Weapons Design for Fun and Profit: Across the Multiverse (Currently In: My Little Pony)

You observed from afar as Alistair danced through the air with his blade, doing so in a way that clearly displayed the years of practice and rigorous training he'd forced his body to endure. It was clear that he didn't expect to reclaim his family's titles and lands through peaceful discussion, and the connections he'd made with many other groups unsatisfied with the Emperor's regime showed that he did not believe he could charge in with a blade and accomplish his goals by himself. This was very good news for you, as some unthinking zealot probably wouldn't be the best individual to work with.

Nevertheless... you decided that immediately showing your body to him wouldn't be the wisest of decisions. Instead, you disconnected a few external speakers and gravito-electric manipulators and placed them in a forest clearing close enough to reach out to him as soon as he finished his latest training session.

He immediately drew his blade upon hearing your words and began approaching where your voice came from in a nearly silent manner. If your sensory equipment had only the sensitivity of human hearing, you doubted you'd have been able to make out the sound of his approach from the noises of the forest.

"Who dares approach? Show thyself!" Stormfeather shouted, eyes darting around the clearing as he tried to identify the origin of your voice.

"Greetings, Alistair Stormfeather." you intoned confidently, watching as he immediately spun to face your speakers, eyes locking upon the device with an unnatural intensity. "I come to you with an offer of assistance, though I do expect to receive boons from yourself in exchange."

"Verily? And what 'benefits' would a mage like yourself be able to grant?" Alistair said, stalking around the clearing once more as he dismissed the speakers as a non-threat. "I know very well the silvered words of the Unicorn Kingdoms, and of how their 'assistance' tends to go for those who accept it. I do apologize if I do not seem willing to turn myself into a pawn for a distant power."

Storing that bit of intel away for future use, you continued your pitch, "Worry not, Mister Stormfeather, I am not the sort of individual who enjoys acceptable nebulous payments like future 'favors' and the like. Any assistance I give you will have a very concrete cost, one that I am willing to negotiate with you on once I have shown you exactly how I can help."

Alistair scoffed at that and faced the speakers once he realized that you were nowhere close to where he was, "That still does not answer my questions on what benefits you would be able to grant me in the first place. I hold no lands whose fields you can bless and own no mountains that you can scry for resources. Even the connections I hold are not ones where I'd be willing to have you grant them increased strength, and I doubt that a Unicorn like yourself would be willing to part with their precious silver for funding the acquisition of mercenaries."

If you had a mouth with which to do so, you would have smirked. Instead, you began vibrating the blade that you'd buried underground with gravitic waves, sloughing off mounds of dirt and lifting a shining blade of durasteel from the ground below. "In exchange for certain resources, I can give you access to weapons that exceed the strength of any others found in this 'Griffonian Empire'. And I should make this clear to you know... I am not a 'Unicorn' as you seem to believe. Nor am I a member of any other race that can be found upon this world, I was constructed for the sole purpose of designing new weapons and methods of selling them. Unfortunately, an accident near my site of creation eventually resulted in myself and a few other assets of mine being sent across the stars to eventually land here on this planet of yours."

The griffon stood silent for a bit, processing what you'd just told him with a disbelieving look, "You come from the stars? The Equestrians claim them as the domain of one of their Princesses... yet those same stars existed before the birth of those sisters, even persisting through the reign of Discord himself." He went silent for a while longer, before giving his response, "Let us say that I was willing to work with you... what payment would you desire in exchange for more of these blades?"

He reached out for the sword, pressing it lightly against the trunk of a tree and watching in shock as it sunk in with almost no resistance. "Crafting a blade equal in quality to yours would likely not be the optimal decision, as the forging process was quite extensive. Should you locate a source of metamaterials or exotic particles it would be a different tale, but I believe that an old design from the homeworld of my creators would be a much better option." you replied.

[ ] Muskets: While they weren't the most impressive of designs in your arsenal, they'd be revolutionary in a world such as this one. The only drawback of using such weapons would be the necessity of securing sources for the manufacture of propellant, sources that could easily be located and overtaken by a numerically superior force.

[ ] Crossbows: Far simpler in comparison, albeit less effective in combat. However, you'd be able to locate the necessary resources for further production in nearly any area outside of a vast tundra or searing desert dunes.

[ ] Plate Armor: Stormfeather's associated already had access to plenty of locally produced blades and spears, what they really needed was a method of protecting themselves from the blades and spears of others. Individually fitted, yet still mass-produced, sets of armor would be excellent in boosting the survivability of the little griffonpower Stormfeather would have available at the start of his revolt.

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Though he'd shown a bit of skepticism at first, you were able to quickly convince the Stormfeather scion that securing protective equipment for his meager forces would be the optimal course of action. After all, while snatching away advanced weaponry from the hands of a fallen foe was a simple task, removing armor from a rotting corpse was nowhere near as simple. Especially when the armor would have to be repaired and refitted by a professional blacksmith to be usable by one's own forces in combat, and that didn't even take into account the efforts needed to transport the armor to blacksmiths or the fact that Alistair's forces already had weapons of their own.

Fortunately, he was able to see reason and agreed to an order of forty suits of plate armor, designed in a way that would deflect the sharpest of blades and allow its user to fly around as though they were wearing nothing! Though... despite the relative quickness with which you managed to close negotiations with him, actually receiving the material needed to complete the order took a significantly longer period of time. Most of his funds were tied up in bribing minor lords to his side and making backroom deals with bands of brigands to set them up as a force of tax collectors once he took power in the region, and as such you had to receive the supplies and measurements in a staggered manner.

At least his payment to you had arrived promptly, even if he'd been forced to scrounge around for every bit of silver he could get his hands on.

[ ] Being a manual instructing how to teach a Unicorn foal to make use of their innate magicks, it wasn't something that many in the Griffonian Empire found very useful. But for one such as yourself, it'd be a critical source of intelligence on a new species and possibly give you some hints on how to use magic yourself. (+1 Unicorn Magic Knowledge)

[ ] A pendant composed almost entirely of what the locals referred to as Orichalcum, and though the engravings upon it were not related to the 'runes' which the 'Pegas Republics' apparently made use of... it was quite a useful material for manufacturing circuitry and other high-value components. (Receive 1x Rare Component)

[ ] While it wasn't anywhere near what it'd cost to have these armor sets crafted by a team of local blacksmiths... having a decent amount of the local currency would probably be a very good idea. (+200 Silver)

[ ] Ancient medicinal herbs from the heartlands of the Empire weren't very useful to a synthetic organism like yourself, but what you could make from said herbs would be very desirable to potential customers... (Receive 1x Rare Biomatter)

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With that dealt with, you were able to turn your attention towards setting up a small manufacturing center deep in the forests of Griffonia... and had you held the ability to shed a tear, you might have just done so at the sight of the towering dirt walls and wooden stakes that served as protection for your Microforge and Rapid-Construction Unit. Being forced to work under such conditions was an insult to an Artificial Intelligence as advanced as yourself, but it was unfortunately all you had to work with at the moment. Even if you did want to set up shop in a fancier location, it would be easily seen from the air! And while that wouldn't normally be an issue on a world as primitive as this one, its inhabitants' ability to fly made any amount of opulence more of a liability than a symbol of status.

Despite its distasteful nature, the situation you found yourself in was something that you'd have to put up with for the forseeable future. Though rather than dwelling on such matters, you instead turned towards the thought of what conundrum you should feed into your next set of simulations. You had a great many issues that could be solved in this matter, though you could also focus on what product you could offer Alistair next... or take a look at the maps and documents he'd offered you to come up with a plan of action.

[ ] While you'd been able to cut down on power usage by no longer needing to burn your gravito-electric drive at full gear, you still needed to figure out some way of recharging yourself. Especially if you were going to be manufacturing more products in the future... (Receive Blueprints for 'Solar Panels (Small)')

[ ] While you'd been able to cut down on power usage by no longer needing to burn your gravito-electric drive at full gear, you still needed to figure out some way of recharging yourself. Especially if you were going to be manufacturing more products in the future... (Receive Blueprints for 'Magic Batteries (Small)', Chance of Success: 60%)

[ ] While you hadn't sold Alistair weapons right off the bat, armor could only go so far against a numerically superior force. Eventually he'd need more of an edge than mere increased survivability of griffonpower could grant him. (Receive Blueprints for 'Griffonian Muskets, Mk I')

[ ] While almost insultingly simple for you to create, it did still put a bit of strain on your machinery processing wood and animal tendons into crossbows. Coming up with a design that could be manufactured by the locals wouldn't be too hard, and you could charge a premium for giving up the chance for future contracts of this type! (Receive Blueprints for 'Griffonian Crossbows, Mk I')

[ ] Despite having found yourself an intermediary in the form of Alistair, you did eventually want to get a body of your own for easier negotiations. The first step in getting one would be manufacturing a Genetic Analyzer, one that could create the very blueprints of life from small samples of biomatter from those whose design you wished to take inspiration from. This would also be useful for other kinds of biology-related research you'd want to undertake. (Receive Blueprints for 'Genetic Analyzer')

[ ] Though heavily defended by the standards of the planet, the local lord's manor was quite a juicy target. In exchange for a generous share of the haul, you'd be willing to give Alistair plans on how to assault the manor and plunder its treasury without allowing for the lord's forces to retaliate in any significant manner. (50% Chance of Success, Major Reward)

[ ] While not something supported by official company policy, you did find an oddly rigorous accounting of pirate tactics and planetary looting maneuvers in your databanks, enough to sketch up a plan for assaulting a tax-collector's travel route without much risk to Alistair's forces. (75% Chance of Success, Moderate Reward)

[ ] This option was something you probably wouldn't be informing Alistair of, but a local temple had quite a few artifacts made of gold, silver, and other precious gemstones... (Receive Minor Reward)