Astaroth had a moment longer to concentrate before she could adress the great mage. Then she opened her bright green and violet eyes and looked over the rim of her veil to him.  As her magic came from study instead of just drawing on her own divine essence she was not uncomfortable around this emerging archetype of leader.  She felt the other God-Kings dislike of them was based on fear. They mistook them for a united front that wanted to overthrow the theocracy.  From what Astaroth knew the Archmages were even less united than the God-Kings.  With properly applied order the Archmages could become a useful secondary tier of government.  They were peers to be respected, but even she did not see them as true equals.  It was the sort of relationship a Duke might have with a Baron, which was still a great deal warmer than some of the other God Kings saw things.  As long as they didn't act the part of upstarts an Archmage could foster a good working relationship with the goddess of love and war.<br/><br/>Of course this *particular* mage she knew personally, if not particularly closely.  She admired the way he worked with magic. It was much more scholarly than that of the sorcerer, but still intuitive. Perhaps in time he and The Forbidden One might combine their tallents on something.<br/><br/>"It is good to see you too Lord Orro. I was interested in potential divination diversion we might be using. Its a rather curious one, i'm not sure I recognize the spell." Astaroth smiled through the veil and extended her hand to him.<br/><br/>"I have finished what I can do about it for the moment. You are welcome to walk with me into the palace.  I suspect it will be those, like you and I, who will be the one's to finally crush tMulhorand under our heel; Great Beings that know the limitless potential of magic. How much longer before we can teleport their gold and weapons directly into our coffers without ever even looking at them? Then what could they do but beg us for mercy."<br/><br/><br/>OOC: Three men visibly with Astaroth btw. Jerion (one of them), Forbidden One, and Caligula. Its up to you if you know Jerion is a pair of twins (not a huge secret) and that they are possessing fiends. (A bigger secret)