I haven’t gotten home before 7 a single day this week. Take what you can get.

 

Arcanist Articles: Magic by Mezzy

 

A new stealth cruiser has been constructed from the shipyards.

We are currently looking for anyone interested in purchasing the building materials, this month there has been no one interested in the bulk goods.

The invasion of Zenaka has taken a development. Up until now efforts have not been too difficult, though it appears many of our targets are beginning to form alliances. This includes drawing in members who may not have been an original target of ours, but have been swayed into joining none the less.

Strategically this poses a threat as Zenaka’s large population could complicate the invasion efforts. Thus far, their lack of unity is what made it easier for our superior military technology and training to move from one objective to the next. If the target nations successfully organize themselves the sheer numbers could repel our forces. Even if just by running our soldiers out of ammo.

Zenakan nations do not often form alliances, so this is a strange development. We cannot discern the origin of this development as they are taking specific efforts to keep hidden while going from one leader to the next.

The White Talon Armaments company is under reconstruction on Moncayo.

The mech/fighter project is a largely feasible idea, the problem just being the power source required to have both flight and any meaningful firepower on this style of design. The first problem Khymin is working on is how to prioritize certain tradeoffs in design. Lately his question is whether or not you care about agility versus firepower. Such a chassis can either limit its maneuverability in favor of heavier weapons or vice versa. He currently assumes you’ll take speed over armor weight, since a lot of durability issues will be solved with shields and making it fly at all will limit its armor capabilities compared to other class three and four mechs. He is defining ‘agile’ firepower as a small cannon rifle with a melee weapon and maybe some backup machine guns. By comparison Laenadra uses a larger cannon combined with mounted extra smaller cannons, missile launchers, heavy machine guns, and ethi artillery. He points out her mech is class 2. Which leads to his other question, do you want a class one two three or four?

Class 1: Can fit in more places easier, just a few meters tall and typically used in dense environments. High agility low top speed. Don’t get shot by a tank/rocket launcher. Carries a main and secondary weapon of smaller sizes.
Class 2: Biggest class that can comfortably fit in urban streets without breaking all the buildings around it. Highest top speed, strong agility. Can carry three weapons systems and survive an encounter with random soldiers who have a rocket. Still don’t fight a tank head on. Though this can dogfight strike craft.
Class 3: Serious mech warfare, packs a lot of firepower and can technically be towed through a city street but if it’s just running around buildings are going to be damaged. Carries larger weapons systems capable of destroying anything short of a destroyer ship or a class 4. With the flight prototype Khymin is making, this would still be decently fast but will be outpaced by regular strike craft. Though it can flip around whenever it wants so it has that going for it. Will get ganged up on by strike craft if it is out of position which could be lethal but it will definitely take multiple strike craft to bring it down.
Class 4: Most mechs in this class have enough firepower to level cities. Often by bumping into the city while walking around. The flight design will compromise that level of firepower and really kind of just hop/hover around. Though the flight mechanisms can be repurposed for faster ground movement with hovering assistance.

He also casually mentioned that a couple slave batteries would enable this design to actually work with much fewer compromises since that would fix one of the issues relating to the power systems.

It turns out that Larazja is a better administrator than most. Even without the help of a computer she can manage vast amounts of information, though I suspect she is cheating and offloading the equivalent of a spreadsheet file to the memory of her drones for later access. It also turns out ‘cool stuff that will keep her attention’ is really just shiny things or passive entertainment. She’s large enough that most defense training boils down to ‘equip ethi gear’. At her size its more about applying her force where its smart to do so, such as not while under fire from twenty other soldiers with training rounds that leave welts instead of taking cover.

 

The hydro shield…kiiind of works. We can make a shield of water that is somewhat energy resistant but the ‘opening a hole’ part doesn’t quite work. Especially not with the expertise of Steamworks being to avoid as much magic as possible. We can make it work on a large scale but miniaturization has been a struggle. Only ship and planetary shields can usually do this with regular shields, so if they figure it out to any level of practicality I’m sure there’s a Desoir prize for it. Also field tests have proven them less effective than regular shields.

Meanwhile, in the demon kingdom: Succubi/incubi populations are everywhere. They’re the most popular demon slave and many demon lords make an income exporting them out to the middle planes. We also have uncovered something in our investigations into the matter, there is a somewhat secretive succubus lord. It’s Aikane Yakunan. A large part of her mysterious nature and her need for protection in the Vloz alliance is because she wasn’t always that way. Also despite her status she is still heavily desired to either steal her shapeshifting powers, enslave the most powerful succubus, or to put down the only one to achieve the rank. This is part of why its a bit of a secret, atop of this even most succubi and incubi do not know Aikane’s origin. As a shapeshifter she can pose as about anything and she hasn’t been broadcasting her specific sub-species.

Also while not politically useful, one can always rally some imps. Notably they’re lowest on the totem pole and just the starting phase that leads to other evolutions if they survive long enough. However, some demon factions do raise them intentionally to create their armies. It’s not hard to entice them to any level of protection.

On the bad news side of things, the knights are pretty sure they’re being observed. They’re not sure by what and it hasn’t hindered them much, but powerful demons are known to be a little sneaky and mysterious sometimes. So that unnerving feeling has been having quite a bit of impact.

Kaylen has been setting up her own base south of Moncayo in what was once the colony of the Hasao Tei. Who seem to like her more than us, but they still always hang around with us…maybe for lack of better prospects. So I’m not sure what’s up with that to be honest. Though yes back to Kaylen, she’s taken off already back through the portal to continue recruiting, stocking up supplies, and trying to appeal to the various powers around Sol to get more people on board with her project while her intel division works on tracking Phantoms down. Also she’s off to hunt down a few Phantoms with their startup colonies going on.

The Outsider is space worthy once again, though chunks of it’s interior are still radically different materials than they should be. It’s kinda neat actually, adds some spice to walking down the hallways. In terms of structural integrity…eh the hull’s still thick right?

The bottleneck’s planar stabilized areas are really a result more so of the abyssal plane rather than anything else. It’s just very accepting of permanent alteration. What they were connected to has long since been closed off by the cleanup team.

The murder of the aquatic sirens trudges on, they’re becoming rather scarce now. Without Illdath they’re struggling to put up too much of a fight while we have our base planted right here, though we suspect many of them have retreated into the outer edges of the “planet”. This water disc is huge after all.

So there is a snag with convincing Eden to fix Vairatoa, he’s not physical. Eden has only ever worked on organic entities, Vairatoa is a living fireball. It doesn’t seem Eden is even capable of working on beings made of various energy sources, such as elementals, arcurans, spirits, and the like. Since her methodology is just extremely precise surgical work as opposed to energy manipulation.

Yoshai points out he already had his planar corruption removed by Eden the first time. He was literally patient zero to discover this effect even works, with Riley as the sample.

Selah points out that she is aware she needs to be more pro-active but felt it was rude to kidnap Reika to go and invade heaven while she was in the middle of the Zenaka campaign. So she is instead communing with Ankathi on her own, getting to know her new god, and preparing for…who knows what. Though the celestial branch of the Astral Order is the most dominant faction between Selah, Sarnai, Reika, and Aku representing it they have the largest faction of knights. Not to mention the champion and her direct apprentice. So for now she chats with Sarnai and Ankathi while taking it easy until Reika gets back.

Then Reika sent a squire to yell at Selah for not doing the ‘help the poor’ thing she was weaseling out of. As it turns out, Reika’s the only actually nice one of the paladins. So now Selah is roaming around Eden.

Meanwhile on Zenaka, the idea of using Eerihild to calm the drones down kind of worked. The problem is she can only be in one place at a time. The wolf knights had to hunt down escaping drones, fortunately they don’t run too far. They just start nibbling on the first thing they find. Quite a few died…to Setal’s drones. Judging by the reports, we’re lucky that’s all the damage too. The wolves are good enough hunters to track down the drones that are wandering off but the drones are still dangerous and in battle-mode. If we try this again without a giant glass dome to keep them in, they’ll probably get out after another attempt or two. Setal pointed out that the drones already memorized that they were unable to expand and are now developing new drone measures to escape any future containment by the wolves once again. Then she started singing about how she ‘wants to break free’.

As for the carrier portal project, that already exists. Irae can literally just stand at the hangar door and open the portal on the opposite side of the runway. The reason no one does this is because while that rift is open a single shot from a battleship will destroy the entire carrier as it will go straight through the shields and hull. If anything it bounces off the inner side of the defenses and creates even more destruction. If that cannon is undeterred, the ship is instantly gone. You can still take that risk and try to time the gateways to minimize the opening, notably Vloz will do this sometimes, but it’s one of the things Sol has been able to counter for decades now….because the Vloz kept doing it. On the other hand, works great against Nelta who do not have automated cannons and missiles that home in on rifts.

I mean it does make a mana battery if you really try but it doesn’t last very long nor produce more power than a sunstone. Which is already incredibly weak compared to a regular battery. Though you might not be totally insane, since Nelta ships use sahad engineering a lot.

 

For a human only granted immortality by proxy of being in my presence, you sure have a lot of theories on how immortals work. I am centuries old even before all of this, and now I am still just an infant. Though a human, even a psion as great as you, should be careful lecturing on what they know nothing about. Not that I know that much more either, but so far you’re oh for three on ‘how immortality works’. I appreciate your efforts to guide me, but it sure is strange that you speak as if you definitely know what you’re talking about while you are just as young as me. You and I have only lived through this era, Vasia and Renjala have seen multiple. Not to mention Renjala has made contact with Mahuea recently, a truly ancient being. Vasia…kidnapped an eternal being predating the existence of Sol’s star forming. I suppose I’m just left to wonder why you seem so sure of what our new existence entails instead of having any curiosity or expanded perspective. It feels like you are clinging to being human, perhaps because you barely were one in life and now you will slowly lose it. As each year passes on your lifespan spent as a human grows ever smaller a fraction. In a few centuries you will have lived so briefly as a human that it will be irrelevant. I have much longer before that fraction effect is significant but you…within my standing lifespan you will be human only in a faint and insignificant memory. We will still be infants on the immortal scale long after your humanity has any meaning to you. So I find myself curious as to your confidence in the matter. I’m sure in a few centuries your advice will change, but perhaps it would be best for the both of us to seek the advice of those older and wiser. Such as Renjala, Vasia, Ankathi… and Kanika. Who deliberately deals in these matters.

Also are you coming on to me? Don’t you have a succubus for that?

In regards to meeting with other immortals though, Lancaster only counts on one plane and we aren’t there. She also is younger than either of us anyways. Aryn is…a whole other perspective. She might become super duper ultra hyper sapient one day if she downloads enough RAM.

Craylin’s drones cannot keep essentia intact, that is unique to Craylin herself. It also has to be quite fresh, before the dissipation sets in. Actually she killed Setal herself while the succubus lay there bleeding on the ground. However, the ichor is the judgement of who will be kept or disposed of. So while she can do this, the ichor decides where the value in it is. Which we can’t control.

Rhazin’s drones do indeed share his rampage. They’re not necessarily better than any other drone though, until Rhazin starts fighting at least. They’re also not really more aggressive than regular drones, though those are pretty aggressive on their own, but Rhazin’s control over them will make them hyper aggressive since he’s aggressive.

Setal specifically can infect others in a different mechanism. Instead of getting monstrous mutations and wild behavior as we saw on Que, her infections produce drones…with a bit of time. Instead of overriding their systems and taking control, she can implant parasites that grow inside of people until they’re ready to break free. It’s not really super impactful compared to everything else we can already do, but the ichor found value in that. In keeping with our independent nature, Setal provided a means to create new swarms with a new method.

Also if you want drones you can have some, they’re just laying around the pool most of the day. Just grab a few and wander off, they’ll follow. Can use them to carry stuff for you. Also the more humanoid shaped ones could drive a car if you keep careful on instructing them how to do so.

Grinhys also could just pick up some drones and wander off with them but he is definitely more of a solo kind of guy.

Vasia sent a report that the colony is doing well getting established so they can measure the arcane core of the planet. She can predict the bursts to within a few days, and can tell when its about to occurr with a few minutes warning. So that’s progress.

She also sent the report on Si Yeon. The parasite didn’t change her makeup, it just added a sort of ‘stealth’ reading to her biology that makes the ichor not see her as organic as a survival mechanism to encountering the ichor. The ichor is still an overwhelmingly stronger mutator, but not if the parasite has adapted to hide from it. This is a byproduct of its other mutation that made it so no one noticed she had it until Vasia took a look. As it turns out, she still has the parasite. This is why she needs less coffee than everyone else supposedly. It’s just been hiding in her this whole time.

Si Yeon, when asked about mood enhancers that work for long term, suggested asking Ohalyn or Laura.

In other news, there are demon lords not associated with our enemies. Vloz and the Phantoms make up about half of the demon’s council but that still leaves plenty not associated with them. The best way to avoid getting ganged up on is to have significant enough wealth to be uncontested and avoid pissing off anyone else with wealth. Conveniently starting a frontier government checks all the boxes. Though if the Phantoms and Vloz both agree ‘fuck that new girl’ Setal’s in for a rough initiation.

Speaking of Setal, she has arrived at Zenaka to help with the war effort as a general display of power. The drones were unleashed alongside the knights and VSEC into one of the cities of the opposing Zenakan nobles. Eerihild kept it under control for the most part but she points out, this is not reliable. Had anything else gone just slightly more wrong, Zenaka would be enduring an apocalyptic swarm already. While Eerihild can control drones out of the synapse, the other wolf knights can’t. They’re badly injured and several died trying to control the drones that got out of Setal’s range. This was also a stress test of that ability and the more of them there are the less Eerihild can mitigate the problem.

While not mentioned in her report, I will remind you my swarm specializes in independent operation and infiltration. If they missed a few they could be building ichor pools in secret while preparing to continue their invasion until they reunite with Setal. While it’s necessary to let Setal show her power to Zenaka, the camera crews are dead. VSEC forces died to drones, knights died to drones, and that was in a controlled situation where they hoped to control it. We came to within an inch of the swarm doing its thing, and also we still don’t know for sure that we even have prevented it. Though as I’m sure you’ve noticed, its a recurring theme that the swarm is not easy to control or contain. If Setal ever comes in range of me again, I’m pretty sure a new wave of programming will reach the ichor lake and all future drones will have countermeasures to being contained by the wolves. So we’ll need a new idea before trying to do it a second time.

Greater Seer: The ichor responds to few things, such as what it feels is needed for any situation. Larazja has no needs, she is comfortable and without ambition. She must be baptized by war.