Shades of the New World

"About making the World Sprites independent, we really don't have any idea on how to achieve that. Naturally, there were quite a few experiments on this subject in the past, but none of them really worked how they were supposed to. Soul-related methods seem promising, but we still don't know how that works exactly. As far as I know, you're the biggest expert on that, so you're probably going to have to work on that alone."

"Yeah, the Vulpine Mother talked to me about this. We decided that it's fine the way it is now, so you just have to worry about the golems for the World Sprites," Evin replied.

"Oh really? Well in that case, I'm pretty sure our job will be finished in two weeks or so. We'll perfect the control method for World Sprites and after that we just have to construct suitable golems for the World Sprites. With the help of magic, it won't really take that long anyway,"

"Oh, that's perfect. That's much faster than I anticipated."

"And you don't have to worry about payment as well, since we've learned a lot during this project thanks to you and the Beast Lord. The higher ups said that they were willing to pay the costs for all the golems needed for your World Sprites. They also told me to try and recruit you somehow, so if you ever become interested in working for the Paradra, know that their doors are open to you," Gizel said casually.

Evin would usually ignore such offers, but things were a bit different this time.

'Although I prefer to just do fuck all by myself, I really wouldn't mind if I become acquainted with the arguably strongest organization in the World…'

"Could you tell me a bit more about the Tribe?" 

It didn't hurt to ask for more details, so Evin took this as a chance to learn some inner details of the Paradra.

"Well, what do you want to know about?" Gizel said as she stretched.

"Honestly, I just know it's advertised as the most powerful group of mages in the World. Aside from that, nothing much."

Gizel thought about the matter for a bit, before summarizing the general division of the tribe.

"Well, the personnel in the Paradra are mainly divided into two parts: the research teams and the military teams. The research team that I belong to is divided into as many subdivisions as there are fields in magic, and lately, there has been a surge for non-magical fields as well."

"The military teams, on the other hand, aren't really divided into different fields. They're more often divided into well-balanced operative teams. The elite teams consisting of at least one lesser-imposer and a group of 5 to 10 half-cores with no apparent weak World. So, if you ever get into one such team, you'll most likely be paired with half-cores that don't focus on the Dark World."

"But, obviously, there aren't many lesser-imposers up for the taking, so most teams would have a peak half-core of some sorts as their lead and a relatively balanced team of half-cores or quarter-cores as subordinates, mostly comprising about 10 mages, or some awfully capable Horn-bearers. These would be most of the normal teams." 

"How many teams are there in the tribe?" Evin asked.

"State secret," Gizel said immediately.

"Well, I can see how they're considered to be the strongest force in the world if they have a hundred or so of such teams…" Evin said.

Gizel only shrugged, not really denying or acknowledging Evin's guess.

"Well, how does the research teams work?"

"Ah, that. Well, it could be argued that the organization is composed of very, very talented researchers, except that… most of them have asses instead of their heads, so it's a bit hard to make friends there," Gizel started, "Paradra tries really hard to recruit talents into their ranks. They don't mind spending manpower and resources just to unearth an obscure, hidden talent from the wilds, because of some vague rumor they've heard in a rural tavern. Naturally, the success rate for these wild goose chases is depressingly low, but sometimes, they do manage to find what they're searching for."

"Am I going to get abducted and brainwashed if I refuse your offer, then?" Evin asked jokingly but the answer wasn't a light joke like he expected.

"Hmm, probably not. After all, you're going to work for Nasst for a bit afterwards, so they won't really try so hard to get you under their wings… Also, you're from the West as well, so they'll be less inclined to move for you," Gizel replied in all seriousness.

"Don't tell me they actually go about abducting mages?"

"Definitely not," Gizel said in a weird tone, "But it wouldn't hurt to be careful, don't you agree?"

"Alright, just tell me, how do I avoid getting abducted?" Evin asked straightly.

"I'm telling you they won't abduct you. But to avoid abductions in general, I heard that being in public places is good. Also, I suppose staying inside the West shouldn't be a bad move as well."

Things suddenly started to sound very bad for Evin, as he started to wonder about the feasibility of Gizel's implications. The way the exchange happened was so weird and bizarre, that Evin couldn't help but feel as if the woman was joking or not. Gizel, on the other hand, continued on as if she said nothing out of the ordinary, giving Evin no chance to mull over the topic more.

"But let's get back to our previous talk. As you might guess, a collection of such eccentric talents doesn't really behave in a civilized way. Prideful, arrogant, attention-seeking, egotistic and generally obnoxious people all over the place. It really makes one wonder how mother nature could create such individuals."

Evin wanted to ask about the abducting a bit more, but Gizel continued on without caring for his troubles.

"Everyone will act as if you're challenging them somehow, and when they feel that you're acting in a slightly demeaning way than they're used to, they'll start making a huge fuss about it all. It doesn't really help when the Tribe's social system is also based on merits and contributions. Sabotaging, plagiarizing and disrupting one another's work is commonplace, and until you join a partially independent team like mine, or become big enough to create a private team yourself, the difficulties will continue on."

"You might think that the higher ups of the tribe should be doing something about this state of things, but they turn a blind eye to it by calling it a competitive environment that pushes on the development of magic and research. They site things like how we've developed so fast and efficiently in times of war and pressure, so small conflicts like this aren't so bad for the Tribe Members."

At this point, Evin just decided to let the woman finished before asking his questions.

"I guess you can say that the situation is the worst for newer members of the Tribe. After all, if you go through the normal procedures, you're probably going to find yourself where competition is thickest. Well, for people like me who've been in the tribe for so long, things aren't as nearly as complicated. You go through some trouble at first, before you either get knocked out or rise up in ranks to become untouchable."

"Obviously, there are cases where the tribe is unwilling to part with a particularly brilliant, yet non-aggressive mage, in which case they'll pull them out of the mess and groom them in private," Gizel said and pointed at Tusa, "I'm assuming that if you've ever been with Tusa for more than ten minutes, you probably heard of Ke. He's the perfect example of this special treatment. He's been recruited into the Tribe for only 5 years now, yet the higher ups have groomed him from a quarter-core to a lesser-imposer in almost complete isolation during this time frame."

"Other than that, there isn't much to say about the Tribe. It's located in the Northern capital which is called Koidot City, and it also has a ton of non-mage human resources as well. I guess the easiest way to explain it would be to call it a very competitive governing organization… but that's a bit of a wrong description since most of the governing is done by Lord Kal, the strongest super-imposer of the North, while the Paradra and the 10 other big Tribes just try to do their best to accomplish his orders."

"So, a kind of dictatorship?" Evin asked finally.

"Essentially, yes. But it's much more lenient that it might appear. There's a special group of people who take care of politics, and Lord Kal tries extra hard to make sure to keep everything legit going to great lengths so that the decision makers don't abuse their power."

'So am I going to get abducted or not? The Tribe just sounds like a very contradicting place now… And Gizel isn't really doing a great job of advertising it well, so I'm guessing it's not the holy sanctuary of mages that some people make it out to be.' 

Evin couldn't help but feel confused about what he was hearing, but the talk about Kal alleviated some of his worries. After all, Evin had connections with the man. Even if he was somehow abducted into the Paradra, if he managed to get into contact with Kal, he was most likely going to be freed.

In the end, he decided to wait a bit more on making the call, since after all, he was still very young and he still had that job agreement with Nasst. He could decide after trying that out.

"Ah, I completely forgot to mention this, but do remember that you can get your hands on anything if you manage to get your grip in the tribe. Though... I don't really know how much that matters for you though," Gizel said, broadly gesturing at everything.

"I'll decide later, maybe after the Horn Ceremony," Evin said.

"Sure. If you do decide to join us, try to search for me and I'll help you get on your feet there," Gizel offered, but Evin could tell that she just said it as courtesy. Although Evin hoarded a good deal of unique knowledge regarding magic, it was pretty obvious he wasn't interested in Magical Engineering.

"Alright, see you tomorrow then," Evin said, and the two separated. 

Afterwards, Evin decided to spend some time talking to the World Sprites.