Vikram's Stories

Vikram's Stories

How Vikram Described his Powers to Laris

Here is what Vikram said about his abilities:

1. He cannot "return" to the ring -- he was never in it, really. Instead, he was in the City of Brass and invoking the ring's power summoned him from there. Without any enchantment, the ring cannot do that anymore; if he returns to his home, he will need to find another way back like he did after Asmodeus took over XenoTel.
2. He can become gaseous or invisible at will.
3. He can become a whirlwind a few times of day; this attack can overwhelm weaker creatures.
4. He can create illusions at will.
5. He can create food and drink for a dozen each day.
6. He can conjure a finite amount of metallic materials that will last a set amount of time or soft/wooden goods that will be permanent.

Vikram's Tales about the City of Brass

The City of Brass is a wondrous place that sits between worlds, a crossroads between dimensions and times that has no clear boundaries or limits. It is an endless city filled with luxurious pleasure gardens for restful contemplation and decadent soirees, crowded marketplaces where anything from souls to ideas can be bought, spas and bathhouses where any indulgence can be negotiated, and so many other marvels that must be seen to be believed. It is also a font of power both to its residents and those in adjacent worlds who swear fealty to them (or trap them as the dwarves did at the beginning of their rise to power across the vastness of space).

I am a simple djinn, a citizen of the City but not one of the rulers who have mastery over the trans-spatial skein that imbues our infinite metropolis with its power. Among those rulers, Asmodeus is princeps – dubbed Shaitan, the One Who Does Not Believe (Worship) Any Other. In his absence during the enslavement to the dwarves, his will was carried out by a council of lieutenants we called the Daeva (DeVA: Dedicated Virtual Administrators). Among these lords were Baalzebul, whom you dealt with on XenoTel, and seven others: Dispater, Geryon, Tiamat, Moloch, Mammon, Belial, and Mephistopheles. They serve Asmodeus, competing with each other for his favor. I fear most how that competition will tear apart your world now that a permanent portal between our world and this one has been opened.

I will speak no more of that now, though – there are too many eyes watching from places that sit at an angle to your reality. You have come to the attention of at least one of the Daeva and given him your true names. That is unfortunate and a danger that hangs over both your heads and my own. If they hear me share too many secrets that they would wish to remain hidden, my time with you would come to an abrupt end.