Messed up a bit there, thanks for pointing it out. Yeah, it's supposed to be Sapphire, I'll fix it in a bit. Again, I had insomnia while writing it, so it wasn't quite up to my usual writing.Originally Posted by Arbitrarity
As for Frid, it's definitely going to be interesting. *chuckles* We've STILL been arguing over if certain servants can work.
I'm starting to suspect that talking with Kieran influences my rolls on Fate/Grand Order Heavily. How else can you explain me talking with him, then rolling for 30, only to get 3 Archer of Shinjuku on my second ten roll?
I write like Douglas Adams. Proof: http://iwl.me/s/696f37bd
Chapter 8: Origins, Travels, and Plans, Part 1
June 6th, 2004
I snap awake from my nap after the blood brother ritual while blinking, then pause for a moment before turning to look over at Tamamo, who's reading in bed. The title alone says it all, so I just roll over, and read where she's reading, as well, hugging my wife while the Wolfen sits in Wolf Home, preparing for the journey to Earth.
From the Journals of Erik Ulricson (Wolf Lord), formerly Erik Ulfrsonr (Wolf Son), Year 7.
It's been 2 years, since I left for Mars, with my wife, Fenris, and the good captain Nestor in tow. 7 years since I killed Jormungandr, and was effectively outcast by the other Pantheons. Well, when they figured out the Death of Jormungandr and Fenris' release, meant the Titans seal was cracked back then, which they took full advantage of to get out.
Gotta admit, if nothing else, the Titans are pretty smart. They're a massive pain in everyone's ass, back on Earth, but they're stupidly smart. Considering I'M the one saying that, that really says everything, doesn't it?
Odin may thank me for relieving him of the destiny of Ragnarok, but once the others figured out what it meant, they turned against me. Chose to blame me as the scapegoat for their poor planning in ensuring the seal holding back the Titans would truly hold.
I hate it. I hate it, and I hate them, barring maybe Tamamo's pantheon. For a good while, I thought about joining hers, trying to become accepted by her mother.
Hah. What a damn fool I was. Accepted? The politics alone had her telling me point blank that if Tamamo ever went to her mother's side and asked for sanctuary, she'd give it in a heartbeat, then murder me. Or maybe it was me stealing her daughter from her pantheon?
It leaves me worried, but at the same time. We're just about on Mars! Woohoo, right?!
Hah. Thankfully the rebuild for the Wolfen and Wolf Home are working fine. I'll be honest, figuring out gravity manipulation devices was a huge blessing for us, there. It's a pity the damned things take so much power, though. Especially when in atmosphere. I'm able to reverse it, so it can push gravity down, but the damned thing will likely need 14 spare nuclear reactors to run it if we ever need to be airborn like that.
I've had to increase the Wolfen's size by double, and add in a huge amount of extra reactors to ensure the device would FIT and work if that last bit ever comes to pass. I've never heard of relics failing over time, though, so I THINK we're good. Even still, Norse God of Paranoia for good reason, right? Still, we've got artificial gravity on board due to it, and my colonists love me for it.
Ahh, machinery. So far you haven't failed me. I know for a fact that I can trust Tamamo, my wife and love. Yes you are, love, yes you are! I know you're going to read this sooner or later, if nothing else than to pre-read this before I sell it to my colonists as my memoirs.
So far, I can trust Fenris too, more than the rest of my pantheon. Stupid politics. Ugh. Still, Tamamo will be able to get to Earth and Back using the Wolfen with ease.
I'll admit, for a while, I was awfully tempted to go the Ivo Robotnik route for things, rather than LEAVE. I even made a prototype roboticizer and everything! But Tamamo, my dear, darling wife, forbade me from using it on animals or people. While promising to ensure I'd suffer a horrible, terrible fate if I tried to use it anyways. I only know it works because of the mosquitos that flew in, then were turned into mechanical mosquitos. Which I sent to find the rest of the pests on the ship, and deal with.
Some days, my creations terrify me. Sometimes my very nature terrifies me. I really hope I don't become like him, unless there's no other choice. Truth be told... I hope that day never comes, that would force me to choose to be like that. Now, where was I? Oh, yes.
After all is said and done, and Wolf Home is safely on Martian Soil, where the Legion of Coal has been building structures, greenhouses and the like for them to live in, we'll be heading to the Asteroid Belt for more Meteorite Iron.
The stuff's useful, and works well for making good armor that serves as relics. I want to see if the stuff that's still asteroids will serve the same purpose to create relics or not.
Mostly, my time has been spent on making some jewelry for my wife, so she can move to my domains as easily as she can, to hers. Well, that, and working on ensuring there's a good satellite feed tap with what I've built. I'm planning on tapping into that internet that's been growing better and better, and built a few satellites with literally insane amounts of storage.
Here's hoping it all goes well! Now, to stop with this entry, then wake my darling wife up with breakfast in bed, followed by morning nookie!
I can't help but smile, as my wife blushes at the end of the entry I wrote, then realizes I'm right beside her, reading along with her.
"So. After nap nookie, my dear?"
She blushes far more, as we take an hour to enjoy ourselves.
It takes another hour for us to finally pull ourselves out of bed, to work out what we can do. We're getting fuel, and loading all the mecha with spare Legion of Coal units, while the bulk of them work to ensure Wolf Home, as well as the massive smelters on board, do the work to ensure that the metal is properly utilized that we're mining off both of Mars' Moons. To make bases on both, while preparing for further expansion.
No samples of the local Meteorite Iron, asteroid belt source or not, has been found yet, but I'm hopeful that the stuff will prove to be as useful as relics as the original version was in the universe we're from.
I calmly pour myself a drink, as we all settle down at the table in the dining hall. Everyone looks relaxed, even Nestor. Good.
"We've had a bit of a scare with the local wildlife today. That thing called itself "TYPE-MARS", and was... to say the least, something I'd rather not try a nuke on right now. Oh, we'd HURT it for sure, but I'm not sure if we could defeat it without losing the Wolfen, Wolf Home, or BOTH. Considering the Wolfen has been our personal home for 25 years? I think we're all in agreement that that shouldn't happen."
I can see Nestor nodding, while the Scylla uses mechanical arms to work on electronics on the table. Building something as usual, I suppose. Tamamo just hugs me closer, while Fenris looks somewhat pensive.
"But... we still have to decide how to deal with Earth. With the domain shattered on the Wolfen, we no longer have the advantage of it costing a small amount of Legend per trip." I pause, then nod towards the Scylla. "You, oh Scylla, have the advantage of being so interconnected with machines I make, that you seem to count more as a machine than as a being that needs to be pulled along, now. Everyone else, on the other hand, doesn't."
The Scylla nods, as much as a giant orb can nod, before continuing his work. It's work? Her work? We still haven't settled on a gender for the Scylla, and the last argument for a gender, resulted in a 15 month argument over the pros and cons of being one, the other, or both.
"Due to that, it's going to be a heftier cost to get back to Earth than originally planned, taking a few more days than it normally would. We COULD tap into the Gem of Power, but I don't want to break it. It looks like it's grown quite a few microfractures since we took our trip here. Thankfully, we're close to Earth, due to both the Earth and Mars' orbits, right now. So the trip won't take more than a few days. I estimate we'll get there June 22nd, 23rd at most. However, we still have to decide what to do while we're there."
I pause, as they all perk up while studying me.
"Lets be completely honest here. I don't know what the local situation is like. Satellite feeds we can get from this far off hints that they're drastically behind us in terms of technology. We could likely even conquer a small country, and get away with it. However... you're my friends. My voices of conscience. The people that keep me from going on a power trip, or going mad with power, and trying to emulate Ivo Robotnik as a role model for building neat equipment."
Tamamo just hugs me, kissing my cheek, as I breathe, even as Nestor studies me closer, while Fenris still looks pensive.
"We could go the "new leader" route. We have the mecha and spare parts to build 13 times what we're carrying on the Wolfen. We could easily take over an entire country, and make it ours, if we wished. Taking the resources for ourselves, becoming new leaders."
I pause, then sip on my drink, before continuing. "Or we could go the hidden scientific genius route. With me acting as paranoid as I always have, when it came to Gods, and people that would steal my equipment."
Studying them, I continue. "I could pose as a genius, sell my equipment, have the Wolfen act as a secret cargo ship, even as we build bases on the moon, in space, in the ground, underwater, and more. The Wolfen is well equipped to work as a Submarine, after all, if we go that route."
I just sigh, softly. "Or. Or... we could go the Ivo Robotnik route." I pause, looking at Tamamo for a moment. She looks almost ready to speak, before pausing at my look.
"I'm not fond of it. Let's be honest, I tend to go crazy with power if I'm not careful. Riding in a personal War Beast, a mech my own hands have built? It gets to you, makes you see yourself as something greater than most others. However. HOWEVER. We don't know anything about this universe we're in. We don't know if there are any gods LEFT at all, we don't know if there were any in the first place. As Gods, as powerhouses, it's our work, our lives, everything we are is based around making the lives of Mortals BETTER."
Pausing my speech to drink, I studying them, even as they look somewhat pensive now.
"Our lives are meant to make the lives of Mortals better. To show them a better path. I may not be a perfect God, and let's face it. I'm paranoid. It's my nature, as much as I may hate it. I always plan for the worst case scenario. However... if things have gone wrong there, or some radical change is in effect, would it not be better to make their lives better? Become a benevolent ruler, with an iron fist? Conquer the world to save it?"
I sigh, then close my eyes, rubbing my forehead, before I look up back at them.
"We've got enough food for two and a half weeks, even if it's rations so we don't starve out Wolf Home. We have time to think. Time to plan. But I don't know how much we have time for, or what we should do. Do you think we should build weapons in orbit? Build hidden bases on the Moon? Somewhere else, perhaps?"
Nestor muses, before chuckling softly. "We've got the Wolfen's original superlaser, don't we? Wasn't the range quite absurd for that thing? Couple miles, at least?"
I pause, nodding at him to continue.
"Let's jury rig up a couple more, huge capacitor banks, and some solar panels, then build a few orbital satellites, boss. We can leave some of the Legion of Coal on each, while leaving... eh... hang on." He pulls out a calculator, doing the numbers. "Let's see now... we've got a total of 1950 cockpits on board... each carries approximately 5 people if they get close together... we SHOULD have room for an extra 9,750 Legion of Coal units in the mecha cockpits. If we have a few move to where the bulk of the food storage was, we should be able to fit 10,000 extra total. Enough to start working on a moon base. If we can also set up a massive rail gun from there, meant for to launch supplies to Mars, and have Wolf Home's Legion of Coal start building a massive net to catch them wtih..."
I grin in understanding. "Then we have a shortcut back and forth from Earth to Mars, as well as supply stations. Genius, Nestor. As expected from my Wolfen's captain, and the descendant of the Argonaut you're named for."
He smiles, and nods, before sipping on some scotch. "Glad you still appreciate me, Sir. Never going to leave this job, if I can manage it."
I smile, then toast him with my flask. "You'll always have a job waiting here for you, no matter how old you get. With the recent work in cloning we've been working on, we'll be able to move your brain to a younger body of yourself, too. After all, you don't trust that 'memory download hogwash', as you call it. Even if it's still too new to test it on anyone."
He laughs, then settles back.
"As for you, Fenris... what are you thinking of?" I turn to him, studying him. He grins at me, wolfishly, before moving over to relax with us, closer.
"You've gotten stronger, Erik. You and Tamamo both, from becoming blood brother and blood sister with myself. Just keep in mind that I'm still not sure about side effects."
I nod, and give the massive wolf a hug, gently.
"Any changes, or are you still slowly growing stronger?"
He pauses, then gives a barking sigh.
"No change, though I don't have the urges to eat you two, now. It's a trickle, right now, but I'm not sure why. I can't seem to FEEL any of the Norse pantheon, though. Not my father, not Odin, no one. Perhaps it's the range, but I just can't tell what's going on. That concerns me. I suggest we go for the more paranoid route. Build a moon base. Build those lasers. Have that 10,000 Legion of Coal units start mining into Earth's Moon, and build without hesitation. Take over a small country at the minimum. Bust out that roboticizer prototype, and test it on animals from here, or start something like a badnik ripoff mech line at the minimum."
Fenris sighs, then grumbles. "I'm old and tired, damn it. This is all too new to me, but it leaves ME paranoid as well. I'd rather not get chained again, and considering the Key that unbound me is GONE..."
"No, not gone. Still hidden where I hid it the last time." I grin at him, then chuckle at the astonished look on his face. For a wolf, he's astonishingly human in expressions sometimes.
"Hah, of course you did. The one in your domain was a fake, then?"
I nod, then turn to my wife.
"What do you think, dear?"
She pauses, then steals my flask to sip out of it, while thinking.
"That Dwarven stuff, not a good Sake." She sighs, then sips more. "Better than nothing, I suppose."
She sits back, leaning so she can rest her side against me, just taking her time to look pensive.
"Knowing you, you already have something like a badnik production line ready and waiting for in case you ever need it, or designed it and tested it on something you created temporarily. I don't blame you for your paranoia. Considering Uller killed your cousin, in what seemed to be a show of force to make you not go against the Gods back then... it would have been a valuable set of shock troops, if nothing else."
She sighs, then nods at Fenris. "If your domain was still existing on Mars, I would have suggested your Fenrirspawn children helping us, the ones we saved. But what few survivors are left, are on Wolf Home. We simply can't afford to bring them with with the power constraints we're operating under. If we had the full 3,000 colonists, perhaps. But not with the amount we do have now."
Tamamo takes another sip, thinking. "Go for the moon base, the rail gun transfer system, and the laser satellites. I'm not sure we want to go as inhumane as stuffing thousands of animals into robots, but as a last resort, it may become necessary. I really hope it doesn't, considering I'm a Shrine Maiden, and someone who hates all animals being hurt.
She pauses for a bit, before continuing. "However... I can see the value of having the infastructure built up in case things get so... FUBAR was it? That we need to fight the entire planet. So let's go one step further. Satellites for Lasers, and Satellites with Rail Guns. 3 foot thick, massive titanium rods, as a Hammer of God style weapon. It won't be a nuke, but it'll definitely hurt anything it hits. Then, after that, let's wait and see how things react to us, while the Moon Base continually produces more satellites, equipment, and whatever. Put up the old commercials for lasers, using the new company name we decided on, but not sell any of the mecha. As it stands, our lasers have a built in kill switch to keep from firing if they're aimed at any of us. Add in the black box technology we have in it full of thermite, for the unique components, and they'll have nothing, if they try to steal our technology."
Another long pause, as she finishes off my flask, before she giggles. "Actually, why not have them build a Wolf Home MK 2 while we're on Earth? Leave them some smelters for the base, then have another Wolf Home ready in case we need to evacuate again? I'm sure we could get a lot of cattle, plants, and people on it..."
That makes a lot of sense. Now that I think of it, that's ingenious! My wife is such a genius!
I kiss my wife, then hug her close, before thinking it over. Could a second Wolf Home work?
"It would have to be bigger. A lot bigger..."
I pause, letting myself get lost in thought over how to build such a thing, even as my wife smiles.
"You're the genius. Building something to produce oxygen from water shouldn't be THAT much of a problem, especially if we can get a bunch of comets."
She's right. Why didn't I even THINK of that when it came to Mars, before?! Ugh.
"As always, my brilliant wife is correct. So, Wolf Home Mark 2... what else? We can probably steal a huge glacier while there. I do have one or two pieces of equipment that could be re-used for making ice into water, too... maybe a couple Aerial battleships, or a mech production line?"
Nestor pauses, musing.
"Considering the problems with the last batch of aerial battleships, and how we had to strip the Wolf Home's weapons for enough to fight that last fight... I'd nix that, Sir. Better to produce a copy of Wolf Home, then work to ensure things don't go to hell. Worst case scenario, we could pull an Operation British with it."
It takes me a minute to realize what he's reffering to, before I wince. Yeah, that could go... poorly. Or well. Still, everything we're planning...
"You're right, Nestor. I'd rather not go that route, though. Once the rail guns are up on this side of things, since both moons seem to have abundant Uranium... most likely due to that TYPE-MARS wanting us GONE... we can launch several chunks to Earth's own moon, to the base. From there, we'll get the nuclear reactors powered that will be necessary for it to fully work, then we can work out whatever else we need. Hopefully we can use the Mark 2 to get livestock safely back to the original Wolf Home without issues. Dismissed, then. Let's go to the bridge, use the Rainbow Bridge skill to make the jumps for today, then from there on, we can continue plotting our course to Earth. Hopefully we have enough food to spare for when we're there."
There'll likely be problems, but this could actually work! Now here's hoping nothing will go wrong. Murphy's law hates me as it is...
Now to get to work on fixing some of the gun turrets, while we make the jumps. I KNOW some of them are likely off, or damaged, but I'd better look them over to see if any failed with all the crap we went through.
5 jumps later...
*WHAM*
What the hell, something hit us! Eh, probably a meteorite out here somewhere...
*WHAM*
Another hit? Oh, I swear if this is a small asteroid field or something...
*WHAM*
Well, that's more asteroids or whatever. Better pull myself out from under this gun turret, to figure out what's going~
*Clang, clang, THUNK*
OW! What the hell just hit me. A toolbox? Heeeey, my old toolbox! I haven't seen this thing in YEARS! I thought it was misplaced in my domain somewhere, then destroyed with it! Wait. It's my old toolbox, but bigger. Why did it just fall on me? Right. Impact collisions. Ugh. Must've taken a worse hit from this than I thought.
Oh, good grief. Am I like HAN SOLO IN AN ASTEROID FIELD NOW?! I swear, if we went the wrong way or something...
"Nestor? What the hell is hitting us?"
"We appear to have dropped right in the middle of a comet trail, sir. Pretty sure the Scylla's trying to tether the main comet to the ship, so we can extract water from it, too."
"Any damage to the armor?"
"None yet, just bit of rocking. With the ablative armor upgrade last year, we're still good. Gave us all a scare, though."
"I get THAT perfectly. I was working on a gun turret, then had my old toolbox drop on me from where it was hiding in here. Probably why we had so many calibration issues."
"Not to be rude or anything, boss, but I thought Wayland Smith borrowed that from you?"
Hm.
"I'll check to see if he did anything with it, then."
I pull it open, glancing into it, then blink. There's a great many more tools than there used to be in here. It's actually pretty big inside, more like a small room than the toolbox it was before.
I wonder how he managed to pull THIS off... wait. Genius smith who could forge stuff with SKILL alone that would have magical effects. Right. Probably not a domain then.
"Looks like he upgraded the toolbox while he had it, Nestor."
"Good to hear, sir. Gonna experiment with it?"
"It's got a small room inside it. I'm going to see if he left me something in here."
"Right. We'll handle the comets, you explore your teacher's neat stuff."
As I walk in, I look all over. There's a lot of books everywhere, mostly on smithing. It looks much like his lab did, when I first found him. There's also a couple letters, and some writing.
I pull open the letter.
Dear Erik,
I borrowed this from you a few years back, then convinced your wife that I'd be getting it back to you as a present once you achieved mastery of engineering, like I've achieved mastery of smithing.
However, it's meant to automatically get sent back close to your position, if something happens to me, too. With how the Titans have been pulling back, I've been getting more and more worried that they're up to something. Myself and my friends all have been worried about that. For a time, I thought about offering you membership, to be honest. But your path laid elsewhere, so I armed you with your Wolf Wing, and the metal plate you built the Wolfen on, instead.
You're really the only student I ever taught, that I truly enjoyed teaching. Sure, I've given some people hints. I've given advice now and again. But until I met you, I never met someone who was willing to ignore his instincts for a good fight, to really CREATE something new.
You studied forging under me, as well as I could teach at the time, while building that Rex of yours. On that day, I saw the same look in your eyes that I've seen in the mirror. The eyes of a craftsman, waiting to be unleashed upon the world. To make new things, to craft new worlds, and civilizations.
If I could have followed you to Mars, I would have. Alas, Odin forbade me. Otherwise I would be teaching you right now, and writing all this wouldn't be necessary. So rather than that, I leave you my work.
Most of the books are on occult skills, so you can learn how to better make relics that exemplify things you have seen, rather than used. However, I left books myself and my friends wrote on our orginization, the Keepers of the World. You may well walk the same road as I did, to guide mortals with your divine power. One in a meritocracy of your own making. One where Man may rise up to rival us, technology rivaling us Gods.
You've already started down that path, as I did. I do wish to see it, but with how things fare, I worry I will die before then, instead.
In your toolbox lies my forge, my hammer, an enchanted ring I learned how to duplicate with skill alone, and all my journals, notes, and personal research. On the table lies a sword I was in the middle of making for you. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to finish it, but I got a hold of that "Radiant Wave Surger" design of yours, and was in the middle of replicating it with my skills to work with a sword. A Nuclear Pulse Weapon is rather ingenious, and you should be proud of those gauntlets of yours. Perhaps you can finish it where I cannot?
I've also left some books I've written on making relics... better. More permanent, harder to destroy, longer lasting. You'll have to find them, though. They're rather buried in everything else, I'm afraid.
I seem to have to go, Erik. Loki has disappeared, and the Titans have sent their children to make a massive assault, aparently on every Pantheon at once. Odin calls, and I must answer.
My best regards,
Volsung, now Wayland Smith.
I glance through the piles of books he left me. There has to be at least 250 books in here... that one's title looks important.
I pull it out. Apparently it's notes on how to make the ichor more purified for use when making a relic. This could be handy for my issues, since I'm not exactly operating at full strength right now... Looks like it references other books, too. I'll have to check later, though. Most of them seem to be in Old Norse Futhark, though, and I still can't read that too well yet... that could be an issue.
I still need to do maintenance on the guns and figure out which ones may have failed due to our little meteor shower from the comet trail we ran straight into.
Pausing, I glance for the sword, then pull my goggles over my eyes while looking it over. Without them, it looks wonderful. With them... there's massive cracks everywhere. Huge sections that look fragile, like it could fail any moment. I'm pretty sure that one swing with this thing will be like that katana commercial. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s0dRcdyizU for to see it.)
I pull my goggles back off, then sigh. At least it can serve as a wall hanger sword. The last blade of Wayland Smith. I'd rather not swing something that was supposed to work as a Nuclear Pulse Emitter, thank you very much. It would likely blow a hole out of the Wolfen entirely. So I need to make sure it's a good, explosion proof wall hangar to hold it with!
I pause, blinking. Is the Scylla playing games again while working? No. No, that's apparently that band he likes, Creature Feature. Well, at least it's not Avenged Sevenfold this time.
"Hey, Scylla? Why are you listening to that again?" I call out, over the radio, while returning to work on the guns.
"Boss. YOU DO RECALL THAT I'M EQUIVALENT TO A BRAIN IN A JAR, RIGHT? Why do you THINK I'd be the same as other people with music tastes? Seriously."
"Honestly, it's more along the lines of me thinking you'd get bored already, or trying something else. Like The Protomen. Or maybe try to play Dark Souls again?"
"Eh. I liked Demon Souls and Bloodborne more, to be fair Boss. Plus, with the changes from 1, to 2, to 3..."
"Yeah, yeah. I remember your complaining about it. Too bad I couldn't figure out how to make trick weapons for you, right?"
"Considering how much you bitched over the design for those things, as well as how flimsy the metal would be for half that stuff? Definitely unfortunate. I would have loved those things in my mechanical arms!"
I sigh, and just... work, using my goggles sparingly to see where issues are, then remembering them, to fix each gun turret.
"Any signs of issues with the backup reactors, Scylla?"
"Not yet, boss. We'll only know if we try to fire them up, though."
"Got it. Looks like I've fixed everything I can with this side of the guns. Enjoy. I'll probably watch some movies with Tamamo later, before I get back to work on trying to figure out why we can never get cloaked firing to work."
"Eh, it's likely blindingly obvious, with us just missing something simple, you know that right?"
I sigh, and just rub my forehead. "Yeah, I do get that, Scylla. Well, enjoy the music and having fun working to keep general systems working right."
June 22nd, 2004
"Erik, we need to talk, dear." I pause from working on my desk. "For fun, perhaps, love?"
"No. I really think we should consider not going the Ivo Robotnik route for now."
I sigh, then rub my forehead, before nodding. "What are you thinking, then?"
"We don't know how they'd react to a laser sattelite in orbit, dear. I'd say put one up in orbit, stealthed, then just go for the moon base, a Wolf Home Mark 2, as well as a second copy of the Wolfen, just in case something happens to the ship. You've noticed it too, haven't you? How much all the relics seem to fail while we're here? On top of that, the Gem of Power has been... slowly growing more cracks in it. I'm not sure why, at that, but I think something about this place might be damaging it. Considering it's the only legend battery we have, I suspect that using it might break something important. With us not having the ability to repair it, you as a Demigod... I just don't think we can fix it. I get the feeling something bad will happen if it breaks."
I breathe out, sighing, then nod. It honestly does make sense, after all. "Ok, dear. Anything else you've thought of, oh voice of reason of mine?"
"We should sell the laser rifles, I think. But start moving spare stuff to the moon base when possible. Nestor and the Scylla can handle that for us."
I nod, settling back, then pull her onto my lap to hug her close.
"Because it's you pointing it out to me, I will. Let me guess, you want better capacitors for multiple firing arcs, dear?"
"Maybe that laser pointer system out of Akira, too. So if we have issues, and can't fire it, someone else can do it for us."
That... could work well enough.
"I'll build it tonight, dear. Then, we go to Earth for fresh food, fresher water, fresh movies that aren't pirated off a 3 million mile shaky internet connection, or tapping into a satellite system."
Tamamo giggles against me, before I kiss her, then just relax with my wife in my arms. If nothing else, she makes life worth it.
June 23rd, 2004.
So, today's the day we make planetfall. I'm sitting in the bridge, Fenris beside me, Tamamo looking over the Relic systems monitors for any issues, while Nestor has his hands on the wheel, and the Scylla is plugged in.
The moon base has been started, the orbital laser has been built, and even that gun has been made.
"Any issues with the mechanical systems, Nestor, Scylla?"
"No, sir!" "No, boss!" Their voices reply, almost in unison.
"Any issues with the relic systems, as far as you could see, Tamamo?"
"Nothing, dear!"
"Let's head down to earth, then. Looks like we're good."
At first, it goes well. Everything seems to be going as planned.
Then something goes wrong, as lights flicker.
"Erik, Main Reactor Zero, the relic system, has suddenly failed!"
Well, shit.
"Fire up more backup reactors, to compensate, Scylla!"
"Aye Aye, boss!"
I can see the lights resume looking at full strength.
"Backup reactors 2, 6, 7, 9, 13, and 14 have failed to activate, boss!"
Well, that's not good.
"More relic systems are having issues, boss. The reactors are working fine, but our flight system seems to be having issues against something. Might be something with the atmosphere, and I can't tell right now."
Shit.
"Can we pull out, Nestor?"
"We don't have a choice about this, Sir. We need to continue."
I sigh, then slowly nod, rubbing my forehead.
"Don't fail me now, my Wolfen..."
"Dear? More problems with the flight relic subsystem. It looks like the rune is flickering in and out constantly. I've got a bad feeling about this."
"Nestor, fire up the emergency bottom thrusters, try to compensate. Is there any water we can land in?"
"Yes Sir, we're heading for some now. Already anticipated in case it does fail."
"Good job, Nestor. Any issues yet?"
"Nothing... wait. What the hell?"
I can feel the Wolfen LURCH beneath me.
"Erik, we're freefalling!"
"What do you MEAN, WE'RE FALLING?!"
I grab the handles of my chair, even as I see the earth coming up ahead of us. There's two people down there, too?!
Oh, shit. We're not going to hit the water, we're going to hit THEM, and nothing I can do can stop it!
Fuck, what do I do?! Can I use Frozen panoply to make an ice column under us?
No, that won't work. Fuck, what do I fucking DO?!
Wait, what the hell is forming around them... is that a CASTLE?!
I grab Fenris, and roll, even as the Wolfen collides with the castle, then starts skidding off it, thrusters firing once more from underneath, to push us straight into the water.
"Status report? Everyone okay?"
I can see them all picking themselves up, and nodding.
"Relic systems... look offline, dear, completely. No infinite fuel to all our rockets for us, anymore. We still have plenty in reserve, in case they ever failed, but..."
Tamamo looks stunned.
"We've got 13 weeks of nuclear fuel for all the reactors, so we'd better start things up. Scylla? I need you to reverse the polarity for the ship's artifical gravity system, to work as antigravity. I also need the Legion of coal to fix those reactors. Tamamo, why is the ship still cloaked?"
"It's an illusion spell, dear, that lasts as long as nothing interrupts it from the inside, like us attacking. Plus, unlike the rest of the relic systems, aside from that booster to enhance how far we go with Rainbow Bridge, it relies on outside power to power it! Of course it's going to still be cloaked!"
She sighs, and huffs at me, before rubbing her forehead.
I just look at everyone, then sigh.
"Time to meet those two, I suppose."
I pull myself up, then pop the emergency hatch above the bridge, before pulling myself up.
"Ahoy the Beach! Are you folks okay?"
Author's Note:
This is perhaps the biggest chapter I've written, outright. And it's only the first half.
As for what happened with Erik... it simply goes like this.
For all Erik's preperations, he did NOT anticipating Gaia going "Heeeey, there's a God in orbit, and things that could become Gods, too! I wonder how they got there! Too bad, so sad, you can't fly like that now, or have those other neat abilities in whatever you're travelling in! Now turn off, and get down here."
He's a God turned demigod, yes. He has an arsenal of mecha, yes. But anything overtly magical? Gaia's going to try and nope out of working.
Little things like "HALF HIS EQUIPMENT". So all those mecha? Now need lots of extra fuel that the Wolfen can't easily supply for a long term engagement. And other issues, too. Like blitzkreig offenses/alpha strikes being his only real option for winning, if he uses it.
Any wars he might wage just grew a whole lot more expensive.
Plus, he has a superlaser in orbit. With one, teensy tiny little problem. If he fires it, it uncloaks. Permanently. Because he can't easily get back up there to fix it, if the artificial gravity systems are inverted to act as anti gravity. He really can't afford to be smeared on the ceiling of the Wolfen, if it winds up in space again, as he WOULD, right now. So it's gone from being "that insanely impressive tactic worthy of Admiral Thrawn", to "Welp, it's going to be nuked if I fire it. Crap.", and he's going to have to react accordingly.
And now, with that writing session over, I'm going to try and sleep more, again. Curse you, insomnia!
Roll notes:
Tamamo's decision on what to do:
1D3 => 3
What.
Let's try a REROLL FOR THAT, since she wouldn't normally CHOOSE this. Does Tamamo snap out of her paranoia induced insanity, or whatever this is?
1D3 => 3
NOPE! She rolled it twice.
One more Reroll, to see if the voice of reason on the Wolfen snaps out of it, and realizes WHAT SHE'S SUGGESTING.
1D3 => 3
...
Seriously?
She rolled a 3, THREE TIMES IN A ROW?!
I'm rolling willpower + integrity + legend. So 11. DC of... let's say 5.
1D11 => 2
*stares, silently* She utterly failed her roll. Wow. The dice are seriously saying she's going for the third route.
I blame you, Kieran. Seriously. I don't know how, I don't know WHY, but I blame your luck for the roll here Tamamo made. Out of all three options that Tamamo could have chosen, rather than going for the simple route, or the middle road route. She chose the Dr. Robotnik Route.
The one route she likely wouldn't GO for, she chose.
Admittedly, she toned it down to "Only if we NEED it", but even still, she still went for the Dr. Robotnik route. As in SATAM's version of Robotnik, rather than, say, the Sonic X Eggman. Or the AOSTH Robotnik.
So, Erik's sole voice of reason in his merry little band, the one person that could have stopped him from going full megalomaniac, has apparently temporarily gone BATSHIT INSANE from paranoia, and joined Erik in the "Paranoid as hell club".
At least this should be INTERESTING...
Now for rolls for why the Toolbox was MISSING...
1D2 => 2
Huh. Okay then. Let's roll for WHY...
1D3 => 2
That can be worked with.
Rolls for upgrades and neat stuff inside?
1D10 => 8
Roll to find the books in question
1D25 => 7
Second roll
1D25 => 19
Third roll
1D25 => 11
So, he's found hints towards the issues with this universe compared to his own, but nothing concrete.
Last edited by RanmaBushiko; April 4th, 2019 at 10:30 PM.
I'm starting to suspect that talking with Kieran influences my rolls on Fate/Grand Order Heavily. How else can you explain me talking with him, then rolling for 30, only to get 3 Archer of Shinjuku on my second ten roll?
I write like Douglas Adams. Proof: http://iwl.me/s/696f37bd
Quick correction, you have "consciousness" when you should have "conscience".
I was kinda wondering if Erik could Rainbow Bridge out of there, though getting back into orbit from that might be difficult. Presumably Gaia's interference made that impossible, or he didn't consider it.
Producing oxygen from water doesn't require genius: it's one of the most basic versions of electrolysis, which was patented back in the 19'th century. Also produces hydrogen gas, which is useful for a few things, and some of that hydrogen is actually deuterium/tritium, which are useful in a fusion reactor. I'm less sure about how sustainable using electrolysis for your oxygen supply is, except as a stopgap until your hydroponics start working well, or if you create some other process to remove the carbon from CO2 (but why would you, when plants do it AND get you food)
Also, geez, how much power does the Wolfen draw passively, not firing weapons or engines? I did a bunch of calculations and ended up thinking you might have big heat management problems, at least, if the Wolfen uses enough electricity that running out of nuclear fuel might actually be a concern.
Silly math ahead
Last edited by Arbitrarity; April 4th, 2019 at 08:22 PM.
Fixed, thank you. As for the rest, in order...
Yeah, producing oxygen from water doesn't require genius. But again, Erik's a God. He doesn't exactly remember to have common sense, sometimes, or look up stuff on it. There ARE downsides to his character, after all.
The Wolfen is very much a prototype. Which means half the stuff in question is ALSO prototypes. More specifically, the Wolfen is a kilometer long battlecruiser, constantly charging equipment, rail guns, laser weapons, and keeping the plasma cannon mostly ready to fire. It's mostly because it's working on Millennium Falcon levels of "working". Half that size alone goes towards the artificial gravity on the ship. Add in the power draw the Legion of Coal needs to stay working, and their equipment working, and it adds up fast. Welding tools, lab setups, containment sections to keep experiments from getting out... it all adds up for things. Finally, we have the monstrous power draw that is the artificial gravity system.
Effectively, the artificial gravity is faking real gravity using pure utter bullshit, and him working on alternatives while desperate as hell until something managed to WORK. Inverted, it works more like a giant electromagnet, pushing against Earth's gravity field with it's own, at an absolutely massive increase in power needed.
To be honest, Erik literally couldn't make it smaller if he tried. Mostly because he's lucky he figured out how to make an artificial gravity system work in the first place. He barely made the dice value roll as a GOD.
In the case of the system, with the Wolf Home, spherical as it is, the system can be one single piece, set in multiple layers, running off 5 or 6 nuclear reactors, tops. Considering Wolf Home eclipses the Wolfen by a factor of 3, and is a sphere, instead of something shaped much like a Starcraft Battlecruiser... well, it's somewhat easier for it to work there.
With the Wolfen, prototype that it is, as sections got added in, more of the system had to be built for artificial gravity. Which meant spare reactors had to also be built for side sections as they were built. Under low power use, 4 nuclear reactors, or two and the fusion reactor, works fine.
It's not so much "14 spare nuclear reactors to run it collectively" but "1 nuclear reactor to run each individual segment of the artificial gravity system, while it works as a flight system instead of artificial gravity system" because most of the power is working to keep the Wolfen in the air, since repelling a massive gravity source is a huge power sink.
As for the reactors in question, keep in mind though, Erik didn't get nuclear reactor plans from other nations. He built the designs from scratch. So a lot of innovations, and methods to ensure power moves as well as possible, things are streamlined as much as possible, etc. simply don't exist, because he hasn't invented them yet.
A lot of it, he simply brute forced with Ultimate Intelligence to figure out how to make a reactor design that would power it, and went with the simplest, most robust type, so he wouldn't have to deal with repairing it too much.
The main power system, until now, is the Prototype Fusion reactor, and two big nuclear reactors, as well as a relic setup to ensure that no matter what, it would produce extra power to make up the difference. With that relic system now gone, he's going to have issues with systems failing more often.
The reason why I compare it to the Millennium Falcon is rather simple. The Wolfen was originally built to be closer to one sixth the size it now is. With the upgrades built in, Erik didn't always build things to perfectly match up, with a "I'll fix it later, once I have TIME" mentality. And then he had to leave Earth in a hurry, with the Wolf Home in tow. If he'd gotten right on to fixing the Wolfen, he could have done something about it. But as it is now, he really can't.
The Wolfen Mark 2, if it's ever built, will lose a lot of these issues, since the artificial gravity system WON'T be built like a jigsaw puzzle, as it is on the one he's living on. Thus, it'll only need maybe 5 nuclear reactors instead. At the same time, this might be one pain in the ass ship to keep up, but it's ERIK'S pain in the ass ship now. It's been his home for 25 years, and he loves the damned thing, headaches and all.
As for cooling, he's also the Norse God of Pykrete, if you recall. One of his abilities literally lets him make ice out of nothing, in the form of statues, ladders, walls, or even hang gliders that only need some fabric to work, and another allows him to turn that into pykrete. He has a lot of water storage between layers of armor, that soak up heat, working to make the armor more capable of surviving impacts with water layers to soften it. Said water storage he's built custom cooling methods for, to ensure it doesn't heat up too much. It would be more costly now, but he's still more than capable of freezing his level of legend (8 right now) in cubic yards, per point of legend used.
To quote the ability in question...
Hrimthurssar’s touch
(frost •••)
Dice Pool: None
Cost: 1 Willpower + 1 Legend
By calling upon the cold of Ymir, the Scion suffuses her hands with deathly cold. When she touches water, a skin of ice freezes across it; when she caresses plants, they wither.
The Scion’s unarmed attacks inflict extra dice of bashing damage equal to half her Legend (rounded up), except against opponents immune to cold. Holding an easily chilled object, such as a cup or a metal blade, causes it to frost over. (A metal weapon affected by this Boon adds the above damage to a successful attack, but that damage is either bashing or lethal as appropriate to the weapon type.) A bottle of liquid the size of a typical soft drink will freeze through—likely
bursting the container—with just a few seconds of contact.
Through a special expenditure of an extra point of Legend, the Scion can instantly freeze a large quantity of liquid, equal to his or her Legend rating in cubic yards.
This Boon lasts for an entire scene after its activation, though the Scion can end it prematurely (to avoid injuring a companion by touch, for instance).
As for the reason WHY nuclear fuel is an issue, is that he's not BEEN WORKING with a lot of it up until now. It's been rare on Mars enough that he had to move to Fusion to keep power up. It's why he only has 2 nuclear warheads, he just couldn't mine out enough most years. He has a surplus NOW, but that still has to be altered, put through refinement, etc. before it can be USED. So the 13 weeks is on how much he has that's able to be USED right now, not the total amount.
Last edited by RanmaBushiko; April 5th, 2019 at 02:39 AM.
I'm starting to suspect that talking with Kieran influences my rolls on Fate/Grand Order Heavily. How else can you explain me talking with him, then rolling for 30, only to get 3 Archer of Shinjuku on my second ten roll?
I write like Douglas Adams. Proof: http://iwl.me/s/696f37bd
Solid reasoning, I like it. If you can't just get uranium from Earth, you will actually lack it, and it will be more expensive (well, expensive in terms of work. I don't know about the economic system of your Mars colony). Forgot about the Pykrete, that stuff is very effective for getting rid of heat, because magic beats thermodynamics. I'm not sure if that's sufficient scale to cool the entire Wolfen, but it's probably possible to design appropriate radiant and evaporative cooling, especially if you can produce ice in violation of conservation of mass.
I do note you said the Wolfen was built to be half the size it is now, but previously, you said it started at 500 feet (about 1.3 football fields, for reference), and is now around a kilometer. 1 km ~= 3300 ft, so that's more like a 6.6x increase (10 football fields, or 1.5x the length of the Enterprise-D). Did the Wolfen actually start at 500 meters, then?
Also feel free to tell me to stuff the math, I just enjoy getting a thorough picture (also, it's digging out physics I haven't looked at in a long time, even if it's just basic stuff like density and specific heat). It's especially fun when magic provides a mostly physics-compliant out.
I was about to say you were right, that it was 500 meters, and I messed up that way. After looking over the original design numbers for the Wolfen however, to VERIFY I was wrong. (Thank you Gmail, for ensuring I could search through all those e-mails between myself and Kieran to find it!) I've found that it WAS feet, and not a meters typo like I assumed from that. The Wolfen, as designed in the Scion game, was 500 feet in length, and utilized what's effectively "bigger on the inside than the outside" magic, in the form of Sanctums, which would also be considered Domains, Realms, "That place where a God can be a God without having to be a Demigod to move around in the World with all the mortals", etc. etc. Effectively, on the inside, it WAS closer to 500 meters in length, after all was said and done, and putting myself in character for this made me forget that point.
I'll alter what I said before about it's size doubling to more correctly go by what you said, thanks.
Looking at things too, I'll admit that the Wolfen has been upgraded a lot. From 19 guns, (9 lasers, 9 railguns) including the Superlaser spinal mount (replaced by a railgun spinal mounted cannon, and a prototype Plasma cannon, as you may have noticed), as well as no missile launchers, just 6 bomb launchers, all the way up to the whopping amount it has now.
100,000 hp, to a whopping 250,000 hp. (To be fair, in Scion, that STILL isn't much at all. Some knacks could destroy it REGARDLESS... and other perviews could make it not function at ALL.) Better armor, from 10 to 15 points of hardness.
20 laser cannons, 40 rail guns, 6 missile launchers, 6 bomb launchers, one Spinal Mount Railgun, and one Plasma cannon.
Erik doesn't do things by halves, does he?
To be fair, a lot of this comes from the end of the Scion game a year-ish ago. A lot of innovations Erik is now using came from that, too.
During the rolls prior to the fight with Jormungandr, Erik rolled an absurd amount of times, so I had to count all the 8s, 9s, and 10s on each dice roll, then add up the number of successes per roll, for something like 100-150 rolls altogether, due to how I played Erik as a paranoid guy. Who, when not training under Thor during the day, was working on his stuff every night for a multiple month period.
Rather than just say "Oh, hey. I'm going to just do whatever." I took the time to settle down, work out what Erik wanted to study, research, etc. for that period of time, and then calculated EVERYTHING. Daily legend use, how much of the Legion of Coal was ready to work on things, how many mechs were built, how much were being sold (albeit heavily weakened) to both the USA and Japan right after the end of Desert Storm. For every single day he was training to prepare to fight Jormungandr.
At the end of the game, he had 501 units of the Legion of Coal, and the Wolfen was a tiny ship with a decent bite in it, that was mostly running off a giant steam turbine connected to his personal forge, as well as two hastily calculated out nuclear reactors.
One roll that was absolute utter luck, had him get the roll for the anti gravity, but it was such a bare success, I realized that there was no way it would work for something small. So fighters like out of Star Fox, etc. were right out. (Considering Star Fox 64, and Star Wolf's use of the Wolfen class fighters, that disappointed Erik HEAVILY, as you can imagine.)
Fusion, on the other hand, because Erik DIDN'T roll for it well at all, so that was right out. Because of that, he used Concept to Execution daily, which can also let someone work a problem out over the course of a few years. In Erik's case, a decade. Mostly because Tamamo was all "Hubby! Time for our honeymoon!", followed up by "Second honeymoon!", followed by "They want to WHAT TO US? Hell no, we're leaving!" and heading for Mars earlier than they'd ever planned to.
Plasma took about just as long. He barely figured out how to make it by the end of the Scion game, much less USE it.
Antimatter was one big "Nope!" failure. Pretty much a "I have... 54 successes automatically with Ultimate Intelligence. I have 29 successes, on top of that, due to my goggles. And I'm STILL NOT GETTING THIS?! Nope. I'm done. I'm out. Nope! I'd rather not try this repeatedly only to get my character blown up." He's smart, and not exactly suicidal enough to try it multiple times without a much better grounding in science than he has, even now.
As for the math, I don't mind looking at the math, either. He's a God of Engineering, and it does make sense that it would use math. Plus, you using it gets ME to use it again.
I just HATE counting out all the rolls by hand, personally. Ugh.
Ironically, when you bring up waste heat, a lot of the spare heat went to what remained of the steam reactor that was still in the Wolfen, when it was first built. Considering it was a Relic, Erik wasn't about to destroy it.
But unlike the mecha that Erik's built and designed, the Wolfen is very much now welded onto the flying metal plate it was originally built on, so he can't access the original rune to recharge it with more Ichor. ("I made it so advanced, I can't even reach the original plate to add more ichor to the runes?! What the hell was I thinking?! Wait, oh. Probably mostly getting it done so I could join my wife in bed. Right. Well, crap, NOW what do I do?")
Erik still has some more setbacks to come, to be honest, as well as issues with the locals, but it's not going to be a story about a God curbstomping everyone like you're probably assuming. *chuckles*
Though, with some of the background, behind the scenes rolls, things should still be INTERESTING...
I'm starting to suspect that talking with Kieran influences my rolls on Fate/Grand Order Heavily. How else can you explain me talking with him, then rolling for 30, only to get 3 Archer of Shinjuku on my second ten roll?
I write like Douglas Adams. Proof: http://iwl.me/s/696f37bd
Work is proceeding on my next chapter, as well (hopefully sometime this weekend!), and I'll add a couple of addendums to this:
Now you know my pain of trying to find all those details when you were bringing them up in-game, or between sessions!
(Seriously, his e-mails read like these posts - imagine trying to find one line or detail in all of that!)
Not as many as I'd have liked . . .
Do you have ANY idea how hard it was, trying to find something to take down THAT, and still be in a position where one hit wouldn't swat the characters in it like gnats?!
. . . Not to mention, capable of surviving THAT?!
And I do periodically remind him that most people don't want to read one of those . . .
And the discussions, of course!
“Love will be cruel to who it entices — love will have its sacrifices.”
— Carmilla Theme
"Evil isn't the real threat to the world. Stupid is just as destructive as Evil, maybe more so, and it's a hell of a lot more common. What we really need is a crusade against Stupid. That might actually make a difference."
―Jim Butcher, Vignette
*Chuckles* In order... yeah, I know. I should have done a tl;dr for each more often. To be fair, I was half finished designing stuff, then got interrupted with other stuff when my plans got altered.Work is proceeding on my next chapter, as well (hopefully sometime this weekend!), and I'll add a couple of addendums to this:
Now you know my pain of trying to find all those details when you were bringing them up in-game, or between sessions!
(Seriously, his e-mails read like these posts - imagine trying to find one line or detail in all of that!)
Not as many as I'd have liked . . .
Do you have ANY idea how hard it was, trying to find something to take down THAT, and still be in a position where one hit wouldn't swat the characters in it like gnats?!
. . . Not to mention, capable of surviving THAT?!
And I do periodically remind him that most people don't want to read one of those . . .
And the discussions, of course!
As for the Wolfen, you misunderstood WHY it was built in the first place. It was NEVER meant to FIGHT Jormungandr with. Yes, it was flying overwatch during the fight, but not to interfere. The Wolfen was built entirely because Erik thought Uller would finally finish him off, like he'd been worried about for the entire GAME, once Fenris wasn't a threat.
Or, alternatively, if Erik failed to convince Fenris to not wipe out the Norse Pantheon, and still released him ANYWAYS, due to his own convictions that what happened to Fenris was totally, horribly, UTTERLY wrong.
It was never a vessel to drop into a fight and annihilate a foe. It was an ESCAPE SHIP. One with just enough firepower to surprise a GOD before getting the hell out of DODGE.
Thus the Alpha Strike stuff it was meant for, cloak, etc.
It was specifically meant to launch as many bombs into a God's face as possible, enough to stun the heck out of any God (And with the sheer AMOUNT, likely could KILL one, considering...), then get them all to safety anyways.
I'm starting to suspect that talking with Kieran influences my rolls on Fate/Grand Order Heavily. How else can you explain me talking with him, then rolling for 30, only to get 3 Archer of Shinjuku on my second ten roll?
I write like Douglas Adams. Proof: http://iwl.me/s/696f37bd
DISCLAIMER: Lunar Legend Tsukihime, Fate/Stay Night, and all related characters and concepts are the creation and property of Kinoko Nasu and TYPE-MOON, along with whomever they’ve happened to license them to, such as Geneon, Funimation, A-1 Pictures and Netflix.
This is a not-for-profit, just-for-fun project.
Throne of Heroes
Beyond space, time, causality (and sanity)
In the grand scheme of things, it was rare—indeed, it almost never happened—that a Heroic Spirit was summoned from the Throne of Heroes.
To be sure, on certain worlds, such an act seemed commonplace; worlds where existence was threatened to the point to require virtually the full strength of the Throne’s residents (if not in fact their full strength) to defend it. In others, however, Heroic Spirits were almost never seen—and when they were, they almost never appeared as themselves. Counter Guardians, the category most likely to be utilised in such a fashion, more often manifested as natural disasters—the fastest way to wipe out large, heavily-populated areas when such things were required to ensure the survival of humanity.
Yes, there was the Holy Grail War system, in all its variants; but in most worlds, that ritual took place only five times, over a span of a quarter of a millennium—which, realistically speaking, was neither often nor a great span of time, in the larger scheme of things.
As such, not a great deal of thought or research had been invested in the mechanics of the system invented for the ritual; mostly, those who used it cared that it worked, without too much curiosity as to why. Those that did research it, however (and those fewer still who were more adept with modern technology than the typical magus), likened it to a “search engine”—to wit, desired characteristics were inputted, and corresponding matches were found by the system.
The accuracy of those matches could be affected by certain variables: location, the usage of a relic, the specific incantation used by the magus, the remaining Class slots in the War and state of the Holy Grail itself, among other things. And sometimes the exact compatibility was unclear; often an inaccurate-seeming selection was meant to reflect a hidden characteristic of the Master—sometimes hidden even from themselves—but in general, the system chose the appropriate Servant for a Master, if not always the ideal or expected one.
As such, any hypothetical observer, if such an entity could exist, would be surprised at the events which occurred upon one particular night, on one particular world.
A world where not only did a mass summoning take place in one specific location—a heretofore unheard-of event—but where two summonings, at roughly the same time in a different location, garnered three responses . . .
Sighișoara, Romania
July 1, 2004
The Counter Guardian formerly known as “Emiya Shirou” had felt the call again, as he had many times before, on many worlds. How many times, even he wasn’t sure; seeking his death by paradox as he did was already insanity by many people’s definitions, and knowing how often he’d failed would extinguish any fragile illusion of sanity he had left.
But he knew who was calling. And he knew when and where she was calling from—the event that started the story of Emiya Shirou, the beginning of his path to damnation . . . And it was her.
At the beginning, and the end, it was always her.
And so he answered her, as he always had, and probably always would; even now, while he might turn away from someone who needed help, having seen where that path would lead him, he wasn’t sure he could ever bring himself to not help Rin. Still, that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t use her for his own purposes, either—and so, as he materialised, he uttered the words that would begin the ruse he’d spun, so that he could get into a position to assassinate his past self with minimal difficulty.
“My, my,” he drawled, allowing a smirk to stretch across his face. “Looks like I’ve—”
“Shut it, EMIYA,” the twin-tailed magus hissed icily. “We’ve got too much work to do for your bullshit.”
Archer started at the use of his name—and more worryingly, the emphasis in its use that implied she knew not only who he was, but what. The exclamation of surprise left his lips before he could process that he’d even made it.
“Huh?”
Rin adopted a smirk of her own, clearly savouring the look on his face. This, Archer knew from experience, implied all manner of terrible things about to be done to the recipient of that expression. In fact, he couldn’t recall her ever looking quite that sadistically smug before—not even when she’d been the one to kill Kotomine, after learning what he’d done to her father . . .
And that didn’t bode well for him at all. True, he was a Servant—but she’d managed to kill Herakles once, and he wasn’t nearly so sturdy.
“Well, well,” she said loftily. “Looks like someone didn’t check the Grail’s information packet.”
Seeing an opening, he started, “Ah, an error in the sum—”
“But then,” she interjected, still in the same tone and ignoring his attempt entirely, “you always have leaped in without thinking—why would your becoming a Counter Guardian change that?”
. . . Yeah, she knew who and what he was. This was bad; he could only think of a few circumstances under which Rin might have that information, and none of them were liable to give her a good impression of him. And given her natural ability to hold grudges—
A sudden flare of prana, and a corresponding flare of light, diverted the direction of his thoughts.
“Another Servant summoning,” he noted tightly. “I can’t get a good look at either them or the magus—the angle’s all wrong—but they’ll be sensing us shortly . . .”
“Relax,” Rin muttered. “Mostly, anyway—aside from one person in particular, I’m reasonably sure that the old man wouldn’t have picked anybody who’d screw us over.” She grimaced. “That said, we do need to get out of here, because that particular person isn’t far, either—and I’d really rather not deal with him.”
Archer frowned, not really comprehending any of this. But if Rin was worried—even after undergoing whatever circumstances left her with his identity—then he’d take it seriously.
“Lead the way, Master,” he said, with only the barest hint of mockery.
“All right,” she agreed, suiting actions to words. “Astralise, for now—and go through the damned information package!”
As tempted as he was to get in a last dig at her expense, he had to admit that Rin had a point. Based on the first three minutes of this Holy Grail War, Archer suspected that he’d need every advantage he’d be able to get . . .
“RIN!” said the suddenly-appearing ghost(?) of Ilyasviel. “You’re never going to believe this . . .!”
Forget the information package—EMIYA suddenly understood certain parties’ need for a stiff drink in times of stress.
Stupid E-ranked Luck . . .
Trifas, Romania
July 1, 2004
The summoning was one of the most grueling things Fiore had ever done, if only because it was so public. Had she done it by herself, or with just Caules, it would have been fine—but given the need to link the Servants to the system of homunculi that would be providing them with prana in the process of summoning them, the ritual room had to be specifically prepared. And given the possible things that could go wrong with the system by needing to alter it in order to gradually add Servant after Servant, it was deemed better to do the linkage all at once.
This would, admittedly, have been a problem, since Assassin of Black and its Master were still absent—but it had been made clear that Grandfather’s strategy only peripherally included the Servant, as a hunter of enemy Masters. Assassin’s utility was otherwise deemed negligible, and its requirements of lesser priority (and given her own preparations, Fiore could only be grateful for the neglect).
Nevertheless, it meant doing the summoning ritual at the same time as everyone else, with Grandfather Darnic and his Servant, and Servant Caster—an actual magus that was a Heroic Spirit—in attendance. As a result, more than the nerves in her legs were causing Fiore distress . . .
Nevertheless, she’d managed to get through it, and summon Archer of Black, as Caules had summoned Berserker of Black. And she was surprised to see that Frankenstein’s creation was a female, but Fiore suspected that Caules was in for even more surprises, dealing with her . . .
She suppressed the urge to giggle at the thought of his future problems, in older sister fashion. However satisfying it might have been to do so, it wouldn’t make the best impression on her new Servant—
“You seem troubled, Master,” Archer remarked. “Am I not to your liking?”
Fiore jolted, immediately denying, “Oh, no! No, it's not that at all . . .!” Once again, her hands came up and fluttered in emphasis, her face turning beet-red—this needed to stop happening!
“No,” she repeated, with a smile that she hoped he found reassuring. “I admit, I’m a little surprised that you’re not a centaur—”
“I deemed it an unnecessary risk to my identity,” he answered. “There are very few known centaurs, after all.”
Her complexion had been returning to normal, but it regained a bright pink hue as the obvious was pointed out to her.
“Of course,” she said, embarrassed. Trust the legendary sage and teacher of heroes to consider that even before manifesting! She really had drawn an excellent Servant; hopefully, he would make up for her own shortcomings—
As the prana in the air began coalescing into a coherent, material form, Frid scowled abruptly. He had the sudden feeling that Fiore needed scolding . . .
—and Fiore flinched suddenly at the thought.
“Is something wrong, Master?” Archer asked solicitously. “Do you disagree with my decision?”
“No, not at all,” Fiore protested quietly. “And please, call me Fiore.”
“You’re very kind,” the Servant said easily, with a gentle smile. “Then feel free to address me by name, as well, Lady Fiore.”
She blushed. Chiron wasn’t known as a heartbreaker in Greek mythology—unlike, say, Adonis or Ganymede—but no one could deny that he was an attractive, if somewhat older (relative to her, at least) man. Which, admittedly, was not an unusual thing in her life, now was it?
It may just be possible that I have a ”type,” as some of the girls in London used to put it, Fiore admitted to herself—which brought her back to her initial thought.
“In fact,” she said aloud, “I’m impressed by your judgement and foresight, even knowing what I do of your legend . . . But no, I was thinking of something else—and recalled my fiancé scolding me for it once before.”
“No one as beautiful, intelligent, and talented as you should have lower self-esteem than I do, Milady,” he’d said lightly, hand over her own. “If nothing else, I have proprietary rights on the condition.”
And there was an edge to his voice that said, despite his joking words, he meant it . . .
“Fiancé . . .?” Chiron repeated, before the light of understanding dawned. “Ah, I see—you are betrothed. Is your intended also among the Masters of Black?”
“No,” Fiore said, feeling faintly nauseated as she tried not to even imagine that possibility, before pausing. “In fact . . .”
. . . It would be better to tell him, right?
She was relatively sure of her room’s security, but brought up some of the lesser defensive measures, just in case.
“No one knows this, for secrecy’s sake, but with your senses as an Archer class, you’re the most likely one aside from Assassin to encounter him,” Fiore admitted. “I’ve sent my fiancé to try and join the Red Faction.”
“Audacious, if sabotage is your plan,” Chiron admitted. “Unless, perhaps, your intended is someone whom you do not wish to marry . . .?”
Fiore—who had been taking a sip of tea to calm her nerves—choked. Her face resumed its beetroot colouration, as much from mortification as from the hacking attempts to clear her airways.
“N—NO! Not at all!” she protested. “I mean, I’m nervous about it—I’m only nineteen, and I’ve never been with anyone before, but—” Vaguely becoming aware that she was babbling, Fiore closed her mouth and gazed at the floor, profoundly wishing at that moment that she knew some form of magecraft which would allow the earth to swallow her whole.
“To be a magus is to walk with death,” but at that moment, she would have accepted that if it meant avoiding the fact that “to be a teenager is to walk with humiliation.”
Upon reflection, she couldn’t even be angry with Chiron for asking the question; what she knew of Greek mythology was filled with unhappy marriages, and marital betrayals—he had every reason to wonder . . . She could only be upset at her own response, which was very much that of a girl, not a magus. She was supposed to be better than that . . .!
“My apologies for my assumption, Lady Fiore,” Chiron said gently. “It was not my intention to cause you embarrassment. Once again, I applaud the audacity of your plan. Odysseus himself would be in admiration of your cunning.”
At least this time, Fiore thought, her blush was for more admirable reasons.
“It’s not really much to do with cunning,” she admitted. “I just want to keep my little brother safe—and the only way to really make sure of that is to have someone on the other side.”
One of Chiron’s eyebrows rose. “You would protect your brother, but not yourself?”
With a sigh, Fiore gave him the same explanation she had given Godafrid—and couldn’t help but note the similarities between the two’s expressions.
Maybe I really do have a type . . .
“. . . Given that I know nothing of the politics of this era, I cannot find fault in your reasoning, Lady Fiore,” Chiron concluded, in a slightly disgruntled tone, “because what little I do know of politics does agree.” His frown deepened. “And I am somewhat saddened that humanity has failed to move beyond that in all this time.”
“I agree,” Fiore sighed, “but it is what it is.” She smiled slightly. “You might be pleased to know that my fiancé would agree, as well.”
“He sounds like a remarkable man,” the Archer remarked. “Do you know what Servant he will summon?”
“No, not yet,” Fiore admitted. “I’m ashamed to admit I didn’t even ask if he had the materials necessary to do so—I was just so relieved that he’d agreed to my unreasonable request . . .
“In any case, I can describe him, of course,” she continued. “And I’m sure that whatever Servant Godafrid manages to summon, it will be quite remarkable.”
Sighișoara, Romania
July 1, 2004
The Yoseigan, by definition, allowed Frid to see things that his brain couldn’t process. This worked almost as well against blinding as it did against high-speed movement; essentially, barring a physical impediment—like his eyelids, smoke, or walls—or actual damage to his eyes, he could see through most conditions.
As such, despite the phenomenally bright light, he could actually see the prana forming the vessel that would be his Servant—and make out certain details that hinted at their identity:
Horns, he noted. That means Elizabeth Bathory, Kiyohime or one of the Dojis—and a tail—probably Elizabeth, then. Wait, a serrated tail? Doesn’t that mean Mech—
The half-formed energy matrix abruptly lurched, developing a sharply-angled projection in the torso area, before exploding into particles and parting like a curtain, allowing an entirely new form to step through the previously-occupied space.
“Threat to humanity eliminated,” said the new entity in an electronically-altered tone, sounding robotically satisfied somehow.
To Frid’s eyes, it looked as though someone had created personal armour based on a knock-off Gundam design. Its glowing eyes locked on him, and he could hear the servomotors freeze for a beat.
“Hello, Master of Earth,” the figure said, sounding as though it had somehow turned the reverberation of its voice up. “I am Codename: XX. I have come to hunt down the other Sabers and Foreigners. To that end, I accept your offer of a contract.”
If there was a good side to the blinding pain of the Command Spells cutting their way into his body, it was that it allowed Frid to hide the suspicion in his eyes behind sheer agony. Because while that spiel might’ve worked for any other Master—including himself, prior to awakening—he knew exactly who he was dealing with behind that armour. And he was also aware that the Servant who’d just been dispatched was classed as an Alter Ego, not a Foreigner—much less a Saber.
So, even leaving aside the question of how the hell I wound up with a joke character from a forbidden Class that ran in a limited event whose theme was “swimsuits”—why the HELL did she just lie to my face . . .?
Last edited by Kieran; April 6th, 2019 at 10:58 PM.
“Love will be cruel to who it entices — love will have its sacrifices.”
— Carmilla Theme
"Evil isn't the real threat to the world. Stupid is just as destructive as Evil, maybe more so, and it's a hell of a lot more common. What we really need is a crusade against Stupid. That might actually make a difference."
―Jim Butcher, Vignette
...who did Frid summon?
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Her.
“Love will be cruel to who it entices — love will have its sacrifices.”
— Carmilla Theme
"Evil isn't the real threat to the world. Stupid is just as destructive as Evil, maybe more so, and it's a hell of a lot more common. What we really need is a crusade against Stupid. That might actually make a difference."
―Jim Butcher, Vignette
I meant to ask about her name.
Xamusel's Fanfiction Profile
For those that don't necessarily care if my fics aren't all Type-Moon related.
Hmm... this is a bit of a surprise these days.
An archive of my works on the forum that's pretty accurate.
Note that I don't wish to be seen as an idiot any longer. I can't always promise better works than before, but I can sure as hell try, alright?
Trust me when I say that the debating over servant options for Frid was INTENSE, to say the least, as well as if they'd WORK well. We went over every class that WASN'T assassin for his character, went over possible fictional characters that would work well, and just kept on talking over options until we decided on Mysterious Heroine XX. For reasons. As well as future possibilities/plot.
Her.
Some of the list of other options, were as follows: Mysterious Heroine X Alter (If nothing else than because Frid would be stuck COOKING sweets all the time for her. She just was a pain to adapt to something other than a mobile GAME for her skill set.), Alteria, Alteria Lily/Larva, Elisabeth Bathory...
Can't remember exactly what else, off hand, but we covered the lists on the fate/grand order wiki thoroughly.
*Chuckles* At one point, we even thought about Iskandar for Olga, but had to nix it eventually.
I'm starting to suspect that talking with Kieran influences my rolls on Fate/Grand Order Heavily. How else can you explain me talking with him, then rolling for 30, only to get 3 Archer of Shinjuku on my second ten roll?
I write like Douglas Adams. Proof: http://iwl.me/s/696f37bd
LOL!! XD Okay, that I can see happening.
Also, I apologize for the question. I had to investigate the image in question, mainly by right-clicking and saying "View Image Info", to see that it was indeed Mysterious Heroine XX.
Xamusel's Fanfiction Profile
For those that don't necessarily care if my fics aren't all Type-Moon related.
Hmm... this is a bit of a surprise these days.
An archive of my works on the forum that's pretty accurate.
Note that I don't wish to be seen as an idiot any longer. I can't always promise better works than before, but I can sure as hell try, alright?
He's not wrong - I think I went through almost a dozen characters (literally), all told . . . And if Kiyohime had better stats as a Berserker (seriously, Madness Enhancement EX, and she's still E-rank everything?!), it might've been more.
“Love will be cruel to who it entices — love will have its sacrifices.”
— Carmilla Theme
"Evil isn't the real threat to the world. Stupid is just as destructive as Evil, maybe more so, and it's a hell of a lot more common. What we really need is a crusade against Stupid. That might actually make a difference."
―Jim Butcher, Vignette
To be fair, Mecha-Eli is a "Threat to Humanity", and "hunt down the other Sabers and Foreigners" could imply MHXX is one or both of those (rather than her eliminated target), which is true, especially since MHX always thinks of herself as a Saber.As expected, Chiron is great. I expect him to be an excellent straight man. There is a stray [/I] tag sitting around there.
Allegedly, anyway, yes.
You're not wrong - but he's still confused as to why she's here. I mean, of all possible characters . . .?and "hunt down the other Sabers and Foreigners" could imply MHXX is one or both of those (rather than her eliminated target), which is true, especially since MHX always thinks of herself as a Saber.
(Which is, narratively speaking, the point, but I digress.
You are not the first "Arby" to say so, but I've yet to tire of hearing it.As expected, Chiron is great. I expect him to be an excellent straight man.
Thank you for your kind words.
So there was - and now there's not.There is a stray [/I] tag sitting around there.
Thank you, again.
“Love will be cruel to who it entices — love will have its sacrifices.”
— Carmilla Theme
"Evil isn't the real threat to the world. Stupid is just as destructive as Evil, maybe more so, and it's a hell of a lot more common. What we really need is a crusade against Stupid. That might actually make a difference."
―Jim Butcher, Vignette
Mecha-Eli?
Xamusel's Fanfiction Profile
For those that don't necessarily care if my fics aren't all Type-Moon related.
Hmm... this is a bit of a surprise these days.
An archive of my works on the forum that's pretty accurate.
Note that I don't wish to be seen as an idiot any longer. I can't always promise better works than before, but I can sure as hell try, alright?
She was forming - or seemed to be - when she got impaled from behind by the new Servant. If you look carefully over her shoulders in that picture, you may notice a familiar spiralling shape . . .
“Love will be cruel to who it entices — love will have its sacrifices.”
— Carmilla Theme
"Evil isn't the real threat to the world. Stupid is just as destructive as Evil, maybe more so, and it's a hell of a lot more common. What we really need is a crusade against Stupid. That might actually make a difference."
―Jim Butcher, Vignette
The Giga Drill Break attack from Gurren Lagann?
Xamusel's Fanfiction Profile
For those that don't necessarily care if my fics aren't all Type-Moon related.
Hmm... this is a bit of a surprise these days.
An archive of my works on the forum that's pretty accurate.
Note that I don't wish to be seen as an idiot any longer. I can't always promise better works than before, but I can sure as hell try, alright?
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