{"id":1385,"date":"2022-01-16T19:31:25","date_gmt":"2022-01-17T03:31:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.manticoreproductions.com\/?p=1953"},"modified":"2022-01-16T19:31:25","modified_gmt":"2022-01-17T03:31:25","slug":"everyone-is-so-far-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.manticoreproductions.com\/?p=1385","title":{"rendered":"Everyone is so far away"},"content":{"rendered":"

Posted on October 30, 2021<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Stories of Lore 14<\/a><\/p>\n

Patch notes!<\/p>\n

Arsenal \u2013 Can shift arsenal stacks into offense or defense as desired and declare weapon\/armor types as desired. Can upgrade colors instead of enhancing number as desired.<\/p>\n

\u2013It was always kind of supposed to be the \u2018batman\u2019 template in terms of using gear to prepare for the situation. This is an attempt to convert that into a mechanic that came to me at random, so now its patch day.<\/p>\n

Lancaster \u2013 Lost some raw stats since arsenal now does a thing.<\/p>\n

Renjala \u2013 Stats updated to Ryner sword\u2019s bonus. Level up: Cosmology replaced with Durable, which gives extra hitpoints.<\/p>\n

Alexander \u2013 Terror template changed to fire resistance. Because as I have written a lot more with him now, his personality has shaped into not quite what I expected it to be and terror no longer fits too well.<\/p>\n

Sarnai \u2013 +2\/+2 to reflect training. Lucky template added due to level up.<\/p>\n

Vasia \u2013 +1 sahad<\/p>\n

Vanjin \u2013 Replaced hunter with Arsenal 2, as this template kind of properly defines her entire character gimmick. Lowered slayer and offense by 1 because of arsenal buff.<\/p>\n

Gunhild \u2013 Mass destruction lowered to 2 instead of 4 due to loss of Inaji rifle. Keeps template due to madhammer specialty.<\/p>\n

Ecsanul \u2013 Lost one point of offense, defense, and mass destruction as a side effect of being banished. Note: Stats are unchanged in true form instead of bound summons.<\/p>\n

Yasrena Val\u2019Hari \u2013 Actually statted instead of memed now. \u201cow\u2019 replaced with 3 and mass destruction 8 added.<\/p>\n

Laesaaria Val\u2019Hari \u2013 Same exact patch as above.<\/p>\n

Eliza Pierce \u2013 +1\/+1 from level up after completion of Koura parasite research<\/p>\n

Roster additions who were already characters but not accounted for: Ihaslu, Peter Harlow, Echo Seven, Aato Jousen, Mikael Lehtin<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Well with Lancaster out of aethernet range at best I can convey an occasional chat through Renjala\u2026so he better not leave Somnus for awhile. In the meantime, I\u2019m on the way back from Moncayo. So I am contacting Sethis through the comms so he can tell Renjala what to tell Irae so she can tell you what I said. This is going to be a bit rough.<\/p>\n

Also Ohalyn\u2019s trafficking isn\u2019t a criminal enterprise, we never banned slavery. So I\u2019m not sure just how well that conversation will go. Not to mention as the major supplier for New Age, her stopping those operations will open it up to Laura King to take over. Ohalyn may be somewhat jaded, but I can imagine what happens to the slaves when Laura takes over the enterprise.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re already there at..alien planet so I don\u2019t need to keep you up to date on that at least, nor do I need this conversation to go on any longer than it already has. This many waypoints to communicate is aggravating enough, so you can just keep that knowledge to yourself for now until you get back.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile back here, the KouKou has been thoroughly examined. Everyone who should be here is in fact here and we found no stowaways. That being said, there was an oddity. Rations wise, it seems like there is or at least one extra person on the ship. It seems like no one is missing, but someone is extra. However, when we take a headcount in the quarantine we come up with the right number. There is a chance that plus one is still on the alien world with you.<\/p>\n

Hylavi also asked if we should be stopping the birth of an arena. Apparently as a sport someone has been running an underground arena like those found in Kar\u2019Soluth. Formerly Shetou, though the eastern houses never liked the bloodier version where people can actually die. They\u2019ve been offering people prize money in exchange for just surviving a fight, and so far no one has died. Most fights end before they get too out of hand, though there has been quite a few broken bones. Apparently it was born out of some of the wealthier denizens of Koura city realizing that a lot of the immigrants we take in are sort of desperate and penniless after fleeing Sol for greener pastures. Hylavi was contacted by Ohalyn about this arena looking to purchase some slaves. Which is usually what comes right before it becomes a true blood sport.<\/p>\n

Also you\u2019ll never guess who one of the major financial players in this arena is. Our dear friend Laura King.<\/p>\n

I hope you\u2019re cozy at Somnus, I\u2019m still stuck back here at Enohas. Though after you left things have definitely wound down. As I told Alexander, Nihlav and Daesta returned to their city to take their lost and found back there as well as ready defenses in case Kar\u2019Soluth reach them. We know Nila is still somewhere on the planet, and definitely low on ships at the moment, though I\u2019m pretty sure that\u2019s not a good thing for us.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re repairing Alexander\u2019s corvette at the outpost as best we can, though we don\u2019t have a proper shipyard so it is taking a little while. At the very least we were able to get back to Jamalia on it.<\/p>\n

New problem, something was<\/i><\/b> horrifically wrong with Sarnai. She was vomiting blood \u2013 which is glowing by the way \u2013 and a bunch of other symptoms that get all the more gross the further down the list I go. However, upon analysis from Alexander, her pandem corruption was at record levels. Previously it was barely present, she struggled to even open a basic rift. Then it skyrocketed to sixty eight percent. For comparison, you are the most corrupted and powerful pandem caster we know. You\u2019re at fourty three according to your last checkup. He described it as she created a vortex of corruption around herself. I couldn\u2019t even get my APT to work if I\u2019m standing too close to her. This leads into the big problem, the medical teams couldn\u2019t examine her. If they got near her with any ethi tools whatsoever they would malfunction. At best they could use some traditional hand examinations, but that didn\u2019t turned up anything useful. Also her glowing blood made a microscope shatter when they tried to look at it. That being said, over the last few weeks, we\u2019ve been keeping an eye on her of course. Her corruption level seemed to be deteriorating the more mana she steals from things around her. We put her next to the corvette engines for awhile and she returned to normal levels of two percent corruption after sleeping next to the engines for a night. She\u2019s back up and completely fine, but Alexander has concerns. As all this happened after her bind possessed her, which admittedly saved her life and Reika\u2019s.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve never actually seen corruption be undone by draining mana from other things to basically purify itself. Alexander thinks this might be a hint as to what her bind is. A similar phenomena is known to take place in certain entities where corruption can be avoided entirely. For example, Setani experiences no corruption since she only links to the demon planes but she is actually from there. So its possible Sarnai\u2019s bind, despite how hard it is to track, is from her native plane and is just some sort of strange creature. It would explain why during her possession she became an absolute master of humanoid on humanoid combat with a sword, as if she were familiar with that situation and those specific weapons. His current favorite theory is that she\u2019s bound to some sort of creature that drains mana. His second theory is that she\u2019s bound to something natural, something that can filter and purify mana on its own. Like maybe a dryad. Third theory is that we should talk to Vasia. Fourth theory is that we make absolutely sure not to talk to Vasia.<\/p>\n

This leads to the problem Alexander now wants to solve. We don\u2019t know where Sarnai comes from. His theory that her bind is sneaking around on her native plane means we need to solve the problem of Sarnai being an orphan from the streets of SV3. It could be that she is indeed from Vermasih, but well\u2026is it ever that easy? Though to be noted, we have no idea if determining what plane she\u2019s truly from will help at all, it\u2019s just the next best lead he has.<\/p>\n

Also, of course, we cannot get her bind to answer any questions. Sarnai mentions that while she is in communication with it from time to time, this is sporadic and not under her control. Often it seems to be only one way communication, she can hear it but it can\u2019t hear her, or chooses not to.<\/p>\n

In other news, steamworks completed its new project in transportation. Or more so its proof of concept prototype. Basically its a bike. It keeps falling apart because the engineers keep trying to put a huge engine on it and its kind of bulky. They also insist on offroad tires. They call it a panzercycle. We\u2019re working on stability and consistency still, kind of neat though.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Well Eliza\u2019s willingness to help anyone usually comes based on what they can trade with her. Money doesn\u2019t seem to work as we noted last time when Sarden approached her. Especially now that she\u2019s backed by the phantoms. She\u2019s practically richer than Lancaster now, at least when it comes to funding her projects. So she said she wasn\u2019t interested outright, though I do believe if we can get her something she wants she might be inclined to help. As your advisor I can tell you right away that we can afford her, and that it also might be a bad idea. If we give her access to the Maker in the vivarium she would probably bite and agree to do the operation. I have no idea what happens after that.<\/p>\n

Also, you are correct. You did not send Cassir as Vasia\u2019s guard. However, you did sort of give a blank approval to Vasia\u2019s requests. She decided to take Cassir and I kind of just\u2026stamped that one and moved on since I figured everything she wanted was approved. Though in hindsight, I don\u2019t think she wanted Cassir for a practical reason involving the mission. I mean it was beneficial to have an empath there, but it was more beneficial for Vasia to get to meet Cassir on her own terms. I\u2019m betting Vasia wants to get Cassir to the point where she\u2019s cleared to know about New Age Labs so she can be properly utilized by Vasia. Possibly dangerous, might give Cassir something to do though. Just in a quirky direction.<\/p>\n

New age has been delegating Vasia\u2019s schedule and is investigating Uneloj discreetly to see what they might learn from them before they find a way back home. Apparently they figured out that we don\u2019t know sahad and are now offering to trade some knowledge on the matter for passage home. They\u2019re very astute to economics.<\/p>\n

Aside from that, the race now known as the yelay that we picked up recently have been settling in. We\u2019ve gotten them to explain those black spheres from the ships we\u2019ve been salvaging. Apparently those are indeed the control mechanisms for sahad devices. They use light for computing, making them vastly more powerful in terms of processing than most methods we have. This is also the reason they are such a deep black, because if any light gets into or out of them it could basically cause a bug. However, Vasia was right that you can only make them once. The pathways in them are not malleable like our psionic computing is. So if you mess up, you have to start all over again. They\u2019re basically clockwork computers, and once constructed they can\u2019t be modified. So while powerful for their size and energy requirements, you\u2019d need to be really confident that you never wanted to add new features or fix a glitch. It is likely that a civilization without access to psionic computing invented this as a solution to their issues and mastered it enough to mass produce it as needed. For our uses though, we mostly want to be able to read them so we can figure out how things work rather than replicate them. Humanoids like the ability to rewrite things, and perhaps we\u2019re more willing to make programming errors in the interests of speed and project completion since we know we can go back and fix small problems later.<\/p>\n

Orchard is the definition of having space for workers at this point. Phoenix however is another story given how difficult the planet is to work with. Speaking of which, Adryn hit the jackpot down there.<\/p>\n

Lookit! It\u2019s adorable and fluffy and it eats practically anything. I just let it lick my dishes clean and eat the leftovers. It also eats cardboard boxes. A great find for the vivarium. They breed like crazy too. Pet shop time. I already got him to send me three.<\/p>\n

Oh right, refugees. Yeah we\u2019re shipping them around where we can, whatever.<\/p>\n

As for the exerlus engine\u2026it could be going better. We did confirm the atomic construction is an actual necessity. Also we blew up a workshop learning that. We\u2019re having more luck looking over the scavenged ships for their engines than the exerlus one. Granted the exerlus one is uh\u2026fast. Echo Seven confirmed they could reach where Lancaster went through the rift within about thirty years. So basically around ten times faster at FTL. Though that number is somewhat related to the fact that the exerlus don\u2019t need life support or anything else and can focus entirely on speed if they really want to.<\/p>\n

\u2026are you saying I\u2019m not socially talented? I\u2019m hurt sir. Though among the Somnus security forces would likely be our best bet on that, since they have to talk to people and defuse situations all the time.<\/p>\n

Also in searching for the leak that got to Laura King it was surprisingly easy. It wasn\u2019t that Laura found out, it was that Selona did. How do we know this you ask? Aryn called her big brother and asked if he knew anything about the suspiciously overpowered weapons Laura had for Vaeri to use in this cover op. They\u2019re actually his prototype battleship class weapons intended for countering alien ship designs based on intelligence from the New Horizon\u2019s shipyard salvage that Laura DID find out about through her own connections. She is also selling him the information on what Siwa factories is up to after we give it to her.<\/p>\n

So basically\u2026 Selona figured out what Vaeri is up to because they\u2019re also keeping tabs on the Siwa business and the phantoms and the revenants are the only people who can recognize Vaeri and noticed her snooping around. Selona offered Laura to offer Vaeri weapons for her op. Aryn asked if Arkaric knew where she got those weapons. Arkaric did indeed design them, based off of intelligence Laura sold him that she got from New Horizons. Laura is the smallest fish in this chain of informational hot potato and is just the middle man of choice for Selona. Given the way Selona operates, of course they did all this bullshit instead of just texting Aryn. Partially because its the officers doing it not Arkaric himself, and also because that\u2019s just his style to make everything as confusing and convoluted as possible.<\/p>\n

The weapons are helping Vaeri\u2019s cover identity though, she now gets invited to the cool parties. With wine and fancy clothes hosted inside garages filled with prototype firearms. She\u2019s definitely deep into the scene relatively quickly, though is still working her way into the inner circles that might reveal what is going on in that basement to her someday.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile back at Sol, Vanjin has concocted a plan. The driver for the councilor isn\u2019t consistent, it rotates on a regular basis. Though they\u2019re always elven, and likely have some security clearance she can have Aryn look into fabricating. Then place an elf into the job and maybe replace some other security who might be supposed to recognize the current driver of that day. This is where the plan starts to go off the rails. She wants to get into contact with one of the rogue warlords and organize a full blown attack into the capital city using rioting citizens as a distraction to sell to the warlord and have the invasion to distract the entire platoon of armed forces protecting the councilor, then our driver just takes some evasive maneuvers down a side street and we extract from there. Here\u2019s the problem, the major obstacle to conducting this is getting Kaylen away from the capital when it happens. If she\u2019s there the rogue warlords wouldn\u2019t risk an attack even with some insider information on a hit they could try to perform.<\/p>\n

As for Uneloj he\u2019s currently selling sahad knowledge to get a ride home. Given that he was captured in battle and shipped around in a cage for months, he is a bit homesick. Definitely not looking to start a new job in a place he\u2019s never been to before with people he doesn\u2019t know and surrounded by aliens. I think this is why the black market keeps saying \u2018cooperation levels may vary\u2019 when we look into these alien slave auctions. None of them want to be here, otherwise they wouldn\u2019t really be slaves or prisoners. Either send them to Ohalyn or expect them to be seeking a way to get back to their homes, people, and families. Though if we can get people to refuse to sell Uneloj transport home for his sahad knowledge we might be able to corner him into needing some short term income to get his passage back. Which is something we could send some agents out to ensure becomes an unfortunate situation for him.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve lost a few more bodies again after the battle at Enohas with the Kar\u2019Soluth. Only one tank, car, gunship and a mech of each model. We only sent one of each to show off to the arcurans so we didn\u2019t necessarily have that much there, though it all got blown up by their corvette. Clearly we should have sent more tanks.<\/p>\n

Though we\u2019ve definitely gained some arcuran recruits for all this effort. They\u2019ll need a specialized boot camp, probably throw that one at Gheir, to get caught up with modern warfare as we know it. However, Whitetalon Armaments has a prototype mech concept to test once we can get them back here to Koura. Because they\u2019re made of mana and their shape is malleable\u2026we might be able to create some interesting mech designs for them to pilot. If we could remove all the life support, controls, chair, screens, buttons, and so on\u2026well that\u2019d be a pretty thick mech.<\/p>\n

While we\u2019re currently recovering, we still have plans to go blow up the walled city of Helym and\u2026improve our numbers. We might need an extra freighter or two if recruitment keeps going this well. Arcurans are very easy to recruit. Whitetalon armaments is also working on armor suited to their anatomy in anticipation of their arrival whenever we manage to ship out. We\u2019ve also set up a more permanent recruitment center on the planet since it appears this will be a very\u2026lucrative investment.<\/p>\n

As advisor it is my responsibility to inform you of possible options and consequences. So in keeping with my duties, I will mention that their primitive society could be recruited in mass if we destroy the merkas city and bring them to witness it. We currently have one hundred twenty seven arcuran recruits. If we destroy that city and they see us do it, I am fairly certain we can expect tens of thousands with ease. That\u2019s just the short term too.<\/p>\n

Also as advisor, I will inform you that Lancaster may try to shoot you if you so much as mention I explained this possibility. Renjala too maybe.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve gained some regular recruits as well from the refugees 40th day have been shuttling around. Impending alien invasion sure brings the patriotism out of people, and colonists don\u2019t like the empires as much. We have a very good sales pitch for this kind of scenario.<\/p>\n

Gunhild is severely injured. This is more of a job for a mechanic than a doctor. I\u2019ve fixed the bleeding but she doesn\u2019t have much left to bleed. Blitz also broke his leg fighting the Kar\u2019Soluth so he\u2019ll be out for a month or two while we fix that up. I\u2019ve had to restrain him. Do not let him convince you to take that collar off his still working leg.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Posted on October 30, 2021   Stories of Lore 14 Patch notes! Arsenal \u2013 Can shift arsenal stacks into offense or defense as desired and declare weapon\/armor types as desired. Can upgrade colors instead of enhancing number as desired. \u2013It … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manticoreproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1385"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manticoreproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manticoreproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manticoreproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manticoreproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1385"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.manticoreproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1385\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":901,"href":"https:\/\/www.manticoreproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1385\/revisions\/901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manticoreproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manticoreproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manticoreproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}