playwars

Chapter 2 - Interfaces and Bounties

Chapter 2

Unknown forest, location unclear.

Campsite.

Samantha tossed another branch into the fire, and settled back on her log, which she was currently using as a chair. She'd turned back into her human form for ease of movement, and thankfully it seemed everything she had on this body when she'd switched to the dragon one had been safeguarded, including her clothes. Oddly enough, she could see just fine outside of what she assumed would be the fire's circle of l...

Chapter 1 - A New Great Dragon

Chapter 1

Unknown forest, location unclear.

???

"Well, you're finally awake!"

Samantha blinked, and lifted her head up. She felt...Weird. She yawned, and looked down at the voice addressing her. And froze.

A young woman, a serious looking brunette with a pair of glasses that looked very odd to someone that had grown up in a society where such mundane traits as shortsightedness had been eradicated millenia prior thanks to genetic engineering, was curren...

The Dragon Holds - Prologue

Note : This is the prologue of a new story I am writing, called the Dragon Holds. I can't make any promises about it, as although I have been thinking about it and setting up lore for it for a while, I just don't know if I'll be able to write a lot for it. Still, I plan for it to become one of my main projects, and to serve as an alternative when I am experiencing writer's block for The Fallen World : A Dungeon's Story. Don't hesitate to tell me what you think of the premise !

Chapter 42 - Connecting to the World

Chapter 42

Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth.

Dungeon Factory, Logistic Hub Alpha.

"FIRE IN THE HOLE!"

Emilia plugged her ears and opened her mouth, just like Alexandra had taught her, before wincing as the room shook around her, and she felt more than heard the thump of the shockwave hitting her ward of protection.

She waited for a second, her back still to the blast shield Alexandra had brought in for extra safe...

Interlude 3 - The United Dungeon Council

NOTE : I am not totally satisfied with this interlude just yet, and will probably tweak it and adjust it as time goes on. I decided to post it because I finally manage to pass through my writer's block and I felt you all deserved at least an update on what I'm currently doing for your wonderful support. Still, keep in mind that the following text is subject to change.

Interlude 3

Kingdom of Eltor, in flight over the Hills of Sairis

Sky-Fortress of Unification, Cou...

Chapter 41 - Passwords and Gathering Clouds

Chapter 41

Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth.

Dungeon Factory, 2nd Floor.

"You know, you really should consider finding a better way to run experiments."

Alexandra blinked, and looked to the side at Emilia.

"What do you mean?"

The vampire girl sighed.

"As much as I like the hands on aspect of it, we could do with a bit more...security. Also the adventurers are getting terrified when we run them in the daytime, since they have s...

Chapter 40 - Explosives and Alchemists

Chapter 40

Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth.

Dungeon Factory, Workshop.

"That's...A lot of prototypes."

Alexandra looked at the items arranged on the table.

"You think? I mean, it's pretty simple stuff..."

Emilia shook her head silently, and Alexandra looked again at the table. Maybe the vampire girl had a point. At least if you looked at it from a low tech perspective. And a slightly less paranoid point of view, she supposed.

The ...

Chapter 39 - Negotiations and the Changing of the Guard

Chapter 39

Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth.

City of Rebirth.

“Ah ! Lady Aubétoile and lady Windwrath, I presume ?”

“You presume well, sir. You insisted to meet with us ?” Said Allya politely. She hadn’t intended on being this….delicate originally, but one of the thing that Anders had failed to mention about those merchants was quite how well dressed they were.

To be fair to the captain, he was a soldier –well, a paramilitary la...

Chapter 38 - Upgrades

Chapter 38

Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth.

Dungeon Factory, Logistic Hub Alpha.

Alexandra looked at the flurry of activity going on around her, and turned back towards Emilia, upping her voice to be heard over the clang of hammers and the general noise of a busy forge.

"Well, this seems to be going pretty well."

The vampire girl chuckled.

"I think you forgot 'for once'."

Alexandra winced.

"I...fair enough." She looked at th...

Sentinel Satellites

EXPERIMENTAL LORE FILE - CURRENTLY INCOMPLETE/SUBJECT TO CHANGE

Sentinel satellites are a specific classification of military reconnaissance satellites. Their particularity is that these satellites rely purely on passive sensor systems. No radar, lidar, or anything, just a lot of sensors, cameras, ect, to get every wave and particle coming their way.

Sentinel satellites are particularly famous for being one of the few systems capable of tracking stealth ships, albeit not necessari...

Chapter 37 - New arrivals and Logistics

Chapter 37

Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth.

City of Rebirth.

"Milady."

"Please, dispense with the formalities." Simply said Allya as she gestured towards the seat in front of her desk, and her visitor sat down. "I've had more than enough bowing and scraping for an entire lifetime in the last day alone. The last thing I need is even more."

Her visitor smiled, and Allya looked at her in contemplation. She was tall for a dark elf, although she d...

Interlude 2 - Royal Audience

Interlude 2

Plains of Reclaiming, Province of Asaria.

City of Asaria, Capital of the Asarian Kingdom.

Trumpets sounded throughout the room, and Queen Elais winced.

"Is this truly necessary ?" She whispered to her husband, hiding her mouth behind her hand.

"We've had this discussions hundreds of times honey. I know you care little for pump, but some of our nobles are....material and mindful of their ranks, and would rather dot all the i and cross all th...

Chapter 36 - Rebirth

Chapter 36

Red Sands Desert, Contested Border Region.

Expeditionary Camp, Expeditionary Heavy Cruiser Alberta.

"Captain !"

Calder blinked, and looked up from the spreadsheets and books laid out on the desk before him as the lieutenant erupted into his cabin.

"Yes lieutenant ?" He replied calmly.

"Sir, the lookout has sighted no less than 3 ship balloons coming from the North-East !"

Calder immediately pushed his chair back, and sto...

Chapter 35 - Drone Swarm

Chapter 35

Red Sands Desert, Contested Border Region.

Dungeon Factory, 2nd Floor.

Alexandra looked intently as the adventurers arrived at the bottom of the ramp, and fanned out into the 2nd floor's entrance hall. Like for the 1st floor, she'd decided to make it a safezone -and probably do the same for every follow up floor-, but the adventurers were obviously done taking anything for granted.

After a solid 3 minutes looking in every nook and c...

Interlude 1

Interlude 1

Red Sands Desert, Asarian Kingdom Border.

City of Darthar, Elkaryos' residence.

Elkaryos sighed, and leaned back in his seat.

The last few days had been....interesting, to say the least. The discovery of the new dungeon (and his partnership with Allya and Pyn) had already dumped a whole lot of work on his arms, and he'd spent the 3 days until the departure of the expedition running around, snapping up ships, supplies and talents to ensure it woul...

Chapter 34 - The first of many

Chapter 34

Red Sands Desert, Contested Border Region.

Dungeon Factory, 1st Floor.

Alexandra winced as she saw the blade come down, and one of the adventurers just fly to the other side of the room. They might be copper ranked, but they clearly weren't of the same caliber as the assault guild. At least in term of caution. Did these idiots not get a warning that there were traps there ?

At least they had good reflexes, as the poor elf fighter was instantl...

Chapter 33 - Sorting through the Aftermath

Chapter 33

Red Sands Desert, Contested Border Region.

Dungeon Factory, 1st Floor.

"That is...A lot."

"Always the gift for understatements vampy." Absentmindedly said Alexandra as she shouldered the crossbow and fired, before nodding in satisfaction as the bolt struck the target, which in this case was a damaged golem from the 16th room she hadn't absorbed and then stuck upright like a metal scarecrow. It looked like that even after being absorbed, ...

Earth - X16 Missile

EXPERIMENTAL LORE FILE - CURRENTLY INCOMPLETE/SUBJECT TO CHANGE

ASA-MMX-16 (Arcadia Spacecraft Armaments-Missile Model X-16) "Trebuchet" Missile.

The ASA-MMX-16, also simply called the X-16 is an anti-capital ship missile built by the Arcadia Systems corporation, exclusively for the European Federation.

Originally created in response to the UIS' new ship building programs following the Winter Takeover, these cutting-edge missiles were quickly integrated into t...

Chapter 32 - Shadowy Deals

Chapter 32

Red Sands Desert, Contested Border Region.

Dungeon Factory, Core Room.

Alexandra watched quietly as the dwarf stepped into the core room, and surveyed it, noting Emilia's presence, then his gaze settling on her gently floating core.

It felt...odd, to have someone that powerful this close to her core. It was like two massive forcefields right next to each other, or two rivers smashing into one another. It was manageable -for now at least- but she h...

Nations of Earth space

EXPERIMENTAL LORE FILE - CURRENTLY INCOMPLETE/SUBJECT TO CHANGE

Format : Nation (political structure) ; Capital ; notable characters that are citizens/born there

Earth nations :

European Federation (Centralized Federation) ; Brussels ; Alexandra, Arcadia.

United Interstellar States (Partially-decentralized Federation) ; Washington ; Ciel.

Pan-Asian Confederacy (Decentralized Federation) ; Beijing ;

Indian-Oceanian Commonwealth (Partial...

Nations of Alcheryos

EXPERIMENTAL LORE FILE - CURRENTLY INCOMPLETE/SUBJECT TO CHANGE

Format : Nation (political structure) ; Capital ; notable characters that are citizens/born there

Currently in existence :

Elkis Republic (plutocracy) ; Elkis ; Diamond

Asarian Kingdom (feudal kingdom) ; Asaria ;

Far Reach (clanic confederacy) ; None ; Anders

Tark Hegemony (constitutional elected dictatorship) ; Tark ; Saratoga

Gorromar (military junta) ; Gorromar ; ...

Timeline of Alcheryos

EXPERIMENTAL LORE FILE - CURRENTLY INCOMPLETE/SUBJECT TO CHANGE

Note : Some events here have not yet been discussed much in the story, except in passing, but will prove relevant later, and will be explained in-depth then.

BDF : Before the Dawn of Flames

ADF : After the Dawn of Flames

-6 000 BDF : Arrival of the Gods on Alcheryos.

-1 000 BDF : The Gods depart Alcheryos, leaving the civilizations there with their gifts and knowledge.

-96...

Chapter 31 - You Shall Not Pass

Chapter 31

Red Sands Desert, Contested Border Region.

Dungeon Factory, Entrance.

Allya looked at the bodies, her expression unreadable.

"So...do we charge after them ?"

The baroness looked to the side at her girlfriend, who was definitely looking a little green...but her gaze was firm as she met the knight-valiant's.

Allya shook her head.

"No...Not yet at least." She turned towards Anders, who was waiting by the stairs leading into the dung...

Artificial Intelligences

EXPERIMENTAL LORE FILE - CURRENTLY INCOMPLETE/SUBJECT TO CHANGE

Note : I designate AIs as 'she' by default because the word in French is feminine. But in truth, most AIs and SAIs are gender neutral (and could not give less of a shit about gender identity), and would more properly be referred as 'they'. Three notable exceptions are Arcadia, Ciel and Siris, who are all female, for various reasons.

Earth in 2160 has long since mastered the art of creating artificial, digit...

Technology Levels

EXPERIMENTAL LORE FILE - CURRENTLY INCOMPLETE/SUBJECT TO CHANGE

Tark Hegemony :

Civilian :

Possesses steam and magic powered transportation, such as railways, ships, ect. Has a sizeable trade skyfleet and waterfleet

Has a sizeable automated workforce in the form of moderately advanced golems.

Has fully industrialized processes (assembly lines, rationalized production, ect).

Military :

Has breech-loading rifled artillery guns. However due to...

Chapter 30 - Dungeon Assault

Chapter 30

Red Sands Desert, Contested Border Region.

Dungeon Factory, 1st Floor.

Diamond sheathed his sword, and took a deep breath, before looking back at the rest of his men.

To say they were the worse for wear would be a tremendous understatement. True, they were well trained and well equipped, but...this was a dungeon. They were used to handling short bursts of extreme combat, not the slow, steady, seemingly unending grind of combat of a dungeon de...

Chapter 29 - Marauding 'Adventurers'

Chapter 29

Red Sands Desert, Contested Border Region.

Expeditionary Camp.

Allya shifted slightly, then opened her eyes as she heard the rustle of the cloth door opening.

"Milady, capt-"

Allya stared at Éclair, and the bodyguard stared back. Then the pink haired soldier cleared her throat, her gaze firmly fixed on the ceiling.

"Apologies miladies, I was unaware you were...busy, this morning. I'll tell captain Anders to wait...an hour."

The ...

Side story vote

There was only a single suggestion for the side story, which was to write a side story about Elkaryos dealing with organizing the expedition and merchants. No guarantees for the ETA, but I do accept the side story suggestion and will start working on it when I have the time.

Art vote

There was no suggestions for the art vote on discord. As such, I will simply decide which character to comission art of. In this case, I choose Elkaryos. No guarantees on the ETA, the artist I have in mind has a pretty good quantities of comissions on their plate right now, but work on it should start before the end of the month (hopefully).

Chapter 28 - Ambush

Chapter 28

Red Sands Desert, Contested Border Region.

Expeditionary camp.

"Did you hear that?"

Neptunite frowned as he lifted his head up. He was almost done with setting up the explosive charge on the container. Attacking the warehouses (as much as you could call a field filled with crates and containers a warehouse) was fine and dandy, but cargo was surprisingly hard to destroy with explosives, and thus they had to use powerful ones...which just so happene...