Insanity

[Rezantis]

"It's mostly a mask . . . it's a long, long story and I have questions for you first - how long do you think we have?"

[Brian]

"They don't care for your wellbeing," the specter says, "but Hathoway loves his sleep, so I would guess at least ten hours.  Orderlies will show you to the gardens if you're well-behaved -- which you have been -- for a few hours to rest in the light, and then a bowl of gruel before the day's testing.

"What do you need to know?"

[Rezantis]

"Everything."

Nathan grins sheepishly.

"Who exactly I am and what's just happened is a long story, but I . . . don't . . . know . . . anything.  I don't even know what a doctor is, or what those orderlies are, or what 'sustenance' they're not getting from me, or . . . so start with those."

[Brian]

The man blinks.  "Well, to begin, a doctor is a scientist or a scholar of some esteem.  Typically the rank is achieved by arduous study, and often passing through a progression gate.

"The orderlies were passed through regression gates until they were ... bred, I suppose ... into what they are.  A lower form of life that subsists on the emotive emissions of the inmates."  He pauses, then winces.  "I think they eat suffering."

[Rezantis]

"Oh.  Then I guess I do know what a doctor is," he pauses, "What was I a doctor of, and what are progression and regression gates?"

[Brian]

"You were an archaeologist," the man says with a frown.  "You'd gone to investigate indigenous cultures -- hence you visiting the witch-doctor.  As far as the Gates....  Oh, dear.  I imagine you've forgotten what anabaric energies and the spheres are, too.  Well, let's see.  

"Here in Anabar, science rules supreme.  The other spheres tend to follow the Church of the Gate, which maintains that the gates are the gift of the Creator.  Each Gate leads to another sphere -- they're connected like pearls on a necklace -- and has two doors.  The black door is the progression gate.  The white door is the regression gate.

"We have organized and trained gate technicians.  The church has all the other gates monitored by the Templar Guild.  Either way, the gates can be used to either send one to the next sphere ... or to remain where you are, only ... progress.  Or regress.

"The orderlies have been regressed and then progressed selectively until they had become what they are now.  Docile servants, loyal, and capable.  Almost every sphere has them in some form.

"In any case, the gates are risky, and you can end up changed for the worse.  Occasionally for the better, but its the gate technicians, or the Church Deacons who are most knowledgeable about operating them.

"Since Anabar is not on good terms with the Church, it wasn't a surety you could go ... and it was less certain they'd let you come back."

[Rezantis]

"Right . . ." Nathan frowns, "Hathoway was talking about going through a progression gate to become a doctor.  What exactly do progression gates do to people then?"

[Brian]

"Ideally, make them better.  Smarter, with better reflexes....  Sometimes, able to manipulate the raw anabaric energy of the world and work wonders.  Many of the Church's Deacons can heal, or create light.  But sometimes it doesn't work that way.  Sometimes, progression makes a man smarter, but weaker.  Sometimes, a regression gate makes a man more of a fool, but stronger.

"The scientific ideal is that eventually, going through a progression gate turns you into pure energy ... you would join the anabaric shroud between the spheres and...."  He shrugs.  "The Church says the same thing, though they use different words for it.  Evoking nonsense like...."  He frowns, looking down at himself.  "Then again, I suppose I've become a spirit, so there's little room to talk."

[Rezantis]

"But you have to go through one of those gates to get to another sphere?  How many spheres are there?"

[Brian]

"I'm not sure, precisely," the specter admits.  "The church would know, though we stymie them from having the full circle of them.  Our records say twenty, all told."

[Rezantis]

"So anabaric energy . . . is it like lightning, and is it what's powering that light?"

[Brian]

"When it's tapped, yes," the specter agrees.  "A good anabarist can simply pull it from the shroud and create, say, fire.  Or a teacup, perhaps.  But the most common use is for lighting, here.  The other spheres aren't as well equipped to draw from it as we are."

[Rezantis]

"Hm.  Alright . . . explain to me exactly what it is, then - and what the shroud is.  And what an anabaris is."

Nathan grins sheepishly.  "Sorry about all the questions."

[Brian]

"Not at all," the man says affably, puffing ghostly smoke through his pipe.  "We must have you able to appear competent enough to be free of this place, after all.

"Anabaric energy is the raw energy that surrounds the spheres in a shroud.  Theoretically, beyond the shroud is the empty void, and the shroud protects us like armor from the aetherous void.  Usually anabaric energy is simply turned into the raw crackling force they subjected you to just a bit ago.  The same thing climbing the Jacob's Ladder.

"There's a facility at the edge of town ... a great anabaric siphon.  That's where the city gets its power.  An anabarist is someone who has used the gates, or perhaps was simply lucky through a fluke of birth.  They have the ability to tap the anabaric shroud and pull its energies out.  Sometimes in crackling form, sometimes as raw materials, like iron, or gold."

[Rezantis]

"Do . . . I have that ability, or does not everyone who crosses the gates develop it?"