Snow Angel: Chapter 19

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Chapter 19: Orientation

Snow's whole life changes when the winter solstice arrives.

 

I asked Autumn, “Would you prefer to be on the top or the bottom?”

 


 
Author's Note: Here is chapter 19 of Snow Angel. Thanks to Big Closet and to all my readers for your support. I hope you all enjoy. Further chapters are available on Patreon.~Amethyst.
 


 
Chapter 19: Orientation

Once inside the castle, we and the other new recruits were guided toward a large audience chamber to join the second and third-year students, their trainers, the academy’s instructors, and those training for support roles within the Corps. Once we were all settled, the doors were securely closed, and they were certain that there would be no uninvited guests, my grandmother left our side to join a Devilkin man at the podium on the small dais at the front of the chamber. He was tall and thin with rosy red skin, large black horns sticking out of his short-cropped greying brown hair, and dressed in a comfortable-looking tunic and trousers combination in simple black.

Once she had joined him the pair talked for a few moments and then the man called out for our attention. Once he had gotten it, he spoke in a thundering voice that easily carried to every corner of the large hall. “Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to our new students. For those of you who are new recruits, I’m Damian Lucifer. I have been the Headmaster of the Angel Academy for the past nine years and teaching advanced mechanics and repair to our Tinkers for the past fifteen years.”

The Headmaster paused a moment, taking a deep breath, before continuing to speak. “Normally, this is where I would introduce Queen Sabine, she would say a few words of welcome and encouragement, and then the new recruits would swear their oaths. Unfortunately, as you can all see, Her Majesty is not here today. However, Archangel Abbadine Bengal would like to say a few words in her place.”

The older students had been speaking quietly in front of us. Many were confused as to why they had all been gathered for the reception of the new recruits and where exactly the Queen was. The droning cacophony of various conversations coming from the older students came quickly to a halt as soon as the Headmaster spoke my grandmother’s name.

She took advantage of the sudden silence to speak, her voice just as loud and clear as the Devilkin who had introduced her. “Good afternoon, students and new recruits. As you can all probably guess from why all students are all gathered here instead of only the new recruits, there are going to be some changes this year for the Angel Academy. Before I go any further into what those changes might be, I want all of you to repeat your oaths as Angels as the new recruits give theirs for the first time.”

“Angel recruits and students, please repeat after Archangel Abbadine,” the Headmaster instructed, gesturing to my grandmother.

She nodded and said, “I pledge my life to the Angel Corps, and to fighting Demons. I vow to protect the people from the dangers that Demons represent. I will protect the weak and strike down Demons when they appear, and I will not give up until my dying breath. The Corps is my family, and I will defend them as they will defend me. When interacting with the public I will guard the secrets of the Corps and always speak and behave in a way that protects those secrets and reflects the values of the Corps.”

Most of those gathered in the room repeated the oath, including me and my team. There were roughly two dozen people who had been gathered with us first years in the back who I didn’t recognize from Eden Base or the Gentle Breeze. They hadn’t spoken the oath and I was wondering why when the Headmaster spoke again.

“And now for those of you training for support roles in the Corps, repeat after me,” the Devilkin called out. “I pledge my life to the Angel Corps, and to use my gifts and the skills that I am taught to support the people and the Corps to the best of my ability. I vow to do so, even if it should endanger my life. The Corps is my family, and I will defend them as they will defend me. When interacting with the public I will guard the secrets of the Corps and always speak and behave in a way that protects those secrets and reflects the values of the Corps.”

When they were all finished speaking their oath as well, my grandmother looked over all of the people gathered in the large chamber before addressing us once more with a serious expression on her face. “Those oaths were written by Haley Wilson before she became the first Queen of Misota, I was there when she wrote them. They were written even before the people of Misota were unified into one country. Although the past Queens have always had our loyalty, we have never sworn fealty to either them or Misota. Our loyalty is to each other and the people as a whole, no matter what their Races or where they may live.”

The first Angel let all of that sink in for a moment before continuing. “Those oaths have never been changed because Haley knew that at some point we would still be needed but we might not have the support of whoever was ruling. That time has come. Queen Sabine courts the wealthy, and they want our technology and a political agenda that is friendly to a select few. She has demanded that we find a new place for both our main base and the academy so that they can have Eden Base and so we won’t be here in the capital unless they happen to need our help.”

An atmosphere of shock and anger descended upon the room, some calling for us to fight. That wasn’t really a surprise though since I suspected that everyone in the chamber was some sort of Seed-borne or were family or friends of Seed-borne. From some of the angry muttering that I was hearing, people had a pretty good idea who those select few were, and that they didn’t include anyone here.

My grandmother was obviously hearing similar things from the front of the crowd because she frowned and shook her head. “Yes, we could fight, and probably win with all of our advantages over the army under the Queen’s command. Doing so would cause a civil war though, and leave the entire country vulnerable to the Demons while we tried to fight two wars. We were meant to fight Demons, not the people that we swore to protect from them. There is a plan in place but we are going to need everyone’s help.”

That was when she laid everything out. She told them how my team had found a pair of secure complexes in the area of the Twin City ruins, and that we were planning to move the academy and our main base to one of them while the other would act as a forward base in an attempt to sanitize the ruins of Demon activity. She also said that we needed to buy time for those at Eden Base to move everything useful to the new locations.

As soon as the Queen found out that we had a prospective new location she would want to take possession of Eden Base so we wouldn’t be telling her until we had everything moved. Until then, Sira, the Archangels, and the other Angels needed us to make it look like everything is normal at the academy. Though there would be no classes until we were relocated, we would be having team versus team combat sessions in the courtyards to train our physical abilities and we would have free time during the afternoons to explore the capital.

Our exploration of the city was to be part of our assignments as well. They wanted us to get a feel for the climate in the capital among the different classes, especially where it concerned Seed-borne and Angels. To that effect, they wanted some of us new recruits who wouldn’t be recognized to hide our Angel insignias and only reveal them if we were in some sort of danger. People wouldn’t want to piss off the Angel Corps without good reason and we were still technically under the Queen’s protection, though there were some grumblings about how long that would last.

Once things had been explained and orders were given, everyone was free until it was time for the evening meal in the dining hall. After that, we would all be free to go about our business for the evening. However, those of us who were new Angel recruits needed to take our things to our rooms but our Trainers were going to be escorting us there so we could get settled in before dinner.

As everyone dispersed, my grandmother was talking with the Headmaster. It was hard to make out what they were saying over all of the conversations between us as people who actually knew where they were going filed out of the chamber and talked about what they had just learned, their plans for the evening, and various other topics. Eventually, she joined us once the room was almost completely cleared and led us to the girls’ dormitory wing.

“Here we are girls, the first-year girls’ dorm. This will be where you will all be staying while here in the capital,” my grandmother said as she opened the thick wooden door to the noise of what was likely every other female recruit trying to get organized under the watchful eyes of their Trainers.

The room was large but a lot of the space was taken up by ten upper and lower bunks on each side of the entrance for a total of forty beds. With that many beds and only roughly two dozen female recruits, there were thankfully still several bunks to choose from. We were starting to look around when Maryn called out, “Snow! We saved you girls some bunks on this side!”

My grandmother motioned for us to go join her. “I’ll wait for you to get settled and then we’ll go have a quick tour and get some dinner.”

We headed over to the right side of the room, where Maryn and Orchid were unpacking their bags at the pair of bunks closest to the door. As promised, they had the three upper and lower bunks nearest their own saved for us. “Thanks, girls,” I told them gratefully as we approached.

“No problem, Snow,” Maryn replied with a smile. “We thought that all of you might want to stick together and our other teammates are in the boys’ dorm.”

There wasn’t really a lot of furniture or storage space in the room and it looked like each pair of bunks shared a large wooden chest that sat at the foot of the lower bunks. I opened the closest one and found that there was a divider inside to separate the belongings of the two occupants of the bunks. “Snowy and I will share this one!” Autumn blurted out, calling dibs on both me and the bunk before anyone else could.

Risha seemed a bit disappointed but quickly shook it off. “I’ll bunk with Heather then,” the avatar offered, leaving Karina and Lisbet as bunkmates for the final pair of beds.

As we all started to pack our things away in the large chests I looked at the bunks and, since I didn’t really have a preference, I asked Autumn, “Would you prefer to be on the top or the bottom?”

“Oh my, how forward of you, Snowy,” the redheaded Fae replied with a flirty wink. “We’re not even mates yet and there are rules against that sort of thing but, if you really must know, I think that I would like to be on top.”

“You and me both,” Orchid purred playfully as she latched on to Maryn, causing the brunette Human to turn bright red. I wasn’t blushing quite as bad as she was as I hurriedly finished packing my clothes away, but I was getting used to Autumn by now.

We quickly finished putting our things away and then took a tour of the girls’ dorm area with Maryn, Orchid, and both of our teams’ Trainers. The Trainer for Maryn and Orchid’s team was a Foxkin woman named Kelsie. She had long chestnut-colored hair that matched her big floofy tail and fox ears and her left arm was missing from just above the elbow. Poor Lisbet couldn’t stop staring at first.

Kelsie noticed and told us, “We fight Demons, there’s always the risk of severe injury, even when we think that we’re being careful. I’m lucky to not be dead. I’ve learned from the experience though, and since I’m not going to be able to return to active duty until it grows back, I was asked to become a trainer for one of this year’s new training teams.”

Lisbet’s eyes went wide. “It’ll grow back?” the Harekin asked in an awed tone.

“Yup, though Sira told me that it might take up to a year, and I’ll be eating a lot more during that time to fuel the process. As long as we aren’t dead, our nanites can always put us together again to perfect health and fighting form. It just takes time and, since they stop us from aging too, we have plenty of that.”

“That’s why if one of you gets seriously injured the others need to stop the bleeding first and foremost, even if you have to cauterize the wound. Even if a wound looks fatal, don’t give up until they’re actually dead. Most Angels die from immediately fatal wounds or by bleeding out before the damage can be completely healed,” my grandmother warned us.

“Losing an arm for a while might be an inconvenience but it’s a hell of a lot better than dying, so never give up on a teammate,” Kelsie agreed.

With that said, we continued on our tour. There really wasn’t much to see though, and girls weren’t allowed in the boys’ dormitory wing. Basically, there were just the girls’ dorm rooms for years one through three and the communal baths and bathrooms. The latter were built by Tinkers but weren’t near as advanced or as luxurious as the facilities that we had gotten used to at Eden Base, Kiley’s house, or Woodbury Base.

Once we were done touring the dormitory area they showed us where the classrooms, Tinker and Alchemist labs, and the courtyards for team battles were. We would only be using the last one while we were here but the trainers thought that it would be best if we knew our way around anyway. Last, but not least, we were shown to the dining hall where the evening meal was just getting started.

The food served for dinner was tasty and well-made but we had been spoiled since meeting Risha and I found myself missing the variety available through the food dispensers. I had other things on my mind as well, like how I was going to have the privacy to get out of my H.E.S.S and how to keep my fellow students from discovering it. That was going to be a problem when we would be sleeping and bathing together.

Sure, I had it in the ‘hidden’ setting that made it look like I wasn’t wearing anything, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to sleep or bathe in it. That was doubly true since I had no idea how long we were going to be staying in the capital. Eventually, I asked Connie about it and my NCI said there would be no harm in wearing it continuously, even in the bath. In fact, it was designed with that kind of thing in mind.

The H.E.S.S suits were originally meant for planetary exploration and harsh environments and so it was expected that the wearer could be expected to wear them anywhere from hours to months at a time. As such, it not only disposed of the wearer’s bodily wastes but also cleansed their body once every twenty-four hours, was designed with maximum comfort in mind in all modes, and could be submerged even in non-aquatic modes with no issues. I did have to admit that it was comfortable, even if it has been a little awkward and uncomfortable at first when it had made its way into my most personal places.

With that settled I began to pay more attention to my meal, and my dinner companions. Maryn and Orchid had introduced us to the rest of Phantom Wing as soon as we got to the dining hall. The first of their teammates was Kyle Cervus, a brown-haired and brown-eyed Deerkin with not only the tail and ears but a set of antlers as well. The other was Peter Lapin, a Harekin with reddish-brown coloring who seemed to have gotten Lisbet’s attention from the way that she was watching him as we ate.

While calling themselves Phantom Wing may have seemed ominous, they named themselves that because none of their Seed-borne gifts were offensive in nature or suited to direct attacks. Maryn’s gift was to create illusory decoys of anyone that she could see, while Orchid could change her skin color to blend completely into the terrain, shadows, or darkness. As for the boys on their team, Kyle could create balls of swirling light that were extremely hypnotic to look at, and Peter could control mist and fog and create it from water.

Their Trainer, Kelsie, was planning on teaching them a lot of distraction and hit-and-run tactics to play to their strengths. Personally, I thought that was a very good idea. My grandmother also mentioned that they would probably be pretty useful as a support team to back other teams up too, once they were trained.

“So, why did you go for six people for your team?” Maryn asked as we were finishing our meal. “We were told that the usual is four per training team.”

“Well, originally we had five but then we met Risha and she seems to fit in pretty well with us,” Karina said with a shrug.

“It was actually my idea,” my grandmother admitted. “I have been wanting to form larger teams with support members who can handle long-term missions under potentially harsh conditions for a while now. Snow is my granddaughter, so I know what she’s capable of, and the others all have gifts that would be useful to the type of team that I wanted to create. Their team is a bit of an experiment to see if the idea will work.”

“So it’s true then?” Peter asked self-consciously. “You took them into the Twin City ruins and they fought Demons and found the new bases that you were talking about?”

My grandmother simply nodded as Lisbet said, “Well technically the bases are only new to us, they’ve been around since before the old world fell.”

“Are they even going to be livable if they’ve been abandoned for that long? What about Demons?” Kyle asked.

“We checked them out pretty thoroughly and we should be comfortable there once Sira and the Angels can get all of the important stuff from Eden Base moved,” I promised. I didn’t elaborate though since we were supposed to be keeping a lot of the more sensitive information quiet until we were out of the capital.

“Why didn’t you girls tell us about that part earlier?” Orchid asked, looking a bit hurt.

“We were told to keep things classified until we got here, Orchid,” Autumn told her fellow Fay. “So, we had to leave some things out. We couldn’t risk anyone getting excited about it and saying something on the Gentle Breeze. It would have been reported to the Queen or her backers before we were ready to move. You saw how the crew was listening to our conversations. One slip up and we would have been turned around and on our way there right now, and the Queen would be insisting on taking possession of Eden Base immediately.”

“To hell with the Queen, and anyone connected to her,” Maryn spat bitterly, making Heather visibly wince. “I’m… from here in the capital, my Dad is a Tinker working for the Corps here. He put my name forward as a possible light-bearer and I was kind of relieved when I was chosen. I mean, sure, we look Human, and as long as we’re careful nobody would ever know that we’re Seed-borne but that just makes it easier for us to see how bad things have been getting for visible Seed-borne in the city since that bitch took the throne. There are even rumors that her sickly eldest daughter is a Seed-borne and she was cast out.”

“Those rumors are more accurate than you know,” Heather said with a depressed look.

Since Autumn was the closest of us, she put her arm around the former princess and pulled her into a hug. “Hey, don’t let it get you down, Heather. You have us now, and we’ll be the family that she should have been. That bitch is about as good at being a mother as she is at being a queen.”

“What do you mean?” Orchid asked as she gave the two other Fay a curious look.

“I am… I mean I was the princess,” Heather admitted morosely.

The eyes of every member of Phantom Wing, including their Trainer, went wide in shock. “But you are Fay,” Orchid protested as she tried to mentally process Heather’s claim.

“The Angel Elixir uses the best genes available for the new body template,” my grandmother explained. One of her Seed-borne ancestors was likely starting to turn into a Fay before the process halted and those genes were strong enough in Heather that the nanites finished the job when her body was being optimized.”

Maryn suddenly looked like she felt terrible as she stammered, “Heather, I’m sorry, I… uhh… didn’t mean to….”

Heather cut off her apology. “No, you were right and so was Autumn. She’s a terrible Queen and a worse mother. When I was born with pink hair and eyes she hid me away; I wasn’t allowed to leave the palace or to see anyone but her and the servants caring for me, so people wouldn’t connect a freak like me to the royal house.”

I interrupted to tell her sternly, “You’re not a freak, Heather. You never were. None of us are, no matter what some people might believe.”

“Yeah, you’re right, Snow,” she admitted. “Anyway, things only got worse when she took the throne and my sister was born, she never made time for me and I was told that my only choice was to join the Corps when I was old enough. I was actually looking forward to it and then she used me to try to push Archangel Abbadine into doing what she wanted. I guess that I kind of did the same thing but I just wanted some control over things and I wanted to learn to be an Angel from the best. It wasn’t like my mother cared, I wasn’t useful as a daughter so she found another use for me.”

“Kids aren’t supposed to be useful, they’re supposed to be loved and cared for,” Phantom Wing’s Foxkin Trainer muttered bitterly.

With all of us finished eating and the conversation getting a bit heavy we decided to head to the baths and then settle into the dormitory early for bed. We had all had a long day and wanted to get some rest since we were supposed to have our first team-on-team battles in the morning followed by an afternoon of exploring the capital and getting a feel for the atmosphere. Since Maryn knew the city pretty well she had offered to show us a great café that was run by her uncle and friendly to Seed-borne so our two teams could have lunch there before splitting up to explore the city.

Despite the facilities not being as good as at the base we all enjoyed the hot bath. Well, at least we girls did since Peter and Kyle had had to go to their own dormitory’s bath. Even with my H.E.S.S on it was nice to just relax and soak with the other girls. The hidden mode worked well too; somebody would have had to get a pretty close look at me or actually touch me to notice that I was wearing it. Since Autumn had insisted on ‘washing my back’ she helped to sell it too.

Soon we were all sleepy from the hot water though and, once we were dried off, we quickly dressed in our nightgowns and headed back to our dormitory to settle into bed. It was strange being in bed alone after those nights sleeping with Autumn, and later with Risha and Heather joining us as well. I found myself missing their warmth and their company even though I knew that Autumn was just above me and Risha and Heather were in the bunks to my right. Despite that, and all of the worries that I was harboring about our stay in the capital and all of the possible ways that it could go bad, I found myself quickly drifting off to sleep.

© 2021-2022 Amethyst Gibbs
All Rights Reserved

Further chapters are available to the public on my Patreon page.

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food for thought

" I had it in the ‘hidden’ setting that made it look like I wasn’t wearing anything"
+
"Orchid could change her skin color to blend completely into the terrain, shadows, or darkness."

just think about it...

Orchid

Amethyst's picture

She'll definitely be an asset as a sniper once she's used to her weapon, especially if she can get HESS armor.

*big hugs*

Amethyst

ChibiMaker1.jpg

Don't take me too seriously. I'm just kitten around. :3

Nice

I didn’t think of that she should definitely get one she could end up being the best scout in the core.

hugs :)
Michelle SidheElf Amaianna

and I suspect initially the

and I suspect initially the HESS units would be provided 1 per team

Can't wait to see the

Can't wait to see the reaction of the queen and her cohorts when they discover all they got was an empty building. Just to have some fun with them they should put an encrypted lock on the door on their way out, either that or leave some equipment behind that can only be activated by angels or other seedborne, it would serve them right for wanting to get rid of them.

As a special "present", leave

As a special "present", leave behind an old-fashioned safe (with a worn out clicking dial, so that it can be easily cracked). When the queens people manage to open it, let them be blasted with Pink Floyd's "Empty spaces" from a small hi-fi set within the safe. >:->

Surprises

Amethyst's picture

The Angels will leave behind anything damaged beyond repair, that they don't have fuel for, and anything else that will frustrate the new residents. And repair systems will be automated to make it a pain in the ass to figure out how the electricity, lighting, or anything else in Eden Base works. They're going to be mean about it ;)

*big hugs*

Amethyst

ChibiMaker1.jpg

Don't take me too seriously. I'm just kitten around. :3

Civil war

Problem is, secrets of how nice the new digs are will leak out and Queen Bitch will demand to take it no matter what prior agreement is in place as well, 'it's good to be the queen'.

At some point I think the Angels will just have to say 'no' and have to face her down imho, especially as the Angels are not directly sworn to her or to Misota for that matter.

It will likely take a while

It will likely take a while for that to happen.

1) The ruins have been 'no go' zones for a long time. No intelligence assets in place.
2) With the replicators and power sources, they won't have to depend on regular shipments of food and supplies, transported by non-members. (members, allies, etc).
3) What they do end up needing to have transported will likely be small enough to fit in the VTOLs.

Now, eventually they'll declare the ruins 'safe enough', which will encourage people to come to scavenge for materials, but that will take a while. That's when information on the new bases will come to light.


I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.

Also when they have visits,

Also when they have visits, they can go with the line that the outpost at Kiley's house is "The Base"

That did occur to me

The problem is they still have to take deliveries of goods from outside of the area, possibly even from the queen in order to continue the illusion that they have this huge dependency on supplies at least for a while so they either have to use their own transport all of the time or use their 'PO Box' base as the delivery point.

I guess they can distribute any unneeded supplies to the needy at Kriss-mas time.

Oh and speaking of the forward base, it will be interesting to see how they create a new AI to run the place.

Those deliveries aren't

Those deliveries aren't likely to happen, not in the way you're thinking. They're going to the largest "No-go" zone in the local area. The normal delivery folks are very unlikely to be willing to come anywhere close. At most, maybe a landing zone outside the old city, and it's up to the Angels to bring them in. The quality will also continue to drop - luckily, it'll still be useful as source materials. Transformation would always be more energy efficient than transmutation.


I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.

Money

Well I don't know if the flow of money from the queen can be guaranteed, the Angels might have to get entrepeneurial and figure out ways to make money, this saving everybody from Demons thingy may not pay well in the future.

the Queen wants to maintain

the Queen wants to maintain SOME leverage. Plus the Angels are a big part of why the various towns and villages pay taxes, i doubt that's lost on her

Leverage

Of course she wants that.

My point is they have to be able to call any such bluff. Greatly reducing the dependency on deliveries for day to day needs will greatly reduce that leverage. But like it or not the Angels still need some kind of currency with other regions, it's kinda hard to do barter for services over such a vast area unless the Angels want to make a separate arrangement and get rid of the queen as the middleman.

They need a long term plan to mitigate the queen's moves and Woodbury Base is probably the foundation.

What occurred to me is that the unique products of those dispensers will provide luxury goods to those wealthy folks who will pay a lot for, eliminating the tax dependency and getting out from under the queen's thumb.

I was speaking of quality of

I was speaking of quality of supplies, however as for getting creative, you mean like automobiles, refrigerators, and anything else that the Tinkers and Alchemists can recreate

Yep

High status goods always pays well, just ask Apple.

Yes, quality does matter too and of course commands a premium. But nothing compares to a new luxury good that will be the envy of your wealthy friends who would in turn be desperate to get one just to keep up.

What the Angels have is a billionaire oligarch's wet dream really.

It is also what the wealthy want in acquiring Eden base I think, gaining sole control of technologies that will give them even more wealth, but the Angels should play the same game.

OTOH, given what those things can do, they can literally create currency that is indistinguishable from the real thing.

But let's assume for the moment that the Angels are more ethical than that.

The replicators I imagine

The replicators I imagine would be restricted to internal use, anything they sell would be expected to be reverse engineered, as such they have to stick to stuff that COULD be made with current tech

Holy crap

Amethyst's picture

Lots of discussion on this thread. How things go with the Queen will depend how well the Angels can negotiate and what she's willing to give up to get the base, especially if she wants to stop the supply shipments. They do have replicators to help with supplies though, even though the queen doesn't know that, and transports that can be used to quietly get anything else that they need. The Angels will want to play up that they're going to be losing a lot out of this deal, especially, since they would have to 'set up a new base in a demon-frequented zone'. It'll come down to who negotiates and pulls the wool over the other's eyes better.

*big hugs*

Amethyst

ChibiMaker1.jpg

Don't take me too seriously. I'm just kitten around. :3

The Angels are already ahead.

The Angels are already ahead. The Queen and her brainwasher... husband, are already predisposed to believe that the animen are lesser. That's the entire reasoning behind this - including towards her own daughter. (We don't know how the sister/heir feels, at this point)

Therefore, why should they work too hard to fool less intelligent 'animals'?


I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.

True

Amethyst's picture

That's one of the benefits of people underestimating you, they're a lot easier to deceive.

*big hugs*

Amethyst

ChibiMaker1.jpg

Don't take me too seriously. I'm just kitten around. :3

underestimating

That just means they've deceived themselves, the risk then is if they get the impression that it's TOO easy, overestimating can be just as problematic as students of military history (with a focus on military deceptions and/or last stands) would tell you

Once they officially own the

Once they officially own the territory the new bases are on, it doesn't matter, right now the Queen is able to exert such influence because of Eminent Domain, Eden base has always been secret so the Angels might not own the land it is on, as for changing the terms, that's why they want to make the agreement public, breaking the agreement soon after it has been made, with a popular organization, will cost her MASSIVE influence,

Own

Well this is where it is a bit murky.

Ownership of land in a feudal system always defaults back to the sovereign. I don't see how the queen is ceding her eminent domain rights is the sticking point.

Unless the land is free from her sovereignty (which would make it effectively a new state, almost like the Vatican(?)) then the issue of whether she will try to take it back is always an issue. Leaving aside the fact people have been stealing other people's land as in forever.

Yes, it could be a disaster in terms of PR but the wealthy in any country have been well known to outright lie to their people to get their way (gee, I wonder which fascist political group in the US is using that tact? Hmmmm... and no, there is lying (as all politicians will do) but then there is Lying, as in the Big Lie)

I am not so sanguine that the powers that be who are making their move now to consolidate their power think they have figured out how to 'put a nose-ring' on those 'different' people who we should only tolerate and use them like the animals they look like.

the various towns are mostly

the various towns are mostly self governing, the land set aside would be treated in a similar fashion (already a basis for it) it's not a traditional feudal system as all the villages decide how they are internally governed, which means breaking that kind of agreement will NOT be popular with the rest of the Queendom

Self governing

I guess I am missing where the self-governing part is coming from. The chiefs seem to still request help from the capital.

The Angels were until now paid in a percentage of taxation so how does one tax a self-governing area, maybe more like a tributary area?

The political landscape need filling in if I am to see the whole picture.

it's not explicitly stated,

it's not explicitly stated, but implied. Think about it, the Animan villages are lead by chiefs selected among their own, and it's likely the Devilkin and Fae have their own methods of chosing leaders as well, it's plausible nobility doesn't practically exist outside the federal executive level, how can it? you've got humans whom are basically prudes, the fae who are very comfortable naked, and plenty of people in between, the only way they would agree to a central government is if that government didn't interfere with how their lives are run within their villages. 4 culturally distinct groups of people (really 5 if you count rich humans as a distinct subculture from most humans) that we know of,

Using Europe as an example (I

Using Europe as an example (I have no real in-depth research of Asia, East or West), feudal property owners held the land by consent of the monarch, yes, but the monarch had to have a FANTASTIC excuse to actually seize the land back. The other feudal lords, even those backing the monarch, would be enormously disinclined to continue to support a monarch who just randomly kicked one of his nobles off of their land to hand to cronies. Historically, it required a pretext, such as being on the losing side in a civil war, failing to provide any taxes, or straight conquest. In a case like this, once the land has been deeded over for the Angels, especially any _large_ amount of land, a straight out disenfranchisement and seizure is likely to end up with the Queen standing with a large amount of her nobles wondering if they're next, and what to do about it.


I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.

and the Angel Corps would be

and the Angel Corps would be fairly popular with most of those that'd have such concerns basically the Corps are setting it up such there might be a Civil War if the Queen pushes too hard, but they won't make the first strike, and they might not be officially fighting it.

Property

Amethyst's picture

The Queen could use eminent domain, but doing so against the Angels who are risking their lives to keep people safe would lose her a lot of support. Right now she's able to do this in the shadows because the Angels don't own the land that the base is on but doing so again on land that is publicly known to be theirs could be shooting herself in the foot politically. They really don't want a civil war, especially with what the Angels are capable of. That's why the Angels will want this deal to be very public and they will make their terms very clear.

*big hugs*

Amethyst

*big hugs*

Amethyst

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Don't take me too seriously. I'm just kitten around. :3

Team on team battles

Well, we will soon see how much sexism there is among the male Angels when Snowy shows up with her big honking blade and feel the need to buck up their dominance in the face of a girl who probably can break them in half.

Edit: Plus since this crew is the personal training team of the First Angel so their mettle will be especially challenged.

yup

Amethyst's picture

Most of them probably won't be too bad, but it largely depends on how they were raised and how they see women in general and women of their own species. Those who push Snow and her team though will likely regret it.

*big hugs*

Amethyst

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Don't take me too seriously. I'm just kitten around. :3

They should leave breadcrumbs.....

of the technology that is. Just little pieces of un repairable tech maybe the chassis and skin of a few of the larger tech devices with no guts. Also set off an emp to kill all the nanites or program them to die off so the base doesn't keep itself maintained. Let them keep the power on until it can't maintain itself and then lights out with no way to power it back on. I would love to be there when the queen realizes she got rid of the angels but didn't gain anything she was actually after just an old bunker with little to no tech left.

EllieJo Jayne

That presupposes that they'll

That presupposes that they'll _never_ want to use Eden Base again. Better to just have it locked down in maintenance only mode.


I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.

also far more frustrating in

also far more frustrating in maintenance only. as it'd be hard to reverse engineer even the lights when everything keeps repairing itself

Yup

Amethyst's picture

They'll lock it down in maintenance mode and leave some things inside to frustrate the new owners, if they even manage to get inside without an AI to work the elevators for them. ;)

*big hugs*

Amethyst

ChibiMaker1.jpg

Don't take me too seriously. I'm just kitten around. :3

Outlive

Maybe.

The Angels have been around for like what? 400 years and they don't seem to have 16000 members or so assuming they gain like 40 members a year. Unless they retire or are on leave that seems like there is a lot of attrition likely to happen even in the 80 year lifespan for a normal human.

what makes you think even

what makes you think even half of them are at Eden and the Academy right now? most would probably have long term posts at various villages

Long term posts

It has not been mentioned?

Village outposts would likely take a lot of resources to support outpost members so regional centers would make more sense in terms of responsiveness and maintainability.

I would think these forces would have to be notified ahead of time to such a momentous change at central HQ.

It will become more clear as the deployment posture of Angel forces get revealed in future chapters.

it has, Rose threatened

it has, Rose threatened Tadwick with having him transferred to one of the rural areas near where he grew up. it just hasn't been important, remember first person narrator. as for why, until now, they've only had 6 VTOLs, which while fast, aren't instant and at max capacity can only carry about 5 teams, and for flexibility, they've had at least one with just 2 teams, they'd have to have people stationed further out because the VTOLs wouldn't be available all that quickly enough to every area of concern, add to that all the over crowding they're dealing with

I did get that reference

I was interpreting it more of a case of establishing a frontier post which in this case is Dakoda (and not in Misota) rather than maintaining an existing one.

That is why I am advocating that establishing regional bases make more sense in terms of responsiveness and not having stationing comparatively harder to support and manage teams in far flung villages. The need more Legionnaire like outposts rather than having only now Woodbury base providing support, support which now will take longer to get to anywhere I suspect.

Speaking of which, if the academy is leaving Twinvale then I presume Twinvale will merely be another outpost then.

the new VTOLs are faster,

the new VTOLs are faster, plus I suspect Woodbury is more central, whereas Eden is very close to the capital

Woodbury base location

Maybe? People tend to congregate around areas of safety so in a sense I think the Angels ultimately provides a lot of that safety and since they have pacified the area around the capital over the centuries, the capital is by definition 'central'.

Twinvale, the fictional small city, is probably the fictional version of Twin Valley Minnesota which is on the western edge of Minnesota, close to South Dakota I think and that is very far away from the twin cities of Minneapolis and St Paul, where the ruins are. If fiction meets real life, that is 266 miles by road and probably 200 miles as the crow flies, not an easy trip at all.

people situate based on

people situate based on resources and logistics, Eden was located for obscurity so Twinsvale might not be that close to the Mississippi, anyways we know the village Raven's from is pretty close to Woodbury,

Rose's threat

Amethyst's picture

she was threatening him with long-term border patrol they don't really have a lot of people to keep Demons or hostiles from other countries from entering Misota so it's become a type of punishment for those who don't take their oaths as seriously as they should.

*big hugs*

Amethyst

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Don't take me too seriously. I'm just kitten around. :3

A dangerous job

Amethyst's picture

Fighting Demons is dangerous and a lot of recruits don't live long if they aren't careful. This is in part because while they have great weapons, are fairly durable, and can even grow back limbs, until now they haven't had any armor better than leather or steel which is like paper to Demons. Now they have access to new typse of gear and resources that should help lower the mortality rate of new Angels.

*big hugs*

Amethyst

ChibiMaker1.jpg

Don't take me too seriously. I'm just kitten around. :3

Exploring the city

Snow is going to get a log of attention for her non-human features. I don't think it will be case of her getting hurt (unless they try to shoot her face with a gun, her body is protected by that H.E.S.S) but more of a problem of restraint on her part to not lay a beat down that could kill the stupid human harassers.

Still this could very well be a tense mission that they should plan for.

I think you're

I think you're underestimating her, the mission is information gathering, cooperating with officers for as long as possible would be a great way to overhear what they really think

Yup

Amethyst's picture

Snow stands out, even from other Animen. She should be safe enough but that doesn't mean somebody won't try something. Probably best to be prepared.

*big hugs*

Amethyst

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Don't take me too seriously. I'm just kitten around. :3

Validation

Amethyst's picture

It's nice to have that when you really need to hear it. Heather has a lot of confidence issues and most of her earlier arrogance was all an act. Hopefully she'll realize her own value without having to be told someday.

*big hugs*

Amethyst

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Don't take me too seriously. I'm just kitten around. :3

Yep,

Wendy Jean's picture

Sounds like the queen isn't going to be in charge of her angels much longer. I doubt that they want the responsibility of ruling the Kingdom, being immortal means that if they were it would probably be very good government.

Very good for a while,

Very good for a while, perhaps, but they're still human(ish). That means after a while, they'd get bored, and that spells bad government.


I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.

control

she never was in charge of them,

Mums the word

Jamie Lee's picture

Excitement over something new, can cause loose tongues before the brain engages. And if something needs to stay unknown, not talking about it is the best way to keep it secure.

There is the question of how well the recruits will be treated when they go to explore the capital. Will they be recognized as Angel recruits, and ignored, or challenged by those who want the Angels gone? Or challenged by some pea brain who thinks the recruits are easy targets?

Another question is in regards to how the Queen, and her backers, will react when they take possession of a base that's devoid of anything useful. Might she, or her backers, have hissy fits and demand things be returned?

Politics isn't a game the Queen and her backers should be playing on a world that still needs cleansed of demons. Everyone needs to work together if they are to get their world back.

Others have feelings too.

Confrontation

I’m hoping the Queen isn’t stupid enough to push for a violent confrontation but I doubt it. I’m also curious what the other states do to handle demons, since the core is breaking with the state are they gonna end up expanding and going national and then international eventually. When ever the twin cities is completely cleaned I can see them building another tower, walls, one or more star drives around the city to create hard light domes to protect the entire city. They have the technology now to completely fortify the city.

hugs :)
Michelle SidheElf Amaianna