#( s'razz also belongs to the wife. what a fucking bastard (fond) )

[motherswrath]

been discussing the Ethereals in Tia's empire a lot lately, and although most of them do remain neutral and / or mind their own business, there were a handful who made the choice to invest in her rise - "the winning side" - and are profiting from that decision to this day. with them, Xarentia slowly build a faction of Ethereals who are loyal to the empire (as loyal as Ethereals can be) and handle much of her trade economy, especially the black markets and similarly underhanded business. this affords them many perks, from material wealth to commercial freedom. a large cornerstone in their history was the establishment of a Treatise restricting the Ethereals's use of cosmic-scale magic after one of them nearly had the Empress renounce their entire faction. as per headcanons with my partner, Ethereals have a terrifying potential for power on a cosmic level, considering they are creatures of condensed magic treading the Twisting Nether itself. if they ever had the mind to cease their infighting and truly set their minds to it, they absolutely could wipe out Her empire (and seriously harm the fabric of reality). the original Ethereals who established the Treatise with Her have since passed it down to future generations under the guise of a cultural policy and moral responsibility, rather than a legal obligation. there will always be outliers, but the core of these Ethereals serve the empire faithfully because of the many benefits and favoured treatment. although it's all business, Xarentia does genuinely value them very highly and it shows. prior to the Treatise, one of the outliers was S'razz, who caused irreparable damage to a casino inside a pocket dimension. in an ambitious bid to usurp the Nexus-Lord in charge, he stole an artifact entrusted into the casino's care and with it killed one of Xarentia's brood - specifically one of Amaladarra's children. as such, the spymaster herself handled the case and S'razz was ultimately imprisoned inside the same artifact he so coveted. ( he returned centuries later as a changed man and has since helped facilitate the Empress's relationship with his people. )