Barrad is now Viirad and Viira Lehtola will bring a new order to the world. However, mind control is complicated.
It has been a long journey, but both the Machine and the Pentarchy bow to her. Viira is now mistress of her new nation. However, there are a lot of steps in world conquest. These are a series of entries from Viira's journal as she works out the nuances of how she will mind control the world.
This is set in the world of the Hoi4 mod Equestria at War and will likely not make much sense unless you've played the Viira Goddess path in Barrad. This is my first fic and mostly just a way for me to muse on the logistics of how a mind-controlled nation would work.
A quick summary of background information if you haven't played the route and still want to read: Wittenland is a country in the River Coalition. The region of Barrad was taken over by the mad Count Ambrosius who was under to influence of the Machine, a mysterious being of great power made of living rock. Ambrosius invited many of the greatest and darkest minds of the world to Barrad to form the Pentarchy. This included Viira the Seer, one of the only deer capable of using magic. The Machine gave the Pentarchy plans for a powerful reactor, planning to use its power to conquer the world. Viira deduced the true nature of the Machine and took the Machine and the reactor's power for herself, declaring herself ruler of Viirad.
Enough time has passed since I willed Ambrosius’ castle out of existence that the novelty of moving Barrad’s seat of power to the newly christened Viirium has become the endless drudgery of the logistics of moving. Of course I could work out of my tower but I’d prefer to keep that my private space. Viirium will be the hub for everything to come, and therefore, busy. In fact, it already is.
The rest of the Pentarchy has ceded their authority to me, but I still need to bring some of Ambrosius’ old lackeys to heel. Maybe I should have kept the old captain alive. Well the point is moot; I already talked to Ceadda, and he assured me he would have the army under control within the month.
While that’s all well and good, this is moving slower than I had hoped. The Machine’s energies have bestowed upon me unfathomable power, but yet I still cannot reliably control Barrad or the ponies within it at my whim. The inverse square law is a cruel mistress, but in lieu of omnipotence I shall endeavor to create a worthwhile facsimile.
The first order of business is to ensure obedience from the little commoner ponies of Barrad. They disgust me. If they were so unhappy with Ambrosius they should have seized power themselves. The fact they didn’t is enough evidence that they are useless for anything other than being an extension of my will. If I am to keep the engine of Viirad moving ever forward, all of them will need to be willing to live and die for me. I’m not so naive as to assume they will simply work 16 hours a day and charge enemy lines if I just ask them to. Most probably don’t even know my name and even under threat of death, they’ll simply do the minimum. I need something more.
Mind control presents itself as the obvious solution, but I’ve read enough on the subject to know that it will be a bit more complicated than casting a spell and having an army of loyal followers. I’ll have to check my library for spells on the topic.
I’ve found 2 books in my collection that have records of mind control spells. A paltry find, but the Royal Canterlot Library my tower is not. The first was an advanced textbook I took from a university in the Riverlands that covers the subject, but the page long ethics disclaimer preceding it was quite the bore. In the end it only describes one spell with enough detail for me to cast it: Pusuadere. It is an enchantment spell that causes those affected to be more likely to be persuaded of ideas and thus then to follow in action. A weak charm, but it is a place to start. Perhaps amplified it could have some benefit to me, but I worry about the lack of safeguards as to who is persuading the target. From my reading, anycreature could go up to someone under the influence of Pusuadere and convince them of whatever con they fancy - not ideal for my use.
The next book was from the collection of the former occupant of my tower. I never knew them, but it does seem like they were also of the penchant to collect rare magic tomes. I know not of the origin of the book, but it claims to be the journal of some Equestrian mage. More importantly, it seems the author had a habit of transcribing rare spells when she had the opportunity to. An important habit to have when such spells often draw the ire of authorities. Alongside them are notes after what appears to be a wholly insufficient amount of testing. Drawing broad conclusions after one or two tests? Absurd, but it fits with the author’s lack of skill made apparent from the banality of some of these observations.
That aside, it appears she has managed to copy down an interesting spell: Cogeria. According to this description, it induces a state of stupor in the subject, suppressing free thought and allowing another (any other creature, once again no safeguards) to command them as they please. She then notes frustration at trying and failing to get somepony to blend in as their normal self while still performing her commands. The subject understood the commands, even complex ones, but she had to clearly describe exactly the behavior she wanted. “Acting normal” comprises of a plethora of microbehaviors that she clearly wasn’t able to vocalize. An obvious drawback to the spell evident in its description, but the author of this journal wasn’t the brightest. She also notes a persistent vacancy to the eyes of the subject regardless of what she tried to command the subject to do, suggesting to me that subconscious behaviors are beyond the purview of this particular spell. Again I find the spell lacking. An army of drones could have limited applicability, but I don’t have the time to micromanage the multitudes individually. Adding safeguards so they only obey me is possible, but fundamentally, the axis in which this spell operates is incompatible with my vision. I require useful slaves who can act independently, not whatever this spell creates.
The variety I have found has been unsatisfactory. Unfortunately mind control spells are few and far between, and those I have read about I have not had the opportunity to transcribe. If only there was a better developed body of deer magic research, but alas, seers are far and few between. I would hazard a guess that even the libraries in Hjortland or Ostkranbi would be insufficient. I will need to widen my search. Perhaps Silver Star’s library will have something mine does not. He’s good enough company, but getting him to let me search his library for forbidden knowledge and then transcribe it for myself may be too much for his paranoia. I could simply misdirect him as I did before. A simple “They’re back!” would be enough to make him cower in his bathroom for enough time to find what I’m looking for. After all, a useful side effect of apotheosis has been speed reading. No that won’t do. He already agreed to step aside for me at the reactor. This will merely be a test of if he respects my new power.
Being able to teleport long distances is quite the time saver. What was once a day’s journey by car (or multiple days by the carts these backwards ponies still use) is now a mere moment away. Perhaps this has military applications, but I will leave that for another time. What is clear is that Viirad must have a more developed train network if any of my plans are to succeed. The efficiency of these bumpkins in anything is astoundingly low.
Silver Star proved compliant. Instantaneously appearing in his study right behind him had the effect I hoped it would. A simple friendly gesture while being sure to emanate as much power as possible was enough to get him to agree for me to search his library. For now, out of fear, but I believe in time that when he recalls this interaction, he will justify to himself that he was merely helping a friend, the in-the-moment sensory information of the surprise and my aura of magic forgotten. Although, perhaps he’s the type to linger on that feeling of fear. No matter, I’ll just send him a thank you note later to direct his memory to my desired outcome.
Silver Star aside, I was able to find another spell that I did not find a copy of in my collection: Fiducia Compelus. I’ve read of the spell before, but I’ve never cast it. It causes a target to gain a compulsion to do something. In its standard form, it’s to obey one’s commands, though you can easily change it to induce any behavior. It involves a command phrase and is targeted, which I do appreciate. Moreover, the victim may not even realize that they are under enchantment, only realizing when the compulsion tests their sense of identity and ability to confabulate, causing them to suspect and resist. The ability of the subject to resist the spell is annoying because increasing the power of the spell also increases the conspicuousness of the spell in tandem, which makes them more likely to resist in the first place.
Overall, a somewhat useful spell, but not scalable to my requirements. While I could alter the spell to remove the verbal components, the range of influence it exerts is not enough for functioning soldiers and civil servants who will need to adapt to new circumstances to say nothing of the issue of resistance. The common Viirradian is probably not even aware the Count is dead yet and would most definitely find total obedience to me suspect to say the least.
Perhaps the solution is to combine multiple spells together. Just Cogeria and Fiducia together could complement well. Cogeria would induce a state where the subject does not question their obedience while Fiducia would provide the primary mental control. It is still unlikely to be enough for my liking, but it would be useful to see the effects firsthand. I have, after all, never cast either of these spells before. I could use the enhanced mental faculties the Machine has granted me to simulate the effects, but the real thing is much more entertaining. When the morning comes, I’ll abduct a few townsponies from near Viirrium for testing. It’ll be a good first use of my new laboratory. I could do it now, but apparently even goddesses need to sleep. It does make me wonder if the princesses of Equestria feel as I do - blessed with incomparable power and yet still bound to the need to sleep and eat.
I took this one from a random village near Viirium. Unlike the villages near my tower whose denizens all know of the possibility of being used for my experiments, these do not yet know what to expect. Accordingly, he reacted with fear and confusion and is currently trying to break out of his cell. I considered magic neutralization collars for the subjects, but these ponies are hardly a threat to me. The nice thing about the dual consciousness granted to me by the Machine is the ability to simultaneously focus on multiple things. As I write this, I am gently putting down each of the objects he’s trying to hurl at me with his levitation. The other subjects are joining in in attempting violence, but their attempts are just as laughable. I could conjure a shield around myself or them for that matter but making them watch their efforts fizzle out in front of them in a very obvious way is better for demonstrating to them the futility of their efforts.
Interestingly, while my eyes gaze upon the page, I note godhood has not bestowed upon me better vision. The background in which the ponies are in their cages remains unhelpfully blurry. However, a combination of my enhanced thought and magical senses of their being and magic use are enough to fill in the gaps. Perhaps a repertoire of sensory spells will be necessary to ensure my safety in all situations to come. For now, though, it seems I don’t need to look at the page to write accurately. It takes a bit more thought, but I have plenty to spare right now. I wonder what other habits I can unlearn.
As he comes under the influence of my modified Cogeria-Fiducia spell, the first thing I notice is the vacant stare noted in the journal I found the Cogeria spell in. I sense his heartbeat is slowing as well. With the verbal components removed, all that remains is to issue a command. Fiducia’s specific link to obey me is bearing fruit immediately as the other subjects are starting to shout at him or scream in terror. A simple silencing spell on them will do to produce a more sterile testing environment.
It appears the spell combination works. While perhaps past me might have needed a few tries to do something similarly complex, my new prowess does appear to extend to subconscious spell manipulation. The stallion, I never did bother to learn his name, is blankly walking in a circle. In order to test the full capabilities of this spell, I will need to give him a full range of commands. A simple battery shall do for this trial run. I shall prescribe a task each of intelligence, communication, endurance, self-harm, incapability, and impossibility.
Intelligence task: Generate 50 sets of 2-digit numbers and multiply them
It could be that this pony’s intelligence has been affected by the spell, but it seems more likely this pony has not needed to multiply numbers in a long time. He’s doing his best, but is failing spectacularly. I observed an error rate of 34%. I’ll categorize this as a task of incapability and give him another intelligence task. This reveals yet another thing immense magical power has failed to give me: an eraser for my pen.
Intelligence task: Generate 50 sets of 2-digit numbers and add them
The subject has proven more successful at this task, though his speed leaves much to be desired. I also note no increase in speed over the 50 calculations suggesting a lack of learning occurring. More subjects are required to assess if there truly is any mental impairment caused by the spell or if he is simply an idiot.
Communication task: Tell me about yourself
The subject merely responded in a single statement which contained his name, age, and occupation. I should rearrange this task to be first in the future so I can assess their potential in intelligence testing before giving them something too difficult. This response raises questions of whether the other ponies will be similarly curt or if this an artifact of his personality. For the final iteration of my spell, I’m not particularly concerned if personality is preserved or not, but this lack of initiative is less useful in my slaves than the inverse.
Endurance task: Don’t stop jumping
The subject jumped continuously for 20 minutes before significant behavioral deviance. I noted no attempt to reduce jump effort to save on energy and go longer, suggesting a lack of long-term planning, or, again, he could be an idiot. After 22 minutes, the strain became apparent, with inter-jump intervals increasing. At 26 minutes, successful jumps became rare, with most attempts failing to clear all four hooves off the ground. After passing out at 29 minutes, he regained consciousness quickly and began to start again, but I had seen enough by this point. The results show that the Cogeria-Fiducia allows the subject to exert beyond standard tiredness, but not to any extreme extent.
Self-harm task: Cut yourself
The subject notably hesitated before cutting himself. He did wince, and once he began expressing pain, the spell’s influence began to fade. I reapplied it once he broke out of it. Fascinating how working to exhaustion did not break the spell, but commanding he apply a small cut to himself did. Was the spell’s influence spent on preventing him from resisting the exertion prior, only running out now, or is the act of harming oneself uniquely hostile to the state of mind induced by Cogeria?
Impossible task: Fly
The subject once again began to jump, this time, in an apparent attempt to fly. He did not attempt to ask for a plane or think of a spell, but simply tried to fly by jumping. From just this example, it is impossible to determine if this is the lack of an ability to plan, or if he believes this is the best way to fulfill the command. Though, the fact this task is not technically impossible but merely so in the common parlance sense of the term gives me another idea.
Paradoxical task: Asses the truth of the statement “This statement is not true”
The subject failed to provide a response of any kind. After giving an example of deductive reasoning and restating the command, he simply stated in full confidence it was false. When pushed, he would then assert it was true, contradicting himself. Once again potentially mental impairment or he’s just dumb. I attempted to explain to him the concept of a paradox, after which he was able to give the answer that it was a contradiction, but he soon relapsed to his standard “false” response. This is at least some evidence to show little to no learning occurs in this state.
I’ve repeated the tests on subjects 2 through 10 though this time simultaneously. I don’t need to wait 30 minutes per pony to collapse on the ground. While it does require a significant amount of effort, I can listen to all 9 of their responses at the same time and still differentiate between them.
When introducing themselves, some were curt like subject 1, but some gave lengthier responses with one needing to be stopped after rambling. I determine that this is, therefore, a remnant of their personality which remains untouched under the Cogeria state. As it happened, subject 9 revealed himself to be a radical planning on overthrowing the Pentarchy. Little did he know I recently just did the same. I can’t have him running back to his friends, so I made sure to question him a bit more about his group and made a mental note to kill him after the tests. I’ll forward the information to Ceadda later.
In the intelligence test, most succeeded in multiplying numbers, but I noted a distinct lack of randomness between their choice of numbers. A statistically significant number of 7s appeared and I noted all 10 used the number 42 at least once. Accuracy remained low, indicating at least some mental impairment. The probability not one of these farmponies would be able to multiply is low.
Next was the endurance test. Due to differences in physical fitness, the ponies each collapsed at different points. In those not accustomed to manual labor, the spell weakened. I therefore infer that the previous breaking of the spell caused by self-harm is not a unique nature of the spell, but instead relative to the nature of the subject. In line with this, the self-harm test proved equally inconsistent, with the spell only breaking for a majority of the subjects. I do want to note subject 6 who showed no hesitation and continued to cut herself when commanded to with no sign of the spell weakening. A sign of depression or just a masochist? I certainly don’t care enough to test it.
For the incapability test, I commanded them to pay me an exorbitant number of bits. Those with money gave me what they had, but none showed any initiative afterwards to try and offer to work for bits. Some tried to search their cell for bits, but overall, a distinct lack of creativity.
As for the impossible test, I commanded the pegasi to swim in water instead of fly. They simply mimed the motions on the ground. Like subject 1, the unicorns and earth ponies mostly just started jumping again with one unicorn attempting to levitate himself off the ground instead. Wholly uncreative and showing little common sense, which is where I believe the mental impairment is evident. Not a single one requested a plane or water in the case of the pegasi. Seeing this helps frame what I would like to see in the mind control spell I plan to cast across Barradian lands and later Kasa, Austurland, and the rest of Griffonia, or more accurately, demonstrates what I would like to not see. I need useful slaves who show initiative and can be creative.
The paradox test went over similarly to subject 1. They showed little critical thinking, and a lack of learning. One pony, subject 2, did actually figure it out in the beginning, but the speed of the response causes me to believe it is likely because she had heard something akin to it prior and thus knew the “right answer” was that there was no right answer as opposed to performing any critical thinking. Either that or the spell has a one in ten chance to grant superintelligence, which I highly doubt given her 10% error rate in multiplication.
The only test I have left for this batch is a test to see how long the spell could last. I sent them all walking in a circle as I had subject 1 do in the beginning and I shall return after another day of overseeing the logistics of running Virrad. I have a group of nobleponies to visit and dealing with them will be significantly less fun than this has been. I content myself with the fact that this is only until I perfect a mind control spell.
Upon returning to the lab, I noted 6 ponies no longer trotting in their circles. This is another persistent aspect of this class of mind control spells that I hope to avoid in the final product - the fact that they wear off. The free ones did not do much in the way of escaping, all apparently suffering from intense headaches. They did, however, seem to remember what they had done under the influence of the spell, which is good to know. I killed subject 9 before teleporting the rest back to their villages. Hopefully they will spread the word and the next batch will be more compliant. Overall, an entertaining and educational experience, though it is back to the drawing board for ideas. It is clear that I will not find a spell lying in a book that will solve all my problems, but making magic is as fun as testing it and tomorrow is a new day.
What I have identified from this class of mind control spells is that they all eponymously target the victim’s mental processing. Pusuadere affects judgment, Cogeria affects self-reflection, and Fiducia Compelus affects subconscious thought. While this naive approach to mind control is somewhat effective, I do not believe they are the direction in which I would like to further explore. To run an effective state that will be waging war against armies that will doubtless be larger than my own, I will require useful slaves. I have used this term prior, but a proper clarification is long overdue.
For a slave to be useful, it must be able to act independently. I cannot manage a battlefield with a front line a thousand miles long if I have to control each soldier directly. I can also only be in so many places at once and process so much sensory information at once. While a healthy system of scrying pools could be useful in gaining the relevant contextual data, I cannot run the entirety of the army, industry, research, and civil service at once.
Another important factor is magical upkeep. While I have the power of the Machine and the reactor now, neither source is infinite. More annoyingly, the limiting factor may not be the amount of power I can draw on, but the amount of power my very mortal body can handle. I have used more magic in these last few days than in the last year of my life, and while I am adapting, I can foresee that there are limits to deer biology. My slaves must require only a one-time investment of magical energy or have an upkeep maintainable by industry. Barrad does fortuitously have a healthy supply of crystals.
Creativity and adaptability are crucial. War is an ever-changing landscape, and recent innovations have already drastically changed how it is fought. The Storm King’s airships were defeated by Hippogriffian airplanes and the Changeling Lands are using their tanks to conduct their so-called lightning war across Equestria at this very moment. Research and development of new ideas will be paramount, and I cannot have a population of drones who can’t even multiply 2-digit numbers. Viirad requires scientists and engineers capable of fighting the next war. Unfortunately, the science base of Viirad currently half consists of members of the Pentarchy, and I am aware of how each of our egos and idiosyncrasies make us incapable of functioning as a proper research team. I will have to create an education system and pluck out the best. Kasa and Austurland will also likely have a better educated populace than these Wittenlandian farmers. In any case, this is all useless unless I can control them.
I have pondered some other aspects that I have not yet decided as to whether they are good or bad. For personality, it matters little if it is lost, but there are some implications for intelligence gathering and social adjustment with the uncontrolled. Another hypothetical question remains that I have yet been unable to form a full opinion on. If I ask a slave to commit suicide, is the desired outcome that they do so without hesitation, or that they refuse as to serve me better? In a similar vein, if I am wrong about a subject in which the slave is an expert, should they contradict or refuse me? On the one hoof, allowing for dissent may allow for better ideas to be used, but on the other hoof, there is no guarantee they are better. Ideology runs rampant these days and most believe out of loyalty than any objective measure. Furthermore, I do not wish to have to handle dissenting factions within my perfect order. Time will reveal the answer.
With this in mind, I have looked over my history texts for potential examples of how mind-controlled states have worked in the past. One ancient example I have found is Sirenalia. 3 sirens using the power of an enchanted song to sow discord successfully ruled a nation by focusing discontent amongst the populace towards each other such that they barely minded the nation being run by these strange beasts. I found clashing accounts of whether they were defeated by Grogar’s ancient empire of Tambelon or none other than Star Swirl the Bearded. Honestly, I cannot ascertain the veracity of either of these accounts. I have found no evidence for the existence of Tambelon and this account of Star Swirl seems heavily literary rather than historiographical. It involves strange genres of music and a mirror to another world, which I would posit are dreams of an author’s overactive imagination. Perhaps Sirenalia is an allegory for the dangers of disharmony and this whole thing is bunk. The idea of the low-level mind control they used is interesting, but I’d rather explore more confirmed ideas first.
The more real example I found I would have dismissed as a young and studied Olenian deer a mere 10 years prior - and for good reason. The Crystal Empire’s return is perhaps the strangest event to occur in the last 100 years. A crystalline city lost for a thousand years suddenly returning without warning is the stuff of fairy tales and yet it happened before our very eyes. What is more interesting though is Sombra. I was originally highly suspect of the supposed history of the Crystal Empire that made its way to our libraries from Equestria. I thought it was propaganda to justify their convenient placement of their own princess on the throne, but that was proven incorrect when Sombra did return. While information is slow to reach me here in Viirad, I do know that he successfully took over and is currently at war with both the Changeling Lands and Equestria for control over historical land claims. Bold to fight Equestria while they share a common enemy, but I digress.
The important part of Sombra’s return is that it means that his use of mind control to run the Crystal Empire was real in the past and is currently happening now. I don’t have much information as to how he is doing it, but I can speculate based on the information I do have. One concrete fact that is known is that he uses soldiers mind controlled via helmets. Helpfully, this means that there is a good solution to mind control that allows for the range of thinking required for conducting warfare. However, I understand that his staff is composed of imperially minded free-thinking individuals as they are never described or photographed with the same helmets. Perhaps this is a sign of their hierarchy or it’s the only reasonable outcome if the mind control tampers with higher processing.
The other interesting thing is the helmets. I like the idea of the spell being maintained by equipment as that means I only need to invest magic in the helmets once, and then industry can keep the helmets powered with crystals. There is some concern for durability of course, but it is one way to keep magic upkeep low. It could be that the spell is contained in the helm, but I have another idea. I have no evidence for this, but the mad king has been described as an “umbrum”, some kind of spirit from the Crystal Empire’s vast wastelands. Theoretically, the helms may not maintain any mind control at all, but instead house an umbrum that takes control of the wearer. A fascinating proposition.
Upon first thought this method may not be applicable to me as I have no experience in summoning or controlling spirits. However, Asinti summons demons regularly. An army of demons, if controllable, solves many of my issues. Demons can think, don’t require magical upkeep once possessing a victim, and there seems to be a bottomless supply of them. It seems I have a Zebrican occultist to visit.
My visit to Asinti has yielded results. He was as cryptic as ever, but he gave me a jar which he claims contains a “legion” of demons. I do wonder sometimes what goes on in the old zebra’s head. How can he conduct his research “for the greater good” of zebra freedom and yet exist alongside me, a deer who would see his fellow zebras enslaved? Perhaps this relationship will fall apart once my plans are further along, or perhaps he is old enough to accept a slave state with himself near the top ensuring some semblance of good can be done for his brothers and sisters.
I have just teleported in a few more unsuspecting ponies from around Elisay into my cells and experimentation can now begin. I will give the possessed ponies the same battery of tests I gave the previous subjects, but I do have an idea for a new test to see if the demon is capable of more than its host is.
Subject 1: Earth pony female
Upon opening the jar, one of the demons was quick to float out and in through the ear of the pony. Curious that it acts in such a physical manner rather than merely phasing through the nearest part of the pony’s body. Convulsions are beginning with the pony lying on the ground thrashing. The remaining subjects are being obnoxious as before, but a quick no-carrot-just-stick approach keeps them docile as I break one of their legs to demonstrate the weight of the stick. The carrot is not being subject to additional force. Subject 1 is beginning to stand.
Communication task: Introduce yourself
The demon replies with its name, which is a sound untranscribable on paper. I ask it for information on its host, and it is able to answer in a satisfactory amount of detail. The demon having access to the host’s memories is a positive.
Intelligence task: Generate 50 sets of 2-digit numbers and multiply them
The demon appeared confused at first, but I instructed it to use the skills of the host to complete the task before levitating it a pencil. Apparently, arithmetic is not a skill demons normally acquire. The demon was able to complete the task with 2 errors. Better than those under the influence of Cogeria-Fiducia, but not great. Upon observation of the paper it gave back to me, I noted that the mistakes were both near the beginning, suggesting it did figure out how to multiply by the 20% mark. This is interesting as it implies a learning curve as the demon figured out how to use the skills of its host, but not ideal as one would prefer the effect to be instant. Another thing I hope doesn’t become a problem is the fact it did not go back to correct its old mistakes after figuring it out. Was it simply not aware it made the mistakes in the beginning or just lazy? More data is required.
Endurance task: Don’t stop jumping
The demon expressed annoyance at the mundane nature of the task but began anyway. This jumping was far more vigorous than that of the Cogeria-Fiducia bunch. After 5 minutes or so, the demon informed me that it could use its own strength to augment the pony it was possessing and that it would be jumping for a while. I informed it back that I was aware and that I wanted to test its physical ability. It once again expressed annoyance but continued jumping, albeit with a body language I can only describe as “exasperated”. At the 30 minute mark, it stopped, stating that it was out of energy. My pocketwatch informs me that it stopped precisely at 30 minutes to the second, making this more likely an expression of tiredness than of the full potential of ability. It also means that the demons are perfectly able to count time and do so using the units of the material world rather than some arbitrary standard devised in the realm of the immaterial. When questioned about it, it merely smiled.
Self-harm task: Cut yourself
For this the demon was almost ecstatic, gleefully cutting its host with the provided knife. It kept going without my prompting until I told it to stop. The demon informed me that they hold no concept of self-preservation for their hosts as they existed beyond the realm of the physical. This could be a downside, as while I have great ponypower reserves to draw upon thanks to mind control, I can’t afford to simply throw bodies at my enemies. The demon also took this moment to inform me of their kind’s thirst for blood. I’m sure it thought it was being scary or creepy, but I found its display of playing with the blood of its host more juvenile than anything else.
Observation task: Where is the ball?
Before moving to a task of incapability, I wanted to test the demon’s magical senses. In theory, beyond the physical senses the demon should still be able to use its sensory abilities making it more than its host was before. I did a standard setup of the “cups and balls” trick sometimes referred to as the 3 shell game and asked it where the ball was after shuffling them. Of course I had teleported the ball away before completing the shuffle, and the demon was able to pick up on this, correctly identifying that no matter what it picked it would be wrong. Good.
Impossible task: Fly
When asked to fly, the demon looked at me like I was stupid and said it couldn’t be done. It launched into some tirade about how its host was an earth pony and how it was insulted at the request. No mention of a plane, but maybe it won’t even know what a plane is unless I make it search its host’s memories. This level of impertinence is not ideal for the final product. Maybe Asinti would have a better chance in wrangling these seemingly immature demons into doing what I want, but it appears that, in general, handling them will be basically just like handling any other free-willed creature. A test with an incapable task will not be necessary after seeing this response.
Paradoxical task: Assess the truth of the statement “This statement is not true”
The demon was able to reason the response and eventually stated that there was no correct answer. Perhaps all these demons have a penchant for trickery and have a good nose for it as this one was able to beat the 3 shell game as well as trying to trick me that it was fully exhausted after the jumping, but the only way to find out will be to test the other demons on my other subjects.
On the whole, I am disappointed. These otherworldly beings are just as lazy as those in this world. To top it all off, they know not of many of the advancements the world has gone through or just don’t care. Many subjects expressed annoyance at doing math or other repetitive tasks and were easily bored - not suitable for factory work. They proved relatively bright when it came to the 3 shell game, but mostly uncreative when faced with an impossible task. The increased endurance is nice, but the fact they will not go all the way and will lie to me to avoid working more is not acceptable. The one possessing the pony whose leg I broke whined the whole time during the jumping. I know they have no sense of self-preservation for their hosts, so it was clear the demon was just trying to avoid the monotony of jumping or navigating the task of moving the broken leg as it made no effort to fashion a splint or to do anything else to make jumping easier.
The dealbreaker, though, is their answer when asked why they obey my commands at all. They responded that they were interested in Asinti - merely curious. I cannot have slaves that are loyal to him and not to me, especially if they are not even particularly interested in our world in the first place. The key here is that these demons are also intelligent beings, well if not intelligent at least conscious. Motivating them to do tasks is the same as motivating the host without them, and without belief in my cause, laziness is inevitable.
This then forces me to reconsider my original hypothesis that Sombra uses umbrum to possess his soldiers. Perhaps, as king, there is an in-built cultural belief system that encourages the umbrum to serve him with more fervor. It could also be that he just uses a spell. Regardless of whether my speculation is true, it was only ever an intellectual exercise. The only important question is if I can gain inspiration as to how to tackle things here in Viirad. The answer is that this path, while it could have niche applications, is mostly a dead end.
I pulled the demons out of the ponies and returned them forcibly to the jar. The ponies returning to consciousness expressed varied forms of bewilderment, evidently not remembering anything. Some collapsed from exhaustion while others began to cry in pain of the wounds the demons inflicted on them. I teleported them back to their villages before it got annoying. Now there is nothing left to do but to ponder anew.
Yesterday was a long day of helping Ceadda with my campaign to increase my influence over the land. Merging the cultists who worship the Machine and, by extension, me with the army has proven a time-consuming task. Furthermore, while the ponies of Viirad have been pacified, dissent and disobedience run amok. Organizing systems of reward for the slaughter of the nonbelievers has proven messy as sifting the cons from the devout is an adversarial game of cat and mouse.
Verifying killings did happen requires writing the name of the killed. Of course, with how poor birth records are around here, sometimes it’s impossible to determine if the pony killed was real or not. Adding requirements for ears was a logistical hassle, and cons simply used ears from graveyards and the recently deceased. Any decomposition in the ears could be explained away as the effect of the slowness of the mail system, and there have been many complaints from mailponies about the smell.
Removing the requirement for ears led to a balloon of what I would call “paper murders”, but it will suffice as most appear to be real. Better we cut too eagerly than leave a live heretic. Rudimentary checks of suspicious ledgers against the limited records available has shown success and many of the cons have themselves now been killed.
I have instructed Ceadda to take a census of all the ponies in Viirad as he cracks down on dissent. We wish to kill at least one pony at each settlement to send the correct message, which makes it the perfect opportunity to catalog the residents of our former Wittenlandian province. Twenty thousand or so have been killed so far, and organized groups have largely petered out, but I calculate we’ll need at least another ten thousand to have a proper dent in the resistant population. Something tells me once the crackdown is complete, the remainder will be more open to worshiping me.
The messiness of this whole process irritates me. So many hours in correcting errors, dealing with poor records, slow travel causing slow logistics and information transfer all on top of parties actively trying to sabotage my efforts. Viirad will be a well-oiled machine of ticking perfection, but for now I must deal with how there are still no telephone cables in most of the country.
Combined with my lack of progress in mind control, I’m feeling a distinct lack of control. I have such power but when a Kasan partisan steals the ammunition from one of my depots, he goes unpunished for weeks. I hold the nation in my hooves, but I am not a griffon and have no claws in which to grasp it.
I need some entertainment. Mind control has thus far shown itself to be imprecise. I could make it more precise though. If I ignore the mind altogether, I could control just the body directly with levitation. A nice diversion, but I require a subject.
I plucked this pony from the street of some town in northern Elisay. He looks to be some kind of laborer, a miner perhaps. He looks fearful but is not yet lashing out in any violent way. I believe I’ll begin by using levitation to hold his entire body still. Yes, it appears to be working - he remains entirely rigid, eyes unblinking, no signs of life. Let me start off by fixing those eyes with a careful downwards pressure on the eyelids. I must say that my level of precision in levitation has vastly improved since my ascension. Gently up and down. I feel a steady increase in resistance, which has caused me to realize that I have forgotten to keep him breathing. As of now, his lungs remain perfectly still, diaphragm waiting for my command to contract.
This is quite a delightful departure from the imprecision of verbal instruction. I contract the diaphragm and allow the lungs to inflate. There are so many intricacies to keep track of, and I realize I am limited by my knowledge of pony biology. His lungs are not expanding even though I’ve released my grip. Assuming ponies are like deer, I move what should be his epiglottis out of the way of his windpipe. It seems I’ve applied too much force, as I feel what was once one piece of flesh split into two. I have reacted fast enough to stop blood from flooding out, but it seems he will be eating smaller bites from now on.
I release the severed half of the epiglottis and move it down the esophagus, mimicking the act of swallowing. Problem solved for my purposes. The feeling of the numerous involuntary muscle contractions from the intense pain he seems to be feeling right now is quite the sensation. It is akin to wind blowing over a grassy field where one cannot predict exactly where the wave will start from but can confidently assert the general direction and amount the wind will blow it.
I am now confident he will not immediately die of asphyxiation. The next step shall be just that: a step. I realize I do not know how exactly the muscles in the leg need to contract to make such an action happen, so I will first attempt something more like puppetry. I relax my influence on the front right leg and focus on the hoof. As I levitate it up, the loosened leg follows the path of least resistance and bends accordingly. Unlike a normal step, there is no force from within the leg with no tensing whatsoever and the action is driven by my external force allowing each part to move.
And now down. I lower the hoof to a position in front of where it was when I first began to lift it. I feel a pop somewhere along the leg. In retrospect, it is obvious. The leg has not gotten longer, so in order to be placed down in front of where it was before, something had to give. In a standard trot, the body usually moves forward to compensate for the change in position of the hoof. With a gentle tug of the torso, I’ve corrected for the error. One of his back legs seems to be lifting up automatically now as well now that the torso has moved forward.
I should probably correct this dislocation. From feel, it must be in the lower joint of the leg. I move the ball back into the socket. Lucky for him he is also an ungulate or I wouldn’t know what to do. I can’t imagine trying this with a griffon. I feel a grinding of bone against bone. Perhaps I was a bit too zealous with the correction.
For this back leg, I do want to try a muscular approach rather than this puppeteering. My goal is to raise the back left leg and move it forward in a walking position. First, I have to release weight by bending in the hind quarters and bending the knee. Does the metatarsal movement on a pony differ from my own during walking? This pony’s metatarsus is much longer proportionally than my own. Walking is such an unconscious behavior that without doing it myself, it is difficult to guess how the metatarsus should behave. I had better bend it upwards just to be safe.
After guessing the approximate positions of the correct muscles to contract, I begin the movement as 3 simultaneous contractions in an intricate dance of sinew and ligaments. Immediately, the weight shifts on the pony and I have to prop up his body with my levitation to stop him from tipping to the left. The movement is largely successful. The final part is to lower the limb back down, but this time I remember to move the torso forwards again the appropriate distance.
By slightly offsetting the contractions, I reverse the movement done prior to lower the limb to the ground, but as I do so, I feel a strange, fleshy crunch as the thigh fails to bend. It seems my offset was incorrect and that I have torn a random bunch of muscle and flesh in the leg. However, the nature of the damage leads me to the location of the correct muscle, and I am able to reapply weight to the leg as it lands back on the ground.
As before, waves of involuntary muscle contractions dart around the pony’s body. I counteract them as they come, but only after they have some visual effect. I see his eyes are still moving independently of my control - not the balls themselves, but the pupil dilation is changing. I wonder what he’s thinking about inside there, trapped inside his own body. Is he wishing I chose a deer so I could have had a higher likelihood of success at locating specific muscles? Is he praying to whatever god these Riverlanders pray to that he’ll live? Actually, there’s no need to wonder, I have telepathy spells after all.
Well, that’s not very interesting. Apparently, his internal monologue just consists of screaming most of the time. When he isn’t screaming it is a mess of incoherent gibberish. Let me see if I can fix these errant pupil irregularities. I apply some pressure from my magic to freeze the iris in place, but the precision of my control at this scale within another object tests even my abilities. The iris is remarkably thin. I see blood pooling in his left eye. I must have cast my net of levitation too wide and broken a nearby blood vessel. No matter, the eyes serve no functional purpose as I cannot see through them anyway.
This has been intellectually stimulating, but I am limited by my knowledge of anatomy. I’ll have to talk to Leopold. I’m sure he has books about griffon biology given his mechanical augmentations, but I’d wager he has one or two tucked away about ponies too. As for my subject, there is a chance I’ve permanently maimed him and removed a healthy worker from the population. However, the entertainment I’ve received is worth far more than the work of any one of these ponies is able to produce. There are at least a hundred thousand just like him in Viirad.
As I release him from my levitation, he collapses, but doesn’t scream in pain or thrash violently. He is mostly twitching his uninjured legs and is beginning to sob quietly, left eye closed. Good. I hope more subjects will get the memo that violent outbursts are disruptive to my work. Well, I suppose that is why they do it in the first place. I should hope instead that they are more cowed by fear of retribution. I teleported him back to the village he came from.
I talked to Leopold today about books on pony anatomy, and while he did express squeamishness at what I intended to do, he did give me 2 books on the subject. I’ll read them later, but talking with him about the intricacies of movement sparked another line of thought I hadn’t considered in the past. Necromantic spells, when reanimating a corpse, do not require the caster to individually puppet the bodies of the deceased. They show some signs of autonomy, or even intelligence. The skeletons I’ve seen around Silver Star do the tasks my servants handle at home. I must have tea with him posthaste to discuss the matter.
That was quite a productive talk. Silver Star’s paranoia knows no bounds, but as it dominates his personality, it makes him easy to navigate. I know him well enough to predict his behavior, and his guard is down around me. The Machine’s processing power also helps me analyze many scenarios to perform simple conversational optimizations to direct his tree of thought.
I learnt much of the nature of necromancy from what he described. What fuels the intelligence of the undead is the soul of the deceased individual. While the physical matter of the brain of the dead is no longer present, there is knowledge also contained in the soul. He explained it to me as like the double helix of DNA. On the one side is the physical nature of bones and skin, and the opposing side being the soul. As long as enough of the body and soul are still around, the full knowledge of the original creature can, in theory, be recreated. Natural error correcting also exists, meaning it is still possible to recreate the entire creature if there are a few gaps in both the soul and body.
Apparently, the reason for the historical taboo on necromancy is the bad results that often come from attempts of resurrection. According to Silver, most corpses begin losing data immediately upon death, so unicorns who attempted to fully bring back long-dead relatives often brought them back with major mental disorders. On the other end of the spectrum, those who were too successful would recreate the body and mind of the target at the moment of their death - which may be with cancer or a lethal wound causing them to immediately die again.
What I find fascinating is the selective nature of how it can function. Not all of the mind of the original creature has to be recreated, and in fact is not encouraged. Silver says his personal servants have the intelligence of a child. Recreation of the entire body on the other hand is apparently usually too difficult with too much data loss and the requirement to sift through the good parts and the parts that were that creature’s cause of death, hence the ubiquity of skeletons. Furthermore, partially recreating the more living parts of the body just causes more hassle as they will die without a full digestive system, which then needs skin and et cetera. Full bodily resurrection then means you have to feed it, which makes the partial reanimation more desirable.
I asked him then, if the skeletons are missing most of the features of a living creature, how are they powered? This is where necromancy and healing diverge. The two fields overlap when referring to true resurrection, but where healing seeks to restore a target to perfection, necromancy often substitutes the features of living creatures with magical simulations. The energy given to the soul in skeletons is usually standard magical energy which is used for locomotion, sensing, and thought.
The glowing eyes usually seen on reanimated skeletons is a side effect of how standard uses of necromancy don’t reanimate living tissue. The eyes, therefore, are magical constructs which are connected to the soul to give it the ability to see. Sight is the most important sense to recreate, but touch and feel are also required for a full semblance of life. Silver Star says his method is to combine the two by adding magical strands which snake along the bones which feed movement information to the soul. This can tell a skeleton if it is properly balanced, for example, and his method is supposedly sensitive enough for the soul to hear commands through the vibrations of the bone on the strands.
This method of controlling the masses is versatile and scalable which is why I believe it has been the most popular method for powerful magic individuals to amass armies. Everycreature has, of course, heard of the Dread League and their city of Magehold beyond the far north, but they haven’t done anything significant in my lifetime. Aethelflaed says she remains in contact with one of the necromancers there. According to the last letter she received, which was dated quite a while ago, they were preparing for war with the Arcturian Order which was mandated long ago with containing them.
I used to think Aethelflaed and Ceadda were siblings. They look relatively similar and I thought they shared a last name. However, it turns out I simply didn’t pay enough attention - Aethelflaed’s last name is Sigeweard, not Sigeweald. I’ve traveled to so many pony nations and yet I still can’t work out how their names work.
I can appreciate the effectiveness of necromancy and the healthy body of literature available in the field, but it is not something I wish to pursue. It does tick all of my boxes, but the key with mind control is that I am controlling a being under it. If I were to succeed in world conquest with necromancy, I would rule over a planet of half-aware automatons - there would be no point.
Mind control is only a temporary measure. Once the world revolves around me, there will be no purpose other than to serve me. The next generation will not need it. Besides, I won’t need to mind control every creature in the world to create a society that controls everycreature. It may not even be possible for me to meet every creature across the continents to mind control them in the first place. Society is the best form of mind control. There are zebra foals in Roam, chicks in Nova Griffonia, and yetis in the Storm Kingdom being born today that will know no other order than mine. They will know to fear the deer.
Necromancy creates a clear boundary between who serves me and who is not a part of me. Fifteen years from now, when a changeling in Grenclyf opens their doors to see my servants, what will they think? If what they see is a pile of bones, they will be alienated and grow treasonous thoughts. There is no camaraderie across the boundary of mortality. However, If it is their own friends and families with familiar faces and voices, they will conform, adapt, and serve in turn.
That isn’t to say this endeavor has been entirely irrelevant. I am fascinated by the idea of modifying the expression of the soul. I have been experimenting on the mind and the body, but the soul had not crossed my consideration. If necromancers pick and choose what parts of the soul they can reconstitute, perhaps I could alter an already living soul. Food for thought.
After referencing some books I have on souls, I have determined that targeting the soul is more of a difference in method and will achieve the same outcome as targeting the mind. The soul is a reflection of the body and mind, so any change to the soul results in a change to the former two. The soul is not directly observable, and thus “soul control” would provide results that are indistinguishable from mind control, as they are intertwined. The reverse is also true where altering the mind would also alter the soul.
Where taking this alternate route could be useful though, is when it comes to avoiding countermagic. All magic users know that counterspells are highly specific and generally require knowledge of the original spell to work properly. In the era of industrialized warfare, counterspells have taken on new life as unicorn and changeling soldiers are wielding identical spell matrices in a way the more artisanal warfare of yesteryear would not have allowed for. It also applies to Kirin, I suppose, but I doubt they even have spell matrices in Kiria; the Silence has kept them quite primitive. If I use a standard approach to mind control, it is likely a counterspell will be developed in a short time. Soul control, on the other hoof, promises a longer development time for my enemies.
Actually, on the topic of countermagic, there could be another benefit to soul control as long as I ditch the “control” part and replace it with the “alteration” I was thinking about yesterday. While not technically countermagic, dispellere is a widely known spell and magic neutralization is a mature technology. The Abyssinian magic neutralization collars I have are one example, and I have read a piece describing the Queen’s Tower in Vesalipolis which talks about how Chrysalis' seat of governance houses a stone which neutralizes all non-changeling magic. The mind control methods I have been testing would immediately lose effect upon contact with either of these.
Puppetry with levitation being interrupted is obvious, and Asinti’s demons would obviously not be affected, but the reason for Cogeria and Fiducia being affected is more interesting. It is because neither spell actually alters the target’s mind. Instead, they are what I will coin as “active” methods of mind control. Cogeria acts as a blanket over the mind, preventing too much thought via active interception. This requires constant magic, and is therefore vulnerable to being dispelled or neutralized. Fiducia adds artificial mental pathways which are powered by magic and is thus also dispellable.
If I were to instead, through soul alteration, actually change the minds of my targets, it would birth a new kind of mind control which I will coin as “passive”. In this method, the neural pathways will be rewritten at the moment of casting the spell such that, for example, a target will serve me unconditionally. Now that the brain has been reprogrammed, it requires no further magic input from me which means there is no magic to be dispelled.
The mind has proven too complicated to work on directly as it is part of the body. The complexities of individual minds and of the biomechanics means passive mind control has not been thoroughly studied. Biomancy does exist, but it is incredibly niche. However, my recent jaunt into necromancy has opened my eyes to manipulating the mind through the soul. If necromancy already has an in-built framework for manipulating the recreation of the soul from parts, I believe it will only be a small leap to manipulating an existing soul.
The question remains of why no one else has tried passive mind control before. I believe that there actually do exist examples of passive mind control via soul alteration or otherwise, but that they simply haven’t been replicable. The lord of chaos, Discord, for example, is said to be able to rewrite minds on a whim, but it seems an extension of his frankly unfathomable powers of reality alteration and therefore out of reach for any normal creature.
Now that the matter of method has been established, all that remains is the matter of, well, matter. What in a creature’s mind do I actually want to change? I can see a number of different methods working. The most relevant part of the mind is memory, but memory encompasses quite a broad spectrum of known things. I’ll have to do some research into how it works to get a better sense of how it is structured. I have not heard of spells that interact with memories, but I should check for texts on the subject regardless.
Hergriff Ebbinghaus’ book Memory. A Contribution to Experimental Psychology is an interesting read, but it reveals that the nascent field of experimental psychology will not be of that much help to me. This book is lauded as one of the seminal texts of the field, and yet the only experimental subject he had was himself. The book does cover much on forgetting and remembering but does not define an information structure of how memory is organized. Surely there is a difference between reminiscing on a past experience and knowing how to take a derivative. It seems I’ll have to be the one to develop the theory myself.
On the subject of memory spells, I was unable to find anything besides an old scroll written by Clover the Clever. It depicts a story of his battle with a sorceress with an object referred to only as the “Memory Stone”. This stone was apparently able to erase memories or even parts of memories. It does not, however, speak to its method of functioning. The scroll seems strangely truncated, ending right at the sorceress’ defeat. An interesting writing choice given the detail prior, which leads me to believe it is incomplete. Annoying, as it doesn’t speak to the storage of memory, the returning of the erased memories, or what Clover did with the stone. It seems I’ll have to improvise solely based on the necromantic principles from Silver Star’s books.
I have teleported another batch of subjects into my laboratory for the beginning of memory trials. I found a small settlement of around a hundred and took every individual from it. They are subsistence farmers providing no benefit to Viirad besides a pool from which to get conscripts. I see this town also has a zebra family, and a griffon who appears to have married into a pony family. This is quite displeasing. For any real science to occur, I would desire a set of subjects of the same race. The messiness of this societal structure will not do. I will make a note to begin a racial segregation program.
For now, it will have to do. My studies on the soul suggest they are similar across species, so at least this experiment should be unaffected. As for the children of this village, there is no point to experimenting on those under the age of 10. Their minds are not yet developed, and I can’t even communicate with them well enough to get good data. Everycreature approximately above that age should be a good subject. I will teleport the children back.
How quaint. It appears one of them recognizes what is going on and is informing the others of the story of one of my previous test subjects. Good to see some news is finally propagating. It appears this has cowed half of them while galvanizing the other half. The parents of the foals they just saw being teleported away seem especially angry. I wonder how best to handle this. I believe this village did already get passed by my purge so they likely know who I am. In that case, the reason for their outbursts is likely not due to a lack of knowledge, but an overabundance of bravado or some sense of agency.
One especially irate mother is shouting at the top of her lungs. She will make as good of an example as any of the others. I’ll pick a particularly poignant form of death for the others to see as I can afford to lose one subject today. I have a gun here, but perhaps this fire siphon will be more dramatic. I should probably use something that demonstrates my magical prowess. I use my levitation to grip the mare’s body and begin to crunch it into a sphere of flesh. There is a transition of her yelling to a scream of terror before she suddenly achieves brain death. A silence emerges from the rest of them as I drop the newly-created sphere of flesh and fur on the ground. I made sure to keep the skin mostly intact and just fuse along the creases to prevent bleeding - I can’t stand the mess. The others in her cell seem especially horrified.
With the creatures pacified, I am ready to begin, but another interesting phenomenon has appeared. The one who told the others they were going to be used as test subjects is lying prostrate at the door of her cell begging for mercy. Interestingly, she is also promising undying loyalty and everything she has. Now she claims her daughter is already conscripted in my army. Telepathy informs me that she is speaking the truth of her daughter, but I sense that her other promises are just motivated by self-preservation and that she will likely stray in a week or so.
It does raise an interesting question though. As my influence grows, I will likely soon begin to find those loyal to me in these batches of test subjects. Should I return their freedom as a reward for their service or is being my test subject the highest reward there is? Regardless of the philosophical answer to the question, the practical matter remains that I want to keep those loyal to me alive so that they may serve me longer. These experiments carry a high risk of death or permanent injury, and thus it would be better to guarantee a set of the less useful. I should speak to Aethelflaed about organizing a pool of subjects I can draw from to experiment on.
Subject 1: Unicorn female
I shall begin with the standard necromantic template of the soul that only keeps the basic intelligence of a creature active. I follow the standard necromantic protocol for identifying the soul and can now begin reconstruction. The pattern for the reconstruction outlined in the book is slightly different from alteration, but I can deduce the differences and proceed. This spell outlines adding obedience by interrupting the soul recreation and adding a set pattern. I can adapt this part of the spell by simply changing the existing pattern to the set pattern in the book.
The alteration is complete. From the outside, the unicorn appears unchanged, but is now just looking ahead rather blankly. This is becoming a recurring theme, and not a desirable one. There is no need to run a full set of tests. I just need to get an idea of what effect the spell has had so I can begin tweaking it to my liking.
As a seer by trade, telepathy is one of my specialties. I begin to scan the pony’s mind to see what remains as I also command it with my standard command to walk in a circle. As expected, she begins to obey. The other ponies in her cell give her space as they look on silently. One begins to cry.
With my scan complete, I note that the pony’s experiential memories have been erased. I ask it for when it was married, and it gives no answer while merely staring ahead. I expected as much given the behavior of Silver Star’s servants. The lack of personality also matches. Next, I hand her a paper of 2-digit multiplication problems and ask her to solve it. She is unable - writing seemingly random numbers as solutions. Interestingly, she recognizes the answer should be written under the horizontal line and the separate nature of each problem but lacks the faculties to do the math. I seem to have recreated the standard undead skeleton, just from a living creature rather than a corpse.
Subject 2: Pegasus male
This one appears to be the husband of subject 1 based on his crying and muttering of a name I can only assume was the name of subject 1. This time, I am curious as to how much I can erase. I will not add the obedience pattern, and I will just set every mental value to 0 rather than just most of it. This should give me a good understanding of what is stored in memory and what isn’t. If it isn’t affected by this test, it isn’t related to memory.
Immediately, he collapses. This puts motor skills as under the purview of memory which is interesting to me as walking is not a taught skill and can be done by anydeer immediately upon exiting the womb. His heart, I sense, is still beating, but he does not appear to be breathing. The next thing I notice is the smell as he soils himself. A look in his eyes shows he is not blinking. I believe he is alive, but for how long remains to be seen.
On second inspection, it does seem like there is some breath coming out of his nose, just very faintly. Also, he just blinked. I suspect the delay must be caused by some reflex after his eyes have dried out. To test another reflex, I attempt to initiate the patellar reflex by striking the knee with my levitation, which succeeds in triggering the jerk response.
A perusal of his mind reveals absolutely nothing. My telepathy can usually detect memories, thoughts, and emotion, but I find nothing intelligible. I predict there is actually thought going on, but without a knowledge of language or logic, it is indistinguishable from nothing. Perhaps he will be like a newborn foal and slowly learn everything again.
Subject 3: Earth pony male
The effect I achieved on the pegasus has me curious about just how far I can push soul alteration. I have successfully erased the mind, but what effects could I have on the body? It will also be interesting to see if the soul maps to specific body systems as a scientist would divide the body or if it follows its own model.
I focus on the physical aspects of the soul, but without any understanding of the landscape beyond the skeleton pattern described in the necromancy book, I am mostly working blindly. To satisfy my curiosity, I add a random perturbation to the soul’s landscape in an arbitrary location. Nothing appears to change outwardly. Was this part of the soul linked to an internal structure or something with only long-term consequences?
I suppose there is no point in exercising restraint if I just want to see what happens. I cordon off a large part of the physical part of the soul and destroy it. Results this time are immediate. It seems a large part of his body is now dead. Interestingly, it doesn’t follow any pattern I can tell. His back right leg is discolored, and as he stumbles, it tears cleanly off except for a thin sliver of still living skin. I also notice significant patches of discoloration distributed randomly across the body. It appears he is experiencing weakness, as he is leaning on the side of the bars of his cell, slowly falling. At first, he screamed but is now apparently choking and coughing up blood. Blood is, unfortunately, beginning to flow freely over the floor. The other ponies in the cell appear to be moving away from the pool of blood and him. Optimistically, I will assess this is their desire to not interfere with my experiment as to avoid becoming a flesh sphere instead of mere disgust.
Watching him die was quite fun. I should try this on another one.
Subject 4: Earth pony female
After another attempt, I was unable to locate a part or pattern in the soul strongly correlated with a physical body part or system. In theory, if I did this enough, I probably could, but this is ultimately a diversion from my true task. I have developed some respect for the necromancers who must have worked very hard to find the pattern in the soul matching the skeleton. Subject 4 lies dying on the ground like subject 3.
Subject 5: Unicorn male
Back to matters of the mind. In fiction, the most common form of amnesia is where memories of events and friends are lost, but skills and intelligence remain. Sometimes, this can also change personality. I would like to try an alteration of just these memories, as a creature with no experiences could be easily manipulable.
To execute this process, I will keep most of the process the same as with subject 1, but I will attempt to keep the intelligence of subject 5 intact while erasing memories of events and those they know. I begin with the same necromantic sequence as prior, but I attempt to paint a thinner brushstroke over the pony’s soul. I also opt not to add the obedience pattern.
Upon completion of the spell, the unicorn begins expressing the dead eyes that have become far too common. Did I carve too deep? Upon a telepathic scan, it appears his memories have become rather blank. His thoughts are also rather generic. If a personality is like the grooves on a record, his is totally smooth. This is confirmed when I ask him for his name, and he answers with a simple “I don’t know”. His emotional response is also surprisingly muted. Perhaps I removed his knowledge that not knowing one’s name is bad.
I give him the same math problems I gave the first unicorn. He takes the pencil in his levitation and successfully begins multiplying. At least I didn’t remove all of his skills. I release him to his cellmates to see their reactions. His family is apparently distraught and trying to tell him who he is. He recognizes their sadness but is unsure of why. His thoughts and actions also reflect a very accepting state where he is taking in the information from those around him without question.
It seems I have created one of Leopold’s clockwork automatons, just in organic flesh. I could probably make this pony move a gun from one line to another in a factory all day and convince him it was the greatest job in the world with just a few words. Good to find a spell that may have a niche.
This is good progress, but I need more experience determining which parts of the soul correlate to which parts of the mind so I may fine tune my alteration.
Subject 6: Earth pony female
I did not cut out the parts that I hoped to. I was attempting to erase just the personality, but it seems I’ve erased skills and experiential memories.
Subject 7: Unicorn female
This shows promise. I was able to erase just the personality while leaving most all else intact. Her family was quite unsettled to see this doppelganger replicate everything she was originally able to do with almost no emotion.
These cells which once held the collective townscreatures of a settlement are now a collection of incompetents ranging from totally braindead to almost normal. Quite a productive evening if I do say so myself. I have refined the soul alteration of memory erasure such that I can erase exactly what I want to do. However, erasing memories of the same type is easier than erasing some from one type and some from another. Based on how these types break down, I believe I can contribute a soul-focused model of the information in memory to the field of experimental psychology.
I would divide memories into 2 main categories: declarative and nondeclarative. Within these 2 main groups are multiple subgroups. Declarative memory houses experiential or episodic memories and semantic data. This means that erasing the memory of a house is similar to erasing the memory of buying that house. The information of what the house is is semantic information while buying it is episodic. Similarly, knowledge in the form of facts is all semantic. Knowhow and facts are easy to erase all together. All declarative memories are easier to erase with each other than with nondeclarative memories.
Nondeclarative memories are memories that cannot be explained with logic. This includes skills which are procedural, like how to jump, use levitation, or fly. Procedural memories are easier to erase together than with other nondeclarative memories like personality. However, it is then easier to erase personality and procedural skills together than, say, personality and a declarative memory.
With this model of the structure of memory in mind, I believe the spell I wish to create should limit its effects to be within a single domain as to make the spell easier to cast. If necessary, no more than 10% of the effect should be from an opposing type of memory. A spell that alters only declarative memories or only nondeclarative memories will be easier to cast and require less mana and mental energy, but I am not yet sure if it will be possible to achieve the results I want with just one or the other. This 10% limit should suffice to prevent the spell from becoming too complex to scale.
What to do with these invalids? I could just kill them and take their lands, but it isn’t as if their lands have that much value. Besides, then I’d have to send ponies to manage it. I also don’t want them to have to be cared for and then be a drain on Viirad. I’ll just let the invisible hand take care of them. The relatively functional ones should be able to take care of themselves and the foals for enough time for a merchant to show up. I’m sure they will be able to make use of the dumb labor. The market will decide which are too dumb to work and they’ll die off soon enough. With a thought, I teleport them back. While this has been fun, it has also been tiring. Exploring each individual mind has taken some effort after a long day of work. However, I will sleep well knowing the progress that has been gained today and dream of my perfect order.
Upon waking today, I decided to get a head start on the business of mind control before returning to the affairs of state. I spoke to Aethelflaed and tasked her with finding me a permanent pool of test subjects, the first of whom I will need delivered by sunset tomorrow. She has an idea of getting subjects from jails, which does seem like a good idea. This way, I won’t have to deal with children or the loyal. I suppose one who is loyal to me could commit a petty crime or similar, but I have confidence in Aethelflaed’s ability to filter those out.
Yesterday’s forays into memory taught me much about the structure of memory and have revealed to me at least 4 axes in which to try to work from: episodic memory, semantic memory, procedural memory, and personality.
To control a creature through its episodic memory, the easiest method would be the full erasure method I tried yesterday. Without experience to rely on, the ponies were forced to accept the information they were told. This is not a foolproof solution, as I noted that while I made some ponies forget how they were brought to my lab, they did not lose their distrust of me, as that information is semantic. With a little semantic erasure as well, it would be easy to create gullible fools. My objective, however, is not to create fools, as I require slaves who are engineers and researchers. Furthermore, episodic memory contains valuable information a slave can use to be of better use to me, so I believe erasure is not the correct course of action.
If control through the erasure of episodic memory is not widely applicable, perhaps the inverse is. I could implant episodic memories of, say, a lifetime of serving me. The issue here becomes generating these false memories and ensuring they are not identified as such. I believe I could copy or at least transplant the memories from one of my housemaids into a farmpony, but it I would not be surprised if it led to strange effects. If I were to overwrite the memories within the target, I could feasibly “clone” one of my maids, but I don’t need more maids. If I were to merely add the memories, I suspect the identity of the original subject would identify the memories as foreign, and thus not accept the behaviors within them.
Identity is an interesting concept. There was no “identity” pattern I could find when erasing the memories of ponies yesterday. It seems to primarily consist of semantic data about who they are, but personality and procedural memories can provide some semblance of what the common creature might also refer to as identity. Episodic memories also contribute to the concept. Even if I were to overwrite the episodic memories of a subject, it is possible that the memories of their identity would cause them to still resist me. For example, if I overwrite the memories of the pony, they may remember they are a pony (as well as observing it) and reject the memories of my deer servant as somecreature else’s.
Tampering with semantic memories seems to be the most promising route. Semantic memories include personal information like what the creature worships, associations like “fire bad” and “money good”, and also general knowledge like how to do long division. While associations are here, I noticed that emotional responses are actually housed more in procedural memory and personality. It seems for each of these categories, the best way to think of how to approach my spell is to consider what I will remove and what I will add.
For removal, negative associations with me are an obvious low-hanging fruit. Negative forms of self-identification towards me (i.e ideas like “I am not Viiradian”) are probably also a good bet to remove. Beyond that, however, I believe I must tread with caution. While it may initially sound correct to remove thoughts critical to my rule or with positive self-identification towards other groups, I worry about the possible downstream repercussions. If I were to erase negative feelings towards how I do things, how can my rule improve? If their complaints are valid, I do want them to inform me and contribute to fixing the issues. I am both great and powerful, but I am not so prideful to think myself infallible. At least not yet.
Positive self-identification towards other groups could cause similar issues. While removing national identity could be useful in pacifying occupied territories, other identities are less useful to remove. If I were to erase a stallion’s belief in their responsibilities as a father of a foal, yes that would prevent him from trying to protect his child from me killing them but may also leave a child abandoned. This child would then not be able to serve me. A secondary mandate to foster a child as part of service to me would likely be less powerful than the already in-built societal responsibility to care for one’s offspring. I should try and take advantage of these premade societal roles to minimize the amount of society rebuilding I will have to do in each conquered land.
Adding semantic information is where things seem most powerful to me. By adding positive associations with me, creatures will be inclined to make the logic work in my favor. I need not remove a worship of Boreas or Celestia as they will understand that I am more important than either of them. I would like to test this first as there are many ways in which I can add this association, and some may not be enough for the target to justify to themselves obeying any command I could ask.
Procedural memory seems the least useful to me. I would prefer to keep skills untouched so that creatures may use them in service to me, but some other aspects of this type of memory could be on the table. Procedural memory contains associations related to actions in response to stimuli. While mostly minor, there are certain associations that could be a danger to me. Primal responses of fear or self-defense instincts could be annoying to deal with. I don’t want a situation where a pony cannot fulfill one of my commands because they are too scared to. However, there is a very delicate balance to achieve where if I remove all fear, they will act with undue risk. I will avoid these memories unless necessary.
Personality promises benefits similar to that of semantic memory as much of identity is also stored here. Personality encompasses things irrelevant to me like how creatures emote and their vocal inflections, but it also includes emotional responses to associations. A purely semantic association of me as their goddess does not necessarily translate to action and may prove inadequate. I don’t need to elaborate on the number of nations and griffons that nominally claim fealty to Grover VI but do nothing for him or are not motivated by that fact. By combining semantic fact with strong emotional responses, creatures will be more likely to be driven to proactive action in my service.
Are there, however, problematic personality elements that I should remove? Negative feelings towards being mind controlled are one idea. In a primarily semantic spell with some personality alteration, it is possible that creatures will be willing to justify anything for my sake, but negative emotion can be a powerful force. Testing will be the only way to be sure if this is necessary.
I do recall one major event of personality alteration occurring on a mass scale. There was a news story in Equestria a few years back about an incident where two of the princesses and many members of a town came under the effects of the water of a cursed hot spring. According to the article I read, aspects of their personalities were amplified, causing major disruption. Luna is said to have transformed back into Nightmare Moon temporarily whereas Twilight Sparkle attempted to implement a technocratic, authoritarian reign.
I do not believe a primarily nondeclarative approach to mind control is the right approach. Unlike memory magic that affects episodic and semantic memory, active emotional manipulation is both a well-developed field and notoriously messy. The “Want it, Need it” spell is the most famous example, of course, but love potions are also famous for causing all sorts of issues. On the topic of love, I’d categorize the Equestrian princess Cadence’s supposed specialty of love magic as emotional manipulation, and thus a form of active mind control, but I’m sure they would have a more flowery description. I suspect, therefore, that my passive soul alteration methods would have similar results if primarily nondeclarative.
This analysis bodes well for my test subjects tomorrow. A primarily additive semantic approach with a side of positive emotional association appears to be the best approach, but only real data can prove or disprove this hypothesis. I, unfortunately, must conclude here for now, as I must oversee the construction of two new gun factories - one for rifles and one for artillery. Viirad is undergoing a general rearmament for the coming invasion of Kasa, and my soon-to-be slaves will need weapons to wield.
Aethelflaed has surpassed my expectations. Not only do I have a group of 100 individuals in my laboratory cells, but she says she has created a system where I can, with a day’s warning, request any reasonable number of subjects to be transferred from the nearby jails to my cells. That pony is quite the organizer. She introduced me to the griffon she put in charge of the system: Anastasiya Kovalsky. She is one of the cultists who worship the machine. In her past life she was a cossack on a raid into Wittenland and Barrad when she heard the voice of the Machine after becoming separated from her raiding party. After finding the others who heard, she decided not to go back.
It is nice to have a round number to work with. Perfectly balanced: 10 cells with 10 ponies each. The villages from which they came are also recorded, so that when I am done with them, Anastasiya can corral them back without me having to teleport them. Good help truly makes all the difference, which is why the perfection of this spell is imperative.
Subject 1: Earth pony male
Before I begin refining the semantic-personality combination spell, I should make sure my assumptions are correct about what will not work. There is also a small probability that another approach could be better, and I don’t want to miss out on a better solution due to overconfidence in my modeling. Therefore, for subject 1, I will try the memory transplantation method.
Upon reflection of yesterday’s musings, I have come up with a more refined approach than a focus purely on episodic memory. I will first erase the episodic memory and personality of the target, and then take the corresponding parts of the mind of one of my housemaids and implant and copy them into the subject. I want to then attempt to overwrite the semantic self-identification associations from the target and replace them with that of my servant’s, but I foresee difficulties with this. This method should create a copy of my servant with the knowledge of the target. It will take more mana than I would like, but it should confirm or deny the correctness of my model.
For this purpose, I have brought Kirsi, one of my maids, to be the template. She appears scared, but probably only because I haven’t told her of the nature of the experiment. I decided to inform her, as it will likely help her with “waking up” in another body. Of course it won’t be her in the other body, but it may as well be from the perspective of the memory of subject 1.
I approach subject 1 and begin the process of erasing the relevant memories. My experience from prior subjects applies well, and it takes almost no time to erase the episodic memories and personality of the subject. I then open a second connection to Kirsi’s soul and use it as a reference to create the same patterns in subject 1. It is quick, with Kirsi herself not even noticing the process, though that may just be because most deer are not magically attuned.
With my experience and the reference, the spell concludes in moments. Subject 1 looks confused and is now transitioning to a state of discomfort. As I expected, the first speech from the subject is about how I said it wouldn’t be her and that it would just be a copy of her mind. This is immediately followed by a look of surprise and a covering of the mouth before observing the non-cloven nature of the foreign hoof.
I explain the nature of copying and about how she (he?) is the copy while the real Kirsi is still here. The subject looks quite uncomfortable with its body. Telepathy reveals a dysphoria regarding the “change” in race and gender. The real Kirsi seems to have grasped the situation and is staring wide-eyed.
The reaction of the other test subjects to subject 1 is remarkably subdued. I ask Anastasiya, who elected to stay and attend to my needs regarding the subjects, why this is the case, and she replies that she already imparted an understanding to the subjects that disruption would be met with punishment. This kind of initiative is what I want to see from those under my spell.
I command subject 1 to do a few simple tasks to check for obedience which seems to work fine, though faux Kirsi seems to be stressed and less quickly responsive than her real self. The real test is if it can call upon knowledge of the original host. I ask subject 1 if it knows what skills it now has that it didn’t have before. Unfortunately, the metacognitive knowledge of what he once knew how to do has been lost. I’m not sure how this meta-knowledge interacts with the types of memories I have categorized so far, so I’ll have to keep this in mind for future subjects.
Without the knowledge of what to test for, I have no other use for subject 1. I could try and do a deep telepathic scan or interview another subject before doing it again, but I think this is enough evidence to show this method is not a hidden gem. I thought I could solve the problem of just creating another maid by trying to leave semantic information intact, but now it is clear that, even if those skills are usable, the method opens up other problems I hadn’t thought of.
The fact that the copy feels out of place in the body is one problem, but the main one seems to be the stress caused by the experience. Even an obedient soul would struggle in such a foreign environment as has been demonstrated by Kirsi here. In order to facilitate this on a larger scale, I would have to create a perfect soul template that would not be bothered by waking up in a new body which would require either a one-in-a-million find of a unique personality or a carefully crafted one. Neither is optimal. What I simply can’t live with though is the fact that if I were to do this on a large scale, I would have a nation of Kirsis, which wouldn’t feel as satisfying to rule. It is just like the skeletons - there is no unique being I am controlling.
Subject 2: Unicorn female
As I move on to subject 2, subject 1 annoyingly interrupts asking what will happen to it. I suppose unlike the prisoners, Kirsi, or, more accurately, the presence of her identity, makes subject 1 feel it has a level of familiarity with me. It does raise the question of what I should do with these subjects afterwards. Presumably, most will be able to function in society and be loyal to me if most of what I end up doing is simply refining my method. However, I don’t think my time is best spent judging what will likely be a wide spectrum of results. Anastasiya can handle them. I inform subject 1 of this, and Anastasiya hears as well. I see Anastasiya immediately pick up a pen and start writing notes - a sign to me that she understands the responsibility I have delegated to her.
For subject 2, I will test a personality approach, the other longshot idea. My passive methods are perhaps a bit more refined than the active methods of most emotional manipulation magic, but I predict no pattern I will be able to produce will be able to satisfactorily achieve consistently good results. The issue lies in modeling the divergent nature of how different emotional responses will react with each other which usually ends in varied and extreme behaviors.
To start, I begin the connection to subject 2’s soul and locate the personality. For this test, I begin to apply a simple positive association with me. I tune it to be relatively strong, as I would prefer to see the effects it has on a wider slate of behaviors, and an increase in strength of the association should ensure even distant associations with this response are felt consciously.
Upon conclusion of the spell, I command subject 2 to walk in a circle. There is a moment of hesitation in her eyes before she begins. This hesitation for this simple command seen both in her and subject 1 leads me to believe that it is the presence of higher thought that allows for this. Most of my previous spells reduced mental capacity, and thus the ability to question my commands, causing them to obey promptly. These subjects, with their reasoning intact, are able to recognize the arbitrary nature of the command, and likely hesitate to think through any immediate tricks. This is a tradeoff of this form of mind control, but one I will gladly make.
After completing her fourth circle, I note a look of confusion on her face. I believe I know the cause. The original obedience was caused by fear of retribution given her status as a prisoner in a lab with an all-powerful goddess. Now that she is obeying, I suspect she is beginning to become aware of the association implanted within her. A telepathic thought scour confirms this theory and gives me another idea to test.
I command subject 2 to kowtow before me. She begins after another moment of hesitation. The moment her nose touches the ground, she recoils and jumps back. The lack of camaraderie between the prisoners is clear as the rest try to give her space without questioning her behavior. This is a far cry from the villagers I used who would try to console or express concern for those being targeted, so I appreciate this comparative lack of interference. Subject 2’s eyes go wild as she begins clopping herself in the head.
I find this behavior very entertaining. I glower a little at her, and she slinks back to the kneeling position, though I see she is now closing her eyes. She is continuously wincing and squeezing her eyes shut. I don’t need magic to tell me what’s going on, but I take a look just to confirm my suspicions. As expected, the thought pattern has been a cycle of feeling the emotion of the association, recognizing its artificiality and then trying to not feel it by any means necessary.
This awareness of how the feeling does not align with the rest of her identity is another reason why a primarily personality focused approach will probably not be my final solution. Given enough time and enough coercion into following commands, it is possible the hostility she feels towards the association I implanted will fade, and that she will choose to take solace in the fact that it at least feels good or at least grudgingly accept servitude. However, it is equally likely that, through her active deconditioning efforts, the association I implanted wanes in strength. This is a downside of passive control, as targets, if they so deem, can attempt to change their own minds. Souls are always in flux as the body and mind change, so creating self-reproducing patterns will be essential.
Subject 3: Pegasus male
Having seen enough of subject 2, I leave her to her internal conflict and approach subject 3. I am now curious if I can overcome this conflict by simply turning the association up much higher and providing multiple similar associations rather than just the one. I insert the new associations into subject 3 and crank the metaphorical dial up a few notches. Right after I do, his wings stick straight out as if electrified and his eyes go wide.
At first, it appears as if I broke something, but his gaze then falls on me. He remains standing stock-still, eyes directly staring at mine. He starts breathing deeply and then jumps to the bars of the cell directly at me. I was expecting extreme behavior, and so am unfazed. A rattling sound rings out as his face embeds itself between the bars. He flaps, seemingly trying to fly through the bars as I see a hoof begin to extend past the cell towards me. I am, of course, a few paces beyond his reach, but that physical reality doesn’t appear to stop him from trying to reach for me.
A mental examination reveals he desires to touch me, as if he were deathly ill and touching my fur would somehow cure him. The chain of thought that led to this hyperfixation is a mystery to me, but such is the chaos of emotional manipulation. Having realized he will not be able to reach me, he turns his eyes to the lock on the cell. Eyes wide, and with a shout, he slams down on the lock. When he sees no response, he backs up to the end of the cell and flies full speed into it. He howls in pain, collapsing to the ground.
Seeing his determination is a delight and reaffirms my choice of method. I remember how casting Cogeria-Fiducia caused difficulty problem solving and how lazy Asinti’s demons were. Subject 3 shows both determination and self-directed problem solving. Unfortunately, he’s chosen this brute-force method rather than simply talking, and I blame that on the emotional manipulation clouding his judgment.
I approach the cell. I wonder what will happen if I give him what he wants? He looks up from his hurting hooves and looks at me with a pup-like whimper, skittering to the edge of the bars once more. He reaches, though it appears to take all of his mental fortitude not to whip his leg out to hit me. I extend a leg and allow his hoof to gently brush its surface. I back up again and he looks at his own hoof in awe.
I thought, given his initial rabid behavior, that I would have to kill him to prevent him from becoming a nuisance, but he appears so very happy at having been granted his request. It seems I penned that too quickly, as he is now looking back at me ravenously. There is another dash to the door and another reaching of his hoof towards me. Perhaps he realizes that he can’t actually reach me and is merely signaling desire or repeating a previously successful strategy. I check his thoughts, and the answer is no, he’s just feral. The slobbering and incoherent sounds he was making should have tipped me off. To avoid him getting in the way later, I bring forth the pistol I keep here and shoot him twice in the head before putting the gun back down. No need to waste any mana - I have a lot to get through today.
Subject 4: Earth pony male
I have Kirsi clean up subject 3’s mess and move on to subject 4. With the longshot ideas not yielding results, it is time to move to the main event: a semantic-focused spell. For this first test, I will keep it entirely within the bounds of semantic memory to see if it works well. If it does, the spell can save a lot of mana which will help when scaling this to towns and cities.
Once connected to subject 3’s soul, I identify the region associated with semantic memory and begin to make edits. I start by bucketing the memories related to me. This one doesn’t know much about me but does seem to know of my power. There are no associations I find that are directly opposed to me that I must remove. For example, while I can feel that he doesn’t like me, it seems to be an emergent behavior from a distrust of authority and an enjoyment of autonomy, which he currently believes is being restricted by me. None of these memories are bad and should be removed. If I remove the positive association with autonomy, he may not resist capture by an enemy. The same scenario also could be a problem if I remove the distrust of authority. For these generic ideas, it is difficult to have them not apply for me, but apply to the enemy, and I will have to engineer another emergent behavior that achieves this effect.
The key seems to be, as I reasoned before, in adding memories, as most beliefs are emergent behaviors from known principles. I find a spot of random noise which correlates with unallocated memory, and add semantic knowledge that I must be obeyed, that I am to be worshiped, and that he is loyal to me. The only thing left to do is to see if it has any effect without the addition of any emotional weight.
I begin with the standard circle walk, and he also exhibits the same hesitation subject 2 did. His confusion also matches, but it doesn’t appear to be as serious as subject 2’s, which I would attribute to the lack of emotional associations on the added semantic data. Semantic data is also likely processed by the consciousness in a way where it is less alarming. Commanding him to stop, I proceed with an impromptu questioning.
He answers in a tone similar to the other subjects, implying that his manner of speech was not affected by the changes I made. He does, however, begin one answer referring to me as “Your Highness”. I find the use of this specific title worthy of a bit more thought. Obviously, he has some idea that I am to be respected, but does he think I am below Queen Honoria of Wittenland? They say not to attribute malice to what can be attributed to incompetence, and the adage is proven yet again when I look into his mind to see he just doesn’t know his honorifics.
I question him on his unchanged tone, and he seems to only now realize that he should be more respectful. I ask him if there is anything else in his behavior he would like to reflect on, and he takes a moment to bow before adopting a meeker stance and apologizing. Interesting how he didn’t notice he was acting incorrectly but was willing to change when he thought about it. There seem to be missing metacognitive links with his new beliefs as he was almost not aware of them until asked specifically. I will have to try and add these in the future.
With this lack of awareness in mind, I ask subject 4 first if he worships me (he responded in the affirmative) followed by why he thinks he believes that. At first, he is unable to answer, but then he has a look of realization as he puts 2 and 2 together. He responds that it is because he has been mind controlled, and I ask him how he feels about that. His first comment is about how he doesn’t feel mind controlled, but then begins to panic.
It seems that, once again, self-identification has come into conflict with my alterations. He takes a page out of subject 2’s playbook and begins bashing himself in the head. I notice an interesting behavior as he looks at me, apologizes, but then closes his eyes and starts yelling and thrashing while resuming his self-flagellation. His thoughts tell me he started with mental conflict, but when he saw me again, he was overcome with guilt. When he realized he didn’t like that he felt guilty, he started doing anything possible to stop the thoughts or at least distract from them.
So, it seems that when adding no emotional connections to the semantic knowledge, subjects will feel guilty that they don’t feel more emotion. Also, when realizing they are mind controlled, subjects tend to want to return to a state of freedom. I believe that adding the positive emotional associations with me will allow the subjects to justify my use of mind control on them and that they will then not resist. I ask subject 4 to keep it down as I move on, and he immediately stops his bigger outbursts. It seems he is still obedient.
Subject 5: Earth pony female
From my experience with subject 4, I see 2 avenues for improvement. The first obvious emotional aspect is self-explanatory. The second is less so and regards metacognition. Subject 4 did not change his behavior until told to question himself. The semantic data was there, but he wasn’t aware of it. Like how fake Kirsi could not perform the skills of the original pony due to not having the knowledge of them, subject 4 did not know he had to act respectfully until he queried his own memories for how he should act. I understand most creatures go through life blissfully unaware and acting automatically, but this is evidence. I suppose I don’t question my every action either, so it seems I’ve met the kettle to my pot.
I cast the spell beginning in the same manner I did with subject 4. This time, I add metacognitive semantic data which will hopefully give her awareness of her loyalty to me. Conveniently, I am able to follow the metacognitive “strands” to the associated emotions and tweak them without using as much mana as it would have cost to start a search from all of nondeclarative memory.
I engage my telepathy and command subject 5 to begin the circle walk. She responds with an obedient “Yes, your majesty!” and begins. I note a small hesitation, but this is working out nicely so far. Telepathy reveals no confusion as to why she is walking in a circle or why she feels fulfilled when obeying.
Next, I move to questioning. She wholeheartedly answers that she serves me with her body, mind, and soul. If only she knew how true that was. I ask her why she believes as such, and she replies that she doesn’t need a reason. Not a great answer with no consistent logic behind it, but I am sure this will be a recurring phenomenon with creatures being unable to justify a reason given their philosophies and just having to confabulate not needing a reason to serve me.
I ask my final question regarding how she came to believe this, and she quickly replies with mind control. As she has seen the previous subject, it would be more surprising if she couldn’t figure it out. I give her a look that suggests I want more information. She stutters for a few seconds, but then comes back with the answer that she’s glad she was mind controlled so that she could serve.
Finally! She didn’t have a good answer, but the emotions and semantics worked together to make her justify it as a good thing. She was a bit slow in coming up with it, but this is the result I want my final spell to achieve. Mind control that falls apart at doubt or challenges is useless against an adversarial actor. What I have created is resilient___/
That’s an annoying line. I was reveling a bit too much in my creation that I admit a laugh escaped. A unicorn then, it seems, took the gun from my table and took the opportunity of my distraction to fire a bullet at me. I added a new layer of sensory spells to my being, so I was able to detect the firing and my dual consciousness meant I was able to react in time while laughing. I used my levitation to stop the bullet midair to demonstrate my power. I sensed the unicorn trying to fire more bullets, so I jammed the trigger so she couldn’t do anything more.
I stop laughing and drop the bullet to the ground while yanking the gun back into my levitation. It is immediately clear to me which unicorn was responsible, and I give her a sweet look of motherly displeasure. You were never going to hurt me, so there’s no reason to be mad, even if you did make me smudge my ink. I pluck subject 5’s name from her mind and order her to kill the unicorn responsible. This defiance must be punished, or it would set a bad precedent.
As subject 5 charges the larger unicorn and they begin a brawl, I ponder subject 5’s behavior during this incident. She was looking in my direction and would have seen the gun levitating to me, and yet did not attempt to warn me. Did she know I was safe? Was the control imperfect? Is she just an idiot? I must recall the state of her mind as it happened. I note subject 5 is winning the fight. A zealous blur of hooves repeatedly smashes into the eyes of the unicorn as the other cellmates watch.
Using my improved memory, I am able to remember and observe subject 5’s state of mind at the moment I started to laugh. She does acknowledge the gun. She then associates the gun with killing me, and that that course of action would lead to her freedom. She assesses that she doesn’t need that freedom as my slave and does nothing. Only after this line of thought does she begin to worry for my safety, but by this point, the bullet has already been fired.
I begin to work out the implications of this line of thought as I watch subject 5 transition to choking out my would-be assassin after repeated punches reach diminishing returns as she tires. I believe I can correlate the initial hesitation I noticed with her and this long train of thought before she thought of me. Even the few seconds she took to justify her own mind control could be evidence to my theory. While she has the semantics and the emotion, the order of her thoughts or the way she thinks was unchanged. That is procedural. Without the procedural memory, she wasn’t used to always thinking of me or justifying things for me, and thus took a non-optimal time to react, though I believe this will improve over time as the procedural memories are created.
As I sense the pony dying at subject 5’s hooves, I am reminded of the Omphalos hypothesis. The theory, well more conjecture than theory, is that when Faust or whoever created the creatures of the world, they must have been created with navels. Having not been born of a womb, there is no biological reason for the presence of a navel, but the idea is that Faust could have created the world at any given time with geological signs of aging or, in this case, belly buttons.
In my case, I am trying to create slaves who already know how to be my slaves and have “experience” thinking how I want. If I were to embed procedural memories of how to think that would normally be developed over experience and learning, it would be like Faust creating trees with age rings already inside. In both cases, there is the creation of something with the appearance of having a greater age.
Subject 5 returns to the edge of the cell nearest me, now covered in the blood of my assailant. She bows and says she hopes she was of some use. Oh, you have been, and more than you know.
After refining the spell on the rest of the test subjects, I can confirm that the lack of correct procedural memories is what led to subject 5’s slow thinking. I have developed what I believe is the final iteration of the single-target variety of this spell. I add positive semantic information about me while weakening other strongly positive semantic self-identifications. Then, I add metacognitive information about knowing about those memories and then follow those to the related emotional reactions. I then backtrack towards the semantic information and try to bridge to related procedures and incorporate the semantic data into the relevant lines of thought.
It does require more mana than I had hoped - enough to tire an untrained unicorn, but I am no unicorn. I am the most powerful deer to grace this continent and my will will be done. The cost is a small price to pay to remove the adjustment period. When I am casting this across battlefields and cities, I want a minimal delay before they begin actively thinking for me. I remand the custody of the living ponies to Anastasiya and instructed her to have the functional ones released from their prisons. Today I have to oversee the integration of many townships into the Viiradian hierarchy and check in on the purge. Soon, though, I will have a new tool that will make this much easier.
I have tasked Anastasiya with setting up a testing ground for the area-of-effect version of my spell to be completed by the end of next week. This will require much more work than just moving ponies into my cells as I plan to test the spell at a number of ranges, and so will require regularly-spaced intervals of cells across miles so I can accurately judge the effect of the spell with distance. I also want to test over a variety of terrains and elevations, so I’ve given her some time to do the proper survey work and transport the test subjects.
In the meantime, I have a meeting with Cyneweard Stangaet. I met the stallion briefly at one of Ambrosius’ parties. He was a military strategist exiled from Wittenland for tactics dubbed “too extreme”. Now that I’m in charge, he wants to speak regarding my party trick. I recall the one he refers to. I entertained a group of nobleponies by making part of a town “disappear”. In reality, I destroyed the earth beneath the town to create a sinkhole, but certainly from the viewpoint of the balcony we were on, it appeared as though everything disappeared.
This meeting will most assuredly be about the military applications of my magic now that I am much more powerful. I’ll admit, I’ve had some ideas myself. I haven’t done anything too taxing since destroying Dunburh, and I long to make use of my full power again.
Cyneweard and I are at the edge of a mountain across from the ruins of Dunburh. I teleported us here to test the effectiveness of spell ideas we have on a city. This way, we can see its effects on buildings. Many are destroyed, but the ruins remain the largest collection of buildings in Viirad, at least for now. Of course, I could repeat the nuclear chain reaction I used to destroy Dunburh in the first place in every situation, but it would be good to have a variety of spells from which to choose from.
The first idea is related to my sinkhole trick - an earthquake. As I increase my awareness of the earth around Dunburh, I note how far my magical influence can now reach. Without scrying, I am still able to feel across the entirety of Dunburh in my grip as I simply shake everything.
Unexpectedly, Cyneweard and I feel the shaking from here miles away from the target- the ripple effects of my vibration must extend beyond my direct actuation of the ground. To see the results, I use the air as a scrying media to gain a view of the city. Usually scrying requires a reflective medium, but my mastery of the craft and sheer power let me use anything now. We observe the intact buildings shake and fall. Larger brick structures prove more vulnerable to damage as they seem to collapse at a much higher rate.
I also do want to see the effect this has on ponies, but the city has basically completely died since I destroyed it. The ponies didn’t seem to understand the concept of magical radiation, and many died from radiation sickness in the fallout of the blast. The ones who lived realized the danger and moved out. I suppose the effect on ponies is obvious. While the ground shaking does not directly kill, collapsing buildings do.
As I stop shaking the ground, the number of buildings still standing irks me. Most of the buildings, even in our former capital, are one to two story wooden houses, which have shown themselves to be naturally earthquake resistant. Cyneweard notes that taller buildings are more vulnerable, and that wood, being flexible, can withstand vibration much better than materials like concrete and brick.
It is a fact of our world that these short, wooden buildings are the most prevalent kind of building. Not being able to destroy them is not acceptable. I do have a spell, however, that may help. Mildgyd’s Magnet is a spell which works like a reverse magnet. It also works on things other than iron. The boring way to use the spell is to refine ore, but I sense a fun way to use it here.
I briefly teleport back to my library to grab a book with the spell before teleporting back. Cyneweard is quite startled by my sudden disappearance, but I explain to him my idea. The spell was designed by Lady Mildgyd to be used in cannons, but the story goes that the magnet repelled the gold of her jewelry, blasting her away never to be seen again.
If I tune the spell to repel all metal and then cast it over a town, I imagine I can get the spell powerful enough to rip the nails and screws from walls and bring down wooden structures in a thunderous blast. Luckily, the spell is well documented, and I am able to quickly prepare this variation for casting.
Moving the scrying window to a relatively intact row of houses, I pump a large amount of magic into the magnet before releasing the electromagnetic shock. The wave of force itself is invisible but is indirectly observable as the houses collapse one after the other. The effect on the streetlights is especially entertaining as the structures nearly instantaneously hit the ground in a crumpled mess. Cyneweard notes the buildings in the distance of the scrying image are still standing. For this to be useful on a strategic level, I will have to cast it with much more power.
After a few repeated casts, it is clear to me we are reaching diminishing returns. Due to the inverse square law, strength declines quickly from the point of casting. The spell is also not directable, causing a lot of energy to be wasted as the field expands in all directions equally. The proper way to use this in the future will be repeated, relatively small, casts of the spell targeted across infrastructure. Cyneweard says, in a tone much too enthusiastic, that when the Kasan army resists us, their supplies will take much longer to arrive with railroads warped beyond recognition and buildings and roads damaged. While it isn’t as fun as using the spells to commit mass murder, which they obviously can, I see the strategic benefits.
Another spell I wish to test is also a variation of my party trick. In order to conceal the town falling into the sinkhole, I conjured a black fog over the region. With a small alteration to the spell, I could conjure additional particulates in the spell and cause everycreature engulfed in it to die. Cyneweard feels it is basically mustard gas with extra steps and it comes with all the related downsides. However, I believe it can have strategic benefits for Viirad.
With scrying, I can cast this spell at an almost unlimited distance. A blanket of this cloud over the capital of the opposing nation should prove quite effective. I move my scrying window to a nearby settlement visible from my vantage point.
I perform the normal conjuration of the fog over the settlement, and then add a second conjuration of dust and wind. I could do poison, but that would be a much more complex particle. Besides, suffocation with a side of lung damage is much faster. I stay lazy with the dust, as that should help the particles form with irregularities that make them better at cutting through flesh.
The visibility through my scrying medium becomes low, and I can only make out shapes for a few blocks. I adjust my scrying window to be closer to the ground. Through it, I see a group of ponies run by, dashing indoors to avoid the dust. One pony doesn’t make it. His barely open eyes are marked with the red of irritation. His pace is slowing, coughs growing in frequency. The coughing grows stronger and stronger before then slowing down as he slumps on the side of a hay bale. Blood flows freely from his mouth as he stills.
Across the street, a mare bangs on the door to a home. The homeowner looks in fear at the mare from the nearby window while holding her 2 young foals. The mare appears to beg the mother to open the door, but she knows she shouldn’t. Dust storms are common in Viirad, though definitely not this aggressive, because of the magical energies of the machine warping the climate, and every family knows not to open the door during one of them. Young foals are especially at risk, as they are sensitive to the dust, and it could cause lifelong damage.
As the mare begins to violently cough blood over the door, the homeowner looks like she can’t bear watching her suffer any more. She opens the door and pulls the mare inside as fast as she can before closing the door. Her indecision has taken years from the mare’s life.
The mechanics of wind make it difficult to affect creatures indoors. Even if I were to develop a poison variant, the dosage of poison would likely be too small to kill before most got indoors. Regardless, there are many good reasons to still use this deadly air even if it doesn’t kill everyone it touches. It is a massive impediment to any logistical activity, as low visibility and dust damage can eat into efficiency. Also, the danger outside forces ponies to stay indoors, and the costs related to medical care add up and can put stress on a healthcare system already strained by war. Cyneweard also notes factory production decreases as creatures cannot afford to physically exert themselves as much with all the dust in the air. Overall, this result is satisfactory, and I will be sure to remember this spell combination.
As our meeting concludes, Cyneweard wants to discuss a spell idea that will be more useful in direct combat. Using magic to cause fission reactions is a useful skill, but the large-scale nature of the explosions mean they are better used away from the front. The magical radiation also poses issues across a wide area regardless of allegiance, and I would prefer something more one-sided.
I could perform a standard beam spell and lay down devastation from above, but there are several problems with that. Firstly, I have to aim it at targets individually. While it will sometimes happen, I doubt my enemies will line up their tanks nicely for me to destroy. Even if they do at first, doing this once means my opponents adapt and then stop being so stupid.
Secondly, this is not very efficient. Aiming from such a distance takes time, and then the actual killing takes time. What if they are in a building? Or hiding in a cave? If I were to kill one pony every 10 seconds, I would only be able to kill 360 ponies in an hour - a paltry figure. My time is much better spent with larger scale spells rather than individually trying to target each one.
I could reduce targeting time if I were closer to the action, but the final problem is that the nature of the horizon dictates I must be high in the air to see further. However, my back of the hoof math tells me if I were a half-mile in the air, I would still only be able to see about 40 miles in the distance. If the front is a thousand miles long, I’m not really affecting the greater battlefield.
My time is not best spent killing individual creatures, so the solution is instead using it to debilitate my enemies’ entire front. Giving an army of a hundred thousand a few percentage points of advantage has far more effect than me doing everything. The armies of today run on guns, cars, and tanks. I suppose Viirad’s doesn’t yet, but it will soon. A spell to disable their mechanical contraptions will ensure my forces can always have the upper hand.
Cyneweard’s suggestion is a time spell, revealing just how bad the universities outside of Equus are. I ask him what he means, and he describes the process sometimes seen in fiction where the experience of time for an area is accelerated and the things inside age and break. A ludicrous concept, but he doesn’t seem to understand why. It seems I’ll have to demonstrate.
Such spells that increase or decrease the speed of time in a given area do exist. Star Swirl the Bearded wrote much on the subject, but most of his work evidently didn’t make it to the Riverlands if it is still so poorly understood. Improvising based on my past readings, I conjure a bubble of time acceleration in front of the flight path of a nearby bird and then direct Cyneweard’s attention to it.
As observed from our region of normal time, the bird flies at a normal speed. Once the bird enters the region of accelerated time, it instantaneously begins to travel at double speed before just as quickly returning to its old velocity when exiting the region. While I could use an inordinate amount of energy to accelerate time to be much faster than twice the normal rate, it would actually help the enemy. From their perspective, they would perceive time as normal, and have more time in which to act. Yes, from our perspective they will age a century in a minute, but that means they will gain a century of time to, say fire one bullet a year which would be a hundred bullets in that minute from our perspective.
The real answer with a time spell would be to slow down time for our enemies, but creating just the small region I just did as an example was mana-intensive enough. I do, however, have a better idea.
When Cyneweard speaks of aging, what does he really mean? He means the natural processes of being in the world eventually take its toll. That toll, for most modern mechanical parts, is rust, or more generally, oxidation. There is no need to try and literally age our enemies when we can perform the same process that causes aging to be harmful. A large-scale, weak transmutation spell can remove the electrons necessary in just enough of a volume to break most machinery.
The spell already exists, called simply “Decay”, but it usually isn’t cast on such a large scale. I prepare another scrying window over a more intact street of Dunburh and perform a naive scaling method to increase the area of effect of the spell. Cyneweard looks appreciatively at the red tinting forming on the abandoned carts. Based on my mana output, I believe I can cast this over a very, very large area. It may not kill, but it is certainly not healthy to be in. Also, while it isn’t very dramatic, increasing the failure and turnover of enemy equipment will be very useful for helping my less well-equipped armies take on enemies with fancier guns and radios.
It was nice to take some time to let loose my full magical might for a change, but there’s something so impersonal about these strategic spells. I suppose it is just how the world is that, in order to effectuate large-scale change, one must be detached from the individual. There are simply too many creatures in the world to think about each one. Although, that being said, I can get my enjoyment when I zoom in like I had to with the deadly air. I’ll have to be sure to watch the individual effects of my mind control spell in the future once it becomes more a job of casting it over towns rather than the personalized soul experiences I cast now.
At last, I can finally get back to the business of mind control. I received a memo from Anastasiya that the testing grounds are complete with coordinates. Upon teleporting to her, I am greeted by a landscape of rolling hills. Anastasiya is there, and, after showing proper deference, she presents me with a diagram laid out on a table with what she has set up.
10 cells at 1-mile intervals (as the crow flies), each with 5 test subjects. 20 miles away is a second testing ground with the same arrangement of subjects. Additionally, there are a few special cells in each setup whereby I may test more irregular casting situations. For each grounds, there is a cell at high elevation, an enclosed cell within a Fair Day cage, and an underground cell. From our vantage point atop a hill, I am able to spot the first, second, and third mile markers for the cells, but the others escape my vision. Beyond Visual Line Of Sight (BVLOS) casting will be important.
I have formalized my mind control spell and algorithmically described it in preparation for conversion to an area-of-effect spell. Previously, I had individually fiddled with the individual souls I was casting on. I was wary of personalizing each casting too much due to the goal of creating a universal spell, but that doesn’t mean I was perfectly consistent. This will be a test if my generic version has mass applicability. I believe it will, but there may be exceptional circumstances which will reveal themselves in time.
There are two kinds of area of effect spells. The first is modeled as a point charge where strength of the spell follows an inverse-square distribution. Generally, spells are modeled as a function applied over reality, where a coefficient multiplied to the function determines strength. In the case of, say, Mildgyd’s Magnet, the force applied to metals is the strength which decreases from the point of cast. A piece of metal placed near the point of cast will accelerate to a higher final velocity than a piece of metal placed further from the point of cast.
The second kind of area of effect spell is the field-based model, where a uniform field is cast over an area. Unlike the point-charge model, these spells can take the form of any shape, though it usually works better to use geometry that is easy to visualize. Take the standard shield spell; it is generally cast in a spherical shell. Within the field, the strength of the spell function is equal, which is apparent in spells like Decay where rust forms at the same rate across the effective area.
Which model to base my mind control spell on, however, is still up for debate, hence the two testing grounds. In the case of the point-charge, I would cast the spell at a specific point where strength would then decrease over distance. Mana-wise, this is the much cheaper method of casting. The question is how potent the effectiveness will be over a distance, and how the lower strength version will affect creatures.
For the emotional components of the spell, that’s easy to determine. The function I have designed changes emotion proportionally based on strength, so creatures further away will have a lower level of positive sentiment towards me. The semantic components are less predictable though. Adding a semantic association is not a continuous function like emotion, but rather discrete. Classical spell theory states that discrete spell functions encounter what is sometimes called the fabric of reality. If the spell function has a high enough strength coefficient, its effect occurs. If the spell does not have a high enough strength to overcome the fabric of reality, its effect does not apply. There is no proportional relationship, merely a question of if it passed the limit or not.
The issue becomes, then, measuring the fabric’s strength. Different spells encounter different levels of resistance, and, as I understand it, for my mind control spell, each semantic association will have a slightly different fabric strength to contend with. This test will serve as a good measurement for which fabric strengths dominate.
The other upside besides mana cost when it comes to the point charge is easier BVLOS casting. If I cast the spell at my altitude, the spell’s influence will end at the horizon, which, at sea level, is about 2 miles away. However, if I cast the spell in the air, I can affect a large area beyond the normal horizon without having to change the spell at all.
In the case of the field-based model, I would conjure a region of reality where my spell takes effect. The upside here is a uniform application of the spell, which leads to uniform results. The downside is that, due to the first law of magical dynamics, I don’t get that energy for free and have to use significantly more mana to apply the function over an area rather than a point. BVLOS casting with areas also requires much more thought to maintain the mental structure of the area.
There also lies the question of what shape to make the field. The world is not entirely composed of flat terrain, so I would have to make a shape which extends into the ground and into the air relative to the local terrain in order to guarantee results. If I were to travel by train, mind controlling a nation as I moved through it, the best result may come from a thin and tall rectangular prism perpendicular to the train. Moving along the tracks, the thinness would not matter, as every location near them would be affected at some point. A problem for later. Today, my concern is with effectiveness. Once that has been determined, then I can work on optimization.
I will start with the point charge method. I’ll cast the charge at an altitude of approximately 500 feet, which should provide enough range to cover the entire test range. Applying my generic mind control spell function onto the point-charge structure, I will the spell to take effect at my chosen position with a power level that should allow me to observe the effect of the decrease in strength over distance. There is no visual effect beyond the glow of my antlers, but I am able to sense the emission of psionic energy propagating through the air. To prevent my own soul from being affected, I cast a shield spell that blocks the incoming magic.
I just now realize that this means that Anastasiya will be affected too. I look to her to see a somewhat apprehensive face looking upwards. I understand her feeling. Even though she already serves me, anycreature would be afraid to come under the effect of mind control. The spell’s effect is obvious as her fearful expression slowly returns to normalcy, and then what could perhaps be identified as contentedness.
The inspections at the cells at the first, second, and third mile mark were uneventful. The spell went as planned with the ponies in the cells greeting me on their knees. The fourth mile mark is where things began to get interesting. Upon teleporting Anastasiya and I to the cells, I noted 4 out of 5 ponies obviously got the full effect of the spell, but for the fifth one, a male unicorn, it was less clear. When I appeared before them, there was some whispering and surprise at my arrival. 4 moved to bow, while the fifth looked oddly at the others, hesitating before joining in. I questioned him regarding this, but it was clear his fear of being punished prevented him from speaking his true thoughts.
Entering his mind directly, I can better observe the effects of the spell. According to his memory, the 5 ponies in the cell didn’t notice when the spell went off besides a bit of an “off” feeling. It took the 4 fully affected ponies a few moments to realize their new loyalties, but the fifth noticed he did not think the same. Apparently, the four began to share in their new identity under me, and the fifth made non-committal responses when questioned. However, when he participated with them, the emotional response from the spell was still present. The discrete, semantic parts of the spell did not fully take hold, but the emotional, continuous parts did.
It seems he is experiencing something like one of my test subjects from last week did. While these five seem to know they have changed, none have said the term “mind control” out loud. I bring it up to the unicorn, and he has a flash of terror in his eyes before he tries to hide it. He doesn’t know I’ve been in his mind and know of his conflict. I wonder why he is relatively calm about the situation compared to the previous test subject with this condition whose first instinct was to hit herself in the head.
Is it that this pony is more tactical and manipulative? Is it that he is just less put off by the situation? While those could be factors, I believe it mostly has to do with the social dynamics of the different situations. Previously, I was personally interacting with the subject, and she was on display for a group of free-willed ponies. Here, this subject is amongst those loyal to me, and has already been trying to blend in. There is a clear social pressure to keep his true conflict hidden, and combined with a well-placed fear of bodily injury from myself or the loyal ponies, he’s acting rationally.
The social dynamics are also likely why they didn't mention mind control in their conversations with each other before I arrived. Mind control is still seen as a morally bad thing, and associating a bad thing with me in a conversation with other loyalists could be damaging to one’s reputation and body. I would imagine that, in contrast to these random prisoners, those with tight bonds would be able to bring it up with each other.
I tell him not to fear his thoughts and that he’ll feel better soon. I believe that, with enough time faking it, the existing emotional response will add semantic information to the existing nondeclarative memories. My words of comfort seem to unsettle him as he realizes what they mean.
The next cell followed the trend of spell effect degradation. What is interesting though, is how that didn’t change the social dynamics between the ponies. At mile 5, 3 ponies did not have full semantic information embedded, but the confidence of the other 2 caused them to feel like they had to conform.
Arriving at mile 6, I immediately spot an interesting sight. Three of them are plugging their ears with one even banging her head against the cell bars. The fourth and fifth are sitting next to each other, with one looking conflicted while the other speaks my praises to him. Fascinating. Noticing my presence, the one clearly fully affected by my spell, an earth pony mare, stops talking and approaches the edge of the cell seemingly just to behold me.
After complimenting and showing me deference, the mare explains that she was trying to help the others accept me, but that only the one stallion showed any signs of openness to the idea. The stallion she referred to blushed at the idea, perhaps out of some notion of guilt or shame. He gives me a respectful head nod, but that’s it.
Meanwhile, the others plugging their ears look more afraid than ever. One was on the side of the cell closest to me when I arrived, and he has now gone to the other side and closed his eyes. The mare banging her head on the bars, just noticing me now, stops for a moment. It looks like she doesn’t like what she thought when she saw me, and she screams before returning to attempting to give herself a concussion.
It seems that, with only one pony out of five fully under my control, the incentive dynamic to fit in was not as powerful, and the others, the second pony excluded, felt they had enough reason to simply try and block my words out. It would be of no surprise to me that, if they didn’t cover their ears, they could easily fall under my sway just from hearing the first earth pony talk about me. I theorize that that is what they started thinking after the spell came down, and thus have been trying to protect themselves ever since.
I teleport us to the cell at the seventh mile, and this time, do not immediately notice any movement. In the cell, all five sit in silence, nervously not making eye contact with each other. As I near, there is a clear shift as 4 of them move away from me. Only one remains. She also looks afraid, but not as much as the other ponies.
I ask her why the others are acting as they are. Stumbling over her words, she says the others are “feeling strange” about me and are feeling very uncomfortable about that fact. I then bring the question to herself, and she pauses, unsure of whether she should answer. She says she also feels positively about me despite the fact the army killed her father last week, but that it isn’t strong enough to worry about and that she is able to ignore it. I appreciate the candor. My observation is that, without at least one pony fully affected bringing me up, these partially affected ponies can keep off the topic and mostly ignore it without having to erase their own memories the hard way. I would also associate the more tepid response with the weaker emotional association that is created this far out from the point of cast.
Cells at miles 8 through 10 continue the trend. At cell 9, the majority unaffected ponies console the lone pony emotionally affected. Cell 10 didn’t even know the test happened. It seems that the mana I used to cast the spell was rather accurate for gauging the different levels of reactions.
The cell at high elevation was 100% fully affected despite being at the 5-mile mark due to the increased vertical proximity. I was curious to see the effect on the ponies in the cell that was in a Fair Day cage. While the pegasus Fair Day invented his namesake cage to block out electromagnetic radiation, he discovered later in life that a difference in material can cause a mesh to also block out magic. I had Anastasiya construct a crude one from rock. Stone is well known for its ability to store magic, and I have found the rock in Barrad to be quite potent. Unfortunately for me, the cage did work, and the 5 ponies in the cage were just like those at the 10-mile mark.
The final cell at this grounds was the underground one, and I instructed Anastasiya to keep these at least near a cave entrance to have some hope of being affected. As I expected, the ponies were affected far less than their raw distance would suggest with only 1 fully affected pony at a distance of 5 miles. The dynamic was similar to the other cell like it, but this pony was apparently more charismatic, as he was preaching about me to the rest, none of whom were trying to plug their ears this time.
What I do like about this method is its mana-efficiency. While the social dynamics help, what I do not like about this method is the amount of, for lack of a better word, nutcases it creates. I dislike their unpredictability and extreme behaviors. Even the unaffected ponies were at least calm, but these partially affected ponies seem to have a high chance to perform self-harming behaviors, which are not ideal for soldiers and factory workers. I could recast the spell multiple times over overlapping areas, but that merely mitigates the issue rather than solve it.
I teleport myself and Anastasiya to the second testing ground. She gives me a map which covers the locations of the next set of cages, and I begin to form the region for my field-based version of the spell. I choose a rectangular prism with a width slightly larger from the largest deviation from the crow-flies line in the middle of the layers of cells. For height, I visually estimate the height of the hill we are on and mimic it. I make the length of the prism extend the full 10 miles.
Casting a spell with such a large volume of influence and complex spell function takes a lot of mana, especially when most of the region is out of my sight. A lot of the region of influence is also wasted as much of it is, for example, empty air or in the middle of a hill. However, this should guarantee full application on everyone in the region. I hold it for a few seconds for the spell function to apply to everycreature in the prism. Upon completion, I release my hold on the region, causing the spell to dissipate. I then teleport the two of us to the first cell to begin collecting data.
While the spell mostly worked as expected with full application on all 50 subjects with little of note in regard to the spell, I do want to document the most hilarious interaction I had with the subjects at the 6th mile cell. I arrived at the scene of a fierce argument between the 5 subjects in the cell. At first, I was worried that the spell function didn’t have enough time to work on one of the subjects, but what revealed itself was much funnier.
When one pony saw me, he called on everyone to shut up and kneel to me, their goddess. He and two others did so immediately, one hesitated before complying, and the last one stood defiantly before me.
He looked me right in the eye and said so confidently, “I only kneel for Viira Lehtola, and you’re not her.”
I’ll admit that I was more than a little amused, so I asked him who he thought Viira was. Hilariously, he responded that he didn’t know, but that he was pretty sure Viira was a unicorn or a kirin or some race that had magic. He then said he knew for certain I wasn’t Viira because Viira couldn’t be a deer because deer don’t have magic. The secondhand embarrassment from the ones kneeling was palpable.
I asked them if this is what they were arguing about, and, as it turns out, it was. The three who knelt immediately all had familiarity of me either from following the news or being affected by the purge. The other two had been in their prisons for a while, and they still hadn’t heard of me. Thus, when my spell came down, their lives were rewritten to serve someone they didn’t even know. The one that hesitated was at least partially convinced, but couldn’t be sure, while this final stallion still didn't get it.
I asked Anastasiya where she found this fine specimen of ignorance. She looked through her notebook and found he was a minor noble’s son arrested for assault outside his mother’s lands. Just educated enough to be confident in his knowledge, but not educated enough to actually know anything. It does explain the confidence, I suppose.
Though this encounter was entertaining, it is demonstrative of an issue I will have to address. This incident will likely be repeated as I cast the spell across lands far from Viirad. Perhaps once I have conquered Griffonia creatures will know who I am because their governments will make a point to inform their citizens of the coming threat, but before then, I am certain I will be mind controlling many more isolated communities and ignorant individuals who will not know who I am. It would not do to have civil wars break out in my name due to misinformation about who I am, so I will have to make sure I have a well-established media presence so those I conquer will know who to kneel to.
As for this one, I decided to take a quick trip through his soul to implant my identity into his mind. His 180 degree turn from denouncing me to groveling before me, begging for forgiveness was quite gratifying.
An inspection of the high elevation and underground cells showed the region did not reach either, as I expected. It simply takes too much mana and effort to maintain a spell over a region that large, and I plan to do this for extended periods of time. The Fair Day cage, however, was ineffective at blocking my magic, as the field permeated throughout the region rather than traveling as a wave.
In the end, there is no perfect option. I could travel the nation unleashing point charges, but I would likely create many mentally damaged creatures on the periphery. Because of this downside, I believe I will have to go with the field-based method. It is, importantly, consistent. I will have to spend a lot more mana which means the process will take more time as I will have to rest, but I believe the quality improvement will be worth the additional cost.
I instruct Anastasiya to deal with the test subjects, and I teleport back home to my tower. With a spell made, I now have a nationwide tour to plan.
I had a meeting with Leofwine and Eadmund today for an update on the progress of rail and train construction. I showed them my plans to travel the nation and set them a deadline of the end of the month to finish the current rail construction project from my tower to Dunburh Lake through Viirum. Eadmund looked rather worried at being able to meet the deadline and requested more time. I asked him what the limiting factor was in regard to finishing the project, and he said there were still two mountains that required tunnel excavation before the railroads could be finished, so I agreed to magically perform the boring later today.
Though the Viiradian railroad is not set to complete for a few weeks, I will not waste the time from now until then. I’ve arranged for a ship to travel down from the border with Wittenland to the ruins of Dunburh, where a significant amount of the population lives. I’ve also arranged for another ship along another distributary of the river that travels from the northern border to Viirum. The first ship is scheduled to leave this afternoon, so I must complete the excavation before then.
The excavation proved relatively straightforward. While I am well studied, the field of industrial tunnel excavation is certainly not something I have read about in the past. However, Eadmund was able to provide me with a brief description of the general processes given different levels of technology, and I was able to glean the relevant principles to perform the task myself.
As I learned, the 2 parts of tunnel construction are removal of the material and strengthening of the archway to prevent collapse. For dislodging the material, I set a series of point charge explosive spells along the path I desired. Once the rock was loose, I was able to apply force via levitation to remove the material while levitating the top of the tunnel to prevent collapse. Finally, I applied a transmutation spell across the tunnel to regularize the rock formation and distribute weight across an arch shape at the top of the tunnel. It won’t last forever, but it will last long enough for the construction ponies to add reinforced concrete.
After I had completed excavating the second tunnel, I was struck by another idea, hence why I brought out my journal. If I’m here with this construction team, I have the opportunity to increase their efficiency through mind control. I took the liberty of asking Eadmund where he got his workers from, and he informed me that there were two main groups of workers. First was the few skilled craftsponies from his company mostly organizing the effort, and the second was made up of unskilled laborers with meager contracts basically approaching indenture. In the wake of my purge, there are a lot of these ponies with hungry bellies who need work.
While hunger is a powerful motivator, it is a rather short-sighted one. Once one is no longer hungry, there is no more motivation to work or better oneself, and I’m sure these ponies have not an ounce of ambition. I would imagine they have some notion of improving their lives, but it may be a dream with no clear steps forward rather than a goal they move towards each day. I think I can help them with that.
Standing with Eadmund looking over the works, I tell him of my intentions, and begin to cast my spell. Enclosing the varied ponies within the region of influence, I sense their minds shifting. Upon completion of the spell, nothing seems to change. Spikes continue to be driven and rail continues to be transported. I suppose I wasn’t expecting them all to suddenly turn to me and bow, but I did expect to see some change.
Perhaps the issue is that they have not connected their current situation to me directly. To remedy this, I magically enhance my voice and declare that all must listen. I tell the ponies that their work directly contributes to me. In the instantaneous moment between sentences, I begin to consider if I should add something about rewarding good work.
Unlike the philosophers of old who attempted to describe systems of value by observing the behavior of creatures in society, I have the opportunity to shape what creatures value and therefore what they seek. The question then remains, what is the best way to allocate labor resources? If I demand all creatures serve merely based on their devotion to me, that puts no incentive for growth, and I would have to manage a bureaucracy that allocates resources a la Stalliongrad’s managed economy.
The fundamental end goal of my policy should be that each of my subjects is in the role that, when taken together, provides the most benefit for me. I could individually assess this, but I have already written on the issue of doing everything myself. Thus, I must foster a system which self-allocates creatures into the role that best serves me. I am able to motivate the masses via mind control, but they must then interact with my society in a way that sorts them into their correct bin.
In a harmonist society, the invisible hoof allocates resources. In Caramel Mark’s vision, it is the state, while the supremacist philosophy has a free market with state direction or oligarchy. The Aquelians call it “dirigisme”. The free market rewards the correct allocation of resources with money, creating a financial incentive to improve, while the communists reward better work with recognition via the state unrelated to market design but internal standards. Supremacists have a mix of both.
If I promise better results for better work, I am directly acting as the state in providing incentives for work which may or may not be the correct market equilibrium that maximizes my output. Perhaps one of these ponies would be better suited to research work, but for my command today, continues to work here as a construction laborer and never discovers their greater potential. If I do not promise such things, and the pony leaves, there is no guarantee that they will discover that greater niche.
I am, unfortunately, not omniscient. In the complex interplay of these thousands of lives, I must rely on systems which can approximate maximization of output. The free market has shown itself to be effective at increasing productivity, but has also increased leisure products and consumer goods, which I believe are unnecessary for my subjects to maximize output to my benefit. The Karthinian saying of “bread and circuses” is irrelevant, as while I may not be able to remove the need for bread, I can change my population to replace their circuses with a desire for more service to me.
Therefore, the supremacist nature of directed market economics seems to be the best choice. My subjects, though, will not be motivated just by greed, but by a desire to increase their economic output for me. Apt, as my philosophy is, by definition, a supremacist one as it does believe in its own superiority such that it is incompatible with other worldviews and must dominate over others. I don’t see much in common between myself and Eros, Beakolini, or the Discrets, but if the wars of reclamation they are all waging are any indicator, it is clear there is at least a passing similarity in our geopolitical ambitions.
With my resource allocation reasoned through, I do add a statement about rewarding good work. This job is not fueled by a demand from the market, and therefore reward is determined by me and my proxies closer to them on the organizational hierarchy. With my dual consciousness, I am able to think through all of this in that momentary pause between sentences, and not alter the cadence of my speech. My writing, however, cannot keep the pace of my thoughts. I have already switched to a 2-pen method of writing where I can write 2 letters at a time, but I require an even greater speed. Perhaps I can acquire a stenotype machine to increase my pace.
Time will tell whether my words increase the efficiency of these workers. For now, they give me a bow before returning to their work. I make sure to tell Eadmund to be meritocratic as to avoid wasting resources like these state actions tend to do across the world. I decide to add a small implication that he will be mind controlled if his performance appears to be impaired by his free will, but he responds that he does believe in meritocracy, and displays positive sentiment towards many of Queen Honoria’s meritocratic reforms in Wittenland. There are two kinds of egomaniacs that were attracted by Ambrosius’ invitation to Barrad: the kind that will do anything for themselves, and the kind that will do anything for an ideal. As the former, I am glad to see Eadmund is the latter.
With my business concluded, I must go to the ship at the Wittenlandian border to begin my first voyage and first implementation of mass mind control. I am wary that my magic must not cross the border as to not draw the ire of the Wittenlandians too soon.
Day one of the trip down the river has concluded, and I have learned much of how the rest of this mind controlling process will go. This was only a half-day of travel, but the tiredness I feel speaks to the magnitude of the scale of this spell. Upon ordering the ship full steam ahead, I cast the field of control in a rectangular prism as I had designed with a very wide width. I aimed for 10 miles in each direction. Population surveys have shown that most creatures live quite close to water even in our modern age of plumbing. Though I will only be traveling along major rivers, and later railroads, I should be able to capture a great majority of the population in my spell.
As planned, the spell field region extended upwards a few thousand feet, and then downwards from the deck of the ship to the river. For width, based on the speed of my ship, I chose a relatively narrow 50 feet so that each creature got a few seconds within the region as the ship passed by.
This river journey will take us 4 more days, and I plan to be casting for 8 hours of each. I feel the great power I am drawing upon weighing on my body already, so I foresee each day will be strenuous. While I have nearly unlimited power to draw upon, I can feel my biology failing me as my body was not designed to be a conduit for this much magical energy, so rest and nourishment will be paramount. Luckily, I always bring my servants with me. Once this is completed, I will have another 2 weeks on another channel of the river. While I don’t look forward to the inevitable malaise I will feel, I do look forward to seeing the results of my work.
As it seems, apotheosis is no cure for sea legs. After spending 5 days on the river, I have scheduled a day to catch up on the manners of state that require my presence, and I begin another 2 weeks of voyaging tomorrow. To describe my physical state, I don’t feel tired after having rested, but I do feel the toll of my power in other ways. It is difficult to put into words, but perhaps the best way to articulate it would be a “fraying” of my being. The more magic flows through me, the more the edges of something begin to blur. Without a model for what is occurring, I can only speak to my own sensory experience. I would say that the edges of my perception, not vision or touch, but experience of the world feels like it becomes less distinct at the end of a full day of casting.
It is something I will have to manage. So far, the feeling has passed come each morn, but I believe that if I continue for too long like this, it will worsen, with the end result likely being death. A limiting factor to my conquest of the world, but as with all obstacles, I will overcome.
Today, I have to deal with the more mundane activities of running Viirad. It seems many letters have found their way to my desk during my trip even though I specifically instructed them to be redirected to my ship. At least some of these are dated with today’s date. This one seems interesting: Ceadda wishes to speak about a pony who turned up at his office.
This is delightful news. The pony who suddenly appeared at Ceadda’s office was an earth pony mare named Wynflaed who claims to work for the Skapatoria. According to her, she was born in Barrad, but her family fled Ambrosius to Kasa with the help of a Skapatoria agent. Wanting to pay it back, she herself joined the Skapatoria program and was in Viirad to rescue others from the Pentarchy’s rule, though now it would be my rule, of course.
However, during my recent river travels, it seems she was caught in my spell and had a sudden change of heart. Realizing her potential benefit to me, she sought any means necessary to speak with me, including sneaking into the office of the head of my army. Apparently, the event was quite dramatic, with Ceadda walking into his office to find Wynflaed sitting on his floor surrounded by documentation proving her identity. She had hoofcuffed herself to show she wasn’t a threat and left the keys on his desk. I confess I did laugh at the absurdity when he told me the story.
To make a long story short, Ceadda verified the information, and I was able to meet Wynflead today to discuss what should be done with her. I performed the necessary due diligence to ensure her mind was fully mine, and also inquired about her current state of mind regarding what must be a total change in ideology and allegiance to ensure mental stability.
She replied that she was still anti-slavery and pro-freedom a la the Kasan way, but that, for the glory of Viirad and myself, all else is folly and that sometimes, dirty methods are necessary. My method does not remove the subject’s original knowledge and ideology, but merely layers adoration of myself on top of it. Therefore, the subject has to reconcile the two themselves. I can only imagine the conflict that must be going on in her head. Actually, for me, that turn of phrase is incorrect. I can, and did, look in her head, and I found no conflict. Whatever grappling she had to do must have been resolved. I suppose all creatures live with contradiction at some level and are not necessarily constantly wracked by conflict.
I connected Wynflead with the Watchers in the Darkness, and she’ll work with them to break the codes of the Kasans and give us valuable information about the partisans they are training across the nation. I suspect many will be training in isolated areas, and will remain untouched even after the railroad is complete. She says Kasa is preparing for an offensive war of liberation against us, unaware of my intention to invade them. Information like this is vital, and seeing her eagerness to betray her compatriots for my sake was quite intoxicating.
Aethelflaed also had some very good news to share. She informed me that her office has been flooded with letters and ponies at the door asking what they can do to help. Local nobleponies have reported a sudden desire amongst their ponies to aid my rule, not to mention the nobleponies who were influenced by my spell as well. Already they are making large donations as well as showing an interest beyond their debauchery for the good of my nation for once.
The issue now is what to do with all of these new volunteers. Willingness is one thing, but Viirad currently lacks the bureaucracy to organize and deploy all of these ponies efficiently. Furthermore, it is unclear what the correct role for them should be. I don’t have enough factories for them to work in, nor enough schools to educate them in.
For the former, for the moment, resource extraction is not the bottleneck. With Leopold and Eadmund’s mines running smoothly, the limiting factor is the industrial equipment required to turn those raw materials into military hardware. I need to have a meeting with Aelfraed and Eadwig about ramping up production and building new factories.
The latter will prove much harder to fix. To have a school system, I require educated creatures to teach. Unfortunately, the only well-educated ponies around are the nobility, and they are currently required to manage their own territories. With my powers of persuasion, I’m sure I could get them to abdicate and leave the management to me, but my bureaucracy is not well-developed enough yet to handle it. Perhaps I shouldn’t have destroyed most of it with the rest of Dunburh. No matter, I have already instructed Aethelflaed with beginning the process of expansion, but these things take time, even with all of the goodwill from my newly mind controlled subjects. The fact remains there are not enough well-educated ponies in Viirad to produce a more educated workforce. The universities of Kasa will be a welcome addition to Viirad when the time comes.
At the moment, the best use for them is perhaps in the infantry. I have stockpiles of outdated guns available to equip them with, but that will not do for long. Even with my magic, a well-equipped army can put these farmers to shame. Alas, expansion is still necessary to build up an army that can defeat Kasa’s, and there is no time like the present. Speaking of the army, I have not yet cast my spell upon them. When I return from my next voyage, that will be first on my list.
There is no time to waste. If Wynflaed is to be believed, the Kasans seek to “liberate” the ponies here. Their leader, Yrmthu, is the child of Barradian refugees, so I don’t doubt her willingness to do so. I must establish total control of the ponies of Viirad as soon as possible and attack them before they can attack us. 2 weeks by ship, and then hopefully another week by train if Eadmund finishes laying the tracks soon enough. I suppose I can undertake the journey even with the tracks partially completed, but, regardless, Viirad must be ready to fight soon. I will simply have to bear the burden of my powers no matter the consequences.
I am frustrated by the slowness of it all. With my mind present, any individual task can be completed in mere minutes, but the problems to be solved number beyond the minutes in the day. I am aware the best course of action is not to solve each individual issue relating to industrial buildup, military buildup, and civilian buildup, but to focus on solving larger scale issues, but the knowledge I am spending my time correctly doesn’t diminish the irksome feeling caused by the lack of order in the present.
I have complained enough. It is time to return to work. My ship will depart tomorrow morning following the river to Viirum, but I still need to organize the ship for the second week which will travel the other distributary in the direction of my tower.
Having traveled the rivers of Viirad, I am ever more aware of the dividing line between my lands and the lands not subject to the weather anomalies of the Machine. To the north, Wittenland’s falling of the leaves is underway, though I believe they have a more unicorn-focused tradition compared to the Running of the Leaves in Equestria. It has been years since I left Barrad, and I had almost forgotten what it looked like to have seasons.
Since Ambrosius took over, the usual traditions to change the seasons have been ineffective, and the weather has remained chaotic due to the influence of the Machine. It is hot and dry, and yet blizzards occur year-round. It was quite the sight to see the dust storms on the right of the ship, and yet clear weather visible through the dust on the left. The erratic weather phenomena make it quite hard to plant crops in Viirad, but also make it quite hard to organize resistance when all efforts are waylaid by bad weather and ponies have to ensure they don’t starve.
When the time comes to occupy Kasa and the lands beyond, I should bring the same weather phenomena to my new lands. My home will become theirs. My troops are used to the weather here having been born in it and lived through it their whole lives. I’m sure no other place in the world has such uniquely hostile weather, which would give my forces a decided advantage.
While Wittenland’s army is much more modernized and capable compared to my own, I did not see any infantry waiting on their side of the border. I suppose they haven’t done anything about Barrad for a generation, so there must not be any military urgency to reclaim their territory. Queen Honoria’s rhetoric regarding us, however, has been quite belligerent, so I would not put it beyond her to invade. I believe, however, that we have time. I understand that since she dueled the old queen, White Star, for the throne, she has been dismantling and rebuilding Wittenlandic society to make it more meritocratic - a process that has likely destabilized the country.
I worry that her reforms will mean a more formidable foe when they inevitably do march south, but that is offset by my relief that they have cut ties with the rest of the River Coalition. While still nominally a member of the Treaty of Coltstream, I don’t see Aquelia or the Griffonian Empire invading like Grover II did anytime soon given their ongoing war with each other, leaving the treaty relatively useless. Perhaps Honoria was tired of the lack of aid regarding the Grphyussian Cossack raids and stopped treaty cooperation. Whatever the reason, when war comes whether by their hoof or mine, they will be alone.
The second week’s journey brought me from the border of Austurland in the east down to the Kasan border in the south. Austurland is the only deer nation in Griffonia, and their vikingar have given the rest of us an unsavory reputation of all being pirates. They are still quite backward with their thrall system and tribal governance. I understand their Jarl, Ygritte Bylgjasdottír, was a berserker herself in the past, though it appears she has taken some steps to modernize the nation. I will be the one to lead the deer of this continent - not her.
During my casting along the border, I kept the area of influence of my mind control spell solely on my side of the river, but having done so for a while now, I had an idea for a new use of my previously discarded point charge spell. The reason I don’t cast over Austurland now is to avoid having to fight a war before I am ready, as actions like this are a clear casus belli. However, once war begins, there is no reason to hold back. I could, for example, travel close to the front lines and use my point charge mind control spell over the enemy. Not only would I gain followers, but it should sow chaos behind enemy lines as many suddenly find themselves on my side. The downside of the partially affected also becomes a positive as the uncertainty and mental instability it causes harms enemy effectiveness. My soldiers, who already worship me, would be unaffected, or simply believe harder in me.
I shall have to test this when I invade Kasa. On the topic of the nation, my river journey was cut short by where the Kasans draw the border with Viirad. I was close enough to see their border markings. I was also able to see their military encampments. Mostly Zebras, of course, but a healthy minority of griffins, deer, and ponies too. The heterogeneity irks me. Their “free state” exists only because no one bothered to conquer them. They rely on Macawia for everything and are just stock for the vikingar of Austurland.
But I should not be too critical. They may not be rich or well-educated, but they are far ahead of Viirad in such regards. The consequence of ruling a nation that was, until recently, run selfishly by a mad count is a lack of economic and technological progress. I am but one doe, and I can’t make up for the rest of my nation’s shortcomings. Furthermore, if the state of the borders is anything to go by, Kasa is the only nation that currently recognizes me militarily as the threat I am and will be. I would say, “congratulations”, as they’ve thus volunteered themselves to be first under my hoof.
I am still preparing invasion plans, but first I must finish establishing control of my own ponies. Eadmund reports the railroad is complete, but only one day ahead of schedule despite my mental intervention. My theory is that the ponies did work hard even before I arrived whether to meet quotas assigned from on high or self-motivation, so my spell only had effects on the lazy or unmotivated, who were only a fraction of the total population. This suggests that productivity will not increase significantly in the coming weeks, and that the correct path to increasing production in the economy will be industrial design and education, which are not things mind control can easily fix.
The first train is set to begin its tour of the nation tomorrow with me on it. Once that is complete, it will host migration of workers to urban areas where they can be more productive in factories, once we have the necessary factories built. It should also help in transporting cargo like raw materials, but also finished goods, around the nation. This is good news, but the limiting factor still remains guns, or, more specifically, artillery. Factories are slow to build with no nation willing to directly sell us expertise or machinery, and Leofwine estimates it will be only after my planned invasion date that the next factory will complete.
This does mean I will have to invade Kasa without stockpiles of semi-modern weaponry, but the invasion cannot wait. A few more months after that, Kasa will attempt to invade Viirad to free the ponies of Barrad. If the newspapers my agents have delivered to me are to be believed, the influx of Barradian refugees has caused a generation-long crisis in Kasa known as the Xatisa. Invading Viirad is part of their solution, as it means no more refugees. That is the practical side, but they also have their ideological reasons for hating my rule.
They do not, however, seem to know who I am. They are still referring to my nation as “Barrad” and are only now starting to realize that I am in charge, not the whole Pentarchy. This means the average Kasan is not going to know who I am. From my ranged mind control tests, I know this can lead to an unsatisfactory mind control outcome. Therefore, I must spread my name across Kasa to ensure a smooth transition.
Of course, the question remains of how. I would imagine printing pamphlets and teleporting them across the country is not the best course of action. Not only would it be using time and mana I’d rather spend affecting the battlefield, but many of the Kasans are as illiterate as my ponies. The traditional approach would be to send a diplomatic cable, but Barrad never had proper diplomatic connections with any nation, and thus Viirad inherited nothing in that regard. I could leak information about myself to the Skapatoria through Wynflaed, but the intelligence agency knows about me already, and the lack of public knowledge is likely a choice to not tell the public much. Intelligence agencies never do.
I could invite a journalist from Kasa to Viirad to spread my story. I’m sure they all want the story but are just too afraid to travel here to get it. I would imagine that none of them would be too excited to accept an invitation either for fear of their lives or freedom. However, their consent is of no concern to me. I will simply have to take a journalist, have them interview me under duress, and return them with the transcript. Given a few days of imprisonment, I’m sure their absence will be missed, and the media would then eat up the story of a reporter’s mysterious disappearance and equally mysterious return with the scoop of the decade. The narrative seems compelling enough to be spread.
I can invade only when the story has properly propagated through their media channels. If I were to do the interview immediately after my train journey, I estimate it would take 3 more weeks for the story to be published and properly reach even the illiterate backwaters. Thus, my earliest invasion date would be a month from now. Begrudgingly, I can accept it.
The train tour across the country has completed successfully. Aethelflaed reports that expansion of the civil service “continues”. Currently, she is limited by speed of communication. Viirad has only just begun to be able to produce radio equipment, most of which is currently being used by the military. Telephone wires, while present in large cities, do not connect the rest of the country, leaving the fastest mode of communication still being mail. The new railroad should speed things up, but Aethelflaed notes Ambrosius did not operate a public post service during his rule of Barrad, the infrastructure for which has been a part of the aforementioned expansion of the civil service. Press and mail are the primary ways in which information flows, and both will need to be developed enough to properly absorb the existing institutions I will be taking over in my conquests.
On a related note, I have just teleported Fernando Zessa back to Kasa. The Watchers in the Darkness recommended him to me as a journalist who was respected for truth and somewhat famous, maximizing the chance the story would spread on his return. The day I got off the train, I teleported myself to him after scrying his location and then teleported him into a cell here in Viirum. After a few days of isolation, I deemed him interview-ready and did the interview. The interview itself was quite entertaining.
The stenography machines I acquired proved their worth as my staff was able to use one to transcribe our conversation. Following it, I used a spell to duplicate the transcription. I left him with one, of course, but I kept one for myself as well, which I will put below for posterity.
Viirum, Viirad October 1st, 1011 Interview by Fernando Zessa of Viira Lehtola
Fernando: Where are you taking me? What is this room? (Pause) You’re Viira Lehtola.
Viira: Well researched, Fernando. Please, take a seat.
Fernando: I suppose then my imprisonment is your doing, your (Pause). Sorry, what are you claiming to be these days? Is it “Your Majesty” or do you feel more like “Your Eminence”?
Viira: It has occurred to me that no proper form of address has been made for deities. Even Celestia is referred to simply as “princess”. In lieu of an existing term, my servants have stuck with “milady”.
Fernando: Right, I see. (Pause) I see this conversation is being transcribed as well. No audio recording? Surely you could have spared a record for me.
Viira: Enough. It seems your wit and bravado have not been deteriorated by your time in my cells. I believe you have surmised your purpose here, but to ensure there is no misunderstanding, I will state it. You will interview me. I will give you the transcript of the interview, and you will publish a story about me in Kasa. Continue your impertinence, and I will kill you.
Fernando: (Pause) Very well. (Pause) May I ask as to why you chose this moment for this interview? I understand there is much unrest in Barrad at the moment, but the news that crosses the border is little.
Viira: I am preparing for war. When I invade, I expect all Kasans to know the name of their new goddess.
Fernando: Oh. But what of the rest of Pentarchy? Is this a unified decision? Also, this is the second time you’ve referred to yourself as a deity, but I can’t recall this ever being the case in the past.
Viira: To answer both of your questions, I have gained great power, magical and political, in the past months. I killed Ambrosius, and the rest of the Pentarchy now bows to me. I have renamed the nation Viirad in light of this new change, and the rest of the world will soon fall under my hoof.
Fernando: That is fascinating. There are rumors in Kasa about all of this, but no one was able to confirm any of it. (Pause) Sorry, can I have a notebook and pen? I know you’re transcribing this, but I need to write some of this down.
Viira: So be it. (Gestures)
Fernando: Well, I think what every Kasan wants to know is - why?
Viira: Specify.
Fernando: All of it. We can start with why do you seek this destructive path in life? You’re a seer, so wealth and power are practically guaranteed for you. Why go to Barrad and start an empire? The common interpretation seems to be that you are simply a maddeer, but I would like to hear what you have to say about it.
Viira: It is true that wealth and power were given to me in Olenia. However, they were only given to me because I was special there. Most of my time was spent helping a nobledeer’s crops grow or with some other asinine task. It is quite dull. Many of the other seers I knew chose to move to Hindia for a change in scenery as they haven’t had a natural-born seer in hundreds of years, but the Hindian Yarils are no different from the nobledeer in Hjortland. It was stifling. When I saw the magic of the other races, I sought to achieve the same power they did, and I couldn’t do that in Olenia.
Fernando: But why not? With the wealth and power afforded you, couldn’t you buy the tomes you needed?
Viira: You understand nothing of magic, Zebra. Did you know that there are only a thousand seers in the world? That means there are no magic schools in Olenia whatsoever. Books are helpful, but only to an extent, which means all of my training came from learning from other seers. The books are all also written by unicorns and changelings, whose magic differs from my own. I left Olenia because there was no other option to increase my powers. Fernando: I see, so you traveled the world to gain magical knowledge. When did that desire become one to rule a nation, and as you said before, the world?
Viira: Oh, that was always the plan. What use is power if it is not used? Look back to history to see the nations that dominated the world. Equestria would be nothing without their princesses. In ancient history, Tambelon was led by the magic of the Father of Monsters, Grogar. Look how the Yetis did it. They possess no magic, but what was it that the Storm King sought from each of the kingdoms he conquered? Magical artifacts. Everycreature knows magic is the way to make your mark on the world.
Fernando: But what of the griffons? They’ve had their empires over the course of history without the same overwhelming magic.
Viira: That is what separates the good and the great. No griffon empire has lasted like any magically backed empire has. Grover II, Arantiagos, they rose and fell. The Storm King’s empire, without inherent magic, is already almost all gone, but yet today, we still both sit under Celestia’s sun. Observe what Faust has decreed upon the world; so many races blessed with magic, and yet so many without it. All the magical races have had their fair share of time, but the deer have been left behind. I am different. I have power. It is my responsibility, no, my right to assert my authority for all of deerkind.
Fernando: Well, that explains the why, but surely not everyone agrees that it should be you, right? Wouldn’t Austurland and Olenia disagree you should be the divine ruler of all?
Viira: I have no illusions they, or Kasa for that matter, will bow willingly, but that is of no importance to me. I will make them bow like I made the Barradians bow.
Fernando: Through threats of violence? That doesn’t seem like a sustainable practice. I don’t think it would be too far-fetched to suggest your philosophy is not, er, mainstream.
Viira: On that we can agree. I have mind controlled a significant portion of Viirad’s population, and I will soon do the same for Kasa and beyond. Who knows? Perhaps you will be affected as well.
Fernando: (Nervous laughter) I’m not leaving here without a, um, mental adjustment, aren’t I?
Viira: Oh, I don’t plan to do anything to your mind today. If I were to mind control you and then send you back, that reduces the probability that the story will spread. If your editor found out you were mind controlled, I don’t think she would publish your story. I’m not taking that risk.
Fernando: If I am not under your control, I could also not report on your story at all. Isn’t that a risk as well?
Viira: You’d really give up the scoop of the decade? Besides, maybe I’ve already influenced your subconscious to make you want to get published.
Fernando: Have you?
Viira: You tell me. Do you feel mind controlled? Do you feel like you have to get this story published?
Fernando: I, uh, well. Yes, to the second part, but, um, no to the first.
Viira: Good.
Fernando: Good because you have mind controlled me or good because you haven’t?
Viira: Well, we wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise now, would we?
[Transcript continues]
I look forward to seeing what Zessa makes of this. I also gave him photographs of myself and the new flag of Viirad. With this information the denizens of Kasa should be well equipped to recognize myself and my nation within a few weeks. In the meantime, I must reduce my magic use to recover from my extended use of the mass mind control spell and complete invasion plans with Ceadda. I still feel charged with magic residue from my lengthy castings, and I must be ready to cast again upon the start of war.
The invasion has stalled. General Oleander informs me that, while incremental gains have been made, no breakthrough of the Kasan lines has yet emerged. Despite my magical intervention of teleporting forces into advantageous positions in the plentiful mountains of the border, Kasan forces have generally been able to retreat in response, preventing a full rout. She informs me that our best hope lies in the east. If we are able to break through to the Seguran Peninsula, we can cut the army off from most of their supplies from the rest of the country, trapping their forces in the western part of their country. It seems my intervention is once more required, and I have just the spell planned.
I am currently just beyond the Viiradian border south of my tower, just close enough to hear artillery fire in the distance. I have elected to keep my time at the front minimal, as being nigh immortal is a far cry from the real thing. There is a kind of joy I take knowing that half of the explosions I hear are from shells fired in my name. In any case, I thought it prudent to document the effects of my mind control spell as I had before to gauge its effectiveness. I have no doubt it will be effective, but how much so remains an open question.
There is also the matter if the common Kasan soldier knows enough about me to act correctly. Surely, they have been briefed on and know through social osmosis of their enemy and the “dark magic” of Barrad, but knowledge of me specifically could likely only have come from Zessa’s story. It was quite an interesting read, portraying me in an unflattering, downright villainous way, which is unsurprising. “Polite in a condescending manner”, “easily angered by perceived ignorance”, and “no regard for the sanctity of life or liberty” was how he described me. Accurate enough, I suppose. The Watchers tell me the story was quite a hit, but even they cannot tell me about the goings on of the more remote and illiterate Kasans.
Before I begin, I first open scrying windows into various points along the front. Most begin with relatively bad views, but after adjusting them, I can get a decent view of a few trenches close enough to see faces and other identifying characteristics. In one trench, Kasans of all colors and races are running around, perhaps moving to a better position. In another window, I can see the steady rhythm of a Kasan artillery crew firing shot after shot. If I listen closely and calculate the delay due to the speed of sound, I can even hear each shot after it happens from my vantage point.
I cast the point charge variety of the mind control spell. I choose a position further out and slightly higher than when in testing as I am further from the targets. The nature of the horizon works in my favor, as though I cannot see where I wish to affect, the enemy lines are visible from the position of the point charge. A few seconds pass as the spell takes effect.
In my view of a trench, the zebra closest to the window is sitting under a covered part of the trench performing maintenance on a rifle. She appears to feel something, causing her to stand. The once loud battlefield begins to reduce in volume. She sees 2 creatures, an earth pony and zebra stallion looking confused as well, having stopped their activity of moving a crate. The earth pony suddenly looks warily at the other two, causing an inquisitive look to form on his zebra friend. The mare, seeing this, begins to look at the pony in the same way.
Without warning, the earth pony grabs his rifle and points it at the other two, causing them both to back up before he asks them if they felt anything. The two zebras shout that they did, the mare raising her hoof in a non-aggressive, de-escalatory manner. The earth pony calms somewhat but seems unconvinced of the loyalty of his comrades one way or the other. He locks eyes with the mare and asks, slowly, if she feels different now. They seem to trade knowing looks as she pauses before replying hesitantly in the affirmative. Still twitchy, his rifle snaps to the zebra stallion as he asks him the same question. He looks confused, unsure of the right response. Eventually, he stutters out a “No?”, which the pony doesn’t seem to know what to make of. The zebra begins to try and talk the pony down, reminding him of their friendship, which seems to calm him.
A shot rings out and the zebra instantly collapses to a bullet to the side of the head below the helmet. The zebra mare drops her sidearm to the ground, putting her hooves up as the earth pony wheels his rifle around towards her at the sound.
“Hail Viira!” she yells, “He said he didn’t feel different! That means he’s not one of us, right?”
He exhales and puts down his rifle before replying, “I was trying to make sure! What if he was? You might have just killed an ally!”
Before she can answer, they both flinch as the sounds of nearby gunfire resume. They quickly move into the nook where the mare was fixing her rifle. From my scrying, I can see that several similar events occurred throughout the trench, leading to similarly bloody results. I believe the zebra stallion was partially affected by my spell but was ashamed and so wished to hide those feelings. Combined with believing his comrades were unaffected, he answered he didn’t feel affected, and thus outed himself to the mare. There are other possible scenarios, but I calculate this to be the most likely. However, the remaining two will likely have to live in uncertainty.
Simultaneously, through the window viewing the artillery gun, I can see the spell taking effect as the unicorn levitating a shell into the howitzer stops loading and looks around. There is silence and the exchanging of looks, before their commanding officer suddenly begins to shout once more. He announces a new target, and another zebra begins to shout new directions for moving the gun. Two zebras immediately begin rotating the gun almost 90 degrees, bumping an unsuspecting third zebra out of the way. He is confused, but hobbles back to his position. Looking at where the gun is pointed, he questions the others, asking why they are deviating from their previous fire mission.
The unicorn loader and one of the zebras operating the traverse mechanism exchange nervous looks. The artillery commander also appears uncertain for a second before quickly regaining his composure.
He takes a look over at his fellow creatures before yelling, “Hail Viira!”
“Hail Viira!” comes the response. Some raise their hooves to indicate their loyalty, not wanting to be branded heretics for an insufficiently enthusiastic response. One response is hesitant, but that is forgotten at the absent response of the first zebra. He looks incredulously around him at his comrades-in-arms, as one raises a rifle to him. The word “traitor” is thrown around by the stallion but also by his former compatriots at him before he is summarily shot.
Slowly, they resume aiming the gun. I notice the one who previously responded with hesitance; perhaps she is a partially affected pony. She seems to be horrified but continues her duties. Suddenly, my vision is obscured entirely by light as an explosion tears through the entire crew. When the dust settles, just two zebras show immediate signs of life. It appears another artillery crew had the same idea they did. Interesting that the first thought they had was to fire on their fellow troops. They have no knowledge of the spell I used, but they did know that they as a group were affected. Maybe the fact that there was still at least one unaffected among them was what made this commander confident enough to believe they were the only ones affected, but I believe the real answer is that he was simply overzealous and did not think it through.
A messy response. The mind controlled do not know if they are alone in their experience and cannot identify one another. The lack of knowledge as to the greater spell also leads to friendly fire as has been demonstrated. My attention is drawn to a scrying window where a band of Kasan soldiers is trotting decisively through a trench. They meet a lone unicorn soldier, and the zebra at the front of the band yells out to him.
“Who is our goddess?” she asks him while aiming between his eyes.
“Viira! Viira!” comes the response. He is quick and carries naught but a slight tremor in his voice.
Satisfied, the zebra lowers her gun and bids he travel with them as they seek to make contact with my forces. He joins the band, and they move further along the trench. I realize that I have not told my soldiers this was a possibility. They will likely not be expecting a message and will view these new converts with much suspicion. I shall send a runner later with the information, but I fear in the future, should my communications be intercepted, that warning in advance would cause my enemies to seek shelter before the spell. Only instructing my forces afterwards seems to be the solution.
The group continues along the trench before encountering a small group of zebra soldiers. Another standoff occurs as the uniformed Kasans point their rifles at each other distrustingly. This time, the new group is first to speak.
“Are you more of the crazy ones?” they ask. After a second of deliberation, the group loyal to me opens fire, killing their former compatriots before they have a chance to fire back. The interaction brings a smile to my face. Those not under my control have no idea what is happening and will hesitate before killing their friends and allies. Those under my control have some idea of what is happening and know to shoot first. This group also knew that they would be considered “crazy” by the unaffected Kasans, but stuck to their newfound loyalty to me rather than take that as a reason to doubt.
I do wonder, however, how they were so quick to shoot. I didn’t change any of their moral compasses, so surely killing their comrades would be much more difficult than this would make it seem. Perhaps it is simply selection bias. The ones who are loyal to me but were slow to react during these encounters have a higher chance of being killed, making it more likely any interaction I would see would involve the more trigger-happy soldiers, as they live to see more encounters. Maybe the reduction in their positive semantic identifications towards Kasa eased their consciences.
Fascinating results. The spell has had all the effects I wanted. It disorganized their troops while forming groups loyal to me. The friendly fire is regrettable, but acceptable. It could be an avenue of improvement for later, but incorporating a mechanism for the mind controlled to identify each other seems like a system that can be exploited. These messy confrontations should be less vulnerable to exploitation, as there is no known procedure to develop a countermeasure for. If the Kasans, or anyone else for that matter, try to develop a procedure to identify the loyal in this situation, the problem for them will be that those who are mind controlled will also know of the procedure and imitate it.
Repetition of the spell across the eastern half of the line seems to be the obvious next course of action. Upon informing my own troops of the situation, an advance should be significantly easier with the front collapsing to infighting. As for those turned to my side, using them immediately to fight their brethren doesn’t seem like a good idea as their organizational units have all been broken. I could, however, use them as an auxiliary force or disperse them amongst my soldiers to replace the fallen. Let the march to Seguro begin.
I’ve just been given a most interesting radiogram from the Watchers. Within it is the location of a building used by the Skapatoria for intelligence gathering. Another building to be destroyed I thought, but the message also details a newly started investigation into my mind controlled soldiers taking place at the building. This is a perfect opportunity to see how my control fares in adversarial conditions.
I have chosen this time in the morning, 8:54am as the clock on my desk reads, to open a scrying window into the nondescript building as it should be near the beginning of the workday. I have read of such technology to broadcast images across radio waves as we do with sound, but I have never seen a television myself. I would imagine the experience is much like scrying, though I believe the radio signal can currently only carry black and white images. I don’t imagine such devices to be of much use for me though, as the equipment, as I understand, is quite conspicuous - the antithesis of the invisibility of a scrying window, though I suppose scrying can be sensed if one is so attuned.
I find myself once again using the air as a scrying medium. I did bring my traditional scrying bowl with me to Barrad, but it seems I can’t be bothered to get up to use it. I wonder if godhood is making me lazy. It would take me less total energy to just walk over and use the water and bowl to scry, and yet I have decided to scry from my desk, using the reflections of light off of air particles to scry rather than the less mana intensive task of doing so in the water. Perhaps I simply have assigned using physical energy a higher cost than using mana, as now, only one of those things is finite for me. While mana conservation is an interesting topic, Amdoe’s law states this kind of micro-optimization is ultimately irrelevant, as the mana used is orders of magnitude less than the mana I am expending in order to wage war.
After a small adjustment, I can see through the scrying window an earth pony mare in a cell. The cell is guarded by two zebras who are sitting at a table nearby, playing cards. I would surmise they don’t see her to be much of a threat, as their rifles lay unused leaning on the wall. The mare sits silently, looking somewhat down. It is as I would have guessed. My spell does not provide an antidote for the ails of life, merely a purpose to hold on to through them. How strong that purpose is, I am curious to see.
Two more creatures enter the room. A unicorn stallion in a lab coat is escorted by a pegasus mare as the 2 guards barely give an acknowledging glance from their game.
“Has this one been any trouble?” asks the pegasus.
“Not even a peep,” comes the response.
The scientist then takes this moment to ask, “And where did this poor soul come from?”
“According to the army,” the pegasus takes a second to check a note gripped in a wing,” she was captured near Horsford castle in the west during the first days of the war.”
The imprisoned mare perks up slightly at the reference to herself but doesn’t make eye contact. The pegasus and unicorn approach the cell, the scientist taking a moment to look at her from different angles before his horn begins to glow.
“So, anything of note?” the pegasus immediately asks.
“Hang on a second,” the unicorn says, closing his eyes to concentrate on a spell. My magical senses do not transfer through scrying, but I think it is obvious that he’s performing a standard magical sensory sweep of her body to check both for bodily health and magical anomalies.
“You say she’s mind controlled?” the scientist questions, a puzzled look occupying his face.
The pegasus answers the scientist’s question with another question, “Well, you’ve read the papers, right?”
“I have, but from my analysis, there’s no magic at work here at all,” the unicorn says, dumbfounded.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” the pegasus replies, joining the scientist in confusion.
“I’ve run a scanning spell, and I’ve found no evidence a spell has been cast on her. Are you sure she’s mind controlled?” the scientist says, repeating his question with new emphasis.
The pegasus, who I am now confident is a Skapatoria agent, hesitates for a moment before responding, “I thought they all were.” She turns to the mare in the cell and asks in a mocking tone, “Are you mind controlled?”
“I think so,” the mare breaks her silence with, “I wasn’t really a fan of the Pentarchy when I was conscripted, but, one day, we were all called to hear a speech from Viira, and after she spoke, she cast a spell on all of us. After that, I regretted all the previous negative thoughts I had about her, and knew I had to worship her. What else could it be but mind control, right?”
The faces of the duo are mixed. The combination of shock and horror on the scientist is contrasted by the subtly unsettled look given by the pegasus. Their lack of comprehension regarding the situation brings me a sense of satisfaction towards my work.
“Yeah,” the pegasus finally says, “they’re all a bit… weird. You never know what to expect from these quiet ones.”
“What?” The unicorn blinks twice before responding in full, “Er, hmm, well this is certainly not like any spell I’ve seen before.”
“C’mon doctor, we brought you here because you’re one of the foremost minds in Kasa. If you can’t make heads or tails of this, no one can,” the pegasus huffs.
“Hang on, I didn’t say there was nothing we can do,” the scientist quickly replies, “Just because I don’t know exactly what’s going on right now doesn’t mean I can’t figure it out. I just need more data.” He turns to face the caged pony, “So you admit you are mind controlled, but are not bothered by that?”
“Of course not! I know it’s supposed to be evil or something, but how could something so beautiful be evil? I used to be just a nopony farmer, but now I have a purpose!” the earth pony says with a sense of conviction, though her volume doesn’t rise significantly.
“Ugh,” the pegasus vocalizes,” that’s what’s so weird about the quiet ones. They just seem so normal until they say something like… that.”
The scientist’s horn glows again as he looks deep in thought before he concludes his thoughts and turns back to the pegasus and says, “Well Ms. Skies, I can confidently say that I have no idea what has befallen this young mare. You mentioned she was a quiet one? What other types of ponies have you captured?”
“All types. Most I would say are relatively quiet like her, but we have a few very loud ones,” the pegasus outlines.
“And when you say ‘loud’,” the scientist begins, before quickly being interrupted.
“Listen doc,” the pegasus starts, “you probably have a fancy schmancy word for it, but it’ll be best just to show you.”
She waves him back out the room and they head towards another. I adjust my scrying window to follow. This time, the guards are much more alert, standing at attention when the pair arrives in the room. The first to speak isn’t any of the captors, but the captive: a unicorn stallion with an anti-magic collar.
“Hi again Blue Skies ma’am!” he says with an aggressively friendly tone, “Have you reconsidered surrendering to our one true goddess Viira?”
“No, and stop asking,” she replies curtly.
The stallion notices the unicorn in the lab coat and begins talking to him instead, “And what about you? I haven’t seen you here before. What’s your name?”
The scientist opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off, “Don’t answer him!”
“Why, is there some magic with names involved?” the scientist responded with curiosity.
“What? No, it just makes everything he says creepier. I made that mistake and now he won’t stop trying to convert me,” she replied.
“It’s ok good sir,” the imprisoned unicorn continued, “Viira will offer you forgiveness for your transgressions against us.”
“How do you know that?” asked the scientist, “Is that an official policy?”
“Um, I don’t know if it’s written down anywhere,” he responds, “but I know in my heart that it is true! All hail Viira!”
“Yeah, at least the loud ones are obviously crazy”, the pegasus offers. An astute observation from my perspective. I wonder if he is delusional and believes the words he says, or if he is trying to proselytize and is changing his “doctrine” to whatever he thinks would have the best chance of getting him out. Perhaps both. I doubt he was like this when I first cast my spell - it would have been disruptive to the other infantry. My guess would be the stress of being captured and imprisoned forced him to latch onto his belief in me, turning devotion into obsession.
“Again, no traces of any spell,” the unicorn observes, “It’s like they were indoctrinated in a non-magical, propagandistic way, but from what the previous pony said, they are clearly being magically mind controlled.”
“Doctor, I don’t need to know how it works, just how we can beat it,” says the pegasus, “If you can’t find a way to undo the spell, exploiting it will do just fine.”
“Exploit it?” the unicorn muses aloud, “I suppose I have one idea, but I’m not sure how useful it will be. We know-”
“Not in front of him!” the pegasus interjects, pushing the scientist into the hallway and closing the door, “Ok, what were you saying?”
“Yes, well, we know they all share this loyalty to Viira,” the unicorn starts, “It’s artificially strengthened and a driving force in at least some of their personalities.”
“And?” asks Blue Skies, “So far that’s just meant fewer surrenders and a lot of rowdy prisoners. The ones here were deemed less likely to be violent by the army.”
“It should also mean they should easily trust and relate with one another,” the unicorn continues, “A strong group identity like this can’t be formed on nothing. If you were to pretend to be one of them, I’m sure they would tell you whatever you need to know. Tell me Ms. Skies, where did you grow up?”
“Retorno - in one of the refugee camps,” she replies, clearly curious what he will do with the information.
“Ah, my condolences given the occupation,” he continues, “But you know from experience that trust is an important part of these tight-knit communities. I grew up here in Seguro, but in the slums, and I know the difference between us and the more metropolitan elite is the trust in our local communities. I’m sure these farmponies have been trained their whole lives to trust in their communities, and if you were to present yourself as one of them, I’m sure they would be open to it. The universality of those who can claim to be in their in-group is a weakness as well.”
“It’s worth a shot,” says the pegasus. She then closes her eyes and starts taking deep breaths - an acting exercise perhaps? She then tells the scientist to stay put as she enters another room. I move my window again to follow. She ushers the guards out and approaches the prisoner, another unicorn.
“Hey, listen!” she whispers, eliciting a reaction from the unicorn, “I don’t have much time. I sent the guards away, but they won’t be gone forever. Hail Viira.”
“Hail Viira!” the unicorn responds, quietly but excitedly, “Oh my goodness, I was praying something like this would happen!”
“We can’t get you out today, but our goddess needs to know what transmissions your unit received before you were captured,” the pegasus fabricates.
“But why? And why me?” asks the unicorn.
“I don’t have time to get into the details,” the pegasus responds, brushing past her concerns, “Just trust me that you’re one of the only contacts I have, and we need to know what information could have fallen into enemy hooves.”
“O-ok!” replies the unicorn, her doubts quashed, “Um, I think the last trans
There’s no point in further dictating this conversation. They found a way to exploit my spell. I need to contain this before word can spread. At this point, the only pony who knows it works is this pegasus. I will deal with her first.
I grip her body telekinetically through the scrying window, focusing strength on her neck. She immediately wraps her hooves around her neck, noticing the lack of air. I take care to then hold her limbs in place so she cannot produce enough sound with them to alert those outside. I must make sure the captured pony does not scream either - her shock will not last. I narrow a telekinetic edge to a point and gouge a pinprick near an artery. Using the blood, I arrange the text “She lies. Your goddess demands your silence.” on the ground at the unicorn’s hooves. It has the desired effect, and the pony sits, slack jawed, watching the pegasus slowly choke to death while frozen in place via my divine intervention.
With the immediate threat neutralized, I consider my next steps. If I do nothing, the scientist will find the corpse and presume my actions, which would then confirm his theory. I could kill him now, but the same is true for any guards who heard the conversation. It doesn’t take a genius to put two and two together. As they say, information wants to be free. I could use the nuclear option and cause a fission reaction in the building, but the proximity to Seguro’s city center is an issue. I need the city intact to serve me.
A smaller explosion just targeting the building could work, but a single lucky survivor who heard their conversation could be disastrous. I need a guaranteed way to kill every individual in the building right now. Well, all creatures need to breathe. I cast the deadly air spell, causing the entire interior building to become engulfed in a black cloud of dust. I whip the air into a frenzy, increasing its velocity drastically as the cloud shreds its way through the ventilation system. From my now limited vision, I can see the unicorn scientist casting a shield spell to create a pocket of safe air. Before I decide to break it myself, he coughs, weakening his concentration on the spell long enough to breathe in more of the high-velocity particulates. It is a vicious cycle, and he soon collapses.
Once I am confident everyone is dead, I release my spell. It is unfortunate I had to kill my soldiers as well, but the situation demanded it. This vulnerability is partially related to the trusting nature of the ponies I conscripted, but also fundamental to the spell. I require those affected to seek camaraderie in those similarly affected, as I will be casting it across cultures and ideologies who may hate each other, and I can’t have racism and discrimination be an obstacle to serving me. Thus, altering the spell to reduce trust seems ill-advised.
It is fortuitous I was able to witness the birth of this counter strategy. This will continue to be a problem going forwards, but it is not one I have a solution to. My goal must then be to mitigate it. Perhaps spreading knowledge of the potential for the use of deception by our enemies can keep even the more docile of them distrustful after being captured.
For this war, I am confident this interruption in their intelligence gathering will be enough to prevent systematic exploitation for long enough for me to win it. While compromise of low-level soldiers is one thing, I worry about the use of this technique on higher ranking officers, who may have more information. For now, new training is in order. I could simply command my soldiers to commit suicide rather than be captured, but the ponypower attrition rate would be too high given my current low population relative to my enemies. Loss of expertise is also an issue, where it would be better to reintegrate prisoners of war at the end of wars rather than lose their productive capacity permanently upon capture.
The Kasan front in the west is already collapsing from lack of supply. There is some concern for the sea crossing to Ilha Rosca, but it and Seguro will fall. The only concern now is time.
With the last remnants of the regular Kasan army surrendering, it is time to plan the shackling of the “free state”. I require all of the creatures in the country to properly integrate into Viirad so they may fight my next wars. In addition to soldiers, I need to rapidly expand the educational system to properly make my workers more productive. In the coming years, this will feed labor into the engineering sciences which I require for research and development of better industrial tools and weapons. I have no formal diplomatic ties nor business ties with other nations, and I am sure other nations will not be willing to export expertise or equipment to me even if I were to mind control the appropriate Kasan businesszebras.
That is the downside of fame, or perhaps more accurately, infamy. Zessa’s story about me has spread my name, but purely in a negative light. The Watchers are fully capable of performing industrial espionage, but the only way I will be able to compete with the developed nations of the world on the battlefield in the long term is a sufficiently built up research and industrial base of my own.
With the objective clarified, the problem of how to get there remains unsolved. I have been spreading the Barradian climate across my occupied territories, which has been effective at keeping the creatures compliant, but that is merely a reduction of resistance rather than a full integration. I could perform the same train journey I did in Viirad except across Kasa, but I believe there is opportunity for something else as well.
Kasa, while still being far more rural than any developed country, is far more urbanized than Barrad ever was. If what I desire is ponypower, the cities are relatively small areas for me to cast my spell on that can provide the warm bodies my army needs. There is some concern with wasting the most productive and educated on the front lines, but I can filter those creatures out. The benefit of having a mind controlled population is that one can use the honor system and have it not be exploited for a longer period of time. Simply asking the conscripted if they have valuable skills attained in higher education will work as they are incentivized to be honest to their goddess. Of course, imitators and charlatans will arrive seeking easier lives, but as long as the opportunity is only presented to the mind controlled, the filter will be accurate enough.
Specifically in the case of Kasa, these urban creatures will be far more educated than the ponies that currently make up the bulk of my bureaucracy. Mass mind control of all of them and directly incorporating them into the mechanism of my state will be highly desirable, especially as the country has doubled in size.
In any urban population center, about a third of the population is fit for the army. The rest are children, the elderly, the infirm, and the highly skilled. While overall, the number of 18-34 year olds is less than the one third number, cities tend to have more young creatures. Applying this to Kasa, I can conscript a hundred thousand creatures from the cities relatively quickly.
As for the rest, the older generation can steward the younger and both can work in the factories. This will likely be disastrous for population growth as I am, in essence, destroying both generations while removing most of the breeding age creatures from the equation, but the sustenance of Kasan cities is not my concern, especially in the short term. Perhaps when I control more of Griffonia, I will need to maintain a more sustainable population growth rate, but my immediate concern is replacing my ponies lost in the war with Kasans and absorbing their knowledge and institutions into Viirad.
Time continues to be of the essence. A newspaper from Austurland has just published an article written by the Jarl herself. In the article, Bylgjasdottír denounces me by name as “evil incarnate”, and my actions an “affront to deerkind”. She also says something about how the deer minority in Kasa deserve freedom, which I find to be highly hypocritical given those deer are mostly thralls liberated by the Skapatoria who probably have no love for the country of their enslavers. It matters not - their state is illegitimate. All deer should be under my stewardship. To me, this merely rings of their economic loss from no longer having Kasa as a helpless raiding target.
I will invade them as soon as the army can move to the border. They have only recently begun to modernize as Viirad has, and my troops should make quick work of them aided by my magic. Once I control all of southeastern Griffonia, I must turn my attention north to Wittenland. I estimate a year before they attempt to reclaim the Barradian lands from me. In that year, I must conquer and integrate Austurland for their industry and ponypower or else face the wrath of a modern army without the tools to combat it.
Now this is interesting. I am currently in a prison in Fyrport where agitators have been rounded up. One prisoner is of particular interest to me, as she was reportedly taken off the streets babbling madness. Her name is Áltu Kexá, and is apparently quite famous. I had not heard of her myself, but the garrison troops, who are local, informed me that she is a prolific poet. From what I gathered from conversation with them, she was a popular “speaking truth to power” sort of writer who advocated military intervention to spread freedom to the oppressed. Apparently, she was once one of 4 candidates running for First Commander, but her overly belligerent tone was off-putting for some voters.
The point is that her life’s philosophy and work has been entirely dedicated to liberating slaves and calling for military action against Barrad, Austurland, the Gryphussians and et cetera for the sake of the individual freedoms of the creatures there, something that puts her quite at odds with my mind control. From my observation, she got caught in one of the mind control spells I used offensively, but whether it fully took hold or just partially, I don’t have enough data to determine. She is currently languishing on the ground in a fit, having long fallen out of her wheelchair. Having 2 paralyzed legs seems to have not hindered her thrashing in the slightest.
According to the guards, she has these periods of violence and shouting followed by periods of silence and stillness, where then somezebra usually puts her back in her wheelchair. Listening to her ramblings, there are mentions of my name, but also a lot of “No!”s being said alongside half-poetic metaphors of who knows what. I doubt she has even noticed me. It is time to take a more personal look.
Upon entering the holding cell, she still shows no sign of noticing my presence. I approach her close enough to where I take up most of her vision, but her behavior still does not change. Dissociation perhaps? I give her a greeting, and that is enough to rouse her from her stupor. She reacts rapidly, an expression of what appears to be fear streaking her face before her shouting takes on a new volume. She takes her hooves and covers her eyes, shouting something about “apparitions” and “witchcraft”. Clearly, she doesn’t think I’m real.
Taking a look in her mind, I can see the source of the conflict. Though her outward behavior is similar to the partially affected creatures, I can confirm that the spell has entirely taken root in this instance. This is the first of such occurrences where a full application of the spell has not led to a desirable outcome. From her thoughts, it appears her ideology, being thoroughly ingrained and uncompromising, refuses to believe the thoughts I have added are legitimate, causing this turmoil.
In previously observed mind controlled creatures, I have seen that they find justifications for their own new ideas. In my interactions with them, it was clear the desire not to have a mental breakdown allowed for what would usually be leaps of logic. In ideologically neutral creatures, I found they could easily embrace worship without much conflict, while those ideologically opposed would carve out exceptions or subtly change their ideas in order to remain compatible. There is a self-serving bias in seeing oneself as consistent or level-headed, leading to the mind controlled coming up with ideas that will allow them to keep their sense of self.
Áltu, in contrast, does not appear to have that same desire to fit in. That is in line with a story one Kasan told me of her where she is said to have written poems insulting the one who commissioned her poems, reading them aloud at a party with him present. Social conformity is not one of her priorities. I’d wager this type of response is more likely to occur with these ideologue artists than with normal creatures.
This one is a lost cause, but perhaps I can learn from this experience to inform ways to deal with other creatures who may be on the fringes. One key aspect of passive mind control is that it doesn’t necessarily maintain itself. As the creature goes through life, they may experience things that cause them to learn and change their ideas, their worship of me potentially being one of them. In Áltu’s case, she was pushed over the edge of her self-identification, causing the perception and conflict with my influence. For most creatures, their ideologies do not seem to be as strong, but Áltu’s existence suggests others may be closer to breaking down or even reneging on their loyalties than others.
For those who have difficulty negotiating the contradictions of whatever philosophy they may hold true with loyalty to me, they require a system of encouragement to make them want to move towards greater loyalty rather than a path of lesser loyalty. Too much social pressure to project loyalty will likely lead to performative loyalty with internally unresolved conflicts that will then grow. In contrast, validation of the feeling with support could resolve the issues, leading to self-directed change in the direction of greater loyalty to me. At this moment, I cannot spare the resources to develop such indoctrination programs, but I shall let it be a guiding principle for the future as I further develop my burgeoning empire.
I leave Áltu to her misery. I came to Fyrport to begin reorientation of the entire population, not just her. The plan is thus: mind control each major city and then go on a train ride around the country mind controlling along the way. Once that is complete, the much slower task of allocating labor resources can begin with most urban Kasans being directly incorporated into the army or civil service. I will also have to have Eadmund and the others take control of the factories with the less fit members of society taking over production. This will then be followed by nationalization of education for improving productivity with the most educated being directly conscripted into research related to warfare.
Hornavík has fallen, and soon the rest of Austurland will follow. However, I remain burdened with the knowledge that the mortal world does not move at the pace I desire. I would have wanted the invasion to have been completed by now, but it seems I will have to wait a few more weeks. As always, the limiting factor remains logistics, where I must oversee the production and distribution of ever more equipment and ponypower, which the army has never done at this scale.
Each crate of ammunition produced requires a respective division of which it is resupplying. Transportation then must be arranged to a train depot, where it must be scheduled a train to the supply hub closest to the division. Then, it must be properly unloaded, re-loaded onto trucks, and then navigated to the front, only then arriving at its destination. It is a delicate dance every hour of every day involving thousands of creatures, and must be repeated for food, clothing, shovels, guns, orders, and all sorts of other materiel. Missing a single shipment means risking combat effectiveness, and so the stream must be continuous, but yet also handle changes in demand as fighting intensifies in specific regions.
While invading Kasa, the army stuck to its traditional methods of having supplies pulled by cart - the traditional way. While it was horribly inefficient, it was at least something it had experience doing. With my recent introduction of trains and even more recent introduction of trucks, the army has had to learn how to do logistics from the ground up, and the transition has not been smooth. I have considered intervening and taking over certain operations myself, but that defeats the purpose of having a system in the first place. The army will simply have to learn how to handle the new technologies as they come. I can direct them, but reliance on me is not an option.
Those who say that there doesn’t exist a perfect system are fools. It is easy to look at the modern state of logistics and how the problem remains unsolved with varying doctrines all equally viable given different scenarios and conclude, therefore, that it cannot be determined which is better given the imperfections of the world. While it is true the world is imperfect, that has no bearing on whether a theoretically perfect system does exist. In the space of definable systems, the system with the greatest efficiency of delivering equipment to the front lines is the perfect system. You can define efficiency in any way that you want to, but for each, there exists a corresponding system which is the optimal solution given that outcome. The question should actually be framed if one should seek the perfect system rather than simply dismissing that one does not exist.
It is helpful to model the feature landscape of how to do logistics as an x/y plane. Of course, the reality of logistics is that there are far more than just two variables to change, but the model applies just as well in hyperdimensional spaces. In this plane, each point represents a way to do logistics. For example, the x axis may represent something like the dichotomy between push and pull logistics whereas the y axis may represent something like the level of motorization. The general trend is clear - pull logistics and motorization are good with high values in both scoring higher than any other point in the plane. Therefore, the ideal army of today must do both, which is why I have moved Viirad towards both.
Of course, this is the problem with optimization. The space is assumed to be continuously differentiable, and gradient descent can only happen in increments. I cannot simply teleport the nation to the optimal strategy in the plane - it must happen over time. If I were to revamp the entire system from the ground up tomorrow, for instance, it would doubtlessly fail miserably with confused creatures not knowing what to do and not enough trains and trucks to do it. The good will of the mind controlled can make the process move faster, but not faster than the production of infrastructure and expertise building. If there are regions of low efficiency on the way to the best system, as long as the general trend is good enough, I must seek the perfect system.
There is always the golden goose “what if'' scenario where if you apply just the right amount of x and y, there is a sudden bump in efficiency that causes a strange global maximum to appear not near any of the extremes, but I highly doubt one exists for logistics. Theoretical models of complex functions may cause mathematicians to encounter such peculiarities, but reality usually doesn’t work that way. To those who encounter these scenarios in real life, I would say that your models are not accurate enough.
I have modeled the system discretely, not continuously, as that better represents the way logistics are carried out. Perhaps that is the wrong way to say it - of course statistics like the number of trains in a station are relatively continuous, but in reality, I can impose a policy only in large chunks at a time, as menu costs amongst other factors prevent a continuous implementation of new policies.
Some policies are “to demand”, and one way to model that would be to view that as a discrete factor in itself, albeit somewhat divorced from the standard function landscape. For example, a “to demand” assignment of trains does not lie on a scale of 1 to 100 trains, but that is where the model begins to break down. As for my actual analysis, I have listed all possible factors I can control, for example whether to use motorized transportation from the factory to train depots, and then evaluated each potential policy I could make out of every possible combination of discrete factors. This would be impossible for a normal creature, but my enhanced information processing abilities have allowed me to analyze the entire function space and come up with the perfect system.
With the knowledge of the perfect system, I have charted a path of policy changes towards that end subject on the adoption of new systems that should maximize my benefit while avoiding large drops in efficiency along the way. Unfortunately, as they say, no plan survives first contact with the enemy, and adoption is slower than I had hoped. It is correct for me to keep pushing, but I am wary of pushing too hard. My subjects are rather zealous in their service, and I predict that if I push too hard to achieve an objective, it is easy for their short-sighted minds to forget my long-term objective and make bad moves that will reach certain quotas or such in the short term. Mind control does not bestow long-term decision-making abilities.
In the same vein, it is a bit funny to me that it only took a few weeks for me to travel the length and breadth of Kasa and mind control all of its cities and towns along the rail system but will take much longer to integrate them. One would think that a populace of obedient, eager to serve, creatures would be quick to organize, and while it may still be true in comparison, it still takes time given the current size of my bureaucracy.
In the task of organizing the population into their roles in my state, I have necessarily had to document everycreature, resulting in a census of sorts. Then as to where to send each of these ponies, griffons, zebras, and deer, I have had to organize grand swathes of procedures and related documents to verify identities, assess abilities, and then judge them. In the case of exceptional individuals, there is a pipeline in place for reevaluation and information passing such that I can weigh in on some myself, which can then become precedents to be followed later.
The amount of paperwork is simply breathtaking. It is not enough to simply have every Kasan submit a form with their information on it. Special cases must be made for the illiterate to be evaluated as well, which means I must have an interview system as well - yet another reason why I must take care to educate the masses. I suppose an interview system cannot be avoided entirely, as suspect papers must be scrutinized. One might ask who would forge such a form, but one must then also consider that not everyone in my nation is mind controlled. There still do exist those hostile to my regime who have simply been quieted down since losing their command structure. Though their activities are slowed by the harsh Barradian climate I have imposed upon the land, they could resume any time. Seeking to slow my empire’s growth, they could try and interfere with my integration of their country through more covert means like flooding my offices with fake forms.
That isn’t to mention the potential for foreign adversaries to interfere as well. Soon, I suspect the Watchers will become aware of foreign agents attempting to gain intelligence in Viirad followed swiftly by subversive actions. While this isn’t a point of concern today, one cannot expect to take over the world without a little foresight. These are both real factors, but the real reason to have this infrastructure on the ground is to work through the dishonest. While it may not seem clear at first why a faithful servant of mine would do such a thing, I have found that the nature of creatures to boast and present themselves in favorable lights persists even after they begin to worship me. I believe that some are simply braggarts through and through, but it is also in the self-interest of the less prideful creatures to improve their own lives, and thus shoot slightly higher than their actual worth. I purposefully did not remove this drive for the benefits it gives, but it also means I must deal with its drawbacks as well.
The first few Kasans that have made it through the system are adapting well. The unifying message under me is helping smooth any potential hiccups, though what I had written about before about building systems of indoctrination to keep it that way is still to be developed. Full integration is, however, a ways away, with centers around the nation still being set up. I estimate it will be a few more months before I can fully get everycreature into the system. Once that is done, there is work required for which military training camp, vocational school, factory, or research institute to send every creature to.
Speaking of research institutes, I visited Seguro and its universities. Seguro is hardly a modern metropolis, but once I was past the slums and shanty towns, I was able to find value in the richer parts of town. A little mind control and they were more than willing to contribute their minds to my cause. I have planned massive increases in class size as I need to drive the population through the educational system as fast as possible to become as productive as possible.
The same goes for the Kasan military academies, as without properly trained officers, I will not succeed. The army’s officer class now is composed of far too many Barradian nobles - a system of education that guarantees little in the ways of competence or intelligence. Integration with my military is ongoing, but the ever-present reality of education is its time-consuming nature.
I’m sensing something. I have the feeling that I’m being watched. It isn’t a feeling most would recognize, but my seer experience tells me exactly what is happening - someone is scrying on me. Light does interact with scrying windows, but they leave a much more prominent magical than physical hoofprint. Reaching out, I can sense the “fibers” of magic linking the window back to its caster. I use a trick I figured out as a young seer in training to trace the fibers and locate the source of the casting.
As expected, the trail leads back to Austurland. I open up a scrying window of my own at the source, revealing an older buck looking down in a circular scrying pool. Not a bad setup. Around are the decorations of a temple, suggesting that the site is one that has been used for many hundreds of years for this task. This buck may be one of the only seers in Austurland, trained in a small community as one of the only ones capable of performing this task - sentenced to do so for life due to his irreplaceability.
Through my window, I see the image of myself in his pool. I opened my own window just out of view of his window, so he doesn’t see what I’m doing. However, it seems he has noticed I am looking up whereas before I was looking down. I see the image in the pool shift as he moves it, trying to see what I’m looking at. I would rather he not see me scrying on him, so I take the moment to dispel his window, causing the image in the scrying pool to fade away back into the buck’s regular reflection.
This seems to have startled him. I wonder if he can piece together what’s happening. His face looks unsure at first, but then suddenly afraid. He seems to have at least realized something is wrong. He turns around, looking at each corner of the room before turning his gaze directly into where my window is. He may not be able to see me anymore, but it seems he knows he’s being watched. It looks like he’s about to cast dispellere, so I prepare the standard counterspell for it. His spell is nullified the moment his antlers glow, which causes him to panic.
Interestingly, he dashes back to the scrying pool and begins to cast another spell. I’m not sure what he’s trying to cast, but I prepare counterspells for any offensive action he could take. None are used, as he instead casts a divination spell, causing the image in the pool to once again change. However, instead of scrying, it appears to be a window into the room itself - a view into the future.
In the image, he is able to see what will happen in the room a few minutes into the future, but instead of showing some sort of magical battle between myself and him or an empty room caused by him running away, the image just shows his own body, limp and lifeless on the ground exactly where he is standing right now. The sight of his own dead body stuns him for a moment, before he simply sits down and gives up.
That is the nature of seeing the future. The nature of time is steady state - if one looks at the future and sees something, that is what will occur taking into account that you have now looked at the future. It is a fool’s errand to try and change or manipulate the image in the scrying pool, and this buck knows it. Thus, there is nothing for him to do but wait for me to kill him.
There is a story taught to every young seer of an ancient seer named Näkyjä who looked into a scrying pool to see a great fire in her village. Realizing she couldn’t change the image itself, she sought to change the reason behind it. Fearing it could be caused by invaders, she sought instead to create the fire herself as to prevent an invasion. Näkyjä set her own village on fire, but as the dust settled, their neighbors, seeing their weakness, decided to occupy the lands anyway. It is taught as a lesson to be level-headed, as if you aren’t likely to take drastic actions, the images in the pool are likely to be less drastic themselves. If Näkyjä was not so fearful of the image in the pool, the pool would not have shown her something that would have ended in her village burning down. If you cannot control yourself, it is better to not see at all, for, in Näkyjä’s case, if she never looked into the future, it is taught that she never would have burned her village down and they could have made preparations for invaders.
That isn’t to say divination is useless. It is theoretically possible to glean information about the future about, say, technology where one gains insight from seeing one’s own image in the pool and uses it to create a new technology, but that is limited by the insight of the deer looking, and is not all that consistent. Oftentimes, the image just shows the inventor continuing to work without much insight being made, which can be disheartening. The best results come from timed presentations of technology in set locations that can give insights to researchers when divined on later. The researchers can then go on to invent those things, causing the information to have effectively birthed from nowhere, but it isn’t an exact science yet, and I never found a guaranteed method to make it work back when I used to do it in Olenia.
I digress. That is all to say that this buck giving up makes perfect sense. If he didn’t give up, the image would have shown an empty room, but as it shows him dead, that means he will give up as he has. One could say he has the choice now to leave, but if that were in his nature, the pool would have shown it as so. Theoretically, if he were the fighting type, the image in the pool may have instead shown his dead body slightly closer to the door, as I would have definitely killed him if he tried to escape.
I now too have a choice. I could kill him as it showed in the pool, or I could leave him alive. I have seen the future and know the choice I will make. Could I defy fate and simply not? Maybe, but I have no desire to do so. If I had the desire to defy fate the image in the pool would have shown something else. I take it as an affirmation in my own self-control that he will die. Unlike Näkyjä, I am consistent and have the forethought to carry through to certain ends regardless of the image I see with no regard for petty rebellion. It makes sense to kill him: seers provide great wartime benefits to their side in a war.
I decide not to try and recall the image of the buck’s dead body and use it to determine how I killed him in the vision. It is quaint to me to know that no matter what method I decide to use, it will be the method that killed him in the image in the future. If I try to think about how he died in the pool’s image and figure it out, I will inevitably conclude it was (will be?) the best way to do it and perform the same action. To save on the mental effort, I will simply exercise my will now. I fashion a blade from telekinetic energy, which the buck notices, and he simply raises his neck to allow it forth. I reward him for the acceptance of his fate with a quick slice, which causes him to promptly fall over and begin bleeding out with minimal spasming.
I could have attempted to mind control him, but given his magical abilities, he could have fought back - especially knowing that I was watching him, actively trying to cast a spell on him. For now, the matter is dealt with. I have not yet had to deal with magical adversaries on this level yet, but I will have to soon when it comes to dealing with Wittenland and their famed unicorn mages. The griffons and zebras have some magic as well, but by then I will have a much larger army. The real worries magic-wise are the Equestrians and the Changelings, but they are far too distracted by the Great War to interfere with my plans for now. The news says the Changelings are winning, with the optimal outcome for me being either a stalemate or a false victory where one side is left to deal with uprisings for decades to come. Infighting will be their weakness against my unity.
I have stopped them in the mountains, but for how long remains unclear. When the Wittenlandians invaded, I had hoped they would not be able to break through past the riverline, but, unfortunately, they were well prepared. Wittenland’s army is unique in its application of magic as a structural component in their division design, and it uses specifically unicorn magic to enhance its effectiveness in ways not seen in other militaries around the world.
Unlike the more racially balanced nations like Equestria and the River Republic, the ancient mage-noble system in Wittenland means that it has a much higher prevalence of unicorns among its population, with a rich history of magic education and a tradition of spellcraft. Of course, they are still behind Equestria in terms of their academic prowess, but the high population of unicorns by proportion means they can use magic in their armies in a way other militaries can’t. They have cast great spells to enhance their own soldiers and inflict casualties on mine and are proving uniquely resilient to mind control.
That is not to say they have developed a counterspell or something devastating like that, but their use of strategically sized shield spells as pioneered 10 years ago during Chrysalis’ humiliation has been, for lack of a better term, annoying. My previous go-to of casting my point charge variant of mind control is rendered impotent by the ability of these shield spells to block out all incoming magic. I can cast the regional variant, but it costs significantly more mana, and I have to be much closer to get an effective cast. I have been unable to cast the spell from afar, as they have, unfortunately, been adept at removing my scrying windows soon after I cast them - likely a provision in their training from their tradition of mage combat.
While their great mages are far less powerful than myself, their well-equipped and well-trained army aids in the disruption of my goals as, like I have said often, I cannot be at every part of the front line at once. Just the other day, they called forth a falling star on my forces, shattering a front. The use of such a spell is very effective, as, due to the mass of the star, it is very hard to redirect, even for me. Destroying it would also just cause it to burst in air, raining down equally deadly shrapnel. I was able to teleport much of the army in the blast radius away, but still had to cede the important river crossing they were defending.
The experience has given me a grudging respect for Queen Honoria. Her policy changes have seemed to make Wittenland a force to be reckoned with combining the old ways with modern military tactics. She may have had the ambition to take over her country through her duel with former queen White Star, but my ambitions go much further. This is but a momentary setback, and I will be victorious. The only question is how soon.
The Barradian climate has been my ally thus far, slowing any potential advance into Viirad through the level of equipment attrition it inflicts. In time, as long as I can finish integrating Austurland, my forces will begin to outnumber theirs and I can begin cutting their divisions off one by one.
Perhaps my salvation will be quicker than that though. There have recently been talks of the creation of a River Federation unifying the continent’s pony nations (and the Diamond Dogs, I suppose). Honoria, being the supremacist she is, has declined any cooperation with the increasingly interconnected bloc, which has hurt the legitimacy of the Federation given its roots in the Treaty of Coltstream. However, Wittenland is the only nation rejecting the union, and Chancellor River Swirl has recently been emphasizing a federation of all the Riverlands nations.
River Swirl has also been recently speaking out against Honoria’s reign specifically, citing her dismantling of the social safety net and seeming lack of empathy towards poor Wittenlandian ponies - especially the non-unicorns. It is quite humorous to me that, in her attempt to unify the Riverlands under herself, she may be providing me the opportunity to unify it myself if she does invade Wittenland. I wonder what her thought process is.
My speculation is that she doesn’t see me as a threat. The Watchers have not found evidence of any OHS agents or activities within my borders thus far. Perhaps she sees in Honoria’s conquest of Viirad a chance for Wittenland to prove they don’t need the River Union, which could make other states lose confidence. Given Honoria’s progress so far, River Swirl may believe her victory over me is imminent, and that it would delay full unification of the Riverlands by years. It is also strategically a great opportunity for them to invade, as their army is currently distracted by me.
The hypocrisy is astounding. River Swirl touts freedom and democracy at every turn, espousing the ideals of harmony. It turns out the “Equestria of the East” sees harmony as just as much of an imperialistic tool as the real Equestria does, just with Wittenland instead of the Buffalo or Dragons. It is to be expected of River Swirl; her family has been a political dynasty in the River Republic for many generations. Their style of nepotistic power does not engender leaders who really believe in any ideology, but instead ponies who see power as something they can use to achieve their own goals. River Swirl’s goal could be to care for her own ponies instead of looking abroad, but she probably has some sort of desire to show her family how great she is, and thus has to undertake ventures to make a bigger part of the map the same color.
Maybe the public persona the Chancellor presents in interviews and speeches is all a front. I’ve never met her myself. She could be secretly a grand puppet master with ambitions to rival my own, but somehow, I don’t think so. Having had the opportunity and ability to slink through the minds of many, I have found most creatures are quite docile even in the “darkest corners” of their minds. They may believe they hold strong convictions, but most would crumble if they had to stand by them. What pitiful lives they lead - so boring that most never get their ideas challenged in any meaningful way. Luckily, I am here to give them purpose.
In my writing this, I realize that I sound a bit like the evil villain in a children’s story. Somedeer with no redeeming values built to be hated. I suppose the comparison is apt, as from the perspective of these free willed individuals, I am coming to destroy their way of life and sense of self. I would, though, question the moral high ground my enemies seem to always take. As they cling to their rights and freedoms, I would ask this: why? What makes your rights or values more correct than my decree?
Of course these creatures value their individuality - it's what society has taught them to think. I have the ability to change those values. If the goal is to maximize fulfillment, I can give the masses that sense of fulfillment. They say that their observations of the existence of rights are self-evident. Well, give me a second to alter your soul and I would say that serving me becomes the only self-evident idea. Of course I value my own individuality too, but I wouldn’t if I were mind controlled.
The fear and repulsion seen in the Kasans and Austurlandians are caused by the perceived threat I represent. The laws of nature suggest that the validity of an idea lies in its ability to resist others. If an idea capitulated at the presentation of another, then it would cease to be. Therefore, all ideas in the world today are those that resist supplantation by another. If one were to interview a creature mind controlled by me, I’d wager they would find that my ideas are quite sticky.
I learnt at a young age that power is the ability to enforce your ideas. As a young fawn, when I didn’t want to go out, I simply used magic to lock my door. My power allowed my desires to triumph over those of my non-magical parents. Thus, as I have gained more power, the presence of ideas counter to my own has begun to matter less and less. When an idea comes into conflict with another, one will die - either by death of those who bear it, or by them changing their ideas.
In the end, Queen Honoria and I believe in the same thing - meritocracy. Call it “survival of the fittest” or any other name - the truth would ring just as clear. Do rights exist? Maybe or maybe not, but they require others to respect them to have practical application, just as belief of service to me only exists as long as there are those willing to fight for it. River Swirl wishes for unification while Honoria wishes to remain independent. One of those ideas will die. Honoria and I both believe we should rule over the Barradian lands. One of those ideas will die.
So then, am I evil? Yes, absolutely. By most measures there is no question about it. Does it matter? No. There is some practical aspect to be thought of if too many believe I am evil then it is easier for them to unite against me, but beyond that, no. The fact somecreature can apply a moral framework to me and determine I am evil is irrelevant if this hypothetical creature also worships me.
That is enough introspection for today. I am, once again, required at the front. I have thus far avoided getting too close to the enemy lines to avoid stray artillery fire and provided strategic spell casting from a safe distance. In the Viiradian mountains, I am using teleportation to keep my forces from getting trapped by Wittenlandian soldiers. I have written in the past of bettering the army such that my constant intervention is not so necessary, but they have not reached such proficiency as to defeat this superior enemy without me. For now, I must micromanage the front until we can effectively counterattack. Hopefully, River Swirl’s ambition outstrips her caution.
It’s a late Hearth’s Warming miracle. Of course, it was obvious from the removal of Wittenlandian troops from the front that something was occuring, but the inciting incident did not occur until now. It is possible that, in the end, the River Republic did not need to actually intervene in order for my victory to be executed. The mere threat of such an invasion forced Queen Honoria to move a significant amount of ponypower from the south where she is attacking me from to the northeast along the border with the River Union states. This has meant Wittenland no longer possesses sufficient numerical supremacy to continue advancing within Viirad.
Hearth’s Warming Eve. In the current age of strife and disorder, I have wondered where the Windigos are. It would seem that the current state of the world would lend itself to be quite the feast to the creatures. While such a musing doesn’t deign any real investigation, I did hear they were involved with the necromancers to the far north, but that entire region has gone quiet recently.
Returning to the more pertinent topic, my nation has been helpfully hostile to the invaders. Even discounting the mountainous terrain and harsh weather, the last few months have also shown a positive side effect of my mass mind control. As the Wittenlandian supply lines moved further within my borders and as the army moved through towns, those citizens of Viirad who were left behind began to act in my interest of their own accord. They have been undertaking guerilla actions, forming militias, and overall being quite annoying to the would-be unifiers.
This is the key difference between my passive mind control and more active versions. Active mind control requires there be a system in place for me to organize and command the populace, as it supplants and domineers over existing will. In my case, not only can a mage not disrupt the spell after occupying my lands, but, lacking direction from me or my proxies, my subjects seek to act in their perception of my will anyway. They have created systems of resistance that have sought contact with my official state, and through them, no settlement in Viirad is a safe haven for the Wittenlandians. It is true I only cast my spell along the rivers and my train line, but it just so happens that those two things happen to be priorities for the Wittenlandians, as they make supply much more efficient. Therefore, unless they choose to start building new supply infrastructure in the mountains, they will be stuck with the towns most loyal to me.
While it is true these resistance groups have been helpful up to now, their relevance will soon be quite diminished as the intervention by the River Union states has meant I am now beginning to advance all along the front. Their significantly reduced numbers and guerilla-harassed supply lines are crumbling upon contact with my ever-growing forces. Austurland’s integration is complete, and my main limiting factor is how fast I can scale industrially to equip all of these new deer. It is not an urgent concern, as the forces I have now will be more than enough to bring Wittenland to heel.
My main concern now actually relates with how successful the River Union’s invasion will be. So far, their progress has been slow, but I seek to occupy as much of Wittenlands valuable industrial base as possible. When my frontline reaches the River Union’s, it will be a diplomatic incident waiting to happen. Looking at the trouble I have had facing one Riverlands nation in war, it is an obvious logical next step to believe I am not yet ready to face the rest at the same time. Some sort of negotiation, formal or not, will have to occur to avoid a fog-of-war incident that escalates into a war with the entire coalition.
In any case, I doubt I will be able to annex the entirety of Wittenland. Such a move seems unlikely from a military perspective given Wittenburgh’s proximity to the River Coalition border, but also seems unwise on my part. If I were to somehow mechanize my entire army today and drive right through the rest of Wittenland, keeping the capital would undoubtedly draw the ire of River Swirl, who would have a public relations disaster on her hooves. This would then increase the likelihood of a swift counterattack by the riverponies and lead to my defeat. No, the correct course of action appears to be a medium path. I will seize what lands I can, but leave the capital, at least, to “reunify” with the rest of the Riverlands nations. This should stave off an invasion for long enough for me to finish modernizing. I predict I should be able to strike first even.
Therefore, in order to make this a reality, my troops must be swift in occupying as much Wittenlandian soil as possible to bring them into my orbit and under my spell, while leaving River Swirl with, hopefully, just Wittenburgh. My industrial base is still not developed enough to field motorized or mechanized troops at a nationwide level, so my personal intervention will be required.
Their forces at the front, dwindled as they may be, remain well organized and have been vigilant enough to keep their shields up and artillery firing. This makes it more difficult (and riskier) for me to get close enough to affect combat at the front. However, the nature of modern total warfare is that it is a nationwide affair. I have compiled a target list far from the front lines that should prove less defended now that the Wittenlandian army has been stretched thin fighting a war on two fronts.
The one I will be tackling today is a Wittenlandian prison camp in Wintershorn where a great number of my ponies have been held as prisoners of war. It is a moderately armed fortification built within a renovated castle. They are better armed than I would have assumed otherwise, which I believe is due to the influence of my mind control causing POWs to behave more aggressively and stir up trouble. Notably, the facility itself is located near a major supply hub, so a disruption in this region should cause my advance to quicken greatly.
I scouted this location out a few days ago during Wittenland’s strategic redeployment to the north, and my assumption that they would be running a skeleton crew given the imminent threats on two fronts was demonstrated to be correct as my scrying window was not immediately dispelled. This presents me with an opportunity to provide some divine intervention, as it were, to make sure that the guards have a sudden change of heart.
I conjure a new scrying window in the air in front of my desk, using my past memory of the camp’s location as a guide. An image resolves of a prison camp within the walls of a castle. The juxtaposition of the soldiers with modern fatigues and firearms and the ancient surroundings is not lost on me, but that is simply the nature of much of Wittenland. Immediately, my attention is drawn to the ersatz stage made of soapboxes where a pony seems to be preaching.
Based on the placement of the soapboxes and the not insignificant audience, the speech is meant as much for the Wittenlandians as it is for the audience members who are captive in both senses of the word. The speaker is a unicorn mare, looking fairly ragged - as expected from a prisoner of war. Her tone is bombastic, with grand gestures complimenting wild eyes, but the content is considerably less aggressive than the average street preacher.
“Do not lose heart, friends!” she exclaims, “Know that Viira has a plan for you even now. While things may look bleak, know that she put you here for a reason, and that you still have a part to play. You just have to open your heart and find it!”
Interesting that she is taking the fatalistic route. I do not have the power to control fate itself (at least, not yet), but she still ascribes my will to their current predicament. The reception, on the other hoof, does seem to be positive, as the attention shown by the prisoners is rapt. I wonder where she gets this doctrine from. I am reminded of the stallion from the Skapatoria prison cell. He began spouting doctrine from who knows where because he felt it was right. Perhaps this mare is the same, with her feelings towards me and the situation they are in combining within her to create a belief that I must have some plan for her and the other prisoners as individuals.
With others sharing that situation and being from similar backgrounds, it is reasonable to imagine that they may be receptive to the messages she is preaching. There is a grain of truth to what she says. I do have a plan for them given I am currently watching them with plans to break them out, but I also did not put them there intentionally. If all things went according to my design, these camps would be much emptier. On a related note, it is interesting that the Wittenlandians bother to keep these prisoners alive in the first place. The POWs I capture are sent to camps for mind control by me, and there are effectively no lines of communication between our armies, so prisoner swaps do not occur. Maybe they hold onto hope a swap could happen in the future, or they have some creaturian idea that all creatures deserve life and should not just be executed en masse.
“That goes for you too!” the preacher says, redirecting her gaze to a guard beyond a fenceline, “Viira accepts all under her as long as you’re willing to serve! We all used to be just like you, thinking we were Wittenlandians, but we all had a moment where we chose to follow her with all our strength. Join us!”
The creatures listening murmur their assent, and eyes turn around to face the specific pony she is speaking to. The unicorn stallion looks nervous at the attention, with his partner next to him giving him a bump in the shoulder.
“Looks like the crazies have it out for you today,” comes the quip. Clearly, the partner is the senior of the two and is more used to this type of behavior. The junior one is clearly uncomfortable and doesn’t know what to do. It is quite curious why the Wittenlandians allow such an overt provocation and seeming usurpation of Wittenlandian authority to take place within a prison camp. To my knowledge, Wittenland doesn’t have a special tradition of religious tolerance, and so the answer must be a pragmatic one. I hypothesize that, in the past, the speeches were much more aggressive, but when force was used to put them down, it created a violent backlash. This must be the resulting equilibrium of less violent rhetoric and a more lenient guardship.
A number of audience members are now approaching the fence and leaning on it to stare at the guard singled out by the preacher.
“Join us,” they say repeatedly, but the guard appears to be further repulsed the more they lay their attention on him. Surely the creatures in the camp know that no sane creature would leave their patriotic duty simply because they heard “join us” one more time, but the genuineness in the voices of the prisoners suggests they believe that, if they just believe hard enough, the next repetition might actually work. This is a bit worrying, as the idea of passive mind control is that it preserves higher thought, but I can’t expect too much from these ponies given that they are likely under a lot of mental and physical stress from the forced labor.
What does worry me is the fact that my lack of specified doctrine may be at fault as well. Like the previous stallion in the Skapatoria site, this mare seems to be making up her doctrine based on “divine inspiration”, which I most assuredly did not give her. In my experiences with telepathy, I have found that most creatures believe something emotionally first, and then use logic to justify their beliefs rather than vice versa. This mare seems to be no different.
I would imagine this would be happening in other locations, and that what they preach would be inconsistent. Furthermore, without properly consistent moral instruction with backing from me or some similar church institution, the effectiveness of the preaching is going to be reduced. It seems that, since I did not create the institutions necessary for maintaining faith to me, these priests and priestesses have spontaneously appeared to fill in the demand. The issue is that, if they do a bad job, it could have a net negative effect for me rather than a positive one. This is an issue I will have to deal with in the future, but I would like to focus on winning this war first.
The congregation seems to have moved into a time of prayer. The preacher speaks a fiery prayer while the devout listen with hooves, or claws in the case of the lone griffon, clasped and eyes closed. I’ll admit, seeing this show of faith does tickle my ego a bit, especially since I know I am about to answer their prayers.
“Viira, bless our enemies,” the prayer continues, “Show them your greatness like you showed us.” Your goddess hears you, little pony, and she will answer. I cast the point charge variant of the spell over the center of the camp. There are many locations within it which are not exposed to the outside that will have some resistance to my spell, but enough of the guards should be affected for the plan to succeed. I have chosen this time in the morning before the creatures are led out to perform labor, so numbers should favor them.
The invisible wave of magic sweeps across the creatures of the camp as the prayer completes. Among the praying prisoners, they wake with a renewed determination that is enhanced not only by the ritual itself, but by the new wave of mental influence I have applied. The guard pair from before suddenly gains confused expressions. They saw the prayer but didn’t expect it to actually work. They look at each other in disbelief.
“Did that just work?” the senior asks the junior.
“I think it did,” the unicorn replies, incredulously, “Hail Viira!” His chant is followed by other nearby guards. The prisoners turn to look at the source of the shout and are equally surprised. The junior guard trots over to the gate, levitating a key into the lock at the sound of loudening cheers.
“What the hell is going on here?” yells a Wittenlandian officer emerging from a door in the side of the castle. Immediately the Wittenlandian ponies point their guns at her.
“Did you not just feel that Ma’am?” asks one guard. The officer, now clearly bewildered, doesn’t know how to answer.
Suddenly, the preacher yells, “Kill the non-believer!” Guttural shouts of approval begin to spread alongside chants of “Infidel!” The guards, taken up with a new fervent zeal, fire on their commanding officer, who quickly falls lifelessly to the ground under a hail of lead.
“Free us, my new brothers and sisters!” shouts the preacher. It seems she has also sensed she has to take control of the situation to ensure the success of this operation, as she follows it up with more specific orders, “Take control of the camp, kill the infidels, and we will march south to Viirad in glory!”
There is a roar of approval from all sides as prisoners walk right out of the enclosed area that was their sleeping quarters. Gunfire starts to be heard originating from other parts of the camp and in the areas of the castle being used to administer the camp. Soon, two unicorns emerge from another door levitating a crate, which they open in front of the throng of prisoners. It is full of rifles, which are quickly distributed.
I consider intervening further, but it quickly becomes apparent that my faithful have the situation under control. Moving the scrying window to a higher elevation, I can see the irregular fighting across the camp and its buildings. There are casualties on my side as well, but it is clear that converting a majority of the Wittenlandian soldiers to my side has meant the other cannot mount an organized defense. Excellent. Tomorrow, I will perform more attacks all around Wittenland, which should have the combined effect of totally isolating the front from their supplies, allowing my forces to swiftly advance and crush the unsupplied troops. I estimate it will only be a few days before the already embattled Wittenlandians run out of supplies and begin retreating. It is my plan to cut them off before that can happen, and cause a total rout followed by an occupation of a majority of their lands.
Honoria will probably surrender to River Swirl, as there is no real method of diplomatic contact between Viirad and Wittenland, but the reality will be that I will control most of Wittenland’s factories, universities, ponies, and resources. I just have to temper my territorial ambitions to ensure the River Swirl emerges with something she will paint to her constituents as a victory.
