<em>I only said that because I was concerned, and you are smart enough to know otherwise. The daredevil, happy-go-lucky trickster backing off was my way of subtly, kinda, letting you know, just in case.</em><br/><br/>"Of course it was, you are spoiled by me, and shamelessly at that. So enjoy yourselves, ladies, you have earned a break."<br/><br/><hr/><br/>It was a fairly busy five years for Draiss, having to juggle several different species in what he already considered his Vale, though the Dragoon order, finally coming into its own with a couple of powerful Dragoons with an outsider each made that much easier. He was carefully manipulating, through his clerics like a good little uncaring god, the merging of both the Yaun-Ti and his lizardfolk followers, though he did have to deploy a few death squaders a couple times to knock the stuffing out of warlords from both sides that thought that their species should rule over the other one. He had also brought the kobold tribe from Svala's world over to his plane, and put them in the mountains near the silver dragoness that he had met at the divine centennial party, and they were gleefully showering their 'demi-goddess' with gems and gold from their minings. A goblin tribe had moved in near the copper on the other side of the valley, and were mining as well, though they were less interested in stones, and more in trade, though the copper was delighted to have a tribe of neutral goblins that he could visit and prank. Several of his shadow stalkers had finally gone on leave a couple years back, and were employed in the mercenaries that Draiss had spared, only a few squads and clearly the elite, but still providing some major fire support when they were deployed, which wasn't often.<br/><br/>His winter home world was much more fun now, as he spent a good deal of time managing the town that had sprung up near the circle, four years ago, and was a major agricultural center, making a massive amount of various foods, most of it normally rare, and everyone was getting absurdly rich off of farming. The fortress had gone up, though Draiss had had to fund that instead of getting government support, the Emperor's advisers arguing against it, though Draiss had noticed most of the ones against it were bigoted due to his mostly human lineage, and the few who had been cautiously for it had advised quietly backing, but had been mostly ignored. Now Draiss was having to run the town, and had brought in an aspect to assist in the day to day functions, as he was having less and less time to spend there. However, he did know that his town was definitely in the limelight, as most of the newly moneyed families were mostly human or barely anthropomorphic like him, and how his town did would determine how this nation responded to the distant human nation. The permanent teleport circle had been a hit, and only the fact that Draiss was the only caster capable of using it was keeping everyone from setting up trade routes through it. The carter guild, several merchants, and more than two thirds of the advisers were loudly calling for him to be ousted and a 'proper' noble put in place to oversee the booming town. Draiss generally ignored them, and was in the midst of making a tentative friendship with the Emperor and several of his sons, just to make the leader more reluctant to decide something stupid.<br/><br/>His truce with Lloth was on much better ground than when it had started, his a couple of the death squaders were now station in several of her cities across multiple planes, and he was using her cities as testing grounds for the new advanced underground recon and combat models. They looked like giant Driders, and had two or three 'spider' drones that lurked nearby. He had expanded his harem in the desert world to nearly twice the size, just shy of a dozen gorgeous drow women, the two lionesses, the red headed elf who was the harem bitch, and a cheetah woman that was another of Draiss' guilty pleasures. Several houses, a couple of them quite large, had been destroyed for falling from Lloth's favor, many of them having been beyond sending to Ellistraee, and had been given to the demons to amuse themselves, while the few ones that had seemed intelligent and not stupid, along with all the children his constructs could gather, were sent to Ellistraee, though he was careful to ensure that they had no way of being tracked or getting word back first.<br/><br/>His constructs were advancing faster than he had anticipated, already they were far sleeker and almost organic looking, instead of the ten to fifteen years he had thought it would take. Most of the latest versions were tweaking minor issues, improving their sensors, modifying joints and power pack locations, things like that. They were using the dormant Beyonder as a touch stone for the resonating frequency that the Beyonders used to keep in contact with each other, though he had practically given up on trying to get the other gods in on the act, simply forging forward as best he could.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>He stretched, and set the personal project aside for the moment, placing it in a high security vault in his personal lab, as he didn't want the person it was intended for to know he was working on it already. He stretched, and then did a quick check of the various beings, aspects, avatars, and constructs he had scattered about, before deciding that he could do with a short vacation again. Avi, Kammy, Huwawa the pit fiend he had acquired from Dispatar, and Violet were all pregnant, and making thing unbearable when they weren't being unbearably adorable, as much as they were able. He sent his gold dragoness Ashara a mental request to meet him in the portal room with her equipment, letting her know he was doing more planar spelunking again. He didn't take long to get ready, but he still arrived behind his now very devoted older gold dragoness, wearing a fetching robe that showed off her legs and cleavage. He gave her a passionate kiss, one hand slipping inside her top to fondle her, before opening the portal and stepping through.