Paladin2
From Toosigma
this was originally just text... but i took a lesson from Daniel Jackson and made it a lecture... besides originally the first time i introduced Sybil she was naked... this is better
“Generations ago they were called ghosts, monsters, or even aliens. Now what ethereals are is as well known and understood as bacteria and viruses were way back then. What the ethereals did wasn’t so harmful, not when there were only a billion or so people on the world, but as the number of humans began to increase our ecological niche began to touch theirs and when that happened war, became unavoidable. The worst part is they had as much of a claim to this world as any solid did. But, it was the way the ethereals started their fight that put the passion behind the human’s side of the war. Their attack was fist noticed in the sudden and unexplainable rise in depression, and then marked by instances when all the food one could eat had no flavor or real sustenance, because it had already been eaten. Only the food’s solid form was left. And the solid form didn’t even last long, the thing that made it what it was had left and entropy works quickly on an inanimate object that has lost it’s since-of-self as it were. People don’t eat carbon and nitrogen and hydrogen and live off of it. They have to eat fats, proteins complex chemical structures, and ethereals stole the structure, as if for a moment all of the rules that made chemicals fit together they way they do were turned off. They wouldn’t spontaneously reform after the effect ended, but an apple wouldn’t stop looking like an apple right away.”
Sybil took a sip of water looking at the watching eyes of the 4-5 year old squires gathered all around her drinking their milk and eating their cookies. These things would be explained to them gain and again threw out their training, but this was their first introduction. Sybil watched for those who were board, the ones who where interested, scared... every aspect of their first reaction was so important. Setting down the glass of water Sybil continued,“The same thing happens with people, but it is more complex. Don’t get me wrong what happens with food and the inanimate is far more complex then what I just said, but I am not giving a lecture on the metaphysical properties of the ethereals. I am just trying to give you a picture of how they work.” smile... who is disappointed?
“Paladins are a lot harder for the Etherials to destroy, mostly from the fact that they have such a strong grasp on what they are; that they can change between corporeal and incorporeal at will. Entropy, and the natural order doesn’t have the same bounds on a being that constantly ignores their rules. On any normal person a ethereal can reek havoc, they can destroy a soul and slip into the body using it as a puppet, they can damage the mind through shear force of terror until the person stops existing, but more often then not they prefer to simply latch on and feed. It is our minds that give us the strongest connection to the ethereal plane and human soul is the finest food. Before the war began a hundred million people were acting as hosts to ethereals that did everything they could to strengthen there grasp on the human spirit. For hundreds of years generations of people grew old and died always wondering exactly who they were.” Sybil paused checking the reactions again, watching them wait for her to continue.
“Not even Paladins are invulnerable to the spirit fiends. If a Paladin is unable to change back into their solid form they always eventually melt into shadow beings. And just like anything else in the natural world with a large enough leverage their since-of-self can be rearranged and crushed.”
“A battlefield in the shadow world is always one fought on several fronts at one time. Spacial reality doesn’t exist and neither do any of the normal laws of science. The only rules that do exist are the ones that Paladins bring with them, by their very presents they create enough structure to create a viable battle ground in the first place, and then destroying the shadow creatures in much the same way as they would destroy solid things, by forcing a form and then damaging it. A shadow normally cannot be harmed by a sword slash or even a blast from a mini-gun, unless they are in a Paladin’s circle of influence and forced to adopt the rules that the fighters bring with them. If a Paladin were gutted in the shadow plane they wouldn’t die because they were truly harmed, but because they knew that they would. While it is possible to train a Paladin into knowing that they can’t be harmed in the shadow realm, it would then be impossible for them to destroy a shadow being by applying the same rules.” Sybil smiled watching the last cookie being chewed and the last glass of milk being sipped. “Each of you will need to keep this ideas of 'circle of influence', and 'since of self' in mind as we go through todays REM training. Please put your nap caps on and find your cot.”
