Wearing Power Armor to a Magic School (36/?) WiP 1
Added 2023-06-17 14:27:07 +0000 UTCHey everyone! Here's the Work in Progress for Chapter 36 I hope you guys enjoy! :D
I found myself in a part of the castle that just physically could not exist.
The EVI, and every sensor it had, was completely at odds with the reality that the golem had led us into.
Because despite the countless hours of walking I’d done, and despite the meticulous mapping the EVI had carried out during all those hours, the space we had just stepped into just did not align with the geometries of what should exist in this section of the castle.
At least not what standard euclidean geometries would allow.
Physics, geometry, and my frazzled EVI aside, the hallways I was being led through were distinctly different from the ones I’d navigated thus far. The marble here was somehow brighter, same with the walls that looked as if they’d been carved out of a single piece of solid rock. The whole place gave me 3D printed, or factory-molded vibes, but without the minor imperfections that would’ve come with it.
As we made our way further and further still, stark white was becoming a constant theme, as each successive hall I was led to became increasingly brighter. Shadows began disappearing first, followed by what little textures remained, before leaving only the distinct outlines of the shapes that made up the walls. Eventually, nothing but the rough outlines remained, making me feel like I was walking through an unfinished art piece with just inked linework, or an unprocessed 3D render.
It felt like I was in a psychedelic music video at points.
Eventually, we made it out of the stark white, and back into something that more resembled the Academy I knew. In fact, it looked a bit older than the castle I had started to get used to.
The walls here were a mix of solid obsidian and a patterned marble, the floors were of a certain rock that felt hollow to walk on. More and more, the abstract art of the castle began to shift into sculptures of actual people. The paintings on the wall likewise started coming to life, as many moved about on their own, seemingly oblivious to the world that stood right in front of them.
It took a solid thirty minutes of walking, but eventually, we arrived at an absurdly large set of doors, in the middle of a part of a castle that no longer resembled the one I knew.
“Cadet Emma Booker, your newrealmer status prompts me to inform you of the Expectant Academic Decorum. You are to use these door knockers to knock on the door three successive times, in intervals of exactly three seconds. Do you understand these terms?” The golem finally broke the silence that had only been interrupted during the half an hour walk by the clacking of metal boots on marble and stone floors. His gravely, artificial voice breaking through the unnerving silence that dominated this space.
“Affirmative.” Was my go-to answer, as I steadied myself in front of those doors, reaching for the two large glowing metal rings on either side of it. “Here goes nothing…” I mumbled to myself behind my speakers as I went ahead with the motions, generating a gong-like noise that reverberated throughout the halls.
Seconds passed.
Then an entire minute.
Time in that lifeless place just passed slower, especially when you had a constant timer ticking away, reminding you of each and every second that passed.
It took a whopping five minutes before the doors finally creaked open, revealing an office that both looked exactly what I expected, yet was as fittingly bizarre as this whole non-euclidean wing of the castle.
The furnishings, decor, wallpaper, and color scheme all looked strikingly Victorian. Browns and greens dominated the space, as did reds and blacks, with plush seats and endless bookshelves dotting the massive space. In between those were sculptures and busts of predominantly elves, interrupted occasionally by what looked to be aquatic-like mamallians, and even an odd cat-person here and there.
Yet it was the expansiveness of the place that really threw me off, the sheer scale of it, as it was clear that half of this office was built for one very eccentric purpose; a purpose which loomed overhead ominously, unwaveringly, and worst of all… animatedly. Soaring in frozen place above the office with its wings outstretched was a dragon, or more specifically, a dragon that had been systematically dissected into varying states of dissection. Starting with its tail which was nothing but bleached, stark-white bones, flowing into its midsection consisting of pinkish-red muscle and sinew, before finally ending off at its head which was completely intact with black and blue scales that still pulsated with life. In fact, its entire head was still animated, as its features were locked in a permanent expression of what I could only describe as shock. Its two copper eyes were fixed forward with the determined gaze of a warrior engaged in combat, and only once for what felt like a split second did it actually register my presence. Though this was short lived.
I couldn’t tell if this was a twisted war trophy, or whether this was just another one of the self-proclaimed light mage’s projections. Whatever the truth was, I just really hoped it wasn’t alive, and if it was… I hoped it wasn’t in pain.
The dragon itself took up the space of a commercial shuttle, which forced me to walk a good seven hundred or so feet before I was even close to making out Mal’tory standing idly by his desk. His back was faced towards me, whilst his front remained transfixed on a view outside the window. A view which seemed to imply that we were still somewhere within one of the upper rungs of the castle’s many towers, as I could just about see the cluster of lights that made up the town which sat at the foot of the lake formed by the waterfall underneath the castle.
“Cadet Emma Booker.” Mal’tory spoke with a disinterested tone of voice, yet still managed to emphasize, enunciate, and punctuate each and every syllable in my name with a sardonic beat and rhythm. “Scarcely enough time has elapsed for the ink of your signature to dry, and yet your name finds itself quickly becoming engraved within the tapestry of discourse.” The man paused, letting out a barely audible sigh as he maintained his course, refusing to face me eye to eye. “Are we so eager now, to become part of the Academy’s lore? Have we a fire and a passion so strong that we eschew harmony for discord? Is this the norm for what might be expected from Earthrealm? Or is the candidate of Earthrealm so brazen in her personal desires for notoriety that she loses sight of the candidacy she represents?”
I remained silent, refusing to respond. This seemed to finally prompt the man to shift his course, as he turned around slowly, revealing a crystal ball cradled between both his hands. “Your tongue, Cadet Emma Booker. Shall I remind you that you have one to speak with?” The man continued, neither his ash-gray complexion nor his yellow eyes once betraying even a sliver of emotion, despite his choice of words so evidently hinting at his open disdain.
Comments
Oh, hey - I can answer these! A lot of the stuff you're wondering about has actually already been touched upon on the discord server (Discord should automatically put you in the server. You should stick around; there's a LOT of WPA and HDH lore in the patron channels!). _____ "I wonder what the population of the Nexus and all the adjacent realms are." Jcb has stated that the Nexus has a population in the trillions. This is possible by virtue of it not being a planet itself, but a flat plane best described as a 'Minecraft Superflat World.' By my estimations, the plane the Nexus occupies would have to be comparable to the surface area of Jupiter to hold such a large population with the agricultural methods you mentioned earlier. This sheer size is also backed up with there being "3579 Kingdoms, Duchies, Principalities, Leagues, and Empires of the Nexus" (Ch. 7), with even "The outer guardsman of a single Nexian Duchy typically [numbering] somewhere in the hundreds of thousands." (Ch. 28). Additionally, per his statements on Discord, the Nexus controls "thousands" of Adjacent Realms. You are right in that the UN dwarfs the Nexus in economic potential, though. The simple reality of full-scale interstellar industrialization means that the UN has a considerable - potentially decisive - material advantage over the Nexus. _____ "The Nexus appears to be like China before the Century of Humiliation. They will ignore the threat, reject technological advancement, and assert their superiority." Hard agree on this. A part of their rejection though might come from empowering their peasant and slave populations with mana-less artifices. _____ "I highly doubt a power like the Nexus would have any knowledge on how to fight a war of attrition against an equal power," The "Great War," the conflict between the Nexus and Adjacent Realms that Thacea has mentioned previously, lasted centuries and saw trillions of Nexians die (as per the discord). _____ "much less a power with an entire Galaxy to exploit(and more than one Galaxy to consider the wording "Out of the 252 billion humans in this galaxy, you will be one of the only two to have stepped through this threshold," (Chapter 2). It's implied that humans populate more than one Galaxy. Not surprising at all since freezing people and launching them with FTL to the edge of the observable universe is definitely something at least ten thousand people would sign up for." Unfortunately, this is wrong. WPA's FTL speed is capped at 800c. At that speed, it would take just under 198 years to even reach the Large Magellanic Cloud, let alone Andromeda. While limited trans-galactic voyages like this, and access to even the Milky Way as a whole is TECHNICALLY possible by virtue of Generation Ships, it is simply not done. In fact, all 252 billion humans alive (minus Emma) live in a 200 light-year bubble radiating out from Earth. As to why that is? The answer is the UN itself. A core tenant of the UN is the maintaining and improvement of standards of living for its citizens. The practical reasons behind this are twofold: - With the UN being a genuinely benevolent entity, the improvement of the lives of its citizens is a high priority for any incumbent administration; this has given the citizens of the UN free and mandatory housing (not mandatory in that you have to live there forever, mandatory in that the government HAS to provide it for you), free clothing, food, water, and internet access. - The sense of "frontiersmanship" brought upon by a rugged lifestyle on colonies outside of UN oversight, aid, and regulations has been one of the main driving factors for every war that the UN has fought in space. Colonies initially developed in an unmeasured fashion, leading to 3 separatist conflicts inside the Solar System and three more in interstellar space. This 'trauma' of six consecutive wars against colonial and frontier separatists has seen the UN take a careful, methodical approach towards colonization. Worlds will be explored, catalogued, have infrastructure pre-shipped, all before the first human colonists touch down. Mind you, that's a watered down version of the process - asking Jcb directly for the details is the best course of action if you want or need more info. _____ "Lost colonies are my current theory as to why the UN seems to have so many wars. It's very hard to stop individual ships from simply leaving and starting a new colony far outside the reach of the UN." As stated above, the UN takes colonization efforts very seriously. The only colonies "lost" have been through a direct act of war, not by loss of contact. As for your second point: It actually ISN'T very hard to stop individual ships from leaving UN space! FTL drives are incredibly complicated and expensive to manufacture. Combined with the fact that ALL FTL-capable ships are operated by UN State Owned Enterprises (SOEs), and it's practically impossible to leave the UN's bubble unless you're an LREF patrol ship. This heavy-handedness also manifests itself in the form of a dedicated bridge officer for every ship in charge of FTL safety. And as for why the UN is so stringent on FTL drives: It's because ANY FTL craft is capable of being used as an FTL-Kinetic Kill Weapon (FTL-KKW). As of right now, the UN lacks the technology required to "pop" the gravity bubble created by an FTL drive, effectively making them impossible to intercept. This becomes even more threatening when you realize that a large kilometer(s)-long piece of metal going 800 times the speed of light hitting a planet will see that planet ceasing to exist. _____ "Overall, I don't think the Nexus will even be able to comprehend fourth-millennium industrialization. It is already crazy enough that we will harvest wood in one country, ship it to the other side of the planet to be made into something useful and then ship it all the way back across the globe to the original country. This is still more profitable than building up the local manufacturing industry. I cannot imagine the supply lines between solar systems." Absolutely agree on this. The only way I could see any approach of comprehension whatsoever - not just of the UN's manufacturing planetoids, but of the dozens of worlds that Humanity inhabits - is to see Earthrealm as a mana-less double to the Nexus itself, with Earth's colony words their own Adjacent Realms. _____ Whew, that took a while to write up! But yes, there are all the answers to the questions and theories you posed. I don't see you on the discord (or your discord username is just completely different), but since you're either a Chartered Surveyor or Commissioned Pioneer, you can just PM Jcb and ask for an invite link. I'd seriously recommend sticking around - as I said at the start, there are hundreds of messages available going over the detailed workings of the UN - from ship classes to government offices. It's a blast over here!
FedoraWearingScrublord
2023-06-18 06:30:46 +0000 UTCI wonder what the population of the Nexus and all the adjacent realms are. Humanity has a population of 252 billion spread across many worlds (potentially thousands of developed colonies and millions of resource planets). I cannot see how the Nexus could come close to out populating humanity's pre-industrial agriculture unless they control tens of thousands of worlds. The UN has built a partial Dyson Sphere, the economic requirement for that certainly dwarfs the Nexus, which restricts knowledge of the industry. The Nexus appears to be like China before the Century of Humiliation. They will ignore the threat, reject technological advancement, and assert their superiority. I highly doubt a power like the Nexus would have any knowledge on how to fight a war of attrition against an equal power, much less a power with an entire Galaxy to exploit(and more than one Galaxy to consider the wording "Out of the 252 billion humans in this galaxy, you will be one of the only two to have stepped through this threshold," (Chapter 2). It's implied that humans populate more than one Galaxy. Not surprising at all since freezing people and launching them with FTL to the edge of the observable universe is definitely something at least ten thousand people would sign up for. Lost colonies are my current theory as to why the UN seems to have so many wars. It's very hard to stop individual ships from simply leaving and starting a new colony far outside the reach of the UN. Chapter 2 states this about other intelligent life in the galaxy, "Mumbles were heard on the other side discussing how we technically weren’t ever expected to pass this test, given how magically deficient our species naturally were. It was later revealed to us that every other civilization in our own galaxy had long since passed, and we were effectively the last to follow suit." (Chapter 2). This tells us that the UN is unchallenged in the Milky Way and that mana-based Nexus adjacent realms exist as well. JCB then writes, "This perhaps explained why it was that we had detected no other technologically advanced civilizations, even as we developed FTL and roamed the galaxy for intelligent life" (Chapter 2). This confirms that the technological capability of the adjacent realms is extremely limited. We also learned from the armourer that only the Nexus can do manufacturing on a mass production scale because he can leverage the higher density of mana to do the tasks that early factories in the late 1800s, and early 1900s did. Overall, I don't think the Nexus will even be able to comprehend fourth-millennium industrialization. It is already crazy enough that we will harvest wood in one country, ship it to the other side of the planet to be made into something useful and then ship it all the way back across the globe to the original country. This is still more profitable than building up the local manufacturing industry. I cannot imagine the supply lines between solar systems.
Relvezz
2023-06-18 03:10:36 +0000 UTCOh, don't forget the fact that if the binding ritual worked, it would have killed Emma due to mana exposure. Yet they chose to risk killing her, just to get her soul trapped in the book so they could make a copy of her and find out all she knows through it. They would then have time to try an examine all the stuff she brought with her. The Nexus is nothing but a bunch of sleeze bags out to ensure they are they only ones with real power and care nothing for nobody.
I Dare Korval
2023-06-17 16:55:25 +0000 UTCOh I hope she lets him have it, concealing her luggage, the null, the binding ritual And the disrespect they have shown humanity. I want Emma to shake his very world view. And all of this has happened in less than 5 days.
Cosmic BGM
2023-06-17 16:34:34 +0000 UTC
