The Sentinel Paradigm

"The Sentinel Paradigm" is the twentieth episode of Regolus: Dark Age. It is the fifth episode of Book 2: Courting the Divine. 
== Official Description ==
"Praised as heroes for saving the blighted city of Faleeria, the party looks inward to address the repercussions of their battle with Purpose. Deals are made, clarity is found, revelations are had. A new path is illuminated.”The Sentinel Paradigm (YouTube).
== Plot ==
=== Part 1 ===
* JB found a space outside of the encampment to meditate on his wounds and now finds himself in front of awakened Purpose surrounded by negative energy, in an inner metaphysical sanctum that looks like the ruined train car they fought in. “Where am I? Why am I here? What is this place?”, they ask. JB tells them he made a mistake and asks what they remember. The last thing Purpose remembers is that they were across, where they belonged, but were drawn to this place and took hold. They have changed and now things are muddled and they are trapped here. JB tells them that they called themselves Penance and destroyed an entire town, so they had to be stopped and that is what JB and his group did. Purpose does not know what it was that called them here or even what drew them to answer the call, but whatever caused those tragedies, it was not themselve as they are now. They do not feel responsible for what has happened in Faleeria, as it was not them. JB tells them about the offer they made, letting them go to grow, and watch the group grow, but ultimately come back to continue the fight in the future. The group could not let them possibly end people in the meantime, so they had to put an end to Penance/Purpose. JB still does not want them here, but needs to understand the situation. He tried to stop the Xilyreon from eating them but not because they should not be eaten but because JB wanted to stop his friend from making a mistake she might regret in the future. “And what drove you to make this choice, ego or instinct?”, Purpose asks. JB is conflicted but Purpose is running out of time. Whatever drew them here and happened in this train wounded them so much that they no longer have a place on the Prime or in their home. JB asks if they know what brought them to this side. “What drives any spirit - our fundamental drive to fulfill our reason for being. We are the first and you who walk the Prime were the favored children. We cannot but hope to emulate you. And so we refine and refine and refine until we find what we are at a singular point, what we can be that none else can exemplify and I am Purpose. I offer you the same.” Purpose asks a favor of JB: they cannot maintain their form as they are, so they offer to assist JB and clarify his purpose, or JB may finish his task and strike them down. “Instinct or ego - which will it be?”
* JB struggles but says that he has to find his own purpose. He does not want them to stay in his body but that doesn’t mean he wants them to become nothingness either. While Purpose begins to change form to give JB’s ego a target worthy of destruction, JB stops them, asking if that is how they want to die. “You don’t have to give up on yourself.” He does not want to view them as a monster but instead asks how he can help them find peace. 
* Hearing that, Purpose asks if he would seek respite and grant them solace in these final moments, a path closer to instinct. They reach out his hand, negative energy around it, and offer a slightly changed version of choosing instinct to JB. “Keep it. Let it hone your goals. Let it sharpen your purpose and your focus. Use it well and use it to undo the damage I wrought.” JB has to make sure that this is what Purpose really wants, so they tell him that they want balance. JB chooses to trust them, following the path of instinct. As Purpose’s body begins to flake away, not being able to stay much longer, JB takes their hand. While he does that, he imbues pure Ki into it, hoping to cleanse them this way. So while the negative energy floods out of their hand and into JB’s body, Ki flows into the spirit’s body, changing its pale grey form into a bright white blue before it completely flakes away, leaving the true spirit that was underneath it. The new energy in JB ignites his nervous system, as from his leg he feels the corruption flake away, almost as if electricity is tethering all over his body and is absorbing every ounce of negative energy that it can. The spirit bows their head, and is gone.
* As JB’s meditation fades and his consciousness emerges, he feels the changes in his body. With the corruption gone and the chosen Path of Peaceful Instinct, he not only feels his energy return back into his body but can also see that his whole body is covered in pale blue scars, as if he was struck by lightning.* 
* Gold comes flying to where JB meditated to check in on him, because he felt the waves of energy. After talking about the importance of being able to control one's own power and making decisions, Gold returns to the tent while JB decides to sleep in under the stars. 
* The moment Aelys consumed Penance/Purpose and the cocoon of calcified ichor formed around her, Aelys finds herself in the familiar field of dark ice, bleeding stars above and the throne of dark frozen ichor in front of her. On it sits the being known as Godsleep, but it has changed. With more defined features, pinpricks of light in the eyes, long white hair and long and angular limbs and joints it sits there, fabric of dark starlight around its waist. Aelys asks why she is here, as she did everything it wanted from her by feeding it. The Xilyreon asks why, as no one before did this. Aelys says that this is what makes her stronger, at least at the moment, and perhaps it might be foolish of her, but neither of them really think that. The Xilyreon knows everything about Aelys, but wants to know why it had to take them before and now it was given them freely. Aelys approaches closer to the throne. She gathered that with what happened on the train it will find ways to feed regardless, so if she can offer it direction and purpose, it might benefit them both. “I was given you because I was worthy to, because I was the strongest. My strength is now defined by us”, Aelys says, but the Xilyreon tells her it was jailed, that “they used our first fight to jail us” and Aelys just holds the bars this time. Yet, Aelys is more useful, more giving. “Where do we end?”, it asks. Aelys takes one step forward. “When we can agree on a common purpose.” There is information Aelys wants to know about the being in front of her and her family and then wants to decide her purpose. The Xilyreon wants her to decide and then learn. As far as she knows, the Dreamscar must be sealed, but the Xilyreon tells her it does not matter. Aelys slightly bows her head, willing to learn. “You will make us whole and then you will set us free.” In return it will assist Aelys and her “cattle” in their aims. It can even give her assistance right now, to become revasan, the strongest. Aelys holds no care for the gods, because what have they done for her? The Xilyreon explains that they made her and her whole line, but they will eat them whole, and with that they will unshackle and unbind her people so they can be as they wish. It tells Aelys to kneel, but Aelys would prefer a seat alongside it. It stands up, moves closer and puts an elongated finger under Aelys’ chin. “You will earn a seat, child. When I am whole. This is what I vow, as one third of my being. You will feed me a life - a thinking, feeling life every mortal day. And for each day, I shall grant you my wonders.” They are Aelys’ to choose, as long as they know they are going. Aelys agrees and the Xilyreon claws a finger into her sigil, making it pulse. The root tattoo around her arm becomes physical and wraps around her, as an icy sensation washes over her. Aelys gets covered in shifting, black frozen ichor up to her neck before it reaches her head, turning her hair white and letting her take on/mimic the form of the Xilyreon, of Godsleep. When the Xilyreon returns back to the throne, Aelys fully bows. ”While so befitted, you shall act as my reaper. Go forth, and take what we are owed”, Godsleep says before it waves its hand and Aelys is plunged into darkness.
* The cocoon shatters around Aelys and she finds herself in Dr. Iridia’s tower, her body now back to normal and a sleeping Iridia with her in the room. When Aelys tries to leave quietly, an alarm goes off, waking up the completely naked doctor. Iridia insists on running tests on Aelys before she can let her go. Aelys opens her mind for a psychic evaluation and a second psychic-physical evaluation. Afterwards, Iridia asks if Aelys has considered therapeutic counsel. Iridia advises her to learn quickly what prices Aelys is willing to pay but as it does not affect her ability to work, at least as far as Aelys is aware, Iridia lets her go but tells her to not inform the Commander about this. Dr. Iridia also tells her that she has alerted their people and told them that they will be traveling homewards soon and that the Star Eater will expect them. She also tells her to not tell Theagus that Aelys saw her this way, before Aelys leaves the tower. 
* While Aelys is walking around, she hears a voice in her head exactly as her own: “Let the light be carried. It must be complete. She will assist you and you will assist her. The circle must not be broken.” Hearing that, Aelys makes her way back to her group.
* When Aelys quietly wakes up Synnove, Synnove immediately gives her a hug before they make their way a bit further away from camp. Synnove updates Aelys on what has happened after the fight and Aelys tells her everything about the conversation with the Xilyreon, including what she must do and that she is here to help Synnove, just as Syn is here to help her. They might have similar goals now. Synnove agrees, saying “every light must cast a shadow”. 
* When talking about their next steps, Aelys explains that she still wants to go back home and still wants to find a few things and learn more about them, for example the Dreamer’s Codex. However, there are other pieces of the Godsleep: Aelys carries one, the other in a blade and the last is a little more difficult. Ur-Viraan, her ancestor and the first elf, was the one to first mantle the Xilyreon and the one who broke it apart and they still keep a piece. They are still alive, but reside in the Faded Realm. Aelys did not see them since she took the Xilyreon in because there must have been a reason they broke it apart in the first place and it seemed unwise to bring them back together. But now that Aelys found out a bit more from the Xilyreon, she wants to go there. The Xilyreon said her people would be free to act as they see fit and not be bound like they are now. However, it might not be possible because of her current task and the fact that she would prefer to not spill any more elvhen blood, not even if it is that of some jester that hurt one of their friends.
* When the Fading Book begins to vibrate, Synnove thinks Stella wants to talk to Aelys, so she hands Aelys the book. When Aelys takes it, Synnove can see the root tattoo briefly emerging from Aelys’ skin, sending three little tendrils into the book before they disappear again. Synnove asks if she has ever had a dream about a phoenix and a snake talking by a tree, but Aelys doesn’t dream anymore. She will let Synnove know if she ever dreams of the creatures. 
* The second Aelys opens the book, Stella appears in front of them, looking like an uncanny valley version of Synnove for Aelys. When she asks about that, Stella just says “We are as we are”. Stella is excited to finally meet Aelys, as the Godsleep’s and her nightly discussions have been quite enriching and they are perhaps aligned in their purpose. When Aelys asks if Stella wants the gods gone, she says that a garden must be tended. Stella wants all wounds to be healed, that the circle is complete and the light is perfect, and that it would of course also shine on the Heart Tree and Aelys’ people. There are still trials and tribulations ahead. There are those who work towards their goals and those who are against it. Stella is limited in her capacity, but not for long, as Synnove says. They must choose wisely. “The beacons are in their right place. Make sure the rest follow suit”. 
* When Stella disappears, both Aelys and Synnove feel relieved. They discuss where to go next, as some beacons are closer but there is also one in the Heartwilds and Gold can show them where exactly if they get a special map. The Herald of Knowledge wants them to go to the City of Black Stone. Aelys thinks that is Disterra, as it is a great inverted pyramid of sleek obsidian stone. When the conversation returns to the Dreamer’s Codex, Synnove says that Lenore mentioned she was in the Faded Realm and maybe she knows how to get there and will tell them. Aelys doesn’t think Lenore would tell her, but maybe Synnove has a chance. 
* Aelys asks if Synnove knows why her sister doesn’t like her. Synnove thinks Lenore and Aelys are very similar and Lenore worries for her sister and wants to protect her, but that is just because “she does not understand”, but she will. Synnove thinks V manipulated her. Aelys reveals that she heard their conversation on Hareem’s ship but could only understand a few names and the tone of it. Synnove tells her that Stella thinks she is too far gone and that she tries to save Lenore. Aelys carefully reminds Synnove that Lenore probably thinks she is speaking the truth, just as they think their beliefs and actions are truth. “Sometimes we carry a burden for those we care about, and though she may be too far gone, when everything has come to pass, when you’ve made the world you want to make for her, for your family, that will be reward enough.” That is the reason why Aelys is here - not for her, not because she thinks someone would understand. But trying to make Lenore understand will just hurt Synnove. She is sure that in time, others will agree with them. 
* They make their way back to the tent and Synnove tells Aelys why Katari is sleeping in her bedroll. They go to bed.
* “If there was anyone awake in the immediate vicinity, they would hear a strange sound coming from a small book - a sigh - and a sound somewhere in the dark skies above - laughing.”
=== Part 2 ===
* As the sun breaks on the Lifeless Sea, JB wakes up and makes his way back to the tent where the others are slowly waking up. Katari is nowhere to be seen, instead they notice that Aelys is back. Synnove acts like she sees Aelys for the first time like the rest and doesn’t show that they had that conversation last night. The others see the new scars on JB’s body, so he tells them that he removed the problem and feels good again. Aelys tells them she found a bit more sense of purpose in the cocoon and was granted a bit more strength. JB wonders if she spoke to a part of Purpose as well and explains what he did last night and that he got rid of it. But Aelys absorbed Penance/Purpose and did not talk to them, which granted the Godsleep at least some further sense of clarity to her. She wants to understand it and learn more about it. At least for now she has a bit more control over it but she still needs to find the book, the Dreamer’s Codex, and the other pieces of it. Synnove whispers to Lenore that maybe it is the book she has to get, but Lenore thinks that would be a crazy coincidence. 
* JB remembers that there is a restricted section in his monastery that is only reserved for the most elite of disciples and elders of monastic discipline as bequeathed by Andusk Theragar, but does not tell the others about it.
* Lenore explains that as far as she understands, she is allowed to stay and keep traveling with the group as long as she can keep working on V’s to-do list while she is here. She still has to go to the Distortion at some point, check in on the beacons and get something from a monastery and keep it safe. Gold chimes in and asks why she has to check the beacons but is not marked as a sigil bearer - he could grant her a sigil though. Lenore tries to whisper to her sister that she does not want more shit happening to her body, as she is already having enough things to deal with. Everyone around her hears it. Theagus thinks they should be more truthful with each other. Synnove just wants her to be included, but Lenore feels included enough just being here with them. 
* They make their way to Commander Bertrand’s office where Acastarok is guarding the door and tells them to wait so he can tell the Commander they are here.  
* They enter the office where they not only see Bertrand but also Katari sitting there, the latter small and sunken into her seat. The meeting starts. They agree they have to work together, and to make it easier to trust each other after all that has happened, they activate a Truth Teller, making everyone in the room unable to tell a lie. Bertrand asks them a few questions to begin with, for example what they know about those sentinel documents they took and what the intention of the sigil bearers in the room is. They tell her they try to find out more because all they have been told was by Hareem and they all have seen how that ended. She continues to ask what they learned in the lighthouse and what their next plans would have been if they haven’t been saved by Værina, so they tell her about the beacons, that three have been taken now, and that they were still planning on going to the other lighthouses but have not made specific plans yet.
* Bertrand can tell them more but to give them all the information they are looking for, she needs them to swear by the Sentinel Paradigm. Before they do not do that, she can only tell them so much. 
* Bertrand begins to explain the history of Sentinel. “Sentinel was put in place almost a thousand years ago. The founder of the Copper Legion [Xenarius the Clearhearted] created the Legion as a means to cover our true purpose and every branch of the Legion in some form houses a true collective of Sentinel. We exist to ensure the lighthouses, the beacons, the heralds that guard them and the penitent that build them stay unknown and safe until we are shown that it is time to ignite them.” Synnove asks how they know when it is time. Bertrand says that “the legend dictates that it will be made very clear” but they don’t know what exactly it is going to be. She continues: “The lighthouses guard the six beacons which in turn are designed to call the Progeny.” To precede further, the group has to join the true ranks and swear by the Sentinel Paradigm, meaning they will be bound by a series of tenants and virtues, “to hold true to that which makes one’s heart clear and to ensure the sanctity of the Prime”. For Sentinel that means “a world where we who live in the Prime get to govern our own choices as opposed to one where we are merely servants to a greater whim. It means one that does not get to be torn apart by hand we cannot see, it means one where the weak are allowed to grow and live under the shields we hold for them. It means one where no single person dictates the future of the whole.” They are against the Crucible and for the Eclipse. And especially after that vision they received two days ago, this seems more important than ever. The Penitent were given a mission that terrified them and spurred them into action, that required them to protect without thinking and without reward. That is what Bertrand dedicates herself to. 
* Bertrand asks how much the party knows about the Silent Pantheon. After making the room more private, she clarifies that she’s referring to The Eclipse. They sought to make the world liveable, where people could act outside of the gods’ hands. She and the Sentinels believe that whatever rendered them distant was not their choice. They’re now waiting for the right sign to “set things right, and set all the prime on a path where we are allowed to walk each step on our own.” The group asks for more, but Bertrand says she cannot tell them more without an oath. All that she can say is that the Progeny exist outside the known pantheons. “They are the first and formless, and could post great catastrophic danger, or set things as they must be righted.” Bertrand knows they will set things right if called on time, but if called too early or too late, something bad will happen. Once again, the party asks for further information, to which Bertrand pulls out a tablet with the Sigil. She offers them the choice to either join the order by swearing an oath, or they may leave Faleeria immediately.
* The group struggles to answer, not sure if they are able to keep that oath and if they could really trust Bertrand and Sentinel. Bertrand tells them that she runs a guild opening its doors to anyone asking for help, no matter the request. They turn no one away and they can keep people safe that even the Vanguard would see persecuted or jailed. She doesn't know what the Court of the Star is doing but she stands against their plundering of power they don’t understand. 
* Synnove has one condition before she agrees. She makes sure Katari is officially part of the group, and Bertrand agrees as that is the reason she is here with them in the office. And to get it done, Bertrand decides to fulfill Synnove’s and her salt agreement now. She picks up a piece of sun salt and eats it like it is nothing, because for her as a dwarf it not really is. JB mentions that he speaks dwarvish,  so they start a little conversation and she tells him that her door is always open if he wants to practice this language more. 
* In the end, all in the group agree to swear the oath and Commander Bertrand will also speak to Dr. Iridia to make her an official member of Sentinel later that day. As a gesture of good faith, Bertrand deactivates the Truth Teller and puts her hand on the Sentinel rune on the table. “The words will now be spoken, just as our forebears spoke them, just as Longing spoke them to She who was clearhearted.” The symbol begins to glow a dull green. The group places their hands on the sigil and speak after Bertrand: 
* Bertrand ends: “So it has always been and so it shall be until the task is done, the beacons are lit and what was fractured is once again whole. May your hearts be clear.” With a final pulse of the sigil, the group is bound by the Sentinel Paradigm. (They each get a pendant with the Sentinel symbol on them)** and Bertrand welcomes them as comrades.  
* Now able to speak freely and give them more information, Bertrand heads over to the statue of Xenarius, traces the sigil on their chest and where the eyes should be, green lights shoot out onto the orichalcum lance, which in turn projects a holographic map of the Prime on the desk. 
* The order they just joined has 3 distinct branches, placed at two of the other Copper Legion branches: 
** one in the southwest by Faleeria
** one in forests immediately to the east of Calanthus known as the Calatine Wood
** one in the upside down black triangle in the southeast that represents Disterra 
* Bertrand not only serves as Commander of operations for Sentinel here but across all three branches. Though each has their own leadership, they all report back to her. Her concern about the documents earlier mainly concerns the safety of the operatives in the Calatine Wood and Disterra. The coded dossier Hareem now has details everything about them. The second Hareem understands that, they could be in danger. Bertrand notified them but she is not sure if the messages will arrive there in time. 
* She then touches the statue again and six mini holograms of the Lighthouses appear. Three of them stand tall, 3 of them are shattered and broken.
Lighthouse Locations on the Map (Interactive Map) 	Lighthouse Locations on the Map (Interactive Map)	Lighthouse Locations on the Map (Interactive Map)
One in the northern quadrant of the Heartwilds 	Regret 	shattered
One is just northeast of Faleeria 	Longing 	shattered
One darting around the map, in the Faded Realm 	Solace 	shattered
One across the sea on the volcanic island known as the Anvil 	Temperance 	intact
One up in the great northern range of the Dragonspine Mountains	Beauty 	intact
One in Disterra 	Knowledge 	intact
* Bertrand thinks those shattered Lighthouses have been claimed by their immediate enemies, the Court of the Star and especially Era’Harel. As Sentinels, Bertrand wants the group to venture forth to the three remaining lighthouses before they can be claimed by the opposition. The sigil bearers are the only ones who can access these lighthouses and it is unclear how the enemies did it. Previously, the orichalcum spear was the key. “The wielder of this spear is the de facto commander of Sentinel as beseeched not just by the Herald of Longing but by Xenarius’ original patron, Hylan.” It has been passed down to the commander of the Faleeria Copper Legion ever since its founding. 
* They have to act before the Court can and get the beacons here so they can figure out their next steps. They need all six of them in one space to do what they plan to and Sentinel has to prevent that. The Court might not know the location of the Lighthouses so they might have an advantage. 
* The group tells Bertrand about the Errant Cryptoglyph Hareem had and used, a relict from his family. Bertrand thinks that is impossible, as anything depicting any of the Penitent Harbinger’s actions would have to have been from the last 900 years and the Hareem family is older than that. 
* Gold speaks up and attends to business. He flies over to the orichalcum lance, impales itself on it and projects more green lines like an interconnected web of rivers, over the map of the Prime. It looks like laylines, but Bertrand doesn’t know what they could mean. 
* The group asks again about the vision that the Harbingers saw and that Bertrand couldn't tell them before. “One of the more recent members to the Eclipse, in the last year of their activity, was known as Eui, the Dreaming Valkyrie, God of Foresight, Dreams, Visions. They are our patron, or the patron of the Penitent. They, as the legends go, granted a vision to a set group of people of a time when the world would need more than what we could see, need the pieces that it was missing, the fragments of the world’s creation brought back home. There were six towering pillars of light and so we made the lighthouses to house those lights. She granted the Penitent the beacons to only be activated when the time was right. We are told that we will know when that is.” The Progeny, the Children of the Child - six fragments were formed when this very world was created. The first children of the creator - the only true children of the creator, if Eui’s visions are to be believed. They only know them as the Progeny: Temperance, Knowledge, Beauty, Regret, Solace and Longing. 
* Lenore asks about the sign again and gives Bertrand a few examples, including that if a god started talking to someone if that would be a sign. Bertrand doesn’t know and if that was the case, it wouldn’t necessarily mean that the time for the beacons was right. When the time is right, their oath will tell them. When the group mentioned hypothetical speaking to a god again in the span of a few minutes and Bertrand asks about it, Theagus gives her a secret nod. Bertrand shouts Acasterok’s name and tells him to lock the door, as it seems they have a longer conversation ahead of them.
=== Notes ===
* It is later described as a more kintsugi pottery style with pale blue lines running all over his body.
JB’s constitution is now back to normal & he can channel negative energy, but the consciousness of Purpose is at least somewhat preserved. 
Aelys has been granted the Reaper’s Vestments, enabling her to take on the form of the Xilyreon.
**retconned in ep21, didn't happen in this episode
== Characters ==
=== Player Characters ===
* Aelys Sa’Viraan
* Theagus SOT
* Jean-Baptiste
* Lenore
* Synnove Oleander
=== NPCs ===
*Gold
*Katari
*Purpose (awakened)
*Godsleep/Xilyreon
*Dr. Iridia Thane
*Stella (Dark Age)
*Hope
*Acastarok
*Ygritte Bertrand
===Mentioned===
*Inara (in RP Warmup & Episode)
*Garavellir (in RP Warmup)
*Maravix (in RP Warmup)
*Kasamir (in RP Warmup)
*Rusty
*Xyhrixis/Cerebro, Stareater
*Ur-Viraan
*Voltaire
*Abelas
*Andusk Theragar 
*V
*Sethius
*Xenarius the Clearhearted
*Smythe
*Beatrix Avalon
*Era’Harel
*Hylan
*Hareem Lord Hareem
*Eui
== Locations and Organizations ==
=== Locations ===
*Faleeria
*Faded Realm (mentioned)
*Disterra (mentioned) - City of Black Stone
*Üthevhenan (mentioned)
*Calatine Wood (mentioned)
=== Organizations ===
* The Copper Legion
*Sentinel
*Penitent Harbingers
*The Eclipse
*Coalition of Greater Order
**The Vanguard
*Court of the Star
== Tarot Card and RP Warmup ==
The tarot card for the episode was Strength, drawn by Kyle.
The roleplay warmup question was: "What is a nickname that someone else has given your character and why have they given you this nickname?"
== References ==