Illarion.org

((yes Mephisto is back already.. dont ask anyway Im kickin it off with some good rp))

A small settlement outside of Salkamar, a small community of monkish men and women following the ways of the gods in their truest way. Here every man and woman vows to non-violence, to live peacefully amongst all. Orc tribes would not raid for fear of the priests legendary curses that never lead to death or harm... just dreadful misfortunes. The greatest crime here was murder and blasphemy, but it was never met with imprisonment or execution, just a curse and exile. Here... A terror was born.

He grew to be a large man with a striking appearance and heavily muscled from his toils at the menial work all young men did here. It was his questions that made the elder priests fear, even as a boy he questioned it all. Life, death, our existence, and most importantly the gods. He showed much interest in Moshran's "failure" and claimed many times the gods were Hypocrites in every way. One day a travelling mercenary band came through to get supplies he followed them watching them with an intense curiosity. These men knew how to kill, and death needless to say, was fascinating to the young man. He studied their "tools", their movements, for 3 days he shadowed them until one of the night sentries came across him trying to make off with some of their food stores. They took the strange and silent young man back to the settlement. The elders were fearful as to what had been done to the man, he told them nothing, and so he was ordered to fast and pray before the five for their guidance in his confused youth. Again he was silent he went to his fasting chamber sporting his own altar to the five elder gods. At which he left the chamber in the dead of night raiding the pantry and taking a goat back to the chamber. And upon the altar he beat the poor struggling animal to death and gorged on all the food from the pantry, and profaning himself before the altar as sexually depressed men do in their privy chambers. On the morn one of the elders beheld the scene in terror and a council was commenced, Ulquiorra was brought before them. He simply said.. "I am the bane of the gods, know me for I shall bring dread to your weak hearts, and bring you the only true blessing of this world, and that is death." At which he rose breaking a leg from the wooden chair and rushing the elders, he grabbed one by the throat lifting him as he struggled and stabbed him swiftly in the heart, many of the elders fled in terror but one calmly stayed tears streaming down his eyes, "My son, what have you done? Where have I gone wrong?" Ulquiorra sneered and came close to the elder who was his father. "Your son? My dear elder, I fear that I have no father, and for all said purposes, I have no soul. Now before I kill you and give you the one true blessing, I want you to pray to your gods, pray they strike me here where I stand." By this time young men of the village came in subduing the giant man who appeared to put no effort into struggling.

From that day Ulquiorra the Dreadhart was exiled and cursed to never set foot upon his home land again, as when he tried to enter he met a force like that of a great wind holding him back, at this he gave a ghastly smile. "I shall come back, my elder. To make due my promise and give you all the true blessing, you shall truly wish you killed me this day, and in that moment you will see how wrong all your vows truly are."

Today was quite eventful, he thought. His debt was paid to the orcess, however the Prylers offered an opportunity. Their influence seems quite far and wide and almost all of them possessing combat abilities much surpassing the average warrior or mage. He had seen so as fought beside a few of their members in hunting treasures. If he could gain their respect and trust perhaps he could learn a few things. Not mentioning the advanced weaponry and large ammounts of gold they have to make each other chancellors... Ignoring them and being his usual anti-social self would be an idiotic move. It was time he got motivated. "My elder.. I am coming for you. I will give you all the true blessing. Believe it as wholeheartedly as you believe your god's will save you."

Bone ghosts... He needs to research them more...

He couldn't bear to think of it, the thought of becoming old and frail. Necromancy surely was not the answer, undead were all too often controlled by something else, and the smell... "Damn them! Elves, dwarves, even those damned halfwit orcs live longer than a human lifespan..." Elves, their everlasting grace and disgusting beauty.

"I'll tear it out of them... their eternal youth.. It is not their's to keep to themselves"

Muttering e writes a list:

-Blood
-Hair
-skin
-Fingernails
-Damnable pointy ears
-And bone marrow

He would try to see if he could break down the samples and discover what hides within. What exactly made them ageless...

Sitting on the battlements of Galmair, his legs hanging precariously over the edge, he looks off into the distance with those keen and disturbing eyes. A soft breeze seemed to caress him urging him to fall to his death. "I feel.. uneasy. I expected something to happen by now, I've been here too long. But still this place has so many interesting folk..." He knew the elder would send men after him, to either kill him or take him captive. Probly capable men far beyond Ulquiorra's skills. Even if It wasn't the elder sooner or later mercenaries or bounty hunters would be closing on the hunt. He couldn't hide behind Valerio's law, his greed has no end, any Gynkese fool could suade him to rid of one of his petty workers for part of the bounty. He should pay closer attention and be on guard always...

Now wonder where that orc is, time to harvest some elf parts...

The orc.. He liked that orc, alot. While he lacked intelligence as most orcs do, he held true to his fierce blood. When Ulquiorra was around him he felt his own warrior's blood boil within him. Ulquiorra knew for a fact that he was the most dangerous kind of warrior, all he had to do was harness this and train. But even the most dangerous men die with no support, he needed a comrade, someone he could trust and fight with like a brother.

As he set to the grisly work of collecting elven parts for research, he was deciding how he was going to convince this orc to see him as a brother, to fight with him and follow him. The words were simple the act was simple. A blood oath, a look of determination, and firm grip equal to that of the orc's seemed to have bound them as brothers forever, let it be the start of a new Era.

Captured...

He felt like an idiot, he knew Sarai was a mercenary. He should've been more careful of her. He got complacent during his time in Galmair, thought that perhaps the bounty hunters were too dumb to trace him there. Well he was caught, and now he was on his way back to Salkamar with some Mercenary contact.

"C'mon!" The gruff bounty huntress pulls the rope roughly, she looked at him with complete disdain. Ulquiorra simply went along passively. That night as they set camp the woman ate in front of him eyeing him all the while. "You're disgusting" She says as she eats. He simply stares at her blankly. Frowning and obviously irritated she stands up and takes her dagger putting it to his cheek. Ulquiorra starts to grin as he leans into it even as the dagger cuts deeply into his face, she seems to not expect this reaction and in a moment of panic she lashes out at him fully which he successfully puts his arm in the way, getting cut deeply in the arm. By the light of the campfire her expression was clear, she hated him. "You Killed that innocent priest" She spat, Ulquiorra laughed "Indeed" she shakes her head going to turn away then he says " I got close and personal,I got so close I could've kissed him as I stabbed him in the heart, it wasn't fear in his eyes, it was disbelief." The woman pauses, and Ulquiorra braced himself for another strike but she simply meandered over to sleep in her bedroll.

The bounty huntress laughed at Ulquiorra's expression when she threw him into the cell. Looking at him through the cell she grins. "So this is what Armund had planned?" Shaking her head "these guys offered 300 for your capture bucko i just swindled your father for the two hundred to pay those red charter mercs" smirking slightly "But dont worry yer daddy wil be there to console you for your execution."

Four months roughly, he'd been working in the mines. Most of the other inmates avoided him due to his appearance, even his cell mate spoke very little to him. Ulquiorra did as the guards told him but never once did he speak. Eyeing everything calculatively looking for his best chance to escape or get a message to Juumajin. It seemed almost hopeless, his best effort was drawing the trial out for about two months. His execution was scheduled for next year.. he was not going to die like this, he WILL find a way out.

He managed to collect a good bit of gold ores which he then bribed a guard to get him a quill abd some parchments and smirked whenever Ulquiorra asked for ink. It was the first time he'd spoken and he made a mental note to make sure that guard recieves a little suprise later.

Sitting wondering how he'd get the message out and how he could get Juumajin in, he sighs.

Back to work.

There had been some scaffolds set up for prisoners to mine up high. During the first night of mas there was a small riot that broke out in one part of the prison and during the confusion the guard who had given him the quill with no ink ended up in a heap of rock and ubstable beams, all it took was a little kick and the whole thing tumbled down... they never knew it was him.

Working again...

It was Elos when he had disturbed a slime in a rock crevace. It didnt attack it was small and oddly enough ulquiorra took a liking to the small creature. He had managed to get the slime into his cell and he had studied it thoroughly. "Ufedhin was right to admire these creatures." Confidently after a few weeks he took out the old parchment and wrote on it in his own blood since he had no ink. Then he watched as the slime slipped through a crack in the wall with the letter inside. Grinning slightly to himself he lay back a slept peacefully.

Juumajin thought about the oath he gave the human. "Just words", he thought to himself while he watched the Salkamarian ferry landing on the harbor. But right now he would give the oath they both spoke a meaning. He held the rumpled message he got between his big fingers, he formed a fist and the parchment got a little bit more messier. Dreads used his blood to write this few words. Barely more than a hint into the right direction, but how difficult could it be to find that prison?

Next he glanced over his shoulders, sniffling a bit. Soon the ferry would leave again, the question was - how many Orcs would it carry? They called him chief more than once, but would they follow him to rescue a human they never met? Juumajin swung the heavy jingling bag over his broad shoulder and stepped on the plank, it crunched offended under the Orcs weight...

Mazuga sniffs the air she catches the sent she was looking for. When she Approaches she sees jumma looking over his shoulder. She smiles and steps on. The people move out of her way. She has a dagger sheathed on her wrist gauntlet a shield strap on her back a bow slung over her shoulder and her hump sack attached to her side with few quiver of arrows. She starts to walk across the plank and it looks like its gonna buckle under the weight. A human stand next to load is laughing talking how big she was and it would be funny to see a wet orc. She made itup with no problems. So the man started next and once he got about half way. Mazuga kicked the plank slightly and the human falls in the water everyone is laughing. When mazuga reaches jumma. She pats his butt. "Mes hur, is mes da first. Mes left a note fur mes brudder. Mes hope he shows. Mes hope mes didn't scare off ham. But mes ready." As she stands looking out hoping to see other stand by there chief.

Without Mazugas help Juumajin would have never found the Prison, and he was glad she came along. Since a day they camped close at the ruins of an tower, just a few hours from the foot of mountain. The prison they figured out, was well guarded and blocked the entrance to a mine, where the prisoners was forced to work. Many Soldiers patrolled the palisades, armored with hunting bows and Legionary equipment there colorful uniforms made theme easy to count. "Many" described his efforts to overview the garrison best. With a doubtful glance he checked Mazuga next to him, she was fairly as tall as himself and probably almost as broad. "How good uh at sneaking?", he grunted while his brain kept thinking. It wouldn't be smart to try and pull on a fight with all the Oomies at once. Also he doubted they could find his Brother without getting noticed at all. From time to time he peeked one of the Prisoners. They wore dirty Rags and cuffs around their ankles. Slowly a Plan grew while the orcs quitly started to prepare themselves...

Since late Elos Ulquiorra bore an unseemly serenity that the prisoners envied and made the guards nervous. Here he was a prisoner set for execution and he was as calm as ever. The guards tried to break this serenity by forcing him to work harder and longer than any of the other prisoners. Ulquiorra complied without a word for about a week until they stopped feeding him. During one of the rest times when he was forced to work he turned and spoke fir the first time since he got the parchment and quill... "I would like some food please" the closest guard laughed hard arrogance bleeding out of the laugh "Funny lad! But no we aint gunna be wastin food on a dead man" Ulquiorra started to smile as he beat the man almost to death with the pick axe. There were enough guards to roughly subdue him and put him into the isolation pit where Ulquiorra had gotten the beating of his life, but he did not cry out in pain.

Later that day the warden came to greet him in his pit. "You know.. you put o e of my guards out of work gor quite a while there big gut..." Ulquiorra simply stared blankly at the warden. "My boys tell me yer a real nut job hm? That we would be best kill ya here instead of waitin" Ulquiorra tilted his head but still said nothing. "Aye ye are a real nut job but fact is you racked in an awful lot of rock and made me a bit of profit. Hard to find real miners amongst the ruffians we get in here.. so tell me if i git you food and drink will ya continue to work at that same pace?" The warden looked firmly at him. The obvious answer was yes.. the man had no intention of letting him live if Ulquiorra refused to work. He nodded his head and the warden smiled "Very good lad, and keep yer tongue held too it suits ya. I'll come back after you've done a week here in the pit but any more nonsense then you're good as dead ya hear?" Once again Ulquiorra nodded trying to hold back a smirk, the vanity of the mortal races is so.. amusing. They are letting him live simply because he is good at mining. Well its only a matter of time now.

"Mes good at hearing and smelling things. From distances. I can sneak up on a deer." Mazuga. Whispered. Mazuga heart was calm and collected. Her mind focused on the task. To her this was just another hunt. She looked over to jumma. As she sits and waits she feels strange and her heart hurts. She thinks "brudder. Where are yoos. " then her attention has never left the task at hand. She readies her bow and nods waiting for the right time to strike.

It wasn't long before Ulquiorra got preferred treatment from the warden, he worked even harder then before and was able to achieve more since he was fully sated with proper rest hours and half decent food. Now he was in a less guarded part of the prison, there was richer ore deposits here and so the warden had him working there. The fools they were just making it easier for him to escape.

It was his lucky night. A new prisoner came in that evening apparently transferred by teleporter from the Galmair prisons, word was that the Galmair prisons were overcrowded. The warden gladly accepted the prisoner and kept her in the least secure area of the prison so she was away from most of the other violent men. For awhile Ulquiorra watched her curiously, listening in on her conversations with the officials who came in to question her. When she came by him he spoke to another prisoner for the first time saying "don't mine my rocks." smirking she asked "Which ones are your's?" he turned meeting her eyes with his own mismatched ones, "the ones I'm mining"

It didn't take much to break her fragile facade, she used her womanly charms to break down the mental barriers of the people she interacted with. Unfortunately for her Ulquiorra was not a simpleton. He could tell she had ambition, she wasn't afraid to kill her enemies and start wars and so he found her quite intriguing. "what are your goals Keva Bran?" Shrugging she says "I do what I want for me." He grinned. "That... Never gets anyone anywhere. Say.. you know why the mighty Madrook Na'han fell to the gods?" She shook her head, "Because the Elder gods sought the younger, and thus defeated him not through strength alone... no. They defeated him through unity. With someone you trust by your side one who will fight your enemies and who you would fight their enemies... that is power and together you could be invincible. This very simple concept is why empires rise and fall and why Moshran is caught in his everlasting cycle of failure and self destruction." He grinned, his words had her entranced. "I.. Never thought of it that way." Ulquiorra leaned in close to her. almost to an intimate closeness and whispered "Then come with us.. and pave the way for us to rule these lands. It will be a long and harsh journey, but the rewards oh so fruitful." She looked up to him smiling and whispering back "I'll take that journey with you then." Standing back he examined her, she was strong and bore an appealing body. "You know.. The Warden and I are on fairly good terms." She looks confused "what do you mean?" he says "Well not often he gets a good miner like me in here.. I might be able to arrange for you to be moved to my cell for the evenings." She smiles "Only if you promise to be rough." He retorts "Only if you promise not to break." She laughed and replies "then it's a promise"

It was his first request of the Warden, and the guards were smirking and chuckling under their breath all the while. At first the Warden seemed skeptical, but here stood what he thought a compliant man who was generating him profit, a man who was scheduled to die in merely a few months. He consented with a "Don't make this a regular thing and.. don't go killin her or makin too much noise. Oh yeah.. she's the only one ye got that? ONLY ONE!." Muttering the Warden motioned for them to carry on.

It was pleasant, to feel another human embrace, and Ulquiorra felt even better when things got rough, and she kept her end of the bargain... she didn't break.

A short sniff, then a peek - the patrol on the parapet walk just passed by. Juumajin swinged his legs over the pointy row of trunks, then he reached out his hand to pull Mazuga up. The air was wet and dark clouds swallowed stars and moon in equal measure, while the top of the improvised ladder disappeared in darkness. The orcess grabbed his arm and dragged him with her, while Juuma threw a glance on the inner yard. Many wooden barracks , a few campfires and like a spider the keep throned over the garrison. It was half cut out of the mountain, half build with rocks. Here and there he saw soldiers patrolling with torches. He licked his tusks, this ain't felt comfortable at all. He was used to hunt in the wild, not to sneak around in human buildings. It's hard to hide in a room, where your shoulders alone fill a door frame. Juuma could hear his own breath and steps so loud he feared the humans would hear it. This Plan was the best they had, but still to risky. With a snarrl, the warrior suppressed his anger which settled somewhere in his chest instead. "Shush!", the orcess hissed, and pushed him under the roof of a cottage.

After hours of hiding and sneaking, at least it felt like hours... - Juumajin and Mazuga found an entrance to the mines. The Mine was deep and many corridors lanced the mountain like adders. Only a few hammer noises or pickaxes echoed through it right now. Lazy Oomies... , Juuma thought. Then they stored the gear they brought somewhere in a dark slot. The weapons, the armor - almost everything. The Orcess sniffled and signed a hole, the entrance to another corridor. As they followed it the noises of tools breaking rocks became slowly louder...

After they stor their gear mazuga looks around she see the flicker of light coming from a small room in the mines two oomie orcs close to there size standing and talking. She sneaks up behind them. she leans in and says Hi. the two are frozen with surprise. Mazuga grabs them and bangs there head together. and they fall limp to the ground. mazuga pulls of there rags and tosses a pair to Jumma. After they have gotten dressed and grabbed the pick axes and head down further into the mine. They start listening and looking then they find Dreadheart. As Jumma explains his plan to open as many cells they can to cause chaos. Just then you here guards scrambling around. One had mentioned they found a ladder. During the guards commotion two naked orcs come walking in looking angry. and looking around. She looks to the Dreadheart and says "what know bloodbrother of Jumma any ideas"

Seeing the commotion he couldn't help but grin. He says briefly that he must look for someone to the orcess, as he goes about searching for Keva one of the guards who weren't caught up in the commotion asks what Ulquiorra is doing in an authoritarian tone, without even looking at the guard he jams the small dagger under the man's chin and continues his search. Frowning when he can't find the woman he turns to the orcess who follows him, now there was a riot from the prisoners Juumajin set free. Now was his chance he couldn't look for the woman, he had to act now. " I will set fire to the inner mines, it will spread quickly as the gasses from the earth and the coal fuel it, we must move quickly and slip out as the prisoner's.. do their their thing." As he set to work carefully setting the oil he could hear now the full clash of the riot. He stands throwing the torch and unleashing a pandaemonium the guards never saw coming. After a moment of watching the flames ignite the oil and quickly spread, he turned to the orcess and says "Lets go, we find Juumajin and get out."

They look around for juuma. Finding him. Mazuga says to him "dime do go" Leading the way they come to a guard near where there gear is stored. He notice them. Shaking seeing the big orcess before him. "dont move" he says. All of a sudden mazuga charges. and palms his face and shatters his skull against the wall. She starts passing out the gear. Once everyone his ready they make it back to the wall. Jumma notices the ladder was gone. and can here the clanging of guards coming there way. Smoke is starting to bellow out the cave entrance near them. Mazuuga grabs three arrows and attaches a rope to each of them and shoots them on at a time. and shoots them into some near by trees and attaches them to the wall "yous toos gos first. mes bes right be hind you."

Ulquiorra is first carefully going down the rope he watches as Juumajin follows. He waits for the orcess as he starts putting on his armor and taking his warhammer.

Mazuga slides down the rope. as she looks up she see the fire bellow out and athree guards try to follow when she hits the ground she cut the rope and watches the fools fall. She turns to jumma and dread . and gives a croaked smile. they make a break to get to the tower so they can then travel back to the harbor. As they run throw the woods any guards they ran into were quickly dispatched. They finally out ran the guards and made it to the tower.taking her breath he looked at the two and smiles. she stand up and ust then a guard sneaks up on her and raises his sword to strike.........

Sighing almost bored the guards legs crumple beneathe the swing of Ulquiorra's warhammer. Then he stomps on the man's trachea as he continues his flight into the woods. "Idiots, should have killed me before." Turning to look after the others...

Mazuga was surprised when Dread pushed him out the way and crushed the guy. As he looks to her and Jumma. "he should hurry and get back to the boat so we can get out of here" Jumma said. They quickly moved and arrived at the harbor. No one was ready to Attack every one was busy loading the boat to depart. There most not have been word yet. So either they are all dead or they do not know who is gone. They all board the boat as it sets off to return. Mazuga looks at the two and then stares at the water. She is thinking of her brother. after a while they pull into the harbor in galmair and they set off the boat. "Mes need to find mes Brudder" she stated. as she leaves the two she makes her way to cadomyr.

Finally free again. The red charters would pay for making him sit in that hole for almost a year... He had to get back to his research and his training. Then he would make sure Sarai regretted ever taking that contract.

In time.. first he needed to find out more about them. If they had any family, any lovers. Maybe an elf he could experiment on and give them a taste of what was to come at the same time.

Sighing and turning to the big orc with the familiar red dreadlocks and nose ring. "Seems we have work to do brother, tell me of what transpired since I have left."

Getting sidetracked in his research into elven matter, Ulquiorra made some new discoveries. He was slowly understanding the art of alchemy, the power of bending creation to do his will.

Meditating.. Calming and strengthening his body and feeling everything around him. The world itself, it was not peaceful, it was a primal cesspool full of violence and corruption. These lands were a seething mass of vanity and filth and yet Ulquiorra found it beautiful. He felt it all, all the pain, the pleasure, the confusion, the world was ripe around him and most men would go mad feeling this, but Ulquiorra sifts through the maddness and creates an order within himself, he creates a sea of tranquility that no chaos can touch. This was a power he was only beginning to understand and it filled him with exhilarating sense control. No god or demon shall take this world from him. Illarion belonged to mortals and it will be mortals who stand up and take it.

Mortality.. In time the word will not be coincided with the fragile machinations of a broken world. It shall be defined as the beings that forced the wretched outsiders and carved the world for their own.

Breathing in the night air Ulquiorra smiled.

She ate the apple without question. Interesting how this woman had completly broken to him. He could do whatever he wanted with her.

Great for research.

rewinding back to earlier that day, the blond assassin spoke to him from the shadows as he walked into Galmair, gave him a few apples and suggested he research them and see if he could replicate it. Something was obviously off about them, researching them would be interesting.

Sitting on the cold ground in the Sporthole of Galmair, he sat watching the woman and writing some notes.

~I have chosen to chain the subject in case of dementia, for my, and her own safety. The Apples appear to have a sort of toxin in them, it does not appear lethal luckily.
The subject claims that the apple tastes strange, not bad, but not like an ordinary apple.
The toxin appears to directly effect the muscles causing weakness and muscle spasms.
The Toxin appears to also cause nausea and occasional vomiting.
Though the Toxin weakens the muscles significantly it does not lead to heart failure, however in higher dosages the possibility for heart failure is plausible.
It is perhaps plausible that the effect of the toxin has variables depending upon the subjects diet or natural fortitude.
Duration of the effect of the toxin may depend upon the subjects lymphatic system.

He unchained her, gave her food, and suggested rest or light physical activity.

He pondered, the toxin might very well be a venom. It was common for predators to use a paralyzing toxin that targeted the victim's muscles. But.. then again venom only works properly if entered into the bloodstream. Perhaps it was altered for consumption. He would have some questions for the assassin.

This has certainly piqued his curiousity.

Coming back from mining he noticed the oil lamp's flame flickered weakly. Pausing and watching the flame warily, there was a strange feeling about it.

Then it spoke...

His first reaction was to ignore it. There was nothing natural about it at all, but it was his nagging curiosity that drove him to further investigate.

"Help me." It said weakly. Oh great, now this mysterious entity wanted his help, he wondered whose blood he would asked to get or who he would have to sell his soul to for power. He wanted nothing more than to leave this strange flame to die out, but still his curiosity drove him. He couldn't find out what it was if he did not ask it. He found himself asking "What is it that you need?" A short pause and another weak flicker "A bigger fire, somewhere alone.. please." Then the flame flickered and perished.

Hesitantly he lit a fire in a cave near the well of dreams. He engaged in a wary and hushed conversation with the mysterious flame. But before he could get sufficient answers the flame extinguished. Standing and brushing off the gravel he says "Well that was interesting, hope we meet again.. mysterious flame."

He had been away for some time after stalking Keva in dog form.

During this time he had set himself to briefly studying bone ghosts.

He found it fascinating how the skeletons were only partially coporeal yet still retained great strength. The little bit of them that physically manifested must be enhanced through magic. Necromancy or blood magic most likely. But they are seemingly light as air as if they were a wraith.

He must find out how these creatures could so strongly influence the world physically yet remain mostly incoporeal.

Sitting down at the Hemp Necktie Inn exhausted from a long time in the mines, Ulquiorra ponders of the dreadful monotone his life has suddenly taken. His focus has been on trade and pleasing the chancellors. Shaking his head and relaxing, he lets his mind wander... Some time later Ulquiorra's focus comes back to Borgate angrily telling him to buy a drink or get the hell out. Frowning Ulquiorra stands and turns to leave, "Arr, and keep yer creepy eyes out 'o here ye damned witless dog!" Pausing fighting the urge to throw a lit bomb into the center of the Inn and walk away as it burned, he simply shakes his head and leaves the sneering knaves behind.

Pride.. was a flaw he'd rule out, as was anger.

There is only purpose..