Hannibal Forge

Cataclysm Conquest | Chapter 16: Ambassador Plenipotentiary (First Draft)

Cataclysm Conquest | Chapter 15: Atomic Physician (First Draft)

Cataclysm Conquest | Chapter 14: Shadows of War (First Draft)

Cataclysm Conquest | Chapter 13: A Troubling Report (First Draft)

Please give me your thoughts on this, and be generous. I need to know if this feels off in any way, especially the later part and the inherent escalation.

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Monday, November 28, 4 S.E.

“Really? Just like that?”

Leonidas nodded at Aylar’s question and watched Synthra’s face grimace into displeasure, the Sorceress’ long nails trailing through the Queen’s hair where she lay with her head in her lap. The three of them were seated in his rooms as ...

Cataclysm Conquest | Chapter 12: An Unexpected Reception (First Draft)

Monday, November 28, 4 S.E.

The Ulysses pulled in toward the greatly expanded coastline of what had once been Michigan. The Lake they now sailed, nominally known as Lake Michigan, had been greatly reduced by alterations in topography—and what had once been a Great Lake was little more than a glorified, vastly reduced large river of water, wide enough for the Ulysses to sail through freely, but no longer bearing its former grandeur.

James observed the c...

Cataclysm Conquest | Chapter 11: Dinner and Decisions (First Draft)

Sunday, November 27, 4 S.E.

Leonidas waited for Xarina with his arms folded on Sunday night, leaning against the doorframe of his immense balcony. The King’s gaze was focused on the City under the stars, his thoughts drifting toward the inspections he’d undertaken at the site of the new walls. One hundred miles of land around the Thronehold would be eventually encapsulated by the new fortifications, but it would take nearly ten months to complete—reduced from almost five ...

Cataclysm Conquest | Chapter 10: A Day in the Life (First Draft)

Sunday, November 27, 4 S.E.

Leonidas awoke at the crack of dawn, peering over to where Aylar was snuggled up against him and smiling at his sleeping wife. He shifted a moment later, kissing her forehead and gently unwrapping his arms from her as her blue eyes opened.

“{Good morning, my love,}” she murmured tiredly, smiling at him wearily.

“{Good morning, my love,}” he replied in kind, bending to kiss her gently on the lips for a moment, and then kissed her n...

Cataclysm Conquest | Chapter 09: Cleaners (First Draft)

Saturday, November 26, 4 S.E.

Xarina stood alongside Kairi and Bardulf as they looked up at the warehouse building in the far East of the Prosperity Quarter, hands resting on the pommels of her shortswords. The Eidolon had summoned them separately half an hour earlier, telling them they had ‘urgent intelligence’ to act on, and refusing to elaborate. Upon arrival, in the cover of night, they’d rendezvoused with the Princess in the shadow of the warehouse’s mass, finding ...

Cataclysm Conquest | Chapter 08: Threat Assessment (First Draft)

Saturday, November 26, 4 S.E.

Countess Diana Margaret Montgomery entered the guest quarters provided for her by the young King and Queen with a sense of begrudging admiration, eyeing the polished white manastone, luxurious carpets, and spacious rooms with a lifelong aristocrat’s appraisal. There was little to take issue with in what she saw, and that did nothing to ameliorate the faint sense of unease stirring within her gut.

Her [Magmaflare Core] had been vibrating the...

Cataclysm Conquest | Chapter 07: Countess Diana Montgomery (First Draft)

Saturday, November 26, 4 S.E.

Twenty minutes later, Leonidas sat on his throne with Aylar beside him on hers, having sent word to his wife of the Emissary’s arrival. As expected, his Queen had hurried down to the Throne Room, wearing an elegant white dress with layered silks, embroidered with golden laurel wreaths and faintly loosened around her baby bump. She’d kissed him full on the mouth when she’d arrived, and settled into the white throne beside his black one a momen...

Cataclysm Conquest | Chapter 06: Briefings and Arrivals (First Draft)

Saturday, November 26, 4 S.E.

Leonidas stepped into the palace Press Room three hours later, wishing the day would end.

After he’d finished his speech in the Senatorum Royalis, concluding with another message of encouragement toward unity and promises toward expanding the nation’s borders, Aylar had given her own speech, reinforcing the need for the rule of law and emphasizing the togetherness of the Kingdom.

Between the two of them, they’d managed to hammer t...

Cataclysm Conquest | Chapter 05: The Lion Princess (First Draft)

Saturday, November 26, 4 S.E.

James scowled out at the St. Lawrence waterway from the prow of the Ulysses, staring at the passing shores with his arms folded over his chest. The pursuit from the manabeast that had attacked them had ended when they’d entered the comparatively shallow water leading toward Michigan, but the creature had done a number on his ship.

One engine destroyed, two hull breaches, and a whole section of their perimeter guns destroyed—to sa...

Cataclysm Conquest | Chapter 04: Heavy is the Crown (First Draft)

Saturday, November 26, 4 S.E.

“Ready?” Leonidas asked his companions, glancing from Aylar, to Synthra, to Kairi, and then to his parents, as they stood before the immense still-closed golden doors to the Senatorum Royalis—the immense building that seated both the House of Commons and House of Nobles, as well as the rarely-used joint chamber that could fit both comfortably. The building itself was made of white marble and modeled on the Capitol Building in Washington, DC. ...

Cataclysm Conquest | Chapter 03: Cracks in Paradise (First Draft)

Friday, November 25, 4 S.E.

Xarina, hooded and cloaked, watched in silence from where she leaned against the wall of a restaurant in the Prosperity Quarter, sheltering from the afternoon sun, as the altercation before her escalated—the soft glow of her crimson eyes hidden beneath her cowl.

A group of Terrans, seemingly relatives and friends of some killed in the Cataclysm War, were in a tense confrontation with some of her own people; Svartfenn, formerly of the Starhold...

Cataclysm Conquest | Chapter 02: Blessings and Banality (First Draft)

Friday, November 25, 4 S.E.

Leonidas entered his chambers with Ceruviel behind him, finding Aylar and Synthra the moment he did. The Queen was aglow with the vitality of her pregnancy, relaxing on the lounge with her head in Synthra’s lap, and reading a newspaper of all things while the Sorceress brushed her golden hair. The pair of them looked perfectly at ease, a small platter of half-eaten snacks on the table near the sofa, and a decanter of chilled Aetherwine half-empty a...

Cataclysm Conquest | Chapter 01: New Challenges (First Draft)

Friday, November 25, 4 S.E.

Leonidas grunted under his breath, breathing in as his [Cataclysm Core] shuddered in his Dantian. His Strength, Endurance, Agility, and Dexterity had improved by leaps during his months of training, but none of them truly managed to ameliorate the strain of trying to advance his Core, as he’d been struggling to do for the past three months.

His mana was running wild, roaring across his body as he worked to push his Core toward the final stage...

Leonidas Bonuses + Character Sheet | End of Book 2

Some of these will be inconsistent with what is posted and will be fixed in Book 2 Second Drafting.

Bonuses (Book 1):

• -50% Aetherium Store Costs (Cataclysm)

• +1 Attribute Point per Level (Terran Forerunner)

• +25% Psi Potency (Psionic Amplifier)

• +25% Mana Total (Mana Sage)

• +100% Mana Total (Core Formation Stage)

• +100% Psi Total (Core Formation Stage)

• +10% Elemental Res...

  2026-02-01 22:33:10 +0000 UTC View Post

Cataclysm Conquest | Prologue: Tides of Terror (First Draft)

Monday, November 25, 4 S.E.

The Aetheric Destroyer Ulysses crested another storm-tossed wave as it powered through the North Atlantic toward the Gulf of St. Lawrence, its [Aetherium]-purchased body cutting through the water while its crew sheltered from the storm and relied on the reinforced material to keep them safe from the manabeasts surging below. At seventy meters in length from prow to stern, thirty wide at the central deck, and twenty high from keel to bridge-t...

Cataclysm War | Chapter 102: What Lies Beyond (First Draft)

Tuesday, August 16, 4 S.E.

Leonidas stood on his balcony with his arms folded, observing the setting sun while laughter spilled from his rooms. His sister’s cackles of glee reached his ears, and he smiled faintly at the sound, his hands resting on the guardrail of the balcony. The wind faintly whipped at his hair and shirt, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, but he paid it no mind.

The meeting had progressed to a feast with much larger attendance, and Ceruviel had covertl...

Cataclysm War | Chapter 101: To the Future (First Draft)

Sunday, August 14, 4 S.E.

Leonidas walked into the meeting room with Aylar on his arm, crowns atop their heads, and formal attire donned. He wore his usual suit for the occasion, while his wife had chosen the same dress she’d worn the day he proposed to her, diaphanous silks hanging from her gold-clasped biceps, and sapphirine gems inlaid across its expanse.

The room rose when they entered, and he cast his gaze across the assembled.

Matriarch Yvrain sat at the end...

Cataclysm War | Chapter 100: His Mentor's Truth (First Draft)

Sunday, August 14, 4 S.E.

Count Teryn Varius Cartellis hummed to the crackle of the fire in his office silently, setting his rapier calmly on his desk and brushing his hands down his suit. His eyes were calm despite the omens of the day, and his mind was steady. There was a strange peace to accepting what must come, and Teryn Cartellis had never been a man who railed with futility at assured fate. His daughter was all-but-dead in every way that mattered, but his son had found a...

Cataclysm War | Chapter 99: A Happy Possibility (First Draft)

Friday, August 12, 4 S.E.

Three hours later, Leonidas lounged with one leg over the sofa of his chambers as he perused his System alerts, a celebratory hotdog in his stomach staving off his hunger in a satisfying manner. Opposite him, Synthra and Aylar were seated on the larger couch, exclaiming over the Sorceress’ gains from the battle and animatedly discussing her level-up options while Leonidas handled his own affairs.

He wore casual attire: a black tee, loose-fittin...

Cataclysm War | Chapter 98: A Complicated Future (First Draft)

Friday, August 12, 4 S.E.

Yarilla panted as she stepped back from the battle, falling into the ranks of the Truthguard and Heartwardens as they locked their shields around her, and the Maidenguard stepped up to aid them, spears at the ready to meet the inevitable counter-charge. The battle for the wall was stalemated, with the reinforcements from the Terran army below pouring in, and the forces of the Starhold continuing to surge up the ladders.

There was no easy way to b...

Cataclysm War | Chapter 97: The King's Decree (First Draft)

Friday, August 12, 4 S.E.

Xarina followed Leonidas and his companions as the Archon-King made his way back toward the City, accompanied by the cheers of his people. The roar of it was palpable, shaking the world around them as the Humanity Alliance’s remnants began to limp their way from the City, forming a rough column behind the defeated figure of the Iron Duke as he led the ragged remnants of his Army away from the slaughterhouse that had been the field of battle.

Th...

Cataclysm War | Chapter 96: The Price of Hubris (First Draft)

Friday, August 12, 4 S.E.

Artur stared at the ruins of his army in numb disbelief.

Everything was falling apart. His Legions were being routed by deluded collaborators aided by their Fantasy overlords, his allies—expendable, but useful—had been obliterated by twelve monstrous Fantasies that had exploded through their ranks like a natural disaster, rending humans like wheat before the scythe, and shattering their morale within the same timeframe as it took for him to r...

Cataclysm War | Chapter 95: Know True Fear (First Draft)

Friday, August 12, 4 S.E.

Leonidas regarded Xarina in silence after she spoke and then glanced at his sister, whose sword was still at the Svartfar’s neck. He’d erected a small [Psionic Force] bubble around them after the woman had spoken, and was contemplating what to do with her. The guess, or perhaps not-quite-guess, about who he was remained troubling—but the sincerity in her eyes was hard to feign. There was an easy way to tell if she was lying, though.

“Swea...

Cataclysm War | Chapter 94: Devastation of Expectation (First Draft)

Friday, August 12, 4 S.E.

Aylar paced quietly in her warplate, eyes fixed on the table as the Legion-Masters and their staff conferred, shifting representative figurines within the Dawnhaven map in accordance with reports, and removing others based on casualties. So far, the removed figures belonged entirely to the enemy for the most part, though the Aegis of Avalon was suffering losses on both the Sunrise and Moonrise battlefronts.

Only the Prosperity Gate seemed to be g...

Cataclysm War | Chapter 93: Psychological Warfare (First Draft)

Friday, August 12, 4 S.E.

Xarina slowed to a halt as she stared at the scene before her.

The Prosperity Gate was open, and almost half of the Shield-Host had charged out of the gates in the green fields and madness beyond, while the Royal Army was already marshaling forces in the thoroughfare, bellowing orders as the Haelfenn formed ranks and prepared to reinforce the charging citizens. The remainder of the Shield-Host was also dividing, with groups jogging toward the wal...

Cataclysm War | Chapter 92: Charge of the Black Knight (First Draft)

Friday, August 12, 4 S.E.

Nothing was going the way he had envisioned it.

Artur Mordred Paendrag gnashed his teeth in frustration atop Bucephalus, his eyes fixed on the forbidding walls of Dawnhaven with anger and hatred both. The City defied him, defied his Legions, defied his will. Thousands of the Humanity Alliance’s most fervent soldiers had already broken themselves on the siege towers, the gates had not shown any signs of giving way, and he could feel the morale o...

Cataclysm War | Chapter 91: An Impossible Choice (First Draft)

Friday, August 12, 4 S.E.

Leonidas handed off the empty [Greater Mana Potion] to one of the Royal Guards and sighed. The chaos he’d left in his wake after using the Sunder the Heavens was already recovering, but he’d made his point. The flood of experience he’d received had been beneficial and had pushed him to Level 23 almost instantly, allowing him to add an additional 4 points to his Strength for a total of 45. His Willpower had similarly risen to 2026-01-29 23:35:11 +0000 UTC View Post