Flashback I feel so Domineered, Part 1

[Ialari Pythone]

Late Summer 510 (Grandfathered Flashback Thread)

A couple of days had passed since Ialari established a Dominion within the tiny set of ruins off the southeastern beach of Sylira. Since then, she spent much of her time within the Dominion itself. As her knowledge of Dominion hadn't yet progressed far enough to achieve significant folding of space, the Dominion was small, roughly the size of the actual structure that was dominated. Small as it was, it was more than acceptable for Ialari.

She sat in the grass in the center of her Dominion, a soft breeze causing the green blades to sway lightly. Looking into the sky, Ialari watched as strange, dark shapes flew high overhead. Every so often when she wasn't looking, the ground would subtly shift and change orientation; height would change ever so slightly or the shade of green in the grass would lighten or darken in random places. The air she breathed and the breeze she felt would often change in temperature; sometimes what she breathed was warmer than the breeze on her skin and vice versa.

As she gazed at the sky, a single blink of her eyes revealed a completely different perspective. She was no longer looking at a bright blue sky. In its place was a great chasm with a tiny, irregular line barely recognizable at the bottom; a river perhaps. Ialari had to look back down at the grass as the greatly altered perspective caused her head to throb uncomfortably. The unpredictable, ever changing, reality-rending nature of the Ukalas was spoken of in the scrolls and reaffirmed to Ialari by Dira the first time the isur had entered the divine realm. Dira had mentioned that few "lesser" beings could grasp the experience without going completely mad. Master Berliotz, one of the Seven Robes of Alahea, was unable to even grasp the concepts of Dominion much less the Ukalas as a greater whole. Though Ialari had been able to maintain her wits throughout it all, it was sometimes a challenge.

It was the lack of control, even over the smallest aspects of her own Dominion, that led Ialari to continue pouring through the scrolls. The remarkable thing was that as Ialari gained new and greater understanding of the material held within a certain scroll, the next time she read it there would be new information that she hadn't seen before. It was as if the scrolls themselves were evolving and growing just as her understanding of them did.

As she sat in the grass, Ialari picked up the scrollcase that lay next to her and retrieved one of the scrolls. Unrolling it, she looked upon the cryptic characters before her. As her eyes rolled over the scroll, the meaning of the characters became clear in her mind. Diagrams formed along with definitions as context was established. The particular scroll she was looking contained the process for creating a Dominion within a smaller, more confined space. While Ialari had established two Dominions via room-sized spaces, it wasn't the size of the space to be dominated that determined the difficulty. Just as the Ukalas itself was a backward mirror upon itself, so was many of the principles of Dominion.

[Ialari Pythone]

According to the scroll, establishing Dominion on a smaller item was usually done for the specific purpose of storage. The actual preparation of the item was easier than the preparation required for a large space such as a room however the actual drawing of the lines and patterns to channel djed were much more difficult. Spaces between lines were much smaller and there was less room for mistakes.

As she continued going over further details of the process, Ialari was interrupted by a cramping feeling in her stomach. It was then that she realized she had eaten in at least a day as she had been too occupied with her communion with her Dominion. Putting the scroll back in the case, she stood up and walked over to the open Dominion door. Taking a step through, her surroundings imediately changed as the material world greeted her once more.

Ialari retrieved her backpack, unpacked a trail ration and hungrily devoured it. She went to take a drink of water from one of the broken barrels from the nearby shipwreck that she repurposed for holding fresh water. Unfortunately it looked like some sort of animal had been bathing in it so she dumped it out. From the looks of things, the absence of the undead Androsia who had once made the area his lair, had allowed some of the native wildlife to begin testing the area again. She was going to have to start making preparations for such a thing since smaller animals returning would likely bring larger ones in tow. While such a thing could be annoying and even dangerous, it did present a good opportunity for some fresh meat and other materials. Maybe, but you can't hunt and you've no idea how to prepare a kill even if you caught something Ialari thought to herself. "One can always learn." She answered her thoughts aloud.

In the meantime however, she made a trip to the nearby pond for some fresh water and a bit of bathing. It was midday when she filled the barrel with water at the pond. When she had finished getting the water, Ialari shed her clothes and slid into the water. She spent quite some time wading about. She loved how the small rocks and soft sand felt on her feet and the sensations of the water moving as fish swam by. As much as she reveled in the feeling of the Ukalas and her Dominion, the material realm held great wonders as well. Since discovering Dominion, Ialari had become a being of two realms. As much as she wanted to remain in one, the other called to her in a way that was undeniable.

As she sat, half submerged upon a large rock near the center of the pond, Ialari considered the possibilities immediately available to her as far as potential containers for use in Dominion. She had a small collection of barrels though two were broken and the other two were filled with things. She also had the captain's footlocker. While it was intact and in moderately good shape, it wasn't exactly appropriate. Then there was the small iron lockbox that served the paychest for the sailors who once sailed the now wrecked ship. She hadn't opened it yet but from what she could tell, it was in good condition and if she could open it without damaging it, it would be perfect for Dominion. It was durable, solid and small enough to offer a little bit of challenge to test her skills.

Finished with her bath and satisfied with the thoughts, Ialari exited the pond. She allowed a few moments of resting in the sun to dry her before dressing and returning to the Retreat.

[Ialari Pythone]

When she got back to the Retreat, Ialari retrieved the lockbox from the rest of her gear. She walked over and sat on the edge of the large stone basin she had carved a few days before. Holding the box in both hands, she turned it about as to examine the entire thing. It was about 18 inches long, 12 inches wide and 10 inches tall not including the lid which added another 5 inches in height. The seam of the lid and the rest of the box was solid and the hinges, while a bit corroded, were also still in good working condition. The lock itself was built into the box and required a key. Ialari had searched the wreck for the key yet couldn't find it. She expected the captain would have it but it was absent from his quarters. Likely, one of the men who mutinied against the captain pocketed it before the ship was destroyed in the storm.

The matter of not having the key was of particular worry for Ialari if she were to maintain the integrity of the box. She knew nothing of picking locks and even less about making keys. She did however know something about blacksmithing which brought about an idea. She looked again at the lock and in particular the key hole. I wonder if I could shape a piece of metal to fit in there. If I could, I'd imagine that trying to turn it would maybe leave marks on the metal. It may take a few tries but I bet I could get enough of an idea from that to shape a key that would work. Ialari imagined how the whole process might work.

Setting the box down on the edge of the basin, Ialari stood and walked over to where she kept a small pile of various types of metal fittings, latches and other miscellaneous pieces salvaged from the ship wreck. As she fingered through the pile, she chose a handful of pieces that may be of some use including a couple of nails. She then walked over to her primitive looking firepit. Throwing a few logs on it as well as some dried leaves and bark, she used the flint and steel to spark up a fire. She then placed the metal pieces in the fire and waited. When the pieces began to heat up enough to be more pliable, Ialari reached in and took one out. She walked over to one of the broken chunks of wall that made up some of the ruins. Picking up a rock, she rested it on one end of one the pieces. With her metallic hand, she began to smooth out the metal. She flattened and smoothed it as if she would clay. Turning the piece over, she did the same thing. When she was satisfied with its initial shape, she brought it to the lock box and tried to put the now long, flat, slender piece of metal into the key hole. It was too tall. So she heated it some more before shaping it better fit. She tried putting it in the keyhole again. This time it was the right height but was still too thick. Once again Ialari heated the metal then flattened it more while working to maintain the right height. When she was finished, she tried putting it again into the keyhole and it fit. Of course it was only a flat bar without the specific shape to actually release the locking mechanism.

She had to be careful with the next step though as she didn't want to risk breaking the bar off inside the lock or damaging the lock itself to the point that it would be unable to release. So she ever so gently tried turning the bar in the keyhole. She did this a number of times noting how the bar felt loose in the lock. After several moments of testing the inside of the lock, she pulled the bar out and looked at it. A smile crossed Ialari's face as she noted a definite pattern of scratches dug into the end of the bar. Of course it was no key however it did provide her with a direction to go with making an acceptable substitute.

[Ialari Pythone]

The problem now for Ialari was the lack of tools. While the isurian arm was capable of shaping and carving just about anything, it was not particularly adept at fine details. Although it wasn't like Ialari was etching intricate designs into some masterpiece of craftsmanship, some precision would be needed. Looking at the small metal bar, she examined the scratches created by the interior of the lock. They were light but noticeable and based on their positioning, there wouldn't need to be any great detail required. Based on what she was looking at, she would normally require small files that were normally of little use to basic blacksmithing; better suited handling jewelry perhaps.

The scratches in the bar revealed to Ialari that the end of the bar would have to be trimmed to the point that the last inch or so was taller than the rest of the bar. This being the case, Ialari heated the bar once more. While there was really no need to heat the metal as her hand could manipulate it regardless of temperature, it was easier on the metal itself if it were heated before being shaped and sculpted. When the bar was again heated well enough, Ialari removed it from the fire and pinched off a large bit of it, squaring off the edges or rounding them where needed. As she did so, the bar began to look more and more like a blank key. Once she was finished with that, she allowed the bar to cool and then put it back in the lock. Carefully and with a gentle bit of pressure, she tried turning the bar inside the lock to once again create more scratches to go by for further shaping; the heat and previous bit of work having removed the old ones.

Pulling the bar free from the lock, she looked again at the end and noted where the scratches were. While she was the furthest thing from a key expert, she couldn't help but think that it was actually a rather simple looking key compared to others she had seen int he past. From the looks of the new scratches, there were only two notches that would need to be cut to hopefully get the key to fit right. The notches were opposite of each other with one being slightly longer than the other. Using the fingernail of her metallic forefinger, Ialari made the scratches a bit more pronounced before again heating the metal. Then alternating the use of the fingernails of her thumb and forefinger, she used them as tiny edges that punched the metal of the bar. She had to do this a few different times from different angles with differing fingernails to carve out the two notches and get them to the appropriate thickness and length. When she felt she had it right, she put the key into the lock and turned. She could feel some amount of give but unfortunately it didn't work.

Ialari pulled the bar out and looked at it. While she couldn't make out any real scratches this time, she could tell by the feel of the bar turning against the locking mechanism that the notches in the bar were not quite wide enough. She then used her fingernails to lighly peel away the tiniest metal slivers in order to get a better fit. When she was satisfied that she finally got it right, she put the bar into the lock and turned gently. The bar encountered slight resistance before fully turning inside the lock. There was a satisfying click that told Ialari she had successfully crafted her first key. Rough as it looked, it was a functional key. "Izurdin's grace, it worked!" Ialari exclaimed to herself.

[Ialari Pythone]

With the lockbox now unlocked, Ialari opened the lid. Inside she found the mizas that would have at one time served as the pay for the sailors of the ill-fated ship that now lay a hundred yards away in ruin upon the beach. There were mizas, several hundred of them. Although the sheer amount was quite impressive to behold, Ialari could see that most of it was made up of copper-edged mizas with a small mix of silver-rimmed and a few gold-rimmed thrown in. As she ran her fingers through the small treasure, she estimated that there may be roughly 100-150 gold mizas worth of coins. While it was indeed a nice find, the mizas are not what Ialari wanted out of the box. She proceeded to dump the mizas into her belt-pouch and backpack then sat back down and examined the inside of the box. The box, as made evident by its outside appearance and its weight, was forged of iron. I could be considered somewhat heavy though for Ialari it was only slightly so. The overall interior was in good condition as was the exterior although there was a slight bit of corrosion on the exterior though a bit of sand scrubbing would help clean that up.

The interior was good although the surface of the iron was somewhat rough and there were many imperfections in texture it that would make the drawing of lines, shapes, angles and patterns a bit difficult. It would need a bit of smoothing out which Ialari could accomplished by hand with little effort. All in all, with a bit of cleaning and light surface maintenance, the lockbox would make a suitable space for Ialari's first venture into using a small container to establish Dominion.

Not wishing to waste any time, Ialari took the chest down to the beach where she partially buried it. With her metallic hand, she began rubbing the sand over the surface of the metal while giving just a slight amount of pressure. The effect served as a primitive form of sanding which helped to clean the corrosion from the surface of the box's exterior. When she was finished cleaning the exterior, she returned to the Retreat and rinsed the box in some fresh water. She wiped it down and let it dry before moving on to the next part.

Opening the box and reaching inside, Ialari felt the surface of the iron and ran her fingers over the rises and falls, scuffs and scrapes. As she touched them, she exerted varying pressure upon the imperfections. She flattered the rises and filled the falls while smoothing over the scuffs and scrapes. It was slow going yet Ialari wanted to be sure she had done all she could to level out the inside surface. When she was finished, Ialari examined her handiwork. The corrosion was mostly gone from the exterior while the interior was much smoother and more level. Of course it still wasn't perfect which brought no small amount of mild frustration from Ialari. She resigned herself to gathering as many tools as she could for crafting, forging and constructing at some time in the future.

The lockbox was almost ready though despite her slight irritation. Because the iron of the box was black, Ialari decided to forgo using charcoal and instead gathered a few shells from her dwindled pile. She picked out sharpened ones with broken edges as they would form finer lines. Box and shells in hand, she also grabbed a trail ration and her waterskin before walking back through doorway and stepping once more into her Dominion.

[Ialari Pythone]

Inside her Dominion, Ialari was greeted by a somewhat different landscape than when she left. While the interior of her Dominion itself had changed little, the area beyond the invisible barrier of established boundaries had transformed. It looked now to Ialari that she stood atop one of the great mountains that had once been off in the distance. While the grass in her Dominion was as it had been before, at the point where her Dominion met the rest of Ukalas, the grass grew sparse and was replaced by bare stone and light patches of mountain grass. The air, while crisp and thin, was as warm as any midday Summer breeze. The temperature was hot although surrounding Ialari's Dominion were patches of snow. As she walked over to one edge of her Dominion, she noted that it leaned right up against the edge of a cliff. As she looked down, she could see a thin layer of clouds with the same dark shapes flying below as she once saw flying above.

The drastic change in scenery was at once fascinating and a bit frightening. She knew why it frightened her; the lack of control over anything that was happening around her. While she never truly had full control over the things in her life, such lack of control was never so blatant and complete as it was in the Ukalas. While she couldn't deny the senes of pride and power that came with knowing she was the first mortal in time-forgotten to enter the realm of the gods in such a manner, she couldn't help but also feel so insignificant and irrelevant when faced with such a place. After many more moments of personal reflection, Ialari turned away from the edge and walked back to the center of her Dominion. Realizing with a slight string of curses that she did not have any sort of bench or other surface from which to work, she quickly exited her Dominion and retrieved the empty, broken barrel that she has used to hold her paint. While outside, she thumbed through her small pile of metal and took a thin metal strip roughly 8 inches long. One edge of it was slightly curled while the other was straight. It would serve well to help make straight lines. Returning to her Dominion, she upturned the barrel and used it for a table. She sat the box and shells on it while she sat on the ground next to it. Laying out the needed scrolls next to her for reference, she began the process.

She opened the lid and picked out a shell. With the shell serving as the drawing tool, she needed one other ingredient which is part of the reason why she chose shells with sharp, broken edges. Shell in her metallic hand, she brought the broken edge to the palm of her off hand. She used it to slice a modest cut in order to draw blood. Then with a mix of blood and the material of the shell, she began marking the points where the various lines would intersect. The shell she used for this was slightly darker than the ones she would use for the actual lines. Ialari dipped the edge of the shell in the mall puddle of blood that she routinely refilled from a fresh cut and then pressed the shell hard enough against the iron to create markings. She laid out the vertices throughout the inside of the box and the lid. To the non-initiated, such points would look random and without purpose. To Ialari, their placing was deliberate. When the vertices had all been identified and marked in the darker colored shell, Ialari then picked out one of the lighter colored ones.

Varying the amount of her blood used in the lines, Ialari began drawing the lines using the straight edge of the metal strip. Each line was drawn as straight as possible with each angle between intersections drawn as perfect as possible. Of course there was some margin of error allowed but in such a small space, the margin was much less than it was in a space the size of a room. The patterns that formed were such that Ialari couldn't stare too long at them for they gave her a bit of a headache. Small patterns emerged within larger ones as a complex series of optical illusions came into being.

By the time Ialari had finished with the lines inside the box itself, she was nearly out of shells. Once she had gotten to the inside of the lid and finally finished it, she had used her last shell and her hand was thoroughly aching with no small amount of burn from the various cuts and piercings made to draw upon her blood. In the end, the entirety of the interior of the box was covered in a complex series of lines that formed patterns. The patterns stretched and pulled at the eyes in a way that made them almost pop out of the box itself. The gray, red and white lines, while fascinating and a little uncomfortable to look at, were at this point, nothing more than lines. Next, Ialari would need to recite an oath. If all went well with the box preparation and drawing of lines, the oath would be accepted and hopefully all would come together to establish a new, smaller Dominion within the box.

[Gossamer]

The Fates Have Spoken.

Player: Ialari

XP: Research: +1, Dominion +5, Planning +3, Swimming +1, Wilderness Survival +2, Blacksmithing +2, Investigation: +1, Observation +5

Lores: Dominion: Bonding With Your Dominion, Dominion: Getting To Know Your Dominion’s Unique Aspects, Dominion: Dominions aren’t sentient but they are a great deal like non-sentient pets. Dominions: Have Changing Landscapes Before , Bonding, Dominion: The Principles of Dominion, Blacksmithing: Sanding with your Isurian Arm. Blacksmithing: Improvising a Key, Dominion: Using shells to mark dominion lines, Dominion: Using blood to link the dominion to you.
Loot: 150 GM – I realize this isn’t a six post reward out of the blue but you got this chest and finally broke into it at this point after the huge thread proceeding this.



Notes: I know you weren’t creating your dominion here, but the steps you took to bond to your dominion, learn its aspects, and begin to mold it were important. I appreciated that you worked into this in a slow buildup of post after post before you just simply stated you were bonded and could fully control it. I think this is one of the beautiful aspects of this magic – the ever changing nature of them until the mage can stabilize and settle them down.

Your pc is kinda crazy with all the personalities, but I understand the nature of this due to the tree of souls and the splintering that happened there. I find your PC giving your PC all kinds of advice somewhat unique and insightful as to the nature of her particular damage. I liked the improvising of the key and the picture you included.

I also gave you the plus 5 in dominion because you were hanging out with your dominion, bonding with it, creating things for it (ie the chest) and doing all the prep work you need to do to keep moving forward with an established dominion.

Overall nice read!

As always PM me if you have issues.