"Forgive me if this has already been covered previously, a lot has happened since we last had a large conversation like this," she said before sipping. "But, when and how exactly was your organization started? Was there any particular event that prompted its formation?"
“I’d also appreciate an overview,” the Dewott said, raising his paw, after the Mawile spoke. “Sorry, I’ve had a lot on my plate lately, and haven’t had time to do the homework.”
Nolan reflexively made a sour face at someone not having 'done their homework' – the Inteleon was nothing if not a thorough researcher himself – but he returned to a dispassionate expression as he began to speak.
"The Covenant is not exactly a
public-facing organisation," clarified the reptile. (In other words, it wasn't as if Archie could have learned much about it to begin with...) "It was founded some two centuries ago by humans – and the descendants of humans – who came together to address the problems that civilisation faced in what is now the heartland of the Commonwealth. There had recently been a 'Crisis' – periodic events that threaten sufficient harm to a region of the world as to merit the summoning of a human hero – and the fledgling colonies on the east coast were set back considerably. The hero of that time, having lost much in their efforts to defeat the Crisis, wished to safeguard against similar tragedies yet to come, and gathered others to this cause. The Covenant's first and foremost mission from that time has been to prepare for future Crises, and to mitigate the harm they might cause to the peoples and environments of Forlas. Everything else follows from that goal."
He smirked mildly, adjusting his cravat.
"My
own role is to gather intelligence for the Covenant. I take pride in this – it is of the greatest importance that my organisation is reliably informed, that it may take the wisest courses of action."
"Regardless on the organisation's current stance, you have had prior dealings with them. How much did you know of their activity prior to this point?"
He turned to address Bellatrix with a blank expression. Nolan had previously been – while difficult to read – consistently
emotive in his reactions. Either he genuinely felt nothing, or this was the first case of him deliberately putting on a mask.
"I regret that I personally knew relatively little until I was assigned to investigate them. At that time, I had heard rumours that another large human-run organisation had been contacted, and that – naturally – the leadership was both cautious and hopeful. The best case scenario they surely imagined was that this 'Cipher' had similar motivations and goals as the Covenant, and could be a force for good. As you already know, I soon discovered various... disheartening truths about them. For instance, their involvement with the Shadow pokémon phenomenon, and – by implication – that if you were not involved with them yourselves, that you had been summoned to address them, and that they were therefore considered a threat to this world."
Laura frowned at this, and flicked her tail as she spoke up.
"Considered a threat, by who? Uh, whom? Who actually
does the summoning?"
Nolan nodded, and sighed at some private thought.
"Nobody knows for sure, I suspect. Summoned heroes typically lose many of their memories, including any of the summoning entity that calls them to Forlas, but there
is an entity, which many members of the Covenant believe is either a specific Saint, or some ephemeral...
nature spirit or 'god'. We have a codename for this entity; we call them 'Beacon'. All we know about them is that if the trace memories of summoned heroes are accurate, that they are a conscious being responsible for the world's wellbeing and empowered to summon humans from other worlds to protect it."
He looked faintly stricken for a moment.
"As far as I understand it, you
were summoned by an entity, but
not by the Beacon that summoned previous heroes...? Is that correct?"
