Aliases are alternative forms of a reference. They can include actual aliases for characters, nicknames, plural variations, gendered versions of some [Classes], and even typos.
“Sympathy. I agree. We have no place of power, so it will do. The purpose should be to call rain, obviously. We don’t have the moons or anything else for a great working. And the focus? I have a vessel of carved wood.”
“What was that old group that sacked Wistram? Sympathy’s Feathers? No, their name was actually quite elegant—hm? Well, you survived, didn’t you? Perhaps, insignificant as you were, even the [Raiders] paid no mind to you. Which leads me to ask if what you carry was of any worth.”
“Even the name is too unoriginal. How many [Raider] groups do you think have existed over my lifetime? How many armies? The Black Judgment of Chandrar—phaw. Another insipid name. Sympathy’s Feathers or whatever they were called. And those are but [Bandits]. Say I hunt them down. Then what? What happens when the next group appears?”
“I lived through the life of Archmage Chandler, when he was but a boy, of course. He was never able to visit Khelt, although perhaps I should have extended the invitation. Hindsight mocks even one such as I. This tale? Hubris and mortal failings of rulers. If you came to ask if I would condemn him, I say yes. Yes, for I care little for destruction and death such as the Necromancer wrought. I encourage all to remember pity, however. Sympathy, for he served a poorer man…”
“You drove me to it, Dame Talia. I will confess, it was swift. And motivated by sympathy. Sympathy, aye, for a brave warrior who crossed a sea for war, did all this, and was stabbed in the chest by a woman who would not look him in the eye. But I found he was more than he seemed. So I will not be lectured by you and—what are you doing, Ser Markus?”
In her memory, she wondered, even now. Whose face had been under that sheet of plastic? Sympathy, determination, and that crunch of gravel and straining in her arms.
Sympathy was a Mind dedicated to understanding the known world, and it was obsessed with understanding the Dyed Lands among other tasks, like recovering alchemical recipes for Potions of Regeneration and so on.
Idis was so eager to help out when she realized the problem that she cast a Tier 1 combat spell she used to blind her opponents. The [Barbarian] splattered the microscope, and Sympathy, the Fifth Mind, silently observed the splatter of mud hit the slide—and the carefully tuned microscope—and the lenses…
Geneva asked Sympathy for a magical artifact—several of varying intensities—as she did a cross-section of the galas-muscle. She wished she had some cells undergoing mitosis, cellular division, so she could see the magical effects or change in biology at play. Lacking that, or the Wasting, she could just see odd…cells…
She thought, in that private space in her head, as Sympathy waited. She still wanted to be free, but she wasn’t sure if Niers were better than the Minds. From what she knew of him—he was the amalgamation of Baleros’ entire mindset. His company fought countless wars.
