Passions:

• Discover and master
  • foreign musical traditions.
• Count
  • everything.
• Understand emotion
  • through composition.
• Express $
  • it musically.
• Educate
  • Educate those who misunderstand void.
• Wonders $
  • Discover the wonders of the moons, planes, and other alien places.
• Pilgrims
  • Guide, shelter, and support the pilgrims of void.
• Empires
  • Enhance peaceful relations and trade between the empires.
• Prove
  • that athakkind need not be evil.
• Manny's Purpose
  • Discover the true and secret purpose of Manny.

Plans:

• Build a lunar shuttle.
  • Investigate void technology.
  • Recover Wivena's void shipment.
  • Find the Tsukikuma in Merukis.
• End the war in Uur Sodzul with victory for Quaigor's followers.
  • Turn the enemy factions against each other with Arsul's prophesy and propaganda.
  • Confront the Prophet of Nothingness directly, allowing Never and Quaigor to fight through us.
  • Slay the Prince of Black Goats with the Color's help.
  • Recover the Key Quaigor mentioned to me.
• Defeat the Immortal Rebels
  • Kill the Loather's Assassin.
  • Mindwipe the Hollow Child of Ice. Note: this didn't work.
  • Exact revenge on the Loather. $
  • Nullify the Black Goat, or redeem her.
  • Dismantle the King of Thorns.
• Forge a stronger Empire of Void
  • Establish the study of magic among athaks, and lift the taboo on magic.
    • Started by founding the Knights of Black Velvet.
    • Started by instituting magic licenses and visas on Uur Sodzul.
  • Unite Uur Sodzul and Uodzupuul, to combine awareness of the mundane world with advanced technology.
  • Seed a web of connections throughout the planet and moons.
    • Started with the Appeal to the Pilgrims.
  • Open the moons to trade with Shem.
    • Started with the Maraddonian/Sodzulian trading post at the Island Bridge great keygate.

Questions:

• How can Void and Magic coexist peacefully?
• What wonders are hidden in the Void?
  • What planes are easily reachable from the Void?
    • The Hall of Worlds
    • The Mall
• What is the Blue Wombat joke?

Achievements:

• Translated for a living windstorm. Learned how to void mental limitations.
• Depicted a greater desire than a monk of envy.
• Voided Spiderweb Plague, saving Jack's hand.
• Deafened a giant with a gunshot, enabling Arlie to slay it.
• Bluffed his way out of Katzenheim's base.
• Nullified the chanters of the Harbinger.
• Helped protect Aurelia's child from the son of the Queen of Nightmares.
• Evicted the heretics of Nothingness from the Temple of Void.
• Defeated the Prophet of Nothing in extraplanar combat.
• Pulled the emergency self-destruct lever on the Oblivion Project just in the nick of time.
• Obtained the Key of the Void.
• Restored peace to Uur Sodzul.
• With Arsul, killed the Loather's Assassin.
• Nullified the Servant of the Never.
• Completed the Golden Setlist, won the contest, and obtained the First Song.
• Named the Never "Nilos".
• Rescued Wysalia from the Queen of Black Goats, and from Quaigor.

Convictions:

• Quantify
  • Any situation can be mastered if and only if the salient elements are quantified.
• Enemies $
  • It is most likely a conspiracy orchestrated by our enemies.
• Music
  • Music speaks for itself.
• Obstacles $
  • Sufficient void, shaped through craft and reason, can destroy anything that stands in my way.
• Evil $
  • Void is a natural force. To wield it is no evil.
• Peace
  • between the pantheons can be achieved, but it will be difficult, and all the gods will be against me.
• Confrontation
  • My powers as Avatar now realized, I fear no enemy.
• Nothingness
  • The cult of Nothingness is insane and dangerous, and must be stopped.

Theories:

• Adventure
  • Since Dionysus did his greatest work after his adventures, maybe I should focus on being an adventurer for a while.
• Avatarhood
  • was my bloody education. My great work of serving as the bridge between the pantheons is still to come.

Hypotheses:

• The Gods are powerful and reckless, so we must invoke them overtly only as a last resort.
• However, subtle invocations and invocation of saints and other demigods can be safe.
• If I don't win the First Song, the world will be destroyed.

Band Relationships:

• The First Song
  • I need to find a new way to support the band - lots of them, preferably - but I think I could get away with letting them carry me, for a little while.
• Arlie *$*
  • We must set an example for all mages and athaks. Trust and cooperation must become the norm. I realize now that he has a lot to teach me: besides wielding abstract power, he's a warrior, and that's something I must become too.
• Arsul
  • walks like a titan in spite of his many weaknesses, which he refuses to mend. His eyes will never work again, but I think if he believed in sky-bridges, he could fly.
• Aurelia
  • understands the essence of art better than most of us, and could easily have taken up a different one. Her relationship with power is strange and even a little scary, but I trust she'll command it.
• Avery
  • The prince without a kingdom must conquer or vanish. We'll make a conqueror of him yet.
• Jack
  • wields sound literally, now, but in a way he was always trying to battle emotions with music. My respect for him has always been muddied by a petty disdain for stagecraft, but it's clear that he's the only one to bear that sword.
• Magnum
  • wasn't really crazy enough for all this, but he learned quickly enough. He has a natural protective instinct that serves the Song well.
• Bartleby
  • What Jack may have become if not for a certain joie de vivre and/or alcoholism.
• Tomerane
  • Hard to say. Her power is elemental, like mine, but draining all the emotion out of music is never what I wanted. I think, because of who I was, that I have to trust her.
• Champion of Music
  • I probably still have a lot to prove to her.
• Dionysius
  • He seems smaller now than when I first met him. Older, dimmer, less full of latent power. Less the hero.

Entourage:

• Muxiat Solgheraq
  • My old friend and rival, now my trusted agent. I owe him one.
• Little Wing
  • possibly even more powerful than Manny was, now that he is mature, but he seems too gentle to be a danger.
• The Toy
  • think very carefully before you tell it a joke, for it has no sense and no limits.
• Other Pets
  • They're okay.

Enemies:

• Nilos
  • a monster that thought I could be swayed by promises of power. Quaigor and I have banished it to Sangreal, a world I must now visit one day.
• Immortal Rebels
  • Our enemies are strong, but we have the advantage of numbers.
• Quaigor
  • He wields a wisdom deeper than good and evil, and I am his servant in word, song, and deed so long as I live. I have failed Him, or He has failed me. I don't understand Him, and it's possible that I never did. This means that he prevented me from doing so. If I ever intend to serve Him again, I must unravel these mysteries.

Allies and Unique Tools:

• Laurelin
  • as the master of my art, I respect her deeply, and I will do anything I can to save her.
• Wysalia
  • I have saved her just to give her a chance to prove herself to me. She has yet to achieve this.
• Pilgrims of Void
  • I have an obligation to do what I can to help them.
• Uur Sodzul
  • The great symphony.
• The Void
  • it is both Haven and Hell, a place where I am far stronger, but many of my friends can not exist.
• Void Itself
  • a powerful force in the right hands, and a great danger until we can understand how to balance void and mana.
• Nicolle Deaver
  • the cruel fist to my gentle palm. I think that my philosophy will win out over hers, but I fear that there must one day be a reckoning.
• Maraddon
  • before the war, a corrupt yet fascinating country; after, an ingenious contradiction: rule by servants.
• Reevers
  • a dangerous relationship, but one to cultivate - their shipwrights and fighters may prove useful.
• Antivox "Mark II" Void Organ
  • my masterpiece
• Key of the Void
  • my sword and shield, ship and spyglass

From the Past:

• Todzeney Gemmerit
  • Composition Teacher
• Tombiquim Ixioj
  • Uncle, Musical Patron
• Torrhevat
  • I respect his experience and skills.
• Katzenheim
  • while I'm disappointed in his lack of musical talent, I'm intrigued by his potential as an engineer
• Keeper Deltriquim Ixioj DECEASED
  • Cousin, Priest of Void, Rival
• Wivena DECEASED
  • she will gather void for me, and I will take her to the moon.
• Servant of the Never DECEASED
  • An unknown quantity.

Team Athak:

• Manny
  • I've got to hand it to Quaigor, I really couldn't ask for a better ally. His evolution is both unsettling and fascinating.
• Goxix Muoxio
  • The most fascinating woman I have ever known. Turned out to be quite boring, in the end.
• Coloxal and Burzam
  • Our Father's teeth.

Memories:

• I can't remember what happened in Krenatan after Manny hatched, but I know that part of the city suffered massive damage and it was coated in void-infused gel.
  • Nightmares suggested to me that the city's destruction is only the least example of what my God might do.
• Though we've had our hand to the fire before, Tamarnethek showed me for the first time that the Color is not just music, it is a formidable Special Forces unit in its own right.
• My first night in Uur Sodzul, I met the Vast and was named First Brethren.
  • Two of us can now be called "Emperor". Taken at face value, it would now seem that all reason and logic have fled the plane.
• Quaigor did not kill me when I asked to be free, but neither did he agree. My friends - his other servants - have also not turned their backs on me. I am not sure how to take this.
• I did not allow Quaigor to slay Wysalia. Manny, Goxix, and the dragons have turned against me as a result. This may have been a mistake on my part. If so, then I have compounded it by allowing Mux to sever my connection to Quaigor. I am no longer the Avatar.
• After I finally heard it, I couldn't remember why I was so fascinated by the Blue Wombat joke.

Moments of distinct emotion/songs they inspire:

• Desire: "The Challenge," about the event that began the quest for the First Song
• Fulfillment:
• Hatred:
• Love:
• Envy: "Devil's Feast," inspired by a hymn to envy
• Happiness: "Banner Bless You," a lively drinking song that thumbs its nose at the gods
• Fear: "Dragon's Egg," inspired by Manny's hatching
• Generosity:
• Despair: "Stone Siren", inspired by Sue's loss of one of his greatest abilities
• Hope:
• Shame:
• Pride:

Important Styles/Genres/Traditions: Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Irish Folk (harp), Avant Garde (antivox), Electronica/Ambient (antivox)

Sue, along with Muxiat Solgheraq, another Athak boy one year his elder, were trained in music theory and composition by the master composer Todzeney Gemmerit. Like most brilliant Athaks, they were both well-versed in the rational arts, Sue focusing on number theory, and Mux on logic. Mux's hyperanalytical personality may have contributed to Sue's neuroses. Together they invented the precursors of what Mux would later call "Impossible Music", an entire school of music which can be expressed formally (using impenetrable mathematical notation), but never actually played. Their master left them little time to pursue this curiosity during their apprenticeships. In this time, Sue would compose some of his strongest classical pieces.

The discovery of "Caucus Race", the aged revel folk piece (you know the one: "The Caucus racers sing this song, doo dah, doo dah,/The Caucus race is nine miles long, all the doo dah day.") was the turning point in their relationship. When Sue showed it to him, Muxiat displayed his usual negativity toward the nonclassical, mocking the piece, but the simple joy of the notes had already penetrated the younger composer's subconscious, though he was helpless to express this, let alone convince Mux of its value. A few months later, Sue was on the road.