You're starting to hate your family.
For most of your life, you thought you'd remain the only...
For most of your life, you thought you'd remain the only...
Abrogation (Steampunk)
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Prologue
- Location
- A single human dimension
- Pronouns
- She/Her
You're starting to hate your family.
For most of your life, you thought you'd remain the only child of your parents. Not for lack of trying, you're sure, but needing the assistance of an outside Inspired just to have you was not an outstanding indicator of fertility.
One of the "gifts" of your sixteenth birthday was the knowledge that you'd soon have a sibling. You didn't really think you had anything to worry about, didn't think of the new family member as competition. You thought your parents knew better than to pass up an Inspired heiress for an unknown.
Apparently, you were being too generous. Gunther von Mendel was born approximately seven months later and was immediately declared the new heir of the Mendel family. They didn't even have the common courtesy to wait a few years, to make sure Gunther would survive past infancy. No, they just looked at what's between his legs and decided based entirely on that.
Inspired females may be "weaker" on average, but you make up for it by only needing a Surge to start a project. After that, you can pursue it whenever you feel like. So, while the change in status was - and still is - exceptionally upsetting for you, it wasn't guaranteed to be a permanent change. Your parents might've given you back your rightful position if you proved yourself to them, right? Right. That's what you kept telling yourself.
But now they've been talking about marrying you off, like — like you're a dud! Like you're an uninspired failure! That's simply unacceptable. You'd rather have a Blackburn take interest in you, and considering their bodycount, that's really saying something. At least they recognize true talent when they see it. Even if the Blackburn idea of courting involves repeatedly trying to murder their love interest, that's still preferable to simply sitting back and letting yourself be used as a pawn in a game your family refuses to let you play.
Even your gender-obsessed parents should understand how outrageously idiotic their orders are; you're effectively untested! It's not your fault you've left so many of your projects half-finished, not when you've always been interrupted prematurely. Slapping you upside the head, stealing your materials, waving enticingly shiny objects in front of your face, locking you in your room again — really, your parents should be glad you still harbor some small attachment to them. More and more of your Surges have focused on devices intended for parricide.
Alas, murdering them isn't exactly the smartest course of action. Your parents have allies and even — gods only know why — friends. And anyway, brutally murdering your parents before rising to power is just so clichéd. You'd prefer to do something much more original, thank you very much. Sealing both your parents into the mind of your rotten little brother, for example. They want to take away your rightful position as their heir? Not because you're weak, but merely because you're a girl? Well, fine. You'd see how much they like him after spending a month inside his illiterate skull.
But not yet. You have no reason to think they're going to let you finish a project now, not when they seem to have been deliberately stopping you for the past decade. Fortunately, the forests surrounding your home estate hold no usable scrap; as such, your watchers are less attentive when you're away from home. It shouldn't be too outstandingly difficult for you to escape, find some weak Inspired, and steal his everything.
Once you actually have some materials to work with? The world will tremble, and if it doesn't on its own, you'll just make a doomsday device to make it so. Nobody ever called you mad, never admitted you're brilliant. But they will.
All Inspired have a theme for their inventions, a reflection of themselves. As time goes on, the stronger Inspired will pick up more traits, but none will be as powerful as your first.
Use preference voting: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 instead of X, where lower numbers mean you prefer that option over the others.
[] Stubborn
Your parents have tried very, very hard to turn you into a docile wallflower. Sheer spite has caused their attempts to backfire rather magnificently, to the point where your stubbornness seems to be reflected in your gift. Honestly, you're not sure why your parents thought you'd just sit back and let them arrange a marriage for you. Since when were you willing to sit back and accept something you'll hate?
Even if Surges aren't entirely understood, your own seem to understand you won't accept anything but the best. Your average project takes vastly more time and materials to complete, but they're also much more advanced than what you'd normally be able to make. You think they might be much more durable, too. Using your skull to break down the wall of failure may be a bit painful at times, true, yet you wouldn't have it any other way. Now, if your meddling parents remove their customized poles and let you actually finish something? Maybe you wouldn't be plotting to run away from home.
Thanks to all the explosions, your creation process tends to be even louder than usual. You've sometimes wondered if your gift is trying to get revenge on you for refusing to give up in the face of overwhelming challenges.
[] Organized
You despise untidiness and chaos. You honestly don't understand why some people would be content to leave their belongings laying around in a haphazard manner. Not only is it aesthetically displeasing, it also means they'll waste part of a Surge whenever they lose track of an important component.
Coming up with new project plans requires more inspiration than usual. In exchange, you'll have a list of the exact material types you'll require for any particular project and a better idea of what the end result will be. Your creation process involves significantly fewer explosions and setbacks than is considered "normal," reducing the materials and time needed overall.
Your soft limit on simultaneous project plans is increased by three (up from 5).
[] Redundant
You dislike relying on inherently unstable technology, nor are you comfortable with leaving things to chance. You know that if something can possibly go wrong, it's in your best interests to prepare for it doing so.
Your creations require less frequent maintenance, are much more difficult to disable, and are less likely to suffer catastrophic failures. You're also capable of doing the same project more than once. Previous projects do not occupy any of your ongoing project slots, even if you're working on them. Unfortunately, your creations tend to be bulkier and heavier than usual, with more components going into their construction.
You look forward to making your first giant clockworks. Watching some Inspired destroy some of the more common weak points among clockwork, only to have relevant backup systems activate within moments? It will be glorious.
[] Deceptive
Lying comes naturally to you, a mindset which seems to stretch to your creations. Any invention with an overt effect, such as a grenade, will be disguised as something else and/or will have hidden capabilities. Your other creations tend to be geared toward hiding, sneaking, disguise, subversion, or some other form of "lying." You expect they'll serve you well.
Your parents insist there's something wrong with you. Okay, fine, so you often lie when you don't actually gain anything from doing so. And, well, you sometimes find yourself lying even it'd arguably be smarter to tell the truth. So what? Tricking people is its own reward. Even if they eventually figure it out, you can still laugh at how long it took them to do so.
[] Lazy
You tried to come up with a better name for your disposition, but since your parents frequently call you "lazy," that's what stuck. You don't really agree with their assessment; you just have serious trouble motivating yourself to do anything you aren't really interested in. If you can find a way to make other people do it instead, you generally try to make it so. Having servants helps.
At any rate, it seems unusually easy for you to copy the designs of other Inspired. The vast majority of your Surges were, in fact, triggered by inspecting their creations. Of course, your versions are often better than what those weaklings can make.
Unfortunately, disassembling clockwork to see what makes them go tick-tick-tick seldom leaves you with a usable device. You can generally reuse the materials for your improved versions, but you sometimes wonder if you wouldn't be better off just making your own inventions from scratch. It doesn't look like you're that kind of Inspired, though.
For most of your life, you thought you'd remain the only child of your parents. Not for lack of trying, you're sure, but needing the assistance of an outside Inspired just to have you was not an outstanding indicator of fertility.
One of the "gifts" of your sixteenth birthday was the knowledge that you'd soon have a sibling. You didn't really think you had anything to worry about, didn't think of the new family member as competition. You thought your parents knew better than to pass up an Inspired heiress for an unknown.
Apparently, you were being too generous. Gunther von Mendel was born approximately seven months later and was immediately declared the new heir of the Mendel family. They didn't even have the common courtesy to wait a few years, to make sure Gunther would survive past infancy. No, they just looked at what's between his legs and decided based entirely on that.
Inspired females may be "weaker" on average, but you make up for it by only needing a Surge to start a project. After that, you can pursue it whenever you feel like. So, while the change in status was - and still is - exceptionally upsetting for you, it wasn't guaranteed to be a permanent change. Your parents might've given you back your rightful position if you proved yourself to them, right? Right. That's what you kept telling yourself.
But now they've been talking about marrying you off, like — like you're a dud! Like you're an uninspired failure! That's simply unacceptable. You'd rather have a Blackburn take interest in you, and considering their bodycount, that's really saying something. At least they recognize true talent when they see it. Even if the Blackburn idea of courting involves repeatedly trying to murder their love interest, that's still preferable to simply sitting back and letting yourself be used as a pawn in a game your family refuses to let you play.
Even your gender-obsessed parents should understand how outrageously idiotic their orders are; you're effectively untested! It's not your fault you've left so many of your projects half-finished, not when you've always been interrupted prematurely. Slapping you upside the head, stealing your materials, waving enticingly shiny objects in front of your face, locking you in your room again — really, your parents should be glad you still harbor some small attachment to them. More and more of your Surges have focused on devices intended for parricide.
Alas, murdering them isn't exactly the smartest course of action. Your parents have allies and even — gods only know why — friends. And anyway, brutally murdering your parents before rising to power is just so clichéd. You'd prefer to do something much more original, thank you very much. Sealing both your parents into the mind of your rotten little brother, for example. They want to take away your rightful position as their heir? Not because you're weak, but merely because you're a girl? Well, fine. You'd see how much they like him after spending a month inside his illiterate skull.
But not yet. You have no reason to think they're going to let you finish a project now, not when they seem to have been deliberately stopping you for the past decade. Fortunately, the forests surrounding your home estate hold no usable scrap; as such, your watchers are less attentive when you're away from home. It shouldn't be too outstandingly difficult for you to escape, find some weak Inspired, and steal his everything.
Once you actually have some materials to work with? The world will tremble, and if it doesn't on its own, you'll just make a doomsday device to make it so. Nobody ever called you mad, never admitted you're brilliant. But they will.
All Inspired have a theme for their inventions, a reflection of themselves. As time goes on, the stronger Inspired will pick up more traits, but none will be as powerful as your first.
Use preference voting: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 instead of X, where lower numbers mean you prefer that option over the others.
[] Stubborn
Your parents have tried very, very hard to turn you into a docile wallflower. Sheer spite has caused their attempts to backfire rather magnificently, to the point where your stubbornness seems to be reflected in your gift. Honestly, you're not sure why your parents thought you'd just sit back and let them arrange a marriage for you. Since when were you willing to sit back and accept something you'll hate?
Even if Surges aren't entirely understood, your own seem to understand you won't accept anything but the best. Your average project takes vastly more time and materials to complete, but they're also much more advanced than what you'd normally be able to make. You think they might be much more durable, too. Using your skull to break down the wall of failure may be a bit painful at times, true, yet you wouldn't have it any other way. Now, if your meddling parents remove their customized poles and let you actually finish something? Maybe you wouldn't be plotting to run away from home.
Thanks to all the explosions, your creation process tends to be even louder than usual. You've sometimes wondered if your gift is trying to get revenge on you for refusing to give up in the face of overwhelming challenges.
[] Organized
You despise untidiness and chaos. You honestly don't understand why some people would be content to leave their belongings laying around in a haphazard manner. Not only is it aesthetically displeasing, it also means they'll waste part of a Surge whenever they lose track of an important component.
Coming up with new project plans requires more inspiration than usual. In exchange, you'll have a list of the exact material types you'll require for any particular project and a better idea of what the end result will be. Your creation process involves significantly fewer explosions and setbacks than is considered "normal," reducing the materials and time needed overall.
Your soft limit on simultaneous project plans is increased by three (up from 5).
[] Redundant
You dislike relying on inherently unstable technology, nor are you comfortable with leaving things to chance. You know that if something can possibly go wrong, it's in your best interests to prepare for it doing so.
Your creations require less frequent maintenance, are much more difficult to disable, and are less likely to suffer catastrophic failures. You're also capable of doing the same project more than once. Previous projects do not occupy any of your ongoing project slots, even if you're working on them. Unfortunately, your creations tend to be bulkier and heavier than usual, with more components going into their construction.
You look forward to making your first giant clockworks. Watching some Inspired destroy some of the more common weak points among clockwork, only to have relevant backup systems activate within moments? It will be glorious.
[] Deceptive
Lying comes naturally to you, a mindset which seems to stretch to your creations. Any invention with an overt effect, such as a grenade, will be disguised as something else and/or will have hidden capabilities. Your other creations tend to be geared toward hiding, sneaking, disguise, subversion, or some other form of "lying." You expect they'll serve you well.
Your parents insist there's something wrong with you. Okay, fine, so you often lie when you don't actually gain anything from doing so. And, well, you sometimes find yourself lying even it'd arguably be smarter to tell the truth. So what? Tricking people is its own reward. Even if they eventually figure it out, you can still laugh at how long it took them to do so.
[] Lazy
You tried to come up with a better name for your disposition, but since your parents frequently call you "lazy," that's what stuck. You don't really agree with their assessment; you just have serious trouble motivating yourself to do anything you aren't really interested in. If you can find a way to make other people do it instead, you generally try to make it so. Having servants helps.
At any rate, it seems unusually easy for you to copy the designs of other Inspired. The vast majority of your Surges were, in fact, triggered by inspecting their creations. Of course, your versions are often better than what those weaklings can make.
Unfortunately, disassembling clockwork to see what makes them go tick-tick-tick seldom leaves you with a usable device. You can generally reuse the materials for your improved versions, but you sometimes wonder if you wouldn't be better off just making your own inventions from scratch. It doesn't look like you're that kind of Inspired, though.
[] Stubborn
[] Organized
[] Redundant
[] Deceptive
[] Lazy
[] Organized
[] Redundant
[] Deceptive
[] Lazy
Well, I'm back. A variant on this setting was originally intended to be one of Consumption's worlds, but I ended up liking it too much. Literally. It got in the way of writing for Consumption since it led to the ol' "writing for the wrong categories" issue.
Special thanks to @Vebyast for pulling me out of my slump. As always, feedback is appreciated. I mean it. I want to improve.
Special thanks to @Vebyast for pulling me out of my slump. As always, feedback is appreciated. I mean it. I want to improve.
Character Sheet
- Location
- A single human dimension
- Pronouns
- She/Her
This is you. Former heiress to the house of Mendel, you were outright replaced when your baby brother, Gunther von Mendel, was born. That, you could tolerate, if only just barely; it wouldn't be the first time a noble house tested their preferred candidate through adversity. Admittedly, you'd been under the impression your parents were too intelligent to try such a tactic, even if they have deliberately kept you from completing anything. Historically speaking, it has a tendency to backfire and lead to the demise of those foolish enough to attempt it.
Your flagging confidence in your parents was outright shattered when you learned they'd arranged a marriage for you. That's simply unacceptable.
Your flagging confidence in your parents was outright shattered when you learned they'd arranged a marriage for you. That's simply unacceptable.
You started with two "Themes," something exceptionally rare among Inspired. Both "Stubborn" and "Redundant" affect your creations less than most starting traits, but you believe the sum of their parts is greater than the impact would be if you only had one or the other. The only downside you can see is that you won't be able to acquire either of those in the future.
Redundant: You dislike relying on inherently unstable technology, nor are you comfortable with leaving things to chance. You know that if something can possibly go wrong, it's in your best interests to prepare for it doing so.
Your creations require less frequent maintenance, are much more difficult to disable, and are less likely to suffer catastrophic failures. You're also capable of doing the same project more than once. Previous projects do not occupy any of your ongoing project slots, even if you're working on them. Unfortunately, your creations tend to be bulkier and heavier than usual, with more components going into their construction.
Stubborn: Your parents tried very, very hard to turn you into a docile wallflower. Sheer spite caused their attempts to backfire rather magnificently, to the point where your stubbornness seems to be reflected in your gift. Honestly, you're not sure why your parents thought you'd just sit back and let them arrange a marriage for you. Since when were you willing to sit back and accept something you'll hate?
Even if Surges aren't entirely understood, your own seem to understand you won't accept anything but the best. Your average project takes vastly more time and materials to complete, but they're also much more advanced than what you'd normally be able to make. You think they might be much more durable, too. Using your skull to break down the wall of failure may be a bit painful at times, true, yet you wouldn't have it any other way.
Thanks to all the explosions, your creation process tends to be even louder than usual. You've sometimes wondered if your gift is trying to get revenge on you for refusing to give up in the face of overwhelming challenges. You've since dismissed such an idea; Inspiration wouldn't have helped you make Skybreaker if that was the case.
Redundant: You dislike relying on inherently unstable technology, nor are you comfortable with leaving things to chance. You know that if something can possibly go wrong, it's in your best interests to prepare for it doing so.
Your creations require less frequent maintenance, are much more difficult to disable, and are less likely to suffer catastrophic failures. You're also capable of doing the same project more than once. Previous projects do not occupy any of your ongoing project slots, even if you're working on them. Unfortunately, your creations tend to be bulkier and heavier than usual, with more components going into their construction.
Stubborn: Your parents tried very, very hard to turn you into a docile wallflower. Sheer spite caused their attempts to backfire rather magnificently, to the point where your stubbornness seems to be reflected in your gift. Honestly, you're not sure why your parents thought you'd just sit back and let them arrange a marriage for you. Since when were you willing to sit back and accept something you'll hate?
Even if Surges aren't entirely understood, your own seem to understand you won't accept anything but the best. Your average project takes vastly more time and materials to complete, but they're also much more advanced than what you'd normally be able to make. You think they might be much more durable, too. Using your skull to break down the wall of failure may be a bit painful at times, true, yet you wouldn't have it any other way.
Thanks to all the explosions, your creation process tends to be even louder than usual. You've sometimes wondered if your gift is trying to get revenge on you for refusing to give up in the face of overwhelming challenges. You've since dismissed such an idea; Inspiration wouldn't have helped you make Skybreaker if that was the case.
Styles at time of creation: Stubborn/Redundant.
Components: Clockwork, Electric, Aether, Crystal
Traits: Artillery, Accurate, Wielded, Adjustable, Blackboxed, Inscrutable, Near-Invulnerable, Personal (Toggled), Maintenance-free, Auto-Fueled, Heretical.
Skybreaker is the first project you ever successfully completed. It isn't too difficult for you to operate; you just need to determine distance, press a button (Void), Squeeze the staff (Linked), and then slash in the appropriate direction. As you can make tiny, cheap rifts for very little power cost, it shouldn't be too difficult for you to become adept at targeting it.
Rifts leading to the Void draw in sufficiently light objects nearby, with weight and range increasing with the size of the rift. Linked rifts are harmless and must always be the same size; making two rifts of different sizes will result in the larger one shrinking while the larger one grows. The balancing of linked rift sizes would continue until they were the exact same size.
As rifts are opened to always face you, it is possible for you to open one linked rift vertically and its linked rift horizontally.
Skybreaker has a maximum range of approximately three kilometers. Rifts fully open within one to two seconds, depending on rift size. For the purposes of dimensional integrity, it is only capable of drawing on one of its five batteries at any given time. Whenever one battery is fully emptied, Skybreaker will cycle to the next. You're honestly not sure how long it would take for a battery to fully recharge; both the energy generation and capacity are vast. Fortunately, you'll never need to replace its fuel. If reality tries to insist otherwise, reality is wrong and deserves to have another rift torn in it.
Rifts cannot be opened inside solid objects. If this occurs, the rift will instead move to the closest appropriate open space. Line-of-sight is not necessary to open a rift at a given location, only sufficiently close range.
Skybreaker is close to indestructible despite the normal fragility of its component parts. An audience of tens of thousands with the vast majority expecting and actively thinking about its destruction may be necessary. A sufficiently advanced weapon created before a similarly-sized group may also suffice. You don't think anything else would.
Skybreaker will painfully "bite" anyone who tries to hold it without your deliberate permission. You may retract said permission at any time. As its method of discouragement may lead to involuntary hand clenching, this may be fatal. You may deactivate or reactivate the self-defense features with a single verbal command.
Skybreaker will likely be considered heretical by those of a religious disposition. You find it difficult to care.
Components: Clockwork, Electric, Aether, Crystal
Traits: Artillery, Accurate, Wielded, Adjustable, Blackboxed, Inscrutable, Near-Invulnerable, Personal (Toggled), Maintenance-free, Auto-Fueled, Heretical.
Skybreaker is the first project you ever successfully completed. It isn't too difficult for you to operate; you just need to determine distance, press a button (Void), Squeeze the staff (Linked), and then slash in the appropriate direction. As you can make tiny, cheap rifts for very little power cost, it shouldn't be too difficult for you to become adept at targeting it.
Rifts leading to the Void draw in sufficiently light objects nearby, with weight and range increasing with the size of the rift. Linked rifts are harmless and must always be the same size; making two rifts of different sizes will result in the larger one shrinking while the larger one grows. The balancing of linked rift sizes would continue until they were the exact same size.
As rifts are opened to always face you, it is possible for you to open one linked rift vertically and its linked rift horizontally.
Skybreaker has a maximum range of approximately three kilometers. Rifts fully open within one to two seconds, depending on rift size. For the purposes of dimensional integrity, it is only capable of drawing on one of its five batteries at any given time. Whenever one battery is fully emptied, Skybreaker will cycle to the next. You're honestly not sure how long it would take for a battery to fully recharge; both the energy generation and capacity are vast. Fortunately, you'll never need to replace its fuel. If reality tries to insist otherwise, reality is wrong and deserves to have another rift torn in it.
Rifts cannot be opened inside solid objects. If this occurs, the rift will instead move to the closest appropriate open space. Line-of-sight is not necessary to open a rift at a given location, only sufficiently close range.
Skybreaker is close to indestructible despite the normal fragility of its component parts. An audience of tens of thousands with the vast majority expecting and actively thinking about its destruction may be necessary. A sufficiently advanced weapon created before a similarly-sized group may also suffice. You don't think anything else would.
Skybreaker will painfully "bite" anyone who tries to hold it without your deliberate permission. You may retract said permission at any time. As its method of discouragement may lead to involuntary hand clenching, this may be fatal. You may deactivate or reactivate the self-defense features with a single verbal command.
Skybreaker will likely be considered heretical by those of a religious disposition. You find it difficult to care.
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Influencial Families, Part 1: The Blackburns
- Location
- A single human dimension
- Pronouns
- She/Her
The Blackburn family is widely considered to be one of the most dangerous families on the planet. By Inspired standards, they're considered to be relatively sane and stable on most subjects. Love is not one of them.
The two founders of the Blackburn family started off as the mostly-undisputed monarchs of two respectably sized countries. Grosvenor Caldwell kicked off matters by sending one of his more successful breeds of venomous spider to assassinate Augusta Blackburn, who he considered to be the greatest threat at that time. He was right.
It didn't even make it past her passive defenses. Grosvenor shrugged and sent a poison-equipped clockwork dragonfly — only to have it encounter the same problem.
Soon after Grosvenor's second attempt, Augusta responded by subverting several members of his privy council and encouraging them to attempt an assassination. They failed miserably and Grosvenor blackmailed one of Augusta's more trusted cousins to attempt the same. Said cousin didn't make it particularly far; Augusta learned of the blackmail and immediately released the information anyway, finding the actions of her cousin utterly repulsive and despicable.
Fast-forward five years — practically an eternity by the standards of warring Inspired — and one assassination attempt came entirely too close for comfort. You're not sure who was trying to kill who in that particular case, but the one who'd almost been successful decided they couldn't live without the other at this point and promptly proposed marriage. After all, if their counterpart could provide this much of a challenge when they were mortal foes, what could they do together?
As their neighbors had become entirely too used to the constant warfare between the Inspired, they were utterly unprepared when the two newly-allied Inspired joined forces, attacked their neighbors, and announced their marriage, in that order. Over the next forty years, they managed to either conquer or assimilate every single country on that particular continent. With copious assistance from SCIENCE, the two spawned thirteen brilliant children, each of whom was utterly loyal to the others.
Two centuries later, the Blackburn Empire still stands, even if it is now managed by more than just the Blackburns. It's established numerous colonies, primarily on islands capable of being completely fortified. Nobody is ever quite sure if their attacks on other countries are intended to be for the sake of expansion or courting. The consensus opinion seems to be that if you manage to survive and counterattack enough times, any aggressors will fall in love no matter their original intent. A successful counter-assassination almost always results in yet another family member taking an interest. If it was a particularly painful death, the life expectancy of the killer can instead be measured in months.
Yes, voting is still ongoing. This "Informational" tab is useful.
The two founders of the Blackburn family started off as the mostly-undisputed monarchs of two respectably sized countries. Grosvenor Caldwell kicked off matters by sending one of his more successful breeds of venomous spider to assassinate Augusta Blackburn, who he considered to be the greatest threat at that time. He was right.
It didn't even make it past her passive defenses. Grosvenor shrugged and sent a poison-equipped clockwork dragonfly — only to have it encounter the same problem.
Soon after Grosvenor's second attempt, Augusta responded by subverting several members of his privy council and encouraging them to attempt an assassination. They failed miserably and Grosvenor blackmailed one of Augusta's more trusted cousins to attempt the same. Said cousin didn't make it particularly far; Augusta learned of the blackmail and immediately released the information anyway, finding the actions of her cousin utterly repulsive and despicable.
Fast-forward five years — practically an eternity by the standards of warring Inspired — and one assassination attempt came entirely too close for comfort. You're not sure who was trying to kill who in that particular case, but the one who'd almost been successful decided they couldn't live without the other at this point and promptly proposed marriage. After all, if their counterpart could provide this much of a challenge when they were mortal foes, what could they do together?
As their neighbors had become entirely too used to the constant warfare between the Inspired, they were utterly unprepared when the two newly-allied Inspired joined forces, attacked their neighbors, and announced their marriage, in that order. Over the next forty years, they managed to either conquer or assimilate every single country on that particular continent. With copious assistance from SCIENCE, the two spawned thirteen brilliant children, each of whom was utterly loyal to the others.
Two centuries later, the Blackburn Empire still stands, even if it is now managed by more than just the Blackburns. It's established numerous colonies, primarily on islands capable of being completely fortified. Nobody is ever quite sure if their attacks on other countries are intended to be for the sake of expansion or courting. The consensus opinion seems to be that if you manage to survive and counterattack enough times, any aggressors will fall in love no matter their original intent. A successful counter-assassination almost always results in yet another family member taking an interest. If it was a particularly painful death, the life expectancy of the killer can instead be measured in months.
Yes, voting is still ongoing. This "Informational" tab is useful.
Prologue II: Preparations
- Location
- A single human dimension
- Pronouns
- She/Her
You place the last of your parting gifts in the stables, safely hidden beneath a pile of straw and kindling. You continue piling yet more straw atop it until you can barely hear the high-pitched whining of abused metal.
The fist-sized devices aren't even worthy of being called the products of an Inspired. They're just collections of grinding gears that'll continually produce sparks once enough of the first set is rubbed away. Any half-trained watchmaker could produce them.
Four clockwork sentinels stand guard outside, prepared to follow you on your trip to the great outdoors. It won't be too difficult to ditch them; three of them will stand aside if you claim the call of nature, while the fourth can be led away by a terrified horse. It won't give you much of a head start, but you just need enough to break line-of-sight. After that, you just need to go in a decoy direction for a little while, ditch the tracking device in one of your favorite hairpins, and ride off into the sunset.
You stumble and rub at your forehead as Inspiration stirs, expanding into a growing network of fuzzy thoughts, ideas, concepts, and impulses. Sometimes, you wonder if your parents deliberately made your gift this desperate. You used to get sensible projects, but the more time that goes by without a single proper completion, the less prompting it needs and the more inane ideas you get.
Textile assembly.
"You could just call it a tablecloth. Also, that's stupid. They'd treat it like an attack."
Ballistics. Siege Engineering.
"There's this little thing called the ground."
Geoengineering. Geology. Geochemistry.
"Now you're just being silly. It's where everyone keeps all their stuff."
...Optics?
"Better, but I could just ride out on a horse."
Biochemistry. Bioengineering.
"I have a perfectly serviceable stable full of them right here."
Bioengineering.
"You know my parents will return home before we finish. We'll have plenty of materials soon, okay? Then we can go make a moon-marker or something."
At that, your gift goes silent and leaves you to your planning. At least, what little of it you have left. You've already planted your distractions, packed as many supplies as you can easily carry, and looked at potential destinations. Now all you need to do is figure out where you'll be going first.
Travel time is your biggest problem. You'll have your pick of weak Inspired to pick off once you go far enough in practically any direction, but until then, you don't see a good reason not to stop somewhere along the way. Six hours spent looting is relatively insignificant when you'll be spending entire days on horseback.
If you travel straight north, you should reach a trail of towns and cities. You could easily pick one of them to hide in for a few months, wait for your parents to assume you're somewhere else.
If you go north-northwest, you should be able to get to the fortress of one of the late allies of your family. Ordinarily, you would keep far, far away from any such place, but some Blackburn or another sent a giant clockwork snail through their defenses a few weeks ago. You expect some scavengers will have already marked the presence of several traps via dying. You're reasonably confident in your ability to disable, dismantle, and repurpose anything you know about, given sufficient time. Really, the biggest worry is catching the eye of whatever Blackburn ultimately killed him. Hopefully, they won't be interested in girls.
Going east would put you in the territory of some of your family's closest allies, the Holtzers, but their current family head is a senile old fool. Their perimeter defenses should recognize you and allow you passage, at which point they'll be at your mercy. It'll anger your parents no end, sure, but it would let you steal quite a bit of usable equipment in a short amount of time.
Use Approval Voting: Vote for (X) as many or as few options as you like, exempting the obviously-vetoed fifth option. This does actually make a fairly large difference in the future of the quest, so choose wisely.
[] Go straight north. You've waited ten years to finish a project; you can wait a little longer if it means confusing your parents.
[] Travel west. There's nothing there that you know about, but as your parents have treated you like an uninspired idiot, that might just mean it's dangerous. You can live with that. Probably.
[] Travel north-northwest, to the fortress-slash-grave of a failed Blackburn candidate.
[] Travel east, to the home of the Holtzers.
[]Hide out in the woods for a little while. Eww, no. You're not afraid to admit you're a bit spoiled. Travel is one thing, but staying without proper necessities for far longer than you really need to? Nope, nope, nope...
The fist-sized devices aren't even worthy of being called the products of an Inspired. They're just collections of grinding gears that'll continually produce sparks once enough of the first set is rubbed away. Any half-trained watchmaker could produce them.
Four clockwork sentinels stand guard outside, prepared to follow you on your trip to the great outdoors. It won't be too difficult to ditch them; three of them will stand aside if you claim the call of nature, while the fourth can be led away by a terrified horse. It won't give you much of a head start, but you just need enough to break line-of-sight. After that, you just need to go in a decoy direction for a little while, ditch the tracking device in one of your favorite hairpins, and ride off into the sunset.
You stumble and rub at your forehead as Inspiration stirs, expanding into a growing network of fuzzy thoughts, ideas, concepts, and impulses. Sometimes, you wonder if your parents deliberately made your gift this desperate. You used to get sensible projects, but the more time that goes by without a single proper completion, the less prompting it needs and the more inane ideas you get.
Textile assembly.
"You could just call it a tablecloth. Also, that's stupid. They'd treat it like an attack."
Ballistics. Siege Engineering.
"There's this little thing called the ground."
Geoengineering. Geology. Geochemistry.
"Now you're just being silly. It's where everyone keeps all their stuff."
...Optics?
"Better, but I could just ride out on a horse."
Biochemistry. Bioengineering.
"I have a perfectly serviceable stable full of them right here."
Bioengineering.
"You know my parents will return home before we finish. We'll have plenty of materials soon, okay? Then we can go make a moon-marker or something."
At that, your gift goes silent and leaves you to your planning. At least, what little of it you have left. You've already planted your distractions, packed as many supplies as you can easily carry, and looked at potential destinations. Now all you need to do is figure out where you'll be going first.
Travel time is your biggest problem. You'll have your pick of weak Inspired to pick off once you go far enough in practically any direction, but until then, you don't see a good reason not to stop somewhere along the way. Six hours spent looting is relatively insignificant when you'll be spending entire days on horseback.
If you travel straight north, you should reach a trail of towns and cities. You could easily pick one of them to hide in for a few months, wait for your parents to assume you're somewhere else.
If you go north-northwest, you should be able to get to the fortress of one of the late allies of your family. Ordinarily, you would keep far, far away from any such place, but some Blackburn or another sent a giant clockwork snail through their defenses a few weeks ago. You expect some scavengers will have already marked the presence of several traps via dying. You're reasonably confident in your ability to disable, dismantle, and repurpose anything you know about, given sufficient time. Really, the biggest worry is catching the eye of whatever Blackburn ultimately killed him. Hopefully, they won't be interested in girls.
Going east would put you in the territory of some of your family's closest allies, the Holtzers, but their current family head is a senile old fool. Their perimeter defenses should recognize you and allow you passage, at which point they'll be at your mercy. It'll anger your parents no end, sure, but it would let you steal quite a bit of usable equipment in a short amount of time.
Use Approval Voting: Vote for (X) as many or as few options as you like, exempting the obviously-vetoed fifth option. This does actually make a fairly large difference in the future of the quest, so choose wisely.
[] Go straight north. You've waited ten years to finish a project; you can wait a little longer if it means confusing your parents.
[] Travel west. There's nothing there that you know about, but as your parents have treated you like an uninspired idiot, that might just mean it's dangerous. You can live with that. Probably.
[] Travel north-northwest, to the fortress-slash-grave of a failed Blackburn candidate.
[] Travel east, to the home of the Holtzers.
[]
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Extra Terminology
- Location
- A single human dimension
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Empowered
Those who saw the light of Inspiration and chose to devour it whole, Empowered can receive temporary physical enhancements when they experience sufficiently strong emotions. A disturbing number of Empowered seem to consider it their duty to kill Inspired whenever they get the opportunity, probably because their own "gift" becomes stronger with each Inspired slain. Ignorant heathens.
It isn't particularly difficult for an Inspired to create an Empowered. It is, however, considered to be a suicidally stupid plan. Biological creations are notoriously finicky to begin with. Intelligent ones, especially ones which were once human? Ones who directly benefit from killing you? So very much worse.
Just like Inspired, the Empowered cannot automatically recognize Inspired or other Empowered.
Fused
Refers both to those who were originally human before being altered and any biological creations granted human-level intelligence. To the consternation of numerous Inspired and Fused alike, this term often includes those who remain human save for a few mechanical parts.
Not to be mistaken for Constructs, a term which refers to any non-sapient biological organism modified by an Inspired.
Heartseekers
A slang term used for the uninspired scavengers who loot the graves of those slain by the Blackburn family. It's also a surprisingly popular occupation for Empowered. Can be quite lucrative and respected, but few Heartseekers make it to retirement.
It's rumored that a few Blackburns keep Heartseekers on payroll for their own amusement. The Blackburn family may also have been the original source of the term.
Those who saw the light of Inspiration and chose to devour it whole, Empowered can receive temporary physical enhancements when they experience sufficiently strong emotions. A disturbing number of Empowered seem to consider it their duty to kill Inspired whenever they get the opportunity, probably because their own "gift" becomes stronger with each Inspired slain. Ignorant heathens.
It isn't particularly difficult for an Inspired to create an Empowered. It is, however, considered to be a suicidally stupid plan. Biological creations are notoriously finicky to begin with. Intelligent ones, especially ones which were once human? Ones who directly benefit from killing you? So very much worse.
Just like Inspired, the Empowered cannot automatically recognize Inspired or other Empowered.
Fused
Refers both to those who were originally human before being altered and any biological creations granted human-level intelligence. To the consternation of numerous Inspired and Fused alike, this term often includes those who remain human save for a few mechanical parts.
Not to be mistaken for Constructs, a term which refers to any non-sapient biological organism modified by an Inspired.
Heartseekers
A slang term used for the uninspired scavengers who loot the graves of those slain by the Blackburn family. It's also a surprisingly popular occupation for Empowered. Can be quite lucrative and respected, but few Heartseekers make it to retirement.
It's rumored that a few Blackburns keep Heartseekers on payroll for their own amusement. The Blackburn family may also have been the original source of the term.
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Prologue III: Final (Appearance Vote)
- Location
- A single human dimension
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Although I wanted to append the appearance vote to a longer update, the first "encounter" is going to be affected by your personal appearance.
[x] Travel west. There's nothing there that you know about, but as your parents have treated you like an uninspired idiot, that might just mean it's dangerous. You can live with that. Probably.
You're sorely tempted by the prospect of going north-northwest, of getting to raid ruins packed with promising parts. Unfortunately, you aren't exactly prepared for a long-term relationship with a Blackburn. You don't have a single creation to your name; while that would disqualify you in the eyes of most Blackburns, one grieving the loss of a more promising target might not be entirely rational. Until you're more prepared, catching the attention of one has a distressingly high likelihood of being fatal.
At any rate, you might run across an Empowered during any such raid. Even if they don't automatically recognize Inspired, you wouldn't expect them to not murder a random stranger for personal gain. Reasonable people don't devour the light of Inspiration. Even if they've heard of Empowered and know what they're supposed to do, the fact that they'd just pass up the chance to become an Inspired is... well, quite frankly, it's horrifying.
So, as the tower seems a little too risky to you, you settle on heading west. Your parents will probably expect you to go someplace they've told you about before, not to charge blindly into the unknown. Shows what they know. You're an Inspired. Burning a path through the darkness of ignorance, shelling the surrounding area to eliminate any survivors, cackling diabolically, deploying clockwork animals to clear out traps, and searching for salvageable materials is...
...You try to remember where that train of thought was supposed to be going. You think it might've wandered off the tracks and gone on to terrorize the surrounding countryside.
OOC: Personal Appearance Vote
Use Preference Voting: 1, 2, 3, etc. instead of X, where lower numbers mean you prefer that option over the alternatives.
[] Diamond
[] Watch
[] Palm
[] Twirl
[] Cape
Artist is ありさか on Pixiv.
[] Bird
Artist: pos
[] Wrench
[] Gun
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Chapter 1: UNACCEPTABLE.
- Location
- A single human dimension
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Winner: Twirl
Previously, you'd never realized just how painful running away would be.
...Oh, no, you're not talking about separating from your family. Honestly, you couldn't care less about them. No, you're more concerned about the state of your own posterior. On journeys of this length, you've always ridden in a carriage instead of on horseback. You can definitely see why.
Your Gift is only too happy to help you design a solution, but it's one you won't have the materials for any time soon. Strictly speaking, you don't need multiple gun emplacements, but you didn't really like the idea of making a carriage-sized clockwork groundstrider without them. Something in you just objects to the idea of making anything incapable of loudly defending itself. You blame your parents. If they hadn't kept stealing your projects, then maybe you wouldn't be so worried about someone trying to destroy them.
The eastern road network seems strangely ill-maintained; more than once, your increasingly exhausted steed stumbles and risks injury. What's more, you don't see any other people on the path for a good two full days of travel. You sincerely doubt it's because of your own attire or the appearance of your steed; even if you're about seventy percent certain it's a Construct, that little detail shouldn't be visible to the outside observer.
Your third afternoon is another story entirely. One filled with entirely too much bloodshed.
You hear the signs of other human beings well before you can actually see them. Unfortunately, they seem to be producing sounds which almost certainly don't belong to the everyday operation of a settled area: shouts, the hisses and cracking of weaponry, and screams. The last, more than anything else, is what tips you off that something's badly wrong. Shouts might be insults, battle cries, or anything else used to keep their own morale up whilst irritating their foes. Screams, though? Fused optimized for warfare shouldn't be able to feel anything more than the slightest twinges of pain. Certain schools of thought have argued that they should even enjoy warfare, although you've noticed a tendency for such Fused to develop a crippling mental dependency to the detriment of all. At least, that's your guess for why they began to rampage in the absence of any other conflicts. Warriors should be willing to do more than just battle eternally; no war lasts forever.
You're forced to dismount when your horse begins to get antsy. You search for a nearby stream, tie your horse to a tree nearby, and move on without it. You waste a few minutes finding an animal path through the woods; you have the distinct feeling you shouldn't spend any more time on the road than you have to. Fortunately, it doesn't take long for you to climb your way upward and observe the valley below. Unfortunately, what you find there is absolutely disgusting.
Two of what could charitably be called 'armies' are attempting to brutally murder one another. The process seems entirely too slow for what is clearly a conflict between Inspired; you can see slumped bronze clockwork marching against four-legged iron beasts. The strange parts arrive when you notice the distressing similarities between each model. As far as you can tell, each and every clockwork on a particular side is exactly the same.
That part, you could forgive. More than one of your own inventions have been intended to build smaller clockwork for as long as they were provided with the proper materials and components. The strange part comes from the uniformed, rifle-wielding peasants on both sides. The ones which fall from so much as a single steam-propelled bullet. And there are hundreds of them on each side, with signs of even more having been slain in the recent past.
The feeling of sheer revulsion only intensifies the longer you watch. As far as you can tell, the human combatants are all perfectly ordinary. No enhancements to their strength, their speed, their resilience. No synchronized movements to compensate for the weaknesses of their comrades. Nothing.
The clockwork war machines fighting beside them move with repetitive, stiff motions incapable of standing up to more than the slightest changes in their own frames. The tarnished bronze and iron comprising them is intended only to provide armoring. It doesn't harness the sunlight streaming from above to blind foes, transmit signals, or even to power their own systems. It's boring.
There is no glory to be found here. No satisfaction from seeing a well-built invention tear through the creations of your opponent. No point. Just mass-produced weapons wielded by a bunch of ignorant, terrified peasants, in a battle you can only assume is just as pointless. No Inspired worth the name would use perfectly good subjects as mere weapon-users. If they're going to be participants in a war between minds, the soldiers should be weapons. A single properly-built Fused could easily waltz across the battlefield without a care in the world. Or, if not one, a small squad at the very most.
Materials and time should be no excuse; if you can't find delicate enough components for your projects, you simply build devices capable of crafting them. Sure, a gear-making workbench isn't as flashy as a giant death ray, but why should an Inspired only focus on the present? Inventions should build off one another and there's a lot to be said for being able to make your own supplies. You should know.
Still, you're not quite sure what you're supposed to do about the battle below. The Iron Army seems to have pushed the Bronzes far enough back for you to sneak down and loot some of their damaged clockwork. The few damaged machines trying to claw their way toward the battle aren't really any threat to you; you don't even need to tap into your Gift to see multiple easy ways to disable them in rather short order.
That being said…
"You're as upset about this as I am, right? Maybe even more upset. The fools responsible for this are reveling in their own stupidity. They're wasting enough people to depopulate a respectably-sized fiefdom without giving them even the slightest combat enhancements beforehand. They don't need this many subjects for a simple weapon's test and those pieces of junk are barely even worth the name. They're probably just doing something moronic like trying to conquer more territory without any regard for actually making sure said territories remain even remotely useful."
You vaguely wave your hands toward the valley below.
"If you can help me make something worthy of being our first completed invention, we can stop this. Probably. I mean, we might have to go kill whatever passes as their leaders first, but if these are what passes as their weapons, that should be easy enough. The parts provided are pretty inferior, but when has that stopped us? As always, we just need time. Our movements will be relatively disguised by those of the damaged clockwork continuing to try to join the battlefield. A retreat of one or both sides could throw a wrench into our plans, but that should still leave us with a half-finished creation and the knowledge I need to complete it. And if we can actually finish it on time? We'll get to show those glorified uninspired why quality is more important than quantity."
A giddy giggle escapes your throat as your gift slowly stirs into wakefulness. To your surprise, it doesn't jump at the opportunity; instead, it seems outright cautious.
Inspired behavior.
You blink. That's new. In fact, you've never heard of anyone being given advice on any subject that couldn't be directly used for an invention. There isn't a lot of extra knowledge — simply that the word 'retreat' won't be part of your vocabulary as long as a Surge is going — but even giving you that much contradicts a good portion of what you know about Inspired. Provided, no books mentioned Inspired talking to their own gifts, either, but you've always assumed that's something people just assume everyone else already knows. After all, aren't Inspired often accused of being inhabited by demons? How would that make any sense if gifts were unintelligent?
You shake your head. Speculation on the nature of your gift can wait. You can feel the tingling signs of a Surge at the back of your head, yet your gift seems to be holding it back. You get the feeling it'll give you full access if you ask, but it wants to be positive you're willing to pursue the idea.
Surge Mechanics.
...And you'll apparently be untouchable as long as the Surge is going. You never did finish the invention born from your birth as an Inspired, nor have you completed anything since. That, in of itself, gives you power. Available materials barely even matter; all you need is a song and a big enough audience to give it power.
To spite the gods,
Despite the odds,
Reach for the sky.
[] Turn around and leave. As much as you like the idea of thwarting two fools misusing their gifts, there's no denying that a battlefield is inherently dangerous. The clockwork might not be much of a threat, but the people? They could be problems.
-[] Search for a town or city. Surely even these Inspired aren't stupid enough to stifle trade, right? You should have enough money to buy enough parts for a few small inventions.
-[] Avoid civilization until you've likely left the territory of the warring Inspired. Any area needing to deal with them probably won't be too happy to see yet another Inspired.
[] Let your gift start the Surge and start making your way down. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
[] Write-in
QM's Note: Choices for different projects will be offered if "Start the Surge" wins.
Previously, you'd never realized just how painful running away would be.
...Oh, no, you're not talking about separating from your family. Honestly, you couldn't care less about them. No, you're more concerned about the state of your own posterior. On journeys of this length, you've always ridden in a carriage instead of on horseback. You can definitely see why.
Your Gift is only too happy to help you design a solution, but it's one you won't have the materials for any time soon. Strictly speaking, you don't need multiple gun emplacements, but you didn't really like the idea of making a carriage-sized clockwork groundstrider without them. Something in you just objects to the idea of making anything incapable of loudly defending itself. You blame your parents. If they hadn't kept stealing your projects, then maybe you wouldn't be so worried about someone trying to destroy them.
(Project Planned: Armored Strider Mark III [Clockwork, Steam])
The eastern road network seems strangely ill-maintained; more than once, your increasingly exhausted steed stumbles and risks injury. What's more, you don't see any other people on the path for a good two full days of travel. You sincerely doubt it's because of your own attire or the appearance of your steed; even if you're about seventy percent certain it's a Construct, that little detail shouldn't be visible to the outside observer.
Your third afternoon is another story entirely. One filled with entirely too much bloodshed.
You hear the signs of other human beings well before you can actually see them. Unfortunately, they seem to be producing sounds which almost certainly don't belong to the everyday operation of a settled area: shouts, the hisses and cracking of weaponry, and screams. The last, more than anything else, is what tips you off that something's badly wrong. Shouts might be insults, battle cries, or anything else used to keep their own morale up whilst irritating their foes. Screams, though? Fused optimized for warfare shouldn't be able to feel anything more than the slightest twinges of pain. Certain schools of thought have argued that they should even enjoy warfare, although you've noticed a tendency for such Fused to develop a crippling mental dependency to the detriment of all. At least, that's your guess for why they began to rampage in the absence of any other conflicts. Warriors should be willing to do more than just battle eternally; no war lasts forever.
You're forced to dismount when your horse begins to get antsy. You search for a nearby stream, tie your horse to a tree nearby, and move on without it. You waste a few minutes finding an animal path through the woods; you have the distinct feeling you shouldn't spend any more time on the road than you have to. Fortunately, it doesn't take long for you to climb your way upward and observe the valley below. Unfortunately, what you find there is absolutely disgusting.
Two of what could charitably be called 'armies' are attempting to brutally murder one another. The process seems entirely too slow for what is clearly a conflict between Inspired; you can see slumped bronze clockwork marching against four-legged iron beasts. The strange parts arrive when you notice the distressing similarities between each model. As far as you can tell, each and every clockwork on a particular side is exactly the same.
That part, you could forgive. More than one of your own inventions have been intended to build smaller clockwork for as long as they were provided with the proper materials and components. The strange part comes from the uniformed, rifle-wielding peasants on both sides. The ones which fall from so much as a single steam-propelled bullet. And there are hundreds of them on each side, with signs of even more having been slain in the recent past.
The feeling of sheer revulsion only intensifies the longer you watch. As far as you can tell, the human combatants are all perfectly ordinary. No enhancements to their strength, their speed, their resilience. No synchronized movements to compensate for the weaknesses of their comrades. Nothing.
The clockwork war machines fighting beside them move with repetitive, stiff motions incapable of standing up to more than the slightest changes in their own frames. The tarnished bronze and iron comprising them is intended only to provide armoring. It doesn't harness the sunlight streaming from above to blind foes, transmit signals, or even to power their own systems. It's boring.
There is no glory to be found here. No satisfaction from seeing a well-built invention tear through the creations of your opponent. No point. Just mass-produced weapons wielded by a bunch of ignorant, terrified peasants, in a battle you can only assume is just as pointless. No Inspired worth the name would use perfectly good subjects as mere weapon-users. If they're going to be participants in a war between minds, the soldiers should be weapons. A single properly-built Fused could easily waltz across the battlefield without a care in the world. Or, if not one, a small squad at the very most.
Materials and time should be no excuse; if you can't find delicate enough components for your projects, you simply build devices capable of crafting them. Sure, a gear-making workbench isn't as flashy as a giant death ray, but why should an Inspired only focus on the present? Inventions should build off one another and there's a lot to be said for being able to make your own supplies. You should know.
Still, you're not quite sure what you're supposed to do about the battle below. The Iron Army seems to have pushed the Bronzes far enough back for you to sneak down and loot some of their damaged clockwork. The few damaged machines trying to claw their way toward the battle aren't really any threat to you; you don't even need to tap into your Gift to see multiple easy ways to disable them in rather short order.
That being said…
"You're as upset about this as I am, right? Maybe even more upset. The fools responsible for this are reveling in their own stupidity. They're wasting enough people to depopulate a respectably-sized fiefdom without giving them even the slightest combat enhancements beforehand. They don't need this many subjects for a simple weapon's test and those pieces of junk are barely even worth the name. They're probably just doing something moronic like trying to conquer more territory without any regard for actually making sure said territories remain even remotely useful."
You vaguely wave your hands toward the valley below.
"If you can help me make something worthy of being our first completed invention, we can stop this. Probably. I mean, we might have to go kill whatever passes as their leaders first, but if these are what passes as their weapons, that should be easy enough. The parts provided are pretty inferior, but when has that stopped us? As always, we just need time. Our movements will be relatively disguised by those of the damaged clockwork continuing to try to join the battlefield. A retreat of one or both sides could throw a wrench into our plans, but that should still leave us with a half-finished creation and the knowledge I need to complete it. And if we can actually finish it on time? We'll get to show those glorified uninspired why quality is more important than quantity."
A giddy giggle escapes your throat as your gift slowly stirs into wakefulness. To your surprise, it doesn't jump at the opportunity; instead, it seems outright cautious.
Inspired behavior.
You blink. That's new. In fact, you've never heard of anyone being given advice on any subject that couldn't be directly used for an invention. There isn't a lot of extra knowledge — simply that the word 'retreat' won't be part of your vocabulary as long as a Surge is going — but even giving you that much contradicts a good portion of what you know about Inspired. Provided, no books mentioned Inspired talking to their own gifts, either, but you've always assumed that's something people just assume everyone else already knows. After all, aren't Inspired often accused of being inhabited by demons? How would that make any sense if gifts were unintelligent?
You shake your head. Speculation on the nature of your gift can wait. You can feel the tingling signs of a Surge at the back of your head, yet your gift seems to be holding it back. You get the feeling it'll give you full access if you ask, but it wants to be positive you're willing to pursue the idea.
Surge Mechanics.
...And you'll apparently be untouchable as long as the Surge is going. You never did finish the invention born from your birth as an Inspired, nor have you completed anything since. That, in of itself, gives you power. Available materials barely even matter; all you need is a song and a big enough audience to give it power.
To spite the gods,
Despite the odds,
Reach for the sky.
[] Turn around and leave. As much as you like the idea of thwarting two fools misusing their gifts, there's no denying that a battlefield is inherently dangerous. The clockwork might not be much of a threat, but the people? They could be problems.
-[] Search for a town or city. Surely even these Inspired aren't stupid enough to stifle trade, right? You should have enough money to buy enough parts for a few small inventions.
-[] Avoid civilization until you've likely left the territory of the warring Inspired. Any area needing to deal with them probably won't be too happy to see yet another Inspired.
[] Let your gift start the Surge and start making your way down. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
[] Write-in
QM's Note: Choices for different projects will be offered if "Start the Surge" wins.
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Chapter 1.1: Reflection
- Location
- A single human dimension
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Happy New Year, everyone! My usual beta reader(s) are busy ATM, so there may be more mistakes than usual. 
[X] Let your gift start the Surge and start making your way down. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
You glance around yourself and start the slow process of traveling down the hill. Your clothing was a lost cause anyway.
"Go ahead. The sooner we break the streak of unfinished projects, the sooner I can start thinking of improvements to whatever we build."
Inspired Mechanics.
You pause and tightly grip a convenient branch. If thinking about the causes of your very first Surge will help your gift start one now, you don't see any reason to object. You're rather proud of the circumstances behind your awakening anyway.
Most Inspired become such soon after seeing the works of an existing Inspired. The invention leading to your own awakening did not fit that criteria. A perfectly ordinary man was responsible for the concept, implementation, and propagation. In modern days, it could be found atop nearly every home and had saved countless from fiery destruction. Inspired requiring a massive, short surge of power for some project or another will cheerfully improve upon the design, but the original invention remains in widespread use.
Your parents took lightning rods for granted. They didn't seem to appreciate how one man — one who didn't know what he was doing, wasn't certain the idea would work, had no light to guide him — managed to create a simple object capable of sidestepping the wrath of heaven.
Lightning rods don't need internal power sources. They don't rely on some complex system of gears, cogs, and steam. They don't even require exotic materials. They just quietly allow humans to build close to the skies without fear of fiery destruction.
Their creator didn't stubbornly hold on to the knowledge granted from a Surge for future use. He wasn't trying to crush any rivals. He guessed, performed experiments to verify his guesses, and slowly dragged the total sum of human knowledge ever higher. Nobody seemed to understand how impressive it was for an uninspired to create something now used by the entire civilized world. Too many ordinary humans are discouraged and allow the rare communicative Inspired do all the work; the fact that he rejected his own inevitable jealousy and sought knowledge anyway? You'll always respect that.
You can't remember what you tried to create for your first Surge. But right now? You don't think that actually matters. You have ideas.
Use preference voting: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, where lower numbers mean you prefer that option over the alternatives.
[] Undergrowth
(Clockwork, Self-Powering, Automated, Limited Self-Expansion?, Modular)
A burrowing clockwork seed capable of rapidly building metal tendrils and extending them into the surrounding area. Once it's expanded far enough, it will reach aboveground and wrap around anything that's recently moved. Hopefully, you'll have enough time to improve the design and prevent it from targeting you.
You don't believe it'll actually need metal to function. Tendrils will go inert when the central seed is reclaimed, but reattaching it should reactivate them without any problems.
[] Biggest Voice
(Clockwork, Crystal, ?, Precise, Personal, Worn, Adjustable)
A device intended to wrap around most of your throat and shoulders, 'Biggest Voice' should let you speak at volumes and pitches humanity was not designed for. And sound types, for that matter; you'll be perfectly capable of producing shouts capable of damaging steel in a wide cone in front of you.
You'll need to change modes and volume manually; it won't automatically "know" when you want to speak normally and when you want to shout.
Biggest Voice will only work for you. If other people try to use it, the resulting dissonance will be heavily damaging or even outright fatal. Assuming they can even fit it around their necks, that is.
[] Bigger Gun
(Clockwork, Steam, Accurate, Self-Arming, Wielded, Modular)
It's closer to a miniature cannon than an actual gun, really. Although it has room for improvements, this relatively simple weapon is intended to simply propel explosive shells at speeds fast enough to make the very air scream. Or that might just be from the way the ammunition is shaped. You're not sure which.
It shouldn't be too hard to install a fabricator capable of making bullets from whatever materials you have on hand. You can't promise shells made from certain materials will be especially explosive, though.
[] Skybreaker
(Clockwork, Electric, ?, Crystal, Artillery, Accurate?, Wielded, Adjustable)
A staff capable of opening tears in the fabric of reality. Temporary ones, true, but that wouldn't stop them from being exceptionally useful. Rifts could be created in linked pairs, allowing for rapid travel between them, or as independent portals to the all-devouring void. The larger an independent portal is, the easier it will be for the void to drag loose matter toward itself.
Speaking of which, doesn't that mean even a small one would eat all mosquitoes nearby? It does, doesn't it? Excellent.
Rifts are stationary once opened. They cannot be opened inside solid matter; if a tear tries to travel through such an object, it will either go around or expand further in the opposite direction instead. You're yet not sure which.
You'll need to figure out a good control system for it, but you think the Skybreaker should have a maximum range of one or two kilometers. You don't think it'll have a limit on rift size aside from range and the power needed to open one. You're not sure about duration, but they shouldn't last for more than a few minutes at the very most.
[] Insubordinator
(Clockwork, Automaton, Series, Versatile)
A set of small Clockwork intended to be thrown into the exposed machinery of a significantly larger automated Clockwork. Once inside, an Insubordinator will adjust the controls of its target, forcing it to target and attack any Clockwork not built by its mistress.
Insubordinators will return to you once they've suborned their target. They have a difficult time affecting manually-controlled clockwork devices; when thrown at one, they'll usually just disable it before returning.
[X] Let your gift start the Surge and start making your way down. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
You glance around yourself and start the slow process of traveling down the hill. Your clothing was a lost cause anyway.
"Go ahead. The sooner we break the streak of unfinished projects, the sooner I can start thinking of improvements to whatever we build."
Inspired Mechanics.
You pause and tightly grip a convenient branch. If thinking about the causes of your very first Surge will help your gift start one now, you don't see any reason to object. You're rather proud of the circumstances behind your awakening anyway.
Most Inspired become such soon after seeing the works of an existing Inspired. The invention leading to your own awakening did not fit that criteria. A perfectly ordinary man was responsible for the concept, implementation, and propagation. In modern days, it could be found atop nearly every home and had saved countless from fiery destruction. Inspired requiring a massive, short surge of power for some project or another will cheerfully improve upon the design, but the original invention remains in widespread use.
Your parents took lightning rods for granted. They didn't seem to appreciate how one man — one who didn't know what he was doing, wasn't certain the idea would work, had no light to guide him — managed to create a simple object capable of sidestepping the wrath of heaven.
Lightning rods don't need internal power sources. They don't rely on some complex system of gears, cogs, and steam. They don't even require exotic materials. They just quietly allow humans to build close to the skies without fear of fiery destruction.
Their creator didn't stubbornly hold on to the knowledge granted from a Surge for future use. He wasn't trying to crush any rivals. He guessed, performed experiments to verify his guesses, and slowly dragged the total sum of human knowledge ever higher. Nobody seemed to understand how impressive it was for an uninspired to create something now used by the entire civilized world. Too many ordinary humans are discouraged and allow the rare communicative Inspired do all the work; the fact that he rejected his own inevitable jealousy and sought knowledge anyway? You'll always respect that.
You can't remember what you tried to create for your first Surge. But right now? You don't think that actually matters. You have ideas.
Use preference voting: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, where lower numbers mean you prefer that option over the alternatives.
[] Undergrowth
(Clockwork, Self-Powering, Automated, Limited Self-Expansion?, Modular)
A burrowing clockwork seed capable of rapidly building metal tendrils and extending them into the surrounding area. Once it's expanded far enough, it will reach aboveground and wrap around anything that's recently moved. Hopefully, you'll have enough time to improve the design and prevent it from targeting you.
You don't believe it'll actually need metal to function. Tendrils will go inert when the central seed is reclaimed, but reattaching it should reactivate them without any problems.
[] Biggest Voice
(Clockwork, Crystal, ?, Precise, Personal, Worn, Adjustable)
A device intended to wrap around most of your throat and shoulders, 'Biggest Voice' should let you speak at volumes and pitches humanity was not designed for. And sound types, for that matter; you'll be perfectly capable of producing shouts capable of damaging steel in a wide cone in front of you.
You'll need to change modes and volume manually; it won't automatically "know" when you want to speak normally and when you want to shout.
Biggest Voice will only work for you. If other people try to use it, the resulting dissonance will be heavily damaging or even outright fatal. Assuming they can even fit it around their necks, that is.
[] Bigger Gun
(Clockwork, Steam, Accurate, Self-Arming, Wielded, Modular)
It's closer to a miniature cannon than an actual gun, really. Although it has room for improvements, this relatively simple weapon is intended to simply propel explosive shells at speeds fast enough to make the very air scream. Or that might just be from the way the ammunition is shaped. You're not sure which.
It shouldn't be too hard to install a fabricator capable of making bullets from whatever materials you have on hand. You can't promise shells made from certain materials will be especially explosive, though.
[] Skybreaker
(Clockwork, Electric, ?, Crystal, Artillery, Accurate?, Wielded, Adjustable)
A staff capable of opening tears in the fabric of reality. Temporary ones, true, but that wouldn't stop them from being exceptionally useful. Rifts could be created in linked pairs, allowing for rapid travel between them, or as independent portals to the all-devouring void. The larger an independent portal is, the easier it will be for the void to drag loose matter toward itself.
Speaking of which, doesn't that mean even a small one would eat all mosquitoes nearby? It does, doesn't it? Excellent.
Rifts are stationary once opened. They cannot be opened inside solid matter; if a tear tries to travel through such an object, it will either go around or expand further in the opposite direction instead. You're yet not sure which.
You'll need to figure out a good control system for it, but you think the Skybreaker should have a maximum range of one or two kilometers. You don't think it'll have a limit on rift size aside from range and the power needed to open one. You're not sure about duration, but they shouldn't last for more than a few minutes at the very most.
[] Insubordinator
(Clockwork, Automaton, Series, Versatile)
A set of small Clockwork intended to be thrown into the exposed machinery of a significantly larger automated Clockwork. Once inside, an Insubordinator will adjust the controls of its target, forcing it to target and attack any Clockwork not built by its mistress.
Insubordinators will return to you once they've suborned their target. They have a difficult time affecting manually-controlled clockwork devices; when thrown at one, they'll usually just disable it before returning.
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1.2: Gateway
- Location
- A single human dimension
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Landslide Victor: Skybreaker
Access Granted.
You slide down into the valley below, sparing little more than a handful of thoughts to what your body is doing. Your mind is busy sorting through the gargantuan amount of information offered to you by your gift.
Nobody has noticed you yet, but you sincerely doubt that will last. You'll need their attention sooner rather than later; the materials on hand aren't even remotely suitable for building the Skybreaker. You're not sure if other Inspired even realize why they feel the urge to rant, but you know. Inspiration told you and even provided a better alternative. You aren't a singer. You've never tried to write a song in your entire life. Neither of those details is outstandingly important; the words don't actually matter. How they guide the minds of other people, on the other hand…
You know you'll be able to complete the Skybreaker with the resources and time you have available to you. As such, you're entirely unsurprised when your relatively quiet voice successfully slices through the comparatively deafening sounds of an active battlefield.
"To spite the gods,
Despite the odds,
Reach for the sky.
"Ignore their calls,
Tear down the walls,
Keep trying to fly."
You growl under your breath as the battle continues without even the slightest hints of hesitation. The combatants are more concerned with the opponents in front of them than with the Surge-driven Inspired nearby. You expect you can fix that in rather short order.
"Come, don't be shy.
You won't die.
We'll have such fun.
"You'll be alright,
Just don't you fight,
Or try to run."
The rhythm of the battlefield hiccups. Your expectations of a full stop quickly bear fruit as each and every Clockwork grinds to a screeching halt. When faced with the sudden destruction of the Clockwork fighting beside them, more than enough of the battlefield abruptly reconsiders the ideas you've presented. Inspiration helps you turn that briefest of images into something a bit more solid. It doesn't hold for long, but by the time they're able to move again, you believe the point has been made.
It only takes a few moments for a few dozen people to finally notice you. A not-insignificant fraction of them raise their rifles and aim at you.
"When has that ever worked?"
You know you're untouchable until your Surge ends. Inspiration is incapable of being wrong. If reality tries to contradict that?
(A smirk dominates your features when the first of the rifles explodes into stream, flaming coal, and hot shrapnel. Only one other rifleman actually tries to attack you before everyone else dismisses it as a bad idea.)
...Then reality is obviously going to be proven wrong. Inspiration wouldn't, couldn't lie to you.
"You poor, poor fools.
I make the rules.
Now do you see?"
Your audience seems to have settled into something resembling horrified fascination. Or maybe just horror. Really, as long as they're focused on you, either works.
One of your hands holds up the head of a broken Clockwork. The other lifts the bronze rods formerly used to control its legs. Neither is what you need.
"If I say this is crystal,
If I say this is glass,
What will stop me?"
They don't believe it, you know. Fortunately, their agreement was never a requirement. You just need enough of them thinking about the possibility of them changing. When fighting against a stubborn Inspired armed with the thoughts of hundreds of humans and supported by a cooperative gift, reality needs to bring more than casual indifference. You couldn't do this in a city, for instance; artificial structures and expectations would work against you. Reality would have a predefined set of rules and you'd have an exceptionally difficult time fighting them.
In a wild valley, one where the only intelligent minds for a large distance are watching you with barely-suppressed terror? That's another story entirely. Your words are echoed by an abrupt increase in the weight held aloft by each arm. When you actually bother to look at the components provided, you can see your own expectations were fulfilled.
The components are casually dropped and replaced as you switch back to your original tune. You know they won't break upon impact with the ground; your first invention would never be made of something so fragile. Plus, your components breaking would interfere with the successful completion of your first project. And with everyone prepared to believe in anything, you can finally start building.
"Ignore the laws,
Forget your cause,
It's dying today.
"We're meant to learn,
Not just to burn,
Those in our way.
"Build and forget,
Start and reset,
Why can't you see?
"Growing stronger,
Climbing higher,
It ends with me."
The incomplete Skybreaker buzzes ominously a mere instant before it explodes in a flash of midnight-blue light. The explosion doesn't harm you; how would it? Your first Surge still hasn't ended.
It's a work of a moment to find the problem: without some method of storing excess power, the central aether generator tried to fuel the incomplete harmonics array. If the array had been completed, you probably would've torn a rift right in your own face. Possibly literally.
Oh, well. Live and learn.
"Reality is mutable,
You know this as fact.
"My staff stands before you,
Solid and intact."
You don't even need the help of Inspiration, not anymore. You've trained the assembled humans to consider and believe in the impossible. You're even able to sneak in a battery when the shattered Skybreaker shards fuse back into their original shape.
Strictly speaking, you could easily finish the staff from here. But when have you ever settled for merely functional?
Stubborn & Redundant Tier Bonus: 1d100/16 = Bonus Tiers. Total: 98/16=6 (Rounded)
Your staff explodes as soon as you start adjusting the design. It repeats the action as soon as you find and fix the overlapping circuits.
So that's how this is going to go, is it?
"To fight the gods,
Despite the odds,
Bring down the sky."
The Skybreaker violently breaks apart in your hands again. At least you think you've gotten the new basic layout down to something workable.
"Ignore their curse,
We can do worse,
If we just try."
The Skybreaker shatters yet again. You refuse to let yourself worry about the repeated destruction and reformation of your work. You know you have enough time to finish the project; why shouldn't you take full and malicious advantage while you still can?
"We're given gifts,
To mend all rifts.
Ironic, isn't it?"
You think you might be losing count. At this point, Skybreaker barely has enough time to break apart before it's repaired and remade. But you know you're making progress and you even think you might've made it over the hardest hurdle.
"Sky is just air,
It's everywhere,
And easily split."
You might've made a major mistake somewhere. You managed to find near-perfect layouts for the bottommost sections, but the third is proving to be more difficult than it honestly should be.
Mere seconds after you have the thought, you manage to find and fix the error. You even end up needing to discard several verses; Skybreaker seems to have decided it'll behave and let you finish it without any further problems.
"'Reach for the sky?'
You're thinking too small.
"If that's what it takes,
I'll show you all!"
You give the spectators a second to properly comprehend your words and enter an appropriate mindset. After that, a single swipe with Skybreaker opens up a massive, shrieking wound in the skies high above. It doesn't take more than a few seconds for it to devour the cloud it formed inside, leaving only a jagged white tear in the world. The skies surrounding it even seem to be dimmer than they should be.
...You probably won't be making anything of this level for the foreseeable future. Or anything using aether at all, really. You'd be dead many times over were it not for the invulnerability granted by your Surge. Still, those abilities don't need to be a unique occurrence. If you can get a large enough audience, isolate them from artificial structures, and force them into the right mindset, you'll be perfectly capable of staging a repeat. Reputation may be important for that, but you're honestly not sure if you want to share your name or not.
A vague sensation of unease filters through the happy buzz of your Surge and your exultant laughter. You feel as though you're forgetting something relevant to the current situation. You completed Skybreaker; what's left for you to do? You finally made something. Even if the earth didn't tremble, the sky screaming should be enough.
[] Share your name: Lorelei von Mendel. It'll make it easier for your parents to find you, but it'll also help you establish a reputation as quickly as possible.
-[] Instead of leaving, stay and wait for someone to return. You have Skybreaker and you're not afraid to use it.
[] Just instruct the spectators to flee and leave the area yourself. They'll talk, certainly, but nobody is close enough to get a good look at your features. Switching your hairstyle and changing clothes should (hopefully) be more than enough to throw them off track, assuming you cover Skybreaker with something.
[] Write-in
Access Granted.
You slide down into the valley below, sparing little more than a handful of thoughts to what your body is doing. Your mind is busy sorting through the gargantuan amount of information offered to you by your gift.
Nobody has noticed you yet, but you sincerely doubt that will last. You'll need their attention sooner rather than later; the materials on hand aren't even remotely suitable for building the Skybreaker. You're not sure if other Inspired even realize why they feel the urge to rant, but you know. Inspiration told you and even provided a better alternative. You aren't a singer. You've never tried to write a song in your entire life. Neither of those details is outstandingly important; the words don't actually matter. How they guide the minds of other people, on the other hand…
You know you'll be able to complete the Skybreaker with the resources and time you have available to you. As such, you're entirely unsurprised when your relatively quiet voice successfully slices through the comparatively deafening sounds of an active battlefield.
"To spite the gods,
Despite the odds,
Reach for the sky.
"Ignore their calls,
Tear down the walls,
Keep trying to fly."
You growl under your breath as the battle continues without even the slightest hints of hesitation. The combatants are more concerned with the opponents in front of them than with the Surge-driven Inspired nearby. You expect you can fix that in rather short order.
"Come, don't be shy.
You won't die.
We'll have such fun.
"You'll be alright,
Just don't you fight,
Or try to run."
The rhythm of the battlefield hiccups. Your expectations of a full stop quickly bear fruit as each and every Clockwork grinds to a screeching halt. When faced with the sudden destruction of the Clockwork fighting beside them, more than enough of the battlefield abruptly reconsiders the ideas you've presented. Inspiration helps you turn that briefest of images into something a bit more solid. It doesn't hold for long, but by the time they're able to move again, you believe the point has been made.
It only takes a few moments for a few dozen people to finally notice you. A not-insignificant fraction of them raise their rifles and aim at you.
"When has that ever worked?"
You know you're untouchable until your Surge ends. Inspiration is incapable of being wrong. If reality tries to contradict that?
(A smirk dominates your features when the first of the rifles explodes into stream, flaming coal, and hot shrapnel. Only one other rifleman actually tries to attack you before everyone else dismisses it as a bad idea.)
...Then reality is obviously going to be proven wrong. Inspiration wouldn't, couldn't lie to you.
"You poor, poor fools.
I make the rules.
Now do you see?"
Your audience seems to have settled into something resembling horrified fascination. Or maybe just horror. Really, as long as they're focused on you, either works.
One of your hands holds up the head of a broken Clockwork. The other lifts the bronze rods formerly used to control its legs. Neither is what you need.
"If I say this is crystal,
If I say this is glass,
What will stop me?"
They don't believe it, you know. Fortunately, their agreement was never a requirement. You just need enough of them thinking about the possibility of them changing. When fighting against a stubborn Inspired armed with the thoughts of hundreds of humans and supported by a cooperative gift, reality needs to bring more than casual indifference. You couldn't do this in a city, for instance; artificial structures and expectations would work against you. Reality would have a predefined set of rules and you'd have an exceptionally difficult time fighting them.
In a wild valley, one where the only intelligent minds for a large distance are watching you with barely-suppressed terror? That's another story entirely. Your words are echoed by an abrupt increase in the weight held aloft by each arm. When you actually bother to look at the components provided, you can see your own expectations were fulfilled.
The components are casually dropped and replaced as you switch back to your original tune. You know they won't break upon impact with the ground; your first invention would never be made of something so fragile. Plus, your components breaking would interfere with the successful completion of your first project. And with everyone prepared to believe in anything, you can finally start building.
"Ignore the laws,
Forget your cause,
It's dying today.
"We're meant to learn,
Not just to burn,
Those in our way.
"Build and forget,
Start and reset,
Why can't you see?
"Growing stronger,
Climbing higher,
It ends with me."
The incomplete Skybreaker buzzes ominously a mere instant before it explodes in a flash of midnight-blue light. The explosion doesn't harm you; how would it? Your first Surge still hasn't ended.
It's a work of a moment to find the problem: without some method of storing excess power, the central aether generator tried to fuel the incomplete harmonics array. If the array had been completed, you probably would've torn a rift right in your own face. Possibly literally.
Oh, well. Live and learn.
"Reality is mutable,
You know this as fact.
"My staff stands before you,
Solid and intact."
You don't even need the help of Inspiration, not anymore. You've trained the assembled humans to consider and believe in the impossible. You're even able to sneak in a battery when the shattered Skybreaker shards fuse back into their original shape.
Strictly speaking, you could easily finish the staff from here. But when have you ever settled for merely functional?
Stubborn & Redundant Tier Bonus: 1d100/16 = Bonus Tiers. Total: 98/16=6 (Rounded)
Your staff explodes as soon as you start adjusting the design. It repeats the action as soon as you find and fix the overlapping circuits.
So that's how this is going to go, is it?
"To fight the gods,
Despite the odds,
Bring down the sky."
The Skybreaker violently breaks apart in your hands again. At least you think you've gotten the new basic layout down to something workable.
"Ignore their curse,
We can do worse,
If we just try."
The Skybreaker shatters yet again. You refuse to let yourself worry about the repeated destruction and reformation of your work. You know you have enough time to finish the project; why shouldn't you take full and malicious advantage while you still can?
"We're given gifts,
To mend all rifts.
Ironic, isn't it?"
You think you might be losing count. At this point, Skybreaker barely has enough time to break apart before it's repaired and remade. But you know you're making progress and you even think you might've made it over the hardest hurdle.
"Sky is just air,
It's everywhere,
And easily split."
You might've made a major mistake somewhere. You managed to find near-perfect layouts for the bottommost sections, but the third is proving to be more difficult than it honestly should be.
Mere seconds after you have the thought, you manage to find and fix the error. You even end up needing to discard several verses; Skybreaker seems to have decided it'll behave and let you finish it without any further problems.
"'Reach for the sky?'
You're thinking too small.
"If that's what it takes,
I'll show you all!"
Styles at time of creation: Stubborn/Redundant.
Components: Clockwork, Electric, Aether, Crystal
Traits: Artillery, Accurate, Wielded, Adjustable, Blackboxed, Inscrutable, Near-Invulnerable, Personal (Toggled), Maintenance-free, Auto-Fueled, Heretical.
Components: Clockwork, Electric, Aether, Crystal
Traits: Artillery, Accurate, Wielded, Adjustable, Blackboxed, Inscrutable, Near-Invulnerable, Personal (Toggled), Maintenance-free, Auto-Fueled, Heretical.
Skybreaker is the first project you ever successfully completed. It isn't too difficult for you to operate; you just need to determine distance, press a button (Void), Squeeze the staff (Linked), and then slash in the appropriate direction. As you can make tiny, cheap rifts for very little power cost, it shouldn't be too difficult for you to become adept at targeting it.
Rifts leading to the Void draw in sufficiently light objects nearby, with weight and range increasing with the size of the rift. Linked rifts are harmless and must always be the same size; making two rifts of different sizes will result in the larger one shrinking while the smaller one grows. The balancing of linked rift sizes would continue until they were the exact same size.
As rifts are opened to always face you, it is possible for you to open one linked rift vertically and its linked rift horizontally.
Skybreaker has a maximum range of approximately three kilometers. Rifts fully open within one to two seconds, depending on rift size. For the purposes of dimensional integrity, it is only capable of drawing on one of its five batteries at any given time. Whenever one battery is fully emptied, Skybreaker will cycle to the next. You're honestly not sure how long it would take for a battery to fully recharge; both the energy generation and capacity are vast. Fortunately, you'll never need to replace its fuel. If reality tries to insist otherwise, reality is wrong and deserves to have another rift torn in it.
Rifts cannot be opened inside solid objects. If this occurs, the rift will instead move to the closest appropriate open space. Line-of-sight is not necessary to open a rift at a given location, only sufficiently close range.
Skybreaker is close to indestructible despite the normal fragility of its component parts. An audience of tens of thousands with the vast majority expecting and actively thinking about its destruction may be necessary. A sufficiently advanced weapon created before a similarly-sized group may also suffice. You don't think anything else would.
Skybreaker will painfully "bite" anyone who tries to hold it without your deliberate permission. You may retract said permission at any time. As its method of discouragement may lead to involuntary hand clenching, this may be fatal. You may deactivate or reactivate the self-defense features with a single verbal command.
Skybreaker will likely be considered heretical by those of a religious disposition. You find it difficult to care.
Rifts leading to the Void draw in sufficiently light objects nearby, with weight and range increasing with the size of the rift. Linked rifts are harmless and must always be the same size; making two rifts of different sizes will result in the larger one shrinking while the smaller one grows. The balancing of linked rift sizes would continue until they were the exact same size.
As rifts are opened to always face you, it is possible for you to open one linked rift vertically and its linked rift horizontally.
Skybreaker has a maximum range of approximately three kilometers. Rifts fully open within one to two seconds, depending on rift size. For the purposes of dimensional integrity, it is only capable of drawing on one of its five batteries at any given time. Whenever one battery is fully emptied, Skybreaker will cycle to the next. You're honestly not sure how long it would take for a battery to fully recharge; both the energy generation and capacity are vast. Fortunately, you'll never need to replace its fuel. If reality tries to insist otherwise, reality is wrong and deserves to have another rift torn in it.
Rifts cannot be opened inside solid objects. If this occurs, the rift will instead move to the closest appropriate open space. Line-of-sight is not necessary to open a rift at a given location, only sufficiently close range.
Skybreaker is close to indestructible despite the normal fragility of its component parts. An audience of tens of thousands with the vast majority expecting and actively thinking about its destruction may be necessary. A sufficiently advanced weapon created before a similarly-sized group may also suffice. You don't think anything else would.
Skybreaker will painfully "bite" anyone who tries to hold it without your deliberate permission. You may retract said permission at any time. As its method of discouragement may lead to involuntary hand clenching, this may be fatal. You may deactivate or reactivate the self-defense features with a single verbal command.
Skybreaker will likely be considered heretical by those of a religious disposition. You find it difficult to care.
You give the spectators a second to properly comprehend your words and enter an appropriate mindset. After that, a single swipe with Skybreaker opens up a massive, shrieking wound in the skies high above. It doesn't take more than a few seconds for it to devour the cloud it formed inside, leaving only a jagged white tear in the world. The skies surrounding it even seem to be dimmer than they should be.
...You probably won't be making anything of this level for the foreseeable future. Or anything using aether at all, really. You'd be dead many times over were it not for the invulnerability granted by your Surge. Still, those abilities don't need to be a unique occurrence. If you can get a large enough audience, isolate them from artificial structures, and force them into the right mindset, you'll be perfectly capable of staging a repeat. Reputation may be important for that, but you're honestly not sure if you want to share your name or not.
A vague sensation of unease filters through the happy buzz of your Surge and your exultant laughter. You feel as though you're forgetting something relevant to the current situation. You completed Skybreaker; what's left for you to do? You finally made something. Even if the earth didn't tremble, the sky screaming should be enough.
[] Share your name: Lorelei von Mendel. It'll make it easier for your parents to find you, but it'll also help you establish a reputation as quickly as possible.
-[] Instead of leaving, stay and wait for someone to return. You have Skybreaker and you're not afraid to use it.
[] Just instruct the spectators to flee and leave the area yourself. They'll talk, certainly, but nobody is close enough to get a good look at your features. Switching your hairstyle and changing clothes should (hopefully) be more than enough to throw them off track, assuming you cover Skybreaker with something.
[] Write-in
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1.3: Exit Stage Left
- Location
- A single human dimension
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I had some trouble with this chapter, so I'm just going to cheerfully skim past it. I'll be focusing my efforts on both this and Fragmentation for at least a few days; apparently, the playlist I put together for Fragmentation is (at least for now) serving to fuel them both.
As always, write-ins are encouraged.
As always, write-ins are encouraged.
[X] Just instruct the spectators to flee and leave the area yourself. They'll talk, certainly, but nobody is close enough to get a good look at your features. Switching your hairstyle and changing clothes should (hopefully) be more than enough to throw them off track, assuming you cover Skybreaker with something.
You twirl Skybreaker and eye the assembled spectators speculatively. Heh. But alas, your Surge is surely scheduled to end soon. Starting another project, especially one involving human test subjects, is simply begging for trouble. Unlike many Inspired, you like to think you know better than to reach beyond your limits. Partly because you barely acknowledge the existence of such, so if you think something is a bad idea, you should probably listen to yourself.
"Thank you all for providing a cooperative audience, and I sincerely hope you have a good day. You're allowed to run now."
You open up a rift close to where you left your unnamed horse and step through it. You should probably grace your ignoble steed with a name sooner rather than later.
Said horse isn't at all happy about the quartet of rifts you open to gain some distance, but it still follows when you drag it through each portal on foot.
Strangely enough, you never can identify a specific point where your Surge ends. You've always been able to before, but now? The only difference is a loss in knowledge and significantly less commentary from Inspiration. You still feel warm, fluffy, and happy, a state of affairs that persists all the way until you next go to sleep.
Your emotions have returned to something closer to what you're used to by the time you next awaken. You're still happier than you can remember being for a long, long time. Since the feeling merely intensifies whenever you glance at Skybreaker, you're starting to suspect it might not be Surge leftovers after all. Your parents might've just come closer to emptying your life than you'd expected.
You force yourself to wrap Skybreaker in some burlap blankets anyway. You're proud of it, certainly, but pride is no reason to start acting stupid. Plus, couriers are some of the only people who can be expected to have horses; if you pretend to be one, it should provide an adequate explanation for your full pack and the wrapped-up weapon.
The day after you completed Skybreaker, a haze of smog hints toward the presence of a mid-sized town long before you actually reach it. Your lungs object almost immediately and tempt you to summon up a screaming rift to devour the irritating contaminant.
The wide-open gates and buzz of sound is a rather conspicuous contrast to the lack of traffic on the road you're on. Perhaps the war between weak Inspired didn't come this far?
[] Go find an inn or tavern, order a meal, and cheerfully eavesdrop on those inside. News of your exploits shouldn't have reached this town yet, but if it has, that means the opposition has a method of communication capable of traveling faster than you. If it still hasn't, you can still learn what on Earth is going on.
[] Go around it and continue on your way. It's practically the first place your parents will search for you once they start looking in this direction.
[] Make a beeline to whatever market the town might have.
-[] If it's divided into sections, aim for whichever one caters to Inspired or mundane mechanical artisans.
[] Give in to your desires and open up the biggest rift possible in the skies above.
-[] Delay your entry to the town by a couple hours to compensate. Reality won't be nearly as pliable in a location already settled by humanity; there's simply no good reason for you to announce your presence more than necessary.
[] Write-in
[] [Name] Name your horse. (Write-in)