newly crowned emperor of the Imperial Domain of Mistral, also known as the Xanacorian Empire." She paused, and cleared her throat. "As you are no doubt aware, your empire was granted to me in a past life, by your leader. Therefore, I have come to remind you all that you are all, in fact, under my jurisdiction. This is of relevance because, as you have no doubt heard, my- No, our empire is currently involved in civil war against a faction of pretenders that seek to dethrone and murder me, out of twisted fanaticism to my past incarnations. Also, I have a vagina, and that angers them." She tapped the "PAUSE" button quickly, before throwing her hand over her mouth to stifle her giggling. The last portion had simply been a thought that had accidentally slipped out.

"Err, anyway..." she continued, resuming the recording, "I trust that, under these circumstances, you will understand the need for your assistance in this matter. I eagerly await an affirmation of your loyalty. Good day."

She ended the recording, and, once she was sure it was through, sighed heavily. The speech, minus the little remark she had slipped in, had been mostly rehearsed. She was, of course, well aware of the fact that Japae most likely regarded her as illegitimate as well, and, in any case, most likely held no loyalty to her empire. The best she was hoping for was a wink in her general direction, and a flowery promise of nonaggression.

But still, she had never intended to ask for aid, not really. The entire point of their visit here, of the surprise message and demand for assistance, was to create links, build bridges. Legitimate is as legitimate does, after all, and there was no better way to prove herself as the rightful ruler than to quickly gain the acknowledgement, regardless of what form it took, of foreign powers.

"Wonderful..." she muttered, running her fingers through her hair. "Even away from the capital, it's still politics."

Myon

That one was an impersonation job, apparently.

Heh. Forge...

Anyway. Have ASCII art.

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Waki Miko Re~eimu...

Miles below, the communications operatives received the message, and passed it along to their superiors. In a few short minutes, they were sent back a neatly written note, reading:

Anyone too arrogant to make an appointment with Her Highness is either another windbag waste of our time, or a badly disguised assassination attempt. Shoot the bastards down.
-Master Eudy

A few moments later, the communications equipment buzzed to life, as the following transmission was sent:
"This is Mistralian Relay four-five-seven-two. You have been marked as an unidentified entity, and, as such, have been treated as a potential threat. Attempting to maneuver closer to the surface will result in us opening fire. We suggest that you make an appointment through official channels, and we wish you the best. Good day."

All was well in the streets of Gyokoru... Or, at least, as close to "well" as a city could get when it was embroiled in an empire-wide civil war. As the citizens went about their daily lives, carefully avoiding the gaze of the military, and ostensibly showing disgust and horror at the various propaganda posters depicting, almost absurdly, slander against a girl of about fourteen, dressed in white robes.

One little girl, wearing the robes of just another student of the magical arts. In a crowd, she would be almost impossible to find. And yet... Here she was, in caricature form, appearing on each and every street corner of the New Xanacorian Empire.

One little girl. And yet, everybody knew of her, and, as was their civic duty, hated her. After all, it was through her arrogance that the empire was now in civil war. It was through her idiocy, foolishness, greed, gluttony, immorality, lack of punctuality, and whatever other crime they could pin on her, that the entire universe was now doomed to failure, because of the collapse of the Xanacorian Empire.

The might of half of one of the old empires. Ancient magical power. An arm that could reach across galaxies... And yet a single little girl was outside of their grasp. It was maddening.

The streets of Gyokoru were dreary, carefully watched, and filled with propaganda posters. All was well.

All was well. Several heads turned as three figures darted out into the streets, the slowest one being instantly tackled by one of the ever-vigilant troopers. The remaining two, however, did not appear to notice the fall of their comrade.

Stopping in the middle of the streets, the taller of the two, the one that appeared to be the leader, opened up his jacket, revealing an assortment of devices beneath, all ominously blinking. Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes, he let out a final scream of, "GLORY TO THE IMPERIAL DOMAIN OF MISTRAL!" His partner did the same, and, for a moment, time in that particular portion of the city ground to a halt, as a small click echoed through the air.

The very next instant, there were no longer two figures standing in the streets of Gyokoru. There was only one very large crater, filled with ash, rubble, and corpses, and surrounded by a ring of charred shops and cowering bystanders. It had been, of course, yet another terrorist attack by the Mistral fanatics in the city. Or, perhaps, it had been an elaborate suicide attempt by several teens driven to the breaking point by the stress of living under the current situation. Perhaps the pair had simply been insane. All three were likely possible, with ample precedent.

Either way, any citizen not caught in the blast radius merely gave the wreckage a cursory glance, mentally recalculated their plans for the day, and went about their way.

After so long, such events were no longer news, no longer anything to bat an eye at. They simply served as an occasional reminder that the country was at war.

Age:
14
 Gender:
SHE'S A DUDE
Race:
Human
Place Of Birth:
Eien
OCCUPATION:
Hail to the Queen, baby!
 Personality:
With the authority of an emperor and the personality of a child, Lilith's moods play a large part in her decision making, which play a large part in the fate of the empire. Sheltered from birth, she remains largely unaware of the impact her words and actions have on the millions under her rule, which has made her a figure that is, to some, a god. To others, she is a heartless demon who sees the world as her plaything. The truth lies somewhere in the middle.

In person, her personality is best described as "acting her age, give or take three years." While she occasionally shows moments of wisdom beyond her years, she is known to lapse into childish behavior and stubbornness just as often. Not given the chance to fully mature before taking the reigns of an empire, she has chosen to deal with the great burden by simply not shouldering it, using her power and status freely and irresponsibly, living her dreams and fantasies in the world of international politics and diplomacy. Simply put, she's a child given power over an empire. Accurately put, she's a child given power over an empire.

Alliance:
Imperial Domain of Mistral
Biography:
Contrary to most that rule by heredity, Lilith was not selected from birth, and carefully monitored every stage of her life, in anticipation for the day she would one day gloriously claim the crown, and announce the beginning of her reign as ruler. Instead, she grew up in the middle class district of Eien, what was then the foremost trade city in the Xanacorian Empire. From the moment she had displayed that she had more mental ability than a rock, her parents had devoted a large amount of time and resources to her education, with the intent that she would one day make a fortune as a businesswoman, and repay her parents tenfold.

At the age of six, she proved herself to be cut out for a life of importance, as she rapidly advanced through her lessons, showing an intelligence rarely found in someone so young. After significant thought was put into the decision, she was enrolled in a school dedicated to training and preparing children into becoming mages, empowering them with the skills needed to join one of several orders. Should a person be accepted into a mage order, a life of learning, prosperity, and wealth was all but guaranteed. She remained in the school for several years, until the age of eleven.

However, while she was living a relatively normal childhood, a great deal of research into her life, and the lives of several other children, was being conducted in the upper echelons of the Xanacorian government. Though she did not know it, Lilith had been placed on one of several lists of children that had been born on the anniversary of the previous Xanacore's death, the day that would, according to tradition, see the birth of the new ruler. Due to the sheer amount of births on those days, and the impossibility of controlling them all, it was decided that, over time, the lists would be pared down based on a number of factors that determined suitability for leadership, such as mental, magical, and academic ability.

Over time, the lists for several of the years were completely discarded, due to lack of any suitable candidates. In fact, over the stretch of a decade, only one name, out of all the children, was still being considered as a successor. According to the rules of narrative, the name was, of course, Lilith's.

Although initially hesitant towards selecting a female as the heir, the mages assigned to the project eventually decided to test the possibility, on the off chance that Lilith was, in fact, the reincarnation of Xanacore. And so, Project Mistral was born, with the goal of testing the child's suitability as leader and, if the first goal succeeded, raising the child to be Emperor. In order to do this, the girl was abducted from her home by highly trained operatives, and brought before the mages who, after spending so many hours of researching her in a totally non-creepy manner, would finally meet the girl in person.

They were not disappointed. After several tests, of every possible definition of the word, Lilith was the unanimously agreed upon proper successor to the Empire, and the, theoretically, reincarnation of Xanacore. The next three years of her life were spent under a wide variety of circumstances, ranging from posing as a diplomat's daughter in order to further understand international politics, to spending three months with the military to better her understanding of warfare. Finally, once Project Mistral was completed, Lilith Margatroid was erased from history, and the new entity Mistral was created.

From the moment of her coronation, loud voices of dissent were crying out from the furthest reaches of her empire, protesting the perversion of tradition and unholy changes which Mistral supposedly embodied. Instead of quelling the blossoming rebellions, however, she devoted her attention closer to home, cultivating the zeal and patriotism that accompanied the first true ruler that the empire had seen in several years. Aware of the threats that faced her, she militarized the magically-driven Literary Society into her private army, establishing them as her bodyguards.

Once the rebels broke off into the New Xanacorian Empire, she quickly drew a distinction between the two factions by renaming the Xanacorian Empire into the Imperial Domain of Mistral, effectively acknowledging and declaring civil war.

Now, standing over half of an empire divided, the child Mistral must forge her destiny.


 Weapons:

• Diamond (Magical Focii)
• Concealed survival knife
  

Magic Level:
Capable of teleportation and advanced offensive and defensive magic. While she possesses great latent ability, she lacks the maturity and experience needed to utilize it.

Fears:

• Capture
• Death
• Spiders

Interests:

• 1. Warfare, hence why she chose to immediately declare war on the rebels, rather than negotiate.
• 2. Magical Arts
• 3. Games
• 4. Reading
• 5. International Diplomacy, though to her, this may fall under "Games"
• 6. Executions. She's... disturbingly fond of them.

Aspirations:

• 1. Unify everything under the Imperial Domain of Mistral
• 2. Turn the IDoM into the leading edge of magical research
• 3. High approval rating (No, really)

ORIENTATION:
Heterosexual
RELATIONSHIP/MARITIAL STATUS:
Single
OTHER:
The fact that she's a fourteen year old girl, and, thus, too young to run an empire, is pretty much the whole point.

And yes, I'm doing this for the lulz.

I read warmly as the drama unfolded, so I understand.

Mmmph. Touhou reference. Now I gotta pepper my words with anime references...