[u][b]Ghost Fragment: The Dark Age 3[/b][/u] [u]Primary Text:[/u] [i]From the Journals of Lord Colovance[/i] [u]Secondary Text:[/u] What does one do when one’s master has gone mad? [b]Lord Timur was Lord Colovance's Master. Colovance's believes his mentor went mad at some point.[/b] I admired the man for so long, poured years of study into his leads, but now, he has grown incapable of focus. I have followed his latest missives on SIVA and it is flooded with mania. Whatever he thinks this Clovis Bray might hold would make you believe that they were the only entity of any technical know-how, that they owned every piece of that tarnished Golden Age. [b]As a massive interplanetary conglomerate, many technological advancements and successes would have been directly related to Clovis Bray.[/b] I write this because I fear none of the others knows or senses it. He has been so thorough, so right, until now. Something snapped, infected him, turned him against his own sense of logic and reason. [b]Colovance was close enough with his mentor to recognize a shift in his priorities and psychological profile. To claim that SIVA would have been in an area that could infect Timur to focus solely on uncovering the hidden replication chamber seems highly unlikely. Especially given Rasputin's severe response to the Iron Lords attempt to procure SIVA for humanity. However, given that the Transmission Crisis did show that Guardians were susceptible to even the base forms of SIVA transmission, it is not difficult to assume that Timur may have been afflicted with one of these transmission types? (Note: In the Shirazi documents, the nannite swarm only became for some of these transmission experiments.)[/b] And here I am, left behind to tend the fires and the Ironwood Tree in this budding City, while everyone rushes at his promise of another wonder from yesterday. But I ask you, Traveler, did you cleanse us from these technological disasters to prove we had gone astray? The Light you raised us with points far away from the trappings of a processed Earth, to a nebulous power far beyond the stars. Had we done wrong and this is how you hope to correct us; we, the Light to lead the way? It must be, but even your shattered hull seems like a designed system. Lord Timur has notes upon notes on your runes. Perhaps that is where his madness began. [b]These three statements would lead me to believe that Colovance is in the Tower when he writes this passage. Two reasons support this; One, the Lord is tending fires and an Ironwood Tree in a 'budding City.' We know there is no Ironwood Tree in the Iron Temple, or on Felwinter's Peak. Two, he is speaking to the Traveler. Granted, this could simply be a plea to 'God' asking a hypothetical question, and his reference to the damage done to the Traveler, may be not but a citation from memory.[/b] I wonder how long it will be until he thinks you were made by Clovis Bray. [b]Most likely a mere statement about Lord Timur's single minded pursuit of all things Clovis Bray.[/b] [u][b]Ghost Fragment: Mysteries 3[/b][/u] [u]Primary Text:[/u] [i][None][/i] [u]Secondary Text:[/u] [i]He always survives[/i] Helmet in one hand and torch in the other, Saladin Forge marches through the snow. He can sense the wolves emerge around him; only three of them come into view, but this group has followed him on his patrols since the Devils raided the Plaguelands. He has given up dissuading them. They’re defending their territory, and Saladin can relate to that. But they will not last long. [b]Saladin has a pack of wolves following him. They are defending their territory from the Devil Splicers. Saladin seems to lament their potential deaths.[/b] Nothing does. Not the Golden Age. Not the colony ships. Not the impenetrable walls of the Cosmodrome. Not the Iron Lords. [b]Saladin has lost much in his long life. This has coloured his perspective, much like Eris Morn after her escape from the Hellmouth, Saladin shows clear signs of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).[/b] He discards his torch, and glances up to see a familiar glow reaching out from the dark. He smirks. A horde of Devil Splicers returns his stare from the wreckage of the wall ahead. The Splicers are doomed. Just as the Iron Lords were, when he and his allies opened that vault. As Fallen continue to pour through the gap in the wall, they remind him of his friends in their final moment: a crimson pulse beats in place of their hearts. [i]SIVA.[/i] [b]Saladin recalls his final visage of his fallen comrades, as SIVA corrupted their bodies.[/b] He puts his helmet on as an Iron battle axe forms in his hand, the air around him bursting into flame. The first wave of dregs approaches. Saladin breaks into a charge, swinging the axe to bear as he smashes into a storm of steel and weapons fire. [b]Godzimir Kokotović has demanded to be released long enough for him to seek out Lord Saladin. He was ... requested the techniques for summoning a Iron battle axe. Terra Ossik has wisely refrained from allowing the Dog a new toy to use on the battlefield.[/b] As his axe bites, again and again, Skorri’s Iron Song haunts him. He calls upon Radegast’s strength. Perun’s sense of purpose. Timur’s questions. Felwinter’s cynicism. Silimar’s persistence. Gheleon’s reasoning. [b]Saladin fights in memory of his fallen comrades. He uses their important lessons to improve on the Lord that he was.[/b] Jolder’s smile. [b]Jolder seems to mean something different altogether... perhaps she was his mentor? Or was his relationship with her more ... personal?[/b] He pounds the last Splicer priest like a burning hammer, blasting a crater into the snow and gravel. Frozen dirt rains down on the spent shells and the mounds of Splicer corpses that surround him. The Warlocks of the City have described meditation to him. He imagines it feels like this. [b]Saladin feels the most at peace when he is in battle. Another example of PTSD. He has a hard time adjusting to a world that cannot understand his loss. Saladin is a warrior. Peace is not what a warrior is made for, thus pacification is not a comfortable state. Adrenaline, fear, anger, death, these fuel a man with such a past as his.[/b] [i]He always survives. When nothing else does.[/i] [b]Who is Saladin referring to? Who always survives and leaves all others dead? [/b] “Lord Saladin? What’s your status?” calls Shiro-4 through his audio feed. “Just— Taking a walk,” he says, staring at the fifteen-foot divide he broke in the earth. He had to meet SIVA again. One last time. [b]Is Saladin lying to Shiro-4 to protect him? Or does he consider these Splicers a trivial matter?[/b] “I’ve analyzed the Clovis Bray data.” [i]Timur always said that Clovis Bray was the key. [/i] [b]The Clovis Bray Data is supplied by the Guardians who complete a intelligence raid on the Cabal occupied Dust Palace on Mars. Mission Designation: Download Complete. Guardian's Ghost transmits the data to Tyra Karn and Shiro-4. This shows that this Devil Splicer - Saladin encounter happens during the events leading up to the induction of the chosen Guardian(s) into the Iron Lords ranks.[/b] “Can you break the Splicers’ hold over SIVA?” [i]How different would things be, had Saladin listened?[/i] [b]Listened to who? Rasputin? Did Lord Colovance voice concerns of his mentor's growing obsession with Clovis Bray?[/b] “Theoretically. Temporarily.” [i]Would his friends still live? Would he?[/i] “It might be enough. Perhaps our Guardian has turned the tide. I’ll be there shortly.” He sees the wolves have formed up around him. Eight of them. [i]He always survives.[/i] [b]I believe that Saladin is considering his chosen Guardians when he states that 'He always survives.' If not, it may be a reference to the fact that he has lived through so much, he may have become desensitized to his apparent ability to avoid death. It may be, that he simply fights now, until he is finally bested, and can rest eternally along side his fellow Iron Lords. [/b]