A Good Dose Of History

[paladin_robot]

[Well, Richard inside the infirmary is hardly a surprising sight by now - the young man practically lives there. However, if one took a look at the moment, they would find that he had a... rather interesting collection beside him at the moment. Old tomes, fragments of ancient pottery, and small stacks of photographs, with a large metallic box containing even more next to the bed Richard was on. What was already out, was laying upon his lap, and he seemed to examine them with some scrutiny...

...Want to find out whats up?]

Comments

[whats_a_paladin]

What's this? History? Is this from Jeremy?

[paladin_robot]

[Richard looks up, a slight expression of surprise on his face.]

Huh? Oh wait, you mean all... No, this was actually sent to me by some commission or whatever that my superiors set up after I told them of Ideigi. They want me to see if anything can be understood about its origins as a result... Maybe they're hoping I find more.

[whats_a_paladin]

So they have an interest in finding out the truth as well...

Can you tell something from what they sent you already?

[paladin_robot]

Well... yes and no. There's sadly nothing here that really says where the thing came from or who built it... but there's a whole lot else.

[He extends one of the pieces of pottery, or rather the broken remains of a pot's side, which bears a familiar - if somewhat angular and simplified - figure.]

The Commission caught wind of an archaeological discovery made a few years ago. Nothing major, so it wasn't exactly news that spread like wildfire through the Empire. Some of the damage caused by Second Impact unearthed a previously undiscovered settlement along the Britannian coast, and amongst what they found, was this. They're not certain, but general estimates put it at over 5,000 years old, could be older, could be younger - but its old. Apparently the original team thought it was some kind of old pagan deity. But the really weird thing?

[Now he hands over several of the photos, showing men and women of different ethnicities across what are clearly a number of different environments, from jungle to dry desert, and yet...]

They found more. From Asia to the Americas, where these societies shouldn't have been able to interact with each other, especially with all small the settlements were. Yet for some reason...

[In a number of the images, and on a few of the artifacts before Richard himself, the Ideigi-styled figure, though at times more humanized, seems to be fighting something. But just what seems to vary, with one seeming like rock, another fire, and so forth.]

[whats_a_paladin]

If all of those are accurate, then Ideigi... Is older than I expected. And either there was more than one, or it somehow travelled all over the world, in an age when a trip to a village 50 miles away was a gigantic journey...

[Raynor pokes at the image of the rock-like enemy.]

Doesn't this look vaguely familiar to you?

[paladin_robot]

Yeah, I at first thought of those weird... things that attackd on the day I first summoned Ideigi. Except those were more bestial, and this looks... almost humanoid.

[Richard reaches a hand into the box, extracting several larger photos - these of a tablet - and sheets of paper to go with them. He glances over them briefly, before raising an eyebrow]

...Huh.

[whats_a_paladin]

But the connection to earth is still there. Maybe it's a different kind of elemental creature...

Did you find something new right now?

[paladin_robot]

This is um... apparently some tablet. The language on it is something called Sumerian - never heard of it myself, but then, I didn't do school. According to this translation, incomplete as it is... the people lived in fear of a 'Demon King' which the land itself shook before. Then a 'sword god' appeared from the heavens. A battle... then the Demon King was defeated.

[Richard shakes his head, sighing.]

This just raises more questions than it does answer anything.

[whats_a_paladin]

Not completely. If we assume this story is accurate, then we can draw several likely conclusions.

But that's a very big "if".

[paladin_robot]

Would you... care to explain that one to me?

[Richard seems confused, but genuinely curious as to what the man has to say. Still, his eyes wander over the photos...]

[whats_a_paladin]

What if there's more than one Demon King? Or if he wasn't killed, but only defeated?

I think that maybe the creatures you fought were servants of something much bigger...

[paladin_robot]

...Y-You're not serious... right?

[The thought evidently didn't cross Richard's mind, and now that it has...]

I-If there are others, then how many? A-And the rock one... if thats what caused the other ones, then where the hell is it?!

[whats_a_paladin]

...I'm not entirely sure. Maybe there's more hints about all this in the materials you're gathered.

This is just an idea, remember. There's no guarantee I'm actually right. But if our track record of fighting ancient monsters is any indication...

[paladin_robot]

There's not much else text wise... just more artifacts. Though looking at it, there seem to be four designs that pop up again and again in particular...

Whatever this Demon King is - or these Demon Kings are I suppose - it'll just have to be another thing to deal with I guess...

[whats_a_paladin]

Four designs... Rock, fire...

Sounds like the four elements to me.

[paladin_robot]

Four what? This is a thing?

[Whilst he sounds incredulous, that Richard is leaning forward makes clear his interest.]

[whats_a_paladin]

The four classical elements. You don't know them? Water, earth, fire, air? It's an outdated and arbitrary distinction, but even little kids know it...

[paladin_robot]

Little kids who didn't have their home city destroyed in Second Impact?

[Richard sighs a bit, grumbling as he rubs the back of his neck.]

Sorry. My parents mostly taught me common sense stuff, or how to take an engine apart and put it back together. So this four elements stuff is kinda over my head.

[whats_a_paladin]

...No, it's my fault. I keep forgetting that just because you're Britannian and haven't experienced the One Year War, doesn't mean you weren't affected by even worse things.

[paladin_robot]

Well, if it makes it any easier to remember, just think of me as being French. Only 'Britannian' because I'm a citizen and soldier of the empire. Can't say its not proving entirely useless though...

[Richard sighs, looking around once more at the small collection.]

We'll be able to handle anything that comes of this, right?

[whats_a_paladin]

Of course. You've been to Saturn. Do you think this can be worse than that?

[paladin_robot]

...I should wear that on my wrist or something - 'is this worse than Saturn?'.

Still, hopefully we'll get this figured out... haven't heard a peep out of those things since that day. Can't help but be a little anxious.

[whats_a_paladin]

That's a familiar feeling... But whether these creatures will appear again or not, only time will tell. The best you can do in the meantime is gather more info, uncover more mysteries, and polish your skills at controlling Ideigi.

[hobo_lantern]

What's that? Is that your collection? I know someone who collect bottlecaps, but yours look more exciting.

[paladin_robot]

Uh, no, its not mine, its from a Britannian Commission, investigating something...

Are you Britannian? You sound it...

[hobo_lantern]

I consider myself more of a world citizen, but yes, I lived in Britannia for a while.

[paladin_robot]

Well, for a world citizen, don't suppose you'd recognise these locations?

[Richard hands over a series of photos, clearly taken in jungle, desert, and other locales..In each also seems to be some kind of artifact or painting, depicting a vaguely robotic humanoid set against something... also humanoid, but different. It varies from picture to picture, with the enemy humanoid being rock in one, fire in a another, water, etc.]

Because if this is all true, then my robot is... not only old, but was known around the world in an age where world travel normally took generations.

[hobo_lantern]

They indeed look like taken from different part of the worlds. So you say that your robot is ancient? How did you learn that? Where did you got your robot from?

[paladin_robot]

Thats what the commission is saying. The artifacts here are apparently thousands of years old.

[Richard says, extracting photos of a tablet, and several sheets of paper to go with them.]

Like this is in... Sumerian, or whatever that is, something from the middle east. Apparently so old it died out at one point.

Funny thing, I actually found Ideigi in France. Under the wreckage of old Calais.

[hobo_lantern]

That's not that strange nowadays. I found Epimetheus in a trash heap in China. And do you know what did I found later? He's created by an ancient god! Or godlike alien, whatever.

So I won't be too surprised if ancient super robot exist. I'm interested in the disperse of the pictures'location though.

[paladin_robot]

So maybe my thing's made by ancient aliens too..

And yeah, the fact its all over the place is the particularly weird bit. Ideigi had to have travelled somehow... but it sure as hell doesn't fly, and it doesn't walk on water either.

[hobo_lantern]

Or maybe there's more than one Ideigi?