Chapter Summaries

Rorschach rescued Andre and helped him reconcile with his father about moving, while secretly planning for Andre to work on the Alchemy Department’s reactor. Rorschach and Pascal then learned that they had been summoned with Kano to a public hearing of the Archaic Arcane Senate, where Kano addressed Pascal as Mr. Thor.

• Granoir held a gathering of his allies and aimed to represent most of the Holy Kingdom’s mages at the Assembly of Notables.
• Rorschach healed Andre, escorted him home, and privately urged him to move his family to safety.
• Andre’s father urged him to live alone so his family would not hinder his prospects, but Andre persuaded him to move back to their old home and gave him Rorschach’s job referral for Hercules Company.
• Rorschach told Pascal that a teacher should act like a student’s father, while privately intending to put Andre in charge of reactor operations.
• Kano summoned Rorschach and Pascal to a public hearing of the Archaic Arcane Senate and called Pascal Mr. Thor.

Kano prepared Rorschach and Pascal to face a Mage Guild hearing over their teaching and night-school activities, then proposed that the Guild adapt to the spread of magical knowledge by opening education to more people. The Archmages split over his plan, though several outside the Empire supported it.

• Kano reviewed the investigation report with Rorschach and Pascal, and Rorschach challenged its insinuations about Pascal’s night-school work.
• Kano reassured them that he would stand behind them at the hearing and then entered an Archmage meeting to discuss the Guild’s future.
• Kano argued that the Guild could no longer monopolize magical knowledge and should teach capable people beyond noble bloodlines.
• Kano proposed that the Guild cooperate with secular higher education and transform itself rather than decline alongside its old monopoly.
• The Tower of Thunderstorms and Istarani supported Kano’s principles, while the Imperial Archmages reserved their opinions.

Rorschach faced an inquiry accusing him of serving as an Imperial spy, while Kano exposed the Mages hiding behind owl proxies. The hearing turned into a real trial, and Granoir impeached Kano as chief of the Tower of Stars.

• Granoir questioned Rorschach under a True Word Spell, and Rorschach denied coming to the Holy Kingdom on an Imperial assignment while admitting he had received Imperial funding.
• Granoir called Pascal to testify, but Kano interrupted and demanded that all the Mages attending through owl proxies appear in person.
• Kano used a spell, aided by Snow and Reactor Number Two, to pull the absent Mages into the hall through spatial rifts.
• Granoir accused Kano of arrogance and impeached him as chief of the Tower of Stars.
• Kano ignored Granoir and announced that the real trial would begin now that everyone was present.

Kano exposed Count Granoir’s alleged betrayal of the Mage Guild by endorsing a nonexistent gold mine in the Sub-plane, while the Tower of Stars locked down the Guild venue and brought in witness Valan. The story left Granoir sealed in crystal after he tried to attack Valan.

• Snow shut down the Valuana communications node and the Tower of Stars sealed the Mage Guild building against escape.
• Kano challenged Granoir over the Sub-plane’s ownership and the lack of compensation for the Mage Guild and its mages.
• Kano had Rorschach testify that the Sub-plane exploration had uncovered no gold mine, and Rorschach’s True Word Spell supported his testimony.
• Granoir privately begged Kano to stop, but Kano summoned Valan as a witness to the alleged false gold mine endorsement.
• Granoir threatened Valan and began casting a spell, but Rorschach interrupted him and Kano sealed him inside crystal on behalf of the Archaic Arcane Senate.

Valan exposed the Mining Company’s fraud before the Mage Guild, and Kano stripped Granoir of his positions and honors. As Granoir left with Francois, Christian of the Stonemason Brotherhood appeared in their carriage and sealed them inside.

• Kano had Valan use a True Word Spell to confess that the Mining Company had hidden its gold and propped up its share price with borrowed money.
• The mages denounced Granoir, and Kano convicted him of corruption and fraud, removing his guild positions and honors.
• Kano declared that he would represent the mages and their merchant associations at the Assembly of Notables, winning the hall’s applause.
• Granoir left the guild hall with Francois and admitted that he had been defeated by Kano, while Francois suggested they start over in the Sub-plane.
• Christian revealed himself in Granoir’s carriage, identified himself as a Venerable Lord of the Valois Inner Circle of the Stonemason Brotherhood, and sealed the carriage as it rolled into the abyss.

Christian confronted Count Granoir in a magically isolated carriage, and their duel ended with Granoir disappearing during his attempted escape. Francois returned home without his father, and the countess’s teleportation gem shattered without bringing Granoir back.

• Christian told Granoir that he had come to eliminate the count as a threat to the Brotherhood, and Granoir challenged him to a duel.
• Granoir turned into superheated mist and attacked Christian with a magical black blade, breaking the carriage out of its isolated space.
• Christian blocked Granoir’s escape and trapped them again, while Granoir shifted the mist to freezing cold and pleaded for reconciliation.
• Christian said he did not care what happened to Lionel and struck Granoir with silver light, causing a huge explosion in the Sene River.
• Christian emerged from the river and left, while Francois returned home alone and told his family that his father had failed.
• The countess tried to summon Granoir with her gemstone, but he did not appear; the gem shattered, and she fainted.

Madame Granoir told Francois that his father was missing and sent him to seek help while Necker struggled to contain the financial crisis and secure royal support for an Assembly. Valan remained hidden with Rorschach, who offered him a fungal symbiont as the crisis spread across the continent.

• Madame Granoir told Francois that his father was lost and ordered him to seek the King and Lord Necker while she and his sister fled to the countryside.
• Necker reacted to the exposé of Valan’s paper-gold scam as the exchange collapsed, grain and gold prices surged, and merchants halted deliveries to Valuana.
• Necker met Charles XVI and Duplessis, argued for Fiscal Reform, and agreed to confront Grand Duke Merowinger while the King insisted the meeting stay brief.
• Antoine showed Pierre the news from Valuana, and Pierre concluded that the Mining Company, stock market, and Kingdom’s paper notes were finished.
• Rorschach visited the hidden Valan and offered him a fungal symbiont to replace part of his lungs; Valan worried that accepting it would put him under Rorschach’s control.

Rorschach cured Valan and sent him to Bayern to work at the Fanta beverage factory in exchange for the debt he owed. Meanwhile, the Assembly of Notables gathered at the Royal Palace and began without the King.

• Valan swallowed the living clump and potion, recovered from his illness, and agreed to repay Rorschach for the treatment.
• Rorschach gave Valan a letter of introduction and an IOU, directing him to leave for Bayern and work at the Fanta beverage factory.
• Necker abandoned efforts to find Valan and prepared to present his manuscript to the King.
• Church representatives, Swordsman Nobles, Robe Nobles, and Mages arrived at the Royal Palace for the Assembly of Notables.
• Necker announced that he and Duplessis would represent the King's will, and the Assembly of Notables began.

Duplessis and Necker presented tax, feudal-rights, and currency reforms to the Assembly of Notables as the kingdom struggled with financial collapse. Archmage Kano proposed an independently supervised currency issuer, winning broad support and leaving Necker’s plan under pressure.

• Duplessis proposed abolishing all tax exemptions, and the Assembly rejected the motion unanimously.
• Duplessis presented a tax plan that included new transaction, stamp, service, and war taxes, but the secret ballot ended in a tie.
• Necker called for ending noble privileges over land and serfs, provoking angry objections and debate over equal rights and tax obligations.
• Necker proposed restructuring tax collection and issuing new banknotes backed by taxation, but Tax Farmers among the Robe Nobles objected.
• Archmage Kano proposed making the currency-issuing institution independent and broadly supervised, drawing applause from the Assembly and darkening Necker’s mood.

Charles XVI's banquet gave the nobles and clergy time to coordinate against Necker's reforms, and the Assembly of Notables rejected his proposals before he resigned. Pascal, Paulina, and Rorschach later organized the meeting records, including the limited currency measures that survived.

• Charles XVI endorsed Kano's currency proposal, invited the attendees to a banquet, and left the ministers to resume the meeting afterward.
• Necker repeated his reform plans, but the attendees insisted that major changes be decided by the Estates-General and demanded a detailed account of royal spending.
• After the proposals failed, Necker announced that he would resign and left the meeting amid jeers and applause.
• Pascal brought the meeting records to the research building and asked Paulina and Rorschach to proofread and prepare them for printing.
• Pascal explained that the meeting had approved only a temporary transaction-tax increase, a church donation, and a new currency tied to taxation, with Grand Duke Merowinger nominated to oversee it.

Rorschach and the members of the Friends of Fraternity and Equality club discussed how the Assembly of Notables defended privileged interests and left the kingdom’s financial crisis unresolved. Necker then published his financial report for the whole kingdom, exposing royal expenses, noble annuities, and the growing debt.

• Rorschach explained that nobles and high-ranking clergy resisted Necker’s reforms, while Duplessis secured support for a compromise by sacrificing Necker’s proposal.
• Rorschach concluded that both Duplessis’s compromise and the New Currency would only delay the kingdom’s financial crisis.
• Pascal reported on the Assembly of Notables at the club, and the chairman praised Thor’s information and analysis.
• Carral argued that the Mage Guild’s Archmages also represented guild-backed commercial interests seeking a fairer government.
• A club member arrived with Necker’s newly printed Financial Report to the King and explained that it was being distributed throughout the royal capital.
• Maxim read the report’s figures on royal spending, noble annuities, interest, and tax revenue, then condemned the kingdom’s privileged spenders.

The Mining Company’s collapse and the publication of the Royal Palace’s finances sparked public fury, ruin, and a wave of suicides, while Charles XVI ordered Necker arrested. Necker escaped the kingdom and found himself celebrated as a public hero.

• Citizens reacted to reports of royal spending with rumors, while some searched the Palace sewers for valuables.
• The Mining Company and Securities Building were vandalized as ruined investors demanded answers, and bankrupt citizens—including many elderly people—lost their savings and livelihoods.
• Charles XVI wrote an order sending Necker to Bastille Prison and discussed appointing a new Minister of Finance with Duplessis.
• The Captain of the Guard reported that people were searching near the Royal Palace’s sewers, and Charles XVI ordered nearby entrances sealed.
• Newspapers praised Necker for revealing the kingdom’s finances and blamed the missing Valan for the Mining Company scandal.
• Disguised with a fake beard, Necker listened in a teahouse as people discussed him as a hero.

Necker fled his pursuers and sought shelter with Kano and Rorschach, hoping to regain his position as finance minister. Rorschach revealed that the Mage Guild had already secured influence over the New Currency issuing institution, but agreed that Necker could advise them.

• Necker escaped his pursuers by abandoning his disguise and entering Starlight Torch Tower, where Kano let him in.
• Necker told Kano he intended to return to office by appealing to public opinion and asked for shelter, blaming Valan for the financial crisis.
• Rorschach arrived, and Necker realized he had anticipated Necker's plan to hide at the Istarani Embassy.
• Necker offered his expertise in exchange for shelter and a role in the New Currency issuing institution, but Rorschach showed that Philip de Merowinger already gave the Mage Guild access to its leadership.
• Rorschach agreed that Necker could serve as a financial adviser, making him worth sheltering.

Necker secured a protected post as the Mage Guild’s economic adviser while Valuana endured the aftermath of currency reforms. Rorschach attended the launch of an experimental steam-powered boat, then met Snow in the wilderness after being summoned there by Kano.

• Necker accepted the Mage Guild’s advisory position and planned to write about his economic theories while under the guild’s protection.
• Kano arranged for Necker to stay in a private hospital ward and worried that the former minister would be difficult to contain.
• Valuana’s currency stabilized, but small businesses remained devastated and public criticism of the Holy Kingdom became more common.
• Rorschach attended the launch of Pascal’s experimental steam-powered boat and heard Pascal complain about his exhausting schedule of receptions.
• A magical speedboat carried Rorschach out of the city, where Snow greeted him and asked whether he knew why Kano had sent him there.

Rorschach toured the Mage Guild’s no-magic technology laboratory and learned about its research into alternative communications and public works. The chapter ended with a railway extending south from the Empire’s heartland toward the Dwarf Federation.

• Snow introduced Rorschach to the No-Magic Substitute Technology Research Group, where researchers used aether-powered equipment to investigate technologies intended to work without magic.
• Snow revealed that the group had built Generator Unit Three underground and planned another unit, while Rorschach noticed the new collector’s location through his symbol.
• Rorschach learned that the Mage Guild’s Teleportation Array network was costly and overburdened, and Snow showed him a long-distance signal system using colored beacons and telescopes.
• Snow described plans to expand communications for ordinary people as the Valois Currency Issuance Committee and banks financed road repairs and waterworks to support businesses and employ workers.
• In the Empire, dwarves hurried as a new railway stretched south from the heartland toward the Dwarf Federation.

Railway construction crews blasted tunnels under military supervision while Richard enforced work and supply rules. At a Holy Kingdom laboratory meeting, Rorschach rejected costly Signal Beacon Towers and proposed using electromagnetic waves to communicate.

• Richard stopped a dwarf overseer from beating workers and ordered a fifteen-minute rest for the railway crew.
• Richard was summoned to support tunnel blasting, where Mages and Dwarf engineers blasted rock and built supports until work ended for the night.
• Richard inspected the workers’ liquor supply and ordered his subordinates to distribute it fairly and prevent drunken trouble.
• Rorschach joined a meeting where the group rejected a plan for 3,700 Signal Beacon Towers as too costly and inefficient.
• Snow demonstrated Oscillating Crystal Communicators, and Rorschach suggested that electricity and magnetism could produce waves for communication.

Rorschach investigated interference from the generators and introduced Electromagnetic Waves to the Alchemy Department, where experiments demonstrated short-range wireless transmission and reliable wired telegraphy. Though the radio plan was shelved, Rorschach found a way to emit waves himself and began considering whether he could imitate Magneto.

• Rorschach noticed that the power generators caused interference in the aether-measuring instrument and proposed experiments to test the cause.
• Rorschach designed a transmitter and receiver, and the Alchemy Department confirmed that the devices could produce and detect Electromagnetic Waves, though only across a short distance.
• Snow tested the waves, found that they could be blocked, reflected, and refracted, and extended their range to one hundred meters using a stronger charging method.
• Rorschach suggested carrying the waves through wires, and five experimental groups successfully transmitted long-and-short signals over a kilometer of cable.
• Rorschach combined Charge Drive from Electric Claw with Frequency Vibration from Telepathy Spell, making himself emit waves that caused his Induction Coil to spark.

Rorschach developed a magnetizing spell while helping the laboratory advance its telegraph project. After Baditz de Griffwal accused him of being an Imperial spy and left the project, Rorschach recorded the laboratory’s results to pass to the Kingdom of Bavaria, and Baditz founded a secret society in Valuana.

• Rorschach tested Charge Drive on an iron knife and developed a spell that magnetized it.
• Rorschach continued guiding the laboratory as its team worked to make the telegraph technology reproducible and ready for large-scale deployment.
• Baditz de Griffwal told Snow that Rorschach might be an Imperial spy, but Snow rejected the accusation and ordered Baditz to leave if he could not set aside his prejudice.
• Baditz left the laboratory, while Rorschach recorded its results to bring as a gift to the Kingdom of Bavaria.
• Baditz founded a secret society in Valuana promoting the ideals of rejecting theology and magic and putting reason above all.

Snow presented the successful acceptance report for the Wired Telegraph, and Kano helped promote it until the King approved the first line from the Royal Palace to his hunting grounds. The public demonstration delivered news that the King’s dog Cosette had safely given birth, leaving investors eager to profit from telegraph and electricity businesses.

• Snow gave Kano the Wired Telegraph’s acceptance report, and Kano praised the successful project.
• Kano promoted the telegraph to nobles and investors, and a line was built from the Royal Palace to the King’s hunting grounds.
• Charles XVI attended the telegraph’s completion ceremony, where he also learned about air conditioning and ordered it installed in the Royal Palace.
• The telegraph delivered a message that Cosette had been safely delivered, and the King celebrated the news before the assembled guests.
• Pascal condemned the kingdom’s priorities, while Rorschach joked that history would remember Cosette’s telegram.
• Charles XVI left for the hunting grounds to see Cosette and her puppies, followed by nobles seeking royal favor.

The research team celebrated the successful completion of its first project with a banquet, as mages and ordinary engineers shared food, magic, and songs. As Rorschach and Andre tried to leave, Snow stopped them, and an unexpected arrival appeared at the laboratory tent.

• The experimental team celebrated the success of its long-distance communication project at a banquet, and Rorschach stopped a mage from pressuring Andre to drink more.
• Rorschach used Mage Hand to serve food and sauce, while Snow recalled Kano's warning to ensure mages and ordinary people worked well together.
• The instructors sang military songs, and Rorschach and the Alchemy Department veterans turned the tent into a colorful dance club with magic.
• After the banquet ended, Snow grabbed Rorschach and Andre as they tried to leave, while the other veterans cured their drunkenness.
• A speedboat raced toward the laboratory tent, and two Full-Plate Warriors leaped from its deck as the gathered team applauded.