Black Magus

Imperator Hogaz.

9th Legion's Commander.

***

While Davy Jones, my lore skull, had been making logs, I'd had little time to document the goings on since our foray with Captain Burns.

His impasse was resolved with a long list of easily satiable demands. Aside from being trained, his first order of business revolved around dealing with his competitors in Knighilia. Neither they nor the pirate crews who ruled the waters of Bakewia's Shavew Bay had an island to build up and unionize like the 7 Green Eyes had off the coast of Vruria so his policy regarding each crew was to sink or swim. Sink, they wound up choosing, as Burns had quite the reputation in these waters that left longstanding grudges in the eyes of the other Captains. Thus, two weeks later, they were working for him in death, in turn, he was working under Commander Sinoshk. In turn, I got a humorous message from Ed, who was in Shavew with the President, watching the battle from afar. It seemed I had stolen his prey. Yet he thanked me for the job nonetheless and promised to repay the favor in kind.

Honestly, the promise fell into the depths of my memories once we moved on and Captain Burns began his training. While not as extensive as ours, it was far more streamlined due to the existence of the VoidNet and the many blessings coming from Amun. Thus his final testing was finished before we pulled into the Great Ligin Bay on the 2nd of Trescia.

Named after the knightly kingdom of griffon riders, it was more of an ocean than a bay, as it had three smaller bays scattered around the coast of a small sea; one to the southeast on the shores of Ligin, another bay further north past the Vrurian border, and the final one to the west of that, where the Vrurian capital of Maneas sat. The Bakewian border sat some 100 kilometers west, where it straddled the Great Bay's entrance with the Rharian Kingdom, some 700 kilometers south.

With all that said, Bakewia was the one who owned the relatively large isle, despite it being closer to Ligin's shores. At 200 kilometers in diameter, it was filled to the brim with shipyards, dry docks, and other such buildings to serve the maritime needs of Ligin's western reaches. Due to Ed's prominence and Amun's communications enchantments being spread across the Protectorate and beyond, gaining a dock at the isle was trivial, with us being approved before they even came into view. But of course, few things were that easy.

The ship would have taken up too much space at the docks, and I didn't want to spend the time needed for the tugboats to maneuver us into position, so I had the Moonsliver dive and hold its position near the sea floor a few kilometers from the island. Thus beginning our period of leave.

Or so we thought.

The moment I left the helm, a sharp pain pinched the backside of my eyes, releasing a pinpoint of searing silver light to expand and occlude my vision as the feeling pushed forward. As it left my eyes I felt as if my mind had been ripped from my body and split in two. One half went south, past the bay, across, the lands of Ligin, and over the rolling hills to show me another of those strange monoliths, set before an arcane forest overlooking the sea. The other drifted northeast, to a similar obelisk near the Vruria-Ligin border. And yet, there was more. Glimpses and visions of my ship completely crewed, and other ships. Or rather, orders to increase our numbers to fill our incoming ships.

Ships just as advanced as mine.

As was becoming the norm, I snapped to and realized I'd been standing and staring into space for upwards of half an hour. And not just me. Vexx, Seadog, Stronghull, and everyone else had the same maddened gaze as me before they scrambled, dragging their crews to their skiffs, submersibles, and speeders to various parts of the bay and beyond.

Smiling, I connected back to the island to request a dock and spread the advert created by Davy to the areas surrounding the island. Then my attention returned to the Moonsliver around me. As I moved to the docking bays, I felt a strong sense of irony creep up from behind me. I had long since grown used to the many different faces belonging to the seven Captains within this ship, knowing they would one day separate and return to theirs. Only now, when the chambers and halls of this grand ship were vacated, did I see the irony of gaining an array of fleet commanders while having no junior sailors.

That was soon to change, however. Thus I imagined her when complimented with a full crew of 2,300 sailors pulled from the 12 or so cities scattered across the oceanic bay. As I entered the Moontear, I imagined her complimented with a full crew of 68. Though, in a way, it already was. Undying shadows, pristine zombies, and metallic skeletons forever manned the bridge, galley, and engineering deck. But that simply would not do when I would one day bring esteemed guests on board. Even if I were to replace them with those machines, I would need living beings among my crew, for the way of our Legion was to do as the locals did.

We were pirates through and through. But in these waters, where navies reigned supreme, we were sailors and marines of the Noctis Grand Fleet. Or, at the very least, Noctis Privateers. Naturally, our flag reflected that. In pirate waters, our flag was the typical crossed swords and skull, but the skull had a silver serpent snaking through its mouth and eye sockets to bite its tail to make the infinity sign. In all other waters, the skull and swords would fade into the background, leaving only the sign with a blue ocean in the left loop and verdant lands in the right; making our colors silver, ocean blue, kelp green, and sea green.

Such colors worked in tandem with the work of the other Legions to allow the Commanders to sail unabated. From my fancy chair in my cabin, I could see Commander Riptide in a submersible, leagues away from the Moonsliver. As his crew had done before, they were scouring the sea floor, searching for and tinkering with sunken ships that had been claimed by the life below the waters. Only this time, devices, enchantments, or magic were used to shrink, disappear, or repair them wholly. Through another looking glass, I could see Commanders Seadog and Woodgrain race through the waters or skies to the southwest to convince the knight-hopefuls of Ligin to put their skills to use in differing ways.

The former docked at the city of Vabi to organize a demonstration of her fast attack craft by spreading her ManaNet call sign to every tavern in town and having them watch her raid the bandits who 'claimed' the territory of the two rivers straddling their city. Meanwhile, Commander Woodgrain landed his planes deeper in Ligin to convince the wanna-be griffon riders to fly his beasts of metal instead. Through yet another looking glass, I could see Commanders Sinoshk and Lu-Lu Stubbs take their tenders due east, where they quickly came across those of their kind who'd set up shop in some ancient ruins.

They took as many as were willing to go and left the rest to wait or go about their lives while they sailed up the Bokeringley River to enter the Khuld Wilds of Northern Ligin. The two cities at opposing ends of the river's fork served as the largest source of recruitment for the 9th Legion; both civilians and legionaries. There were so many that Mani had to guide their march to the ruins they passed earlier so they could keep up with the tenders. Even then, however, it took them three days to reach the ruins at the shore.

In the time since, Commanders Vexx and Ragnuron sailed out of the bay to retrace our steps to the northwestern edge, where they docked at the Bakewian port city of Newalstran. Set on the southernmost corner of a peninsula, it quickly became the new Bakewian maritime capital once the pirates Captain Burns killed first infested Shavew Bay. Dwarves, gnomes, and high-elves alike flocked to the lands, seeking to make a fortune in building and enchanting ships; or simply sampling the exotic wares they carried. So it was that the two commanders saw many types of individuals join their fleets; and like me, be guided to the most obscure places.

By the fourth day since I left the Moonsliver- the 6th of Trescia, I had sailed to the northeastern bay of Vruria, entering the Szoramelsa River to sail some 300 more kilometers upstream. A short swim and a trek through the dense jungle brought me to my destination shortly thereafter. Another monolith of off-white stone set inside a crater of onyx or perhaps obsidian, just like the last.

Unlike the last, I unfurled a long sheet of parchment and rubbed each portion of its surface with a piece of charcoal, ingraining the exotic words onto the paper flawlessly. Such an endeavor took me hours. Yet the flash of silver light that followed saw me writhe and squirm as my mind filled with visions depicting me casting spells, thoughts of me performing skills, and memories of knowledge that was not my own. I felt my reaction to the sight of something grandiose, and then… nothing. Only an exotic landscape of black skies and white ground I could not focus on. And… a message.

{Message From Imperator Pascal: 'As thanks for your help in Shujen Bay, you're the first to get one of these. I also made some upgrades to your fleets. Enjoy.'}

Again, I remained in place for possibly hours before I stirred, noticing the smell of something… familiar before I noticed something was missing. Both from my senses and the Net's Industry tab, the Moontear was… gone.

I felt as if my heart leaped out of my chest, pulling me through the jungle into the river with a steadily quickening pace, only to fall unmoving once I found it was truly gone.

I remained stunned in the water for far too long. My lungs began to burn and my eyes began to bulge, forcing me to race into the reeds to pluck one in my mouth and have the ambient mana take hold of it, transforming the water that flowed through it into breathable air.

With several deep breaths taken, my nerves were thoroughly calmed, allowing my thoughts to return to those memories and visions while my senses latched on to that familiar something I smelled. In doing so, I felt the eldritch lunacy within me gather around my hands and feet in ways that propelled me downriver. Yet... it was almost as if I was being guided; like the silver light ebbing from my limbs had latched onto something and sought to connect with it.

After a few hours and some light encounters with wild beasts, I found her. However, the Moontear was… different. Alive, almost.

She still had the shape that made her namesake. She was still like a teardrop laid on its side. Only, she no longer bobbed atop the water. She stood on dry land, supported on four wide flippers of metal and ceramic. A hard shell covered her back, yet it was… amorphous. Misty. Thus I could see the flybridge and decks I was familiar with hiding beyond the veil. Moreover, the tapered bow was the same, yet was now extended with a bulbous, head-shaped pod at the front that turned to look at me with two circular windows before a seamless maw lowered, revealing stairs and a hefty metal door.

As I stepped inside, illusory words, blueprints, and other information popped up all across my vision. Not from Mani, however. From NoxNet.

{Vessels Synchronized: 1/2: Beta-Class Uma, Model: Misty Shell Sky Turtle: Moontear Mk III. 2/2: Alpha-Class Uma, Model: Sky Dolphin: Moonsliver Mk II.}

I couldn't believe my eyes. Everything about the ship was the same, yet different. She was still 41 meters long with a beam of 14, but only when the head was extended. It still had my cabin, an officer's rec room, and the main bridge beneath the flybridge. But everything was protected beneath a shell of silvery mist. The main deck still boasted the galley, mess hall, saloon, and quartermaster's suite. However, they had all been connected into a streamlined chain that began at the 'mouth' from which I entered; and so too were those connected to the lower and sub-deck. Even the crew cabins in the lower deck were the same, yet much more elegant in their design, boasting organic-looking furniture that ranged from horizontal ribcages for shelves to silver mushrooms that conjured looking glasses of silver light.

The tender garage and engineering bay in the sub-deck, on the other hand, had been filled with an array of enchantments of Ed's design and mana. In the former, forcefields kept the skiffs, grav-bikes, and sky skiffs suspended in their places while cranes of the same nature facilitated their ingress and egress. Many of them were powered by the force mana as well, if not by torch. Torch enchantments virtually filled the engineering bay, powering everything from the forges and heaters to the ovens and 'thrusters.' As did Amun's divine mana funnel, store, and sort the resources on top of automating virtually every process in the ship.

To that end, I no longer needed the undying shadows he imposed on me and thus they were gone. Including Neil. But of course, there were others to take their place, and there'd be much more to come. Thus I was not alone when I emerged from the mouth of the Szoramelsa River to witness something grand.

Ships.

7 ships that dwarfed mine in terms of scale and power. Mine and perhaps any other ship on the Mortal Plane.

Being underwater already, the first ship I saw was the closest submersible and was among the smaller ships. At 792 meters, however, it was hardly small. Moreover, it appeared like an emperor penguin in the same way mine appeared like a sea turtle. Albeit a penguin with a short mast protruding from its dorsal side. Appearance aside, the submersible, named Baigowlah was partially surfaced next to a much larger ship. and I didn't need to surface to see whose it was. Not when I could look across the Net and see a veritable army of orcs gathered around the shores overlooking the exotic ship anchored next to Commander Lu Lu Stubs' submarine.

Naturally, she had an equally large if not larger army of goblinoids pledging their loyalty to her. But they and their ship seemed much less foreboding than that of the orcish Commander Sinoshk. The reason being, that she was a mind-breaking 1.4 kilometers-long crocodile. Karanja was a saltwater crocodile of a battleship with four massive claw-like paddles at the base of a towering hull lined with 10 decks of portholes and bulkheads. The scutes lining each side of the back and tail contained long-range naval spell cannons larger than those found on the Moonsliver, growing larger and longer as they reached the massive cannon at the tail; making a total of 87 such guns. To top it off, 56 vertical arcane missile launchers were contained in the two rows of smaller scutes running down the back; all while leaving enough space for a massive deck running down the spine and twin bridges within the 'head.'

The next ship I saw was further in the bay, at around my depth; Peng, Commander Riptide's eel. Through my ship's eyes, I could see the ship's massive head chowing down on sunken ships while, through the Net, I could see materials and people passing down a long conduit to maintain or operate the 7 circular modules of the truss-like design. Some were scanning, others were scavenging or refining, mining, or drilling for oils. Each of them was 120 meters, making 1.2 kilometers of prime industrial space for our growing organization.

Above Peng was something a little more tame. A 1.12 kilometers-long submersible corvette that boasted many docking bays on her spotted hull. Being made from a leopard seal and affectionately named Labrador, it was the perfect vessel for Commander Seadog's fast attack fleet, as that was essentially all it held. The same couldn't be said for the many-armed behemoth floating next to it, however.

Halstarr was a full kilometer in length but varied in width due to the many orientations the giant sea otter of a ship could position its arms. If that wasn't enough, the otter's 'stomach' was paved over with strips and fields of stone for the amphibious planes of Commander Rickety Woodgrain.

Quite fittingly, the most visually appealing ship belonged to Commander Vexx. At one meter short of a kilometer, Tanstaafl wasn't the fastest on or under the water, but the swan-turned-destroyer could take to the skies quickly and fly far to deploy her marines anywhere. The biggest ship of all, however, belonged to the dwarven Commander Ragnuron Stronghull.

A Stronghull he indeed had, as his ship- his Alpha-Class Uma was made from a Stone Alligator Snapping Turtle. Now, she was both a dreadnought and a veritable dwarven mountain fortress set to drift in the sea until perpetuity; as the sole spire atop its shell that protruded the waters was a whopping 1.74 kilometers in diameter, its main body was far too big to dock at any port. Not that she needed to, with a total of thirteen mountainous spires bordered by deep dales spread across the shell and a volcanic heart, the Sea Mountain, Oeklinge, would power through the World Seas for eons. Or rather, under them.

Of course, I wasn't left out either. I returned to the Moonsliver to see it had not only become a Sky Dolphin but that it had grown to a length of 1.3 kilometers and surfaced itself on the choppy waters, where it was surrounded by a vast flotilla of ships that ranged from fishing boats and merchant ships to naval flagships.

It seemed Amun altered my advertisement a little. Or at the very least, made sure the appropriate people saw it and were guided to me or the other commanders. As things went, we spent two weeks in the Great Bay of Ligin, with the advertisement being broadcasted in taverns, inns, street corners, and various programs the entire time. We departed with our new crew and citizens on the 22nd of Trescia and weighed anchor far off the coast near the border of Chaulort and Rhar naught 3 days later.

Hidden beneath a misty shroud, the citizens got settled and the sailors got up to speed while the Commanders came to terms with the many toys Ed installed in our ships. Meanwhile, the Doppelgangers of Riptide and Lu Lu Stubs went forward to scout the area ahead while I backtracked to find the last monolith spotted by Mani's eye.

While it stood at the very edge of the cliff I was to climb, set beyond a sacred elven forest, the monolith was the last thing I saw when I turned my gaze upward. First, I saw the worlds woven by us founders of the Legions, cascading the energy of a dozen divine worlds across the lands they overlooked.

It poured like rain, waking the very spirit of the lands themselves, bringing life where there was not; bringing death where it did not belong.

It flooded, uplifting the spirits of sentient and beast alike, improving the bodies of one and the minds of the other.

It swept through me and the ocean in waves, influencing every aspect of our being and making us fall to the maddening whispers, visions, memories, and thoughts of the God who ruled over us. Then, it faded. Yet something remained.

It remained as the mist in my mind faded to reveal the choppy sea.

It remained. Both in the seas and in me.

——

[Blessing Received: Imperial Lunarian Crown.]

[The touch of divinity that has been seeded in you has synergized with the Eldritch Lunacy you have been bestowed, setting you on the path to becoming the Emperor of the World Seas, in turn making you a sorcerer of the Lunacy that merges the fluids within and above the World Seas. The Crown makes you capable of communing with the creatures of the World Sea, no matter how deep and dangerous they may be.]