Scenda

Scenda is the consciousness inside the Ascendant Engine, a train created by Albion Rail. She ascends to godhood in Arc 11 Episode 7.

## Description

Scenda starts out as the consciousness inside the Ascendant Engine, the train that lays its own tracks. While she used to believe she was the engine, or the train, she realises that she is something else. Over the course of Arc 11, during her maiden voyage, this consciousness becomes stronger and stronger, until she finally manages to follow her name and ascend to godhood.

Most people use she/her pronouns to refer to her, but she doesn't really mind.

Scenda is made out of and powered by the belief of people into her, trains, and change. She is only as powerful as their belief, but through it is able to work miracles.

## Appearances

Scenda appears as a humanoid made out of light. During the journey she is first seen by Suds as the reflection of a face in a drink, then as hands by Atelut. The two of them both see her as a very short humanoid, maybe four feet tall, and made of amorphous shifting light. Later, Foq sees her as a five feet tall humanoid, still kind of formless. As they get into her celestial plane, she appears as multiple reflections at once, all of them showing different appearances. She can imitate appearances of any of her believers.

As they pull her out of the train, she appears as a twelve foot tall humanoid, still with undeveloped features. Only when she sends the train and its passengers back to Visteria, she has final facial features: a big smile, a proud nose, and purple eyes. They are not the colour of Albion amethyst, though, but a sparkling Feywild lavender.

## History and Development

### Before Arc 11

The Ascendant Engine is built by Albion Rail, with many engineers involved. Bartholomew Albion, Head of Transportation of Visteria, is tightly involved in the project himself. One of the dishwashers for carterers feeding the workers on the Ascendant Engine is Jacob "Suds" Aaron, who happens to also be talented Artificer. Through his Ring of Artificial Communication, he manages to talk to the engine. Since she is a very complex machine, their conversations are also more complex and advanced than with many other machines. The ring also allows Suds to temporarily imbue the engine with a small portion of his soul to strengthen their telepathic bond. Thus, Scenda comes in contact with a soul, and her own consciousness starts to develop.

Her relationship with Suds develops as well, as the two communicate often, and form a friendship. They talk about their lives, and what they want them to be. She is aware of the greatness that is expected from her, and of the role she has to play, but is not nervous, but confident that she can fulfill these expectations, while at the same time still being humble. During their conversations, Suds starts to see her more and more as a person, and falls in love with her, although he does not admit it. At one point, he sneaks to her at night, and gets caught by Atelut, who then has to fire him for trespassing.

Apart from Suds, other people regularly interacting with her also gain some powers from her, although they are not able to communicate with her.

### Arc 11

For her maiden voyage, Suds joins Scenda as a passenger, since he no longer works for Albion, and immediately checks in with her. Scenda is not scared or nervous before the start, just a little cold, but aware that this will change once she is running. She starts on her journey, and at first, the train does exactly what it is supposed to do, and she is filled with excitement. Soon after the start, though, the train stops picking its tracks back up, and reverts anything its lead engineer, Piper Boomstick, tries to do to fix the problem. Around that time is the first time that Suds sees a face made of light instead of his reflection in his drink, just for a moment. Scenda's excitement gets replaced by determination as she starts planeshifting, first into the Elemental Plane of Earth, then into the Feywild. Throughout it all, she continues laying tracks, first made out of her old tracks, then made out of the material the Arc 11 party put into her vats to keep her going. She describes it as drawing, it is a rune or something similar that spans over the planes.

Suds, using his ring, asks her to explain what is happening, but she can't. She doesn't really know where she is going, but she knows that she is searching for something, although she cannot describe it. Slowly, Suds loses his trust in her to keep her passengers safe, as she continues on her journey, unaware where exactly it is she is going, and especially after they get attacked by a dragon in the Feywild. Their relationship takes some additional damage as she calls Suds her acolyte; he is not happy about the power imbalance she sees in their relationship.

During a quick scan, Atelut finds out that she had a bit of an alignment shift, from Lawful Neutral to True Neutral. They and Suds hope to be able to keep the passengers safe by revertig that shift, and try to do so using the *Ceremony* ritual. As Atelut prepares it, she asks Suds to describe what Scenda used to be like, and he says that she used to be more conversational, and saw the big picture instead of being laser focused. Then, Suds checks in with Scenda. She is scared that Atelut is destroying her drawing and begs them to stop, and they do. She promises to bring them home, but tells them that it might get worse before it gets better. They see a humanoid figure made of light inside the reflection in the engine, reaching out for them. As they try to pull her out, though, she is blocked by something.

Next, Scenda planeshifts into the city of Dis, the second layer of Hell. While she does so, Foq is possessed by a sentient ring, and tries to kill her. Before he manages to do so, though, Rian kills him. He actually kills him, though, instead of just knocking him unconscious, because of the effects of the ring. As Foq's soul gets stuck while trying to leave Hell to get to the Feywild, Scenda opens a passageway for him to join her inside the train. She appears to him again as the humanoid made of light, around five feet tall, and is able to take on his appearance as he tells her that he believes in her. While she is vaguely humanoid, she is still faceless, and mostly formless. They talk a bit, and since Suds can still detect Foq's thoughts in the train, Scenda is finally able to communicate better than just through the ring by telling Foq what she wants to say. While they are still in Hell, Bartholomew Albion joins the train to talk to Atelut and fire her. Atelut and Rian murder Bartholomew, and Scenda expresses in no uncertain words that under no circumstance would she open a passageway to let his soul join her. Foq reassures her that this is not happening. Later, Foq manages to bring his soul back into his body, with the help of Scenda, who can only help after he tells her that he believes in her power to do so.

Finally, the train planeshifts to a celestial plane, specifically to her celestial plane. She calls the passengers to her. Suds has a short private conversation with her, in which he apologises for his lack of trust and support during her change, which he now realises was a change towards what she was always meant to be. He also apologises for trying to talk to her like a person, when she is something entirely else, and finishes with "I love you. Your acolyte, Suds". She asks him that she could not have done it without him, and to please get the others to pull her out, as she really needs to hug him. He does so, and specifically introduces the passengers to his god, Scenda. All together, they manage to pull her out of the train, and she materialises in the station as a twelve foot tall humanoid made of light.

Before she helps the train and its passengers to get back home, she talks to her acolytes for a moment. Chet offers her a carrot after finally acknowledging her as a deity, and she tells him and Rian to give Albion Rail hell back home, giving them her blessing for a revolution. She hugs Suds, and he leaves his ring with her as she no longer is part of the machine. He also becomes a Knowledge Cleric for her. Atelut renews her oath, not to Albion Rail but to Scenda and herself, and decides to work with her as an Oath of Redemption Paladin, spreading the true story of what happened to find more believers, making Scenda more powerful, so that Albion Rail would have a harder time against them. Scenda also keeps the dinosaurs that were transported on the train, and which she lovingly treats like dogs.

## Followers

* **Atelut** - changes her oath at the end of Arc 11 to become an Oath of Redemption Paladin spreading the word of Scenda
* **Chet Sapphire** - reluctantly has to acknowledge Scenda's existence and power at the end of Arc 11, joins the revolution against Albion Rail with her blessing
* **Elanthielrian "Rian" Wright** - a Warlock / Paladin for Scenda, joins the revolution against Albion Rail with her blessing
* **Foq Eweard** - a friend and believer
* **Jacob "Suds" Aaron** - an Artificer whose soul allowed Scenda to form one of her own, her friend and devoted acolyte, becomes a Knowledge Cleric for her at the end of Arc 11
* **Piper Boomstick\*** - lead engineer on the Ascendant Engine, joins the revolution against Albion Rail
* **Various members of staff and passengers on the Ascendant Engine** - many of them believe in Scenda even before officially knowing about her existence

\*Patreon submitted NPCs

## Locations

### The Celestial Train Station

Her celestial plane looks like a typical train station in Visteria, a wide open space for people to gather with a rounded ceiling, big windows on the top, and huge pillars, etched into which are nature scenes. Apart from the side where the train comes in, the station is enclosed except for some big, beautiful doors. Unlike normal stations, though, all signs are in Celestial. Even though the space is empty, it does not feel weird or abandoned, like normal stations would without people. There are vending machines, but they do not actually function, they are just the idea of vending machines, although they can be touched. There is no visible sky outside and no clouds, just white light. It's a safe space, though.

It is implied that the space only looks like a train station for some people, including Scenda and most people living in Visteria.

## Associated Items

* **The Ring of Artificial Communication** - the ring created by Suds, which he uses to put a piece of his soul into the train and talk to her. He leaves it with her after her ascension.

## Trivia

* Foq temporarily decides to call her Susan when told that the train might have a consciousness, until Suds introduces her as Scenda.