I wonder if Abyss and Yggdrasil are aiming for anything in their guidance of universal evolution? They certainly know what they do not want, but do they know what they do want? It is an interesting consideration...
Dinner began with Osric's berating Khelladon for 'wasting' food on Anntha. He really does have a very limited view of life and what is alive - being rather like Julian in this regard - but perhaps he will learn. Apparently the Amberites - such as Osric - focus on her mechanical rather than her biological parts when judging what she is, though Benedict treats her as his grandchild.
The story of Anntha's origin Khelladon told was certainly an interesting one. Apparently he built Anntha's cybernetic component and then shapeshifted his blood to merge with it and make her a unique person. A very different approach to that I took with Cerebaton, but clearly a valid one nonetheless.
Osric's over-riding dependence on threats of violence does not bode terribly well in this regard, however. Still, perhaps incontrovertible facts will teach him. For example, Khelladon's pointing out that Anntha is as alive as any of the rest of us, and that in fact part of her - Trianna, rather than the part Cerebaton and I have met - has a daughter of her own. A woman named Moira, Khelladon's granddaughter, who was at dinner with us. Very interesting. I wonder how it was done? Regardless, she appears as human as anyone else, only her eyes - golden in colour and perhaps sparkling in the light or burning with their own internal fire - appearing particularly out of the ordinary.
Random suggested a most incisive solution to the disagreement between Osric and Khelladon - namely, letting Anntha attempt to walk the Pattern. An interesting idea, and not, apparently, so foolish as it might appear, given that Anntha apparently contains some of Khelladon's Pattern-infused blood, with which she has been practising in Khelladon's shadow of Haven. Also Trianna claims to have walked the Tir-Na Nog'th Pattern, which is a good sign. And if Anntha walks the Pattern in Amber then Moira shall walk it also.
Khelladon was only glad he did not have to carry Anntha's 'Core' over the Pattern. From that it appears that she has a massive central processor of some kind, as Cerebaton does, her Core being located in a tower in Khelladon's shadow of Haven. From it Trianna shares connections to Anntha and the other parts of herself implanted into all of the people of Haven, apparently to watch over and protect then as their Empress. It was interesting to see that despite this Anntha and Trianna have different handednesses, as well as differences of opinion to the point of arguing with one another. I wonder what other differences they may have? Trianna claimed that although the various instantiations of Anntha share knowledge, they do not share experience, so they are not the same person, as telepathic twins are not. Most interesting...
Moira seems very interested in the Pattern and its various reflections too. This is hardly a point against her, given that I share those interests!
I think my search for substitutes for the Power of Faith in running my Godly powers holds definite hope for success in the future. Cerebaton is working on this and we shall what comes it...
We all had named places in the dining hall, though I am not sure if there was any particular ... intention ... behind who was placed in which location. Samiel was sat beside myself, of course.
And he warned me about Vladimir, to his face. Apparently sharing food with a Vampire can be most unwise, as by feeding them one apparently lays oneself open to their claim to feed on their benefactor at some later point. Likewise, the servants of their host can also be considered food.
Thus Vladimir's courtly manners are those of the Vampire Court, not of, for example, Amber. At least he is aware of the differences, and is beyond the need to drink blood in any case (as are the other Blood Lieges). However, his 'Blood Children' may well be less aware of this ... issue ... and may potentially cause problems as we are told they consider all non-Vampires to be either food or a source of new Vampires. Even though this may simply be a compulsion they suffer, being more at the mercy of their instincts than the older Vampires, it is still something to most definitely be aware of.
Samiel was also kind enough to give me a gift. A Lares, named Winter Jasmine. It is a sentient protective device, really very powerful, with a massive array of powers and abilities (though not as much so as Cerebaton and, oddly, it does no more damage than a normal knife). It seems to have quite a sensible and pleasant personality, too.
Although only its Logrus-based abilities are beyond my power to duplicate, it is still potentially a most useful assistant... If I did not have Cerebaton and my multitudinous other devices and powers I suppose might feel I should actually use it as such.
I just hope Samiel is not attempting to spy on me via it, or some other more nefarious purpose.
Even if he is not, I now have three protectors assigned to me by various people and groups - Master Tarn, Elizabeth, and now Winter Jasmine. This is beginning to get more than a little claustrophobic, and if I am offered any more, I shall most likely refuse them...
We had just begun dinner proper, the Chaosians of House Hendrake each enjoying a hearty glass of black poison with their meals, the Vampires eating apparently normally while the Faerie of Arcady proved to be vegetarian, and the few of the third, presumably Kelerian, type of Fae eating meat but in small amounts, when the Dworkin stopped by with some unexpected guests. A delegation of Dragosians, one for each of the nine Clan Minds, emerging from an area of twisting shadows!
This was unexpected to say the least, and Random seemed as surprised as everyone else at their arrival. I did my best to study the method of travel they used - hardly a pleasant experience. Though it also seems they find the environment of Amber as unpleasant as we find their home.
But it did seem to be a genuinely friendly - or at least non-hostile - approach, and we did not even require translators to the Dragosian tongue, as they do seem to speak Thari, even if they do not wish to. Each of them had a personal name - for the body that was present - and a name for the Clan Mind they represented. I was not too concerned about their personal names, but the Clan Minds call themselves Travic, Dra Creel, Na Vos, San Ra, Sansu, Santra, Ratha, Creel and Midra.
From what I could See, three of the Clan Minds are warriors, though each focuses on different aspects of war. One of these, Dra Creel, is one of the Clan Minds of whom I produced a Trump. Four are concerned with powers of their own. One of these, Ratha, who learned to counter Powers so quickly, I also have a Trump of. One Clan Mind appears to be an historian and priest of the Dragon. The last Clan Mind seems to be an official from out of the soul of all the bureaucrats of shadow.
Random seemed less than thrilled at their arrival, but although he berated the Dworkin slightly for doing so without warning, seemed to accept their arrival with good grace, and bid them welcome.
They were less gracious in their reply, Travic (through the body of Margot) in particular replying in a particularly un-diplomatic fashion. Apparently they are concerned that Amber is not going to really try and understand their problem with everyone else, but instead will use this opportunity to learn from them until we can finish slaughtering them. Perhaps a fair apprehension on their part.
At least Random seemed able to reassure them that for the moment our intentions were good.
I myself asked for both sides to clarify their views of the reasons for the conflict, to see if this could cast any light on matters. Fortunately, some information was indeed forthcoming from this.
According to Travic/Margot, the Dworkin broke the Great Machine. This led to an unbalancing of shadow, even their Abyssal Shallows (where, interestingly, it seems that the Dragosians salvage things of value before they are destroyed within the Abyss). When the Pattern of Logrus was broken their shadows began to slip into the Abyss and be destroyed. Thus they wish to see the Pattern of Logrus, and the Great Machine, restored to their former selves and with them the balance of the universe.
Less usefully, they also wish to have revenge on Chaos, for attempting to exterminate them when they fled Chaos during this time. Apparently only the enslaving of all of Chaos - as Chaos enslaves their Demon brethren - will suffice in this. Those of the other Realms will be exempt from this 'punishment' as long as they do attempt to intervene. Hmm... I cannot say I approve of this. At all.
Moira spoke a great deal of sense to them, suggesting that they might profit more from seeking the advice of the many ancient and powerful beings present than from attempting to fight or destroy them, allowing them to save their home and gain allies at the same time rather than simply perpetuate the cycle of violence and revenge. Like me, she seems to wish to learn from them more than fight them. A most admirable approach.
I could not but support what she said, appealing for a healing of the Universe. Which will hopefully already be beginning, thanks to our meeting with Abyss and Yggdrasil.
Unfortunately, the Clan Minds proved to be very fixed in their points of view. They did not see how the universe could be healed other then to set it back as it was. Because they do not know of any force that could fix the Great Machine and set things right other then the Primal Beings themselves, because the Dragon has not assisted them, and because they do not believe in the other Primal Beings such as the 'mythic' Unicorn, the 'fictitious' Muse or the 'accursed' Serpent, they see no other way forward than destruction. Alas.
It is curious that they only seem aware of the Dragon, Serpent and Phoenix as beings of True Power, and disbelieve the existence of any others. Such as the Muse and Unicorn of Amber. Though admittedly the latter it is not the true Unicorn.
This recalcitrance on their part, and the lack of any other argument from anyone else, led to me repeat my plan for an evolving universal ecology of powers that I had proposed before, and which is hopefully coming into play even now. If nothing else it places the idea in peoples heads before it becomes apparent in reality, and perhaps steered the conversation away from a potential dead end. I do hope no-one takes it amiss and entirely blames me when its effects do become apparent, though.
But anyway. Moira astutely pointed out that the Clan Minds did not seem to wish for stabilisation and equality of power. They seem to want revenge. Her statement that they wish to attempt to shine the light of religion on their quest for murder seemed to be all too accurate, much as I might wish it otherwise. They are running on hate and religious fervour alone, shaped by circumstance into a homicidal civilisation bent on destroying everything that they fear.
Moira did make the very fair point, which I hope may have got through to them, that had an attempt been made to wipe them out in the past, a means as slow and gradual as the Fague Blight, which allows them to resist and fight back, would hardly be the most sensible form of attack. Unfortunately, at the end of the day, she did not seem to get her message across to the Clan Minds.
However, one of them, Santra, speaking through Gledi, did state that if we could reshape the universe and end the Fague Blight her clan would work to bring the peace we seek and tell us all they can of what they know. Of course, this may be mere sarcastic rhetoric, but still...
The Clan Minds do seem to have a great deal of difficulty in comprehending that the Fague Blight, despite the magnitude of its effects on them, is probably not a deliberate attack on them, but simply an unintended side effect of actions taken to other ends.
Khelladon did ask the pertinent question of why, if their home was dying, they did not simply go elsewhere? They did not answer this. Perhaps they consider it self-evident that they would not wish to give up their home.
Benedict did manage to extract an answer from them that seems to indicate that the drawing and redrawing of the Pattern is not the source of the Fague Blight. And Samiel and Random both offered to help the Clan Minds find the true source of, and solution to, their problems.
However, the Clan Minds wanted definite proof of that lack of involvement. As I might under such circumstances. And, truth be told, as Moira suspected, they seem to want reparations - revenge - regardless of the true facts.
But still, perhaps this holds out the possibility of a peaceful solution in the longer term. I certainly hope so.
I attempted to explain the true structure of the universe to everyone present and the Clan Minds in particular, if nothing else to ensure we are all arguing from the same position as far as knowledge goes. As part of this I displayed a diagram of the hierarchy of the universe as I currently understand it to be to the assembled multitude for their interest and edification.
Unfortunately, the Clan Minds were not convinced, as I suppose I might not be were I in their position. They did not, in fact, seem to be particularly concerned about it at all.
Another indication of how set in their ways they are, I suppose...
To help with all of this, Samiel Trumped in a cousin of his. Avis Aluri, of the House Ano-thu-whii Rasham, the Rim Lords House. A speaker of Ancient Dragosian. And a Dragosian herself, sensitive to light as they are, of the Line of the Dragon who did not flee into shadow or rise up against the Courts. A 'Historian of the Church of the Dragon, Keeper of Entropy and student of the Clan Mind Spetius Agos, the brother of Tiranos and Mithdium, the Keepers of Separation and Negation'.
This was a surprise to most of those present, I think. Certainly to the visiting Clan Minds!
They believed those Dragosians of whom Avis Aluri is one to have been killed in the purge of Chaos that sought to end the Dragosians. But clearly not. This was all most interesting.
To prove her bona fides, she summoned the 'Complete Sign of the Dragon', something the Clan Minds can no longer do, apparently, believing it to be fractured. Avis Aluri made the fair point that this fracturing of their Sign might be a major part of the Clan Minds problems. And that, despite the promises of the Clan Minds not attack Chaos while they consider this new information, Chaos will still stand with Amber should they do so, for its own self-protection if nothing else.
The representatives of the Clan Minds made ready to go to consider these new insights. The Dworkin did try and persuade them to consult the Dragon before taking any rash actions, such as trying to kill the Unicorn - his niece.
As an aside, apparently it is possible to have both the powers of the Dragon and those of the Serpent in one person, as Avis Aluri has such. However, we are told that it is not an easy thing to achieve.
It really does seem to me that so many of our current problems stem from a lack of knowledge and understanding among those involved. And I suspect I am not the only one to think so. If only we could break through these barriers of prejudice and ignorance, we might make such progress!
I do not, alas, know enough to fully able to answer the questions of the Clan Minds, while others who may - the Dworkin, Osric, Benedict - remain more silent on the matter than I feel they should...
But still, the Dworkin did, at least, state that the Eye of the Serpent - the Jewel of Judgement - was damaged - and thus shadow with it - when it and all of the other Jewels were removed from the Tree of Life (the Great Machine). This was before his previous incarnation used it to draw the Pattern.
The Clan Minds then reiterated the fair point that the Machine must be restored before the universe is.
I tried to make them see that the creation of the Pattern of Amber was not the prime cause of their troubles, again as previously stated. That many groups - everyone who took jewels from the it - had damaged the Tree of Life over the years in many wars and conflicts. That I - we - understood that their people had suffered greatly from all of this. But I also tried to make them see that seeking revenge and destruction is not the best way for them to resolve this. That they have much more to gain from co-operation than from conflict, especially given that Amber is not, in fact, their enemy.
I was not asking them to forget the wrongs that have been done to them, but instead to forgive. To seek the Moral High Ground, and put all this behind them to find a better road to the future.
Others - Moira in particular - agreed with me on this. adding the fair point that as long as the Clan Minds will respond violently to any perceived slight, everyone else is in danger from them. So why not turn away from that? Seek a better way?
Alas, although they maintained their cease-fire, they clearly did not see things as we did.
I do hope Moira's comment that if their realm is dying then perhaps that is the will of the Dragon, and that by doing what they are doing they are opposing its will, was not too provocative for them, though...
But still, I attempted to gain assurances from everyone present that the Dragosians fact-finding missions would be assisted. I am not convinced it will be as much as I might wish, alas.
It was at this point that yet another part of the universal hierarchy was heard from, with the arrival of seven more human-seeming figures, who introduced themselves as the children of the Elementals, both Physical and Spiritual, as Amberites are the children of the Unicorn. They were:
With their arrival only the now no longer extant Spikards and Sarathi were not present in the Amber dining hall.
Apparently the Elementals consume their own Element to survive, and are yet another form of shapeshifter, mimicking the forms of others as required. And have been watching we younger races for some time.
I asked them why they chose to reveal themselves now, and for their points of view on the current situation.
On the former topic, apparently - and quite fairly from what I know of matters - they stated that revealing themselves during the time of Oberon's rule would not have been a good thing for several reasons. In particular that it would have inevitably led to conflict between them and Amber. They have revealed themselves now to provide an 'adult' viewpoint of the situation to we 'younger' races.
On the latter, Sanith stated that we were all too young to have the weapons we do. That Amber is too young to have the full measure of the power of Order at their command while they are have no Order within themselves (presumably from our origin in Chaos). That the Faerie and Gods have been at war so long they have blinded themselves to the results (which would seem to be in agreement with what Cerebaton and I have discovered regarding their realms). That the collective of the Children of the Phoenix are apparently religious zealots who need to relax more. And that the Dragosians are overly vindictive over presumed wrongs and do not fully study the situation before acting.
Harsh words, but perhaps not unfair ones.
Ohlo pointed out that that was not what I meant; that I meant more an assessment of the situation rather than his personal views. Which is true, no matter how interesting what he said was. From what I could see at the time, our options seemed to consist of:
From what the Elementals said, it seems our problems consist of two parts:
Their solution - at least the solution of Sanith, which I do not think they all agreed on - would be to bring all of us under one government, one council of Monarchs, able to regulate our behaviour and forge links between us all. While this is has its advantages, I am not convinced it is something that could easily be put into place. It would be a challenge, to say the least!
But if nothing else establishing and maintaining contacts between all of the races seems to me to be a good idea, as long as no-one is forced to do so, and they are not a current threat to universal stability. A little more knowledge a little more widely spread might well lead to the avoidance of many of the problems that have afflicted the universe over the years.
Ohlo commented that this partly came from Sanith's low opinion (perhaps earned!) of we younger races, and his wish to be able to watch over and guide us as 'ancients'. That being so, perhaps his way is not such a good idea after all. Let alone the fact that I most certainly do not wish them - or anyone else - to become the rulers or arbiters over everyone else. Particularly not based on seniority alone. After all, we know very little of them, let alone enough to judge their qualifications to rule anyone. Fortunately the other Elementals do not seem to support Sanith's ideas in this.
I wonder what the Rites of the Elementals are? Sanith mentioned that it would be interesting to see how I would do in them, while Ohlo responded that the test of their faith would be, at best, confusing for one not of their kind.
Is it the initiation into their powers, or something else? Regardless, its basis is the ability to become an Element, which is a little beyond me at present, to say the least. Apparently being a shapeshifter with an Elemental form can help one in this regard. Iliskos, being a shapeshifter with such a form herself, seemed more than a little interested in this, and who can blame her? Though according to Ohlo all life has the potential to gain access to the powers that preceded it. An interesting thought...
But something else to be investigated at another time for now, I think...
Still, it was interesting to learn of the Elementals themselves, given that they are really quite different to all of we Races of Concepts, coming from a different generation of the universe as they do.
They apparently took on human forms only to deal with us, and in their natural forms are living elements. They told us that our impure mixed shapes are hard for them to take on, though obviously not impossible, with them still requiring sustenance appropriate to their element even in a human-seeming form.
Ohlo also said that the core difference between our two groups is that while their powers are, ours define. That is, Elementals are what our powers shape, in that their powers are to do with the elemental building blocks of reality, while ours affect and shape those building blocks but cannot, fundamentally, create or destroy them.
We were also told that everything of a given element is linked to everything else of that element, to the extent that the Elementals consider that there is only one thing of a given element. One, for example, fire. This allows them to control it, bring it forth from other places, grant it semi-life, move through shadow by walking to different parts of it, and even manipulate the impure element when it is mixed with other things, though this is harder for them. Control of an element also includes control of its opposite, so Sanith, as a Fire Elemental, can control cold, as well as heat.
Most interesting. Does that mean that all of the Elementals are actually in all places where their element is, all the time, or is there more to distinguish them than that? An interesting question, and one I did not think to ask at the time, alas.
One thing Sanith claimed is barred from all of us is the ability to truly create and destroy. We can apparently render things into small enough components to be completely undetectable and scatter these components so that the former item cannot be recreated, but nonetheless this does not truly destroy it. However, for most purposes such treatment should be sufficient!
He also mentioned that everything is made up of two 'micro-quantum levels' - Reality and Nothingness - Abyss and Yggdrasil - which then form the six 'elemental quantum particles' which can be focused and used by the Concept powers to create a newer set of mixed but still pure (to their Concept) particles. This appears to be how each of our powers generate shadows. They each attract the proper particle into 'cosmic groupings' that then form shadows of the appropriate kind. Thus the Elemental shadows are very hard for us to visit because not only are the environmental conditions hazardous to us, but there are little or no 'Order Particles' for one to use to get there or make use of upon arrival there. Most interesting!
Nature is different to this, however, or so we are told. Ohlo explained that She is an elemental who forged life - her children - from shadow, but not from the elements that the other Elementals are connected to. Because of this origin from varied sources, we thus differ from the single-source Elementals, having a lack of focus compared to them. Allegedly. In addition to this Nature appears to have adopted those born of the mixing of different levels of shadow reality. Precisely where these adopted children fit into the overall scheme of things is not, at present, clear to me.
Sanith claimed that the shadow storm when the Pattern was damaged and repaired was due to its reshaping of the Order Particles, causing shadows of Order to be rebuilt from the shadow quantum level upwards as the natural polarisation effect was repeated. Because of the lack of 'Order Particles' in the Elemental realms they were thus little affected by the re-drawing of the Pattern.
The fact that, apparently, the Elemental powers combine to create more splinter powers and thus if they were to mix with our Concept powers there could be a whole order of different powers generated from it certainly gives me hope for the future, that our plan for universal repair, re-growth and evolution might actually come about, in time.
For that matter, according to Vladimir, it is possible to alter powers to grant them new aspects. For example, the Water Logrus now has Blood properties, turning it from blue to red. This is what gives the Blood Lieges like him their advantage in power over the common Vampires, and is derived from the five such Lieges bleeding into it at some point in the past... Although perhaps not this particular example, the fact that such things are possible also gives me hope for the future. However, it should be noted that this is a change to the Water Logrus, not the budding off of a new power from it, with the powers of the original Water Logrus still being available to those who are not Vampires.
Apparently their knowledge of dark powers has given them some of the weaknesses of their original possessors, the Weirmonken and the Church of Obsession, though not, so we are told, their insanity. This is the origin of the 'traditional' Vampiric weaknesses. The Vampires, through possessing a fundamentally insane power, can suffer from the Weirmonken's hate of light and `normal' geometry (though other types of Vampires apparently suffer from other madnesses of the senses, such as, for Camilla - one of the other Blood Lieges, a warrior in contrast to Vladimir's being a mage - and her children, problems with movement and stillness), but they can all recover from it.
Apparently in addition to Houses Vladimir and Camilla of the Vampires, there are also:
This was all very interesting, but still, not, however, sufficiently so to induce me to take up Vladimir's offer to show me the Blood Infection he uses to control his Vampiric children, even without turning me into a Vampire myself. At least initially, before he fully explained himself to mean letting some of his independently-alive blood outside of himself for me to examine. In that case, I was more than willing to do take him up on his offer.
The 'worm' of mobile blood that extruded from his self-inflicted cut, source of his and his House's power, was fascinating. It was filled with a power not unlike the twisting of the Stone of Chimera, in addition to traces of the powers of the Muse and the Serpent. Most interesting...
From what we are told, because of their Blood Infection of their Vampire children, the Vampiric Blood Lieges are very powerful against their own kind, able to slaughter vast numbers of them should they rise up against them. Something to be aware of...
Vladimir also mentioned the less-than-simple process involved in becoming a Vampire. Apparently the Vampire first bites and consumes a large amount of blood of the prospective new Vampire and replaces it with their own Vampiric blood and energies. This is sufficiently draining that not all Vampires are even capable of it. It also means that not everyone who receives the new blood will have their body successfully adapt to the changes it produces, or survive the madness of the senses it induces. It simply does not sound like a pleasant process, in any way.
It is certainly interesting to learn again that the powers are moveable, though I did, of course, already know this in the case of the Tessaract. Vladimir mentioned that the Blood Logrus now resides next to their Dark Web of Magic (presumably a Fae power), with their proximity causing blood to flow back and forth between them, to what end I do not know, but it apparently derives from the five Vampiric Blood Lieges having bled into both powers.
The news, from Raphael, that the Dragosians can destroy even well-defended Ways of Chaos from the outside was also rather disturbing, though not as much as it must have been for the Chaosians of House Helgram who were actually involved. At least the Helgrams, warriors second only to the Hendrakes, were able to give a good account of themselves to the Dragosians despite this.
It was also interesting to see the Elders allow me to go out on a limb regarding all of this, while at the same time using my words to gain knowledge and ideas for their own use without giving anything away themselves. Obvious perhaps, predictable even. But I shall play the role they wish me to for now. If nothing else, matters are far too interesting not too...
And as Khelladon rightly pointed out, it seems the other races all behave in a similar manner. This harks back, I suppose, to what the Elementals mentioned regarding the maturity of our various Races of Concepts...
In addition to all these matters of more universal import, I have also assembled a number of additional spells that might be of use one day, most of them for use against the Trumps and Spells of others.
First, a Trump Noise spell, to drown out the traces of Trump power that various of the more advanced abilities I possess - such as Trump Sensing - seem to rely on. This essentially attempts multiple momentary Trump contacts, and thus a pulse of energy to mask what is actually being done, which Trump is actually being used.
Next, the ability to stealthily copy one or more of the Trumps and/or Spells of others for my own use. Of course, this will not work if they possess powers I do not, such a Logrus-powered Trump, but other than that this should be quite effective.
From this, there is the less subtle ability to destroy, stealthily or otherwise, the Trumps, Trump Processors, Spells and/or Spell Processors of others. Again, this will have less effect on things containing powers I do not posses, and requires a good deal of Psychic power, as well as the enhancement of Trump power and the ability to affect the Trumps of others, but still, a potentially useful idea...
Another derivation of this is the ability to infect the Trumps and/or Spells of another, to allow me to take control of them should I wish, redirecting Trump calls and Spells as I will or turning a the Trumps of a target into Trump Traps. Although this will not last forever, and can generally be removed by the true owner should they discover it, still, it might be useful from time to time. Especially if I could, perhaps, make the infiltrator semi-intelligent and able to hide from the original owner or re-install itself should it be removed. Perhaps it would even be possible to cast such a spell to 'infect' the magical environment of a place to the same end.
Entirely separate from this, a 'Mantlet' spell to return ranged attacks to their originators, and a 'Damage Shield' to surround myself or another with a damage-causing aura that affects anyone who attacks them at hand-to-hand range should also be quite useful.
Lastly, given what we have been told of the hated of light and 'normal' geometry that the Dragosians suffer, despite my hopes for the cease fire, I could not help but be inspired with a new spell to use against them. One that imposes brightly lit hurtful, 'extra square' geometries upon their perceptions, via some kind of illusion. At the very least this might distract them for a while...