Part 27: Episode XXV: Bartholomew Fatima and the Men Who Came From the Sky

Episode XXV: Bartholomew Fatima and the Men Who Came From the Sky

Music: The Gentle Breeze Sings (Nisan Theme Orchestral Version) (Worth listening to.)


Welp, that was a healthy bit of intrigue back there. So, let’s now head back to town for a metric ton of infodumping, shall we?




Maison informs us that we’ve got a place to crash for the evening and Sigurd wants to speak with Bart. So, I suppose we should do that...


”Yeah, Nisan has pretty great weed on supply.”
“That was not what I was speaking about, young master.”
“R-Right...”
"Anyway, young master... I want to work out what our plans from here on are."
"Alright. But before we do that... there is something I want to ask you."
"...Me?"
"Yeah."
”Fei can act all wishy-washy about his pal’s foreshadowriffic BS...”
“Hey!”
“...But that shit ain’t flying with me.”

Bart and Sigurd enter the nearby bedroom. Citan has no sense of respecting privacy, so he slips into the edge of the room too. And Fei is Fei, so he’ll wander in within the minute...


“What's up with you and that Gebler officer? What's the connection between you and him...? You know, you sure know a lot about Gebler for some reason!"


Citan gives the Foreshadology universal sign of the knowing nod to Sigurd. Go make a sandwich...this is gonna be a lot of yammering. Also Fei has followed along too. That didn’t take long.


"Me and...Citan, here... We used to live in Solaris."
"Solaris...”
”What...like the Andrei Tarkovsky film?”
“Wrong Solaris...”
“...You mean...where Gebler's from?"
"That's right."


“They are used as manual labor. Basically it's slavery."
"Slavery?"
”...Is that why everyone is white around here?”
“No, young master. That is because we’re in a JRPG.”


"Yes, it was there."
"We worked for the Solaris government for a short while... But we learned to dislike their methods and escaped the first chance we had."
"...You were friends with these people? I met you when I was a kid and we've been together ever since then... So this would have had to have happened even before then. I probably wouldn't have understood this if I had heard it earlier but... Why didn't you think I could deal with it now? Surely you could have told me about this? Especially when you had something to do with the people who are backing that Shakhan idiot! I wish you'd told me sooner."
"...There's nothing I can do about that now."
<The plot hadn’t gotten into gear yet.>
"But, there's one thing I want you to believe... We left Solaris on our own will and for our own reasons. Now they've appeared before us, we can't just sit back and do nothing. If need be, I will give my life to stop them."
"Alright, I understand. But can you elaborate a little more?"

Music: Jaws of Ice


So, wanted to know a shit load about Solaris? No? Well, too bad. We cannot leave until Bart finishes fully interrogating Sigurd and Citan about the mysterious nation. I really hope you made that sandwich...


“It's as if Solaris is in another location. Like up in the clouds or something?"
”Or underground!”
“Yea, or that.”
"Yes, well..."
Oooh! Maybe it’s under the SEA!”
“Mind status: blown.”
“Your first guess was the correct one.”
“Dang...”


“Solaris is separated from the land by dimensional distortion fields known as 'Gates'. Passing between the two requires special means of transportation...such as an airship."


"I came much later than Sigurd did... But I also escaped in the same way."
”Airship security is kind of crap, to be honest. This one time an airship’s crew got completely overwhelmed by an angry cavewoman they were transporting. What a mess...”
“...So what’s this ‘Lamb’ crap about?”
“Yeah, Elly mention that too. Only she said -Lambs-.”
“...How do you even say -Lambs-“
“It’s kinda phlegm filled. You g—“
“May I go on...?”


“As I said before, such 'surface dwellers' or 'earth dwellers' are used for manual labor there. Manual labor could be anything from soldiers to administrative jobs. Solaris gathers its workforce from the land dwellers. Jobs are divided up by who is most suitable. Sometimes people are brainwashed."
"Brainwashed!?"
"I... When you, young master, were still an infant... I was used as a test subject. There was probably something they valued inside of me."


"No... I was born in the lower city levels. It is not a complete secret... But I guess I am a Solarian..."
”Why didn’t you tell me, doc?”
“Would you even have known what ‘Solaris’ is without a lengthy explanation?”
“Yeah. It’s some George Clooney flick from a few years ago.”
“...”


"No matter how scientifically advanced you are, you have no support without people."
"Pure Solarians are rare. They would not even make up a quarter of Aveh's total population. So, they support their country by stealing surface dwellers."
”Neat, I guess... So, what’s up with that preppy Gebler guy we fought?”


“As you know he's the Gebler Commander."
"Ramsus...?"
"We call him Kahr. In Solaris there is an officer training school called 'Jugend'. He became the commander after leaving there."
"He is a lower level citizen, the same as me. However, with his amazing abilities... After graduating, he rose through the ranks with unparalleled speed."
"That man had one ideal. To achieve a consolidation of all his colleagues. Even land dwellers, if they had talent, were brought into the army."
"So you two were picked by Ramsus...?"
"No, we were not picked by him...we aligned ourselves with him."
"At that time...we agreed with him."
"At that time, Ramsus was our hope. He had high ideals and wanted to change the system in Solaris. To us test subjects and lower level citizens, he was truly all that we wished for."
"A benefactor?"
"Yes...even I, a test subject, was changed by his ideals."


”Lemme guess...turns out this Ramsus guy was a total douchebag?”
“Pretty much. But, let me elaborate...”


“And thanks to that, we came to know the relationship between Solaris and the surface dwellers."
"The... 'Lambs'... right?"


“They also selected some of us, like me, to be used as subjects in experiments to refine their drugs. Drugs that change people's personalities, to make them more aggressive and to draw out their latent abilities.
They were using us as human guinea pigs to test their psychological alteration drugs!"


"Yes, for example...”


“That drug, and all others like it that are used now, are by-products of human experimentation..."
"However, the role of such experimental subjects was not limited to just that!"


"At least anyone in the Gebler forces who is sent to the surface..."
”Especially those with face portraits...”
“...”
"You're worried about her, huh? I saw some...in her room."
"No..."
”Well, I mean I’d never seen the drug in my life beforehand. But I’m pretty pretty PRETTY sure there was some of it there.”
"...Anyway...using slaves as guinea pigs... How low are these guys...? Damn!"


"Old Maison! Go reserve the town hall for us. We'll finish talking there. I'm going outside to get some air."

Bart wanders out...


"It is best not to worry about it. You did all you could at the time. The young one will understand."


Of course, he won’t understand until Citan and Fei stop him from navel gazing out in the middle of town. So let’s get that over with.

Music: Bonds of Sea and Fire


"Are you still suspicious of Sigurd...?"
"Well... I mean... it was just so sudden. I kind of expected to hear something different... like that we were childhood rivals or something... But that's nothing compared to the story he just told us, is it?"
”That was everything, right. He didn’t like...kill my father or any other crap that will get revealed at some dramatic point down the line, right?”
“No that was all.”
"Hmm. So hearing his story has you confused because it was not so simple... There was a time when he was cooperating with one of Gebler's generals... Furthermore, behind Gebler was a country that you had never even heard of..."
"Hey, what are you picking on me for?"
”Fei, tell your friend to stop picking on me.”
“Hmm...? What’s that? Sorry, I am too busy checking out the gams on that squirrel down the road to help.”
“...I suppose I deserve that.”
"No I am not picking on you or blaming anything on you. What I am saying is this... If you think about how he feels, then you should see why he could not talk about this with you till now. Looking at the activities of Solaris toward other countries up until now... It has never gone beyond simply maintaining their own empire, or 'self-preservation'. And as you have seen, their military power is immense. So Sigurd was probably thinking ahead... First he was probably concentrating on taking care of the problems here on the continent of Ignas. Once things were settled here, it would give him a stronger foundation to deal with Solaris later. Which is a much better plan than rushing straight into a war he knew we could not win. Quite logical, really."
”I followed like maybe a quarter of that.”


"Well it is not like we are newly acquainted, is it? And we had talked about a lot of things up until we decided to escape from Solaris."
"Speaking of that... Why did you leave? That Ramsus guy was supposed to be a 'Star of Hope' or something, wasn't he?"
"Yes, I certainly thought so at first. But then I realized his way of thinking really was not that much of a change from the previous system. Basically, the only difference was whether they stressed people's rank and class, or their skill. The words had changed, but it was still no different from what Solaris itself had been doing until then. He had no intentions of bringing everyone a better way of life."
"In other words, he's an elitist. I don't think I like him much either."
”Ya know...that and him trying to kill me.”


"Why? Are you planning on fighting them?"
”You saw those jerks that attacked my base. Character portraits...all of ‘em. They’ll be back.”
"As long as they're working with Shakhan, there's no way around it. The way things are going, I'm sure we'll have to fight them sooner or later."
"Hmm... I suppose so, but... Even if we were to defeat the Gebler forces here, there is still Solaris, to deal with. If we are not careful, it is possible that we may get involved in a longer war than that with Shakhan. Do you not agree that continuing the way we have been going is rather hard on everyone? I think it is time we try to get help from a greater number of people."
"So defeating Shakhan's not going to get rid of the likes of Gebler... I know what you're trying to say... 'To vanquish Gebler, first gain thy throne!' ...Right?"
"Hmm... You could put it that way."
"What do you mean... 'You could put it that way'? But then again, maybe it is time I did something about that."
”I should have packed a sandwich...”









Music: The Gentle Breeze Sings
Music: Jaws of Ice




Nisan Concept Art


Nisan Village Concept Art