come to think of it, a completely seperate suction machine (which might just be a void portal with heavily reinforced and anchored grating) attached to a pair portal could work without modifying skybreaker
Abrogation (Steampunk)
- Location
- Aotearoa
[x] Change course and leave the League. You did poke them with a rather sharp stick AND you were probably close enough for them to get a good look at you this time. You'd rather not risk Empowered coming after you.
-[x] Head north, back toward civilization you're vaguely familiar with.
Seems reasonable. I'd like to get a closer look at the land attacked by the Blackburn, to skirt around and take a look before deciding whether to investigate.
-[x] Head north, back toward civilization you're vaguely familiar with.
Seems reasonable. I'd like to get a closer look at the land attacked by the Blackburn, to skirt around and take a look before deciding whether to investigate.
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kinigget
Best Demon
- Location
- People's Republic of Portland
New
[x] Change course and leave the League. You did poke them with a rather sharp stick AND you were probably close enough for them to get a good look at you this time. You'd rather not risk Empowered coming after you.
-[x] Head north, back toward civilization you're vaguely familiar with.
We've delivered our warning, it's time to scram, and I like the idea of knowing at least a little about where we'll end up
[x] Change course and leave the League. You did poke them with a rather sharp stick AND you were probably close enough for them to get a good look at you this time. You'd rather not risk Empowered coming after you.
-[x] Head north, back toward civilization you're vaguely familiar with.
We've delivered our warning, it's time to scram, and I like the idea of knowing at least a little about where we'll end up
[x] Change course and leave the League. You did poke them with a rather sharp stick AND you were probably close enough for them to get a good look at you this time. You'd rather not risk Empowered coming after you.
-[x] Head north, back toward civilization you're vaguely familiar with.
-[x] Head north, back toward civilization you're vaguely familiar with.
[x] Change course and leave the League. You did poke them with a rather sharp stick AND you were probably close enough for them to get a good look at you this time. You'd rather not risk Empowered coming after you.
-[x] Head north, back toward civilization you're vaguely familiar with.
I've wanted some good ol' Blackburn since the start of the thread. Also, it's hilarious that we're already better than everybody except the king.
-[x] Head north, back toward civilization you're vaguely familiar with.
I've wanted some good ol' Blackburn since the start of the thread. Also, it's hilarious that we're already better than everybody except the king.
Kai Merah
Hound Hearted Hedonist
- Location
- Somewhere in the corners of my imagination
I sincerely wonder if our parents were trying for this result, by talking down to us and Surge-blocking us for so long.
Could be. Getting killed by a mistreated creation is a pretty common, if dumb, way to die for a mad scientist.
I still think stupidity/arrogance/biase is a more likely answer (why marry someone off you expect to become a powerful Inspired, after giving them a huge grudge?), but that turn wouldn't surprise me. Either way, they are shitty parents, so the ultimate outcome doesn't change too much.
Sole Purpose
Clueless
- Location
- Spread Across Several Miles
It just occurred to me that the spyclock could have been made by whoever it was we were supposed to marry.
Plot Twist: We were actually supposed to marry a Blackburn!
Y'know, that actually sounds like something our parents would do. Don't think that's the Blackburn's style though.
Sole Purpose
Clueless
- Location
- Spread Across Several Miles
Given that the Failed Candidate had some kind of giant mechanical snail run through their base, I honestly doubt the Blackburn family is capable of subtlety at all.
Or maybe that's just what they want us to think.
Kai Merah
Hound Hearted Hedonist
- Location
- Somewhere in the corners of my imagination
It probably depends on the individual Blackburn. Some of them are loud and ostentatious, but other Blackburns are more subtle. The only thing they share in common is their love for family and courting process.
Also, I wonder if our parents just hinted at a marriage, but weren't actually planning to marry us off. Maybe they wanted to make us run away. I mean seriously, the list of what they've done to us is really weird and strange.
1) Don't let us build anything. At all. Despite it being pretty damn clear we're Inspired and all those stories about what happen to people who don't let Inspired build.
2) Tell all their friends, in our hearing, that we're a weak Inspired who can't build anything. Despite them being the ones preventing us from building anything.
3) Have another child, and immediately make him, the infant, heir over us. Before he's shown any potential at all.
I swear they were trying to drive us off the deep end and break away from them.
EDIT: Found some quotes that might support the "our parents were trying to make us a super strong Inspired by belittling us and suppressing our Surge" reading
Like, I know they're supposed to be rather chauvinistic, but this seems excessive. Could it be we have such a strong connection to Inspiration now because they refused to let us finish our projects all those times and belittled us so we'd get even more frustrated?
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Nixeu
Lord of Madness, Harbinger of Llamas
- Location
- Your nightmares.
It's possible that our parents were actually trying to protect us. If we were showing signs of being as strong, or stronger, than the King from childhood...well, it really wouldn't surprise me if very young and very strong Inspired don't have a very long lifespan.
That emphasis on how "weak" we are, when they know we're nothing of the sort, fits with that. They may have been planning on marrying us off to a noble in a completely different kingdom, in an attempt to get us somewhere safer. Possibly somewhere with weak enough Inspired that they wouldn't have to worry about our safety.
There are a lot of possibilities here. Still, I don't think our parents actually hate us. From the sounds of it, they educated us in how to be an Inspired, despite their other actions, and they at least treated us well enough that we weren't considering harming them on our way out. They also raised us to be fairly sane, which is certainly unusual. So I can't dislike them too much, not without knowing their motives.
That emphasis on how "weak" we are, when they know we're nothing of the sort, fits with that. They may have been planning on marrying us off to a noble in a completely different kingdom, in an attempt to get us somewhere safer. Possibly somewhere with weak enough Inspired that they wouldn't have to worry about our safety.
There are a lot of possibilities here. Still, I don't think our parents actually hate us. From the sounds of it, they educated us in how to be an Inspired, despite their other actions, and they at least treated us well enough that we weren't considering harming them on our way out. They also raised us to be fairly sane, which is certainly unusual. So I can't dislike them too much, not without knowing their motives.
- Location
- Third planet from the star named Sol
- Pronouns
- He/They
[x] Change course and leave the League. You did poke them with a rather sharp stick AND you were probably close enough for them to get a good look at you this time. You'd rather not risk Empowered coming after you.
-[x] Head north, back toward civilization you're vaguely familiar with.
-[x] Head north, back toward civilization you're vaguely familiar with.
Sole Purpose
Clueless
- Location
- Spread Across Several Miles
That one's a bit confusing, as the first post describes Lorelei overhearing her parents discussing marrying her off, while the character page just states that they arranged a marriage.
This could very well mean that they had yet to actually arrange a marriage, but were planning on it, and Lorelei bailed before they could finalize any plans.
Kai Merah
Hound Hearted Hedonist
- Location
- Somewhere in the corners of my imagination
Basically, I'm wondering if they let us overhear that deliberately, so that we'd run off. Like, when we didn't run off when they wouldn't let us finish a project, and again didn't run off when they abruptly made our baby brother the heir for no reason, they decided to bring our the big guns of a marriage.
Of course, this is assuming they were trying to pressure-cooker us into being a super strong Inspired. Most other Inspired apparently don't talk to their gifts, or realise that Inspiration is intelligent. But because we were prevented from finishing projects, Inspiration's voice is apparently much louder and more responsive in our heads.
Alternatively, we were naturally that strong anyway, and like Nixeu said, they were just trying to protect us. Who knows?
Alivaril
On a magically-deficient journey of self-discovery
- Location
- A single human dimension
- Pronouns
- She/Her
@ArmokGoB Your questions will be answered once I get home, although I believe a few have already come up in thread.
You don't think the Blackburn clan really has heirs. They usually either go out to conquer their own land or take over a smaller area from a retiring member of the family. Maybe if you count children of specific Blackburns inheriting the belonging of their parents, but not beyond that.
All-but nonexistent. It was likely made as either the sole product of a single Surge if your stalker is female, or as a set of 2-5 if male. If female, she may also have drawn up plans for closely-related models, but likely not completely identical ones.
Plot twist twist: You are a Blackburn.
No I'm not serious
You don't think the Blackburn clan really has heirs. They usually either go out to conquer their own land or take over a smaller area from a retiring member of the family. Maybe if you count children of specific Blackburns inheriting the belonging of their parents, but not beyond that.
All-but nonexistent. It was likely made as either the sole product of a single Surge if your stalker is female, or as a set of 2-5 if male. If female, she may also have drawn up plans for closely-related models, but likely not completely identical ones.
Plot twist twist: You are a Blackburn.
No I'm not serious
We Just Write
Blatantly Plural
- Location
- New England
- Pronouns
- Plural
Curiously, how hasn't the Blackburn Clan completely imploded yet?
Alivaril
On a magically-deficient journey of self-discovery
- Location
- A single human dimension
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Incest is off-limits. Guess what violent infighting would be taken as a sign of?
- Location
- United States
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Incest is off-limits. Guess what violent infighting would be taken as a sign of?
It's brilliant!
- Location
- Germany
... it clearly said that Inspiration was giveing us more insane projects not more sane ones.
I am firmly on the side of her parents simply being shity parents then anything else and likely insane at least for now*.
I mean honestly the mc was very close to killing her parent before she did run away and they did try their best to turn her into a docile wallflower from what we know.
If they had tried to protect us from being an strong Inspired then they would have done something else then to look us away and take away any projects they could.
I would honestly not be surprised if they really believed that we are an weak Inspired for being an woman.
Overall i don´t think they planed for any of that, the methodes they used for that made it clear that they aren´t good parents and not all that competent.
*that will only change if we get IC information that they aren´t.
Alivaril
On a magically-deficient journey of self-discovery
- Location
- A single human dimension
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Aside: Your mother is an Inspired and has collaborated with your father on numerous projects. "Do as I say, not as I do" seems to be a running theme for them and it's infuriating.
We Just Write
Blatantly Plural
- Location
- New England
- Pronouns
- Plural
Well, that's the point of marrying one.
Nixeu
Lord of Madness, Harbinger of Llamas
- Location
- Your nightmares.
...Except they didn't seem to be trying to make her a wallflower? They seem to have taught Lorelei everything she needed to know to be an effective Inspired, they just prevented her from completing projects. Either that or she picked up an enormous amount of stuff by observation and osmosis.
She seems to have been educated in the history of the Inspired, the geopolitical situation of the local area, barring the League, and in how to treat her creations. She understands a fair amount about politics, which I guarantee you she would not, if they were trying to keep her isolated and weak as an Inspired. And she had enough access to information to know about recent events, such as the destruction of our parent's ally to the north-east.
Overall, if they wanted to keep Lorelei in the dark and unknowledgable, they did a really bad job of it. No, I don't think their goal was really to make us a meek, submissive noblewoman. We learned too much that must have come from them, or from good, expensive tutors, for that to be the case.
However, I also agree that they probably weren't trying to make us strong. Because I don't think we would be as strong as we are if we didn't start out as a fairly strong Inspired. I think our first Inspiration coming from a simple lightning rod is an indicator of that. Remember that talk about the fountains Inspiring people with their majesty and design? Yeah, we got that from a simple rod of metal on a rooftop. That screams "powerful" to me, and I suspect our parents too.
Honestly, given their general ability as Inspired, and understanding of the nature of sentient beings (hence why they taught us to respect our creations), I don't see a reason to attribute their actions to malice or crappy parenting. Since, as far as I can tell, they're both Inspired, they had to have known how painful and frustrating that would be for us, and I don't see them doing it without a reason.
That indicates to me that they think there's a reason we shouldn't be doing as they do. Which, again, makes me think they were concerned over our safety, due to our strength.