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Bella has watched a simple, managed Martian ecosystem and a glitteringly colorful first city pour procedurally out from assorted points of origin on her computer with a variety of rand seeds, and picked the prettiest result.
She's standing on that ideal origin spot now - the top of Olympus Mons, under a blue-dyed sky and a breathable layer of atmosphere - holding her laptop which holds this specification under her left arm. All present to witness this moment are Alice, Libby, Lazarus, and Bridget.
She defangs a trio of stars: one for the terrain, one for the wildlife, one for the city of Olympus. To be dramatic, she squares them off her bandolier and holds them high in the air between the fingers of her right hand.
"Welcome to Mars," she says.
Wishwishwish.
Moss ripples out from under her feet and carpets the landscape, giving way to forest further downhill and, further away, to freshwater ocean. Birds, startled by their existence, take off. An instant later they're all standing at the foot of her crystalline tower that sits at the center, watching skyscrapers riddled with magical appliances sprout from the ground, and streets pave themselves with smooth tiles.
Bella defangs more stars and lays down what she's taken to calling Ground Rules with another gesture. Mars is going to be peaceful. Mars is going to be safe. Mars is going to watch its people and report to her.
Mars is going to be the seat of the Empire of the Stars.
(There's a flag, on the spire of her tower. It's sky blue, and there are half a dozen seven-pointed stars spangling it. It ripples in the breeze that's begun to waft in from the sea.)
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self_composed
self_composed
"Makes sense," Bella says. "How long does it normally take this person to do that?"
prima-sequentem
"Not that long. A day ot two should do it, since spontaneous empires aren't really an emergency."
prima-sequentem
"True," says Pat. "Friendly spontaneous empires then. Also, a word of advice: that sounded a little like a threat. I didn't think it was, but someone else might've."
prima-sequentem
"Plenty of people are going to find you terrifying just on principle," she says. "It'll be better for everyone if you don't encourage them any more than you absolutely need to."
prima-sequentem
"Hire ambassadors," she suggests, half-smiling. "And PR people. Good PR makes the world go 'round."
self_composed
"I'll let my personnel person know that those are a priority."
And she does: [The President recommends prioritizing PR people and ambassadors.]
And she does: [The President recommends prioritizing PR people and ambassadors.]
prima-sequentem
"Good," says Pat.
[The President is wise,] says Libby. [And a politician.]
[The President is wise,] says Libby. [And a politician.]
prima-sequentem
"Oh, you're telepathic, too? Why am I not more surprised," says Pat.
self_composed
"I am a benevolent nigh-omnipotent sorcerer-empress," says Bella in mock protest.
self_composed
"Why do you believe it, out of curiosity?" Bella inquires.
self_composed
Bella snorts. "I don't think the payoff grid is the same. I have never threatened to punish believing unkind things about me with eternal torment."
prima-sequentem
"No, but the basic point still works. You're demonstrably so much more powerful than anyone else in this solar system that not believing you when you claim to be benevolent isn't going to do me any good at all. Also, you're young enough that the idealism fits, and you haven't done anything to indicate you might not be as nice as you want people to think."
self_composed
"There is no reason not to be idealistic, when one has ultimate magical power," Bella says. "Although I feel like it might be friendly of me to mention that I am not quite the most powerful person in the solar system - but they work for me."
(A (staggeringly unlikely) fight between her and Alice would come down to first-mover advantage, but she'd deteriorate in power level very, very sharply if he disappeared, and he would not do the same if she did. Sanity, maybe - not power.)
(A (staggeringly unlikely) fight between her and Alice would come down to first-mover advantage, but she'd deteriorate in power level very, very sharply if he disappeared, and he would not do the same if she did. Sanity, maybe - not power.)