paradisa | 051 ♕ [dictated]

Entry tags:

lois lane

051 ♕ [dictated]

[ annnd down to business. lois has a lot of people to contact today... ]

[ Raine Sage ]

Here I heard you were back and I hadn't even gotten to talk to you yet. Pretty sure that's a grievous oversight on my part.

[ Annabeth Chase ]

Your boyfriend told me to look you up. Said you might have some questions I could help with you.

[ Chris Kent ]

Hi sweetie. Are you and Conner getting along now that he's all settled in?

[ Anti-first gen / evil people filter ]

Turn my head and fifty new things are happening around here. Did somebody end up putting an expedition plan? I've heard buzz floating around. You'd better not leaving me hanging, because if I miss a scoop, so help me...

[ and after a moment, she adds one more. ]

[ Clark ]

So I've been thinking lately. As in ever since the whole Mirrorworld revelation came to light. It's one thing to suspect what this castle's getting out of us living here, but hearing it that way... Well, let's just say I've got an oversized case of the heebie jeebies. Not for us, so much as for the fact that we're trying to raise a kid here and-- [deep breath now] Smallville, I want to move.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

... That's a good question, actually. I suppose it might have happened, with some of our residents who never stayed long.

That's interesting. I guess that might mean a few things. such as maybe the castle's existence requires heightened emotions to sustain itself properly, so it puts us through losses so that we have some for it to feed off of from time to time.

Or maybe it's sentient enough to require amusement, and just gets kicks out of it...

The former's what we're leaning towards now. There was a passage discovered only a couple months ago. Here, I've got it copied:

""...in the heart of the land. Though it is no longer the metropolis it once was, it remains active, continuing to take in inhabitants in considerably smaller quantities to maintain its current size.

The primary source of power has always been the human soul and its wide range of emotions. Sudden pikes or changes in emotions generate greater power, and as such Cair Paradisa has become volatile in nature in order to produce more power for itself. This has been necessary since the Great Departure when The Five first departed from the castle, resulting in the creation of five additional smaller castles. [SEE THE GREAT DEPARTURE, THE FIVE] Though the most prominent castles in the land, there would be many smaller castles to arise, and their numbers have yet to be recorded...

...named Libet, whose personality differed from that of Cair Paradisa. A more benevolent castle, it catered to the whims of its residents to the best of its ability. The result was castle that maintained a cycle of power. The love its inhabitants felt for it fueled the castle itself, and in turn it would reward the people by bestowing them with gifts. Often times the gifts were rather extravagant, requiring a great deal of energy.

It was not nearly as volatile as its predecessor, and as a result took in less power than it exerted. Though loved dearly by its inhabitants, Libet could not continue to sustain itself, which resulted in its untimely demise, and the demise of those who did not wish to flee in its final hours..."

Huh.

Seems like Libet's destruction came because it was too nice to the inhabitants. Using up too much of its' energy to bestow gifts and such. That's a shame.

Makes sense, then, that Cair Paradisa needs to do random things such as losses to it's residents, but what about things like events that take place such as when the castle sort of changed into Camp Half-Blood? Is that the castle trying to 'reward' us — or some other form of emotional spiking to gather all the more energy?

Personally, the second seems more likely to me. It's happened quite a bit, and while some of the changes are harmless, sometimes they're pretty dangerous.

It's more like it's trying to entertain itself as well as us sometimes.

Do they happen that often? Things like camp randomly appearing here?

A couple times a year, maybe?

Could be worse.

— I've heard something about ghosts here, is that true, or...?

Completely true. They're all of the friendly Casper variety though. They're sort of like the built in room service crew. As far as we can tell, none of them have any actual memories or information, though.

Ah, dang. There went my next question. If anyone would have had information it would have been ghosts from this places' past. That's unfortunate, man.

That and the people who used to live here. But only a few of them will talk.

Something scared them into silence?

They're scared of Paradisa's influence. And some of them hold sway over the others, policing no contact with us.

So the castle can affect even the ghosts. So weird, it's like the castle is some all powerful being like a god or something. Sheesh.

Actually, it's held gods before.

( it takes her a moment to respond. the only thing she knows of that might "stop" a God that would be considered a "place" is somewhere she doesn't want to name or think about. )

... are you sure that Paradisa has always been named as such?

[ it's a question she's never heard before, and as someone who's dealt with questions about this place for years, it makes her sit up and take notice. ]

... No clue. Why?

Oh, um. ( she pauses briefly ) No, it's nothing. Just a fleeting thought.

Around here, there are no 'fleeting thoughts'. What is it?

It really is just a passing thought, I've never heard of it named as anything else but that doesn't mean it couldn't happen. It's just that the only place I can think of that's powerful enough to hold the power of a God among other great beings is, well. Not the most desirable of places to be.

I'm sure you're heard of it: Tartarus.

[ that doesn't sound good ] ... Maybe a refresher course would be good for the audience at home.

Oh? Of course, no problem. It's got a bit of a long history, but the condense version is basically that

Tartarus is a place deep within Hades' Underworld. When Cronus came to power as the King of the Titans, he imprisoned the Cyclopes in Tartarus and set Campe, a monster in the truest definition of the word, as its guard. He also wielded enough power to imprison the Hecatonchires — those are giants with fifty heads and one hundred arms each, if you didn't know. Anyway, Zeus is said to have killed Campe and released the Cyclopes as well as the Hecatonchires to aid in his conflict with the Titans.

The Titans were eventually defeated by the Gods and many of them were cast into Tartarus to keep them from waging another war. Not all of the Titans are in there, but they are all taking on some form of punishment — like Atlas' punishment is to hold the sky on his shoulders, right? It was that, or Tartarus.

Originally Tartarus' use was only to confine dangers to the gods of Olympus, but to do so it had to be strong enough a prison to hold even a god themselves, because gods like to fight with one another. I've heard that Apollo ended up in Tartarus although Zeus rescued him, so, it can easily hold and tame the power of a god.

I don't know what it's like inside of Tartarus because I've never been, but being that it's near the Underworld, I can imagine it's not sunshine and roses. Of course, this might be another form of Tartarus reforged to give off an appearance to delude us into thinking it's nothing to dread and fear despite the awfulness that comes with being here. But... Like I said though, this is all just a passing thought.

[ wow ok that's actually... a better theory than the others ones she's heard lately. ]

You said that was its original use. Does that mean there were other known uses for it?

Well, yes and no. Its original use was to hold enemies of the gods, which I guess is its purpose now, too. It's basically just "jail" and always has been. I mean, King Sisyphus is in there and so are both Kings Tantalus and Salmoneus for their crimes. Ixion is there as well, Tartarus even holds giants like Tityos... Basically if you pull something off that the gods decide is a crime worthy of Tartarus, you end up in there.

It's just that, Cronus hadn't always been in power is all. When he became the king of the titans, he freed monsters from Tartarus' pits and imprisoned creatures and beings that had helped the gods; like the cyclopes and hecatonchires. It didn't last very long though. Tartarus has basically always been a prison, it's just never always held purely the enemies of gods.

As of now though it's gone back to being just a prison for Cronus — of Kronos, however you want to say it — and other titans that have tried to usurp Olympus, among holding people there for other crimes. Percy and some of our other friends managed to save the hecatonchires from their prison, or rather, the sole hecatonchire left, so I'm pretty sure he's gone back to guarding down there.

Typhon is in there too, as far as I can remember. ( she muses that one to herself )

I guess basically it's like... Hell.

Edited 2012-08-14 18:01 (UTC)

[ she can't help but shiver at the implications, and how there's a part of her that instinctively responds to the possibility ]

Kronos... that name's related to power over time, isn't it?

Annabeth;

Lois;

Annabeth;

Lois;

Annabeth;

Lois;

Annabeth;

Lois;

Annabeth;

Lois;

Annabeth;

Lois;

Annabeth;

Lois;

Annabeth;

Lois;

Annabeth;

Lois;

Annabeth;

Lois;

Annabeth;

Lois;

Annabeth;

Lois;

Annabeth;